Finally, Cindy and Raphael brought me to their place for the night. I didn’t want to be alone at home.
The next morning, Cindy and I visited Debbie. We had a group hug that went on for five minutes. We danced around the nursery with the babies, and generally made a spectacle of ourselves. The babies seemed to enjoy it. I couldn’t believe how big they were getting. And Debbie was exultant, but that little dance sure winded her in a hurry. She was due in January, and getting pretty uncomfortable. But she’d never come out and say it. She lived for David and those babies.
We talked for a long time and caught up on all the events of the past month. Then I gave Debbie a summary of the progress on our business. She thanked me again and again for including her. She told me, after a rocky start, her new nurse, Shirlene, was working out beautifully. And thanks to the money for her artwork, she wouldn’t have to worry about paying the woman.
Then, Cin took us over to “my” house. It was weird to walk in there after more than a month. Everything was just the way I’d left it. Except there was an inch of dust on everything. Despite the fact that Cin called the cleaning lady, I decided to stay at her place.
***
He entered the office and stood in front of Pearson’s desk.
The General looked up. “Have a seat, Alain.”
He landed in the chair.
Pearson stared back at him. “You can knock it off right now, young man. Stop glaring at me.”
“Is there any aspect of my life you don’t control—Sir?”
Pearson raised his voice. “Don’t hand me that crap. You knew what you were getting into when you took this job. And what’s this baloney about working for the EU?”
“I have the job if I want it.”
The General leaned over his desk. “Great! I’ve been busting my ass trying to keep this organization together, and you’re off ingratiating yourself with the EU! Meanwhile, the woman you supposedly love still hasn’t explained to my satisfaction how she knew William Shaw was there to kill the President in Vienna. Now there’s word Shaw may have been hired by Tamara Everett to kill Lambrecht! Did Glori know this? From that wacky speech she gave me at the time—it seems she might have known. How? How would she know that?”
“I don’t know, Sir. You should ask her.” Cat had to be at the bottom of this one.
Pearson slammed the desk. “All I get from her is crazy talk! And now you’re just as crazy! Leaving this organization because you’re mad that I knew your father! That’s no reason to leave a job that truly matters.”
“No?”
“No! And the past is the past.”
“Convenient—Sir.”
“Look—your father insisted I keep his identity secret. He was a valuable member of this organization—did outstanding work. When he saw you—well granted, it was from a distance—he knew you should be working with us. Where would you be if we didn’t recruit you? Teaching martial arts to a bunch of snot-nosed kids?”
Alain only wanted to put him through the wall. “There’s still plenty of snot—Sir.”
“You listen to me, young man. Your father devoted his life to the organization, and you’re cut from the same cloth. I can understand your mother probably wanted you to know your father was someone you could be proud of. But the timing of her revelation is lousy—”
Alain interrupted. “You could have told me yourself years ago, Sir. You deliberately kept it from me. You always told the four of us how important we were to you. You made it sound like you cared about us on a personal level. And that is not the case.”
Pearson shot up from his seat. “That’s the damn problem! It is the case. I let myself care about you on a personal level. Now look where that’s gotten us.” He turned and looked out the window. “You know, I did feel bad that your father abandoned you. I didn’t understand his decision to stay out of your life. I always wanted a son. I suppose that’s why I got too involved with the four of you.”
Alain watched as the General took some heavy breaths to compose himself. His own anger was collapsing into sadness.
Pearson turned back to face him. “You know how important our work is. You know it would be a mistake for the allies to shut us down. You know how deeply we’ve been wounded by Johnson and this nightmare with Everett. You know we’re teetering on the brink of disaster here. I’m asking you not to desert us. Not now.”
Alain rose from his seat. “I need time off, Sir. Now.”
“Where are you going?”
“To find the coward that is my biological father.”
“We don’t have time for this shit.” Pearson rubbed the back of his neck.
“I know, Sir.” Alain left the room.
***
October in Salzburg was cold and stormy, and I intended to keep myself busy and distracted with work. Since when do my intentions go according to plan?
I’d just finished organizing my schedule in my head as I jogged on the treadmill. Cindy appeared with mineral water and that urgent look on her face. I put an end to my boring workout.
She handed me the water. “Glori, your mom called. She says she’s been trying to get hold of you for days. She’s back in Beverly Hills, and everyone is after her for an interview. She sounded excited because Amanda James invited her on her show.” Cin took me by the arm and led me to a nearby chair, as though I might have to fall into it from shock or something.
That was no shock so far. My mom always cared more about herself than me or anyone else. She adored celebrities. Now she could be one herself.
“That’s cool, Cin. Let her knock herself out. It’s not that she’s worried her daughter is okay after getting kidnapped and almost murdered. She’s looking for her fifteen minutes, that’s all. Let her have it.”
Cindy took another chair. “You know how she kind of chatters away without thinking a lot?”
I sat down. “Yeah, Cin, where do you think I get that wonderful trait?” I was getting a bad feeling.
“Jenny said something like, ‘I told Glori not to hang out with Tamara Everett. She’s bad news. Her father was a drug dealer, for heaven’s sake.’ Did she ever say anything like that to you?”
I felt my throat close up. “No,” I squeaked.
“Should we call General Pearson? What should we do? She can’t go on TV and say something like that.”
I doubled over in my chair. “Oh my dear God. Everyone’s gonna think I told her that. I have no idea. She wasn’t even around when I found that out. She’s been in Hawaii forever. What are we gonna do? She’s a loose cannon, if there ever was one.”
Cindy leaned over me. “You’ve got to talk to her. It’s just that, I’m not so sure it’ll do any good. She doesn’t listen to anyone.”
“If the General finds out about this, he’ll have her arrested or shot or something. Oh no! He’ll have David out there blowing away my own mother.”
Cindy nodded at me like that could happen. “Oh, no, honey, he wouldn’t do that. I mean, I don’t think…. Is it really so important that the public doesn’t find out about Everett?”
I went to call my mother, Big Mouth Jenny Coulson.
When I got her on the phone, it was like old times. She babbled on about me being kidnapped and almost killed, and, although she asked the questions like was I okay, or did I need anything, she sure didn’t pause to find out an answer. She just rambled on about how this had impacted her and her life. Then she went on about all the media attention she was getting.
Then she went on about my father, who left a message on my voice mail, inquiring if I was all right. Yeah, we were a close knit family. Anyway, I guess he actually made a second call to her, to see if I was okay. So Dad scored big in my book that day.
I finally interrupted her. “You told Cindy that Tamara’s Dad was a drug dealer?”
“Did I say that?” She got all coy.
“Yeah, Mom, you did. How’d you know that?”
“Well, I probably never told you, I had a little affair of the heart
with one of the Senator’s bodyguards. And he kept our little parties well supplied. He just said he was a bodyguard to keep things simple.”
“So you dated a drug dealer?”
“That was long after your father and I were divorced.”
I rolled my eyes. She jabbered on about the perils of me associating with someone like Tamara. Go figure.
“Mom. Mom.” I yelled at the phone. “Just don’t go telling the press—or anyone—that Everett or his bodyguards were drug dealers, okay?”
“Okay. Are you still dating that handsome French policeman? I might not mind being handcuffed by him.”
“Yeah.” I gritted my teeth.
Then her voice got all serious. “Glori, hon, I noticed Aubrey Rose left that detective from Texas for Tommy Cross. That was a wise decision. Hon, you should take a lesson from your friend, Aubrey, and find someone to marry that’s more on your level. Now that you’re a star, you’ll find some hunk with money, like Tommy Cross.”
“Yeah, Mom, I gotta go. Just don’t talk about the Everetts, okay?”
***
I guzzled mineral water and stared across the table at Cindy. “Yeah, I’m pretty well doomed, I guess. Jenny and Don Coulson for parents. There’s a prescription for disaster. Baby Christina doesn’t have a snowball’s chance.”
“Oh Glori, it’s not that bad. Look what you’re doing with your life. You’re a business phenomenon, and you’ve done it with your own sheer determination. So whatever bad genes you think you have—you’re well able to succeed in spite of them.”
“Yeah. But I got a bad feeling about my mother. The last time I saw her was probably two years ago when I did a photo shoot in Hawaii. That was just lunch—and I ended up running screaming from the place.”
***
Later that morning, Cin and I found Debbie all alone in her studio, staring out at the rain, feeling her feelings. Cindy surrounded her with a hug. “What’s going on?”
“Daddy has finished the renovations on the house, and he’s insisting that we all come over tonight for dinner. I told Daddy that this is a weeknight, and it’s short notice, and David is very busy at work. He told me when he left this morning that he would be home late, and he might not even have time to call me. He always calls anyway, but he just says that so I don’t worry so much.”
Cindy frowned. “George should understand, honey. Tell him you can make it another day. Remember those boundaries.” She squeezed Debbie’s hand.
Debbie held her stomach. “I tried, and then he said he’d spent a g-d fortune to renovate this place, and we should appreciate it. And then he said we should all go to their house on Sundays from now on, not the Clementes’. So the whole extended family can have a new tradition, and it’s the least they can do, because they moved all the way from Beverly Hills to this freezing cow pasture. I’m not sure he really said freezing, but it began with ‘f.’”
“Yeah, that sounds like ol’ George.” I started flipping through her canvases.
“Can you come tonight, Glori?” She had a pitiful face on. “You’ll come, won’t you, Cindy?”
Cin and I shrugged in unison. “Sure.”
***
That night Cindy, Raphael, and I walked through the door to find George and Marion Aldridge leading a tour of their home. Papa Roberto, Cat and Cisco wandered after them with polite interest, but Papa’s “date,” Aubrey, grabbed Cindy and me, and we found an isolated sitting area.
I giggled. “So it looks like living at the Monchsberg has its advantages. When Jimmy has to work, you go out on the town with Papa Roberto.” We laughed.
“Why didn’t you two stay at Jimmy’s apartment? Not enough security?”
Aubrey shrugged. “It all started one day when I wanted to make breakfast and there was nothing in the house. I felt like making grits and eggs. Jimmy thought I was crazy, but I called up Papa Roberto, and he said he’d take care of it. So then Jimmy decided we should move in and let Papa’s staff do the cooking. It’s been great—and Jimmy is a lot less worried about me being alone when he’s at work.”
“Cool. Maybe I should do something like that—take a suite at the Monchsberg.”
Cindy turned to me. “No, you can stay right here with us until this whole thing with Alain gets straightened out. I like having you here. I don’t want to drive all the way into Salzburg to see you.”
I rolled my eyes. “Cin, I know you guys have plenty of room, but I feel like a third wheel, and I don’t want to sponge off you. And I don’t know that anything is getting resolved with Alain. It sure doesn’t look like we’ll ever get back together.”
Cindy looked me in the eye. “One of these days, we’ll finally get hold of Alain—at a time when there’s no disaster happening—and we’ll kidnap the both of you and make you talk everything through. He obviously still loves you.”
“Yeah. Right.” I figured I’d leave Cin to her fantasies.
By now most of the others had arrived, and Marion strode over to us. “Girls, so glad you could make it this evening. Glori, your mother phoned me today, to let me know she’s arriving here tomorrow. George and I invited her to stay with us.”
My jaw must have dropped ten feet. Cindy practically slid off her chair. Marion turned on her heel and left, complaining her daughter and useless son-in-law had not yet arrived, or even called.
I couldn’t begin to imagine what in hell my mother would be doing in Austria, of all places. We could never stay in the same room together for more than an hour. Lunch was pretty much the extent of our capabilities.
For the second time today I wondered what kind of a mother I’d be. My imaginary baby Christina was on my mind a lot these days. I sure didn’t want to repeat my mother’s performance. But I’d had a good example of motherhood too, from Cindy’s mom, Dottie. I hoped, if Christina ever became reality, I could be the kind of mom Dottie was to Cin.
George’s gruff growling snapped me out of my reverie. I looked up to see David shielding Debbie from another of her father’s tirades. When George was finally spent, David looked down at him with disgust. “George, I’m afraid we cannot tolerate your angry outbursts. Debbie and I re-arranged our schedules to accommodate your dinner party. If you cannot be civil, we will have to leave.”
Purple-faced George raised his fist and suddenly thought the better of it. “Just go sit down.”
“After you apologize to your daughter for your unconscionable behavior.” David gave him that lip curl that was as close as he usually got to a smile.
Aubrey, Cindy and I almost fell out of our seats snickering. George turned brighter purple and uttered an actual apology to Debbie, who peered out from behind her husband, white as a ghost, her mouth open in astonishment. Then David escorted her over to us and helped her to a seat.
I was glad to see someone stand up to old George. And I smiled when I remembered Cat’s little prediction about them being gone around Christmastime. I hoped my mother would be back in Hawaii long before that.
Chapter Seventeen
The sun finally made an appearance the next day, and Raphael kindly offered to drive Cindy and me to the airport to meet my mother. She waved at us energetically as she led two men with a ton of luggage. Evidently, she intended to make herself comfortable in Salzburg.
After air kisses and introducing her to Raphael, he drove us over to the Monchsberg for lunch. All the while, she whispered to me about how hot he was. Cindy bit her lip to stop from laughing—apparently she wasn’t supposed to hear my mother’s raving.
At the Monchsberg, the concierge told us Papa Roberto would be having lunch for us in his apartment. Of course, my mother threw herself at him once she saw the hotel he owned. While Papa turned to speak to the butler, I dragged Mom out to the balcony.
She took in the view of the old city. “Wow, look at all the domes and spires. It looks so—foreign.”
“Mom, why are you here?”
“I’m Gossamer Magazine’s newest correspondent.” She pulsated with excit
ement. “I haven’t had a job since before you were born—”
“What?” I thought I was going to lose it.
“Roberto is a very attractive man, and this hotel of his is opulent with a capital ‘O’.”
“Yeah, a rich, attractive man with one foot on a banana peel. That’s just your style, Mom.”
“Who is that woman in all the pictures?”
I couldn’t believe she was veering me off the most important topic so easily. “That woman is his wife, and he’s still crazy in love with her, even though she’s been dead for years. So just leave him alone. He’s in his eighties. And what’s this about Gossamer Magazine?”
“They’re looking for a more mature viewpoint, and since I’m almost forty—”
“Mom, you’re pushing fifty.”
She looked like I’d just dumped cold water on her head. “I’m forty-eight. And I have the perfect dynamic for this job.”
“Dynamic?” I trembled at the thought that I had this woman’s genes. “You came here to spy on me and my friends. You couldn’t care less how hurtful it is that you’re here just to do a story on me. All you can think of is yourself. And you’re willing to sacrifice everything—your daughter and everything—just to get your fifteen minutes of fame.”
“Glori, don’t be silly.”
I stood almost nose to nose with her. “You say one word, you do one little story about me or my family, and I’ll never speak to you again. That’s it, we’re done. Get it?”
She gave me a defiant glare, turned on her heel, and headed back inside. “Roberto, I’ve never seen such a spectacular view. How did you ever find this place?”
***
I tried to pretend my mother was not living right down the street and get some work done.
My solo album was complete and would be out for Christmas. The videos were set to go, and we worked on publicity. Joe and our producer, Doug Bainbridge, had arranged a concert in Salzburg that would be televised around the world. Each one of us: Paulo, Nita, Cat and I had solo albums coming out, along with one with the whole band. So there was huge hype around that.
In the Name of Glori (The Redemption Series: Book 3) Page 21