Sins of the Father (33 page)

I slugged him in the arm.

“I’m kidding. Can we please leave now?”

Anxiety climbed the back of my throat like
monkeys scaling trees by swinging from vines while Johnny drove to
Hennessey Island. My palms grew damp. My mouth was dry. The stomach
churned.

“You’re very quiet all of a sudden.” Johnny
drove under the portico at the Island Hotel Resort and Casino.

“Please come to this thing with me.”

“Baby, I’ll be right outside in the bar
having lunch with Crevan and Dev. You’ll be fine.”

The valet opened the door for me and helped
me out of the Expedition. “Good afternoon, Dr. Eriksson.”

“Orion,” Johnny corrected. “She’s Dr. Orion
now.”

I smirked and rolled my eyes. “Don’t mind
him, he’s in a bad mood because I won’t let him come to this
luncheon with me.”

“Mrs. Datello is expecting you. She’s
waiting in the lobby.”

“Thank you, Chad.” Thank God for nametags in
the service industry. I slipped my hand into Johnny’s.

“Won’t let me come, now, is that the way the
lies swing these days?” he grinned.

“Oh hush, before I see Celeste and tell her
that you insisted on joining us and I didn’t have the heart to tell
you no.”

“You would, wouldn’t you. Alright, Mrs.
Orion. Let’s go meet your hostess.”

Celeste’s eyes widened when we stepped into
the sparkling hotel lobby. Everything that wasn’t glass or crystal
was marble, shined to a painfully bright gleam.

“Helen!”

It had been at least five weeks since I’d
seen her, almost six. A lot had changed in that time.

She rushed forward and clasped my hands.
“Then the rumors are true! Congratulations!”

“Thank you, Celeste. Where is Sofia? I was
hoping to see her today.”

“Upstairs. She’ll be making her grand
appearance later. Mother is bringing her down after we’re sure
she’s got the fussy wiggles out. You must tell me when you’re due.
It looks like four, maybe five months?”

“Late September, if we’re lucky,” Johnny
piped up.

Celeste wilted a little bit. “Hello,
Commander Orion.”

“Just Johnny now,” he said, “and it’s
wonderful to see you looking so well. Motherhood clearly agrees
with you.”

Her eyes roved from Johnny to me. “You must
be carrying a giant, though that doesn’t surprise me considering…
well, neither one of you are what I would call average height.”

“I’m having twins, Celeste. Boys.”

“That’s wonderful! I’m so happy for you,
Helen. I’d like to believe that Danny would be too.”

I heard the words in Johnny’s head.
He
can be as happy as he pleases – from hell.

Our eyes met, his filled with innocence,
mine filled with reprimand.

“I know that’s hard for you to believe,” she
said softly.

“Nonsense, Celeste. Given everything I’ve
been through recently, it has occurred to me that Danny and I had
more in common than I realized before.”

“You did?”

I nodded. “Family means everything. We have
a responsibility to protect those we love. And it isn’t fair to be
judged by the actions of those who brought us into this world.”

She squeezed my hands. “Thank you for saying
that, Helen. It means so much to know that you understand that the
man who died wasn’t the one who loved me.”

Celeste glanced at Johnny again, “Will you
be joining us?”

“He’s meeting his former employees for lunch
while I go with you, Celeste,” I said.

“Detective Mackenzie? He’s already here. I
had a chance to say hello to him when he arrived. I think he’s
waiting for you and someone else in the bar.” She tugged one of my
hands. “Shall we, Helen?”

Johnny snagged my arm and pulled me back for
a thorough kiss. “I love you, mommy.”

“Love you too, daddy.”

Celeste blushed when I turned around and
caught her watching.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I shouldn’t have
intruded.”

“Nonsense. You should see how he kisses me
in the grocery store.”

“You’re very happy then? In spite of what
happened last month, I mean. I was sick when I learned what those
monsters did to you, Helen. You’ve been so good to me.”

“I’m fine now, and yes, extremely happy. I
was so touched by your invitation today.” Happy if I continued to
ignore my doubts, the truth of who I really am, the threads that
keep tugging me back into the middle of something heinously
ugly.

“Some of these women aren’t here for the
right reasons,” she said. “I should’ve told you yesterday, but I
thought maybe this is something that you and I have in common. It
doesn’t matter so much why they donate to this cause, as long as
they donate.”

“I’m with ya, Celeste.”

“There are a few ladies I’d like to have you
meet. They’re good people who really care about the children in
this city.”

“What a refreshing change for me,” I said.
“I’d love to meet them.”

“One called me shortly after you brought my
Sofia home. I’d never met her before then, but she seemed to
understand everything I felt while Sofia was missing so well. I
asked her if she lost a child too. She told me she had, only no one
had ever been able to ease her pain. I guess she didn’t have an
angel like you to help her.” Celeste urged me forward. “That’s her,
right over there in the pink suit.”

My eyes wandered to the imposing figure not
softened by the pastel disguise. Had losing a child hardened
her?

“Kathleen?” Celeste said softly. “There’s
someone I’d like you to meet. This is my angel, my hero Helen.
She’s the one who brought my Sofia home safe and sound. Helen, this
is my new friend, Kathleen Conall.”

My eyes met the same bright green gaze I saw
every time I looked in the mirror.

Would it be impolite to recoil and run away?
Too late. Much too late.

Kathleen extended one thin hand. “I believe
I’ve seen your picture in the papers, Ms. Eriksson. And you’ve
worked quite closely with my son Crevan. It’s a pleasure to finally
meet you.”

“It’s Orion, now, Kathleen,” Celeste said
while I numbly shook the hand of my biological mother. “Helen and
Johnny Orion were married last month. Remember? It was in the
newspaper.”

Kathleen touched her forehead and smiled.
“Dear me. I must’ve forgotten. It was in that article where that
odious reporter interviewed the governor and made allegations that
my son wasn’t a fine police investigator.”

I couldn’t believe what I heard. Was she
pretending some close relationship with Crevan for public benefit,
or was she truly unaware that everything had changed in his
life?

“Mrs. Conall.”

“Call me Kathleen, dear. I insist. Come sit
with me so I can get to know one of my son’s dear friends. He never
has time to come home these days it seems. Perhaps you can tell me
how he’s doing.”

I nodded. “I saw him two days ago, Kathleen.
He’s very happy right now.”

“Oh I’m so relieved. What happened to Belle
had to be difficult for him, even though the marriage was over. He
told us at Christmas, you know.”

“Yes,” I said softly. “He mentioned it.”

“My husband was not happy at all. I’m afraid
that the two of them haven’t had much to say since then. But I do
miss him, Helen. Would you give him my love?”

“Of course.” Aidan Conall leapt to a monster
of epic proportions in my estimation. Not only did he make his only
son feel like crap, he deprived him a relationship with a mother,
who as far as I could tell, loved and missed her son very much.
Inspiration – for better or worse – struck hard. “But Kathleen,
Crevan is meeting Johnny here for lunch. Wouldn’t you rather see
him yourself?”

“He’s here? Right now?”

I grabbed her hand. “Come with me. We’ll be
back before anyone misses us.”

“Oh, I don’t know,” she hesitated.

“It’ll be our secret.” She didn’t have to
explain the source of her furrowed brow or the reluctance. “I’ll
never tell him, Kathleen. And you know that Crevan won’t.”

Such a heavy sadness shrouded her eyes, it
hurt to see it, but she followed me out of the banquet hall. We
made our way to the bar where Johnny sat with Dev and Crevan.

“Crevan, I ran into someone who would love
to say hello.”

Not in a million years would I have imagined
what happened next.

Chapter 31

Crevan’s face hardened to stone.

His mother gripped my arm harder. “I’m
sorry, Helen. I – this was a mistake.”

“No, it wasn’t.” I shot Crevan a reproving
glare. “Crevan, aren’t you going to say hello to your mother?”

Johnny was shaking his head as unnoticeably
adamant as possible. His hand made a slight slicing motion over his
throat.

“I suppose that depends on why she’s
pretending that she wants to see me,” Crevan’s icy tone was one I’d
never heard from him before. It struck me as odd that it sounded
familiar just the same. Maybe because he sounded like me.

“I’ll go,” Kathleen said softly. “I
shouldn’t have –”

Whatever else fell from her lips was lost on
my ears. The only sense functioning at the moment was visual.
Crevan’s eyes narrowed, crinkled at the edges. He looked from his
mother to me, like he couldn’t quite decide where to direct the
glare.

Kathleen let go of my arm. She said
something else, directed at me, I guess, since Johnny’s reply on my
behalf finally registered.

“She’ll be back to the benefit in a few
minutes, Kathleen. It was good to see you again.”

By the time I was aware of anything but my
twin’s stare, Kathleen was long gone and Johnny blocked my view of
Crevan.

“Helen, are you all right?”

“Huh?”

“Honey, I know you were trying to help, but
this –”

“Unbelievable,” Crevan reappeared in my
field of vision.

“Crevan –”

“How long have you known? Why didn’t you
tell me, Helen?”

I swallowed a wad of grit that materialized
around my vocal cords. “Tell you what?”

Maybe paranoia runs in the family. Crevan’s
was clearly off the chart. Instead of eyes darting between Kathleen
and me, they shifted to Johnny and me. A moment later, he included
Devlin. “You all knew. Jesus.”

“Oh boy,” Johnny said.

“Knew what? What’s going on? I told you that
I wanted to help facilitate a conversation between you and your
mother.”

“Crevan, think about what you’re saying,
specifically
where
you’re saying it,” Johnny admonished. “We
can talk about this later.”

“Who put the idea in your heads first,
Briscoe?”

Dear God. Crevan wasn’t the only one who
noticed that I apparently have our mother’s eyes.

“He just couldn’t leave it alone.” One
agitated hand raked through Crevan’s hair.

“Stop it, Crevan,” Johnny spoke sharply. “We
cannot have this conversation here.” He turned to me. “Helen, write
your check for Celeste’s charity. Devlin, I want you to take Crevan
over to the house.”

“I’m not going anywhere!”

Johnny impaled his best friend with sheer
will. “Yes, you are. We’ll explain everything to you in a room
without prying eyes and walls without ears. This is bigger than
what you think at the moment.”

Incredulous eyes focused on my husband.
“Don’t be ridiculous. If Helen figured all of this out, the least
she could’ve done was tell me, rather than trying to ambush me with
our mother!”

His words seeped slowly into my brain. My
heart leapt into the back of my throat and twisted painfully. My
jaw dropped, and I tried to suck breath into my lungs. Reality sank
to a pinpoint around Crevan’s face. Tiny words hissed around the
obstruction. “You
knew
? For how long?”

Crevan’s head rolled forward. He muttered a
curse under his breath.

“What was that?” I caught my breath on a
heated rush of fury.

“Johnny’s right. We can’t have this
conversation here.”

“Like hell we –”

Johnny silenced the oncoming tirade. “Not
here, Helen. Think before you say another word. We’ve already
garnered far too much attention.”

I turned on my heel and stalked away from
the lot of them. Johnny caught me before I hit the threshold of the
luncheon. His fingers manacled my arm.

“What are you doing? We need to talk about
what just happened, Helen.”

“Screw it. Screw him. Screw all of you.”

His eyes narrowed. “This is suddenly my
fault?”

I wilted, not much, but enough for him to
get a toe in the door before I slammed it completely shut and undid
our tenuous progress.

“I didn’t know that he knew any of this,
Helen. Christ. I love you. Why would I keep you in the dark if I
knew he was aware of the truth? And if he did know, why the hell
didn’t he say something to me, particularly when I believed you’d
been abducted again?”

“Damn you and your logic.” My eyes welled
with tears.

“Baby, come home with me.”

“I need to tell Celeste that I’m leaving.”
One tear sluiced down a cheek.

“Write a check. I’ll give it to her and make
a plausible excuse for your abrupt departure.”

I nodded.

“Checkbook?”

Another nod.

“Go wait in the car,” Johnny pressed his
lips to my temple and hugged me gently. “I’ll take care of the
donation.”

“I feel like a fool,” I said. “Why would he
agree to let me meet his mother if he knew that she’s really…?”

“We won’t know the answer to any of these
questions until we can have a very private conversation, Helen.” He
pulled the valet ticket out of his pocket and pressed it into my
hand. “Go wait for me in the car. I won’t be long.”

I wept softly all the way from Hennessey
Island while Johnny held my hand and tried to soothe riotous
emotions with a thumb brushing back and forth across my knuckles.
His eyes darted into the rearview mirror regularly. I assumed he
wanted to be sure the Dev and Crevan were behind us.