Masks and Lies
Page 22
She didn’t know, and a large part of her still refused to give the man the time of day. He’d lied, deceived, used her, all for his own reasons. How would she ever trust him again? But another part of her, a part that seemed to grow daily, wanted to know. Wanted to see if it would make a difference. A growing part of her wanted to give the man a chance, to see if she was wrong, to see if they had a chance.
If she gave him a hearing now, could she have everything she’d been dreaming of? Hoping for? What would happen if in twenty years’ time she turned around and realized that all she’d needed to do was give him a chance to explain? What would happen if she realized later on in life that all it would have taken was for her to listen to him? For them to talk to each other?
Did she really want to be like her parents and lose so much time together just because of her pride, her hurt, her belief that she was right? If her mom and dad had just put aside their hurt, their egos, their belief that they’d done the right thing and wouldn’t change it, if either of them had tried at any point over the past two decades, they could have reached the point they’d only just gotten to long before now. Everything would have been different. And so much time wouldn’t have been lost.
Did she really want to repeat her parents’ mistakes?
* * *
“You are an angel, Bets,” Mitchell said as he leaned back in his chair, content and happy. He was pleasantly full with the most amazing Christmas dinner he’d ever remembered having and he was enjoying spending time with the older woman. She was amazing. Generous, kind, loving, and forgiving.
Snorting, Betsy replied, “I’m no angel, Mitchell. I just couldn’t bear to think of you on your own during the holidays.”
“Wouldn’t be the first time,” he replied honestly with a shrug, and she looked at him in concern.
“Well, that don’t matter none. I don’t know how they do things in those big fancy cities, but ‘round these parts people don’t spend the holidays sitting on their own with nothing but a can of soup to heat up themselves,” she said disapprovingly, and Mitchell smiled.
“Around these parts, Bets, nobody does that any day of the year. Unless you’re a crotchety old hermit and demand people leave you be, and back it up with a shotgun in your arms.”
“I s’pose that’s true enough, but still. Holidays, they’re a time for togetherness. For family. For spending with those you care about. Which brings me round to another matter,” she said seriously, and Mitchell tensed at the fierce expression on her face. “What exactly are you doing to get Kenny back?” she demanded, and he smiled ruefully at that. He would have laughed if Betsy didn’t seem so stern and scary at the moment as well.
“I’m waiting, Bets.”
“And how’s that working out for ya?” she asked sarcastically with a raised brow, and Mitchell did laugh this time.
“Bets, I don’t have a lot of options right now,” he explained with his hands out in a helpless gesture.
“Don’t you?” she asked skeptically.
“Look, it’s not like I can charge onto Howard’s property and demand to see her. For one thing the place has security. Secondly, I have been told categorically that I am not allowed anywhere near Mr Powers’ daughter. Thirdly, I wouldn’t do that to her. Not right now. Right now she deserves to have the time to get to know her dad, to bond with him, to have a father for once in her life. I’m not going to come between that.”
“So even if there weren’t no security, weren’t no threats from the man, you wouldn’t do nothing?” she asked suspiciously, and Mitchell thought on that.
“If I had Howard’s blessing, I’d be there in a flash. But at the moment, if I turn up, it will just make everything strained. So no,” he said with a shake of his head. “Right now, the best thing to do is just wait, wait for her to come back home. Once she’s formed a relationship with her father, and everything’s settled on that front, once that part of her life is settled, she’ll be more able to cope with changes in another. It’s not going to be easy, Bets. It’s going to take time and work and she’s going to fight me on it. I don’t want to make everything worse for her right now. Right now she has enough to deal with,” he explained and watched as Betsy studied him closely.
“I hurt her, Bets,” he continued. “And she’s going to have to get over that hurt before she lets me back in. It’s going to take time. I’m not going anywhere; I can be patient. When she comes back I’ll be here waiting, and she’ll have no choice but to deal with it all. I don’t know how long it’ll take, but however long it is, I’m willing to wait,” he averred. “I love her,” he concluded, and Betsy just studied him in silence again.
After a lengthy amount of time that had Mitchell shifting in his chair, Betsy finally said, “It ain’t really your fault, you know.”
“What?” he asked in confusion.
“All of this. Your actions. How you treated Kenny. It weren’t really your fault.”
“I think you’ll find that she’ll disagree with you on that point, Bets. In fact, I disagree with you,” he added.
“No. Really. It ain’t,” she declared as she sat forward to focus intense eyes on him. “It’s what you knew. It’s what you accepted as the norm. When you ain’t taught right from wrong how is it your fault if you do wrong?” she asked, and he smiled ruefully at her logic.
“Morally everyone knows that you shouldn’t lie and deceive people, Bets.”
“In general, yes. But if it’s to protect somebody? If it’s for their best and their welfare? A lot of people lie because they’re afraid the truth will hurt more. A lot of people lie because they believe that it’s the best thing all ‘round.”
“I can’t declare that I thought that. I knew I shouldn’t lie, but I did. I was lying to get a job done.”
“A job that meant everything to you at the time. A job that you believed was going to be in the best interest of your employer.”
“Bets, the fact is that it was my fault. I was wrong. I was even more wrong to let her fall for me and never tell her the truth. I was wrong. There’s no defending that. You and I both know that.”
“Then what are you doing here? If you really think that you can’t defend your actions, why do you think that Kenny’s gonna forgive you? Don’t be ridiculous, Mitchell, you believed you were right, you thought you were doing what was best for everyone. If you didn’t believe that, you’d never expect Kenny to accept you back. No, you made a mistake but it weren’t done maliciously, it weren’t done to hurt her.”
“I was a terrible person.”
“Was,” she stressed. “You were. You’ve changed. You’re still you, you’re still the man who she loves, but now you’ve worked on those flaws of yours,” she explained, and Mitchell shrugged.
“How is she anyway?” he asked suddenly. “You spoke to her today, didn’t you?” he stated more than asked.
“I did. She’s good. She’s sad underneath it all, but she’s enjoying her time with her mom and dad.”
“Her mom’s there too?” Mitchell asked in surprise.
“She is. Apparently Kenny’s holding out hope that her folks get a second chance together.”
“Really?” he asked in surprise.
“Yep. Apparently they never stopped loving each other. She’s trying not to get her hopes up too much. I mean, who don’t want their folks to end up together? But she can see that something’s still there.”
“It would explain a lot,” Mitchell mused.
“Explain what?” Betsy asked in confusion.
“Howard Powers. For years we’d all advised him to marry and settle down. Become a family man. It would help improve his image, after all. But he refused. Wouldn’t have anything to do with women. Wouldn’t date, wouldn’t even consider it. We could never figure it out.
“Some people suggested that maybe he wasn’t inclined towards women, but that never seemed to mesh well with me. The man just wasn’t interested in anybody. Nobody at all. He refused to talk about his personal
life and declared that he didn’t need a wife and family to be successful in his business. Didn’t need to portray an image to be respected.
“If we’d have known it was because he was still in love with somebody from his past, it would have made sense.”
“You’d have left him alone then?” she asked, and he looked at her in surprise before smiling softly at her and shaking his head.
“Uh, no,” he said and watched as Betsy eyed him in suspicion. “No, but we would have tried to appeal to him in a logical way, a way that would dismiss all emotion.”
“You’d have tried to get him to marry, knowing full well that he weren’t in love with the woman, and never would be?” she asked, and Mitchell shrugged.
“Honestly? Yes. It might have worked as well. Though Howard is an incredibly strong-willed man.”
“Like Kenny,” Betsy said with a smile.
“She reminds me of him so much at times. It’s amazing that even though she never knew him she still has so many similar personality traits to him. Just shows how much genetics do affect who you are.”
“You really would have encouraged him to marry?” she asked again doubtfully.
“I would have. Yes. And I would have been wrong. I can see now how incredibly selfish the act would have been to both him and whoever he married. When you love somebody, truly love somebody, it’s not fair to anyone else to get involved with them.”
“Which is why nothing happened with Notaku,” Betsy hazarded, and Mitchell nodded. He’d gotten over things with the man and could accept the relationship that really existed between the pair.
“I know. And as difficult as it is to accept and say, I am grateful to him for being there for her that night. It could have been much worse if it hadn’t been him,” Mitchell said honestly and lowly, and Betsy nodded at him.
“Your perspective of things has changed, ain’t it, Mitchell?”
“Granville’s taught me a lot, Bets. It’s given me a lot. It’s given me a whole new outlook on life, on relationships, on how to treat and respect people.”
“You’ve grown.”
“With the help of wonderful people around me,” he complimented with a warm smile, and Betsy smiled back at him.
“You were a good man all along, Mitchell. You just got caught up in all of the trappings and lifestyle of a big city. You’re one of those people who needs to be somewhere where you can grow, you need the freedom to expand your own wings. Plenty of people live in a city and don’t lose themselves, but you, Mitchell, you need somewhere where you can hear your own thoughts, I think.”
“I hated Granville when I arrived,” he confessed. “Quaint and kitsch,” he said with a grimace. “Now I can’t imagine leaving.”
“You were in the wrong place for you. Plenty of folk wouldn’t stand the way of small town life. Everybody’s different. You’re a country boy at heart, you’d just never been given the opportunity to learn that about yourself,” she surmised with a shrug. “But now you know. And now you’ve found yourself. We just need to make sure that you don’t get lost again,” she added with a smile, and he smiled in return.
“And make sure that Kendra sees me too,” he said with a sad smile.
“We’ll make sure,” Betsy assured. “You’re not alone anymore, Mitchell,” she added, and he looked at her in gratitude and tenderness. No, he wasn’t alone. For the first time in a long time he finally felt like he had family, had people who cared for him, and he wasn’t going to lose that. In fact, what he was going to do was add to that family, with Kendra and the resulting family that he was determined he’d get with her.
Chapter Twenty-three
Kendra looked up as her bedroom door opened slowly, and smiled in invitation to her mom who was standing there looking wary. The pair of them had had a heart to heart Christmas evening, and Kendra had told her mom all about Nick/Mitchell and what had happened between them.
She’d been expecting advice from her mom on it all, but instead the older woman had just studied her intently and told her that she’d figure it all out herself. She’d also told her that she needed to make her own decisions, and whatever she decided Marilyn would know was the right thing for her.
They’d then discussed her mom and dad’s new relationship, and Kendra hadn’t been surprised at all to hear that the couple weren’t going to waste any time this time around. What had been surprising though was the fact that her mom had continued to stay in her own private room since then. Kendra had expected the woman to have moved in with her reunited love, but Marilyn said that this time they were going to do it right.
They’d already agreed on a quiet and private wedding in February, but Marilyn was sticking to her guns about not furthering their physical relationship with each other. They were getting to know each other better over the next six weeks without lust affecting the equation. And Marilyn was absolutely certain that this time it would all turn out alright.
Since then though, Kendra had rarely had time to spend with her mom one on one. She didn’t resent it at all, she was too happy to see her mom genuinely happy for once to begrudge the woman her time with Howard. Especially considering that Howard would have to get stuck back into his work now that the New Year was over. Kendra had plenty of time ahead of her to spend with her mom, right now it was more important to let the woman spend it with the man she’d lost all those years ago.
Kendra had spent time with her dad during that time as well, fostering the relationship between them. She was happy with how their connection was developing, happy with how it was growing, and felt comfortable enough to know that things would continue to improve between them.
Looking back up at her mom, she wondered if perhaps her dad had started back to work a day early and her mom was now free to spend time with her instead. Though as she studied her mom’s tense features, Kendra began to worry about what her appearance really meant.
“Mom?” she asked in concern. “What’s the matter?” Had something happened with Howard? Had they argued? Decided against pursuing a relationship together? Her mom looked so sad and worried that Kendra knew that something had to have occurred, and something not good.
“Oh, sweetie,” she said on a sigh as she surged into Kendra’s room, sitting down beside her and holding her hands tightly in her own. Staring into her mom’s dark eyes, Kendra found her breath catching at the depth of sorrow there and knew that she wasn’t going to like what she was about to hear.
“What is it?” Kendra whispered. “Is it Dad?”
“Howie’s fine,” Marilyn assured. “But … he got a phone call,” her mom said carefully, and Kendra’s brow furrowed at the pronouncement, unsure what that meant for her.
“From who?”
“Kendra, sweetie, it’s Betsy,” Marilyn said gently, and Kendra’s eyes widened in fear.
“Betsy called? Why? What’s the matter?” she asked hurriedly.
“No,” her mom said with a shake of her head. “No, Betsy didn’t call. Somebody called about her.”
“I … what? What are you talking about?” Kendra asked in confusion. “Why would someone call Howard about her?”
“Kendra, Betsy’s in hospital. She had a massive heart attack last night. Someone called your dad. They wanted to let you know. They thought that you’d want to be told,” her mom added, and Kendra stilled at the news.
“Why’d they call Dad? Why not me directly? Why’d it take so long? Is she alright? What … I don’t understand,” Kendra said as she removed her hands from her mom’s to wrap her arms around herself tightly as she tried to process everything. “I don’t understand, Mom,” she said again as tears started to fall before she felt her mom’s comforting arms around her.
“They tried to contact Howie when it happened,” her mom explained gently. “It took a while to reach him. They thought it best to let him know first, give him a chance to break the news to you.”
“Is she … is she …,” Kendra tried but couldn’t complete the question.
“I need to go to her, Mom,” Kendra said quickly as she jumped up out of her mom’s embrace and scanned the room, deciding on what she’d need to get back to Granville.
“Of course,” her mom agreed as she rose as well. “We know that. That’s why your dad is making the arrangements for the private jet. We should be able to get there in just a few hours,” her mom declared, and Kendra shot the woman a surprised look. “We both know how close you are to Betsy, sweetie. And I know that I owe the woman plenty, she looked after you when I couldn’t. And more importantly, she helped you through a difficult time, a difficult part of your life.”
“Thank you, Mom,” Kendra said tearfully as she quickly hugged her mom before going back to packing her bag for the return trip to Granville.
“We’ll be downstairs waiting when you’re ready,” her mom said before leaving Kendra to her own thoughts.
She’d always known that she’d head back home, and she even knew that she’d be doing so relatively soon, especially with everything settled between her mom and dad, but she hadn’t realized that it would be like this. Had never even considered it.
As she stuffed clothing into her bag, Kendra chastised herself. She’d noticed that Betsy hadn’t been quite her usual energetic self when she’d returned from Europe, but she’d brushed off her worries. She’d been so focused on herself that she’d neglected the woman who’d cared for and helped her so much.
She should have done more. She should have been there for Betsy. She shouldn’t have stayed away for so long. She should have been back in Granville to help care for the woman, maybe then this wouldn’t have happened. Maybe Betsy would still have been alright. This was Kendra’s responsibility. If she’d have thought more of the other people around her, the people who cared for her so selflessly, maybe this never would have happened.