Lethal Affair (16 page)

“
Sounds like Drew comes from
a hell of an upbringing. Wouldn't doubt that it's monkey see,
monkey do. Handed down, along with the family crest.”

“
You might be right about
that. Are you joining me for this soup?”

“
Gotta get back to the
store. Left your mother covering things on her own. She was itching
to come over herself but our clerk didn't show up for work
today.”

Kylie gave her Dad a hug. “Thanks for
your concern. You'll always be my hero, but I've got this,
okay?”

He huffed and puffed, grimaced, then
hugged her back, hard. “Okay for now.”

*

Cabin fever set in so Kylie changed
into running clothes, clamped her iPOD into her armband and set out
to run at Beacon Hill Park.

Lydia Barrymore had told her that
since she was an experienced runner she could continue until five
to six months, at which point she should switch to
walking.

The day was fresh, just right. As she
entered the park she enjoyed the majesty of the tall cone encrusted
firs, sunlight drizzling through scented branches, a soft carpet of
Indian red pine needles underfoot. Further in were the solid oaks
in full foliage, their forest green leaves clicking, amber edges
hinting at the not so distant autumn. They entwined their branches
with those of the gnarly arbutus whose sienna layers were peeling
back to reveal tender, cream colored trunks. A feast for the
senses.

Kylie hit her stride, cruised, eyes
sweeping with appreciation the multi-hued flower beds of endless
blossoms as she inhaled their rich perfumes, with blooming
hydrangea bushes in vivid pinks, creamy whites, bruised bluish
purple.

Like her cheek.

Deliberately she yanked her thoughts
back into the hip hop song she'd been listening to and sang a few
bars out loud. Rounding a corner she abruptly came upon Olivia
Hammond sitting on a bench, head nodding in the afternoon sun.
Kylie's outburst of song had snapped her awake.

Both women froze.

Olivia smiled tentatively. “Kylie!
I've been thinking about you and here you are. It's providence.
Please, join me?”

“
Uh... yeah, okay.” Sitting,
she took note of the little cooler at Olivia's feet, the faint waft
of liquor on her breath. Sweat formed on her brow and she swiped at
it with her sleeve.

Olivia offered a handkerchief
embroidered with her initials, like something straight out of an
eighteenth century romance novel.

“
Things ended badly the
other night at dinner,” she said.

“
I didn't get a chance to
thank you for...”

She waved a second handkerchief in the
air. “Oh please, it was a disaster. I'm so ashamed of how you were
treated.”

“
Mrs. Hammond...”

“
Olivia.” She held up a
hand. “Don't try to override that. I'd like us to be
friends.”

“
Alright. Olivia, what
happened wasn't your fault. Neither was it Mr. Hammond's. Okay,
Stanley's. He was being protective...”

“
And overbearing and rude
and insulting! There are no excuses for that kind of behavior.” She
raised her fingers to tilt Kylie's chin just like Will had. “I'm so
sorry for this, but I'm afraid it doesn't come as a surprise. I've
always suspected that Drew would take after his father in this way
and now I know that he has. You've been initiated into what appears
to be a family tradition.”

“
I take it Stanley rules the
nest with a heavy hand? Has he hit you on occasion?”

Olivia's laugh was a tinkling fountain
that stopped as abruptly as it had started. “Sorry, couldn't help
myself. To say that he's hit me on occasion is like saying he takes
an occasional breath.”

Kylie gaped.

“
Oh don't look so
terror-stricken. He gave up on all that years ago when his
testosterone levels took a dive. Nowadays he leaves me in peace.
Thank God.”

Absently Olivia raised a small travel
mug to her lips while her eyes grew vacant, staring into her past.
She was the faded version of a once vital woman.

“
Why didn't you
leave?”

Olivia snapped back to the present,
her eyes hard with repressed anger. “I tried. Several times. Each
time he found me, threatened me.” The last words with vehemence.
“Cowed me.”

“
How did he threaten
you?”

“
With my life. It was all I
had that was my own. When Drew came along I stood in for him,
taking what might have been his. At least most of it.”

Kylie placed a hand over Olivia's. At
first she flinched in reaction, then accepted, squeezed
back.

“
I think I would have
enjoyed having you as a daughter-in-law,” mused Olivia, “but
watching you run when Drew slapped you like that, I cheered you on.
I wish I'd done the same thing the first time Stanley smacked me.
But I listened to his pleas of remorse and forgave him. Married him
in good faith, then suffered my fate.”

About to raise the cup again, Kylie
stayed Olivia's hand. “You don't need this. What you're doing to
yourself is only another kind of suffering. A form of
self-punishment, an escape, whatever. But it's not a road that
travels well.”

There was that tinkling laugh again.
“Oh Kylie. This is all I have now. Plus afternoons in my garden, or
here, surrounded by beauty. This place has served as a sanctuary
many a time. See?” She held up a bag and rattled it. “For the
ducks. At least they appreciate me.”

“
Your gardens are absolutely
gorgeous. Are you telling me you have a hand in them?”

“
Stanley hired a landscaping
service for the lawns but the flower beds are all my design, my
hard work. I enjoy digging and weeding and pruning. It brings me
peace.”

“
Did you design that little
arbor I saw, and the wooden bridge over the koi pond?”

Olivia's face visibly brightened. “I
did. I nurse-maid those climbing roses over the arbor like they're
little children. At least I think of them that way.” She chuckled.
“Even name them. Is that pathetic?”

“
I think it's a way to stay
sane. If it makes you feel any better, I talk to the plants in the
greenhouses, although sometimes what I say to them could make them
wilt. It's just a way to blow off steam.”

“
I've done plenty of venting
myself in the garden. I'm surprised my petunias held up their heads
the year Stanley... well, like you young people say, let's not go
there.”

It was all intertwined; Stanley's
abuse, her gardening, her drinking. She'd made gardening her haven,
drinking her dark, Alice-in-Wonderland hole.

“
Maybe we
should
go there,” Kylie
suggested softly. “Would you consider counseling,
Olivia?”

“
Stanley would never go for
it and he keeps a tight fist on the money. He's an accountant for
God's sake. He controls all the finances, makes sure I don't have
access to more than what it takes to run the household.”

“
What about finding
work?”

Olivia sent her a sharp look. “Stanley
would never...”

“
Go for it,” Kylie finished
for her. “You don't have any control over your own life. He's made
you his prisoner.”

A sigh rippled through Olivia.
“Nowadays I have certain liberties. But I adhere to his ways, his
rules. I don't speak back or defy him. Wouldn't want to wake the
dragon now, would we?”

Kylie raised a hand to her own cheek.
“No, we wouldn't.

“
I really wish I didn't have
to say this, but run and keep on running where Drew is concerned.
Unless you want to end up like me, the cowed corporate wife who
puts on lavish dinner parties and smiles and obeys, wearing long
sleeves and high collars to hide what happened the night
before.”

The image cemented Kylie's resolve.
“Drew was waiting for me outside my apartment that night. I had to
sneak in the back way. Is he going to be a problem?”

Her face hardened. “Not if I can help
it. I'll speak with him. He's not completely like his father. He
struggles with it, tries to keep it in check.”

“
What will you tell
him?”

“
Before I answer that, let
me ask you something. What is your intention with this baby you're
carrying?”

The question caught her off guard.
“I'm not giving it up, if that's what you mean. Ideally, I'd like
Drew to be involved but as things are, I'd never be able to leave
the kid alone with him.”

“
Yes, it's an honest fear.
One I've been thinking about since we found out. I stood between
Drew and his father and I'm thinking you'll have to stand between
this child and Drew as well. If Drew doesn't... can't understand,
then you may have to take legal steps.”

Kylie's stomach churned and she
emitted a small frustrated laugh. “I never imagined this could be
my life, having to protect my child from its own
father.”

“
One never imagines. We keep
our soil beds mulched but the weeds still sprout through,
determined to choke us.”

Olivia's garden analogy both
amused her and inspired an idea. She'd have to speak to her boss,
but maybe Olivia could find a way to expand her
liberties
and thereby cut off her
alcohol consumption at its knees. She'd noticed that while they'd
been talking, Olivia had abandoned her drink. Maybe all she needed
was some purpose in life.

“
Olivia, how extensive is
your knowledge of plants?”

She puffed. “I can name every plant
here. That far wall is purple cone-flower. These little beauties
are summer pink daisies. Over beyond those Blackbeard shrubs is a
rose garden and I can probably name most of the
varieties.”

“
Are you familiar with the
Big Red Barn?”

“
I am. Are you getting at
what I think you're getting at?”

“
I've had to do a lot of
filling in lately. A member of our staff is taking her job a little
too lightly and calling in sick every week. We need someone more
dependable.”

She shook her head. “Even if I want to
I can't. Stanley would think it beneath me and by association,
him.”

“
But if it's something you
truly want...”

Olivia stressed. “Please don't put me
on the spot. I know you mean well, but I just can't.”

Kylie watched her eyes cloud as she
raised the mug again to her lips. “Alright Olivia. But if you
change your mind, please contact me at the greenhouses,
alright?”

Olivia nodded and retreated inside of
herself.

Kylie rose and resumed her run, her
mind churning with the possibilities.

* * * *

CHAPTER NINE

“
Maximus!”

Will gathered his son into his arms
and wondered briefly until what age he'd allow him to call him
that. He'd come to the ferry terminal at Schwartz Bay to pick him
up after his mother had put him on at the other end. The hour and
forty minute sailing through the Gulf Islands always spawned
stories of whale or seal sightings real or imagined, and Max didn't
disappoint.

“
Dad! You won't believe it.
A killer whale right off the leeward bow! I took a picture.” He
held out his digital camera. “See?

Will peered at the image and used the
close-up feature. This time it was real. “Wow. That's a beauty.
Great shot.”

“
I'm gonna be a marine bi...
biogist when I grow up!”

“
Bi-o-lo-gist.
Biologist.”

“
Yeah. That. Sea animals are
cool.”

“
Way cool,
partner.”

Will slung Max's bag over his shoulder
and as they headed for the parking lot he pulled out his cell
phone, cued in Julia's number. She answered immediately.

“
I've got him. All is
well.”

He heard her sigh of relief. “Now it
is,” came her reply. “Remember what we talked about, okay? This
isn't his call in the end, it's ours.”

“
I know. It's all good. I've
got this.”

Clicking off, Will watched his son
bounce up to the Jeep and climb aboard. His heartstrings twanged.
The boy was ten and growing fast, his mop of burnished brown hair
the exact shade of Julia's. But his eyes, now those were all Will.
A nice combo of them both. Her olive skin, his muscular build,
although the latter might take a while to fill out. He had Julia's
even temperament and quick smile, but it was Will's patience and
thoroughness that got Max through school assignments.

He'd be a heart-breaker some day, no
doubt. Females would swoon.

Meanwhile Will had some hard questions
to ask his son. Like, why was he putting his mother through hell
after finally finding the man of her dreams? Not that the idea of
coming to live with him was a bad one, far from it. But the motive
had to be right. Julia had made her pitch and it hadn't helped one
bit; she wanted him to continue to stay with her but at the same
time acknowledged that change built character. With Will at the
helm she felt secure in the knowledge that Max would be raised with
good values. Yet she wanted the chance to show Max that her new
husband could be a good friend while not taking the place of his
father. A true Libra, she had weighed the pros and cons to death
and not been able to reach a decision.