Too Little, Too Late (17 page)

Leo walked across the room to another smaller room lined with shelves that held gardening tools and other outdoor paraphernalia. Going over to the farthest shelf, he tugged at it and it opened smoothly on well-oiled hinges to reveal a steel door with a panel of numbers on it. Punching in a series of numbers he had branded to memory, Leo waited until he heard the door click and unlock. The steel door and the keyless entry had been another one of his innovations. On the other side of the door was a long dim corridor leading down into the underground bunker and it took several minutes for his eyesight to adjust to the dimness.

Walking awkwardly over to the flag, he knelt in front of it. He tried concentrating on its bold colors. The strength of those colors should have infused him with power. Despite his single-minded purpose, he felt Maria’s presence taking over, wantonly enticing him with the purity of her body and soul. Except that her body was pure no longer. He had seen to that. The rushing sound filled his head again. He shook it violently.

“Stop laughing at me, Father.”

The rushing noise only became louder. He tried concentrating on the flag in front of him. Instead, images of Maria, spread-eagled on her stomach while he took her from behind, played across his mind. To his mortification, the rope around his penis seemed to chafe against his renewed erection. Biting back a sob of frustration, he picked up the riding crop and struck it directly over the bulge in his pants. A shiver went down his spine. Pulling down his pants, Leo again raised the crop, the next blow harder than the first, sending an erotic shock through his constricted scrotum. He was unable to stop himself as he dealt his body blow after blow until it was saturated in sweat. Finally, his excitement could be contained no longer and he came all over the flag with huge rapturous spurts of sticky liquid.

When he was finally spent, he felt no peace. He felt only anger and shame as well as an urgent need to be with Maria once again.

“These roses are lovely,” said Esther in delight. “It was nice of you to bring them for me.”

“I know how much you love roses,” Kate told her as she placed the roses and baby’s breath in a crystal vase, doing her best to hide her surprise at Esther’s wan appearance. “How are you feeling today?”

Esther avoided Kate’s eyes as she smoothed the covers over her lap. “I’m no better or worse for wear, as the saying goes.” She took Kate’s hand and pulled her down beside her wheelchair. “Now you didn’t come all the way out here just to talk about my health, did you?”

“I didn’t?” asked Kate, feigning innocence.

Esther gave her a knowing look. “We’ve been friends for a long time and I know when something’s bothering you. Lucky for you, I’ve got all my marbles today, so shoot.” She sat up straight in her wheelchair. “I’m all ears.”

Kate grinned at her, unable to suppress her amusement. “Has anyone ever told you you’re a nosy old busybody?”

“I should hope so,” the older woman shot back. “It’s what keeps my ticker ticking. So, what gives?”

“Paul Wagner has decided to put out a special anniversary edition of the
Paisleys’ Greatest Hits Collection
and he’s asked me to be a part of it.”

“And you said?”

Kate sighed. “I agreed to do it. It seemed fair considering he practically handed me the listing on his estate.”

Esther nodded thoughtfully. “Maybe your head is telling you the time is right.”

Kate decided to tell her what had been uppermost on her mind for the past few days. “Paul’s also invited me to go with him to an art gallery in a few weeks,” she said hesitantly, “in San Francisco.”

“
Really
.” That one word spoke volumes as Esther gave Kate a shrewd look. “It seems to me like there’s a bit more than just a tit for a tat going on between you two.”

Kate grimaced. “I wish you wouldn’t use those words. Anyway,” she forged ahead, “we’d leave Friday afternoon and return on Sunday.”

“Make sure you pack a few sweaters,” her friend offered sagely. “It can get chilly at night this time of the year – from what I can remember, of course.”

Kate looked at her in exasperation. “Is that all you’re going to say?”

“What else do you want me to say?” Esther asked reasonably. “Do you want me to tell you that you shouldn’t go?”

“Of course not.” Kate flipped open one of the magazines lying on the table. After a moment’s pause, she sheepishly asked, “Should I go?”

“It depends on what you’re afraid of.”

“What makes you think I’m afraid of something?” Kate impatiently threw the magazine back on the bedside table, studiously avoiding her friend’s gaze.

“Because you keep answering my questions with questions.” Esther took hold of her hand. “You don’t have to tell me you’re attracted to the man. Anyone with half a brain can see that.” She held up her hand to ward off her friend’s immediate protest.

Kate slumped down onto Esther’s bed. “So, it’s that obvious, is it?” Seeing Esther’s lascivious grin only made her feel worse. “Don’t answer that.”

“Let’s examine the facts.” Esther straightened her back, all businesslike as she began ticking points off on her arthritic fingers. “He’s a single, attractive man, last time I saw him. Takes after his father in the looks department. He’s got a healthy bank balance and he’s straight. What’s not to like? Hell,
I’d
even go if he promised to spring me from here.”

“Maybe I’m reading more into his invitation than I should be,” Kate argued. “After all, we’re supposed to be looking for a piece of art for his main foyer.”

“Maybe you’re not,” Esther countered.

Kate fiddled with the coverlet on Esther’s bed. “This is ridiculous. I’m acting like an inexperienced school girl trying to figure out how far to go on a first date.” She stared at her friend helplessly. “What should I do?”

“I think you should go,” said Esther firmly. “Marcus would want you to go. Just make sure he uses a condom.”

“That
wasn’t
funny!” Kate pretended to glare at her balefully. “Someone your age shouldn’t have their mind in the gutter.”

“Someone my age is just grateful to have my faculties at all – most of the time, anyway,” Esther retorted wickedly. “Besides, you’re never too old for a lecture on safe sex. And you’re forgetting one thing.”

“What’s that?” asked Kate suspiciously.

“If all Paul Wagner wanted to do was jump your old bones, he could’ve asked you to go with him somewhere on his jet and then deflowered you in the sky.”

Kate rolled her eyes. “I think I’m a little beyond deflowering.”

“The point is, there are worse things you could do than be in the man’s company for a few days, right?”

“Right,” she admitted.

“Good.” Esther pointed towards the door. “Now that we’ve got that settled, you can take me for a spin in this Godforsaken contraption.”

***

Eve was just starting to slice radishes for the salad when she heard the front door slam. “We’re in here!” she yelled.

A minute later, Karen came into the kitchen. Seeing her grandmother sitting on one of the stools pulled up to the counter, she went over and pecked her on the cheek. “Hey, Grams.”

“Hey yourself,” replied Kate fondly. “How was the recording session?”

“It wasn’t a recording session.” Picking up a sliced radish, she plucked it in her mouth. “We watched Josh’s new music video.”

“This Josh, he’s a friend of yours from school?” Eve asked. “I don’t recall you mentioning him before.”

“I don’t always talk about all my friends,” Karen retorted before quickly changing the subject. “What’s for dinner?”

“Lasagna,” Eve told her. “Why don’t you set the table.” Expecting her daughter to riase an objection like she usually did, Eve was surprised when Karen went to the cupboard and began taking out plates. A look passed between Eve and her mother. Kate had noticed it too.

“Grams, are you staying for dinner?”

“Is that an invitation?” Kate teased her.

“I’ll take that as a yes.” Karen took out an extra plate and began setting the table. A minute later, she blurted out, “Caro called as I was on my way home.”

Eve looked at her daughter closely. “And how is your sister?”

“Okay, I guess.”

“Is she planning on coming to L.A. anytime soon?”

“I think she’s planning on coming once the baby’s born,” Karen replied.

Her comment was followed by an awkward silence. Finally, Kate said to no one in particular, “The lasagna smells almost as good as mine.”

Karen continued setting the table without comment. She was obviously preoccupied.

Eve tried a different track. “So, what’s new with Caro?”

“Not much,” Karen replied shortly. “Mom, did Dad ever fool around while you guys were married?”

Eve was so taken aback by her daughter’s question that her knife slipped and she almost cut herself. “What would make you ask such a thing?”

“I don’t know,” she replied impatiently. “I’m just asking a simple question. Did Dad ever fool around while you guys were married?”

“Of course not.” Eve put down her knife and looked at her daughter evenly. “As far as I’m aware, your father was always faithful to me. Now why are you suddenly so interested in what your father did while we were married?”

Karen shrugged. “I don’t know.”

Eve wasn’t buying into it. “Come on, Karen, level with me.”

“I told you, I don’t know, okay?” She marched over to the fridge, threw open the door before immediately slamming it. “And did you know that Brooke’s not having their baby? That they’re using a surrogate?”

“So,
that’s
what this is about.” Eve looked over at her mother before crossing the kitchen and putting her arms around her daughter’s shoulder.

Karen nodded, shrugging off her mother’s arm.

Eve pulled out a stool and sat down. “Your father already told me about the surrogate.”

“Thanks for not telling me,” she retorted, “although I’m willing to bet he didn’t tell you
who
they were using as their surrogate.”

Eve shook her head. “I didn’t want to know.”

“Well,
I’ll
tell you,” she said in a clipped tone. “It’s Rina Lyons.” Waiting for the impact of her words to sink in, Karen wasn’t disappointed by her mother’s reaction.

“Rina Lyons?” Eve’s brows knit together in consternation. “Isn’t that
Caro’s friend
?”

“The one and only.”

Kate turned to her daughter. “Didn’t I meet her some years back during one of your Fourth of July barbeques?”

Eve nodded grimly. “Did your sister know your father was planning on using Rina as a surrogate?”

“She says she didn’t,” Karen answered. “And I don’t think she likes the idea very much.”

I’ll say
, thought Eve.
What the hell had Eric been thinking?
 

“Is that why you were asking whether your father was ever unfaithful?” Eve asked. “Because you thought he might have been fooling around with Rina?”

Karen nodded, unable to look her mother in the eye.

“I think you’re off base here, sweetheart,” said Kate soothingly. “Your dad wasn’t a wandering Lothario.”

“A what?” asked Karen.

“Someone who goes around obsessively seducing and deceiving women,” Eve answered automatically.

“How can you be so sure?” she challenged.

Eve stood her ground. “I just am.”

“Well,
I’m
not,” she argued stubbornly. “Look at the facts. When you guys split up, he started dating all those young models and for a while last year, there were those two ex-Playboy bunnies. Now Dad’s engaged to Brooke, who’s almost as young as Caro,
and
he picks Caro’s friend to have their baby. Admit it, Mom. Dad’s hardly Husband-of-the-Year material!”

“Look, honey, I can’t really comment on your father’s actions,” said Eve, carefully choosing her words, “but I’m quite sure he wasn’t having an affair with Rina or anyone else, during the time we were married. Don’t forget, your father’s medical specialty is reproduction.”

“Dad told Caro that Brooke can’t have any kids. Apparently, Dad and Brooke made some kind of arrangement with Rina which is why she’s doing this,” Karen continued. “It kind of makes you wonder what kind of arrangement they’ve got, doesn’t it?” she asked spitefully.

“I just don’t understand it.” Liz unlocked her apartment door and tiredly collapsed onto the sofa. “We’ve searched everywhere my mother usually hangs out. Where can she be?”

Otis, who’d gone straight to her refrigerator, came back carrying a small tub of left-over macaroni salad and two forks. He sat down beside her. “I don’t know, but I think we’re going to have to call in some reinforcements.”

She sat up, immediately on the defensive. “No way, Ote. I told you before, no police.”

“I know that,” he argued. “I wasn’t talking about the police.”

“Then who?” she asked suspiciously.

“The gang from work.”

Liz shook her head. “No.”

“You’re being unreasonable.”

“This is my problem. I don’t want to burden anybody else with it.”

“Well, you’re going to have to if you want to find your mother,” Otis told her matter-of-factly. “Besides, it makes sense if you think about it. Five of us searching are much more effective than one or two of us.” Seeing her waver, he drove his argument home. “Let’s face it, you’ve been searching for days, we searched all night and we’ve turned up nothing.”

Liz was too tired to argue anymore. “Do you think they’ll mind helping?”

“It’s all in the presentation.” He grinned. “Those guys would walk down Hollywood Boulevard naked as jaybirds if it meant a free party pizza and a couple dozen beers. Plus, they’re good guys.”

She smiled, feeling better. “Maybe you’re right.”

“We’ll spread the word tomorrow between shifts.” He tore the tub off the macaroni salad and tried handing her a fork. “Let’s dig in. I don’t mind telling you, I’ve worked up a king-size appetite.”

Liz was deep in thought and ignored the utensil. “I’ve spent my entire childhood thinking and dreaming about my mother and then my entire adult life checking up on her and worrying about her, trying to figure out where she goes and what she does, yet everything about her has been a mystery from day one.” She took a letter from her pocket and handed it to Otis. “And then there’s this.”