Safe Harbor (The Lake Trilogy, Book 3) (19 page)

I understand where both Will and Eliana are coming from.
Information is his coping mechanism. He needs information to make him feel like he’s functioning with full knowledge so he can make decisions based on all the facts. I get that. I was devastated when I found out that everyone had hidden the truth about my father’s link to an ecoterrorist group. I felt like I had been living a lie all those years.

I also understand Eliana’s propensity for keeping thoughts, feelings, and even information to herself. I stuffed so much down during those years with Gram. When I came to live with Luke and Claire it was a daily decision to share things with them, to trust them. It was hard to tell them how
difficult life had been, especially the years I took care of Gramps. I didn’t want them to think poorly of Gramps, or think I was ungrateful to Gram and Gramps for taking me in. I also remember how hard it was to share certain things about my parents with Will. I never wanted to paint them in a way that misrepresented them.

Will has to process through his feelings. I can’t do that for him. I know he’ll come to the right place with them. I just hope it doesn’t take too long because I know Eliana’s heart is breaking with every minute that passes before Will reconciles with her on this.

“She loves you, Will. And you know that everything she did, she did to protect you.” I run my fingers around his ear and down his jawline. Taking his face in my hand, I give him one kiss and leave him to his thoughts.

When I appear back in the Great Room, Eliana is nestled at Wes’ side on the loveseat. Her face is stained with tears, and Wes is rubbing her arm, telling her it’s going to all work out. I love watching them together.

“Oh, Layla…is William coming down? Were you able to reach him?” Eliana asks, sitting up when she sees me.

“He’s going to need a bit to really come to terms with everything, but he’ll get there. He knows you were only trying to protect him. It doesn’t make it hurt much less, but it matters,” I tell her.

“Can I talk to you for a minute?” Wes asks me. I nod and he gets up and moves to the kitchen.

“What’s up?” I ask him.

“I need to share this with you because I can’t share it with Will right now. He’s too emotional and I’m too pissed,” Wes begins. “I understand that Will was upset, but, if he ever talks to Eliana that way again, he and I are going to have a problem.”

“I understand. But you need to understand something, too.
There are going to be things between Will and Eliana that they have to handle. It’s not that they don’t concern you, because Will knows that when you love someone,
everything
about them concerns you,” I tell him. “You’re going to have to pull back at times, and you’re going to have to let them figure some things out on their own. Eliana needs that. She needs to be able to stand on her own two feet. Yes, riding in on your white horse is wonderful, but she needs to fight her own battles and make her own decisions. If you don’t let her do that, her life won’t be that much different with you than it was with Meyer.”

“I don’t agree,” Wes says.
He’s protective of her, and that’s wonderful. What he doesn’t understand is that, despite the way Will just interacted with her, Will is even more protective of Eliana.

“I do.” Eliana is standing in the kitchen doorway.
She moves toward Wes and he meets her half way across the room. “Thank you for wanting to protect me. I love that about you, Wesley, and I would never want that to change. But Layla is right. William and I will have to handle some things on our own. It doesn’t mean that you can’t have your say. It just means that we’re all learning a new way of life…one that isn’t controlled by Gregory. We need to give each other some room to grow. Can you do that?”

Wes puts his hands on her hips. “For years I watched how Meyer treated you. I never want you to feel that our relationship is
remotely like that. I love you and I just want the best for you. So, as hard it is may be at times…yes, I can do that. I may need some reminding, though.” 

Eliana wraps her arms around Wes’ waist and lays her head on his chest.
“Thank you.”

“I…um…” we hear Will begin. He’s standing in the kitchen doorway where Eliana stood only moments ago. I wonder if he heard any of our exchange. “I owe you an apology,
Mom. If I had stopped to really think about it before I came after you, I would have come to all the conclusions that you gave as reasons why you kept everything from me.”

“I was only trying to protect you,” Eliana says moving from Wes’ arms to Will’s.

“I know you were, really, and I’m grateful. It’s just…hard. But, I can get through it. I have this ridiculously amazing family, so I’m pretty sure I can handle anything.” Will smiles at me and I hear everything he’s saying.

“I should apologize to you, too, Wes.” Will sticks out his hand the two do that shaking hands into a manly hug thing that guys do.

“Water under the bridge. It’s a tense time and we all need to extend some latitude to each other. Let’s just keep the yelling at the woman I love down to a minimum though, ok?” Wes says with a smirk. He’s partly joking, but mostly serious. Wes loves Eliana the way Will loves me, so I know just how powerful that is.

“Well, I guess the only thing left for me to do is somehow prepare myself to meet my brother and sister
s,” Will says with a pleasant smile. It’s been an emotional roller coaster, but Will has reached a point of acceptance, and maybe even a little excitement.

“
You’ve got some time, William. They won’t be here until the week of the trial,” Eliana says.

“Not everyone,” Wes corrects.

After a meeting with Luke, Will has the complete overview of every ex-wife and Meyer child. Will examined each date of marriage and divorce, as well as the exact number of days between the date of divorce and the birth of a child. After each one he would just shake his head. Sometimes he would mumble something. I usually couldn’t make it out, but it sounded pretty close to
bastard
.

Luke explained that Cheryl has been the least forthcoming with information, so Wes has had to dig much harder to get the scoop on her. All she told Luke was that Gregory Meyer was
an abusive man and a part of her past she wasn’t going to revisit, not even if he was dead.

“I don’t understand something. Loretta and Victoria got hefty sums in the divorce. No alimony, just one lump payment. Marlene is the only one who received anything monthly, but we know
why that is. But…Cheryl’s single payment is
considerably
less than the others, even if you take into account the difference in years.” Will rubs his forehead. He’s a numbers guy so he would notice any discrepancies.

“
I noticed that, too,” Luke says shifting the file folder so he can review the numbers again. “It doesn’t matter. She’s not coming to testify anyway.”

“What is it, Will?” I ask, noticing his unwavering concern for the inconsistency
that is spread across his face.

“Where is she
now?” Will takes the file from Luke and shuffles through the papers until he finds Cheryl’s form. “Virginia Beach. You up for a road trip?” he says to me.

“Now hold on here, Will. You’re not going to Virginia,” Luke contests.

“There’s more to this, Luke, and I’ve got to find out what it is.” Will is emphatic about wanting to investigate this. I can’t blame him. He’s just trying to put the pieces of the puzzle of his life together. I know what that feels like.

“Dad…what harm could it do. I mean, she barely spoke to you…maybe she’ll tell Will more because he’s Meyer’s son,” I say. I think Will has a right to search this woman out and fill in some of the gaps.

“Why does it matter?” Luke asks.

“Luke…I’m finding out more and more about my father, and I
need to fill in as many of the gaps as possible. You don’t think that as soon as the others get here I’m not going to beg for information? I need to know who my father really was, because, according to Loretta’s story, he wasn’t always a sorry son of a bitch.” Will sighs. “Look…I just need to know. There has to be a reason why her settlement was so much less than the others. He wouldn’t have given her less than the others without a good reason. I need to know what that reason was.”

“Luke, you need to let him do this,” Claire says entering the office from their adjacent bedroom. “It’
s important to him, and it’s not like you can stop him.” Claire smiles at Luke with that smile that makes him putty in her hands.

“Is it
really
that important to you?” Luke asks Will.

“
Yeah, it is,” Will tells him.

“Ok
. Then you should go, but…I don’t know how comfortable I am with Layla going with you,” Luke says with a warning tone that has nothing to do with us confronting Cheryl.

“She has to come with me, Luke. She’s a
part of everything in my life and I can’t do this without her.” Will puts his arm around my waist and draws me to him, kissing the top of my head.

“I want to go, Dad. I need to go,” I say.

“I don’t know…” Luke begins and I think he’s beginning to wonder just how much longer Will and I can hold out on the sex thing. I’m sure the idea of his little girl going on an overnight trip with her fiancé doesn’t scream sexual purity, even though we all know Will is going to insist upon separate rooms.

“What if Caroline came with us? She’ll
be back from California tomorrow night…we can leave in a few days. And her boyfriend, Ryan, will be with her so there will be four of us. Safety in numbers, right?”

“How do you even know Caroline is going to want to make this trek?
And what about Ryan?” Luke asks skeptically.

“I know Caroline and she’ll love the idea!
And if Ryan wants to keep Caroline, he’ll be on board, too.” I haven’t told Luke or Claire that Caroline and I have already talked about a girls’ weekend in Hendersonville. Caroline has been dying to get back to this amazing bed and breakfast she’s raved about for years. It was going to be a last hurrah of sorts before Will and I get married. It won’t be the same as a girls’ weekend, but we can still get to that before I change my name.

“You really feel like you need to do this, Will?”
he asks again. I can hear the nervousness in Luke’s voice. It’s wonderful actually. It’s the kind of nervousness I hear when he’s concerned about me. The kind of nervousness you feel when your child is about to do something that might get them hurt. Luke loves Will like a son and that makes my heart swell.

“I do, Luke.”

“Ok then. I won’t insist on the stipulation that Caroline and Ryan go, but you should know I’d feel a lot better if they were there.” Luke puts his hand on Will’s shoulder.

“Thanks, Dad,” I say moving out from Will’s arm and into Luke’s. “He needs to fill in the missing pieces. He needs to understand. He needs this for closure,” I whisper in Luke’s ear
as I hug him. I want him to really understand why this is so important to Will. Luke smiles at me softly and I know he’s got it.

*****

It took all of five seconds to get a squealing yes out of Caroline. After I gave her the rundown of all the despicable details we had on Will’s father, she was absolutely on board with road-tripping it with us to Virginia Beach so Will can really start putting all of this to rest.

“You’re sure Ryan is up for this?” I ask as we load our overnight bags into the back of Will’s new
Prius V.

“Oh please! He’s so laid back,
he’s up for anything!” she says as Ryan approaches.

“Yeah, I’m up for anything…as long as Caroline is there.” Ryan saddles up to Caroline and kisses her cheek. He really is so sweet with her, and I’m looking forward to getting to know him better. Although, every time he speaks, I’m expecting the last word of his statement to be
“dude.” He’s
that
much of a Californian.

Claire kisses us all goodbye and we’re on our way after Will confirms Cheryl’s location
with Luke and gets the information for the hotel where Wes made a reservation. When I asked Will why Wes made the reservation he just said that Wes was adamant about where we should stay. Something about it being right up Will’s ally.

“So…” Caroline says, breaking the silence
after about an hour. “What are you going to say to her?” I knew Caroline wouldn’t be surprised by the whole story from Loretta to Eliana. She was a solid source of comfort and understanding when things were rough between Will and me early on. Caroline is the only other person I know who personally faced Gregory Meyer’s wary eye and survived.

“I’m not sure. I figure I’ve got about 20 hours to
sort that out,” Will says as he stares out onto the highway.

“Did you really fake your death, man?” Ryan boldly asks.

“Ryan!” Caroline chastises him, slapping him across his arm.

“It’s ok, Care,” Will says. “Yeah, I did.”

“He must really love you,” Ryan says to me.

“Yeah, he does,” I say.

It was about noon when we left, so we should get to Virginia Beach by dinnertime. We’ll check into the hotel and hopefully get a good night’s sleep. Right now the plan is to just show up at Cheryl’s home after breakfast. Will was afraid she’d refuse him if he told her we were coming, or that she might take off before we got there. Caroline and Ryan are going to find out what the latest hotspot is from some locals and go exploring while Will and I invade Cheryl Brinkley’s personal life.