Safe Harbor (The Lake Trilogy, Book 3) (17 page)

“What do you think?” Will asks excitedly.

“I think it’s beautiful,” I tell him quietly.

Will walks us up the aisle
quickly and stands where a groom would. He smiles at me, so happy and excited about the plans he has for our bells and whistles wedding.

“I can almost picture it.
Luke walking you down the aisle. You, looking stunningly beautiful. I’ll try not to cry, but I can’t make any promises,” he says with a sweet smile.

“I can’t get married in this church, Will.”
I’m overwhelmed. I can hardly breathe as I turn and make my way back down the aisle.

“Layla, wait! I thought you said you wanted a church wedding.
What it is?” Will catches up with me, taking me by the shoulders.

“
I do want a church wedding now, but not here. I buried you here, Will. This is where your funeral was. I can’t…I can’t be here.” I fall into Will’s chest and am immediately covered by his arms. I cry softly at the memory of the day I felt my life come to an end.

“Oh, babe, I’m so sorry. I didn’t even think of that. I’m so, so sorry!” Will strokes my hair, comforting me with his touch and his words.

“Everything ok in here, Will?” I hear a man’s voice say.

“Pastor
Bishop…yes, we’re, um,” Will stammers.

“I’m fine. I’m sorry if we disturbed you,”
I say. I remember what a lovely job Pastor Bishop did at Will’s funeral. “I’m Layla Weston,” I say by way of introduction since I’m sure he doesn’t remember our brief meeting.

“You haven’t disturbed anything. You’re not the first to shed a tear in here. That’s
part of what the church is for,” he says. “Michael Bishop, and I remember you, Layla. Can I help with anything?” he asks as we shake hands.

“Can you pray away my stupidity?” Will says with a small laugh.

“If I could do that, that’s all I’d do
all
day. I’d have people lined up around the block!” Now we’re all laughing.

“I brought Layla here, excited to show her where I thought we’d be married,” Will tells
him sheepishly.

“You brought your fiancé
e to the church where your funeral was held? Where she said goodbye to you? William Gregory Meyer…I thought you knew better!” Pastor Bishop punches Will in the arm in manly playfulness. “Don’t you think Lingle Chapel would be a better alternative to the main sanctuary?” he offers.

“Of course,”
he says with his palm to his forehead.

“Where is Lingle Chapel?” I ask.

“It’s here, just across the courtyard,” Pastor Bishop answers. “I do hope you’ll allow me perform the ceremony.”

“As if there were anyone else I’d
let
do it,” Will says to him. They have a familiarity that I wasn’t aware of and make a note to ask Will about it later.

Will takes my hand and leads me
outside and down the walkway to the smaller of the sanctuaries, Lingle Chapel.

“Do over?” Will says as we approach the aisle.

“Do over,” I smile. “It’s beautiful, and really, much more my speed. The main sanctuary is massive. This is one just right.” I wrap my arms around Will’s middle and feel his arms cover me. I can picture our wedding here…our friends barely filling a few pews. “We’ll have to tell people to sit wherever they want so my side doesn’t look all sad and pathetic.”

“What are you talking about? Don’t be silly!” he says.

“Who is going to sit on my side, Will? Gwen and Caroline will be standing with me. I’ll have Luke and Claire, and I guess maybe Caroline’s parents will sit with them. Oh gosh, now that I’ve said it out loud, it really is going to be pathetic.”

“You’ll have Finn
and his latest, and Dana, and Jason and Lisa will be here,” he says in an effort to make me feel better. It’s sweet of him.

“They said they’d come
, but that was when we were still getting married at the Gardens. They’re not going to come all the way up here, Will. It’s an expensive trip.”

“They’ll be here,” he says, reassuringly.

“That’s sweet, Will, but…”

“I’ll make sure
all
of them are here,” he says a bit more strongly. I furrow my brow in question. “I don’t care how much it costs. My bride wants seats filled with her friends, and I’m going to make it happen.”

“Should I even
try
to argue?” I say smiling in awe of his love.

“You’re the one who told me to do something good with the money.
Well, I can’t think of anything better to do with it than making my future wife happy.”

“You’re too wonderful for words. You know that, don’t you?” I beam.

“Yes, yes, I know,” he says teasingly before he kisses my cheek and leading me out to the car.

“Layla? Is that you?” I hear Luke call as we walk through the door.

“Yes. It’s us. We’re back,” I reply.

“Great! Will, Wes has some things he could use your help with in the garage. Do you mind?” Luke asks.

“Of course not,” Will kisses me quickly then makes his way to meet Wes.

“Layla, I need to talk with you.” Luke’s face and tone are serious. It always worries me when Luke is this serious. I’ve learned not to let my imagination run wild on scenarios since the number
of them is countless. I simply follow him into the office in their bedroom and take a seat.

“What’s up, Dad?” I ask.

“There have been some new developments with the witnesses we’re planning on calling,” he says.

“What kind of developments?” I ask, tilting my head in query. “And why are you telling me? Wouldn’t it be better if Will were a part of this conversation, too?” I remember how left out I felt when Luke and Will were having private conversations after Holly shot Will’s father. I’d better make sure I at least vocalize the fairness in Will needing to be here.

“Well, that’s one of the things I wanted to talk to you about. What I’m going to tell you…I think you should be the one to tell Will,” Luke tells me.

“Oh…well…ok then. What’s going on?” I’m beyond curious. What could possibly be happening that Luke thinks
I’m
the best person to tell Will?

“We’ve discovered something that is going to, well, it’s going to change everything Will knows about his life,” Luke says solemnly.

“That’s a pretty bold statement, Dad. Will has been through quite a bit. What could possibly be so huge that it’s going to alter his life so much?” Before the words have left my mouth Luke is sliding a file folder across his desk to me.

“Open it,” he commands.

I’m confident that I won’t understand what I’m reading, but appreciate Luke’s confidence that I will. There are several forms in the file. All of them are titled Witness Information Form. I read the first form and see that it contains Loretta’s name and pertinent information: address, date of birth, marriages, as well as a place for the names of any children that might be related to the victim, as in Gregory Meyer. Erin’s name is listed and it all seems pretty standard procedure, for all I know about the law. I flip to the next page and see another woman’s name, Victoria Meadows, and it becomes clear that this is the file of the ex-wives that will be giving testimony on Holly’s behalf. I scan her form and my heart stops.

Child
(ren): Michael Aaron Meadows.

“Oh my go
sh.” I cover my mouth with my hand for fear that I may say something too loudly.

“Keep going,” Luke instructs.

No. No, it can’t be. Yes, it can, and it is. As I pass through each page the names are there…on every single page.

Cheryl Brink
ley- Child(ren): Sarah Brinkley Moore

Marlene Harris
-  Child(ren): Marcus Andrew Reynolds

Eliana Hufford
-  Child(ren): William Gregory Meyer

I look at the dates of their marriage
s to Gregory Meyer and the dates their children were born. I see the pattern immediately and am disgusted. Each child was born either the year they divorced or the year after, which means he divorced them
while
they were pregnant.

“I don’t even know what to say,” I whisper.

“To be honest…neither do I.” Luke moves from behind his desk to the chair next to mine, scooting it closer to me. “When we stumbled across Loretta and she told me their story, I felt like I could explain that to Will and Eliana with some ease as it was almost 40 years ago and gave us some insight as to why Greg was the way he was. And we had already dealt with the Marcus situation. But this…I just don’t have a clue how to tell Will that he actually had
four
siblings.” Luke rubs his hand across his forehead attempting to relieve the stress of the situation we now find ourselves in.

“Did
Meyer know they were pregnant? I mean, we know Loretta and Erin’s story, and we know what Holly told us about Marcus but…what about Victoria and Cheryl? Did he know about them? Was he supporting all of them? Did he instruct any of
them
to have abortions like he did with Marlene?”

My mind is racing. I can’t believe that Gregory Meyer fathered
five children, disregarding all of them but Will. I don’t know how to tell Will. Luke is right: this is going to change his life. He has done so well moving past feelings of guilt since finding out about Erin. Now to hear there are two more siblings, a brother and another sister, who were tossed aside? Understanding Erin’s story is one thing. It’s the story of the moment the switch got flipped with Meyer. But…what about the others? I just can’t wrap my brain around it.

I don’t know how I’ll tell him
, but I know the only place I can tell him is on the dock.

“
I don’t know if Eliana knows about the children, but the other ex-wives do. Marlene tried to rally the troops at one point, but I don’t think she was able to get close enough to Eliana. Cheryl…she’s the tricky one,” Luke says, shaking his head.

“What do you mean she’s the tricky one?”

“Cheryl doesn’t want to testify,” he says.

“Do we need her? We’ve got the others, right?” I say.

“I suppose not, but from everything we’ve gathered, hers is one of the most compelling testimonies about Greg’s abuse. As Holly’s lawyer, I feel it would be most helpful for her case. As the soon-to-be father-in-law of the guy she’s trying screw over, I’m thinking we can pass on it. She’d only be coming to speak on Holly’s behalf. It’s not like she’s a material witness to Holly’s case.” Luke smirks and for a moment I feel ok.

T
he moment passes quickly, though, as I’m brought back to the reality that I am still being charged with telling my fiancé that, not only does he have a sister he never knew about, he actually has two sisters and another brother. By the time all is said and done, he’ll have gone from thinking he was an only child, to discovering that he has two sisters and two brothers.

“What about Eliana?” I can’t imagine how Eliana is going to feel. Will carried such guilt for being the kid Meyer kept. I wonder if Eliana feels any of the same guilt for being the wife that didn’t get kicked to the curb.

“Wes is going to tell her,” Luke says.

I sigh a heavy I-don’t-know-what-to-do sigh. “I’m going to take a shower. I do my best thinking in the steam. If Will comes in from the garage before I’m out can you distract him from coming upstairs? I may need a few minutes to collect myself before
I dive into trying to explain all of this. I’m going to need this folder, too. There’s no way I’m going to remember all the names and dates.”

“You got it. Thank you, Layla. I would tell him, but, you know…I just think he
’ll process it better with you,” Luke says to me with a hug.

I move quickly out of the room and up the stairs in case Will is coming in. I can’t have him catching me now. He’ll know something is up and I won’t be able to hide it from him, and then it’ll come out all wrong.
I have to think of the best angle to approach this. I don’t know what that is yet, but I’m going to let the steam speak to me for as long as I can.

As the water rushes over me I consider the different conversations Will and I have had about family. I recall early talks about what it was like and how we felt about being only children. Memories of Will’s pain for having been kept from knowing about Marcus all those years
, brings tears to my eyes. That makes me think about Penny and how I wish I had at least known about her before she died. That at least knowing would have helped me to not feel so alone in our family.

I get dressed and b
rush my hair from the messy mop I put it in before the shower. I braid it and let the rope of hair rest over my shoulder before I move quietly into the loft. I don’t know where Will is, just that he isn’t up here as Luke promised he’d make sure of.

I search the house and find Will with Wes and Luke in the office. I don’t hear what they’re talking about, but for the first time in a while it actually sounds like casual, non-legal, conversation. They sound like a bunch of guys just shooting the breeze.