Nina explained how she came to find out about Alexander’s existence and no one in the Copeland family knew of him as far as she could tell, but Nina would make sure Alexander knew who his family was. She also promised to pay the boy’s tuition and help out financially as much as she could. As for Cassie, she had no choice now but to go back to college and get a degree that would qualify her to do something she could earn a decent living from. She and Nina had been spending a lot of time together lately, mostly because they were the ones who felt the fallout from the verdict the most acutely.
“Take it all off,” Nina told Charlene. She sat at the edge of the bed while a nervous-looking Charlene toyed with a pair of scissors.
“Are you sure you want to do this? Does Marc know you’re doing this?”
Nina grabbed the scissors from her and started chopping off her hair.
A stunned Charlene retrieved the scissors quickly. “Have you lost your mind? Did that trial push you over the edge?”
“It’s a new beginning, Char. Do you know he refused for me to get it cut and all throughout my adult life I just… well, I guess I subconsciously did what he wanted. I’m free now. I want my first official hair cut. And make it a real one. Not the one or two-inch trim you’ve given me in the past.”
“Really, Nina?”
“Yes, really,” Nina said, shaking her head as the idea appealed to her more and more. “Eminem isn’t the only one who had to clean out his closet.”
The two women howled with laughter as Charlene snipped and snapped and Nina watched long clumps of her hair fall to the floor. When Charlene was finished, she gave Nina a mirror.
“Well?” Charlene asked expectantly.
“I love it, Char,” Nina said, moving the mirror from side to side. “I look a little different, like a real grown up. My eyes look bigger, though. I don’t know if that’s a good thing.”
“You’re as gorgeous as ever, girl. That will never change.”
Marc entered the bedroom and did a double take when he saw his wife’s short bob, just shy of the jawline.
“What did you do?”
Nina offered a weak smile and Charlene looked guilty then disappeared from the bedroom in a flash.
“You hate it,” Nina declared.
He sat next to Nina on the bed. “No. It’s just a different you. A new you.”
“If all goes well, I won’t have time to worry about the latest hair style. A shorter cut seemed more practical.”
He placed his hands on her stomach. “Your practicality will serve us well in the coming months and years.”
* * *
IT’S STILL ME, MR. TIBBS. Don’t be afraid. Why did I cut my hair? You ask a lot of questions for a bear, tough questions. And my answer is, I had to. I realize now my hair held me as much of a prisoner as my father did. You know he wouldn’t let me cut it, no matter how long it got. So I had Charlene cut it off. I started a new diary, though. I can’t shake the habit. No, I’m through with secrets, Mr. Tibbs. This time around, it will be filled with laughter, not tears. And it won’t be hidden in the attic. The same applies to you, Mr. Tibbs. I do know where the new you should be. You’re coming downstairs. Your new home is going to be in the family room. At least until we finish constructing the playroom.
* * *
TWO YEARS LATER, NINA FOUND herself taking an hour-long to a state-of-the-art corrections facility, one of the most secure in the nation and the only one to sit on a major highway. She arrived at one of the eight modules used to house prisoners and went through the usual security checkpoints. She was ushered into the visitors’ room. She took a seat and nervously awaited his arrival.
She was jolted from her thoughts when he walked into the visiting area. A slight man to begin with, he had aged, his head now completely grey. His face was gaunt, his cheeks sunken from massive weight loss. She bit down hard on her lips to stop the tears from forming. As she expected, he was less than pleased to see her.
“What are you doing here?”
She didn’t respond.
“If you’re looking for forgiveness, you’re in the wrong place. But the prison chapel isn’t too far from here.”
She finally found her voice. “Forgiveness for what?”
“Sending you own father to prison is unforgivable.”
“Then why did you do it?”
Sadness crept into his face, but it was quickly replaced by the familiar stubbornness and lack of empathy that had defined their relationship.
“I was a good daughter. You didn’t deserve me.”
Nina opened her pocketbook and took out her wallet. She removed a photo and pushed it across the table toward him. He glanced at it then looked back at her. He wanted to ask her something but was too proud.
“Grace and Faith Kasai. A year old today,” she explained.
“Why did you come to see me? You’ve destroyed what was left of my life.”
“No dad. You did that all on your own. All I wanted was a stinking apology, some acknowledgement that I wasn’t some piece of property you could use and dispose of when you felt like it. You weren’t sorry at all. I was living in a hell you sent me to. This was the only way I knew to get out. You had to answer to someone you couldn’t bully or buy off or manipulate.”
“I gave you everything.”
“You gave me the best of what money could buy. What I needed from you was priceless.”
Maybe she was right Phillip thought. There were some things his money couldn’t buy, like Constance Buckwell’s silence. The security he thought it would bring him failed to materialize and he had to take care of her himself by slipping something in her drink when they had dinner. That induced the heart attack that killed her. That should have been the end of his troubles combined with the diary he stole but it was all for naught. Now, he could honestly say it wasn’t worth it. None of it was.
“Congratulations on the twins Nina. I know you’ll make an outstanding mother. You’re excellent at everything you do. I have no doubt that will extend to motherhood.”
With that, Phillip Copeland signaled to be taken back to his cell.
As Nina made her way back to her car, she realized how lucky she was. A big, happy contented smile spread across her face. She had a life beyond anything she could have imagined. And this time, she knew she deserved it.
The End
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The next novel from Gledé Browne Kabongo
The Swan Betrayal
Doctor Shelby Cooper is a brilliant scientist at one of Boston’s leading biotech companies—a survivor, a small town Louisiana girl who escaped the brutality of a mother who couldn’t love her, and a father who was too weak to protect her. Decades later, Shelby puts her tragic past behind her and lives a picturesque life in an affluent New England town with her husband and two kids. In one afternoon, it all comes crashing down.
Shelby is blindsided when she becomes the prime suspect in a shocking murder that rocks the wealthy suburb of Castleview. After all, the body of her Physical Therapist was discovered in the trunk of her car with compelling evidence that points to Shelby as the perpetrator. To the police, it’s an open and shut case. For Shelby, it’s the beginning of a horrific nightmare from which she may never wake up.
Now, it’s up to Jason Cooper to prove his wife’s innocence while she sits in a jail cell awaiting trial. But as stunning revelations about Shelby’s true identity surface, the crisis takes a toll on their children, and Jason crumbles under the weight of his own painful secrets, a cunning and ruthless killer is closing in, and no one in the Cooper household is safe.
To put his family back together again, and stop a predator dead in his tracks, Jason m
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Acknowledgements
I owe a debt of gratitude to many people who made this book possible. To my beta readers, thank you for taking the time to read the manuscript while it was still rough around the edges.
My husband Donat, your love, support, and advice mean more to me than I can ever express.
My boys Amini and Maximillian, thanks for being patient whenever Mama went into her writing zone. I love you both very much.
My mother Leonora gave me one of the greatest gifts a parent can give a child: the love of books.
Michaela Hamilton at Kensington Books, you fought for an unknown author. I’ll always be grateful.
Karlai Brooks, what you did took courage. You know what I mean.
Dr. Desmond McCarthy, my journalism professor at Framingham State University, you believed in me. You have no idea what it means to me that you thought I had talent as a writer, even when I was still so very green.
To family and friends who have been supportive in various ways, much love.
Conspiracy of Silence Page 25