Safe Harbor (The Lake Trilogy, Book 3) (22 page)

Before I can get up, Caroline finds us in the restaurant. She tells us the rental car is already there and they are heading out.

“I thought you had be 25 to drive a rental car?” I ask.

“Wes took care of it,” she says with a smile. Of course he did. That’s Wes’ specialty. He takes care of things.

W
e say our goodbyes for the day and Caroline gives Will an extra-long hug. She whispers something in his ear and I can only assume it is words of encouragement from a dear friend.

Will and I take a silent ride up the elevator to our rooms to make sure we have everything we need. I take a few extra minutes in the mirror making sure I’m fully composed.
I’ve been strong for Will about all this, but in reality, I’m scared out of my mind. I have no idea if we’re going to find another angry and bitter ex like Marlene, or not. I’m just concerned for Will. He’s been through so much. It seems that once we digest one piece of startling information, another, bigger piece emerges. It was one thing to find out Marcus was his brother, but since then Will has had to deal with the discovery of three more siblings, the knowledge of which his mother kept from him.

I know he’s scared. He wants nothing more than to be the antithesis of his
father. I see that he is succeeding, but I think Will is pulling apart every minute flaw he has and examining it for origins in his father. I don’t know what we’ll find today, but anything we find out about Gregory Meyer is going to prove that Will is on the right path to becoming a man of his own.

“Are you ready?” I ask Will as I find him in the lobby of the hotel. He’s pacing and I know I’ve got a long road ahead of me in talking him off this particular ledge.

“Yeah, as ready as a person can be when they’re about to ambush one of their father’s ex-wives. I just said
one of
.” Will takes a cleansing breath and then my hand and we’re making our way through the parking lot to his car.

We follow the GPS to the address in Cheryl’s file.
After a while I think we have the wrong address or are lost because we’re driving down a very long, dusty road. There are pastures on either side of the narrow road and I can help but yell “cow!” when I see a heard of storybook looking black and white cows grazing.

We make another turn and the GPS voice tells us that we’ve reached our destination. Will and I look at each other, both with puzzled faces. Our ignorance about Virginia Beach is blaring. Having never been here before, I think we both assumed we’d find Cheryl in a comfortable suburb or near the bea
ch…certainly not in the country on a farm.

The dirt road to our destination ends and we’re facing a beautiful farmhouse. It’s picturesque, painted white with brown shutters. It reminds me of our home in Davidson, but this home has a huge wrap-around porch with white rocking chairs everywhere.
The view from any angle is breath taking. It’s easy to see why there are so many.

“You’re sure you put the right address in?” Will asks, putting the car in park.

“I’m sure. This is it, babe.” I take Will’s hand and squeeze my support into it.

We get out of the car and start walking toward the house. I don’t think Will’s ever walked slower. As I take his hand I notice a huge barn to the rear of the house. It’s only now that I
see the fenced in pasture to the side and rear of the house along with the horses majestically existing in the fields. I remember Will’s father saying that he grew up on a farm and wonder if Cheryl’s love for that life initially drew him to her. Then I remember that by the time he got to Cheryl he had already been through two wives, so I put away any thought that it was anything but her beauty that would have attracted Meyer.

Before we’re anywhere near the front steps to the house a younger woman appears from the side of the house. She’s everything a good cowgirl should be: jeans, yellow plaid shirt, cowboy hat and boots. She’s beautiful and I immediately know that this is Cheryl’s daughter, Sarah…Will’s sister.

“Can I help y’all with something?” she asks cordially. “Folks don’t usually come ‘round her unannounced unless they’re lost.”

I wait for Will to speak, but I think he’s too stunned.

“We’re not lost,” I say kindly. “We’re looking for Cheryl Brinkley. Is she here?”

“Who wants to know?” the woman responds. She’s short and protective of her mother and that actually makes me smile. I’m glad to know that Cheryl has someone the way Eliana has Will.

“I’m Will Meyer. I just wanted to ask her a few questions…about my father,” Will says breaking his silence.

It takes her a moment to speak, move, breathe, and I wonder if Will’s name means anything to her. A smile breaks across her face and she motions us to follow her. Up the steps to the house and then
across the threshold Will is squeezing my hand so tight that I think he might break it.

“Can I get y’all somethin
’ to drink? Water? Lemonade? Sweet tea so sweet it’ll give you a cavity?” she asks with a little laugh.

“Lemonade would be lovely, thank you,” I say. Will nods indicating he’d like the same.

I stand there silently with Will, not sure if there’s anything I can say in this moment to ease his nerves. There are moments he’s actually shaking, and that’s when I wrap my arm around his and hold him tightly to my side.

“I’m sorry for being so rude. I realize I ha
ven’t introduced myself to you. I’m Sarah. Cheryl is my momma,” she says returning to the front room where she left us. She sets a tray of glasses filled with lemonade on the coffee table and sits. We follow her lead and sit next to each other on the couch.

“I’m Layla Weston, Will’s fiancé
e,” I tell her.

“I know,” she replies. We give her quizzical looks and she fills in the blanks for us. “I knew who you were when I saw you standin’ like dear in headlights out in front of the house. And since you came lookin’ for us, I can only assume that you knew who I was, too.
”

“I don’t understand,” Will says. “How could you know who we are?”

“Before you meet Momma, you need to understand a few things. She doesn’t know that I know about her past. She worked real hard my whole life to keep me from knowin’ about my, well,
our
, father. Once I met him, I knew why.” Sarah hands us our lemonade and sits back in her chair. It’s like she’s been waiting for this moment and she’s relishing in it.

“You met him? When?” Will asks a bit excitedly.

“Four years ago I was sortin’ through Momma’s things, purging what needed to go, sortin’ things into new files. It was a mess up there! Well, I came across an envelope I’d never seen before. It wasn’t sealed so I pulled everything out so I could sort through it like all the rest. Inside were her divorce papers and the settlement agreement from Gregory Meyer. I knew she didn’t want me to see them. I asked a few times when I was a kid about who my daddy was and all she would tell me is that he was a bad man we had to stay away from. I never even knew his name until I found those papers. She treated his name as if it were a curse if uttered.

“I let her words
of caution sit for a long while, mullin’ them over and over again in my head for years. I just couldn’t believe that my momma would ever be involved with someone we had to stay away from
forever
. I thought maybe that was just somethin’ she said to me when I was a kid. Now that I am an adult, married and all, I thought I could actually meet him. So, about a year after I found those divorce papers my husband and I took a little weekend trip to Davidson. We told Momma we were going to Asheville for a romantic getaway ‘cause we knew she’d never question that. I didn’t want to upset her by tellin’ her what we were doin’. Austin, that’s my husband…he’s always been real supportive.” She takes a sip of her lemonade and Will takes the opportunity to say something.

“I still don’t understand how you knew who we were,”
he says.

“Well, we drove into town and right into the middle of some kind of concert, right there in the town
square! I had looked Meyer up online and printed out a picture. I thought maybe if I showed it around town someone could point me in the right direction. It seemed like he was some big wig around there. When we found ourselves in the middle of what looked like the whole town millin’ around I thought we’d hit the jackpot. We started walking and the first person I showed his picture to knew who he was immediately and pointed him out.  When I asked, they were even kind enough to tell me who you were, Will…along with your momma.”

“So how did you know who
I
was?” I ask. What she’s describing could be one of a dozen nights at the Concert on the Green. Where do I come in?

“I saw Will watchin
’ you. The way he was lookin’ at you? It was clear he was smitten. Austin and I followed Will to the coffee shop thinkin’ I might be able to talk to him, but by the time we got there you two were hoverin’ over a puddle of somethin’ on the ground, just laughin’.”
Oh my gosh! She was there the night Will and I met!

“So what did you do? I mean, did you talk to my…our…father?” Will stumbles over his words. I don’t think we ever imagined that Sarah would have a clue
about who we were, let alone be so hospitable about it. She actually seems pretty excited that we’re here.

“I didn’t talk to him. I did come face to face with him though. The concert was over and the crowd was movin
’ out. I made a beeline for him, plannin’ on tellin’ him who I was, but…” Sarah pauses as she recalls the moment she faced the Devil. Having had my own run-ins with him, I know what’s running through her head right now. “All it took was one look in his eyes to know that Momma was right. His eyes were dark, almost dead, and frightenin’. I knew there was nothin’ in him that I wanted, so I pardoned myself like I was just another person tryin’ to get out of the crowd, and we left.”

“I wish you had
introduced yourself to me,” Will says softly. He’s having a hard time holding in his emotions. Knowing that he was so close to meeting his sister is difficult for him.

“
You know…I’ve worked with animals my whole life, and when you work with them the way I do you have to be able to read them. You work with them long enough and you figure out how to read people, too. One look at the two of you standin’ there on the sidewalk and my gut told me that the timing wasn’t right. I could see somethin’ was startin’ with you and I had to let it be. I knew if I told you then who I was, I was gonna disrupt whatever was gettin’ started. It wasn’t my time, but I knew my time would come…and here you are,” Sarah smiles.

“So you’ve just been sitting on this knowledge for three years?” Will asks. He looks confused and I know exactly why. As soon as Will found out about his siblings he acted. There was no way he could have sat on this for three years. I think we’re both shocked that Sarah was able to contain herself, considering how happy
she is that he’s here right now. 

“All my life I felt like somethin
’ was missin’. Not the “
I don’t have a daddy”
thing, but somethin’ else. The day I looked at you and knew who you were…that you were my brother, the hole in my heart seemed to fill. Just the knowledge of you was enough for me because I knew, eventually, this day would come. I didn’t know when or even how, but I knew it would come.” Sarah chuckles and smiles. “I used to think about what you were doin’…imagine you were the star of the football team or class president…how you two were doin’, hopin’ it was all workin’ out ‘cause I’d never seen a brighter spark between two people. It was just comfortin’ to know that you were out there.”

“Sarah!” a woman’s voice calls.

“Here she comes,” Sarah whispers. “Y’all ready?”

Entering the living room where we’ve been talking with Sarah is a lovely woman in her mid-50s. She has shoulder-length brown hair
and her skin has seen its fair share of the sun. She’s dressed similarly to Sarah in working-ranch garb, from cowboy hat to boots.

“Oh, I’m sorry…I didn’t realize you had company,” she says to Sarah. “I’m Cheryl Brinkley, Sarah’s momma.” Cheryl extends her hand
like a respectable and hospitable southerner does, and Will and I both stand as we reciprocate.

“They’re actually here to see you, Momma,” Sarah tells her as she also stands. “This is Will Meyer and his fiancé
e, Layla.”

The smile fades quickly from Cheryl’s face
. She takes her hat off and runs her fingers through her hair to give it a fluff. She clears her throat and gives all three of us the once-over. I imagine Sarah will hear about this as soon as we leave, but for now she’s maintaining a level of cordiality.

“I already told that lawyer that I wasn’t testifyin
g,” she says curtly. “So I’m afraid you came all the way out here for nothin’.”

“Actually, ma’am, I’m not here to convince you to testify,” Will tells her. He’s soft in his speech, not wanting to upset her.

“Then what is it that I can do for you?” I suppose Cheryl’s immediate reaction to a Meyer standing in her living room would be one of defense. I never thought about the feelings we might unearth by just showing up here, although I’m pretty sure Luke started the digging when he contacted her about testifying.

“I just wondered if I could as
k you a few questions about my father,” Will asks softly.

“I have no desire to talk about that man. And what on earth could you possibly want to know about him?” Cheryl is polite in her delivery, but it’s clear the mere thought of Gregory Meyer pinches her with a tiny bit of pain.

“I’m just trying to put some pieces of this puzzle together. You see, I’m about to marry this incredible woman and I just found out some things about my father…some things that make him even more terrible than I knew he was. I thought if I could find out more about him then I’d be certain not to become him.” Will is holding back tears. This is more emotional for him than he thought it would be. Having such a sweet and candid conversation with Sarah, and now being face to face with someone other than his mother who can answer questions about his father…it’s overwhelming.

“Son, the fact that you just said that is all the proof you need that you’ll never be like that man.” Cheryl’s face softens and a small smile appears, lightening the stress level in the room. “But…
I suppose since you came all this way, and I can see that your intentions are good,” Cheryl says as she sits in a chair facing the couch. “What would you like to know?”

“Thank you. I appreciate
it more than you know,” Will says as we sit. “Well, to be honest, the thing that sparked my interest in coming out here to see you has to do with your divorce settlement. It seems that you received a much smaller settlement than the other ex-wives. I was just wondering if you knew why. I mean, it just seems odd...ma’am.”

It takes Cheryl a moment to speak, and when she does, she isn’t speaking to
Will or me. “Sarah, I think you need to sit down. It’s time you knew the whole truth.” She takes a deep breath as she prepares herself to talk about something she hasn’t dared to utter in over 20 years. “You’ll hear the same story from all of us. Gregory was charming and inviting when we first met him. He was serious but kind and he promised us the world. The more he worked, though, the harder he became, and his need to control things…to control me…became unstoppable. He was…physical, at times. But the more money he made, the less he felt the need to keep me in line with a slap or shove. He controlled every penny we had and eventually used that as his sole form of manipulation.

“I wasn’t allowed to work, but Gregory worked from sun up to sun down. I was gi
ven an allowance in an account…the only account I had access to. Sometimes he’d go months without putting anything in it, so I had to watch where I went so I wouldn’t run out of gas. If I did, and anyone saw me? Well, let’s just say it took running out of gas once to know that I never wanted to run out of gas again. I rationed the food in the house, too. He ate out with the firm daily, but I had to make sure I set aside food he liked so I could make it on the weekend. One time I thought for sure I had two steaks in the freezer. When I went to pull them out, I only had one. He had steak, potato, and asparagus that night. I had rice and beans.”

“Why did you stay with him?” Will asks. This is the
“elephant in the room” question all five women will be asked. I don’t think we’ll hear much discrepancy in their answers.

“I was scared to leave.
He had his nice moments, but after about six or seven months those moments became few and far between. He was erratic and I never knew which Gregory I was going to get at the end of the day. I just always held out hope that things would get better. When I told him I was pregnant I was delusional enough to think it would make a difference.” She turns to face Sarah. “I know you know about some of this, and I appreciate you keepin’ it to between you and Austin. I wasn’t ready to talk about it before, but I think you should know how things really were between your father and me.”

“It’s ok, Momma. You don’t have to tell me. Honestly, I’m just happy to know Will.
And I’m not mad at you for keepin’ the truth from me. I know you had your reasons,” Sarah tells her.

“Will wants to know, and I think you deserve to know. It’s not pretty, but it’s the truth, and you wanted the truth,” she says. “
I was about eight weeks pregnant and we had some fancy charity event to go to in Charlotte. I put on a dress that Gregory let me buy specifically for that night about a month prior. I wasn’t thinking when I bought it that a month would go by in my pregnancy and that my body would be changing. When I put it on and it didn’t look or fit right, Gregory was livid. He said several mean and hateful things to me that I
will not
repeat, and grabbed me by the arm to take me back upstairs to find something that wouldn’t embarrass him. I shouldn’t have, but all the way up the stairs I fought him, twisting my arm, trying to get away from him. Well, I did…I got away from him, but it was at the top of the stairs and I fell. I stumbled and rolled all the way down until I hit the bottom with a thud so loud I thought that something else had fallen with me.