Her mother and Irene fussed over her, each trying to outdo the other in pampering…offering her more hot chocolate, hot broth, a warm scarf for her throat. Under ordinary circumstances, she'd have run from the room screaming, but right now, she was thoroughly enjoying the pampering.
Her father and Herbert drank coffee and discussed Kimball's sins and how much time he was likely to spend in prison.
Charley and Sunny sat quietly watching.
That was the only dark spot in this otherwise glorious evening. What secret were Charley and Sunny going to confess, and how did her father figure into it? He'd told Sunny to come with them, that there was something they needed to talk about.
During her second cup of hot chocolate, Judge Caulfield cleared his throat. As if he'd slammed his gavel, everyone stopped talking and turned their attention to him. "Herbert, Irene, could we have a few minutes alone with our daughter?"
Herbert and Irene exchanged confused glances, but Irene said, "Sure."
Amanda expected Sunny to leave the room, too, but she remained. She'd been right. Whatever secret Sunny and Charley shared involved her father. And her mother, apparently. She squirmed in her chair and looked at Charley. He refused to meet her gaze.
"Mandy, your husband was not a good man," her father said.
"Yeah, there's a reason I was divorcing him. Several of them, in fact."
Charley continued to look at the floor, not rising to the bait.
The Judge drew in a deep breath and sat upright in his chair as if steeling himself for a blow. "I have not been totally honorable, either."
Amanda slid back her chair and started to rise. "I don't think I want to hear this."
"No, you don't want to, but you need to."
Charley refused to look at her.
Amanda returned to her chair and wrapped both hands around the ebbing warmth of her cup.
"You know about Charley blackmailing Kimball. Well, he was also blackmailing me."
Amanda took a big swig of the cooling chocolate, savoring the feel as it went down her sore throat. The pain in her throat didn't compare to the pain piercing her heart. Her fear about her father was confirmed. He wasn't the paragon of virtue she'd always believed him to be. She sat quietly, waiting for but not encouraging this confession.
"He asked for money, but I refused to give it to him. I would not do anything illegal. I did, however, bail him out of jail every time he got caught and see that he had legal representation. You asked why I didn't tell you about Charley's family. That's why. We didn't want you to come to Silver Creek to meet them."
"They're wonderful people," Amanda protested.
"Yes, they are. That's not the point. We were afraid you'd find out if you came down here."
The cup containing the last few dregs of chocolate and milk had gone ice cold in her hands. Or maybe her hands had gone ice cold around the cup. "Find out what?" she forced herself to ask.
For a few moments, everyone was silent. The grandfather clock in the living room ticked loudly.
"Charley came to Dallas specifically to find you," the Judge said.
Amanda's heart, so happy a few minutes ago, clenched into a small, hard knot. She'd ceased to love Charley long ago, but it hurt to hear their marriage, their relationship, had all been part of a scam, that Charley had never loved her, had only wanted to get close to her father to blackmail him.
"It's true," Charley whispered, his gaze finally meeting hers. "I came to Dallas and looked you up. But I swear I fell in love with you as soon as I met you. Remember, I can't lie now."
Amanda glared at him, barely able to resist the desire to tell him to shut up in spite of all the people around them.
"It was my fault." Sunny spoke for the first time. "When I defended him, got him off on the drug charge, he broke into my office and went through my files."
So that's where Sunny came in.
But they still hadn't told her what the horrible thing was that her father had done. Had Sunny defended him in court for some crime? That didn't seem likely since he had the choice of just about any attorney in Dallas.
Her mother, sitting beside her, reached over and took her hand.
Yikes. This was going to be really bad. She couldn't recall her mother holding her hand since she was about five years old. Maybe four.
"When Sunny was in law school, she interned in my office."
Amanda looked at the anxious faces around the table. "Charley blackmailed you because of that?"
Her father drew in a deep breath. He no longer looked like the Judge. He looked like a scared father.
"Your mother and I were having some problems. We separated for a while. Sunny and I…we had a relationship."
Amanda's jaw dropped. She looked at her mother to see if she was going to kill the both of them. Her mother's expression hadn't changed. She continued to look sad and caring and frightened. She already knew.
So what was the blackmail about?
"I got pregnant," Sunny supplied. "I was young and broke and still in law school and had no idea what I'd do with a baby. My mother said we'd manage, but I couldn't do that to her. She'd worked hard all her life to take care of me, and her health wasn't good. You've seen her. She's frail. She deserved to rest, to have me support her. I didn't want to make my mother's life harder, and I didn't want my baby to grow up struggling as hard as I had to."
"So you had an abortion?" Amanda asked. People did it all the time, but it still felt strange to think her father's child, her sibling, had never been born.
Sunny smiled weakly. "No. I loved my baby from the moment I knew she was on the way. I gave birth to her. I held her once, and then I gave her up for adoption to a loving family who could give her everything. I've regretted it every day, wished every day I'd had the courage to keep her, wanted to hold her in my arms and watch her grow up. She's an amazing woman, a daughter any mother would be proud of." She hesitated, then added, as if to herself, "She's had a good life. Better than I could have given her."
Amanda wasn't sure if it was the quiver in Sunny's voice, the tears in her green eyes or just her words, but a really improbable thought crossed her mind. As soon as it did, she suddenly realized why Sunny looked so familiar, where she'd seen her face before.
In the mirror.
"I'm your mother," Sunny said softly.
"Too," Beverly amended. "She's your mother, too."
Amanda looked at each face around the table.
Her father, the Judge, the man who'd been the rock of her life. He'd lied, cheated on her mother…well, on his wife.
Her mother, the woman who'd raised her. She'd never felt really close to her mother. They'd been too different. Oddly, she now felt closer to her than ever before. Her mother had taken in the love child of her husband. She'd cared for her, even loved her in spite of their differences.
And Sunny. The woman she'd liked instinctively the first time she'd met her. The woman she'd wanted to have as her friend. The woman who'd given birth to her and then given her up.
She stood slowly. "I think I need to go to bed now."
No one spoke as she left the room.
***
"I found the files Sunny had of you," Charley said.
Amanda sat on the edge of the bed, unable to lie down and unable to get up.
"She kept track of you. Talked to your dad. He sent her pictures. Even got her into your high school graduation ceremony. She kept everything. She had an entire file cabinet in the back room. It was always locked, so I knew something important was in there. I broke into her office one night and got into the file cabinet. She even had your original birth certificate, so that's how I knew."
Amanda looked at him, the man she'd once thought she'd loved, the man who had betrayed her so completely. "So you decided to come to Dallas, marry me, blackmail my father, and live well on the proceeds."
Charley put both hands in his pockets and looked at the floor. "Marrying you wasn't part of the plan. I married you because I love
d you. But, yes, the rest is true. I was going to meet you, then go to your dad and threaten to tell you about Sunny if he didn't pay me. He refused. But by then, I was in love. Not that loving you kept me from using you. Your dad wouldn't pay me, but he did keep his mouth shut about me, and he did bail me out of trouble whenever I got caught." He lifted his head and looked her directly in the eye. "I'm sorry."
I'm sorry? Amanda watched him, expecting him to disappear at any moment now that he'd reached such an epiphany.
A knock sounded on the bedroom door. Amanda jumped. Charley disappeared.
"Amanda?" It was Irene. "Can I come in?"
"Of course."
Irene entered the room and came over to sit beside Amanda. "How you doing?"
"You heard?"
Irene nodded. "They told me. That's a lot to take in all at once."
"Yeah," Amanda agreed. "A lot."
"Your daddy's a good man. Everybody makes mistakes, especially when they're young."
Amanda laughed. "I don't fault him for his relationship with Sunny. You've met my mother…uh…my…"
"Mother," Irene supplied. "She's still your mother. In fact, you're a pretty lucky lady. You have two mothers and one mother-in-law and we all love you. You're not mad at Sunny for giving you up, are you? She was trying to do the right thing for everybody. Sunny's like that."
Amanda thought about it. Sunny was right. She'd had a good life. She couldn't imagine not having her mother and father and even her sister. "No, I'm not upset with her. I like her. I think she likes me. But I don't know if I can ever think of her as my mother."
"You don't have to. Just let her be your friend."
"I think I can do that."
"Then you're okay with everything you found out tonight?"
Amanda considered that question. "Pretty much. In fact, I understand my mother better than I used to. She's more complex than I realized."
"So there's only one person you can't forgive," Irene said. "Charley."
Amanda nodded. Even though Charley had said he was sorry, she couldn't seem to forgive him. He'd done too much, caused too many problems, hurt her too much. "He's the only one whose motives were bad."
"I'm sorry." Irene unconsciously echoed her son's words.
"Oh, Irene, you don't have anything to apologize for! Except maybe you didn't check your babies close enough, and they switched your son for the son of the psycho couple who lived across town."
Irene laughed at that. "I'm afraid he's mine. I just kinda lost control of him when he was, oh, about a week old."
"I can believe that."
"Do you want me to go downstairs and tell everybody to go home, give you some time to deal with everything?"
Amanda thought about it. A night alone to think about all this would be good. On the other hand, she didn't have a lot to deal with. All she could do was accept the new relationships. Nothing had really changed except she'd finally figured out Charley and Sunny's secret. The three people waiting downstairs were probably freaking out about what her reaction would be.
She stood. "No. Let's go downstairs and figure out who's going to be stuck with me for Thanksgiving dinner."
"No contest," Irene said, smiling. "We want you down here for Thanksgiving. I'll be making pecan pies."
Amanda looked around the room before leaving it. Was Charley really gone or just in the dark, waiting until she was alone? Surely with his murderer going to prison and all his secrets out in the open, Charley could go on into the light.
Still no sign of him as she walked down the stairs.
Kind of weird to think of his finally being gone.
Maybe she'd miss him.
Nah.
When she entered the kitchen, all conversation ceased and everyone turned anxious gazes on her.
She walked first to stand behind her father and wrap her arms around his neck. "Dad, I guess you learned your lesson about cheating on Mom. Look what a stubborn, problematic daughter you got out of the deal."
Her father pressed his hands over hers. "I'm sorry about hurting your mother and Sunny. But I can't imagine my life without you."
She moved from her father to her mother. Maybe one arm around the shoulders would be more appropriate.
Nope. She wrapped both arms around her mother's neck. "Mom, I'm not sure I could have done what you did. But I'm really glad you did. I couldn't have asked for a better mother. Maybe we could go shopping soon and get me some decent clothes." That last sentence was hard to say, and Amanda wasn't sure she could actually do it. But she'd try. She didn't have to wear the clothes after they bought them.
"It took me a while to forgive your father," Beverly said. "You were the deciding factor. We were on the list to adopt. We didn't think we could have children. Then he told me you were on the way." She shook her head. "I wasn't sure I could go through with it until I saw you the first time with that red hair and red face, waving your fists and screaming at the world. I loved you immediately." She patted Amanda's hands. "Your face is a lovely porcelain color now, but the rest hasn't changed."
"Is my sister adopted?" Amanda asked. That would explain a lot. Maybe her sister's birth parents had taken too many drugs.
"No. I gave birth to your sister. She was a wonderful surprise when we'd given up having any more children. We never tried to adopt a second child. You were all we could handle."
Amanda laughed. "I know."
She moved on to the last remaining concerned face. Sunny. Instead of hugging her, however, she sat down next to her. Perhaps this woman had given birth to her, but she didn't really know her, didn't feel comfortable being familiar. In fact, she felt downright uncomfortable, and Sunny looked downright terrified. For a moment, both women remained silent.
"If you want to come visit me in Dallas," Amanda finally said, "I've got plenty of motorcycles you can choose from, and we could maybe ride together."
Sunny burst into tears, leaned over and wrapped her arms around Amanda.
"I'd love to ride motorcycles with you," she said through her sobs.
Amanda tentatively returned the embrace. She didn't think Sunny would ever be a mother figure, but she was pretty sure the two of them would be friends. Good friends. Maybe even best friends.
Sunny sat back and wiped her eyes. "I'm so glad you inherited my love of motorcycles, but I'm sorry you inherited my bad handwriting."
Amanda smiled and looked around the room. Everyone, including Irene who stood in the doorway, was happy and smiling.
Irene walked over to the table. "After all the bad things Charley did, I'm sure the good Lord will forgive him because of the good that's come from his death. We found Amanda, and she found Sunny, and everybody's happy. Now that his killer will pay for what he did, Charley should be able to rest in peace."
"I hope so," Amanda said, her words perhaps more fervent than the situation called for.
"You can just keep on hoping," Charley said, suddenly appearing across the room. "I'm still here." He waved his hands wildly. "No white light. Nothing. I'm stuck."
Amanda dropped her head into her hands and groaned.
"Are you okay?" Irene asked. "Let me get you another hot chocolate."
"I think I need something stronger," Amanda said. "I think I need a Coke. Maybe two or three of them."
Was she never going to get rid of Charley?
THE END
Thank you for purchasing The Ex Who Wouldn't Die. It was a fun book to write, and I'm planning to write more about the adventures of Amanda and Charley in the future. Detective Jake Daggett will be returning, too, and, Charley's not going to like that.
I'm currently working on the sequel to Death by Chocolate, tentatively titled Murder, Lies and Chocolate. Read on for the first chapter of Death by Chocolate which contains the first chapter of Murder, Lies and Chocolate.
Connect with me at my website, Facebook, Twitter or email. I love to talk to readers. Okay, I just plain love to talk!
http://www.sallyberneathy.com
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DEATH BY CHOCOLATE
The Ex Who Wouldn't Die Page 29