by Dinah McCall
Once Trey was satisfied that everyone was settled, he moved a footstool next to Anna’s rocker and sat down. For a few moments, the silence that held them seemed too heavy to bear. Then Trey leaned forward.
“Anna?”
She looked up, vaguely recognizing the face of the man, and smiled. “You love Olivia,” she said.
Olivia bit her lip to keep from crying.
“Yes, I do. I love her very much.”
“Love is good,” Anna said, and held the doll a little closer.
“Who loves you, Anna?”
She frowned. “Why…Olivia loves me. She’s always loved me.” Then she leaned closer, whispering, “Always. Since the day she was born.”
Olivia covered her face. She couldn’t look at the woman anymore and even deal with the possibility that she was her mother—that she’d killed Michael and Kay’s daughter and kept her. But it didn’t make sense that she would have killed her own child.
If Olivia had believed her legs would work, she would have gotten up and walked out of the room. Instead, she was held captive by her fear and the weight of a madwoman’s words.
“So which one is your baby, Anna?”
Anna frowned. She looked at the “baby” in her arms and then at Olivia. Her forehead furrowed, and she began to shake her head in denial.
“Not fair. Not fair.”
Trey’s stomach knotted. He was getting sicker for Olivia by the minute, but he couldn’t quit now.
“What’s not fair?”
Anna frowned again. Her lower lip pouted, and then she suddenly shoved the doll out of her lap.
“Doesn’t want me or the baby. Not fair. Not fair.”
“Who doesn’t want you, Anna? Who doesn’t want your baby?”
Anna’s fingers curled into fists as they lay in her lap, and for a bit, she didn’t answer.
Trey glanced at Sheree. He was about to take a big chance on Anna clamming up completely, but it was a risk he had to take.
“Laree.”
Anna reeled as if she’d been struck. Her eyes filled with tears, and then she shook her head in denial.
“She’s dead.”
“Who’s dead?”
“Laree. Nobody wanted her…or her baby.” Then she chuckled. “But they wanted Anna. Anna was somebody special. She got her baby and the place where she belonged.”
“God in heaven,” Marcus muttered.
Trey gave him a warning glance.
Terrence put his arm around Marcus’s shoulder as Carolyn clutched his hand.
“Who didn’t want Laree?” Trey asked.
“Michael. Michael lied. You’re not supposed to lie.”
“That’s right, Anna. You’re not supposed to lie.”
The sound of police sirens suddenly pierced the uneasy silence in the room. Trey looked pointedly at Ella, who was the only one personally unaffected by the revelations.
“Are you up to being my welcome committee?”
“Absolutely,” she said. “I’ll wait for them outside and bring them in.”
“Thanks,” Trey said.
Anna frowned and looked down at the doll she’d pushed aside.
“Too many babies. Michael wanted Laree once. Then she had that stupid baby.”
Trey grunted as if he’d been punched in the gut. He was afraid to continue, but he had to go on.
“If Laree didn’t want her own baby, why did she take the other one?”
“What other baby?” Anna muttered.
“The one that was in Michael’s house.”
“That’s my baby. My baby deserved to be special.”
Once again, Trey was stunned. What had she just said? Had she substituted her child for the real Sealy heir?
Olivia was sobbing quietly now. Trey heard her from across the room, yet he didn’t dare go to her for fear that Anna would stop talking. And there was so much that needed to be said.
“Your baby was special,” Trey said.
“Yes. Special.”
“Then which baby did you put in the suitcase? Which baby did you hide behind the wall?”
Anna reeled in the chair as if Trey had just punched her square in the jaw. Her fingers curled on the arms of the chair as the doll she’d been holding fell to the floor. In a sad twist of irony, she rocked on its head, breaking it open.
It cracked like a shot.
Anna cried out in dismay and tried to reach down, but Trey wouldn’t let her move.
“Which one?” Trey asked, pushing harder now. “Which one did you kill?”
Anna put her hands over her ears and then screamed.
“The wrong one was with Michael. I gave them mine.”
At that point, she slid to the floor in a faint.
21
Chia and Sheets came running into the house as Anna slid onto the floor.
“What the hell?” Chia asked, and reached for her cell. “Is she sick? Do you need an ambulance? What happened to her?”
Trey pointed.
“That’s our missing twin. She needs to be arrested, and I don’t want to be the arresting officer of record when I’m going to marry the woman who may be her daughter.”
Chia’s mouth dropped.
“What in hell are you—”
“It’s a long ugly story,” Trey said, and then felt for Anna’s pulse. It was strong and steady. “She just fainted, but we’re going to have a hell of a time taking her to trial. She’s out of her mind, and I would be, too, if I was in her shoes. Just take care of her,” he said, and moved toward Olivia as fast as he could go.
She was in the corner of the room with her hands over her ears and her eyes squeezed shut. The keening sound coming up her throat was as scary to him as the night she’d been shot.
“Livvie…”
She wouldn’t look at him, and she wouldn’t stop moaning.
“Livvie…sweetheart,” he begged, and then picked her up and carried her out of the room.
He took her to her room, kicking the door shut behind him as he went, then sat down on the bed and held her in his lap and began to rock her where they sat.
“I know, baby, I know,” he said softly, and rubbed his chin against the crown of her hair as she clung to him in shock. “It’s going to be okay. You’re my sweetheart…my love…we’re in this together, remember? You for me and me for you. Just like when we were kids.”
The horrible sound she’d been making stopped. She was shaking, but she was finally quiet. He knew that somewhere inside the hell in her mind, she was listening to the sound of his voice.
“You’re my best girl. Always were. Always will be. There isn’t anyone or anything that can change that. You know that, Livvie. Trust your heart. Trust in me. I love you, baby. So much. So much.”
And still he rocked. He felt her shaking subside, then felt her go limp.
“You’re all right, Livvie. Do you hear me? You’re all right.”
“I hear you,” she said.
A wave of relief swept through Trey so fast that it took his breath away. For a few moments he didn’t trust himself to speak. He leaned back far enough that he could look into her face. He saw a terrible sadness in her eyes, but the woman he knew and loved was back.
“I need to talk to your grandfather for a minute. Will you be all right until I get back?”
She nodded.
“I won’t be long.”
“Go,” she said. “Do whatever you have to do to make this go away.”
“I’m doing my best.”
“That’s all I ask,” she said.
When he laid her on the bed, she rolled over onto her side and curled into a ball. He recognized the defense. She was making herself as small a target as possible so as not to be hurt anymore.
“Love you, baby,” he said again.
She shuddered, then closed her eyes. “I don’t deserve you, but I thank God that you’re here.”
He had to be satisfied with that as he hurried from the room.
An ambulance
had come and gone, taking Anna away.
Marcus was all but prostrate, and Ella was tending to him as if she’d done it all her life.
But it was Terrence and Carolyn who’d stepped into the breach and taken charge.
“Talk to me,” Trey said.
Terrence moved a distance away to spare Marcus the pain of having to relive this again.
“They arrested the woman and tried to read her rights to her, but we all agreed she didn’t hear or understand them. The paramedics have taken her to Dallas Memorial. The other two detectives took Mrs. Collier with them to the hospital. They said to tell you they’d be in touch.”
Trey nodded, then glanced at Marcus.
“Does he need a doctor?”
“I don’t think so. He just needs time.”
“Who could have known?” Carolyn said as she walked up behind her husband and then slipped her hand along his elbow. “If we hadn’t been in Italy when all this started happening, I’m sure we would have recognized Anna as the woman Michael had introduced us to.”
“But we were in Italy,” Terrence said. “And nothing can be changed. Nothing can be taken back. God knows I’ve lived with the truth of that fact all my life.”
Carolyn laid her head on Terrence’s shoulder as she turned to Trey.
“What’s going to happen to Anna?” Carolyn asked.
“Probably wind up in a hospital for the criminally insane.”
“We don’t really know which baby she killed, do we?” she asked.
“No.”
“But we will?”
“When the DNA test Sheree submitted to comes back, we’ll know, although we will also take one from Anna…Laree…to make the result irrefutable.”
“Is Olivia all right?”
“No, but she will be.”
“I’m so sorry,” Carolyn said. “But I must tell you that we’re blessed to have you in the family.”
“Thank you,” Trey said. “But the blessing is all mine.”
“Trey!”
It was Marcus, and the command in his voice was unmistakable. Trey turned around, acknowledging the demand without taking offense.
“Yes?”
Marcus stood up.
“Whatever truth has been revealed today, you need to know that we are grateful.”
“Yes, sir,” Trey said.
“I thought I told you to call me Marcus.”
Trey sighed. “That you did.”
Marcus reached for Trey’s hand and started to shake it, then embraced him instead. The hug was brief, and he quickly dropped his arms and stepped away.
“Thank you. I had decided that my son’s killer would never be found, that I would go to my grave without an answer.” His voice was raspy and thick with emotion.
“But there are still questions, aren’t there?” Trey asked.
Marcus’s features tightened as he wiped a hand across his eyes.
“She’s still my granddaughter. It doesn’t matter. Whatever the truth, it won’t change what’s between us.”
“Even if the woman who gave her life is the one who killed your son?” Trey asked.
Marcus swayed on his feet, but his gaze never left Trey’s face.
“Even then.”
“She’s in her bedroom,” Trey said. “She’d probably like to hear that from you.”
Marcus nodded, then walked out of the room.
“God in heaven,” Trey muttered, and then stuffed his hands in his pockets. That was when he realized Ella was gone.
“Where’s Ella? Is she ill? Hell, with all that’s happened here, she—”
“I’m fine,” Ella said as she came hobbling out of the kitchen. “Open your hand,” she ordered.
He obeyed without thought.
She dropped a couple of painkillers in his palm, then handed him a glass of water.
“Take them. If you don’t already have a headache, you will.”
Trey downed the pills and the water, then set the glass aside and put his arms around the tiny woman.
“I’m not liking the fact that my best girls are too damn fragile to hug properly.”
“We’re only bent, not broken,” she said, and hugged him back.
“Thank God,” Trey muttered. “And thank you. For everything.”
“Hey, since you went and saved my life, it’s the least I can do.”
“Shut up, Ella. Just shut up,” he muttered.
She grinned.
“My hero.”
Trey groaned. Some hero. He’d just destroyed the best part of Olivia’s world and was praying to God that she would be able to forgive him.
After another week, Olivia’s shoulder was almost well. Only now and then did it twinge, usually when she was trying to lift more than she should.
Foster Lawrence had been released from jail and, at his sister Sheree’s invitation, had finally gotten that trip to Florida. He was going back home to live with her.
Rose had come to see Olivia right after Anna’s arrest, full of concern and shock. Olivia hadn’t been able to talk about it, and she sensed Rose was miffed about being left out of the loop, but she couldn’t let herself care. It took everything she had to cope with her own doubts and fears.
Ella’s presence next door, as well as her wise and often caustic wisdom, made getting through the days easier. And there was the sight of Trey’s car coming up the driveway each evening to get her through the nights.
There was a distance between her grandfather and herself that was all her doing. He’d tried to talk to her about what had happened, but Olivia didn’t believe him. She didn’t know how he could ever look at her again without remembering Anna’s revelations, because she had yet to conquer the disgust at seeing her own face in the mirror.
For days she’d searched her features, looking for something—anything—that would match the face of the young woman Anna had been with her own face.
She looked, but she couldn’t see past the haunted expression in her own eyes. She didn’t know what she would do if the worst were found to be true.
Trey was her strength—her rock—her love. It was only through him that she was able to cope. She held on to his faith in her and tried to let that be enough.
And then one day the phone rang.
She answered.
“Hello?”
“It’s me. I want you to come down to the station.”
“Now, Trey? But I—”
“I’m sending a car for you. It should be there in about five minutes. Marcus is on his way, too.”
Suddenly she knew.
“The tests. They’re back, aren’t they?”
“Yes.”
“Tell me what—”
“Don’t argue. I’ll explain when you get here. I’ve got to go. They’re bringing Anna in from the hospital now.”
“What for? I don’t want to see her.”
“You will. Please. Just trust me on this.”
“Yes. Okay.”
“Thank you, baby. See you in a few.”
She hung up, then realized she was still in her swimsuit from her daily therapy. She ran down the hall to the bedroom and threw on some clothes. She was stepping into her shoes when there was a knock on the door.
It was her ride, and it was the longest thirty minutes she’d ever spent in her life.
Marcus came into the precinct only moments after Olivia’s arrival. Trey was waiting for them at the front desk.
“Come with me,” he said.
Marcus’s chin jutted. He’d been as hesitant and defiant as Olivia had been, unwilling to look at Anna Walden’s face again. But Trey had been adamant, and Marcus had finally agreed to come, if only to hear the final verdict.
“This is ridiculous,” Marcus muttered.
“The whole damn thing has been a nightmare for me, too,” Trey said. “So bear with me.”
Olivia slid her hand in the bend of Trey’s elbow and gave it a squeeze.
“I’m with you,” she said.
&n
bsp; Trey paused, then stopped and kissed her.
“I know, honey. Forgive me if I was rude.”
They rounded a corner, and she saw a half-dozen people standing in front of a window. When she joined them, she saw Anna in a room alone, sitting at a table. Trey shifted her focus by introducing her.
“Marcus…Olivia, this is my lieutenant, Harold Warren. And you remember Detective Rodriguez and Detective Sheets.”
They nodded.
“The others are from the D.A.’s office. We’ll do the introductions to everyone else later. For now, we’re going in. They’ll be able to see and hear everything that’s going on inside that room, but we won’t see them, understand?”
“Yes,” Marcus said, and took Olivia by the hand.
Olivia wanted to ask questions, but before she could speak, they were being led inside.
“Have a seat,” Trey said. “Anywhere.”
Marcus dragged a couple of chairs as far away from Anna Walden as he could get; then he and Olivia sat down, while Trey opened a file and laid it on the table in front of Anna.
She sat with her head down and her hands lying loosely in her lap. A bit of drool was hanging from the corner of her lower lip, and when it finally dropped, she seemed oblivious.
But Trey knew something they didn’t.
“Laree, the tests are back.”
Anna didn’t move—didn’t blink.
“She doesn’t know who Laree is,” Olivia said.
Trey didn’t argue, but he also didn’t agree.
“Look at the tests, Laree. You mothered one of the babies, and we know it, so you may as well acknowledge that much. You also killed one of them. You led us to believe that it was your baby who was returned to Marcus Sealy—that you did it because you were angry that the wrong baby was going to inherit the Sealy fortune. But you were wrong, weren’t you? And you know what else? I think your subconscious already knew it.”
Marcus’s gaze was riveted on Trey’s back, and on the shudder he suddenly saw rippling through Anna Walden’s frame.
“This test is, without fail, proof that you are the mother.”
Anna raised her head and looked straight at Olivia. The wild, crazy stare was still in her eyes.