The Immaculate Deception (37 page)

“
Sure you would.”

“
No, ’cause I’m only half your girl. I’m half Daddy’s girl.” I was baiting her to see if she would admit I had a different father.

“
If only it were that simple… Calculate, Donna. You’re born in May and I’ve been spending the first week of every August with Mike.”

“
Momma, Nathan Payne isn’t my father, is he?”

“
Of course he’s your father. He raised you.”

“
Oh.” Perhaps Uncle Howie was playing with my mind just like Daddy had. I so wanted to not be a Payne. I sighed.

“
But you were conceived in love. Mike doesn’t know. I couldn’t tell him.”

“
Mike doesn’t know what?”

“
That he’s your father.”

“
But you just said—”

“
Nathan raised you as his own. He promised me he would. He gave you a good life. He was a brilliant man, your daddy.”

“
But he wasn’t.”

“
As genes go, no.” She swallowed another long pull of water and wiped her chin.

“
My marriage to Nathan is what we called a marriage of convenience. It was 1963. I was pregnant and unmarried. I would have lost my job. The movie star had divorced him. He was lonely and seemed like such an upstanding man, so when he offered, I accepted.”

Wow. Daddy was that big of a man to marry a woman pregnant by another man and raise her child. “How come you didn’t like him?”

Momma rolled her teary eyes. “At first, Nathan was a constant reminder of what I could have done, should have done. Every day I longed for Mike. But I was too deep into the mission—into our blended family. I couldn’t walk away from his children. They needed a mother. I never actually
hated
Nathan, not until I found out—why he really married me.”

“
Why did he?”

I waited. She didn’t continue. I pressed her. “How did you meet anyhow?”

“
Originally? He delivered my twins. Then I ended up in the ER with bilateral ovarian cysts, gangrene had set in on one side. He was the gynecologist on duty that night. He saved my life.”

I remembered that from my dream.

“
And then he used me as a guinea pig for his research. He didn’t tell me that while he was in there, he transplanted another woman’s right ovary into me. He led me to believe that he removed my right ovary and tube and he was only able to save part of my left ovary and it might not produce eggs.”

“
Momma! In the freezer down in the basement, I found a Tupperware container with an ovary in it!”

“
He was a weird one.”

“
Well, how’d you find out about the transplant? Your body must’ve rejected it immediately?”

“
No, the old genius was extremely brilliant and lucky. I didn’t reject it. Don’t ask me how. My blood type must’ve matched the donor’s perfectly.”

“
This is like science-fiction, Momma. Transplants in the sixties?”

“
He’d been practicing on rhesus monkeys. Nathan really was a genius, you know. It’s too bad he went blind. He could have changed the world for the better. Had he had the chance.”

“
But Momma, you hate—hated him.”

“
Fine line between love and hate, daughter. Fine line.”

“
How’d you find out?”

“
Last month after my hysterectomy. The surgeon told me. You know, I told you about my uterus prolapsing. It was hanging down nearly outside of my vagina. I couldn’t get used to the pessary they gave me to keep it pushed up. It hurt. I wanted the darn womb yanked out. So he talked it over with me and we agreed to go ahead and take it all out, the left ovary and tube too. When I awoke in the recovery room, my stunned surgeon told me about the transplanted right ovary. It was the first he’d ever seen.”

“
Is that why you got mad at Daddy? He called and told me you were trying to kill him.”

“
Kill him? No. But I was mad as Hell.”

We watched Mike tying the boat off. “Momma, come with me. Come and move in with me. You and Mike.”

Momma said, “No, child. Thank you but we’re where we need to be. You go. Live your life. Be happy. And don’t let your career stand in the way of your destiny of love.”

“
Career? What career? I have no education because there was no money for my college because Tammy and Perry needed it.” I stopped. I felt an epiphany coming on. “Momma. You did that on purpose, didn’t you? You didn’t want me to have an education and a career, didn’t want me to make the same mistakes you made…”

Well, I finally had a reason why my mother had treated me poorly. But it was a weak reason. And a selfish one. No, there had to be more to this. Why didn’t my mother and father give me the basic love and interest any child received from her parents? I knew they were capable of it because they showered my siblings with it. But why wouldn’t they just come right out and say it? Say why I was so different and not lovable. I didn’t care how horrible the answer was. It couldn’t be any worse than living like an unwanted relative. Daddy was dead, so I would never get the reason from him. He’d won. And it wasn’t like Momma was offering any more answers.

“
Momma, Uncle Howard came and took the ovary and Daddy’s research records. He said something about Daddy resenting me and you because you didn’t get impregnated by the right man. Daddy had wanted you to have President Kennedy’s baby. Do you realize whose ovary he had implanted inside you?”

“
Whose?”

“
Marilyn Monroe’s.”

She laughed maniacally. “Now that is one obsession taken over the edge. That goddamned son-of-a-bitch. At least it makes sense now why he had insisted that I sleep with Jack Kennedy. God, Nathan must have blamed you and me for ruining his big plan. I didn’t sleep with Kennedy. Serves him right.”

“
Okay, that explains why Daddy treated me the way he did. But Momma, why did
you
treat Tammy and Perry with love and attention and ignore me?”

“
Because you are the reason I had to marry that awful man. I didn’t think I could get pregnant. Mike stopped wearing rubbers after my operation. You were never meant to be. You should never have been born. My life was ruined because I gave birth to you…”

“
But I’m your baby. Your flesh and… No, I guess I’m not. I must be the other woman’s daughter. Oh God, that means I’m—” I couldn’t think of that right now. Too big news to handle. “But still I was conceived in love. Couldn’t you love me because I was Mike’s daughter?”

“
I did love you because you were Mike’s daughter. I could have gotten an abortion but I wouldn’t go through with it because of my love for Mike.”

“
Then if you didn’t want me, why didn’t you give me to Mike?”

“
Single men who lived on islands didn’t raise babies in 1964.”

“
Why didn’t you at least tell him about me?”

“
I did. I just didn’t mention you were his.”

“
Why?”

“
Oh-Donna, just leave the past alone. I won’t answer any more questions. Stop it now.”

I did. Mike took me back to the mainland. I felt as if I had lost my mother. She blamed me for so much in her life. And she had treated me badly in return. Both of my parents had. But now I knew that neither Nathan nor Chloe had been my biological parents. I was the result of an experiment gone wrong. With parents who didn’t even know I existed, that I was their daughter.

~*~

Numb from the shock, I shook sand out of my shoe before I climbed into Mike’s truck. I tossed my shoe inside and climbed in.

“
Where to, Donna?”

I looked at him. That was my father. My biological daddy. I didn’t want to tell him. I just wanted to return to normality. “I guess to the airport.”

“
Yes, ma’am.” He steered the truck onto Route One. “So what line of work are you in?”

I laughed sarcastically. “Paper. Filing. Peon job.”

“
Why?”

“’
Cause I can’t get the New York editors to read my manuscripts.”

“
What do you write?”

“
Romance.”

“
Me too,” he said.

“
I know. I peeked on your floor. Are you published?”

“
I’m pre-published.” He grinned. “What’re the names of your stories?”

“
Hundred Dollar Bill
is my only completed one.”

“
No. Change the title. The title makes all the difference in the world. Trust me.”

“’
Kay. Thanks.”

He drove me to Miami International Airport and came in with me. He insisted on paying for my ticket. This time I had to use my real name because I had to go through security and show identification. Before I did, he pressed a business card into my palm. “Call me when you’re published.”

“
I will. You too.” I handed my
real
father a piece of hotel stationery with my number scribbled on it.

He tipped his hat.

~♥~

I wanted the three-hour flight to Washington Dulles International Airport to be restful. I put the headphones on and tuned in a classical station. A little Mozart symphony pulled me into another dream with swirling red sparkles.

I opened my eyes and there he was. He was in an office in the White House. I tippytoed up and kissed his cheek. He smiled at me as he answered the phone. Hey, this was weird. He was participating in this dream, not just guiding me. Wonder why.

“
Secret Service Office. Jones here.”

I could hear the person on the other end, he was speaking so loudly. “Mr. Jones, this is Smith, the House Detective over at the Willard Hotel.”

“
Yes, Smith.”

“
I am calling to advise you that Mrs. Lambert is gone.”

“
What do you mean she’s gone?”

“
Well, when I came on duty tonight, the fill-in guy from the temporary employment agency said he hadn’t seen her. So I got a maid to knock on the door and there was no answer. We used a passkey and she’s left. Luggage and all.”

“
When did she check out?”

“
She didn’t. But she’s gone.”

“
No!” My mate hung up.

I touched his arm. “What’s wrong?”

“
Louise Lambert. Chloe’s mother. I had her under surveillance and she’s snuck away.”

The phone rang again. “Secret Service Office, Jones.”

I could hear the caller again. “This is Captain Liebler of the Miami Beach Police Department.”

“
Yeah, Liebler. Do you have her in custody?”

“
Not exactly.”

“
Say what you mean.”

“
Officer Henry Grisham attempted to arrest Miss Lambert. She and a wise guy by the name of Michael Allen Taurus beat him viciously and ran.”

“
They beat him viciously and ran? What
exactly
happened?”

“
Officer Grisham asked for identification, advised Miss Lambert that she was under arrest and when he cited the charges, they turned on him.”

“
Exactly what charges?”

“
Let’s see, counterfeiting, treason and murder one.”

My mate yelled, “
Murder one
?”

“
Yeah. My men found a puddle of blood on the floor of the Miami bakery the Lambert girl lived up above.”

“
So?”

“
So she murdered her landlord. Umm…wait… Yes, his name was Patrick Grogan.”

“
Where’s the body?”

“
Haven’t found it yet.”

“
Then how do you know there was a murder? Let me speak to your supervisor!”

My Mr. Jones was too impatient to wait on the line. He slammed the receiver onto the prongs.

I stuck up for Momm…no, Chloe. “No. This was a mistake. She didn’t murder anyone. And she isn’t involved in counterfeiting. She told me those were false charges.”

“
Sorry, love. I didn’t want to include you in this flashback but since you’re here, stay out of the way. I have unpleasant work to do now. Remember above all how much I love you. But I cannot change the past.”

I was so confused. Why was I watching this part of his and Chloe’s pasts? I knew everything had worked out all right for Chloe. I watched my dream man as he stomped out of the office. I followed him down the hallway at a short distance.

He headed into another office.

A secretary was still typing and it was well past eight in the evening. She looked up as he walked in.

“
Hello, Jones.”

“
Hello, Pamela. Can the President spare me two minutes?”

She pressed the intercom. “Sir, Secret Service agent Jones would like a moment with you.”

“
Jones?”

“
Yes, sir.”

“
Send him in,” he huffed.

I followed my mate inside. No one seemed to be paying any attention to my presence. I must be invisible again. President Harry S. Truman was standing at a window looking out at the shadows cast by the gaslights on the lawn. My guy cleared his throat. The President turned around, his glum expression unhidden.