A Silken Thread

by Brenda Jackson

  She pulled her hand away. “What are you talking about? I know the truth, April,” she said, fighting back tears. “I haven’t had a chance to tell you what happened, what I found when I arrived in Dallas.”

  “You don’t have to,” April said softly. “Both you and Brian were played just like Griffin and I were played, and I think it’s time for us to compare notes.”

  Erica frowned. “What are you talking about?”

  April crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m talking about the fact that your mother lied to you, Erica. That day you told her you were going to visit me in L.A., she knew you were lying and had every intention of going to see Brian.”

  “No, there was no way she could have known.”

  “Yes, she figured just where you would go the first chance you got and it wouldn’t be to spend time with me. She knew you were going to Dallas, just like she’d never planned to go to Wyoming to visit that friend.”

  “What are you saying?”

  “I’m saying that I know for a fact that your mother never went to Wyoming because she came to see me in Los Angeles.”

  Erica shook her head, confused. “That’s not possible.”

  “It is possible. She did.”

  “But why would Mom come to see you?”

  April leaned against Griffin as if she needed him for support. She glanced up at him before looking back at Erica. “The reason she came to see me was to make sure I ended things between me and Griffin. She threatened me with dire consequences if I didn’t.”

  “She did what!”

  “She said she had proof I was fathered by Herbert Hayes and she would tell everyone that Griffin and I were involved in an incestuous relationship if I didn’t end things with him, as well as walk away from my friendship with you. That’s why I didn’t call you. I was too afraid to. And that’s why I ended things with Griffin.”

  Erica placed her hand to her mouth in disbelief. “No.”

  “Yes. Thankfully you told Griffin where I was and he assured me Herbert Hayes was not my father and we aren’t related. Your mother had lied. And she mentioned while she was in L.A. that she was also making sure you ended your relationship with Brian, as well. That way you and Griffin could be free for each other. She figured heartbreak would bring the two of you together, if nothing else would.”

  Erica’s head began spinning and she closed her eyes. “No, no. None of that can be true.”

  “It is true, Erica. Everything you saw at Brian’s house that day was exactly what she wanted you to see. What she paid someone to do to make it seem like he had betrayed you. She planned it all. She knew you were on your way to Dallas and made sure things were ready when you got there. She hired Jaye Pittman to help her get what she wanted.”

  “Jaye?”

  “Yes, your good old cousin Jaye. He did whatever your mother paid him to do. But that’s not all. We have proof she is the one who texted those pictures of your father’s affair and then pretended she was so torn up about it. I’m sure if you searched her room you’ll find the prepaid phone she used, if she hasn’t thrown it away yet. Even if she did, we got the receipt showing Jaye purchased it for her. She used your father’s affair with Brian’s mother to her advantage, playing on your sympathy, getting your support and turning you against Brian. In her mind she had everything to gain by doing so.

  “Think about how perfect the timing was,” April continued. “And those prescriptions she’d been taking for a heart problem are nothing more than sugar pills. I had Margie Graham who works for Dr. Cobb check for me. Margie owed me a favor from years ago when I loaned her money for her divorce. I figured someone who was doing as much devilment as your mother didn’t necessarily have a bad heart…just an evil one.”

  Erica took it all in, and only one thought was able to form in her brain. She swung around to gaze at Brian. Looked into the depths of his dark eyes, saw the pain and hurt she’d caused by not believing in him and not trusting him. He had tried telling her he was innocent but she hadn’t believed him. She had seen the worst and she had believed it.

  “Brian—”

  She took a step toward him and he took a step back. Then he turned and walked off toward the kitchen. She flinched when she heard the kitchen door slam shut behind him.

  A flood of remorse tore into her and she felt the weight of everything April had told her on her shoulders. Tears she couldn’t stop racked her body and she began shaking.

  “It’s okay, Erica.” She heard April’s voice and knew as always her friend was there.

  Somehow April helped her over to the sofa and she dropped down on it and hid her face in her hands as her tears continued to fall. Ashamed. She was so ashamed for everything her mother had done. Everything she had believed because of her mother. She dropped her hands down in her lap. “How could she do this to me, April? To Brian? How could she do what she did to anyone? To you and Griffin. How could any one person be so evil, so vindictive and so manipulating.”

  “That’s the one thing we can’t figure out,” April said softly. “Why she did it.”

  Erica turned to her, filled with anger. “I know why she did it. It has everything to do with that damn curse. She’s always been obsessed with it.”

  “Then we need to know why.” April shifted in her seat. “There are two other things I need to tell you about.”

  Erica shook her head. “I don’t think I can handle any more.” She looked toward the door through which Brian had left. “He hates me. I should have believed in him, April. I should not have thought the worst.”

  “Yes, but from what I heard the evidence against him was pretty damaging. I think even he understands that. However, he can’t help but feel a little down right now. I think he needs a little time to himself.”

  “How did you get him to come?” Erica asked, staring at April through her tears.

  “He asked to come. To be here for you, Erica. He had hired a private investigator to prove his innocence. They had already figured out your mother’s duplicity by the time Griffin flew to Dallas to pay Brian a visit.”

  Erica drew in a deep breath. “And I thought he was having an affair with that attorney at his firm. Donna Hardy.”

  “Evidently, Jaye was able to get something on Hardy to make her do whatever he wanted. He told her to set up the scene and make it seem like Brian was unfaithful to you.”

  Erica threw her head back and inhaled deeply. “It worked. I didn’t want to hear anything he said. Our love was based on trust and I let him down.”

  She then glanced around. “Where is Griffin?”

  “He went outside. He’s still shaken by what your mother tried doing, as well. He and Brian were determined to get to the truth. They loved us that much.”

  Erica shook her head. “Griffin might love you, but I’ve lost Brian’s love and I doubt that I’ll ever be able to get it back.”

  “Don’t do this to yourself, Erica. Brian still loves you or else he wouldn’t be here for you now.”

  Erica wiped her eyes. “You think so?”

  “Yes. Go to him. Talk to him. Tell him how you feel. Everyone is entitled to at least one mistake.”

  Erica stood slowly on wobbly knees as she drew in a calming breath. She did owe him an apology, but she wouldn’t blame him if he didn’t accept it. She’d started to walk away when she thought of something. “What are the two other things that I need to know?”

  A small smile touched April’s lips as she waved her hand. “Go on. It can wait. Just go to your man.”

  Erica ran to the kitchen to go out the same door where Brian had exited earlier.

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Brian heard the sound of the screen door closing but didn’t need to turn around to see who it was. He hadn’t figured seeing Erica again would have such an effect on him, but it had.

  “I owe you an apology, Brian.”

  He was tempted to turn around but didn’t. He would let her have her say and then he would have his.

&nbs
p; “I said mean and hateful things to you that day and I doubted you when I should have believed in you. Our love, our trust was put to the test for the first time and I failed. I am so sorry.”

  He heard the choke in her voice and couldn’t help but turn around. But he wasn’t ready to give up his anger and pain yet. He had gone without her for four weeks. For four weeks he had walked around like a dead man, a man emotionally crippled in just about every way. But now seeing her again brought it all home to him. He loved her and nothing would ever change that. While love filled his heart, the hurt still lingered there.

  Before he could tell her, she said, “I wish I could take back all the cruel things I said to you that day, but I can’t. Things seemed so black-and-white and it nearly destroyed me to think that I wasn’t enough for you.

  “And to think my mother was behind it. That she is capable of doing such evil things, that she put her own selfish wants and needs above my happiness, hurts deeply.”

  He gazed intensely into her eyes and saw the pain there, the hurt, the shame and the regrets. He hadn’t been looking for love that day in Myrtle Beach, but it had found him anyway and more than once over the past four weeks a part of him had regretted ever meeting her, had resented falling in love so boundlessly. But now as he looked at her he knew it couldn’t be helped. He was made to love her, which was the main reason he was here. He had wanted to be here when she heard the truth. Not to gloat or shove it in her face that she was wrong and should have been more trusting of him, but to be here to shoulder her pain, help her through this. Help them through this. And to be the man he would always be. The man who loved her.

  “Now you know the truth,” he said. “She can’t hurt us anymore.”

  She wiped a tear away from her eye. “Us?”

  He smiled softly. “Yes, us. There will always be an us, Erica. We just finished traveling a pretty rocky road. There were times it appeared we wouldn’t make it, but we did. Nothing has changed. I love you. You love me. Besides,” he said with a little catch in his voice, “do you honestly think I’d give you up that easily?”

  Erica began nibbling on her bottom lip, too afraid to hope. “Are you saying, considering everything, including what an evil mother I have, you still want me?”

  “I’ll always want you and I’m marrying you and not your mother.”

  Their gazes held and then Erica rushed toward him and threw herself into his arms. He held her tight and whispered how much he loved her. In turn she told him how much she loved him and apologized again for not trusting him, for almost throwing away the best thing to ever come into her life.

  “I’ve missed you so much, baby,” he whispered against her hair. “I’ve been like a dying man and every day I was afraid I was about to take my last breath without you in my life.”

  “And I’ve missed you, as well,” Erica said, tilting her head back and looking up into his eyes while keeping her arms wrapped tightly around him. “And to think of how much I almost lost because of my mother. I can’t—”

  He placed a finger to her lips. “Shh. I don’t want to talk about your mother now. We can do that again later. This is what I want. What I need.”

  And then he captured her lips. The moment contact was made, every bone in his body seemed to pulverize. Blood rushed through his veins and he felt more love for her at that moment than ever before. He wanted to do more than just kiss her and knew that would all come later. They still had a lot to discuss regarding her mother, but for now he was happy to have her in his arms and kiss her like there were no tomorrows.

  Long moments later their mouths separated but he still had his arms wrapped around her, as though fearful if he removed them she would vanish into thin air. He smiled down at her. “As much as I’d like to finish this—and I truly do intend to do so later—there are still more things we need to discuss and additional plans we need to make. Come on.”

  He then placed her hand in his and led her into the house.

  Erica, sitting in Brian’s lap on the sofa, glanced across the room at April, who likewise was sitting on the love seat in Griffin’s lap. She could tell from the look on her friend’s face she was happy and the thought that her mother almost ruined that happiness was unforgivable. She couldn’t wait to confront her mother about this. No wonder her father had been so eager to grab love when he’d gotten the chance to do so.

  She cleared her throat, deciding if she didn’t get April and Griffin’s attention they would be headed back to the bedroom. She smiled when she thought of how when she and Brian had come back inside the house, April and Griffin had been behind closed doors. It hadn’t taken much to figure out what was going on so they had gone back outside to take a walk and to talk some more. They had stayed away from the topic of her mother. The conversation had been about them and how they intended to reschedule their wedding as soon as possible.

  “Okay, April,” she said, deciding now was the time. “You indicated earlier that you had two additional things to cover. Tell me now because I intend to head back home.” And Brian would be coming with her. They had decided to confront her mother together.

  She noticed the room suddenly got quiet, too quiet, and she studied April, who looked down as if she was nervous about what she had to say.

  The tightening of Brian’s arms around her waist was a good sign that whatever April would be sharing with her would be more of her mother’s evil shenanigans, and Erica didn’t want to think what they could possibly be.

  “April?”

  April looked up at her. Erica could tell she was nervous. But why? “Tell me.”

  April nodded. “You recall earlier when I told you that your mother tried breaking me and Griffin up by claiming Herbert Hayes was my daddy?”

  “Yes, and you said you knew that he wasn’t, so that’s all good, right?”

  “Yes, that’s all good. But what I didn’t tell you is that I know who my real father is.”

  Erica lifted a brow. “Who told you? You’ve never known before.”

  “Griffin told me. He overheard my real father talking to his father one day in the wine cellar when he was only sixteen, so he’s known all this time. He never had a reason to tell me because he figured I knew.”

  “So, who is he? Was it Ivan Witherspoon like we thought?”

  April shook her head. “No, it wasn’t him.”

  “Who was it then?” she asked, noticing April evasiveness.

  When April didn’t respond Erica glanced over at Brian and from the look on his face she could tell that he knew. She looked back over to April. “Okay, girlfriend, what’s going on? Who is your daddy?” she tried asking in a lighthearted way.

  “Omar Delbert was my father.”

  Erica’s eyes widened. “My grandfather?”

  “Yes. And I have reason to believe he raped my mother when she was fifteen.”

  Brian pulled Erica into his arms and held her while she cried. As soon as she had comprehended what April had said she burst into tears that she hadn’t been able to stop. He had felt her anger. Her pain. Her shame. To know that her grandfather had abused a fifteen-year-old girl had shaken her to the core. And when it had hit her that April was her mother’s sister and her own aunt, she had raced across the room and hugged April, welcomed her to the family and apologized for the shameful way both her and her mother had been treated by the Delberts over the years.

  She had started shaking then. And she was still shaking. Trembling and crying. Brian continued to rub her back while whispering soothing words to her. Letting her know that above all else, he loved her and would be there for her.

  April still had one other thing to tell her and, after the way Erica had broken down earlier, he figured it would probably be best if he went ahead and told her himself.

  “There is one other thing we need to tell you, Erica. Something we think you need to know, sweetheart.”

  She slowly pulled her face from his chest where she’d wet his shirt with her tears. She looked up at him. “I
don’t think I can handle any more bad deeds from my mother and her side of the family, Brian. Please tell me what you’re about to say isn’t about them.”

  He wished he could but he couldn’t. In one afternoon she had discovered that not only was her mother a manipulating and heartless person, so was her grandfather. Brian’s heart ached for her.

  “I can’t, baby.” When she flinched he wrapped his arms around her. “But when it’s all over and we learn the truth about everything, we will deal with it together. Okay?”

  “Yes, okay. So tell me.”

  He hesitated for a moment. “It’s about your aunt Blair.”

  Her brows lifted. “Aunt Blair? She’s been dead for a long time. Remember, I told you about her being in a car accident a week before her wedding to Griffin’s uncle. She was in a coma for a while and then she died.”

  He shook his head. “No, that’s not true.”

  She blinked. “What’s not true? Are you saying she wasn’t in a car accident?”

  “Yes, she was in a car accident and, yes, she was in a coma. What she didn’t do was die. Your aunt is alive, Erica. Your father only found out last year. Your mother fabricated her death, and all this time your aunt has been alive and kept at this exclusive nursing home in Cleveland.”

  Erica just stared at him as if what he’d told her was the most ridiculous thing she’d ever heard. But then, as if his expression indicated the truth of his words, she shook her head. “Please tell me it isn’t true. That Mom didn’t lie to us about that, as well.”

  “I’m sorry but she did,” Brian said softly. “And your aunt Blair might hold the key to why your mother is so obsessed with this curse. Matt has made arrangements for us to visit the nursing home tonight when the head administrator and the private nurse leave. It seems they are on your mother’s bankroll and will do whatever she wants them to do regarding her sister’s care. We don’t know what we might find. She still might be in a coma and not able to shed light on anything, I don’t know. But we felt it would be worth a shot before we confront your mother to expose all her lies.”