by Patricia Kay
“In me?”
“I guess I thought you’d take me to that meeting. That you’d want me to be your attorney.”
For just a moment, Olivia considered an evasion. But if they couldn’t be truthful with each other, how could there ever be real trust between them? Their relationship would be doomed regardless of the outcome of the custody suit. “Mr. Standish said it was better if my attorney was a neutral party.”
Matt’s face revealed his shock. “And he was referring to me? What does that mean?”
“I don’t know, Matt. I’m just telling you what he said.”
“But, Olivia, that doesn’t make any sense. Don’t you want me to be there?”
“Of course, I want you to be there, but—”
Thea chose that moment to bang on the table and demand her milk shake. “I’ve got to tend to Thea, Matt.” Exhaustion caused her to sound impatient, but suddenly the stress of the past weeks just seemed to pile in on her. “Can we table this discussion until after my meeting tomorrow? Hopefully, that’ll shed light on everything.”
Matt wasn’t happy; that much was obvious, but he didn’t argue. Instead, he just dropped a light kiss on her mouth, said, “Let me know what time you’re going tomorrow, and get a good night’s sleep. And remember... I love you.”
“I love you, too,” she murmured.
“Mommy!” Thea yelled.
“One milk shake coming up,” Olivia said, forcing herself to move, even though all she really wanted was to sink down into one of the kitchen chairs and bury her face in her arms. But she was a mother, first and foremost. So she sighed and opened the freezer door. As she took the ice cream out, she heard the front door open and shut.
Matt was gone.
And tomorrow couldn’t come soon enough.
* * *
Austin and Olivia were ushered into Ken Standish’s office at ten o’clock Saturday morning. Olivia felt better than she had the night before, although her stomach was still tied up in knots because she hated the way she and Matt had parted. On top of that, she still couldn’t wrap her head around the fact that some man she’d never heard of before had left her and her daughter an estimated twelve million dollars. In fact, even though she and Austin were in Ken Standish’s office, nothing about why they were there seemed real.
“I’ll get right to the point,” Standish said after inviting Olivia and Austin to be seated and offering them something to drink.
He was a pleasant-faced man with a warm smile. Olivia liked him immediately.
“I know you’re wondering why Jonathan Pierce Kendrick named you and your daughter his heirs,” he continued.
“Especially since I’ve never even heard of him,” Olivia said.
“The reason for that is, while he was alive, he chose to keep his identity secret. But he always intended that after his death the truth would be revealed.”
“What truth?” Austin asked.
Standish looked at Olivia. “Jonathan Kendrick was your late husband’s birth father. And your daughter’s grandfather.”
“What! But—” She stared at the lawyer. How was this possible? Could it be true?
Standish nodded. “I know. It’s hard to believe. But it’s true. And it can easily be proven by testing your daughter’s DNA. Mr. Kendrick had his DNA documented many years ago in anticipation of this day.”
Olivia sat there, stunned. Had Vivienne known this? Did Hugh? Did Matt? Is that why Standish had suggested Matt might not be a neutral party?
“My God, Olivia,” Austin said. “Do you know what this means? There’s no way your in-laws will win the custody case now.”
“Custody case?” Standish said, frowning.
“Yes. The elder Brittons are petitioning the court for custody of Thea, Olivia’s daughter,” Austin explained.
“On what grounds?”
“That Olivia is an unfit mother. The charges are ridiculous, of course, but the court won’t just take our word for it now that an accusation has been made. CPS was notified and has conducted an investigation. We’ll be hearing their recommendations on Monday.”
Standish turned to Olivia. “I’m very sorry to hear this. If I can help in any way, I’ll be happy to. Um...” He cleared his throat. “Mr. Kendrick had you thoroughly investigated, himself, both initially, when you married your husband, and periodically over the years. In that way, he always looked after your daughter. So Austin is right. You’ve got perfect leverage now. Not just the fact that Hugh Britton is not your daughter’s grandfather, but everything documented in Jonathan Kendrick’s files.”
“But even if this is all true, maybe my father-in-law knows all about it,” Olivia said.
“He doesn’t,” Standish said. “Mr. Kendrick’s papers explain exactly why he kept his identity secret. It was to protect your mother-in-law. He wrote you a letter, Olivia. Why don’t we give you some privacy and you can read it, and after you read it, we can talk more. In the meantime, I’ll explain to Austin what steps will need to be taken for you to claim the estate.”
Before he and Austin left his office for a nearby conference room, he handed Olivia an envelope. Olivia’s hands were shaking when she opened it.
Dear Olivia,
You don’t know me, but I know a lot about you. I’ve kept track of you for many years—you and your beautiful daughter, my granddaughter—my only grandchild, in fact. After Mark died, you and she were the two reasons my life still had meaning, because I have never been blessed with other children. I’ve often regretted my promise to Vivienne to keep my identity a secret, especially since Mark’s death. I understood her reasons for silence and respected them. I loved her—we were once engaged, you see, before she met Hugh Britton and broke our engagement—and we reconnected, briefly, during a rough patch in their marriage. That’s when Mark was conceived. Neither of us knew it until after she and Hugh had reconciled, and by then, she wasn’t willing to leave him.
I kept my promise of silence for a long time. But now that I’m facing my own mortality, I think I made a mistake. All these years, you and I and Thea could have known one another, and I could have perhaps made your life easier. I’m sorry I didn’t come forward sooner, but I hope that doing so now will make a positive difference in your life. If others are hurt by this disclosure, I’m sorry, but the truth needs to be told, for many reasons.
I admire you and respect you and think you are a wonderful mother. Please tell my granddaughter how much I love her and how proud I am to know I am responsible for some of her genes.
With much love,
Jonathan P. Kendrick
Olivia’s eyes were moist when she finished reading the letter. He sounded like such a lovely man. How she wished she’d known about him sooner. And yet, she couldn’t help feeling bad for Hugh. Did he have any idea Vivienne had been unfaithful to him? That Mark was not his son?
And Matt.
Did Matt know? Suspect? She didn’t believe he did; he would have told her if he had. Especially since he’d freely admitted to her how much his mother had favored Mark. Even Mark had told her about Vivienne’s favoritism and how uncomfortable it had made him, because Mark had loved and respected Matt. The brothers had been close, despite Vivienne’s adulation of her youngest son.
And now Olivia knew why that adulation had existed. Vivienne must have still loved Jonathan Kendrick, even though she chose to stay in her marriage. Olivia could almost feel sorry for Vivienne. Almost. But nothing excused the unhappiness Vivienne had caused in other people’s lives. It especially didn’t excuse her recent behavior.
Still...no matter how or why Vivienne had become the person she now was, Olivia didn’t want to be the one responsible for exposing her sins to the world. After all, she was still Thea’s grandmother. Still Mark’s mother. And still Matt’s mother. And even if Olivia were willing to fa
ce off with Vivienne, the truth might destroy Hugh.
I can’t do that to them.
Olivia was still thinking about the letter and its ramifications when Austin and Ken Standish came back into the office.
“I’ve made a decision,” she said.
Both men looked at her.
“I don’t want to use what we’ve learned today as a weapon against my mother-in-law.”
“But, Olivia—” Austin said.
“No.” Olivia shook her head. “I won’t be persuaded otherwise. You said yourself we have a strong case. I don’t want to expose her. I don’t want to hurt Hugh...or the rest of the family.”
“We do have a strong case, and actually, I received a phone call from the investigator I hired to look into all of Vivienne’s so-called evidence while Ken and I were giving you privacy to read your letter, and he’s turned up something potentially very good for our case. But you could still lose. There’s no telling how the judge will rule. And once a ruling is made, it will be very difficult to change.”
Olivia shook her head. “You can’t use the information about Mark’s paternity. I won’t allow it.” Making this public would ruin Vivienne. It would ruin Hugh. And it would completely ruin any chance of any kind of reconciliation with the family. “When Thea’s older, she’ll have to be told the truth, but not now. Not like this. No matter what she’s done, I won’t destroy Vivienne’s reputation.”
“Olivia, be sensible. They are trying to destroy yours. They’re lying about you, using any means at their disposal to try to take your daughter away from you. You have to fight back.”
“I will fight back, but not that way. I can’t. Tell me what our investigator found.”
Austin sighed. “Vivienne is the reason Thea wandered off during the festival. I know we all thought it was a kitten or some other animal that drew her attention, but it wasn’t. Our investigator found out Vivienne did it on purpose, just to make you look bad.”
“How could the investigator possibly know that?”
“Because she was seen doing it. He has a sworn eyewitness statement.”
Olivia was stunned. Did Matt know his mother was behind Thea’s disappearance? She remembered the way he’d called his family after finding out Thea was missing. How he told her he hoped the custody case could be settled without dragging all of them through the mud. He must have, at least, suspected.
And he’d never said anything.
But almost immediately after thinking all this, she was ashamed of herself. How could she doubt Matt, even for one second? He couldn’t have known. Not Matt.
He would have told her.
Chapter Fifteen
Matt couldn’t concentrate on anything Saturday morning. He went into the office to catch up on paperwork, but he accomplished very little. He kept waiting for his phone to ring, willing each call to be from Olivia. When, at one o’clock, she still hadn’t called, he finally texted her.
Austin will call you, she texted back.
Austin? Why couldn’t she call him? What the hell was going on?
Twenty minutes later, Austin called.
Matt listened without interrupting as Austin told him what they’d learned in Ken Standish’s office and then what his investigator had turned up concerning Thea’s disappearance from the Fall Festival.
“I’m frustrated, because Olivia has forbidden me to use the information about your brother’s paternity, which, on top of what the investigator found, would ensure she’d keep custody of Thea.”
Matt wasn’t shocked by the information about his mother luring Thea from the festival—it was exactly the kind of thing she would do and he was surprised he hadn’t suspected her.
Nor was he really shocked about Mark. He’d always known Mark was the favorite of his mother’s children, and now he finally understood why. He’d also known about the problems in his parents’ marriage. They’d been evident from the time he was old enough to understand. But he had always imagined his father might be the unfaithful one, not his mother. In some ways, knowing this made her seem more human.
“Look, Austin,” he said, “Don’t worry. I’ll take care of this.”
“How? Olivia said—”
“They’re my parents, not Olivia’s.”
“She said she couldn’t live with herself if she exposed your mother.”
That was like Olivia. “Like I said, I’ll take care of this.”
As soon as the call ended, Matt packed up his briefcase and headed out. He drove straight to his parents’ home.
“You have your nerve, coming here like this,” his mother said when he walked into her sitting room.
“We have to talk.”
“We have nothing to say to one another.”
“Is Dad here?”
“Your father is golfing. Now please go.”
Matt suddenly felt sorry for her. Her entire world, the one she’d built so carefully, was about to fall apart. But he hardened his heart. He couldn’t afford sympathy. Not when so much was at stake. “I’m not leaving until we talk about Jonathan Kendrick.”
Her face stiffened with shock.
“He died last week. Did you know that?”
“J-Jon died?”
Matt saw the way her hands trembled as she clutched them in her lap, but his resolve didn’t waver. He explained the circumstances of Kendrick’s death as Austin had explained them. And then he told her about the will and the letter Kendrick had written to Olivia.
“Austin Crenshaw wanted to present this information to the judge on Monday, but Olivia—the same woman you have done your best to smear—told him she couldn’t be a party to something like that. I, however, have no such qualms. So if you don’t want the world to know about you and about the circumstances of Mark’s birth, you will go to court Monday morning and drop the custody suit. Because if you continue with this vendetta against Olivia, I will expose the truth.”
By now, his mother had recovered her aplomb and the sorrow he’d glimpsed earlier had disappeared. She was once again the regal ice queen ruling her kingdom. “You wouldn’t dare.”
“Yes, Mother, I would.”
“You’d be ruining your own life. No one will vote for you for dog catcher if you go ahead with this.”
“I honestly don’t care.”
“You’re bluffing.”
“I’m dead serious.”
She stared at him. “You mean it.”
“I do.”
“I won’t forgive you for this.”
Matt suddenly felt exhausted. “You only have yourself to blame. I’m just the messenger. And the son you always considered second best.”
“That’s not true.”
“Which part? The blame? Or how you’ve always looked at me?”
When she didn’t answer, he said wearily, “All of it is true, but you know what? It doesn’t matter anymore. Because I know exactly how you can make it all up to me...and keep your reputation intact.”
She didn’t interrupt as Matt told her he loved Olivia and intended to marry her, if she’d have him. “And you will not do anything to oppose our marriage or to make her unhappy. We don’t have to play happy families all the time, because we won’t live in Crandall Lake. Since I’ll be working there, and I know Olivia wants to go back to school, I plan to buy a house in San Marcos. But no matter what, you will, at all times, be civil and you will not say one word against my wife, to anyone, ever. Do you understand? Because if you do, I promise you, you will never see Thea again, and every bit of what I found out today will be made public.”
I
n her eyes, he could see acknowledgment that she was beaten. “So I have your word that you will call Jackson Moyer today? And instruct him to drop the custody suit?”
“Yes,” she said through gritted teeth.
“And you agree to the rest of my terms?”
She nodded curtly.
Matt felt as if the weight of the world had been lifted from his shoulders as he walked out the front door. He couldn’t remember ever feeling happier, and he couldn’t wait to tell Olivia she no longer had to worry about anything.
* * *
Olivia was overjoyed when Austin phoned to tell her Jackson Moyer had called him to say that the Brittons were dropping the custody suit.
“You’re sure?” she said.
“Yes. Apparently, after I called him, Matt convinced your mother-in-law dropping the suit was in her best interest.”
Olivia had barely hung up from the call with Austin when her phone rang again and Matt’s photo popped up on the screen.
“Hi, Matt,” she said, answering.
“Hey. Did Austin call you?”
“Yes.”
“Good. I just wanted to be sure you knew. Listen, I’m at my office. I have a couple of things I need to wrap up, then I’m coming over. Okay?”
Olivia looked at her watch. It was three o’clock. “Okay. I’m going to take Thea to my mom’s. I’ll be back by four.”
“See you then.”
Her mother hugged her fiercely when Olivia told her the good news. “Oh, honey, I’m so happy this nightmare is over. Do you know why the Brittons backed off so suddenly?”
“Little pitchers,” Olivia said, glancing at Thea, who’d gone into her mom’s living room and had already pulled out the toy box her mom kept for her visits. “I’ll explain everything later, okay? Right now I need to go back home.” In a lower voice, she said, “Matt is coming by. We need to settle some things.”
“I understand,” her mother said. Then she smiled. “Give him my love.”