In Love with a Stranger (25 page)

Chapter 31 – A Quartet of Winners

WILLIAM

It was a good thing Brody had come with us to Hannah’s father’s house. It took everything in me not to lunge at the man and strangle the life out of him. I hated that he was upsetting my wife, and I knew if it escalated between me and him, it would’ve made things even worse. My worry for her and the baby were the only things that helped keep me cool. Brody making sure Scott didn’t make a move toward us made all the difference between us walking away peacefully and the start of a domestic violence situation, because I definitely felt violent toward the man.

As if dealing with Scott hadn’t been hard enough on my wife, I wasn’t happy about Hannah wanting to contact her mother, either. The file my father had on Audrey Dubois was not flattering. It was quite the opposite. I had a feeling Hannah would be very disappointed when she met her. I couldn’t imagine a woman being so distant and never attempting to contact her daughter. Of course, I only had my own relationship with my mother to compare it to, which wasn’t wonderful. My parents had been over-involved in my life in some ways, my father especially. I wondered if Scott had had such a strong reaction to Hannah talking to Audrey, because there was more to the story. Actually, I was sure there was more to the story. There were always two sides, and we’d only heard Scott’s, though I couldn’t imagine Audrey’s being any better than what we knew of her already. 

Hannah decided to ring Audrey from her mobile phone that still had a New York number. We didn’t have a permanent residence there anymore, so it’d be virtually impossible to track us down.

She dialed the number and put the phone on speaker, so I could listen in. We sat nervously on our bed, waiting for her mother to answer.

“Hello, Dubois residence,” a women said.

“Mom?” Hannah asked.

“I’m sorry, I think you have the wrong number.”

“Is this Audrey Dubois?” my wife asked nervously.

The woman was silent for a moment. “Hannah?” she whispered.

“Yes, it’s me,” my wife said, fighting to speak through tears.

“I…ah…what did…why are you calling? Is something wrong?” Audrey asked confused.

“No, I just…I didn’t know you were alive until recently,” my wife whimpered, and I held her tighter in my arms.

“I know, Scott thought it was for the best for me to be dead to you.”

“Why would you go along with that?” Hannah asked, gaining a little more control over herself.

We heard a sigh. “Hannah, I can’t tell you why I did what I did. It made sense to go along with it back then. I didn’t realize the impact it’d have on me or on you at the time.”

“So, you missed me?” Hannah asked hopefully, and I prayed to God Audrey would say yes.

“Oh, sweetheart, of course I did. As I said, things were difficult. I’d sent postcards to you while I traveled with Marcelle, but I’m guessing Scott never gave them to you. I suppose it wouldn’t make sense for your dead mother to be sending you notes.”

“Why didn’t you come back?”

“Marcelle and I were so young at the time. He had a lot of grand plans and wanted me to be a part of them. It was very flattering, since I’d felt so brushed aside and ashamed. Your father made me feel like someone to be hidden in the basement. I couldn’t stand it. I was suffocating. I had to get out of there, but unfortunately, my ticket out didn’t include room for you. Scott was always good to you, though, so I knew he’d take good care of you.”

“But why did you give me up so completely? You signed away your parental rights,” my wife sounded so hurt.

“I didn’t have a job, and I didn’t want your father to try and come after Marcelle for child support.  I know now he couldn’t have gotten anything, but I was young and naïve back then, and Scott was so angry. I was sure he’d find a way to use you to get back at me. Ultimately, he did just that, and it was my own fault. Since I’d signed you over, I couldn’t contest him, when he said I was dead to you and cut me completely out of your life.”

“So you loved me?” Hannah sounded so vulnerable. I really hoped Audrey wasn’t looking for an in, so she could take advantage of her.

“Of course I did, baby. You’re my daughter.”

“Why didn’t you ever look me up after I turned eighteen? My dad couldn’t have stopped you then.”

“As far as you knew, I was dead. I’m not sure how you found out I wasn’t, but if a complete stranger walked up to you and said, ‘Hey, I’m your mom,’ I’m sure you would’ve freaked out. Besides, what would I say to you to explain away my absence in your life up until that point? You always worshipped the ground your father walked on. I couldn’t imagine credibly disputing the things he would’ve told you about me.”

“He didn’t say anything, just that you were dead, and you’d been sent to be buried next to your mother.”

“Well, I guess that’s something. I wonder what he told the rest of the town.”

“I don’t know, but they all seemed to think you were dead, too.”

Audrey let out another sigh. “That doesn’t surprise me. Scott always was a prideful man,” she let out a little huff. “Was there something you needed?”

“No, I just wanted to see if it was true, see if you really were alive and ask why you left me.”

“Again, I’m so sorry, sweetheart. I don’t have a legitimate good answer to give you closure. I was selfish and didn’t fully realize what I’d done until it was too late. Did you…were you okay, I mean, are you?”

“Yeah, I’m pretty good right now. I’m married, and my husband is here with me. He didn’t want me to do this alone.”

“Really, is he nice? What’s his name?”

“William, and yes, he’s very nice. I love him.”

I knew she did, but I loved hearing it. Those words coming from her lips would never get old. “I love you, too, beautiful.”

“Oh! Is that him? He has an accent. I’m sure that drives your father crazy.”

“We’re not really on speaking terms at the moment. William doesn’t deserve to be treated like a villain, just because he’s from a different country.”

“I’m sorry, sweetheart. I hope Scott comes around for you.”

“Even if he did…” Hannah stopped herself, “There are other issues at play that’ll take a lot more time to get over.”

“He didn’t hurt you, did he? If I’d thought for one second he’d raise a hand to you-”

“He didn’t, Mom, he was a great dad, until I learned he was keeping some major secrets from me.”

Hannah squeezed my hand, and I kissed her lips lightly. “That’s all over, we can’t change anything,” I spoke softly, not wanting to involve her mother in the mess we’d had to deal with.

I ran my hand over her flat tummy. Scott might’ve taken a lot from me, but I was taking it back. I was excited to watch my baby grow and eventually feel it kick. My hand reminded Hannah, once again, that she needed to keep herself cool. “You’re right, there’s no way we can change anything.  Now, for the reason I called,” Hannah got back to business, “I was hoping we could meet for lunch or something?” Hannah looked up at me, as if she was asking if I thought it was okay to meet with her mother. I nodded my head yes. Audrey didn’t sound like a scoundrel, but I was still cautious. I wanted to keep our daughter from her, until we were absolutely sure everything was on the up and up.

“Your area code doesn’t look like it’s from California. I’m not sure where you are, or how to meet.”

“We can come to you if you’re amendable,” I spoke directly to Audrey for the first time.

“If you’re sure, I wouldn’t want to put you out,” she said uncertainly, and I worried that maybe she really didn’t want anything to do with Hannah.

“It’s no trouble at all. We can keep things short, as it sounds like you’re busy.” I wanted to give the woman an out that wouldn’t hurt my wife as much.

“I…um…would you mind if I brought Marcelle? Would it offend you if he came with me?”

“No, that’d be fine. Do you think he’d be okay with you seeing me?”

“He doesn’t like small children, and you’re far from being a little girl anymore. I’m sure he’d be interested to see how you’ve grown up.”

I looked over at Hannah worried. Chances were that they’d want nothing to do with our children, and I wasn’t sure if she could handle that.

“Fine, I’ll have William set something up with you. I have to go.” She got up and hurried out of the bedroom.

“Okay.” I could hear the disappointment in Audrey’s voice. I think she knew Hannah wasn’t happy with her response.

I nodded at Hannah, excusing her from the room, and set up a time with Audrey at a neutral quiet restaurant that would give us enough privacy to talk, but also force us all to be civil, so we didn’t make a scene.

As soon as I got off the phone with Audrey, Stuart rang me.

“Mr. Greyson, I have the report on Marvin Dooley. He’s not done anything offensive or suspicious. He looked up a few old college buddies and mentioned seeking out a couple more. Layla, on the other hand, has shadowed him the whole time. She put herself in his path and sat across from him several times, but he’s yet to take notice of her or even acknowledge her in any way.”

“Didn’t you introduce them?”

“Yes, Sir, I did. He nodded at her and hurried off. He showed no interest in her at all. In fact, he was confused by the introduction, since he didn’t know either of us.”

“Well, that was a bust. I think you should keep Layla in your sights. If she does anything that seems nefarious, call me immediately. Hannah would be very upset if something happened to him.”

“Of course, did you give anymore thought to telling him that she’s following him?”

“I honestly thought we’d find they were together. I’ll get back to you and let you know. Thank you, Stuart. You’ll hear from me soon.”

I bought the tickets to fly out to California to visit Audrey and booked us a room. Ophelia planned to come down and meet us there, so she could watch Penelope for us. I wasn’t looking forward to the trip. I had a feeling Hannah was not going to have as strong of a connection with Audrey as she’d hoped.

Brody offered to keep Penelope, but we still wanted to have her close. I really didn’t want to bring her, but I didn’t want to leave her behind, either. In the end, it was decided Ophelia would come with us to the restaurant and sit at a different table with Penelope, while we met with Audrey and Marcelle.

We arrived in California a few days later, and Hannah was a nervous mess.  She changed her outfit three times, complaining she looked fat in each set of clothes. I insisted she was beautiful, because she was, and finally pulled her out the door. We were running late as it was. We all rode together in the hired car Ophelia drove. I still hated that Americans drove on the wrong side of the road.

I told the hostess we were part of a party of four and that Ophelia and Penelope would like to be seated in sight of us. Penelope wanted to know why she wasn’t sitting with us, and Ophelia looked like she was on edge. I had a feeling she didn’t approve of Hannah meeting with Audrey. That would make two of us, but I’d always support my wife.

I insisted they seat Ophelia and Penelope first. I wanted to be sure I could see them. I hated having my daughter out of my sight. I could see Audrey had already arrived, recognizing her from her file pictures, and she was waiting for us. Hannah stood across the room, just staring at her, and I wondered if she’d be able to follow through with the meeting.

She took a few deep breaths and finally moved toward the table. Marcelle noticed us first and made Audrey aware of our presence. She quickly stood and wore a terrified smile. Her hands were shaking, and she looked to be on the verge of bursting into tears.

Hannah did look a lot like her mother, but her mother was definitely older and had a deep tan and bleached-blonde hair. Her face, height and build were all the same, though. They even had the same eyes. Hannah had my arm in a death grip, and I wondered if I should be pulling her away from this woman instead of walking Hannah to her.

Marcelle didn’t look pleased with the meeting in general. I wasn’t sure what his problem was, but he looked a bit annoyed to be there. The arse had better let them be.

“Hannah,” her mother whispered, reaching out to her, but didn’t touch her, unsure if she was allowed to. Hannah closed the distance by taking her hand and pulling her into a hug. Audrey immediately burst into tears, and my wife joined her.

I looked over at Marcelle again, and he just shook his head and got up from the table. “I’ll see you after lunch,” he said dismissively and left without a word to Hannah or me.

“Wow, you’re so beautiful,” Audrey said, cupping Hannah’s cheeks. She didn’t seem fazed or surprised by Marcelle’s rude behavior or abrupt departure.

“Thank you,” my wife said. I could tell she was still nervous. I was sure she noticed his leaving as well. She watched Marcelle as he exited the restaurant, and then she asked, “Is he okay with you meeting us?”

“Yes, yes, of course. He’s just busy. He has a lot of things to do and wanted to make sure I’d be okay before he left. Is this your husband?” she asked, motioning to me.

“I’m William, it’s nice to meet you.”

“He’s very handsome. How did you two meet? I doubt many Englishmen hang out in Silver Springs.”