Reckless Moon (15 page)

“I think he loves me, too,” Beth went on, more calmly, “but he’s resisting the commitment. He told me that loving his stepmother made his father gullible and spineless. I think he’s afraid of becoming the same way.”

“He mentioned Anabel to you?” Jass asked sharply.

“He didn’t tell me much,” Beth replied, alerted by the change in Jass’s tone. “But he gave me the impression he didn’t think she was worthy of his father’s love.”

Jass snorted. “That’s for sure,” she said, almost to herself. Rising, she went to a locker at the back of the room and took out a brown paper bag and a mug with her name on it. She helped herself to coffee from an urn on a table under the outside window, and then brought the sack and the cup back to the table.

“Would you like some coffee?” she asked Beth. “There are paper cups for visitors.”

Beth shook her head, waiting tensely for Jass to go on.

“I’ll tell you,” she said, after taking a sip of her drink. “I have never told anyone, for the sake of the father and of the boy. For the woman,” she tossed her head, “I care nothing. I was so happy when I heard she left, I cannot tell you. For years and years I took care of that house and the people, after the mother, wonderful lady, died. God rest her soul. Anabel used to say that the furniture was not dusted, the windows were streaked, the clothes were not clean. No one complained before she came. She wanted me gone, but not for the reason she said.” Jass’s dark eyes held Beth’s. “She was after the boy, and she knew I had seen her.”

“After him?” Beth repeated, stunned.

“
Sî, sî, es verdad,”
Jass said emphatically. “She wanted him, she would do anything to get him. She went behind the father, waited until he was away or asleep, and she would approach Abraham. I saw it myself, many times.”

Beth swallowed, absorbing it.

“Do you understand?” Jass asked, misinterpreting her silence.

Beth nodded.

“How old was Abraham when he left? Just eighteen?”

“Seventeen,” Beth answered.

“But he was big, and handsome. She never left him alone for a minute,” Jass went on. “And she was beautiful, long blonde hair, the face of an angel. And only, let me see, twenty-five? The age difference was not great, much less than between her and the father. Can you imagine how the boy felt? What was he to do? Go to his father and tell him that his new wife was making advances to his son?” She shook her head. “Abraham would not hurt his father, and I’m not even sure the father would have believed him if Bram
had
told him. He thought the sun rose in the morning only if she gave it her permission, he was so in love with that woman.”

“But every woman is not like Anabel,” Beth whispered. “How can Bram blame me for what she did?”

Jass shrugged. “He was an impressionable kid. He never forgot her behavior. It made him suspicious.”

“Are you sure about this?” Beth asked, recovering slightly.

“Absolutely,” Jass confirmed.

“Anabel initiated it all?” Beth inquired.

Jass looked outraged. “How can you ask such a thing? Bram would never show such disrespect for his father. He is a good boy.”

Beth blinked, surprised by the woman’s vehemence.

“Do you know why I have this job?” Jass continued, stabbing her forefinger in the air for emphasis. “Because Bram gave me the money for the nursing school tuition. When I was dismissed as housekeeper the boy knew why. He went to his lawyer and got an advance on his trust with his father’s permission. He told his father the money was to buy stock, and the father was too obsessed with his wife to check on it. Bram gave all the money to me.”

Beth listened, deeply touched.

“And when the father had the stroke, Anabel left. to She wanted nothing to do with a sick old man. Bram had to get a nurse, and I told him I would work for nothing, to pay him back. And do you know what he said? He said, ‘Stay where you are, Jass, you have a good job with benefits and a retirement plan. I’ll get somebody from the nursing service who only wants day work.’ And that’s what he did.”

Beth watched her, impressed with her affection for Bram.

“Some say bad things about Bram,” Jass said. “They don’t know him, and they don’t know what he had to go through at such a young age. When he wouldn’t give in to Anabel she made his life miserable, poisoning the father’s mind against him. The boy was trapped in an impossible situation; he saw no alternative but to leave.”

“Did he tell you he was going?” Beth asked.

“He told no one. I would have taken him to my house, he knew that. But I don’t think he wanted charity. He just wanted to get away. So he signed up to go, and left me a note. That was all.”

Beth was filled with pity for the boy Bram had been, deprived of the father he needed, unable to tell anyone the truth. And everyone has been blaming him all these years for taking off, Beth thought. Including B. F. Forsyth, JD. The unfairness of it made her throat tighten.

“You see why I was so careful with the others here,” Jass said. “One of them is a terrible gossip, and even now the story would be news with the family still so prominent. I wouldn’t want to hurt Joshua; he was a good friend to me. Before she came, anyway. After that, he was blinded by her and listened only to what she said.”

“I feel awful,” Beth said quietly. “I said some terrible things to Bram. I didn’t realize how wrong I was. I just assumed he ran out on his father because he was willful and immature, refusing to accept the second marriage.”

Jass opened her bag and took out a sandwich. “Oh, he wasn’t happy about it, make no mistake. He thought the woman was an opportunist, a fortune hunter, which she was. But he would have endured it but for the other thing. He couldn’t handle it.” She shrugged. “What boy of that age could?”

Beth reached out and covered the woman’s hand with her own. “Jass, thank you so much for telling me. This helps me a lot. Now I know what I’m fighting.”

“You won’t say anything to him about what I told you?”

“Of course not. I’ll just have to show him, with my actions, that I’m nothing like Anabel.”

Jass raised her eyebrows. “That will be difficult. Bram likes women—he sees many—but he gives himself to no one.”

She certainly has his number, Beth thought. “Do you see him now?” she asked Jass.

The woman nodded. “Oh, yes. He drops by and we talk. I have no family, you know; my husband is dead and I had no children.”

Beth raised her eyes slowly to Jass’s. “Do you think I have a chance?”

Jass smiled slightly. “If anyone does, I think you do.”

“Why?”

“Because you care so much.”

Beth nodded. If love was enough, she would win.

“Good luck,” Jass said as Beth stood up.

That’s the second person who wished me good luck with Bram, Beth thought, as she walked out to her car. Mindy first, and now Jass.

They must think she needed it.

* * *

When she got home an envelope had been dropped through the slot in her front door. It contained five one-hundred-dollar bills. Bram had returned the bail money she’d paid to spring him from jail.

As she moved to put the empty envelope on the hall table, something fell out of it. The glittering object looked like a piece of jewelry. Beth picked it up and held it to the light.

It was a gold charm on a thin, delicate chain, obviously expensive. Diamond chips formed the eyes of a small, burnished mouse.

Beth walked to the phone and dialed Bram’s number at home. She couldn’t keep it; the gift was far too costly and personal.

A woman answered. Startled, Beth was about to hang up when Bram picked up on an extension.

“It’s all right, Gloria. I’ve got it,” he said.

The ubiquitous Gloria, Beth thought. The knowledge of the secretary’s presence in Bram’s house shot through her like a knife.

“Hello?” Bram barked.

“Bram, it’s Beth,” Beth said, deciding to go through with it.

There was a silence. Then, “I take it you got the money?”

“Yes, and the charm, too. I can’t keep it, Bram.”

“Why the hell not?” he demanded.

“It’s worth a lot and it makes me uncomfortable. It’s not the sort of thing I should accept from a client.”

“Is that all I am?” he asked, his tone hostile. “A client?”

“That’s all you want to be, Bram,” Beth replied quietly. “You got that point across last Sunday.”

Bram didn’t answer for several seconds, and then he said, “You can turn the tables on me very neatly, counselor. I always seem to forget that about you.” He paused, and then added, “Is that why you won’t keep the damned trinket? Are you punishing me for walking out on Sunday?”

“You didn’t walk out, Bram. As I recall you left by mutual agreement.”

There was an elaborate sigh from the other end of the line. “You never give an inch, do you?”

“I can see why you might think that,” Beth replied mildly, smiling slightly at the genuine annoyance in his voice.

“Look, Beth, you’re being ridiculous about the charm. I can’t take the bloody thing back; I had the jeweler alter it and put in the diamonds.”

Beth hesitated, and then said, “All right. It’s absurd to go on about it.” He was as immovable as a cliff, and she wasn’t going to spend the evening wrangling with him.

“I agree,” he said smoothly. “There’s one more thing.”

“What’s that?”

“My hearing is on October fifteenth. Are you going with me, or what?”

“It’s just a formality, Bram. You really don’t need representation.”

“I’d like you to come with me,” he said stubbornly.

Beth wondered about the reason for his insistence. Was he using the hearing as an excuse to see her, or did he really share the layman’s fear of court?

“I’ll meet you in the lobby before the 10 A. M. hearing,” Beth finally said. “Is there anything else?”

“As crisp as lettuce, aren’t you?” he said sarcastically.

Beth thought that over in silence. He was the one who had pulled back from their passionate encounter, but now he seemed to resent her taking a more distant attitude toward him. Interesting.

“I don’t know what you mean,” she replied finally, unable to come up with anything more original.

“Damn you. Yes, you do,” he said furiously, and slammed the phone in her ear.

Beth stood with the dead receiver in her hand, unsure if she had scored a victory or fought to a draw. It felt a little more like a victory.

Her moment of triumph was short lived, however, as she recalled that Gloria would be available to comfort Bram and relieve his frustrations. Beth pictured Gloria in Bram’s arms, the recipient of the kisses Beth had tasted, and Beth hung up the phone slowly, feeling slightly ill.

She caught sight of herself in the mirror as she walked through the hall and stopped short. Her face was a study in misery.

Get hold of yourself, she said under her breath. Jealousy is a futile, childish, destructive emotion. Don’t indulge in it.

Beth took several deep breaths and felt marginally better. But only marginally.

She took the gold mouse from her pocket and fastened the chain about her wrist.

Maybe it would bring her the luck her friends had wished her.

CHAPTER 8

During the next two weeks Beth gently discouraged Jason Raines from trying to develop their relationship beyond the professional stage and concentrated on getting her practice in shape. She was determined to keep busy and avoid thoughts of Bram, but this proved difficult when Mindy called and dropped by at all hours to keep her informed of Bram’s activities. Mindy seemed to know everything that was going on around the planet, with a special emphasis on Suffield and Connecticut in particular.

“Bram was at the Blue Dragon with that doctor last night,” she informed Beth one afternoon, as she sifted through a stack of Beth’s mail.

“I’m sure Gloria will be very unhappy to hear that,” Beth replied mildly.

“You don’t look too pleased at the news yourself,” Mindy said bluntly, unconvinced by Beth’s meticulous disinterest.

“He’s free to do whatever he wants,” Beth said.

“I don’t think your plan is working,” Mindy offered.

“Give it time.”

Mindy’s mouth fell open. “Give it time! Beth, he’s out with a different woman every night. I wouldn’t say he’s exactly pining away, would you?”

“He’s doing precisely what I expected him to do.”

“Oh, really?” Mindy said skeptically.

“Really. He’s not the type to moon around and feel sorry for himself. He takes his mind off his problems by going out and keeping himself occupied.”

“He’s been occupied, all right. By that standard he must be madly in love with you,” Mindy observed darkly.

“Did you come by just to cheer me up, or what?” Beth asked.

“I came by to tell you I hope you know what you’re doing,” Mindy answered.

“I hope I do, too. But I see no alternative. Am I supposed to join the ranks of Gloria, Althea, et al? The line forms on the right. No, thanks.”