by ANDREA SMITH
“The day she left I was out of state. I learned at the same time that my family had ordered a hit on her. I was frantic to find her before they did. When I realized that she had fled prior to the contract being established, I knew that she had left for reasons of her own. All I cared about at the moment was her safety.”
“Bullshit,” I said, “All you cared about was saving your own ass from going down.”
“Oh, you think you have it all figured out, don’t you? Well sweetheart, you aren’t even close.” His voice had a steely edge to it that momentarily served to make me back off a bit.
Our food arrived, and for several minutes we ate in silence. I hadn’t planned on being so combative with him. I mean all things considered, he was still my father. He was blood.
“Look,” he finally said. “It all makes sense to me now. She was pregnant with you, she sensed the family was in turmoil and she didn’t want a child of ours being brought into that kind of a life.”
“And you would’ve?”
“Absolutely not,” he said. I then saw a wry smile tease his lips. “You know, I don’t know how many times I pleaded with Karlie to trust me, to believe in me, and to know that I would never let anything come between us. If I’d known she was pregnant, it would’ve changed everything. I would never have allowed our child—you,” he said, “to have been brought up the way that I had. But Karlie,” he sighed, “no matter how many times I told her this, she just never truly believed it.”
I felt compassion for him at that moment, but I still wasn’t quite ready to let him off the hook.
“You seemed to have gotten on in your life okay,” I commented. “You divorced—even though you always said you wouldn’t.”
He looked up abruptly when I said that.
“Anna divorced me, but our marriage was a farce. Old family rules that were ludicrous when you consider the other activities that were sanctioned.” He shook his head at the absurdity of it all.
I tossed my linen napkin on top of the table. “You know, I’m sorry, Pops,” I said, “But you don’t get my sympathy in any of this. As much as I want a father—need a father even at my age, I can’t abide the fact that you’re the reason I lost my mother. You haven’t even asked how she died.”
“I know how she died. It was an automobile accident and there was no mention of a child. How was this my fault?”
“Because she was on her way to visit you in some…some federal detention center where you were being held in protective custody. She knew all about what was happening with you. She saw it on the news. May 29, 1987 - does FCI Gilmer in Glenville, West Virginia ring a bell? Cause that’s where she was headed. To see you, and to tell you about me.”
“I was never there,” he whispered. “I was in protective custody, but it was in upstate New York, never in West Virginia.”
Rewind - what??
“Fucking Walter,” I hissed.
“What?”
“Never mind. It doesn’t matter. The point is that she thought she was on her way to see you, and that’s when the accident occurred.”
“I never knew,” he said softly.
“Well now you know,” I said. “And it’s a shame that she’s put her spiritual life on hold for all of these years, thinking that you didn’t know that she was dead, and wanting you to know the facts so that she could get to her final destination.”
“What?”
“Forget it. It’s complicated and you probably wouldn’t believe it anyway.”
“Try me.”
I looked at him, I mean really looked at him and I saw someone that was still tortured by the memory of Karlie Masterson. My words and my attitude had sparked that and was it really fair?
No. It wasn’t.
And it wasn’t fair that I had to be the one to return to Chester and deliver the news to Ma. And then I realized something else: these two beings still loved one another, and as ludicrous as that sounds—being that one of them was dead—they still needed their HEA (Happily Ever After). They deserved one and maybe, just maybe, I could help them get there.
“Would you mind making a trip to Chester with me? I want to take you to her grave.”
“When?”
“How about tomorrow?”
“I’ve got a rental, shall I pick you up?”
And so it was decided that my father and I would make that trip alone to Chester, and fingers were crossed that I could pull this off.
chapter 48
The several hour car ride from Richmond to Chester went smoother than I had anticipated with my father. I wasn’t sure how I should address him, so in my usual blunt fashion, I simply asked him when I got into the car the following morning.
“Look,” I said, “Would you prefer that I call you ‘Nick’, or ‘Father’ or Dad?” I asked. “There won’t be any ‘Daddy’, though,” I added.
He looked over at me and gave me a genuine, from-the-gut smile. “Anything but ‘Pops’ is fine by me, daughter.”
And he was ingratiated…for the moment.
“Okay, then how about ‘Dad’?”
“It’s fine. I love it,” he replied.
So, we made general conversation on the ride to West Virginia. Nothing heavy, nothing deep or emotional.
I told him about my modeling career and he was gracious enough to say that it didn’t surprise him what with how strikingly beautiful I was.
“Yeah, you’re just saying that because I look like you,” I teased.
“Parrish - you are a handful,” he said with another grin. “You may resemble me a bit, but you are totally Karlie. It does my heart good to see that.”
And then it got quiet, and I had a serious question that I needed to ask him. “What was the trait in her that you liked the best?” I asked.
He was thoughtful for a moment, and then answered very quietly. “I loved her spirit,” he said, “And I loved her talent, because she had a very unique talent for design. Your mother was someone that you would’ve admired had you known her. She was strong, she was driven, and she wasn’t one that wanted to be pampered or spoiled, though I admit, I spoiled her as often as I could. Karlie wanted to be productive and to earn her way in this world. She spoke her mind, and could be stubborn at times, but it wasn’t out of defiance, it was out of necessity - if that makes sense.”
“Yeah,” I replied, “It kind of does make sense. I’m sort’ve the same way I guess.”
“See? I told you bambolina. You are very much like her in those respects. Karlie also had a heart like no other. She loved me with an intensity that I’d never felt before, and that I never will again.”
“What about your wife?” I blurted out. “Do you love her? Does she love you?”
“It’s different. And maybe that comes with age and with living through…things. The woman that I married five years ago, Sheila, is a widow. We met on line. I was so terribly lonely, as was she. We are compatible, but to say that we are head-over-heels madly and passionately in love with one another, well it would be a lie. She still mourns her husband who passed - he was the love of her life, and I still mourn my Karlie who was the love of my life. We both understand that. We are comfortable with one another, and we have a good life. I care for her just as she cares for me. But there are no ‘fireworks’ as they say. I’m fifty-nine years old and she is sixty-two. We are the best of friends and companions but not much else.”
“Does she know about me? Does she know why you’re here?”
“Of course,” he said. “We have no secrets from one another.”
When we reached the outskirts of Chester, I gave him directions to the cemetery, instructing him where to park in the lot. He got out of the car, coming around to open the door for me. He helped me out, and for it being the second week of December, the day was unusually sunny and balmy. The snow that had been shoved into piles around the perimeter of the parking lot was starting to melt in the warmer temperatures of the past few days.
“You need to give me ten minutes al
one,” I said, seeing the puzzled frown cross his face. “You need to trust me on this,” I continued. “After ten minutes, walk towards that mausoleum over there. Do you see the one I’m talking about?”
He nodded.
“About thirty feet from that to the east, you’ll see her grave.”
“Where will you be?” he asked, looking at me with those dark brown eyes that matched my own.
“Close by hopefully,” I said with a sigh.
He didn’t say anything else; he simply nodded as he checked his watch.
I made tracks to her grave, keeping my fingers crossed literally, that this could be pulled off without a hitch.
When I got to her grave there she was, sitting there, arms crossed, waiting for me.
“He’s here, isn’t he?” she asked, tapping her heel against her own headstone and sounding a bit perturbed.
“How did you know? I thought I was your only point of contact?” I asked.
She shrugged. “You’re the only one that can see and hear me; and the only one that I can connect with physically. But I can feel his essence within my spiritual sector. It has to do with love, Parrish. But why did you bring him here? He can’t see me or I him. All I wanted was for you to explain what happened, in case he was still thinking that I deserted him for good.”
“It’s kind of complicated, Ma. I don’t want to be the messenger in all of this. I think you need to talk to him, and he to you…to say what needs to be said to one another for the last time.”
“But how?” she asked, her forehead creasing in confusion.
“They show movies in Limbo, Ma? Ever seen the one titled, ‘Ghost’?”
“Parrish, you’ve lost me,” she replied.
“Remember how the night of the accident, your body merged with mine and you took control?”
“Of course.”
“You need to do that again, except without the time-travel element this time. You need to take over my body and make it yours, but stay right here because in a few minutes, Dad will be here and I’m pretty sure he’ll be able to see you and hear you - and vice versa.”
“You’re calling him Dad?”
“Sure, why not?”
“Oh Parrish, I’m so happy,” she said, wall-to-wall smiles. “I hope you’re right about this.”
“I think I am, Ma. Just make sure you don’t do anything…well, you know?”
“I’m a responsible parent, Parrish! I erased those memories from your data bank, thank you very much.”
Ah ha! That explains the voids in remembering my ‘episode’ in its entirety.
“I’m ready,” I said. “Give it your best shot.”
And then she came closer, just like before, and I felt the warmth and the tingling sensation as she became one with my human form; my Parrish Locke memory banks were being cleared of all of my data, making way for hers. The heaviness of her occupation was the final conscious feeling that I had before slipping into unawareness, along with a feeling of hope.
chapter 49
Dominic
I glanced at my watch. The ten minutes were up and I was anxious to head into the graveyard to find out exactly what my daughter was about bringing me here like this.
It was strange, but after all, she had asked me to trust her on this, so what choice did I have? I wanted Parrish in my life no matter what her eccentricities happened to be. Some of her conversation with me at the restaurant yesterday seemed to be a bit…over the top, but it didn’t matter. She was the product of Karlie and me, of our love, and I would cherish her for however many years I had left on this planet.
I made my way over to the stone mausoleum she’d pointed out, and then turned to my left, gazing around at the various headstones until my eye caught one about ten yards off. There was a woman in a black dress sitting on it, and immediately I recognized the long, blond, curls that cascaded down her back.
My heart rate increased as I hurried to close the distance. What was Parrish doing? What game was this?
“Parrish?” I called out getting closer to the woman in black.
She turned and faced me, presenting a dazzling smile that I recognized from long ago that caused my stomach to tighten up in a knot.
This isn’t possible…
“Karlie?” I stammered, now standing right there in front of her, gazing down into her beautiful face that hadn’t changed a bit in over twenty-eight years.
“Dominic,” she greeted, in the sweetest voice that I’d ever heard.
Was this real? Or was this some sort of computer-generated image that Parrish had devised as some cruel joke? It couldn’t be because the voice was Karlie’s.
I reached my hand out, and touched her shoulder. This was no CGI - this was real!
“My God, Karlie,” I exclaimed, pulling her to her feet. “I don’t understand?”
“It’s a gift, Dominick. A gift from our daughter. She wanted us to talk one last time. There are things I need to say to you, and maybe things you want to say to me?”
I pulled her against me, closing my eyes and letting the familiar feel of her sink into my senses. “You need to explain this to me, Tesoro mio. I feel as if I’ve stepped through the looking glass into another dimension.”
She laughed her beautiful laugh. “I’m the one that’s in the other dimension, Dominic,” she sighed. “I see that Parrish didn’t fill you in on our initial encounter. She probably thought you’d think she was crazy.”
“I might’ve,” I admitted. “So fill me in, my love.”
And she did. Every last detail of what had transpired from the time she left Camden, until the fateful night she died as a result of Walter Locke’s intervention. My blood boiled when she divulged that part, making me promise that I would never let Lana know the truth. If he hadn’t already been dead, I would’ve killed him now.
When she finished, I lifted her chin so that she could see the sadness in my eyes. “It seems that people on both sides were hell-bent on keeping us apart, Karlie. All of the times that I reminded you to trust me, and I assured you that you’d always have my protection - you still didn’t trust it, did you?”
“I’m sorry, Dominic,” she whispered against my chest. “I know that I should’ve told you. It was just that I felt so fucking betrayed when I stopped at the shop that day and found out that you were part of the whole drug smuggling operation; just using my clothing as a front for your…your drug cartel,” she snapped.
“Principessa,” I said, drawing her in closer, “Once again you had no faith in me. May I clarify?”
She nodded against me.
“You remember Marco Trevani?”
“Yes - and I know he turned out to be FBI.”
“That’s correct. The reason I didn’t want him around you, or around me whenever you were there was because I’d been working with him for more than a year back then. Yes, I was assisting the feds in bringing some of the family down, including my blood family. I couldn’t stand that life anymore after I’d met you the first time in Chester. The plan never included using your clothing designs as a front - that was Vinnie’s idea once I’d been called away to fill in temporarily as consigliere for the family. I couldn’t keep a closer eye on him; still, he had my father and Little Sal’s blessing to put the deal together. And what a deal it was.”
“But you were going to let me go down if the authorities had gotten wind of it, weren’t you?”
“Absolutely not, Tesoro. I immediately brought Marco into the picture, and because there was no way to back out of the deal that Vinnie had put together, without drawing attention to what Marco and I were doing, I did the only thing possible to protect you - I signed your share of the company over to Vinnie and Sal. Marco ensured that the cargo would get out of the States without detection, but it was arranged so that once it reached Vinnie’s Italian operations near Palermo, Italian officials that had been working with U.S. officials would make the bust.”
“I don’t understand why you couldn’t have told me.�
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“Karlie - I didn’t want you involved. Having knowledge would’ve involved you, baby. Everything would’ve gone as planned if you hadn’t gone to the shop that day and made the discovery. When Vinnie got in and saw that you had, he called my father. Then a few hours later, Marco phoned me letting me know that a contract had been put out on your life by my father.”
“What?” she nearly screamed, backing away from me.
“Yes, it’s true. I left immediately and searched for you.”
“I know the rest,” she replied, sadly. “Belle filled Lana in whom in turn, filled me in.”
“Yes my love,” I said, pulling her back against me. “It was the one time that I was glad you hadn’t put your faith in me for protection. It probably saved your life.”
“Well, just briefly,” she commented wryly.
“But the life of our unborn child was saved indefinitely. I under-estimated the lengths my father would go to in order to protect Vinnie and Sal - and himself for the murder charges of your parents. The truth was, I never intended to go that far with it, and I knew that you hadn’t expected it of me either, but when I found out that he’d put a hit out on you, my mind was made up that he would no longer be in a position of power to ever cause harm to anyone again.”
“Oh Dominic,” she sighed, “I always knew that you had goodness in you, no matter what others said. The evening that I saw you on the news - the day you testified in front of a federal grand jury, I felt that everything had changed. I was hopeful that when it was all over, we could all be together. But you stopped looking for me. Why?”
I shrugged, remembering the day that I had finally stopped calling Belle. “Because amore mio, I resigned myself to the fact that I had no right keeping a beautiful butterfly caged. I knew with the arrests coming down, that I would be indicted as well. I had already arranged of course for immunity on the charges lodged against me in exchange for my testimony, but when I approached Marco with the added bonus of being a witness to the murders of your parents - and the attempted murder of you, I knew that my life would be forever changed. I owed you your freedom and a chance for a normal life.”