Destiny Of A Donovan (The Donovans Book 15)

by A. C. Arthur

  “My PI called me again and told me the Feds were here. So I went to the hotel and waited for Cade. I told him everything I knew. I told him he needed to catch her,” Dane said.

  Wade sat back in his chair. Then he leaned forward and reached for his glass of wine. He drank in gulps.

  “The minute I heard everything Dane had to say I got on the phone and asked for a warrant. Then my team and I headed over to the therapist’s office and took over that scene. Roslyn’s prints, which we obtained through another warrant executed at her New York apartment, were on the bloody letter opener that was found near Sybil Dunham’s body.”

  “So this Roslyn woman killed the therapist because she wouldn’t give her pills. Which means she was trying to get help, but it was already too late for her,” Lauren said.

  “That’s so sad,” Brynne added.

  “It’s insane!” Bernard yelled.

  Wade had to agree with Bernard on this one.

  Cade nodded. “The part we didn’t quite understand was that Roslyn used a credit card to pay her co-pay at the doctor’s office. The card was in the name of Evelyn Terrington. Her address is really close to here. Do you know her?”

  “What?” Wade asked. “What the hell does Evelyn have to do with this?”

  Dane rubbed a hand down the back of his head and massaged his neck.

  “We went to the Bonjour Winery before coming here. That’s what took me so long to see you,” Cade said to Brynne. “Evelyn and Roslyn were in a romantic relationship together. It’s been going on for the last six months with Evelyn funding Roslyn’s trips across country via a credit card account she opened specifically for Roslyn.”

  “Wait a minute,” Brynne said shaking her head. “How is this woman involved with another woman, but she’s still in love with Uncle Henry? What the hell is wrong with her?”

  “It’s possible that her disenchantment with the men she’s known led her to a relationship with a woman. We don’t know if this has been a habit, or if this is new for her. My opinion is that she’s devolving. Everything she’s wanted is falling apart. Uncle Henry isn’t with her. Dane knows who his father is now. Jaydon is dead. She’s losing and she knows it,” Cade informed them.

  “So that makes her a ticking time bomb,” Lauren stated.

  Cade nodded. “Which is precisely why we had a search warrant in hand for when we went to Bonjour Winery. Roslyn Ausby was found in the guest house and is now detained.”

  “She’s in jail?” Bernard asked.

  “She’s on her way,” Cade said. “We’ve got some formalities in San Francisco because of the therapist’s murder, but the plan is to transport her to a medium security federal penitentiary to await trial as soon as possible.”

  “Oh my god, so it’s over,” Brynne said as she shook her head in what Wade thought might be disbelief.

  “It’s about damn time,” Bernard quipped.

  “Whew, then we definitely deserve a toast,” Lauren said. She stood then and began pouring wine into all the glasses around the table. She’d used the water glasses that nobody had used to pour for Cade and Dane.

  “I’d rather toast to the woman I love and our engagement,” Wade said after noticing how somber Dane was looking.

  They were rejoicing about the guy’s mother being arrested. Regardless of how unstable the woman seemed, this had to be hard for him.

  So Wade stood up, he lifted his glass and leaned in saying, “A toast to the most beautiful woman in the world and the old dude that’s lucky enough to make her his wife.”

  She couldn’t stand but Brynne could smile and she did so brightly. She lifted her glass and Wade moved his so that they would touch.

  Lauren stood from her seat and added, “To my best friend who will soon be my sister-in-law, I love you to pieces. And to my big brother, I love you more.”

  Bernard stood next, holding his glass up and saying simply, “Congratulations.”

  Cade added a congratulations. Dane stood and lifted the glass that Lauren had put in front of him before saying quietly, “To new beginnings and to family.”

  “Salute!” Brynne yelled and everyone followed.

  Chapter 15

  One Month Later

  Karing for Kidz Foundation

  Annual Charity Ball

  Las Vegas, Nevada

  The top floor of the Gramercy I Hotel and Casino was decorated in green and white, the signature colors for the Karing Kidz Foundation, a program developed by Noreen Lakefield, Beverly and Alma Donovan, to help support the street children of South America as well as the orphanages in the United States. Tonight was their annual charity event to raise money for next year’s work. Everybody who was anybody in Las Vegas and the surrounding cities, or who gave a damn about children and could afford the two hundred and fifty dollar tickets, was there.

  Beverly Donovan stepped out of the limo to photographer’s flashing lights and reporters thrusting microphones her way and yelling questions. Her husband held out his hand and for a moment she could only look down at it. There were at least a hundred people standing on the sidewalk, either waiting to get into the casino owned by her oldest son, Linc, or waiting to see everyone who would be arriving for tonight’s gala. It was a big deal and so were they. With that thought, Beverly took Henry’s hand.

  He smiled and waved and she did the same. Neither of them answered any of the questions being hurled at them, especially the one they’d been hearing all too frequently in the last month.

  “How do you feel now that Roslyn Ausby is in jail for burning down your house and harassing your family?”

  They never answered the reporters that asked that question, even the ones that were camped outside of the apartment building where she now stayed. She recalled her run-in with them earlier this week.

  “Mrs. Donovan, how are you coping with the arrest of Roslyn Ausby?” the tall, lanky man had asked as she approached the double glass doors of the building.

  Beverly had only smiled in his direction as she’d already seen his little sneaky photographer hiding behind one of the large potted plants on the sidewalk. The tenacious fool had followed her through the doors.

  “Are you going to file a civil suit against her for the damages to your house? Her son Dane can certainly cover it. And what about Dane? Are you relieved to find out he isn’t your husband’s son?”

  She had no idea how all the details of what had gone on with their family for the last two years had been revealed, but she was past caring at this point. Alma seemed to think it was someone that worked for them. The cleaning staff or someone at Donovan Oilwell. It had to be a person who was in close proximity at times when they’d talked about the situation. Beverly had insisted that it didn’t matter. This situation had come about from keeping secrets. If everything was out in the open now, then that was all for the better.

  Ignoring the reporter had been easy until he’d somehow gotten past the guards at the desk and had knocked on Beverly’s door ten minutes later. She’d been about to slam the door in his face when Henry stepped off the elevator.

  “Get lost or get arrested,” Henry had said to the man. “It’s your choice.”

  The guy had only grinned as he shrugged and headed back down the hallway. Beverly had let Henry in because she did not want to give that sleazy reporter anymore ammunition.

  This was only the second time she’d seen Henry since they received word that Roslyn had been arrested. She’d walked into the living room and sat on the couch waiting for him to say whatever it was he came to say.

  “I want my wife back,” he’d said the moment he sat down across from her.

  Beverly had sat back on the couch and folded her hands in her lap.

  “I’ve apologized more times than I can count and I know that none of those words will ever erase all that has happened between us. But what we have is too important to let die, Beverly. We’ve been through too much, sacrificed and struggled, made mistakes, tried to fix them. All of it, every day, every minut
e, in time since the day we first met, it’s all brought us to this moment.”

  He looked handsome as ever dressed in beige dress pants and a white shirt. The light color enhanced his deep chocolate complexion and the gray that peppered the beard he’d let grow in added to the distinguished gentleman look. She still loved him, she’d thought as she sat there staring at him. That hadn’t stopped. Not for one minute in time since the first day they’d met. Beverly often wondered how that could be.

  “This situation with Roslyn is over. Gavin Lucas knows about his father’s murder. He confronted Reggie and they worked it out.”

  Beverly tilted her head. “Not necessarily,” she’d said. “Gavin and Regan eloped last weekend because while he loves Regan, he’s not ready to forgive and forget her family’s role in his father’s death just yet.”

  Henry sighed. “Reggie didn’t tell me that part.”

  “I don’t think he knew when he spoke to you. Carolyn just called me this morning to tell me,” she said.

  “Everyone has healing to do, I suppose,” Henry said. “It’s a part of life.”

  “I agree with that,” she told him.

  “Amber and Brandon’s wedding was beautiful,” he added. “Al needed to see that. He needed to not only watch his son become a father, but to also see him stand in the church where Al had married Darla and speak his own vows. I was glad we could be there for that, even though it was a last minute decision.”

  “That was because Amber’s father had a stroke after hearing that his sister was arrested. Amber and Brandon felt like a wedding would help lift Elder Ausby’s spirits.”

  Henry nodded. “I hope so.”

  “I do too.”

  “I miss you so much, Beverly.” Henry leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees as he looked at her. “I can’t continue to do this without you, baby. I just can’t.”

  And Beverly hadn’t known if she could continue to do this with him. Every night for the past couple of months that she’d been sleeping in a bed without her husband she’d wondered how they could go back. How could they just pick up where they left off before their lives had been shattered? She’d thought the separation from Henry would shed some light on that for her. That maybe at some point she would come up with an answer. She hadn’t. At least not in the way she thought she would.

  “We can’t go back to what we were, Henry. Too much has happened,” she said finally.

  “Ah, Beverly,” he said and sat back in the chair heavily.

  “Let me finish,” she stated and rose slowly. She walked to the window and looked out at the mountains.

  Part of the reason she’d selected that particular apartment building was because of its magnificent views. How many nights had she stood right here basking in the beauty of all that was around her? That’s where Beverly’s answers had ultimately come from. Everything around her, everything and everyone in her life. All that she’d gone through and all that—bless the Lord—she would be able to see in her future.

  “I’ve loved you Henry Donovan for so long I don’t know how to live any other way. But we’re not who we used to be. Not you and definitely not me,” she said without turning around to face him. “I know that what happened wasn’t how you meant for things to turn out. I know too, that you slept with that woman before we took our vows. So I don’t feel like you cheated on me, Henry. But I do feel like you didn’t trust me, or us, enough to tell me what happened that day. It’s alright now. We can’t turn back the hands of time. That’s done and Dane is not your son. He’s Bernard’s. But he is family. He’s a Donovan whether any of you like how he became that way, or not. I invited him to the Karing Kidz event because it’s time we all get on with our lives.”

  Beverly did turn then, and she looked at the man who had promised her the world and had given it to her with their three children and a spectacular life.

  “I love you, Henry, even more now than I did when we were first married.”

  He stood up and wiped his hands down his face.

  “You are my husband. Through everything you are the man I married. And you are my best friend,” she said with tears brimming in her eyes.

  Henry walked to her then, cupping her face in his hands.

  “I’m so sorry, baby. So very sorry. I’ll never stop telling you that,” he said.

  “I’d rather hear that you love me,” Beverly had said.

  “I do, Beverly. I love you with every part of me,” Henry had replied.

  They’d spent that night together and each one since then, so that for tonight’s festivities they stood in their bedroom at the apartment getting dressed just like they had for so many functions before. And now they walked into their son’s casino and went to the elevators hand-in-hand.

  “I don’t know what’s taking Max and Deena so long,” Alma said as she stood next to Beverly in the ballroom.

  The event had been going on for almost forty minutes now.

  “They sent me a text message when they landed,” she continued as she looked over to the doorway where guests were still coming in.

  Beverly waved at someone who was walking past them and smiled. “They’ll be here, Alma. They were leaving Sophia at Adam and Camille’s house with their nanny and then the four of them were riding in together. Jade had some malfunction with her gown so Camille had to run over there and fix it. They’re all on their way now. I just received a message from Linc.”

  Alma could worry a person into the grave, Beverly thought and looked across the room to where Noreen Lakefield and her daughter Monica were speaking with one of the program managers from Karing Kidz.

  “Brynne looks beautiful doesn’t she?” Alma asked as she sipped from the glass of water she was holding.

  Beverly was thirsty too but she didn’t dare get anything to drink. She wanted to be on hand for all their guests and drinking water would surely send her straight to the bathroom.

  “She does,” Beverly agreed as they both looked to where their niece stood with her handsome fiancé, Wade, Ben and Victoria. “I’m still upset with her for believing we wouldn’t have supported her decision to have weight loss surgery, but I guess I can understand.”

  “Well I don’t,” Alma said. “We’re family and we’ve always stuck together.”

  “We know that, Alma, but these children received a great shock when they learned that Dane was Bernard’s son. I can’t imagine that was easy for Brynne or Keysa for that matter. And Jocelyn,” Beverly started.

  Alma shook her head. “I don’t know what to say about her. Everette said Bernard’s tried to reach out to her but she’s adamant that she wants a divorce. He said Bernard’s not going to contest it.”

  “That’s for the best then,” Beverly said. “If there is no love there anymore, then they shouldn’t be together. It’s not fair to either of them.”

  “I guess you’re right,” Alma agreed.

  In the next moments, a member of the catering staff came to Beverly with an issue in the kitchen. With a sigh Beverly decided she would handle the kitchen and leave Alma out here with Noreen to talk with their guests.

  “I know my mother is freaking out right now,” Max said as they boarded the elevator.

  Deena had stepped in before him and she turned around once inside the car to reply, “Oh my mother has sent me a dozen text messages asking where we are. You would think this was our event.”

  Jade shook her head. “I apologize for making us all late,” she said. “I guess I’m gaining some weight since I couldn’t get this dress zipped.”

  “And I guess I’m much stronger than I thought since I was the one who ripped it right off the track when I tried to help,” Linc said as the elevator began to move.

  “All I know is that if either of you ever attempt to fix one of my dresses again, somebody’s going to get hurt,” Camille said.

  Adam laughed and then acted as if he were coughing when Camille gave him a playful punch on the shoulder.

  “What? I’m on your
side. Nobody touch Camille’s dresses again. Got it?” he said to Linc and Jade jokingly.

  They were all laughing as the elevator passed the fifteenth floor on its way up to eighteen where the party was being held.

  Seconds later there was a jolt and a screeching sound. The elevator car went still and the lights inside went out.

  Jade reached for Linc. Adam grabbed Camille’s hand and Deena stepped closer to where she knew Max was before saying, “What the hell just happened?”

  When Beverly had left Alma alone, she wandered over to where she saw more of her family standing. Everette had reached for her hand, bringing it to his lips to kiss. She’d smiled up at her husband in delight and joined in with the current conversation.

  “Well, we’ve married off just about everyone now,” Carolyn was saying. “Even if we’re still a little perturbed with Regan for sneaking off to get hitched.”

  “She did what they felt was necessary, mom,” Savian said.

  He was standing next to his wife Jenise.

  Across from them was Keysa and Ian, Bruce and Janean, their son Sean, his wife Tate and their other daughter-in-law, Lyra. Parker and Adriana were a lovely couple and they rounded out the little group of Donovans.

  “Well, I don’t care what they say, I’m throwing a big party when they return,” Carolyn continued. “Reggie has already reserved the room at The Four Seasons. Right, Reggie?”

  Alma looked over to her brother-in-law as he nodded, but wisely did not speak.

  “I think we should have another family reunion instead,” Parker suggested.

  “Oh yeah, I loved it at Sansonique and so did Briana,” Tate said.

  The lights flickered then and everyone in the group looked around.

  “Power surge,” Everette said. “Nothing to worry about.”

  Lyra looked around at that moment. “Where’s Dion?”

  “Everything is going to work out,” Henry told Bernard after they’d gotten their drinks from the bar and were about to walk back to where the rest of the family was standing.