All Sonia could possibly do was to nod in agreement. She had a sudden silly thought. Wouldn’t her brothers love to see her speechless?
“I will tell you what I think of that in a little while, but first, I want to tell you a story.”
Beth waited while Maria served their tea and left.
“I wonder, did Wayne tell you that my father was once governor of this state?”
Sonia finally found her voice. “Yes, he did. That must have been exciting for you.”
Beth giggled again. “You don’t know the half of it, dear. It was quite the experience, believe me and not all of it was good.”
She threw her head back and her long brown hair with silver streaks in it landed behind her shoulders.
“My father was elected governor when I was in my freshman year of high school. And since he served two terms, he was still governor all through my college years as well. Both of my parents had wanted me to go to one of those exclusive girls colleges back east, but I wanted to stay at home and insisted that I be allowed to go to ASU.”
As the older lady took another sip of her iced tea, Sonia was wondering where she was going with this story. To her it just seemed to emphasize the differences between her and Wayne.
“Well, it was while I was at ASU that I met Harold.” She smiled fondly. “You only know Harold as the dignified CEO that he is now. But let me tell you, when I met him he was anything but dignified. He was there on a football scholarship. His parents were good people, the salt of the earth, but neither one ever finished high school. They both worked in a grocery store here. He worked in produce and she was a checker. So you see they had very little and the only way Harold could have gone to college was on a scholarship the way he did.”
Sonia was enjoying hearing this touching story, but still wasn’t sure how it applied to her and Wayne.
“I met Harold at a party after a big football victory my junior year. He was a senior and the star quarterback. Oh, I almost forgot to tell you that all the time my father was governor, I was guarded by the state police just like he and my mother were. It was all very exciting to a high school girl, but rather restrictive when I was in college. Well, anyway, Harold saw me and started talking to me. Then he tried to get me to go out with him. That was when the officer with me that night stepped between us and asked him to leave.”
Sonia was grinning now. She was having difficulty picturing Harold Newcomb as a football player or being told what to do by anyone.
“I stamped my foot and told that officer to back off. I would make my own decisions as to who I went out with. Well, we went on a date. It was simply a disaster. The officer drove us!” When Sonia laughed, Beth shook her head and said, “Yes, it was so embarrassing. The officer said that it was on direct orders from my father.”
She stopped and placed her hand on Sonia’s arm again. “Do you see the vast difference between Harold and me back then dear?”
Okay, now she was beginning to see where Beth might be going.
“Well, frankly, I didn’t give a rip about how pour Harold was. Once I realized I loved him, there wasn’t anything or anyone who was going to keep me from getting him. The last game of his senior year, he tore up his knee so badly that he could never play football again. You might think I was being selfish, but that was good for me. I wanted him and I didn’t want to share him with some professional football team.”
Sonia realized she was supposed to say something, but all she could think of was, “What happened then?”
“Well, I was all set for Harold to propose to me but he didn’t. I couldn’t understand it. I had always gotten everything I ever set out to get. So I got right in his face and said do you want to marry me? He said yes then I said then why don’t you ask me?”
Sonia couldn’t help herself, she laughed aloud at the expression on Beth’s face and the words she had just spoken.
“Now, this is the clincher as they say. He looked me right in the eye and said, “Have you given your life to Jesus?”
She slapped her thighs with both hands. “I was shocked. I had no idea what he was talking about. But he was willing to explain it all to me. Several weeks later, with the help of his pastor up here, I did finally accept the Lord. And everything else just fell into place after that.”
Beth leaned back against the sofa cushion, crossed her arms over her chest, and smiled at Sonia as if she was waiting for something.
Sonia’s mind was racing in circles. She understood all too well what Beth had been trying to get her to understand.
Finally, after several minutes of deep thought, with Beth patiently waiting, Sonia said, “I think I see two things that you wanted me to understand. First, if two people truly love each other their backgrounds don’t have to make a difference.”
“That’s right, dear, but go on.”
“I guess the biggest thing I heard there was that the only difference that matters is that if one is a true Christian and the other one is not.”
“Yes, dear. You see, Wayne and Kelly came to live with us when their mother was killed in the wreck that shattered Kelly’s ankle. Wayne was fourteen and Kelly was twelve. Kelly was and still is one of the sweetest persons you’ll ever know and she accepted the Lord soon after coming here. But Wayne, on the other hand, was too stubborn to listen to anything that he was ever exposed to in church. So, as Harold helped me come to the Lord, you will need to help Wayne come to Him too.”
Sonia’s mind was in a whirl now. She couldn’t think clearly.
“Now, dear, there is one obstacle that we need to get over before I think Wayne will be ready to accept the Lord.”
Sonia waited as she let that sink in.
“You see, he hated his father and has never forgiven him for leaving him and Kelly when they were little and never having any more contact with them. He still won’t forgive Harry, even now that he’s . . . gone.”
She stumbled over the last word then she picked up again. He needs to forgive Harry before he can go on.”
While Sonia was processing all of that, Beth picked up the phone on the table next to her and told Maria that she could serve dinner now.
That was when Sonia realized that she had been setup. But it didn’t bother her at all. In fact, she was smiling on the inside as well as on the outside. She knew what she had to do now and was ready to start.
Wait a minute! What did that mean? Did it mean that she was starting to fall in love with Wayne? She let out a huge sigh that turned Beth’s head back toward her as they walked across the foyer to the dining room.
Beth just smiled at her again. Sonia went back to her thoughts. Yes, if she were honest with herself that was exactly what was happening to her. She was falling in love with Wayne Newcomb.
* * *
Wayne watched Sonia as she followed his grandmother into the dining room. Sarah and Leo were already there with him and Grandfather. The table had been shortened to accommodate six rather than the usual ten or twelve.
Once he was sitting next to Sonia with Sarah and Leo opposite them and his grandparents at the head and foot of the table, he leaned over to Sonia and said, “You and Grandmother must have had quite some talk.”
She only smiled at him and her eyes twinkled. That blew him away. He’d never seen her eyes do that before and he was speechless through their soup and salad. He did succeed in keeping from staring at her though . . . at least most of the time.
When he did manage to tear his eyes off Sonia, he saw that his grandparents and Sarah were smiling at him in a strange way. Even Leo was watching him with interest.
Wayne was relieved when dinner was over and they were sitting in the great room. He, of course, was sitting next to Sonia on one sofa while the other two couples were occupying two other sofas in the same conversation pit.
Grandmother spoke first. “It certainly seemed empty and quiet without the others. But, I don’t blame Alison or Kelly for not wanting to take their little ones out in this heat just yet. They do nee
d to get a little stronger first.”
Grandfather laughed and said, “It certainly won’t be quiet next Sunday with two infants here.”
Sarah looked at her former in-laws and said, “It still overwhelms me when I stop to think that just two years ago I didn’t think I had any relatives in the world. Now I have a son and daughter, a husband, all of you and of course best of all, two grandchildren. It’s just almost too good to be true.”
Wayne looked at Harry’s widow. He still couldn’t get himself to think of that man as his father. But she was beginning to get to him though. The way she had tried to treat Kelly and him like her own daughter and son, had felt threatening at first, but now he was beginning to understand her better. He looked at the big guy sitting next to her. Talk about ironic! Harry had been a general in the Air Force and Leo had been his orderly. Now Harry’s widow was married to his former orderly.
He had no idea how much conversation he had missed while deep in his thoughts but Sonia was speaking to him.
“Wayne, do you think we ought to go now. I need to check on some of my detectives who are doing stakeouts tonight. And I’m sure your grandparents are tired of all of us being here this afternoon.”
Grandmother spoke up quickly. “No dear, don’t leave on our part. We simply love having you and Wayne here.”
“Thank you . . . Beth. But I really do need to go.”
Wayne was glad. He wanted Sonia to himself for a while, even if it was only on the short drive to her condo. Wait a minute. Sonia had called Grandmother, Beth. They must have really talked before.
On the trip to Sonia’s condo, Wayne tried twice to get a conversation going, but Sonia seemed to be so deep in thought that she only answered in monosyllables so he gave up.
When he pulled up in front of her condo, though Sonia reached across and touched his arm. “Would you like to come in and sit for a while, Wayne?”
Would he ever. “Yes, I would.”
As soon as they were inside, Wayne looked around and said, “This is almost exactly like Kelly’s condo that she sold when she married Grant.
“Yes, it is. You must know that hers was just around the corner from this one.” She looked around also. “I like it. It has everything I need, yet it’s small enough that it doesn’t take much time to keep it clean. And with my irregular hours, that’s important.”
She waved toward the sofa and said, “Why don’t you have a seat while I get us something to drink. Iced tea?”
When he agreed, she stepped into the kitchen and came back shortly with their drinks. She placed them on coasters on the coffee table in front of the sofa and sat down next to Wayne.
When she turned and caught him staring at her again, she didn’t seem to get angry this time. That was a relief . . . and maybe even a little progress too.
He didn’t know what to talk about. He certainly wasn’t ready to talk about church this morning. His grandfather had already grilled him on his reaction to the sermon. He wasn’t ready to talk to Sonia about that. Maybe in a few days, he could sit down and talk to her about it but not yet. He still needed to do some thinking on his own first.
She continued to look into his eyes for so long that he felt himself blushing. Him? Blushing? Well why not? That’s what she did to him.
“I would imagine you would like to know what your grandmother and I talked about before dinner.”
She didn’t wait for a response from him. “One of the things that she is very concerned about is your anger and resentment toward your father.”
“Harry! His name was Harry. He stopped being my father when he left us when I was eight years old and never came back. What kind of a father would do that?”
“Wayne.” She touched his bare arm with her fingertips. “I agree with you one-hundred percent.” At his surprised look, she smiled, withdrew her hand, and turned more toward him.
“My mother left all of us when I was only three. Yes, that means that I never knew her and certainly don’t remember anything about her.”
She paused while he thought about what she had just said.
He snorted. “All that proves is that we are more alike than we first thought.”
“Yes, that is true, but there is more, so much more.”
He frowned, “You must hate her as much as I do Harry.”
“No, Wayne, I don’t hate her at all . . . now. But I did for years. I resented her for walking off on us, for not being there when I needed a mother. But that all changed about five years ago. To make a long story short, I forgave her.”
Wayne couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He knew where she was going with all this. No way!
He shook his head. “I don’t think I could ever forgive Harry.”
She actually smiled at that. “Wayne, let me ask you a question. Does your hatred hurt Harry?”
“No. Why would you ask that?”
Ignoring his question, she continued, “Okay, does it hurt you? And before you answer that question think about this. When a wise person explained that to me, I didn’t think so either . . . at first. But the more I thought about it and the more he explained it, the more I realized that my hatred of my mother was not hurting her but it sure was hurting me. When I was finally able to forgive her, I felt so much better and I still do.”
Wayne was still shaking his head and trying not to think about how much sense what Sonia had just said made.
“Wayne, if you forgive Harry, it won’t do anything for him and wouldn’t even if he were still alive, but it will make you a better person.”
She paused to look deep into his eyes. “Isn’t that what you’ve been trying to do all along, become a better person?”
Wayne’s head was spinning and he needed to get away somewhere by himself before he said something to her that could hurt their relationship.
He stood. “I’m sorry Sonia, you must know how much I enjoy spending time with you, but right now my mind is going in circles. I can’t think. I’ve got to get my mind clear and I can’t do that here.”
When he saw a hurt expression coming over her face, he added, “I don’t want to hurt you Sonia, but being around you makes me do and say strange things sometimes. I guess what I’m trying to say is that I need to do some serious thinking and being with you right now only confuses me more.”
He was afraid he had said too much or the wrong thing, but apparently not.
She smiled at him and leaned toward him to peck him quickly on the cheek. “Go ahead, Wayne, I understand completely. I was the same way. Go and think things through. Then we can talk some more about it. Okay?”
Wayne walked out of Sonia’s condo more confused than ever, especially after her kiss on his cheek. Man, did he ever need to do some serious thinking now.
Chapter Nine
Sonia hadn’t slept well and didn’t like the way she felt as she sat in her office on Monday morning. She was still feeling rather grouchy when she assembled all of her detectives around the two conference tables that were normally in front of each of the sergeants’ offices. The two tables had been pulled together in front of her office to make room for all eleven of them.
She looked from Stan on her left to Grant on her right and felt their support from the nods of encouragement they each gave her. It felt good. Then she looked out at the other eight detectives. This section of the department had grown and she was proud of each one of her detectives.
“I want all of you to know that with the situation being what it is with these two hit and run homicides, we will all be working on the case as needed. For now, it will continue to be Grant, Stan, and myself working on it full time.”
She glanced at each face around the table. “But I will be pulling one or more of the rest of you in from time to time as I did last night on those two stakeouts. We need to close this case as quickly as possible.”
“Since nothing happened at either house we staked out last night, we have to put our heads together and try to come up with some way to smoke out our pe
rp or perps.”
When a low murmur broke out around the table, she said, “We will continue to stake out both houses for now. We’ll rotate the people each night. I’m not sure how much good it’s going to do though. They have to be onto us since I caught that kid the other night. But if we stop, you know that’s when they’ll strike for sure.”
“Now, I’ll let Grant brief all of you on everything that has happened so far.”
She leaned back in her chair as they all listened to Grant’s briefing with a few questions along the way.
When he was finished, she said, “Okay, now, let’s brainstorm some ideas of either what to do next or anything about the case in general that may pop into your minds.”
Over the next fifteen minutes, all sorts of ideas and comments came out and Sonia assigned several of them to follow up on some of the good suggestions. Then she broke up the meeting with, “Okay, that will be all for now. Let’s all get out there and see what we can get done. If you don’t have an assignment directly related to this case, then keep working on your present caseload until we need you on this one.”
Sonia led the way into her office with both Grant and Stan following her to the small conference table. Once they were all seated, Sonia said, “Grant, see if you can get permission from Ms. Tilton’s brother for us to go into her house again. And Stan, give Bill Hogan a call to set up something at his mother’s house too. Whatever the killer is looking for must be in one of those houses. I would like for us to find it before they do.”
Her phone rang and when she answered it, it was Wayne. “Oh, hi Wayne.”
She tried to ignore the snickers from the other side of the table.
“Sonia, there are some things I’d like to talk to you about. Can you meet me somewhere for lunch?”
She looked at her watch. “I’m sorry Wayne, I just can’t get away.” When he groaned on the other end of the line, she added, “But why don’t you come over to my place for dinner tonight?”
Resolved Memories (Sycamore P.D. Series Book 3) Page 12