by Dale Mayer
Gavin raced outside the main ER doors, grabbing his phone and having a short conversation with Lennox. “I know it’s quite the bombshell,” he said, “but it makes some sense.”
“Maybe,” he said, “but I’m not sure about that. We could run DNA. Get a swab from her, and I’ll get the hospital to run swabs on both parents. But I don’t know that we’ll have access to any DNA on the grandfather, but the father’s genes may be a half match for the grandfather’s. Or something like that. It might be enough.”
“I’ll have to ask her about any mementos from her grandfather that may carry his genetic makeup. People save strands of hair from their babies, so maybe that happened with her grandfather, and Rosalina has that locket or whatever.”
“Gavin, do you really think it’s got something to do with this?”
“It’s the only thing that makes any sense,” he said. “I’ve always thought it’s been about the family. And that sister’s a piece of work if I ever saw one. If there was ever a bigger bombshell than this, I don’t know what it would be.”
“Good point.”
As he hung up with Lennox, Gavin turned to see Shane walking toward him. “Hey, did you find out anything?”
“You mean, besides the fact that you came racing to the hospital but not for me?” Shane asked.
“Obviously you got my text,” Gavin said, “and things just blew up a little more.” He quickly shared what Melinda had said.
“She’s a real bitch, isn’t she?” Shane said.
“Well, apparently she’s done keeping secrets.”
“She’s still a bitch,” he said. “It’s pretty amazing, the web of secrets that people weave.”
“Right? Amazing. Even after all we’ve seen.”
“Now what do you want to do?” Shane asked his buddy.
“We need to get a DNA swab, so we can run some tests,” Gavin said, “and see who else in this family has anything to do with this mess.”
“I hear you there.” As they walked back into the ER department, Shane asked, “How long will it take to run the test?”
“Well, if we get the military to do it, or get a special run on it, probably a week. But they’ll have to bump a lot of other cases for it.”
“Well, these lives are in danger,” he said, “if we can’t get some answers.”
As soon as the guys stepped into the ER department, Gavin saw that the doctor had already been given orders and was taking a swab from Rosalina’s mouth, in her parents’ makeshift room, the curtain partially open.
She looked at him, her eyes wide and huge.
He joined her at the edge of the curtain. “It’s the right thing to do right now,” he said with a smile.
She nodded slowly. “I get that. I don’t think I have any source of DNA from my grandfather though.” Then she stopped and frowned. “Well, that’s not true,” she said. “I do have an old blanket of his.”
“Well, if we need it, we might pull some hairs off it,” he said, “but we might not have to.”
“It still doesn’t solve the problem of today.”
He turned and looked to see that her father wasn’t there. “Where’s your father?”
“He’s gone for an MRI,” she said. “They should bring my mother back soon.” She looked so lost and forlorn that he immediately wrapped her up in his arms again. She laid her head against his chest and just rested.
When he’d met her, she’d been so stiff and cold, but now she was anything but. He looked at Shane, who studied the change in their relationship with interest. Gavin gave a tiny shrug, as if to say, It is what it is, then he looked over the rest of the emergency room. “Hey, Shane, do you want to find Melinda?”
“I can do that,” he said. “Or at least hopefully I can.” He left and turned to look around. And heard a voice on the far side that was definitely Melinda’s. “Sounds like she’s at the front desk.”
“Let’s go talk to her,” Rosalina said. As they headed down the hallway, they saw Steve and Melinda’s children were there. She had the two kids, one by each hand, as she was talking to Steve. He looked at them and frowned immediately.
“You didn’t have to leave her at the hotel,” he protested.
“She didn’t have to slam the elevator door in our faces in some childish attempt to get here first either,” Rosalina said calmly. She looked at him and said, “Did you know?”
He had the grace to look ashamed, and he nodded. “Yes, I did.”
“Interesting,” Gavin said. “So, when are you guys getting married?”
They smiled and said, “We got married this morning,” and held up rings on their fingers.
Rosalina stared at them in shock. “Why would you do that now?” she asked, puzzling it out.
But Gavin knew. “Oh, it’s pretty easy to figure that one out,” he said.
“Why is that?” Steve snapped.
“Because they weren’t expecting your parents to survive, and they wanted to make sure they were legally married before such a time.”
“So, this is all about inheritance?” Rosalina’s voice rose. “No, Melinda. How could you?”
Melinda shrugged. “The company is mine now, you know.”
“How do you figure?” Rosalina asked. “We each get half of their shares, and that’s only if our parents don’t survive.”
“Well, that’s as long as you were part of the will,” she said, “but you can bet now that they’ve survived this scenario that I’ll make sure that you aren’t.”
“Right,” Gavin said, with a smile. “That’s really what it’s all about, isn’t it, the company?”
“Of course it is. I’m the face of the company, and she can just butt out,” Melinda said with a sneer.
But it wasn’t Melinda’s face Gavin was watching, it was Steve’s.
Just then Shane stepped forward. “Well, I’ve done a little bit of research and contacted a few people too,” he said.
Steve shrugged. “And?”
“At the moment we’re doing a full search of your hotel room, your home stateside, and we’ve subpoenaed your phone records,” he said with a smile.
Steve stiffened and glared at him. “What are you talking about?” he asked. “Why are you after me?”
“We just want to make sure that you had nothing to do with the attack on the family,” Shane said.
“I didn’t have anything to do with that,” he said. “I came over here for a holiday. The parents knew we would get married here. We just didn’t tell Rosalina about it.”
“Why would you do that?” Rosalina cried out.
“Because I don’t want you anywhere around us,” Melinda said. “You are the foul result of an ugly affair.”
“I’m still your blood,” Rosalina snapped.
“Not my blood,” she said, “and I won’t have anything to do with that woman either.”
“Your mother?” Shane asked.
“She’s my father’s wife,” she said, “And that’s as far as I’ll go.”
Chapter 14
Rosalina couldn’t quite understand all she heard. “Seriously, because she supposedly had an affair thirty years ago?”
“Because she had an affair and stuck us all with you,” she said. “And then we have to consider who she had the affair with. That’s just disgusting.”
“And yet the woman isn’t here to defend herself either,” Gavin said. “And, of course, there’ll be a full inquiry into this whole nightmare.”
“Doesn’t matter.” Melinda and Steve both smiled.
Just then several cops came into the hospital, and Gavin motioned at the two. They immediately stepped up on either side of them.
“What’s this all about?” Melinda asked. “Get away from me.”
“Well, you’re both under arrest,” Gavin said smoothly. “For faking your kidnapping, for kidnapping your sister, and for kidnapping and hurting your parents.”
“What are you talking about?” she sneered. “You don’t have anything on u
s.”
“Well, we’ll see about that,” Gavin said, studying Steve’s face. “Did you really think it would be that easy?”
Steve glared at him but didn’t say a word.
Rosalina stepped forward. “How did you know?” She looked up at Gavin. “And why both of them?”
“It’s why they got married,” he said, “so they can’t be compelled to testify against each other. Same reason Steve tied up Melinda—to throw us off from thinking they were the main culprits in all this mess.”
Rosalina stopped, looked at Gavin in shock, and then turned to look at the other two and the smug expressions on their faces. “You beat up Mom and Dad and put them through all this, and then you thought you two wouldn’t pay for it?”
“We didn’t do anything,” Steve said.
“Besides, what difference does it make?” Melinda sneered.
“You tell me?” Rosalina said, obviously still confused. “Why would you do it? I don’t understand the motivation.”
“Because it’s time for them to retire,” Melinda said. “They were giving me a lot of guff and threatened to change the will,” she said. “So I had to show them who had the upper hand.”
Rosalina stared in shock at the petulant and ever-childlike personality of her sister, who thought she should have whatever she wanted, regardless of the cost. Rosalina was silent for a few moments as she took it all in. “You actually hired like a dozen people to kidnap us, to take Mom and Dad away, and to put us in a basement, where you were gagged and I wasn’t, which I didn’t quite understand. And then have our parents beaten up?”
“We didn’t have them beaten up,” she sneered again. “We beat them up ourselves. They needed a little convincing. But we have the will, and it’s been changed.”
“It won’t matter in the least,” Shane said with a smile.
Melinda glared at him. “What are you talking about?”
“Well,” Shane began, “that will was coerced from your parents, while under duress. Makes it invalid. And the hospital has the medical records to prove they were forced to change their wills, plus the word of your own parents, who remain alive despite your attempts otherwise. Yet the more pressing document is your grandfather’s will—”
“What?” Melinda screamed.
Shane smiled at her with glee. “And I’ve already talked to the lawyer. That will states that the grandfather’s stock ownership in the company was to be given to all offspring, not just your father, which was his only offspring at the time this will was drawn.
“Your father’s name is mentioned therein, but, since the will states given to all offspring, and—as you’ve so helpfully pointed out, Melinda, that your sister Rosalina is also your grandfather’s daughter—so she and your father each get half of your grandfather’s trust, to be released in two days’ time per his will.
“At that time, per my math, your father will be the major shareholder with 30 percent of the shares. Then Rosalina with her 23.5 percent. Then your mother, with 16.5 percent. That leaves you, Melinda, with your 10 percent still and the few smaller shareholders. But”—Shane stopped Melinda from interrupting with a raised finger—“don’t forget that Rosalina will also get her part of your mother’s shares when she passes on—hopefully not to happen for many years from now, and let’s pray it is a natural passing. So your dad and Rosalina are the major shareholders now in the entire corporation,” Shane said smoothly, “even without Rosalina having her mother’s shares.”
“Nooo,” Melinda screamed. “You lie!”
“Actually there’s more, Melinda. So listen up,” Shane said, his smile huge this whole time. “The lawyer is looking into various legalities, but it seems when your father passes, his stock may go to Rosalina as well.”
“No, no, no!”
“Since he was legally married to your mother at the time she gave birth to Rosalina, some jurisdictions deem the husband the legal father of any child born of the marriage, regardless of DNA findings.”
“No, no, no!” Melinda added a foot stomp for good measure, thrashing her arms around.
“Oh, but you haven’t heard the best part yet, Melinda.” Shane smiled.
“Well, get on with it, you idiot.”
“I believe, since you are going to jail, you forfeit your right to any inheritance.”
“Nooooooo! No. No! You lie!”
“Plus just think what your parents may decide to do about the 10 percent share you own now, after what you did to them.”
Melinda yelled, “It was all Steve!”
At that, the cops stepped forward and grabbed the couple and took them away. Melinda was screaming back at them, “You can’t do this! I have to stay and look after my children.”
Around the corner walked the two children, who looked at Rosalina. “Are you doing this to our mommy?”
She crouched beside them and whispered, “No, and you’ll see them after their lawyers get here.” They nodded, and their nanny came around the corner just then, and they ran to her.
Rosalina looked up at the nanny. “I didn’t even realize you were here with them,” she said apologetically.
The nanny frowned. “But that’s the way they like it, isn’t it?” she asked. “I’ll take the children back to the hotel. When there is an opportunity, could somebody please let me know what we’re supposed to do?” And, with that, she ushered the children from the hospital.
“You didn’t know the nanny was here?” Gavin asked her.
Rosalina shook her head. “I hadn’t seen her since we arrived in Hawaii.”
“Does she travel with them often?”
She nodded. “She’s been with them since the children were young,” she said.
“Interesting,” Gavin said, looping an arm around her shoulder and tucking her up close. “So, what would you like to do now?”
“I’d like to stay with my parents,” she said, “at least for a while.”
“You’re hoping your mom wakes up?” he asked.
She smiled and nodded. “I’d like to ask her a few questions.” She looked at Shane. “Did you mean it?”
He nodded. “Yes, while you’ve been in here, we’ve been making a lot of phone calls. Obviously DNA tests need to be done to confirm your position in the company,” he said, “but your grandfather’s will was very clear that it was to be left to all offspring. And that’s a fairly common wording, depending on how early in life the will is made. You’d never want to cut out another offspring by only naming one, the firstborn of many.”
“And do you think Dad knew?”
“I have no idea.”
Gavin said, “But I highly suggest it’s time for the secrets to stop and for the truth to come out.”
Just then the doctor called out to Rosalina. She raced over, and her mother was back again in her temporary cubicle, but this time with her eyes open. She looked up at Rosalina and immediately started to cry. Rosalina bent over to give her a hug. “It’s okay, Mom. You’re safe now.”
She shook her head. “No, we’re never safe,” she said, “It’s your sister. Melinda did this to us.”
“I get that now,” she said. “She’s been taken away by the police.”
Her mother looked at her, and a sigh of relief came out. “It’s been such a nightmare.”
“Apparently a thirty-year-long nightmare,” Rosalina said, smiling down at the woman who gave birth to her. “Sounds like we have a lot to talk about.”
Her mother’s eyes filled with tears. “Oh, can you ever forgive me?”
“It’s not for me to judge,” Rosalina said gently. “I’m just so happy that you’re okay.”
“Maybe not when you hear all the details,” she said.
Rosalina leaned over, kissed the frail woman on the cheek, and whispered, “I promise that I’ll still love you anyway.”
Her mother’s eyes filled with tears, and she promised that she’d answer all of Rosalina’s questions.
She could feel Gavin’s hand on her shoulder
as he drew her just outside her mom’s cubicle.
He whispered, “You’re a really special person, you know that?”
“She’s been through enough,” Rosalina said. “I’m afraid my sister has been blackmailing her for all these years. If that’s even partly true, she’s suffered plenty.”
“And you?”
“I guess it made me who I am,” she said thoughtfully. “Besides, my parents aren’t all that old, and, while the first thirty years were rough, maybe the next thirty can be a whole lot better. And I was blessed. I had my grandparents back then. And now I have you. If you’ll stick around, that is?”
He looked down at their interlaced fingers and whispered, “I don’t see how I can’t. I’ve never met anybody quite like you, and I don’t want to experience life without you at my side.”
She squeezed his fingers gently and looked back at her mom to see her tears slowing down. Stepping inside the cubicle again, she leaned down and whispered, “Rest, Mom. It’ll be okay. I promise. Just rest.”
Holding her mother’s hand in one of hers and Gavin’s hand in her other, Rosalina took a deep breath, realizing that finally, after all this time, life had the potential to be pretty damn good.
Epilogue
Shane Andrews opened his apartment door, walked inside, and tossed his duffel bag down. He headed to the fridge, pulled out a cold beer, and stepped out on his small deck. He popped the top and took a long cold drink. That had been one hell of a job in Hawaii. But a lot of healing needed to happen now for that family. Not only did the parents have to heal but the children and the grandchildren were involved as well. He didn’t understand somebody being so self-centered, so selfish as Melinda that she would put her parents and her sister through so much just to make sure Melinda got what she wanted.
Melinda had been a piece of work. That she’d always been a suspect right from the beginning didn’t surprise him, just because her attitude had been so off. But to find out that Steve, a member of the navy, a guy he should have been able to trust, had been a willing party to it all filled Shane with horror.
