by Ann, Natalie
Throwing back the covers now, he grabbed his clothes and made his way into the bathroom to get ready for the day.
He smelled the coffee when he walked into the kitchen and expected to see Brooke. But all he saw was a quickly written note on the table that explained she was going to her parent’s house this morning before they left.
Lucas sighed and wished Brooke weren’t so stubborn that she felt she had to go alone.
Say Goodbye
Brooke had taken Lucas’s Range Rover to her parent’s house. She didn’t think he would mind. Besides, she didn’t know where Mac’s keys were and she had seen Lucas’s on the bedside table. So without thinking anything through, she grabbed them and walked out the door before either Lucas or Mac had awakened.
Tossing and turning all night, she finally came to the decision that she needed to go back to her parent’s house rather than phoning them this morning. She knew she’d been rude by leaving so unexpectedly last night and needed to apologize to her mother. If she didn’t do it now, it would be thrown in her face more than she cared for. From past experience she knew it was best to apologize and put it behind her, even if she wasn’t at fault.
She walked to the back of the house knowing the door would be unlocked for Marie to have breakfast prepared for her parents. Needing the distraction and the time to pull her thoughts together better, she went to say goodbye to the woman who taught her everything she knew about cooking.
Marie turned with a start and threw her hand to her chest when Brooke opened the door to enter the kitchen. “Brooke, you scared me.” Rushing forward, she hugged Brooke tight. “You left so early last night. I never had a chance to talk with you. That is one fine man you have there,” she said with a wink.
Brooke loved talking to Marie. Growing up, she had secretly wished Marie were her mother. She always felt more comfortable around the older woman than her own mother. She didn’t have to think before she spoke or acted. She was free to be herself.
“Yes, he is, Marie,” Brooke said, smiling fondly.
“What are you doing here this early? Your parents are up. However, you know they don’t see anyone until late morning.”
Glancing at the clock, Brooke noticed it was barely nine. “I wanted to say goodbye in person. And apologize for leaving so abruptly last night.”
Marie snorted and waved her hand. “They should apologize to you. Or your mother should. She was beyond inconsiderate to you last night.” Marie stopped her before she could interrupt. “I overheard her. Bringing up Robbie time and again, asking you if you found a plastic surgeon. Rude, plain and simple.”
“She is who she is. You know that. Perfection. I guess I’m not perfect enough for her.” Brooke’s shoulders sagged and she turned to look around the kitchen absently.
“Stop making excuses for her. No one is perfect. You are who you should be. Don’t change for anyone,” Marie chided her. “Do you have time for breakfast? Or at least a cup of coffee?”
“No, thank you. I would rather get this over with. I’m assuming my father is in his study?” At Marie’s nod she added, “I’ll go say goodbye to him first then.” Brooke hesitated and then went with her gut and gave the older woman she’d loved so much while growing up a big hug. “Thank you…for being you.”
***
Brooke was surprised to hear voices coming from her father’s study. Almost no one was allowed in there when he was working, and she couldn’t fathom who was here this early on a Sunday morning.
But as she got closer, she recognized her mother’s voice. If hearing her mother’s voice coming from her father’s study wasn’t strange enough, it sounded like they were arguing.
Brooke couldn’t ever remember a time when her mother argued with anyone. Paula stated her opinion time and again, calmly. And continued in that format until you did what she wanted. Even Brooke’s father went along most of the time.
She moved forward and watched them through the cracked door. “Paula, I’m telling you right now, what you did last night…totally unacceptable,” Richard Malone stated to his wife from behind his massive desk. “Do you want her to stop coming here? Are you trying to drive her even further away?”
“What are you talking about?” Paula asked indignantly. “She would never stop coming here. This is her home. We are her parents. She was raised to respect her parents and that means she is obligated to visit us when we request it.”
“Obligated?” he asked, irritated. “Is that what you want of our children? To see us out of obligation?” He pushed back from his desk and stood.
Brooke knew it was rude of her to eavesdrop, but she was beyond caring. Her father had never, ever defended her and Mac, least of all to their mother.
“Richard.” Paula tried to placate him. “You have never had any say about how I raised our children. You’ve never complained before, so why now?” She tilted her head to the side. “You have always been happy to go your merry way. Your business trips and work took precedence over your family. It was my job to run this household smoothly for you. That is what you said you wanted out of a wife. I gave you exactly what you asked for.”
Running his hands through his white hair, he started to pace. “That is not what I asked for. Not the way you have done it. You have tried your hardest to turn Brooklyn into a version of you. It’s not what she wanted.”
Brooke had never seen her father like this before. He’d always maintained a calm and cool exterior. Always in perfect control. It was one of the reasons he was such a well-respected doctor.
“Of course it was. If you’d been around more, you would know that.” Paula crossed her arms over her chest in a huff. “Besides, I was grooming her for Robbie. They were made for each other. Everyone thought so. He was going places with his father’s development firm. He was being groomed to take over and I was preparing Brooklyn to be the wife he needed.”
Richard narrowed his eyes at her. “Don’t think I don’t know you pushed that relationship. Or pushed for her to be hired at their firm. You and Priscilla have always wanted Robbie and Brooklyn together. You were both forever making plans and talking grandchildren. Did you ever think maybe Brooke wouldn’t want to stay home and raise children like you? Maybe she wanted a career?” He stopped his pacing, towered over of her, and glared hard. “Or a life?”
Paula held her ground. “She had a life. She was working, learning the business so that she could entertain for Robbie when the time came. It was exactly what he wanted,” she explained, not the least bit intimidated by her husband, who stood almost a foot taller than her.
“And how do you know that? He never told you. His mother told you,” he spat out. “And you assumed Priscilla knew what was best for Robbie. You two were completely selfish. Neither of you ever took into consideration that they might not have wanted to follow your plans.” His voice rose, losing the monotone that he carefully maintained.
“Robbie was exactly who Brooke needed. He was going to make the perfect husband for her.”
“I repeat. How do you know that? I had my doubts about him. I always did. I never cared for him or his behavior. He was never good enough for her in my eyes.” Richard started to pace again. “But like an idiot I stood back and let you have your way. I heard rumors about him with other women, but I let it go. I have to live with that. And any unhappiness Brooklyn carries around as a result.” He threw his hand to the side, the motion causing papers to shift on his neatly organized desk.
“Nonsense. Besides, even if he was seeing other women, he loved Brooklyn. He would have settled down with her eventually.”
“Do you even hear yourself? Are you condoning that Robbie may have cheated on Brooklyn? How can you even think that? Where did the person I married all those years ago go? You would have never felt that way about me. I clearly remember when I asked you to be my wife and what I wanted out of a wife. You agreed and came back with one condition. You stated and I quote ‘I will do everything in my power to give you the relaxing home you des
erve to come home to, as long as you remain faithful to me.’ How can you demand it for yourself and not want it for your own daughter?” he yelled in disgust.
For the first time in Brooke’s life she was rendered speechless. She didn’t even know her parents had it in them to act this way. They had always maintained complete control over their actions and emotions in the presence of others, even each other.
Her mother’s words shocked her. They shouldn’t have, but they did. How could your own mother say those things? And her father—he was standing up for her. She didn’t know which was more surprising at the moment. She couldn’t process anything and needed to leave right now before they saw her. But she couldn’t get her feet to move.
“What about me? Did you ever think I was hurting too? I lost my best friend in that accident. She blames me for Robbie’s death.” Paula blinked at the tears forming in her eyes. “She said I was to blame for not having better control over my child. For months I couldn’t even show my face at half of the committees we’re on together.” She reached over Richard’s desk, grabbed a tissue and gently blotted her eyes, not smearing her makeup.
“You? Seriously? You should have blamed Priscilla for the way she and her family treated Brooklyn before and after the accident, blaming her for Robbie’s death, firing her. But no, you were too worried about yourself to think about anyone else.” He crossed his arms over his chest, then leaned back against his desk.
Brooke had heard enough, as she turned to leave she heard her mother coolly state. “I’m done with his conversation. When you calm down and want to speak to me respectfully you can find me in the gardens.” The French doors opened on the other side of her father’s office, then her mother made her exit.
Brooke knew it was time to leave, was two steps away from the office door when it opened completely and her father saw her there.
“Brooklyn? How much did you hear?” he asked defeated. “Never mind. I can tell by your face. Come in, please.”
She willed her feet to move in the direction of her father’s study, stopped, and stood in the middle of the room, hopeless and lost.
Tentatively, even a bit awkwardly, he reached for her, and put his arms around her shoulders. “I’m sorry,” he whispered in her ear. “You didn’t need to hear any of that. Your mother loves you, in her own way. It’s just not the way you or Mac need,” he tried to explain.
“How can you defend her? And if you are going to, then there is nothing left for me to say.” She stared through the tears that gathered in her eyes. She fought to keep them from falling, not wanting him to think she was weak. She never dropped her guard around him, ever.
“Come, sit down. I promise not to defend your mother. There is no excuse for what she said. But rest assured, she does love you and Mac. I don’t think she is capable of showing her true self to anyone. Not even me. It’s the way she is. She was right, though, she has given me almost everything I’ve asked for. Just not the way I expected when I proposed to her all those years ago. Honestly, Brooklyn, I wanted a peaceful home at the end of the day. I was young and stupid, and didn’t really look at how she was managing things. I was happy to not have to deal with any stress at home. I took things for granted and shouldn’t have.”
He looked at the room absently, cleared his throat and paused for a moment. “I’m not the easiest person to be married to. As you know, I wasn’t around much. I am more now, but I lost so much of your and Mac’s lives. I never realized it until your accident last year, when I thought I was going to lose you. I had to take a good look at my life back then—and yours. I didn’t like what I saw. It’s like I blinked and lost twenty-five years along the way.”
His eyes started to gloss up, he looked up at the ceiling, waited a minute, then spoke again. “I have so many regrets. I never meant for you or Mac to be raised that way. It wasn’t what I thought would happen. But it was easier to let your mother have her way. I was too focused on my career. And I was wrong. I never saw it, not until it was too late.”
Swallowing past the lump in her throat, she asked, “Did you know about Robbie?”
Taking a deep breath, he nodded, but then clarified. “Just rumors. But I was afraid they were true. We don’t need to talk about it, if you don’t want to.” He pulled her closer, squeezed her shoulder, she dropped her arms that had been crossed firmly in front of her.
“I don’t. Not now. Maybe never.” She took a page from his book, looked up at the ceiling, and fought the tears from falling some more.
He gripped her shoulders with both of his hands, turning her to face him. “Be mad at me. Something. I deserve your anger. I deserve your hatred. Don’t keep fighting everything back,” he implored, giving her shoulders the barest shake.
She shook her head. “Does it even matter anymore? Does my being angry with you right now change the last twenty-nine years of my life? Does it change the way you’ve felt or treated me all those years?”
He released her shoulders, reached out and wiped a tear from her cheek. “No. It doesn’t change anything in the past. But what about the future? I want to make it right. I want to do better by you. And by Mac. I can’t do that if you won’t give me a chance.”
Not trusting herself, she moved a few steps away. She wanted to believe him, he sounded sincere, but instead she fought the urge. “I don’t know if I have it in me to give you a chance. I don’t know if I have it in me to be let down again. I stopped hoping you would change years ago.”
He nodded his head, but his voice cracked when he spoke again. “Understood. Can I ask you a question? You don’t owe me anything. You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to. But are you happy? Did I do the right thing for once, at least?” His eyes were full of hope.
“Right thing? What are you talking about?” she asked, confused.
He held her stare, then suddenly it became clear and her face turned red. “My job. You got me that job, didn’t you?” She moved further away from him, turned and glared. “I found it odd that everything happened so fast. That a position like that opened up and seemed to fall into my lap. It all seemed too good to be true. How could you?” Another tear slipped down her cheek, her chest rising and falling.
He held up his hand. “Stop right there. It’s not exactly what you think. I overheard you telling Mac about the position when you applied. I made a phone call. I didn’t pull strings. I made a call to a colleague on the board there, nothing more.”
“Of course they weren’t going to turn down your daughter,” she said in disgust.
“I hoped they wouldn’t, but if they did I would have dropped it. No one knows, Brooklyn. I promise you that. Not your boss, nor Lucas. All I did was ask that your résumé be pushed along to the right person, nothing more. You got hired on your own. You deserved the job. I made sure they gave you the chance for an interview. Nothing more,” he repeated.
He continued to watch her, to look for any signs that she might understand, but she didn’t. Didn’t understand anything that was happening this morning. She was good at keeping her emotions locked up. Her face hardly ever revealed what was going on in her mind. She knew he could tell was angry, and that was only by her stiff body language and the tears rolling down her cheek, but she refused to give him anymore.
“I’m not sorry I did it. You deserve to be happy. And you couldn’t get there if you stayed here in this town. I was trying to correct the wrong that was done to you for so long. I hope in time you can forgive me.”
She nodded her head once. “I should go.”
She walked to the door and then paused when he called her name. She didn’t turn around though. “If it’s any consolation, I think you found the person to make you happy. And I hope that someday you will look back and maybe realize that for all the wrong that was done to you, by trying to make it right, I put you in the path of that happiness.”
Appearance Only
“I want to help her, Mom. But she won’t let me in. She won’t let me help her,” Lucas pleaded
to his mother.
It had been three days since they returned from Burlington. He could still remember Brooke’s face when she returned to Mac’s late Sunday morning, hollow and defeated.
Neither Mac nor he could get her to say what happened. She hid within herself, said she was going to go pack and would be ready to leave within the hour.
The drive home was even more somber. Every attempt he made to cheer her up or smile had been wasted. She had either nodded or gave short answers to his questions as she stared out the window.
He thought for sure she would have asked to be brought home when they returned to his house a few hours later, but she didn’t. Together they sat on his deck and watched the sunset in silence.
He had finally given up and decided to wait her out, hoping she would eventually say something. Or at least move on from the weekend and back to where they were before the trip. But now, here he was at his mom’s house, praying she could shed some light on what he could do to help Brooke.
“That’s the problem with you men.” Michele patted him on the cheek in a loving gesture. “You all think we need your help. We only let you think that,” she said with as much humor as she could muster.
He pulled out a chair to sit down while she worked around the kitchen preparing dinner. He was at his wit’s end and felt he had nowhere to turn. Mac wasn’t having any luck getting information out of Brooke, either.
“I want to make her happy. She deserves to be happy. You didn’t see her that day. She was so dejected and withdrawn. I’ve never seen anyone look like that before,” he explained, feeling both distraught and defeated at the same time.
Michele stopped what she was doing and stood in front of him. “You need to give her time. However much she has told you about her life, the small part you witnessed this past weekend doesn’t tell the whole story. I imagine it’s much worse than you know. Mac turned out fine, but Brooke runs deeper. She feels deeper. Just because she doesn’t show it, doesn’t mean it’s not there.”