by Petrova, Em
“All I know is I’ve dealt with bullies in the past who physically and mentally tortured me. I won’t let it happen again. I’m not a gold-digger. I’m not a grifter. I shared a lovely relationship with your father, and I won’t allow you to sully it. If you can’t speak to me with the same civility I show to you, I’d rather not speak at all.”
A part of him was desperate to believe she acted out another scene of her carefully crafted deception; but the sadness she radiated was real. He should be grateful to her for taking care of his father during his final days. No matter what transpired between them in the past, as a son, he should have been with his father, not a nurse. In return for all the comfort she gave Morgan, all she wanted was a dilapidated old house.
“I know you’ve had a lot to deal with, and I haven’t made things easy for you.”
She didn’t answer. She continued to stare at the floor.
He sat down next to her, his shoulder pressed against hers, surprised she didn’t tense. Maybe she was too upset to notice.
“I think we need to get out of here for a little while and get some fresh air,” he suggested. “I want to show you some place special.” He rose and rinsed a wash cloth in the sink. “First, wipe your eyes.”
She took the cloth from him and dabbed her eyes. “Your lips are white,” she commented.
“I’m a mess,” he remarked when he saw his reflection in the mirror.
“You’ve been drinking antacid from the bottle?” She guessed.
He washed his face in the sink. “Yeah, how did you know?”
“Your father used to do the same thing.”
Maybe he was more like his father than he wanted to admit, even down to their annoying habits. Perhaps if he could trust her, she could help him to understand the man his father had been. He needed that closure. Josselyn, the beauty, was the only person who might be able to give that to him.
Chapter Four
“Where are you taking me?”
“I’m taking you someplace special,” he told her as they walked through the public park in the center of town. The sky above them was solid china blue, and a pleasant breeze stirred the summer air around them.
Side by side, they passed by the children’s area filled with children of all ages playing on swings and slides. Inside a huge sand pit, toddlers with shovels and pails dug furiously in clouds of sand. In the distance, little league teams played a baseball game, and from the bleachers, parents cheered on their sons and daughters.
Ben paused to consider what might have happened if stayed in Unity and assumed his father’s medical practice all those years ago. He might have met a nice girl and settled down with children of his own. He had been so stubborn back then.
“You’re not going to take me into the woods and dump me somewhere, are you?” she asked suspiciously.
He let out a hearty laugh at the absurdity of her question. “You will just have to trust me, Joss.”
Her glossy lips formed into an irresistible pout he wanted to kiss while she looked at him with such innocence. He could barely fathom the idea of her as the gold-digging grifter he accused her of being. Why couldn’t they have met under different circumstances? Things might have been so different. Was it too late to start over again?
“Trust me,” he repeated, and reached out to capture a tendril of her silky raven hair between his fingers.
He could see in her eyes trust did not come easily. Something or someone in her past hurt her deeply and her fear and mistrust ran deep.
“Ben Parnell, I can’t believe it!”
The voice interrupted the possible breakthrough moment. He tore his eyes away from her to see Evan Monroe a few feet away pushing a baby stroller. Although it had been many years and Evan sported a scruffy beard and eye glasses, he recognized his friend.
Ben’s face broke into a huge grin. “Hello, my friend!” he exclaimed and went to shake his hand, but opted at the last second to embrace him.
When he stepped back, he noticed the gold wedding band gleaming on Evan’s left hand. “Wow, look at you! You’re a dad!”
“I am a dad,” he said proudly. “This is Devaney.” He beamed at his chubby baby girl all dressed in pink. As she caught sight of her father, she squealed with joy, and kicked her little legs.
“We’re out for some playtime while Daphne gets some rest in peace and quiet. We have another baby coming this autumn.”
“Congratulations.”
Ben was truly happy for his friend. Even still, a small part of him suffered a pang of something a lot like jealousy. Did he really think time stood still during the years away? Of course things changed, and people moved on with their lives. Ben took Josselyn’s hand. Maybe it was desperation, but he didn’t want to appear the lone bachelor.
“Evan Monroe, meet Josselyn Adler.”
“It’s lovely to meet you, Evan. Your baby is adorable.”
“It’s nice to meet you, too, Josselyn. You two need to visit soon. Daphne and I will pull something together. I know Nick and Lynsey would love to see you both.”
“We would love that,” Ben answered for both of them, and opted for a quick change of subject. He was sure Josselyn realized Evan saw them as a couple. “Say, did you say Lynsey as in Lynsey Reznor?”
“Indeed, it is the same Lynsey Reznor. Can you believe Nick and Lynsey are married? They have a daughter about a year older than Devaney.”
He certainly remembered Lynsey Reznor. She was the most popular girl in high school. The last he heard, she had gone off to some fancy boarding school in Switzerland, and from there she became a successful true crime novelist.
You couldn’t pass a book store without seeing her latest book in the window. Recently he saw an interview with her on the Crime Channel. She returned to Unity and made a life here. Could he do the same?
“It’s hard to imagine the bubbly, lovely Lynsey Reznor with calm, cool, and collected Nick. Good for them.”
“Say, Ben, are you back to join your father’s old practice? I know Patrick was trying to contact you a few months back.”
Ben’s eyebrows drew together. “Excuse me? Who’s Patrick?”
“Patrick Leighton, the doctor who took over your dad’s practice. With all the families moving into the subdivisions, he’s absolutely swamped. He’s had to turn new patients away. I know a while back he called your father to find out if he was interested in returning to the practice, and your dad thought maybe you would want a change.”
The news was all a total shock. Ben bit into his bottom lip. “My dad passed away recently. I didn’t know anyone was trying to contact me.”
Evan laid his hand on Ben’s shoulder. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t know.”
Emotion caught in his throat and choked him. He felt Josselyn squeeze his hand. “Thank you,” he managed to say, but he was not sure if he meant his words towards Evan or to Josselyn.
“Patrick is a neurologist, and looked to make a change in his life, he moved here to Unity. He’s a fantastic guy. I’ll make sure you meet him soon. Who knows? You might just consider joining your dad’s practice.”
Not sure how to respond, Ben still struggled to process the sudden deluge of emotion assailing him from Evan expressing his condolences. “Great...great, I’ll look forward to it.” He raked a hand through his hair. “I’m staying at my dad’s house. You can always reach me there.”
“Well, you two have a great day. I hope to see you both again soon.” Evan continued his way down the path with his daughter.
Ben stood rooted to the spot until Josselyn’s hand rubbed his back.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, just fine.” He hoped his tone would pass for normalcy. In truth, he wasn’t fine. He was shaken by his unexpected meeting with his old friend and didn’t quite understand why.
“Evan seems like a lovely man. He has such a cute baby. I think it’s really sweet how they named their baby girl.”
“What do you mean?”
“Daph
ne plus Evan equals Devaney. It’s a combination of both of their names.”
Ben chuckled, lightening the moment. He reached down and dared once again to take her hand. “Come on, I want to show you my special place.”
***
Was Ben Parnell making an honest attempt at being civil or was he just trying to lull her into a false sense of security?
Josselyn noticed a sudden, distinct change in his attitude, perhaps because of his unexpected meeting with his friend. Maybe he finally started to allow himself to feel the emotions he bottled up inside, and in return, it produced a calming effect.
She hoped so. She desperately wanted to believe Ben wasn’t the ice-cold creep she believed him to be.
He led her by the hand through the thicket of trees. “It’s just a little further on past these trees.”
When they came out the other side, Josselyn was awestruck by the beautiful lake shimmering in the afternoon sunlight. “Wow, how beautiful!” she gushed.
“This is an amazing little corner of Unity, tucked away from almost everything and everyone.” He led her to the shade of a huge oak tree where they sat down on a blanket of cushiony grass. “Except for that house,” he pointed to a lovely cottage off the lake.
As if on a cue, a woman ran from the side of the house laughing merrily with her long dark hair flowing behind her. A shirtless man with an auburn pony tail chased after her. When he caught her, he swept her into his arms and kissed her. Even from the distance, Josselyn could tell how much they were in love. The sight caused a pang deep in her heart. Would she ever find that kind of love in her life? She was thirty-four, too old to be a dreamy girl wishing for her prince to appear and sweep her off her feet. Maybe the love of her life would never appear. Her fate in life seemed to never be happy for very long.
“That house once belonged to my friend, Nick,” he pointed out. “Had I known it was for sale, I would have bought it, and either added an extension to the existing house, or maybe had the house torn down and built a new one.”
She smiled thinly. “If that had happened, maybe I wouldn’t have to fight you for my house.”
“I’m sorry, Joss. I don’t understand any more than you do why there are two wills. Was my father experiencing any sort of dementia the last few weeks he was alive?”
She knew where Ben was leading. If Morgan had not been in his right mind when the wills were prepared, the wills could be declared null and void. Ben would then inherit everything.
“Absolutely not,” she stated vehemently. “Up until the moment he died, your father was lucid. He had a bad heart for certain, but his mind was still sharp as a tack. I swear to that, Ben.” She crossed her hand over her heart. As she did, the tiny strap of her top fell from her shoulder. Before she could fix it, Ben lifted the strap into place.
“If you still don’t believe me, give your Aunt Maribelle a call.”
“I’m not exactly Mirabelle’s favorite nephew right now,” he admitted. “All I know, is we can’t continue to argue about the house or the wills any longer. I can’t handle any more stress.”
“I agree. I can’t deal with any more pressure, either. Losing your father was traumatic enough.” She paused and waited for him to make a comment once again about her relationship with Morgan, but he didn’t.
While he was speaking civilly to her, she wondered how receptive he would be to answering a few questions about Meaghan. Knowing a poor little girl passed away in the house, she was desperate to learn more about her. Was Meaghan Ben’s daughter? Perhaps she was the result of a teenage romance.
“Ben, would you tell me about Meaghan? I’m trying to understand how she fit into Morgan’s life...and your life.” Once again she prepared for an outpour of wrath from his mouth, but he only looked out onto the lake. “Was she your daughter?” she dared to ask.
Finally, after an aching long time, he turned his face to hers. Sadness emanated from his total being. “Meaghan wasn’t my daughter. She was my sister.”
His admission rocked her. How could Morgan have had another child and never told her?
“I was sixteen when she was born, twenty when she died from Leukemia.”
A pain stabbed at her heart. “Poor baby. I’m so sorry, Ben.” She rubbed the top of his hand.
“It was a mixed up, horrible time in my life. In all of my family’s lives. My mother was horrified when she found out she was pregnant. Dad was never home, always at the office or at the hospital. I wasn’t exactly thrilled at the thought of a squalling baby in the house, either; but Meaghan was a lovely little thing with blond ringlets and big blue eyes. I couldn’t help but love her, and she loved me back.” He smiled at the memory.
“Anyway, when she was three, she became lethargic and bruised all over. We got the bad news. I was pre-med then. I suppose I was desperate, convincing myself somewhere, someone in the world had the cure...or at least a treatment to save her. I begged my father to make phone calls…write letters...this was before the internet was readily accessible. He said it was useless, that we had to accept the inevitable, and concentrate on making the time she had left comfortable. It was all so…cold.”
Josselyn thought of a stack of letters with foreign return addresses she packed away with Morgan’s personal possessions. Could they have been somehow connected to Meaghan’s illness? They were now with Morgan’s sister, Maribelle, in Miami. She wouldn’t mention anything about them to Ben until she could verify what the letters really were. If they were from doctors Morgan consulted about his daughter’s illness, she was sure it would help to ease Ben’s mind.
He shrugged his shoulders. “Anyway, nothing helped, not chemotherapy, not blood transfusions. She became weak and frail, and when it was painfully obvious she wasn’t going to be around much longer, we took her home. I held her day and night in a rocking chair and rocked her back and forth. One afternoon she sort of shuddered all over, closed her eyes, and it was over.”
He squeezed his eyes shut. “Meaghan was finally at peace, and my family blew apart. I was angry at everyone—especially my father.”
“I’ve worked with a lot of terminal patients over the years, and I know everyone handles grief in a different way.” Josselyn slid closer to him. “I’m sure your dad understood how you felt. He was a good man, Ben. I’m sorry you never got a chance to know him the last few years of his life. What I do know for certain is he loved you very much, and he was proud. He never uttered one cross word about you.”
“I find that very difficult to believe, but thank you for trying.”
“No, I’m telling you the absolute truth.” She grabbed his hand for emphasis. “Believe me when I tell you your father loved you tremendously. He loved both of his children.”
“How can you know that? He never even told you about Meaghan.”
“That’s true, but I know in here he loved Meaghan.” She laid her hand over her heart. “Right before your father passed away, I was holding his hand, and he smiled and told me he was going to see Meaghan. I got the very distinct impression he was happy to be going to her. Now that I know about Meaghan, I know for certain.”
Ben shuffled around and removed a wallet from his jeans. From an inside pocket he produced a photograph.
A perfect baby girl with blond pigtails wearing an adorable red and white striped sun dress and sandals and clutching daisies between her chubby fingers gazed from the photo. She shared the same glacial blue eyes with her father and her brother.
“Oh, Ben, she’s gorgeous. Thank you so much for sharing Meaghan’s story with me. I know how incredibly painful this is for you, especially with losing your father so recently.” She gently brushed a few errant strands of blond hair away from his eyes.
“You know; you don’t ever get over someone’s death.” His voice was solemn. “As time passes, you only get used to the reality of the loved one or the friend being gone forever.”
“True, but we still hold and honor their memories. That’s why you became a hematologist, isn’t it, t
o honor Meaghan’s memory?”
“I wanted to try to ease the pain of my patients and their families. I have first-hand knowledge of what a family goes through. Hematology is an often soul-destroying specialty, but with every successful treatment the reward of seeing a healthy patient and a happy family is the reward that makes it all worthwhile.”
For the first time since their meeting, Josselyn totally believed Ben’s sincerity. She smiled. “That’s an absolutely lovely sentiment.”
“And this is absolutely lovely,” he said, stroking her cheek with his fingertips.
She hoped the afternoon brought an understanding between them. The past, however, whispered to her not to always believe what she wanted desperately to be true. Ben might seem sincere at the moment, but he wanted something from her—her house. He was a brilliant man, she knew, and this simple show of affection might just be a part of his plan to trick her.
Before any darker thoughts could disturb her, Ben covered her lips with his own strong ones, and she melted into his kiss. Her hand caressed his stubbled chin. When she gently pulled back she searched his blue eyes for some trace of insincerity, but there was none.
“Please, don’t do anything to hurt me,” she whispered.
For a brief moment he looked stung, but then simply gathered her into his arms and hugged her tightly to him and murmured against her hair, “I think it’s time to go now, Josselyn.”
Chapter Five
Josselyn stepped into the house, juggling a bag full of rolls of wallpaper for the living room and two cans of paint. What greeted her was a sixty-inch flat screen television plopped down in the center of the room. Behind the monstrosity was a man with a toolbox.
“Hello,” she said warily, setting down the paint cans and the bag of wallpaper.
“I’ll have your new satellite set up in no time, Mrs. Parnell.”
Ben walked into the living room with a glass of soda in his hand.