Secrets (10 page)

“I think you're the daughter Althea wanted.”

Cassie knew he was just being nice, but the compliment pleased her so much that she blushed. Anyone who knew much about Althea had read that the great disappointment of her life was her daughter, her only child. The girl had left her mother's house when she was eighteen, and refused to have anything more to do with her. As far as Cassie knew she was still alive, but she had no idea what had happened to her.

“Okay,” he said as he began to pack up his equipment. “It's time to get back upstairs and pretend we've been hard at work these last hours.”

A minute later, they heard voices. This time there was no hesitation as they grabbed the equipment and began running. They stopped to pick up Cassie's clothes from the bathroom, then scurried up the back stairs to the attic. Quickly, he unfastened the hundred or so heavy-duty hooks and eyes at the back of her dress. She stepped behind a wooden screen and put her own clothes back on.

When Elsbeth came upstairs to see them, Brent and Cassie were on opposite sides of the attic, quietly cataloging.

 

Now, in the bathtub, Cassie thought about the whole week with fondness. Most of the time she'd spent alone in the attic, going through the artifacts, but sometimes Brent joined her. He called her “Houston,” from when he'd said that they had a problem. She'd never had a nickname before and she liked it.

And now it was Saturday and she had a date. An old-fashioned, ordinary date. Like she'd had in college, she thought. She told herself not to be so excited, but she was. This is good for me, she thought. It was good to get away from Jeff—and even from Thomas and Elsbeth. As much as she loved them, they weren't her family. She wasn't Elsbeth's mother and she wasn't Jeff's wife and she wasn't Thomas's daughter.

For a moment those thoughts made her heart lurch, but she took a breath, got out of the tub, and began to dry herself. Yes, indeed, this was good. She would go out with Brent, and later, she'd make an effort to meet other men and go out with them as well. She had foolishly thought she was “in love” with some guy she'd met when she was a kid, and even more foolishly, she'd pursued him. And look where it had got her, she thought. She was twenty-five years old and had nothing. She had no home, no family—her mother didn't count—and soon she'd have no job.

By the time she dressed, she was feeling much better. She'd get over Jeff. In fact, after days around a gorgeous hunk like Brent, she thought she might get over Jeff rather quickly.

Downstairs, Thomas and Elsbeth were sitting on the couch in the big living room, watching a DVD. Or, rather, Elsbeth was watching and Thomas was dozing. Cassie put her finger to her lips for Elsbeth to say nothing and let the man sleep. Althea had worn him out in the last week.

Jeff was in the library, sitting at his desk and looking at his laptop. He didn't look up when she entered.

“I don't mean to bother you,” she said quietly, “but I'm going out, so you'll have to do something about lunch.”

“Sure,” he said distractedly. “What do you want?”

“Nothing. I'm going out.”

“Okay, then you pick up something.” Obviously, his mind was on whatever was on his computer.

She stepped farther into the library. “
I
am going out, so
you
must get lunch. And maybe dinner. Elsbeth is too young to make lunch, and your father is too tired.”

He looked up, blinking at her. “If you're going to the grocery, you can get something there. I really need to—”

“I'm not going to the grocery,” she said, looking at him hard. “I am going
out.
”

It was then that he looked her up and down and saw that she wasn't in her usual big cotton clothes. She had on nice linen trousers and a pretty blouse. She was also wearing makeup and jewelry. “Where are you going?” he blurted.

“On a date,” she said, then turned to leave the room.

But Jeff bounded across the room in a few steps and stood in front of her. “You're going on a date?”

“Yes,” she said and took a step to walk around him.

He blocked her way. “Why are you going on a date?”

She looked at him in disbelief. “Because I want to. Because I need to get out of this house. Because I want to have some fun. Why does anyone go on a date?
You
go on dates all the time.”

“Me? Oh, yeah, Skylar.”

“Yeah, Skylar.” Again, she started to step around him, but he wouldn't let her.

“So who are you going with? Albert?” He was grinning in a smirking way.

Albert was the man who came once a month to trim the hedges. He was about ninety. Cassie glared at Jeff. “Yes, I'm going out with Albert. We're going to spend the afternoon having wild sex. Would you please move?”

He stepped aside with a flamboyant gesture, but he followed her into the kitchen. As Cassie straightened up the room, Jeff sat down on a bar stool at the island. “So if it's not Albert, who is it?”

She started to tell him that she was going out with Brent Goodwin, but she'd promised she wouldn't tell. She said nothing.

“Okay, so don't tell me,” Jeff said, “but I think you should leave a number where you can be reached. In case of an emergency. You never know what could happen. To Elsbeth, I mean.”

“If anything bad happens to Elsbeth, call a hospital, not
me
.”

“Yeah, of course I would, but she'll want you. It would be horrible if she were in a hospital and crying for you and you were out with some stranger having a good time.”

Cassie looked at him in disbelief. She really couldn't believe he was saying these things. “You're her father. If she was crying for anyone, it would be for you. I'm the paid employee, remember?”

“Come on, Cassie, you know that you're a great deal more to Elsbeth than just an employee.”

Cassie threw up her hands. “I don't believe this! You're about to discharge me in…however long it is until you get married, but you're dumping guilt on me for going on a date. I need a life. A real life. One of my own. I need something to do besides fold your socks and take care of your house.”

Jeff's eyes widened. “Discharge you? Why would I do that? You know that Elsbeth loves you.”

She leaned across the island so her face was close to his. “But Skylar hates me.”

“Oh, well,” he said. “She's one of those women who hates all women. It's nothing personal.” He smiled at her.

Cassie wanted to throw something at him, but the ringing of the doorbell made her straighten. She took a couple of deep breaths and straightened her shoulders. “That's probably my date.”

Turning her back on him, she walked to the entrance hall. She opened the door to a smiling Brent; he was holding a large bouquet of flowers.

“For you,” he said. “Hope you like them.”

Before she could say anything, Jeff—who was about three inches behind her—said, “What the hell are
you
doing here?”

Cassie grimaced before turning around. “He is my date!” she almost shouted. “Not that it is any of your business.”

“Is something wrong?” Thomas asked from the doorway.

Cassie glared at Jeff. “Are you happy now? You woke your father and he needs his rest.”

“I wasn't the one who was shouting, you were.”

“Brent,” Thomas said, smiling as he held out his hand to shake. “Are you taking our Cassie out?”

“Yes,” Brent said, grinning. “I thought we'd go to lunch, then see a plantation or two. If that's all right with you, Houston,” he said to Cassie.

“It sounds wonderful.” She started to say that she needed to put the flowers in water, but she didn't want to take the time. From the way Jeff was acting, he might do something to make her stay home.

“Could I take those for you?” Thomas asked, holding out his hands for the flowers. “You young people go and have a good time. Take all day. Stay out until tomorrow. Elsbeth and I can handle things here.”

“Houston!” Jeff said, as though coming out of a trance. “Why are you calling Cassie Houston?”

“An inside joke,” Brent said as he and Cassie exchanged smiles.

She picked her bag up off the table by the door. “I don't know how long we'll be,” she said and thought how ridiculous it all was. You would have thought she was leaving on a two-year-long trip around the world.

“I need to speak to you, Goodwin,” Jeff said, his jaw rigid and his voice serious.

Cassie put her arm through Brent's. “I think we'll be off now.” She looked at Jeff. “You can talk to him later. Bye.”

As quickly as she could, she went outside and closed the door behind her.

W
HEN
C
ASSIE UNLOCKED THE DOOR
to Jeff's house, she made sure she made no noise. The lamp on the hall table was on so she could see the stairs. She silently put her purse down and the big tote bag of things she'd bought that day—mostly gifts for Thomas and Elsbeth—and tiptoed toward the stairs. When Jeff's shadowy form appeared at the entrance into the family room, she jumped, her heart pounding.

“It's after midnight,” she said, her hand to her heart. “What are you doing up?”

He didn't smile. “Come with me,” he said seriously, then turned and walked back toward the kitchen.

Cassie was tired and wanted to go to bed, but she followed him. Truthfully, Jeff's attitude that morning had stayed with her all day. Why had he acted so…well, jealous?

She followed him into the kitchen, and there, sitting on the counter, was a tall glass of milk and a plate of the cookies she'd baked.

“I thought you might be hungry,” Jeff said, his face still solemn.

Cassie went into the kitchen, got a roll of plastic wrap, covered the cookies and milk, put them in the refrigerator, then poured herself a cold glass of white wine. At last, she turned to look at him. “I'm not hungry, and even if I were, I'd want something besides cookies and milk. Could you please tell me what's bothering you?”

He sat down at the breakfast table, his hands folded in front of him. “First of all, I want to apologize for the way I acted this morning. It was just a shock that you were going out, that's all.”

She took the seat across from him, then leaned back in the chair, sipped her wine, and waited for him to continue.

“Elsbeth missed you today. We all missed you.”

“Last Saturday all of you went out without me and I didn't hear any talk of missing me.” She narrowed her eyes at him. “Has something happened?”

“I guess so,” he said and gave her a half smile. “I think that today it hit me that maybe you could leave us.”

Cassie couldn't help it, but she drew in her breath and clutched the stem of the wineglass so hard it almost snapped in two. She put the glass on the table. Was this it? she wondered. Was this every dream she'd had since she was twelve? Was he going to say that the thought of her leaving had made him realize that he loved her?

“I didn't mean to shock anyone,” Cassie said softly.

“You only shocked me, no one else.”

He has a disarming way of smiling, she thought. It was dark in the room except for the kitchen lights. There was a light over the breakfast table, but neither of them had turned it on.

“So how was your date?” he asked.

“Great,” she answered. “We had a wonderful time. Brent and I—”

“Cassie,” Jeff said slowly, interrupting her, “I can honestly say this with affection, as I have come to honor and esteem you greatly in this past year, but I think you should be cautious about that young man.”

Honor and esteem me? Cassie thought. “Do you know something bad about him?” she asked.

“A little.” He paused. “Okay, I know more than I'm letting on. I don't think he's what he seems, and I feel that I must warn you to be cautious with him.”

“Could you be more specific?”

“I really can't,” Jeff said. “I'm not at liberty to tell what I know, but I do feel the need to warn you.”

Cassie took a deep swallow of the wine. Maybe she should be grateful that Jeff was trying to admonish her about a young man she hardly knew, but she didn't feel gratitude. “I guess I should take your advice and call off any future dates,” she said quietly.

“I think that would be best,” Jeff said, giving her a look that said she was a very smart girl.

“I guess that, all in all, it would be better for me to stay at home, meaning here in your house, and take care of your child and your father, to cook your food, wash your clothes, and run your errands.”

Jeff's face lost its look of helpfulness. “That's not what I meant! It's just Goodwin who I object to.”

“Why?” she asked, leaning across the table toward him. “Because he's young and handsome and because he likes me? He does things
for me
. Can you imagine that? He takes me places and buys me lunch. He laughs at my jokes. He—” She picked up the wineglass and drained it.

“He does
not
treat me as though I'm his eleven-year-old daughter and feed me milk and cookies.” She stood up and glared down at him. “For months now, I've been dreading the moment when you would tell me I was going to have to leave your house. I'm sick of the way I wake up and wonder if this is the day I'll be fired.”

“Cassie, I—”

She put her hand up. “I can't take it anymore. In the last week I've had fun. I've had freedom from—” She couldn't say any more or she'd say that she'd had freedom from thinking that he was the only man in the world for her. “Let's just say that in this last week I've been awakened from a dreamworld and I've seen reality. Jefferson Ames, I hereby give you my two weeks' notice.”

Blinking in disbelief, Jeff stood up. “Cassie, what are you saying? You can't quit. Elsbeth loves you. You're like a—”

“So help me, if you say that I'm like a mother to her, I'll deck you. Really, I will.” Say something about
us
, Cassie wanted to shout at him. Tell me you were jealous of Brent because you love me.

But Jeff just stood there, looking at her, seeming not to know what to say. “We all need you,” he said at last. “You can't quit.”

What little hope Cassie had escaped her in a great gust of air. One moment she was so angry she could have entered a boxing ring, and the next she just wanted to go to bed.

“Yes, I can,” she said tiredly. “I'll put it in writing tomorrow. Good night.” She turned toward the back stairs. Ten minutes later, she was in bed, and in spite of all the emotion of the last few minutes, she went to sleep at once.

 

Jeff wasn't surprised when he heard his father's voice. He'd sat back down at the table, his head in his hands.

“You really blew it this time,” Thomas said as he handed his son a glass with a shot of single malt whiskey and kept one for himself. He sat down across from Jeff.

“Completely. Totally. What am I going to tell Elsbeth?”

“I think Elsbeth may leave with Cassie.”

Jeff looked up at his father, questioning.

“Althea offered Cassie a job cataloguing that mess she has in the attic, and being her assistant.”

“What? Fetch her slippers and make her tea?”

“It's an easier job than she has here.”

Jeff took a gulp of his whiskey. “What did you find out this week?”

“Not much. For all that she talks nonstop, Althea Fairmont tells very little.”

“You don't like her,” Jeff said—a statement, not a question.

“On the contrary. I've never met a more charming woman. If I didn't know all I do about her, I'd be half in love with her.”

“You and a million other men,” Jeff said.

“Maybe so, but I imagine that a lot of men are happy just to have known her. So what are you going to do about Cassie?”

“What can I do?”

“Tell her you love her. Ask her to marry you.”

“Funny,” Jeff said. “You should go on the stage. I did that once, remember? I was madly in love, got married, had a baby, then my wife was murdered because of me.”

“Lillian's death was a tragedy, I agree, but it doesn't always happen that way. Your mother and I were married for thirty-eight years and nothing bad happened.”

Jeff looked at his father with his eyes wide. “What about Munich? Barcelona?”

Thomas waved his hand in dismissal. “Close calls, that's all. The difference was that your mother knew what was going on. You kept Lillian in the dark. She knew nothing about you. Not the truth anyway. If Lillian had known the truth, she wouldn't have believed those men so easily. She wouldn't have stepped into their car with them. She wouldn't have—”

“Died,” Jeff said. “If she'd known the truth, it wouldn't have made any difference. They would have found her anyway. No matter what, I couldn't prevent it. I couldn't protect her.”

“And that's why you teach now,” Thomas said. “You're not in the field anymore.”

“Not in the field?” Jeff said. “Then what do you call living next door to Althea Fairmont and that time bomb mind of hers? And Roger Craig was put on the other side of her. As long as I could keep things quiet, everyone was safe, but now I think Cassie saw Roger at Althea's house, and Cassie is dating Goodwin.”

“He seems like a nice enough young man.”

“He's trained to kill people,” Jeff said, glaring at his father.

“So are you. So am I.”

“Yeah, well, I don't want Cassie involved in this. She's a sweet kid. I've known her—”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. Since she was in diapers. Or thereabouts. But she's grown up now, and she deserves to have a life of her own, a home of her own, and children of her own.”

“And I can't give her any of those things,” Jeff said glumly.

“You've given all of them to her for the past year except without the glorious sex you could have been having.”

“‘Glorious sex'? Althea's getting to you, isn't she?”

“She's certainly made me remember some things. But you're the problem now. What are you going to do about Cassie? And how are you going to deal with Elsbeth when she's told that you've made Cassie leave? Are you going to tell her that Skylar will be her new mother?”

“Give me a break! That woman is driving me crazy. Another month and we'll be finished and I can get away from her.”

“Then what will you do? Cassie plans to leave in two weeks. By then she'll probably be engaged.”

“Engaged?” Jeff said, horror in his voice.

“All she'd have to do is make those French doughnuts with that almond custard filling and any man in his right mind would propose.”

Jeff snorted. “It's not her cooking that drives me insane.”

“When I was your age I didn't think about almond custard either. All I'm saying is that you need to think very hard about what you're doing.”

“I have thought about it. I've not thought about anything else all day.” He looked at his father with a sheepish expression. “I made a fool of myself this morning when Goodwin picked her up. A class-A jerk. My only excuse is that Cassie caught me off guard. One day she's dedicated to us, and the next day she's going out with one of my students—and not a very good student at that. It was a jolt to my system, and I handled it poorly.”

“So how do you plan on handling this situation? She said she was going to quit.”

“I think I'll talk to her and say anything I can short of telling her that Skylar is the last woman on earth that I'd marry.”

“If you were already married, you wouldn't have had her dumped on you,” Thomas said sternly.

“Hindsight is great, but I can't afford that now. People must believe that Skylar and I are an item or her father won't come through.”

“And the United States government needs the man,” Thomas said, his voice dripping sarcasm.

“It seemed a simple task when I agreed. I just didn't think Skylar…” Jeff trailed off and took another drink of his whiskey.

“You were told she was a flibbertigibbet who only wanted a man if he drove a race car. But she wants to settle down.”

“No,” Jeff said slowly, “I'm a conquest to her, and she likes to conquer. I'm not entranced by her father's money or her beauty.”

“Okay, so that takes care of Skylar. What are you going to do about Cassie?”

“The honorable thing.”

Thomas groaned so loudly he glanced at the doorway to make sure he hadn't woken anybody. “I hope that doesn't mean what I think it does.”

“I'm going to step back and let Cassie have her life. She's young. She deserves happiness. I'd rather she wasn't dating Goodwin—did I tell you what he made on his last weapons test?—but if that's her choice, I won't stand in her way.”

Thomas couldn't seem to think of anything else to say, so he stood up. “Do what you think is best, son. I trust you and I think you have the intelligence and wisdom to figure this out on your own.”

“Thanks, Dad, I appreciate that.” Jeff looked down at his whiskey glass and didn't move. He knew his father was waiting for him to say he was going to bed too. It was after 1
A.M
. and he had to get up at six, but Jeff knew he wouldn't be able to sleep. “Use the elevator,” he mumbled as his father headed toward the stairs.

“I think I will,” Thomas said, then went down the hall toward the library.

But he didn't get on the elevator. Instead, he went into the library, picked up the land telephone, and called Althea. She answered on the first ring. “Did I wake you?”

“You know I never sleep,” she said. “I'm still on Broadway time.”

Thomas chuckled. “I guess it gets in your blood.”

“So what can I do for you at this hour?”

“I'd like you to throw a temper tantrum. Think you can?”

“I believe I could manage.” There was laughter in her voice.

He waited for her to say something else, maybe to ask why, but she didn't. “You don't need a motivation?”

“I'm being held prisoner by my own government. I need no more motivation than that. Just give me a time and a place and a few lines of dialogue and I'll take it from there.”

“You're a true lady, Althea.”

“I can be if the part calls for it. But I can also be a woman.”

“Ah, yes,” Thomas said, smiling. “
Not Enough
. Did I ever tell you that was my favorite film of yours?”