“I need you to come home. If Curt’s not busy, it might be good if he comes too.”
Mom’s statement sent Taylor’s memory back to the single worst moment in her life: the day Eliza, Reese’s biological mother, and Eliza’s boyfriend abducted Reese from a friend’s birthday party while Taylor was in Newport with Curt at his cousin’s wedding.
Without thinking, she placed a hand on Reese’s shoulder. “Why? What happened?”
Taylor had a handful of aunts and uncles as well as several cousins, although she was only close to a few of them. Something might have happened to one of them and Mom wanted to tell her. But if she’d received bad news regarding a family member, why did she want Curt to come over as well?
Curt and Reese looked at her, but both remained silent.
“Not long after I got home, I received a phone call from one of your sister’s friends.”
Taylor closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. She didn’t need to hear any more. “We’ll be right home.”
Considering the type of people her sister had hung around with before going back to prison, she could only imagine the conversation her mom had moments ago. She shoved her cell phone back into her pocket. “Reese, Mimi needs to talk to me. Please go get your things.”
“But Curt wants to talk to me, remember.”
“I know, but he’ll have to do it later. Go get your stuff so that we can go home.”
Remarkably without any more questions, Reese left the room.
“What’s wrong?” Standing, Curt came around the table.
“Mom got a phone call from one of Eliza’s friends.”
Although she’d suggested they get rid of the landline, Mom insisted on keeping it and the phone number she’d had for over thirty years. According to her, you never knew when you might need it.
“One of your sister’s friends called Priscilla. What the hell did they want?” A combination of disbelief and anger filled his voice.
Taylor shared the same emotions as Curt. “Mom didn’t go into details. She only asked me to come home and said it might be a good idea if you come over too.”
“Of course. Let’s go.”
Three
The wedding might be a few weeks away, but Curt already considered Taylor, Reese, and Priscilla a part of his family, and he’d do anything for them. And at the moment, he wanted to track down whoever had called Taylor’s mom and make sure they knew never to do it again.
Priscilla never mentioned her eldest daughter. Still, he knew the life choices Eliza had made and her current incarceration weighed heavily on his future mother-in-law. And he didn’t blame her. Regardless of the things Eliza had done, she was still Priscilla’s daughter. It couldn’t be easy to see someone you love make such terrible decisions. The last thing Taylor’s mom needed was one of Eliza’s friends calling her.
They found Priscilla seated in the kitchen frowning and drumming her fingers on the table with what looked like an untouched cup of tea. When she spotted Reese, though, she forced a smile and pushed back her chair.
“Hey, sweetie. How was your day?” Priscilla asked, hugging her granddaughter.
“School was boring, but Coach Bruno might let me play goalie first on Saturday. And Curt wanted to talk to me about something that Aunt Taylor said would make me happy, but we came home before he could.”
“That’s my fault. I’m sorry. I needed to see Aunt Taylor and Curt. But I’m sure Curt will have that conversation with you soon.”
“Reese, go on up and get ready for bed and read. I’ll be up to tuck you in later,” Taylor said.
Reese retrieved her book from her backpack and hugged first Taylor, then him. “Will you come up and say good night before you leave?”
As if she needed to ask. “Of course.”
Happy with his answer, she zipped out of the kitchen.
“Okay, Mom. What’s going on?” Taylor asked as they both sat down at the table.
“About five minutes after I walked in the door, the house phone rang. I almost didn’t answer it.” Priscilla reached for her tea but then clasped her hands together again. “For some reason, I did. The man introduced himself as Jordan King, and he said he was a friend of Eliza.”
Under the table, Taylor’s leg rubbed against his as she bounced her foot on the floor. He shared her impatience. At the moment, he cared more about what the caller wanted than what their name was or the moments leading up to the call.
“He claimed he got a letter recently from Eliza. In it, she told him he might be Reese’s father. She included our phone number so he could contact us.”
Taylor pushed back her chair with so much force it almost tipped over and stalked across the kitchen. When she reached the counter, she turned and raked her hand through her hair. “That doesn’t make sense.”
“When did anything your sister does make sense?” Priscilla asked, stealing the words right out of his thoughts. “The fact that she was sleeping around so much she didn’t know who Reese’s father was in the first place is a perfect example of her poor decision making.”
He’d never heard the older woman sound so bitter.
“But why now? She’s had more than nine years to contact this guy or the other men who might be Reese’s father, Mom.”
Curt had his suspicions on that, but he didn’t plan to share.
“Do you need to ask that?” Priscilla nodded toward him, and Curt suspected their thoughts were flowing in the same direction. “Eliza blames you and Curt for her being in prison.”
Taylor rejoined them at the table, and he took her hand. “How do you know that? Neither of us has communicated with her since her arrest.”
“That’s not entirely true. I didn’t reply to either, but I’ve received two letters from your sister. She mentioned you and Curt in both. Eliza believes if you’d given her and Brad the money as they asked, she wouldn’t be where she is. And she knows you and Curt are getting married. Most of the country knows it. Telling this man he might be Reese’s father might be her way of getting back at the two of you.”
“Why—never mind. What does this guy want?”
“If he wants money to go away, I’ll write him a check tomorrow.” Curt knew nothing about the man, but if he’d spent time with Eliza, he doubted he was the type of person who should be around a nine-year-old child.
Priscilla shook her head. “Jordan didn’t mention anything about money. He said he wants to find out if he’s Reese’s father. And if he is, he wants to be involved in her life.”
Curt couldn’t fault the man. If he’d ever received a similar letter from an ex-girlfriend, he’d want the same thing. Regardless, anger toward Eliza for not thinking of Reese first and fear that this man might be Reese’s father ate at him.
“Do you believe Eliza contacted him?” he asked. He recognized the question for what it was, a weak attempt at finding a reason they could dismiss Jordan’s claims.
“I wish I could say no, but how else would he have gotten our phone number if not from Eliza?” Priscilla replied.
“How did you leave things with him?” Taylor asked.
“I explained you had custody of Reese, so he’d have to speak with you. He gave me his number and wants you to call him. He wants to meet with you and Reese. And—”
“No.”
“Not happening,” he said at the same time.
For the first time since they sat down, Priscilla smiled. “I knew you’d both say that.”
“I’ll meet him. Reese can either stay here or maybe with Curt. And I don’t want her to know about this right now. If it turns out to be true, we’ll cross that bridge then.”
Curt squeezed Taylor’s hand to get her attention. “I’ll be there when you meet him.”
“You don’t—”
“Yes, I do.”
“I thought you’d both say that too. I promised Jordan I’d pass along his number and that you’d call him soon.” Priscilla picked up the cup and took a sip. “I need to heat this
up. Do either of you want some tea?”
After this conversation, Curt needed something stronger than tea. But since Taylor and Priscilla didn’t drink scotch or bourbon, they didn’t keep any in the house. “Sure.”
“I’ll have some too, Mom.” Taylor closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead, a severe frown on her face.
He wanted to tell her everything would be fine. That they’d meet this man and one of two things would happen—either Jordan would turn out not to be Reese’s biological father or, if he was, he’d offer to disappear and not claim any parental rights in exchange for money. In the case of the second scenario, Curt would hand over whatever sum the man requested. But he kept his mouth shut because who knew what would happen over the next few days.
“Until we know one way or the other, you can’t ask Reese if she wants you to adopt her,” Taylor said. “Because if Jordan turns out to be her father, he might make it impossible, and she’d be devastated.”
As much as Curt hated it, he’d reached the same conclusion already. “Yeah, I know.”
Four
Taylor had wanted to ignore the message Mom passed along and hope Jordan King didn’t call again or, even worse, show up at the house. If Eliza had provided him with their phone number, she might have given him their address as well—not that it’d be all that difficult to find it on the internet, assuming Jordan knew what town they lived in. While she didn’t know everyone, she believed they were the only Walkers currently living in Pelham.
As far as she was concerned, Reese had a father now. A man who’d do anything and everything for her. She didn’t need some low-life creep suddenly appearing in her life. And Taylor didn’t see how Jordan could be anything other than a creep if he had been involved with Eliza. Not to mention Reese had already suffered enough for three lifetimes thanks to Eliza and Brad. Who knew how she might respond if it turned out this stranger was her biological father?
At the same time, though, she suspected Jordan wouldn’t simply go away. Whether he genuinely wanted to know if he had a daughter or was after something else, she didn’t know, but if Jordan had reached out to them once, he’d most likely do it again.
So although it’d gone against what she wanted, Taylor contacted him Wednesday. Considering the subject of the call and the fact Jordan knew her sister, she’d prepared herself for an unpleasant conversation. While it’d been uncomfortable and awkward, it’d gone far better than she’d expected. After he’d more or less reiterated the details he gave to Mom, Jordan requested a meeting with both her and Reese. When she’d refused to bring Reese along, he hadn’t pushed the issue. In fact, he’d said he understood her desire to protect Reese. He’d also agreed to her predetermined location and time for their meeting, something she and Curt discussed in great detail before he left on Tuesday night. On the off chance the man didn’t know where they lived, neither of them wanted to invite him into her mom’s house. The subject matter, though, made them both leery about having the meeting in a coffee shop or a restaurant. In the end, Curt offered the use of his house. Although not ideal, it would give them the privacy she wanted and didn’t potentially give Jordan additional information about Reese.
“I’ll need to refinish the floor if you don’t sit down,” Curt said Saturday afternoon.
Like he could talk. He’d been drumming his fingers against the table for the last ten minutes. “If it needs to be done, I’ll help you.” She pulled out the chair next to him and sat. She’d invited Jordan over for one o’clock. It was five minutes until then now. If she’d been in Jordan’s position, she would’ve already arrived.
“She gets that habit from her dad,” Priscilla explained.
In the beginning, Taylor had planned for only her and Curt to meet with Jordan. After thinking about it, though, it seemed right to include Mom this afternoon.
“Reese played well this morning,” Curt said, clearly in an attempt to distract her.
Reese’s game had been at ten o’clock today. Like Coach Bruno told her, she’d played keeper first. She hadn’t let in a single goal. In the second half of the game, she’d scored one goal, and Hazel had scored the team’s other one.
Taylor nodded and rechecked her watch.
“I bet she gave my mom a play-by-play recap of the game in the car,” he continued.
Curt’s mom had met them at the house after the game and picked Reese up for the rest of the day. Reese hadn’t complained about the unexpected outing with Judith. She loved spending time with Curt’s mom as much as she did with her grandmother. And if anyone ever saw the two of them together, they’d assume they were a grandmother and granddaughter spending the day together. She’d noticed Curt’s mom treated Erin, Leah’s stepdaughter, the same way.
“I told Mom not to spoil Reese too much today,” Curt said.
Taking a page out of Curt’s book, Taylor started tapping her fingertips against the table. “And like Judith always does, she’ll ignore you.” The word “overboard” didn’t exist in Judith’s vocabulary.
“Probably, but everyone deserves to get spoiled sometimes.”
No sooner did he finish speaking than the doorbell rang. Although she’d been pacing moments ago, Taylor now found her butt glued to the chair. Perhaps everyone else suffered from the same ailment because no one moved a muscle.
“I’ll get it.” The first to move, Curt pushed his chair back and stood.
Curt’s voice broke whatever hold the chair had on her butt, and she stood too. “I should be with you. Mom, maybe you should stay here.”
Mom nodded as she took in a deep breath and slowly exhaled.
Based on her sister’s past and the type of friends she’d spent time with, Taylor expected to see someone who looked like Brad, Eliza’s kidnapping partner last year. The man standing on Curt’s front step was about as different from what she expected as one could get. Dressed in jeans and a black leather jacket, Jordan had short, light brown hair and looked as if he took good care of himself.
Why would you ever get involved with my sister? “Jordan?” Taylor asked rather than assume, because for all she knew, the man in front of her wanted to sell them something. After all, a few weeks earlier, a salesman had stopped by their house offering to give them a free estimate on all new windows.
Nodding, the man extended his hand, and again she wondered about how he met Eliza and why he’d ever spent time with her. “It’s nice to meet you,” Jordan said.
“Please come in.” She took several steps back so that he could enter. “Jordan, this is my fiancé, Curt.”
“I’ve seen pictures of you together.” As he’d done with her, Jordan shook Curt’s hand.
Okay, time to get this over with. As if reading her mind, Curt squeezed her hand. “We’ll be more comfortable in the kitchen,” she said.
They hadn’t discussed what type of man Jordan might be, but the way Mom’s eyes grew wide when she saw Jordan walk in the room told Taylor their assumptions had been similar.
“Jordan, this is my mother, Priscilla. I thought she should be here today too.”
Before sitting down, Jordan pulled an envelope from his back pocket and removed his jacket, revealing a wrinkle-free, dark green button-down shirt. “I brought the letter Eliza sent me. I thought you might like to see it. Please feel free to read it.”
Without hesitation, Taylor accepted the envelope and pulled out the letter. She recognized Eliza’s barely legible handwriting right away. It had always been so poor that it’d been common for teachers to make her redo assignments before they even tried to grade them in school.
Eliza had kept the letter short. In it, she didn’t ask how Jordan had been or what he’d been up to. Instead, Eliza explained she’d had a baby nine years ago, and she believed he might be her daughter’s father. She also mentioned that she’d given up custody to Taylor when Reese was about a year old and then provided him with Taylor and Priscilla’s home phone number. Eliza gave no explanation as to why she’d waited so long to reach out or wh
y she felt the need to do so now. Eliza did, however, ask him to write back and let her know if he turned out to be Reese’s father.
“Do you want to read it, Mom?” she asked once done.
Mom considered the question before answering. “No. I don’t think I do.”
Taylor refolded the letter and handed it back. She’d share the contents of it with Curt later. “I’m guessing you never knew Eliza was pregnant when you were together?” She had a lot of questions, and this one seemed as good a place to start as anywhere.
Jordan took a sip from the water Curt had set in front of each of them before joining them at the table. “Eliza and I never had a, uh… exclusive relationship, I guess you’d say.” He glanced at her mom and cleared his throat. “Every once in a while, she’d call me and then come over. If she knew she was pregnant the last time we got together, she didn’t say anything.”
“Then you haven’t seen her in over nine years?” Taylor asked.
Jordan shook his head. “About two years ago, I ran into her at the mall in Nashua. I almost didn’t recognize her.”
Yeah, she could understand that. When Eliza had shown up at the door suddenly a few months before the kidnapping, Taylor had been shocked by the transformation in her sister’s appearance.
“She said she would call, but she never did. Honestly, at the time, I was glad she didn’t. But yeah, I’d say it’s been more than nine years since she was at my house,” Jordan explained.
In the long run, it didn’t matter, but she wanted to know. “How did you meet my sister?”
“At a party a mutual friend was having.”
That made sense. Eliza always loved a party.
“Has Eliza written to anyone else and given them the same news?” Jordan asked.
Great question. Taylor hoped not. If Jordan proved not to be Reese’s father, she didn’t want to go through this again.
A Billionaire's Love: The Sherbrookes of Newport Novella Page 3