Not Quite Mine (Not Quite series) (32 page)

“Oh, Dean, why is all this happening now?”

He held her in his arms. “I don’t know, darlin’. We’re going to be OK.”

She tried to pull up another emotion about her mother, other than frustration, but she couldn’t. “She didn’t even go to Jack’s wedding.”

“I know,” Dean said.

“Why should we care if she’s hurt?”

“It’s what makes you a better person.”

“What if I don’t want to be the better person?” She knew she sounded like a child but her mother didn’t deserve her sympathy.

“I’ll support you if you don’t want to go. You’ll have to live with that decision forever if she dies, Katie.”

She wanted to scream. “Mrs. Rock, meet Mr. Hard Place.”

“C’mon. I’ll help you pack.” Dean helped her to her feet.

“I didn’t think I’d be flying to Italy today.”

Dean rested his arm on her shoulder. “You’re not. She’s in Florida.”

“What?”

“That’s what Jack said.”

“What happened to Italy?”

“No idea.”

The annual Christmas card was always postmarked from Italy. Maybe she was visiting someone.

In their bedroom, Katie removed several slacks and a few blouses. She had no idea how long she’d be. The thought of leaving Savannah for more than a few hours felt awful, but she couldn’t avoid it.
At least it’s not Italy.
Damn…Katie was leaving her child to be there for her mother. A mother who couldn’t be bothered to be there for her.

She was never there.

Katie wanted to feel pain, but anger ruled instead.

Dean placed a suitcase on the bed and helped her shuffle clothes. “There’s one more thing you might want to know before your family gets here,” he said as he tucked her shoes into the bag.

Should I pack a black dress? Just in case?
She grabbed one from a hanger really hoping it wasn’t needed.

“What’s that?”

“I told Jack you’re living here.”

She snapped her gaze to his.

“It couldn’t be avoided, Katie. He called the hotel, Monica’s…”

Dean’s look of distress kept her from getting too upset. “I’m a grown woman. I don’t need my brother’s permission to move in with a man.”

Dean walked around the bed and kissed her. “That’s what I thought. Besides, it’s one less secret to keep.”

“Right.”

They sat in silence as the plane taxied on the runway before takeoff.

She supposed they were all in a little shock. Dean had shaken hands with both her father and her brother before taking her in his arms and kissing her good-bye. Her family stood by in stunned fascination.

“Call me and I’ll come…we’ll come,” he whispered in her ear.

Katie understood his meaning, kissed him again, and walked toward the plane.

“I guess we’ll have to talk about all this when we get back,” Jack said to Dean behind her.

“I guess you might need to know when something isn’t your business and butt out,” she called over her shoulder.

When they reached cruising altitude, Gaylord undid his seat belt and poured himself two fingers of whiskey, neat.

Her dad was a big man who had something to say about everything. His silence had always frightened her. So far he’d only greeted her and walked onto the plane.

“I’ll take one of those,” Jack said.

“Please tell me we have wine,” Katie chimed in. Apparently, none of them wanted to do this without a little liquid courage.

Her father tilted back his glass, finished the drink in one swallow, and poured another one. He fixed one for Jack and opened a bottle of wine from the fully stocked wet bar for Katie.

“Thanks, Daddy.”

He offered a forced smile and sat beside her on the leather sofa. “Does he make you happy?” he asked from nowhere.

It took her a minute to realize he was asking about Dean. “He does.”
Keep it simple. Don’t offer too much information.

Gaylord sipped his second drink. “Good.”

Jack wasn’t so quick to applaud. “Really, Dad? That’s it? You grilled me for an hour about Jessie before you met her.”

“I didn’t know Jessie. I know Dean. He’s a good man. Hardworking. Hell of a lot better than some of the men your sister’s dated.”

“I think I should be offended,” she teased.

“You should,” Gaylord said.

She laughed. Despite the somber reason for the three of them to be on the plane together, she found herself smiling. “Oh, Daddy, I wasn’t that bad.”

“Yes, you were!” both her father and Jack said at the same time.

Now all three of them were chuckling.

“Dean even has you wearing proper clothes. I hope he burned those skintight jeans and barely there skirts.”

She’d left those in the closet at the hotel. But she still loved her high heels.

“Is he gonna make an honest woman of you?” her father asked.

“No one says that anymore, Daddy.”

“I do.”

She smiled…not sure where she and Dean were going. “You’ll be on the list of the first people who will know if that’s what we decide.”

“I guess that’s all I can ask for then.”

Katie leaned over and kissed his cheek. “Thanks for trusting me.”

“Oh, honey, I’ve always trusted you. It’s the guys I didn’t trust.”

She sipped her wine and thought of some of the untrustworthy men she’d brought into her life. “I was really bad, wasn’t I?”

“Yes!”

“Yes.”

Again, they sat there laughing. She couldn’t imagine sitting back and letting Savannah make the mistakes she’d made. How had her father done that? With all his money, his power…how did he stand it? Perhaps in the near future she could ask him those very questions.

“So…Annette’s in Florida,” she finally said, broaching the subject they were all avoiding.

“Show some respect, baby girl. She’s still your mother.”

“She stopped being a mother too many years ago to count.”

Gaylord scolded her with a look.

“OK, fine. So…
Mom’s
in Florida.”

His face softened and he shrugged. “So I’m told.”

“What happened?”

“Car accident. She was driving…it was late. I didn’t ask those details.” Gaylord spoke in short sentences and stared into his glass.

“Who did you ask? Is she still with that Pierre guy?”

Her dad and Jack exchanged a look.

“What?”

“No. Pierre is long gone apparently,” Jack said.

“She was living with him…in Italy, right?”

“Not for a while.”

OK, now she was completely confused. “We get Christmas cards from Italy. I think there were a couple years there they came from France. She always talked about Pierre.”

Jack shrugged.

Her dad sat unusually quiet.

“You guys know something I don’t.”

Jack stared at their father.

“What?”

Gaylord turned to her and released a sigh. “Pierre was her cat.”

Her father could be speaking a different language and she’d understand him better. “Her what?”

“Her cat,” Jack said again. “Mom’s been living in Florida for years. There never was a man named Pierre. Or if there was, she ditched him and kept the cat.”

“But the cards…”

“Came from overseas, I know. I got them, too, Katie. It was a lie. All of it. Annette’s been in Florida most of the time she wasn’t in our life.”

“Doing what?” Outrage fueled her veins.

Jack hunched his shoulders. “Living, basking in the sun…cruising the Caribbean? How the hell can I know?”

Katie noticed her father studying the ice inside his glass. “Daddy?”

Gaylord stood and filled his glass a third time. “She,” he cleared his throat. “She did live in Italy. Visited France. I sent the checks to Milan for a while.”

“Sent checks?”

“She never remarried, Katie. I didn’t fight alimony.”

“She’s been living off you all this time?”

Gaylord tilted his glass, spoke through the thick flavor of his drink. “It’s only money.”

“Money she didn’t deserve.”
How dare she!

“She moved back to the States several years ago. Her cards to you children were nothing more than fabricated lies.”

“Why? Why would we care if she lived here or across the sea? She couldn’t be bothered with us either way.”

Her dad moved about the cabin of the plane.

“Stop protecting her, Dad.” Jack’s voice rose, something he seldom did with their father. “You told me you’d talk to both of us together. Well, Katie and I are both here, so spill.”

“She lived in Milan…right after. When the divorce was final, she spent a year in France. She was a dancer.”

“A what?” Was her father smoking something? “Dancer?”

Gaylord watched the ice dancing in his glass. “She loved to dance. Hated it when she was pregnant because she couldn’t move like she wanted to.”

“What kind of mother thinks like that?”

“Ours did, apparently,” Jack said. “OK, so she had some unrequited passion for dancing. Great. Moved to Italy, France…what happened?”

“Nothing. Exactly nothing. She blew through her divorce settlement, moved back here. It took a few years.”

Katie watched a handful of emotions pass over her father’s face. None of which she wanted to experience herself. Gaylord never spoke ill of their mother. Even after all the neglectful times he had to make excuses for her.

“So when she kept the letters coming from Italy, you didn’t tell us…why?”

He shook his head. “Wasn’t my place. I sent my checks and washed my hands of her. If either of you wanted to know more, you’d have gone and visited her. Neither of you asked to. I figured if you’d looked as adults, I’d have heard about it eventually…from you or one of the pilots.”

Katie could only speak for herself when she said she’d lost any desire to know her mother years ago.

“So she’s in Florida,” Jack said.

“She’s dying in Florida,” Katie corrected.

“Maybe.” Gaylord left his empty glass on a counter and walked to the window. They were moving away from the setting sun, which appeared to be hitting the horizon at warp speed.

“And we’re going why?” Because Katie was starting to think this whole trip was a bad idea.

Katie heard Dean’s words coming from her father. “Because if Annette is dying, you should see her one last time. Make peace with her.”

“She doesn’t deserve our forgiveness.”

“Katie!”

“No, Daddy. Being a parent is more than having a kid. It’s the day to day stuff…the crying, the cleaning, the laughing…it’s everything and she was never there. She chose a different life. Somewhere, somehow, she should have been straight with us and cut us free. But no. She was selfish and kept us on a Christmas card leash full of lies.”

“Don’t you think I know that?” Gaylord yelled. “I’m not asking you to visit her because
she
deserves it.” He lowered his voice and Katie saw emotion clog his eyes. “I’m asking you to go so, if and when she dies, you have
no
regrets! None. You have one mother. I never replaced her…God knows I’m sorry for that now, but she’s it. If you go, see her, and walk out of the room that’s up to you. But damn it, I
will
give you the opportunity to say good-bye.”

Underneath all her father’s anger was a layer of pain Katie hadn’t noticed in years.

Katie glanced at Jack and saw her own anguish staring back at her.

She sucked in her lower lip and realized how hard her father had worked to keep her and Jack from any pain her mother caused.

She unfolded slowly from the couch, placed her wine on a table, and embraced her father.

His large capable hands circled her and held her close. “I love you, Daddy.”

“I love you, too, baby girl.”

Dean received a text when Katie landed in Florida.

Made it. The nurses in ICU said we could come anytime.

Dean texted back:
Are you going to the hotel first?

Probably. Dad’s on the phone with hospital now.

Good. Better to see her with a clear head. How R U holding up?

Dean waited for her reply while propping a bottle to Savannah’s lips.

I’m OK. Lots to tell you.

Call anytime
, he told her. And because he knew she could use a smile, he took a quick picture of Savannah drinking her bottle and sent it to her.
Savannah says hi.