by Barbara Gee
Vince didn’t correct her, and she gave him a grateful look. “I’ll go get some coffee,” she said, standing up and hurrying off.
“I’m sorry about that,” Gary said, motioning for Vince to follow him down the hall. “She only told me you were here a few minutes ago, but you had the look of someone who’d been settled in for a while. I’ll have to talk to her about the way she treats people without appointments again. Problem is, she’s my aunt, so she gets away with far too much.”
“I understand,” Vince told him agreeably. “I doubt anyone commits the crime of showing up without an appointment more than once.” He chuckled. “I know I won’t.”
“She means well, but I really am sorry she made you wait.” They entered his office and Vince took the chair the man indicated, across from the desk.
Gary settled into his high-backed desk chair and steepled his fingers. “So, Mr. Abbot, Jeremiah mentioned you to me when we talked the other day. He said you and Callie are getting close, and he’s confided in you. I assume that’s why you’re here?”
“Yes. Jeremiah asked me to get in touch with you. I’m afraid he’s fading fast and he wanted me to talk to you about what your PI has found.”
“Would you mind telling me what he’s told you so far?”
“He hasn’t told me much. I know he found Tabby’s journal, but he didn’t tell me what it says. He told me you’ve hired a private investigator to look into what she wrote about. I also know Callie’s father is involved in some way, but there’s more to it than just him.”
“Did Jeremiah say why he wasn’t telling you everything?” Gary asked curiously.
“He was afraid if he told me too much, I’d feel obligated to tell Callie I was keeping something from her, and he doesn’t want her to even know there’s a secret until after he’s gone.”
“That sounds plausible. He only recently told me the details. Seems he’s been sitting on that journal for quite some time, and his conscience and curiosity finally got the best of him. He feels obligated to tell Callie what he discovered, but he very recently decided he wanted to find out more first. That’s when the PI came into play. And yes, I was also warned not to say a word to Callie until it’s time to go over his will.”
“He gave me the key to the safety deposit box, to give to Callie once you tell her what’s going on.”
Gary nodded. “Right. The journal is at a bank in Grand Forks. I saw copies of the pages, but then Jeremiah made me shred them. Didn’t want to risk anyone else seeing them.”
Vince shifted in his chair. “Is the private investigator looking into things locally, or is he wherever Tabby lived before she came home?”
“He’s in the city where she was living before returning to Barlow.”
Vince thought about that for a moment, wondering where that was, and how much Gary would end up telling him without Jeremiah’s direct authorization.
“Jeremiah seems to think you were right to hire a PI. He was in rough shape last night, but as soon as he got the chance, he asked me to talk to you, and tell you he wants you to bring me into the loop. He wants me to be prepared to help Callie when she finds out.” Vince rubbed his knuckles along his jaw a few times, then decided to level with the man. “To tell you the truth, I have mixed feelings about it. I’m not sure how Callie will feel about me knowing personal stuff before she does, but I told Jeremiah I’d trust him on that one. Then, after I promised him I’d talk to you, he was basically out of it for the rest of the night.”
“Any improvement this morning?” Gary asked, his eyes concerned.
Vince shook his head. “No, and there’s not likely to be, I’m afraid. He’s had a rough week, and his pain level got bad enough his doctor started him on some pretty strong pain meds last night. Sounds like he’s going to have to stay on them. They help the pain, obviously, but the trade-off is he’s pretty much in a fog.”
Gary gave a heavy sigh. “It’s been hard to see the change in him. Did you know him before he got sick?”
“No, I only met him a couple weeks ago.”
“He and my dad are good friends, although Jeremiah has become a bit of a recluse since his cancer came back. He doesn’t like visitors much, even his friends.”
“Callie believes that’s because he’s self-conscious about getting so physically weak.”
“That sounds about right. Jeremiah always had an imposing physical presence, and I have to admit, I was shocked to see the difference when he came in last. I tried to hide it, but I doubt he was fooled.”
Vince studied the attorney for a moment. “Jeremiah is really worried about how that journal is going to affect Callie.”
Gary gave a slow nod. “With good reason.”
Vince’s stomach rolled with dread. “Will you tell me what it says?” he asked, gripping the arms of his chair hard enough to cramp his fingers.
The older man sat back and fiddled with a pen. “I wouldn’t even consider telling you if Jeremiah hadn’t already told you as much as he did, and also mentioned you to me as a possible confidante. And I guess he gave you the key, too, which is notable.” He studied Vince intently. “I’d actually planned to visit Jeremiah later today, but it sounds like you’re my best bet now that he’s ailing.”
“Best bet for what?”
“Things have gotten to the point where I need to get someone else involved. I’m not comfortable making decisions about this on my own.” Gary sat forward, his dark eyes somber. “Jeremiah said you and Callie have gotten close.”
Vince met the man’s gaze steadily. “We have.”
“And it’s serious? As in, you’re going to be a part of her life long-term?”
“I plan to be.”
Gary gave a crooked smile. “Well, that’s happened rather fast, but believe it or not, I can relate. I married my wife six weeks after meeting her. Twenty years later, we’re still going strong.”
Vince smiled. “I’m glad to hear it. I certainly wasn’t expecting to meet a girl like Callie, but I’m not complaining.”
“I should hope not,” Gary said. “I know Callie well enough to know you’re a very lucky man. And Jeremiah approves of you, which is saying a lot considering that girl is the most important thing in his life.”
Vince was sincerely glad to know Jeremiah had voiced his approval, but he was still on edge about what Gary was going to tell him about the journal.
Gary studied Vince for a moment longer, then sat up straight and nodded, apparently coming to a decision. “I’m going to level with you, Vince, and tell you everything I know. I can’t stop you from passing it on to Callie, but just remember that’s not what Jeremiah wanted. Not until after he’s gone.”
“I get it. He told me himself more than once.”
“Okay, well, I’ll leave that up to you then.” Gary tapped his pencil on the desk a few times, then set it down and stood, clasping his hands behind his back as he paced to his window and back to the desk. He moved his hands to his hips, his expression troubled.
“I talked to Kirk—he’s my PI—early this morning. He’s down in New Orleans. That’s where Tabby was living before she came back here. I guess Jeremiah didn’t tell you that?” Vince shook his head, and Gary continued. “Anyway, Kirk found out something that very much concerns me. It complicates things far more than we expected.” Again, Gary paced to the window and back.
Vince frowned as he processed that. “Is New Orleans where Callie’s father is from?”
Gary perched on the corner of his desk. “It appears so, yes.”
“Okay,” Vince said, nodding slowly. “That makes sense.”
“And…..it’s also where her mother is from.”
Vince narrowed his eyes as a brand new knot of dread formed in his gut. “Her mother? You mean, Tabby?”
Gary went to the filing cabinet in the corner of his office and opened a drawer, choosing a file from the front. He turned and held it up. “Time to fill you in on everything I know so far.”
“Yeah, th
at would be real good,” Vince said emphatically, “because I’m totally lost right now.”
Gary returned to his chair and put on his reading glasses, then looked at Vince over the top of them. “I’m sure Jeremiah told you he wished he’d never found that journal.”
Vince nodded. “Because it’ll upset Callie.”
“Yes. It will. But I agree with Jeremiah’s decision to tell her.” He hesitated and looked down at the folder, then back up at Vince. “Callie needs to know what the journal says. She needs to know that Tabitha Green was not her biological mother.”
Vince felt himself go cold. His hands dropped off the chair and hung as limp as his jaw.
Gary didn’t wait for questions. He leaned back and folded his hands across his stomach. “The journal didn’t give much in the way of details. Tabby only made a couple of entries, and it seems to me she was wrestling with her conscience rather than making a confession she expected to be read one day. Here’s the gist of it. She was paid to take Callie out of the state. We don’t know by who, and we don’t know why. Not yet. We do know Tabby took Callie because she thought it was a matter of life and death. She said Callie’s parents think she’s dead. She also said they’re wealthy. Or, to use her exact words, ‘obscenely rich.’”
Vince was silent, expecting more, but after a moment, Gary raised his hands. “That’s pretty much it. There was a page of second-guessing herself about taking Callie away from her family, even though she said she had a real good reason, but no more details as to why.”
Vince realized his right leg was bouncing and he got up to pace. He had way too much nervous energy to sit still.
“So, I assume your PI went down to New Orleans to see if he could find anything about a three year old girl who disappeared around the time Callie and Tabby showed up here?”
“Yes, that’s exactly what he did. And he found one.” Gary opened the folder on his desk and handed the top sheet to Vince.
Vince walked over and took it, quickly reading through a news article about the tragic death of little Lila Grace Tate, who had drowned when a sudden storm came up during a recreational boating trip. She’d fallen overboard and was never found, even after a forty-eight hour search. Her devastated parents were Howard and Julianne Tate, New Orleans business elite, estimated to be worth close to a billion dollars. Yes, it was a ‘b’, Vince read it again to make sure.
When he finished reading, he looked up and Gary handed him another sheet. This one was a color copy of the cover of a memorial service bulletin, showing a beautiful little girl dressed in a pale blue dress, with shiny, almost-black hair and light green eyes.
His fingers tightened on the paper. He hadn’t seen any photos of Callie that young….until now.
“I just got that from Kirk this morning,” Gary said. “It’s why I was going to visit Jeremiah this afternoon. Did you notice who Callie’s father is?”
Vince looked back at the article. “Howard Tate.”
“Indeed. Howard Tate, third generation owner of Tate Shipping and also majority owner of a large shipyard, and sole owner of Tate Holdings, which is a real estate empire, all of which are based in or near New Orleans. He’s also majority owner of Tate Energy, based in Texas. He’s now surpassed the billion dollar mark, according to Kirk. Father of two. A son who’s now in his forties, and the little girl who drowned when she was three. Or so he thinks.”
“So, Tabby stole a billionaire’s daughter?” Vince dropped the papers back on the desk and shoved his fingers through his hair, completely dumbfounded. “And you have no idea why? Or how she got away with it?”
“Just that someone paid her to do it and she thought it best for the little girl. I think it’s safe to assume Tabby wasn’t the one who came up with the plan, she was just used to carry it out.”
Vince went back over everything in his mind, trying to make sense of it. “She must have known Callie somehow, before she took her away. Otherwise how would she have known it was the best thing for her?”
“That’s the kind of stuff Kirk is trying to find out. It could take a while, though, and if Jeremiah is fading as quickly as you say, he’s not going to be around to make a final decision on the matter.”
“To change his mind, you mean,” Vince said, reading between the lines. “Do you think knowing who her biological parents are would make him reconsider telling Callie?”
“I don’t know, but that’s why I say it makes it more complicated.”
“Just because they have money?”
“We knew they had money,” Gary stated. “Tabby said that in the journal. But now we’re talking a billion dollar net worth, maybe more. I know having that much money is a lot more common nowadays than it was ten or twenty years ago, but it’s still hard to even fathom it. Can you imagine how that’s going to affect Callie? It’s going to be a huge story, for one thing, and who knows what her family will expect of her once they know she’s alive. How’s she going to feel if they want her to move back to New Orleans and take her rightful spot as the Tate heiress?”
Vince cringed, trying to imagine Callie picking up and moving to New Orleans. “She would never do that.”
“It’ll put her in a tough position, though. Especially if she sees her real family as an innocent party in all this.”
Vince sat back down, looking intently at Gary. “What if they aren’t innocent? What if one or both of her parents are the ones who paid Tabby to take her away?” Vince eagerly seized on that possibility, because then they wouldn’t have that leverage to pressure Callie to become someone she wasn’t.
Gary tapped the folder. “There are a few other articles in here. You’re welcome to read them. One of them is a follow-up on Howard Tate six months after he lost his little girl. According to the writer, the man basically withdrew from life altogether. There are some quotes from people who supposedly knew him well. The consensus is he was pretty much incapacitated by grief.”
“And now?” Vince wondered.
Gary shrugged. “Kirk hasn’t gotten that far yet. He’s still digging up details around Callie’s disappearance.”
Vince rubbed his eyes, trying to imagine how Callie would react when she found out Jeremiah wasn’t her grandfather by blood. That she wasn’t really a Green.
“Even if they don’t pressure her, this whole thing is going to be unbelievably stressful for Callie,” he said, pointing out the obvious. “And it’s going to come right on top of Jeremiah’s death, if you follow his instructions to tell her after he passes. Which you have to do, right?”
“Unless he gets well enough to give me other instructions, yes, I’m bound to tell her.”
Vince nodded and sighed. She wasn’t a Green by birth. That’s what it would come down to for Callie. She wouldn’t care that her father was a billionaire, she’d care that she wasn’t the fifth-generation Green she thought she was.
He looked across the desk at Gary. “Is there anything else I should know?”
“Not at this point. Not until I hear from Kirk again.”
Vince took in a long breath and let it out as he pushed to his feet. What he’d learned from Gary sounded like a movie, not real life. Not Callie’s life.
He’d promised Jeremiah he’d be there for Callie, to help her through the things she’d need to face. And he would be—of course he’d be there. He just wished the promise didn’t involve revealing things that were going to devastate the best girl he’d ever known.
CHAPTER 26
Callie opened the kitchen door as he was coming up the steps. As always, his heart squeezed at the sight. Her pretty mouth was curved into a soft smile and her eyes, those beautiful green eyes, were warm and welcoming. She was glad to see him, and it was all he could do not to grab her and hold on for dear life, to protect her from what he knew and wished he didn’t.
“Hey,” he said, making a concerted effort to hide all evidence of the inner turmoil his visit to Gary Denton had caused. “Everything okay here?”
She nodded, sta
nding back against the open door and looking up at him when he stopped opposite her. “Yeah. Grandpa’s the same.”
“That’s good, I guess.” He smiled and raised a brow. “Were you watching for me?”
Her own smile turned sheepish. “I was. I missed you. Is that kinda pitiful, considering you were only gone a couple hours?”
He took a step closer. “If it is, we can be pitiful together, ’cause I missed you, too.”
“You did?”
“Mm hmm. I was also worried about you.”
“I know. It seems everyone is. Brit, Rose and Kim have all called me. Also Jolene and Kay Desmond, which was really thoughtful.”
“How’d they know he’s not doing well?”
“This is Barlow, North Dakota, Vince. No secrets in a small town.”
He took another step, putting them mere inches apart. “You sure you’re okay?”
“For now. Grandpa’s comfortable. Still mostly out of it, but he talked a little bit the last time I checked on him. He knew me, he just had trouble holding a conversation. It seemed like he was getting a little agitated, so I told him I’d be back again soon and left.”
“Did you get some work done?”
“Yeah, enough. I think I’m caught up with everything the guys needed me to do.”
“Good for you.”
She smiled. “And since I don’t have to work, that means I can hang with you. I mean, we can’t leave or anything, but we can at least make dinner and watch a movie or something. Try to have kind of a normal evening. Otherwise I feel like we’re just sitting around waiting for Grandpa to get worse.”
“Whatever you want to do is fine with me.” And normal sounded great. They needed all the normal they could get, because it wasn’t going to last much longer.
Without warning her eyes grew shiny with tears. “I shouldn’t be thinking about trying to have a normal evening with you when Grandpa is dying,” she whispered. “I just need it right now. I need you. I need to be close to you.”
“You have me, baby, you know that.” Vince understood her conflict better than she knew. She might feel guilty for thinking about enjoying time with him when Jeremiah was so sick, but he felt just as guilty for wanting to kiss her into a stupor right now, when only an hour ago he’d found out something that was going to completely disrupt her life. And she had absolutely no idea.