“For a long time, after reading my mother’s diary, even after I thought I saw her spirit, I was very conflicted—angry with her. I’d always had her on some pedestal, but she cheated on my father. Over the years, I’d urge my father to get out there, find someone new, believing he would be happier if he found someone. He kept insisting Mary Ellen was the love of his life, the only woman for him. She was gone, and I’d get angry with her. I suppose in some way, it colored how I dealt with the other women in my life—like your mother.”
“And after you read Randall’s diary?” Garret asked.
“It all made sense to me. Looking back over the years there were things I witnessed, yet failed to comprehend what was really going on. I was no longer angry with Mother; I felt sorry for her, for what it must have been like for her, married to someone like Randall, who was incapable of giving her what she needed. Those diaries… If they aren’t destroyed, they need to stay together. Reading just one paints a very inaccurate picture.”
“What about Marino? Why did Randall have him killed?” Garret asked.
Harrison looked at Garret and then at Russell. “I suppose it’s time you two understand your mother a little better. It’s only fair. I spent a good deal of my life harboring a grudge against my mother—one she never deserved. I suppose by keeping things from you two, regarding yours, I’m allowing you both to do the same thing. It isn’t fair to Vera or to you.”
“Dad, you’re not making any sense,” Garret insisted.
“I know you both had issues with Vera over the years. But there were things about her you never knew or understood. The truth is, it took me years to understand your mother, to see clearly her demons.
“When she was a young girl, one of her parent’s friends, a much older man, forced himself on her, after which they started an unhealthy relationship. I met her after he committed suicide, and she was a very troubled girl. I got her pregnant, and there was something of a shotgun wedding. With each of her pregnancies, she suffered from extreme post partum depression, which was never diagnosed but progressively got worse with each pregnancy. Needless to say, she was never comfortable in the role as mother or wife. It wasn’t her fault, but she was broken, and none of us understood.
“Anthony Marino seduced her, they became lovers. I suppose he manipulated her in the same way as her parents’ friend had.”
“Did Grandfather have him killed when he discovered they were having an affair?” Russell asked.
“No. It was after Marino savagely beat and raped your mother. Randall was afraid I was going to kill the man.”
“That’s why she went away?” Garret asked.
“Yes. We put her in a sanitarium so she could get help.”
“I was such a little shit about it all,” Garret said.
“You were young, Garret. You had no idea what was going on behind the scenes.”
“So, who killed Marino?” Russell asked.
“For years I didn’t have the answer to that question. I just knew he was taken care of. After John Weber died, Dad told me he had Weber take care of the situation. Of course, at that time I didn’t know Weber was his lover. Fred Garcia and Chief Peterson were both on Weber’s payroll. They killed Marino, dumped the car in the lake, and buried the body.”
“Sam’s grandfather?” Garret asked.
“Yes. It wasn’t the first time my father eliminated a problem in this way. I didn’t realize that until after I read the diary. I had always assumed Marino was an isolated incident.”
“So, that was why Garcia took Sophie,” Russell said.
“Yes. Ironically, if you think about it, Sophie apologized to me for any hurt her grandfather inflicted on our family, but my father had similar skeletons in his closet.”
“He had a lot in that closet,” Garret murmured.
“I’d like to know more about William Hunter, our real grandfather.”
“I’ll tell you want I know, Russell. But I want you to remember one thing. Randall Coulson may not have been my biological father or your biological grandfather, but I do believe he loved us. When I was younger and worried about him denying his love or support if he learned the truth, I was wrong. I know he could be a son-of-a-bitch, demanding and sometimes unfair, but he was fiercely protective of his family, and family is not always defined by blood. I also have come to understand he loved my mother. Maybe not like you love Kate or your brother loves Alex, but it was true love.”
Chapter 41
Sitting cross-legged on the center of the twin bed, Sophie looked at the screen of her iPhone, daring herself to press the FaceTime icon. Glancing at the time on the top of the screen, she wondered if Adam was still at home. He had told her he was planning to return to work on Monday. It wasn’t quite 10:00 a.m. in Coulson, so maybe he was still at home. Mustering her courage, she pressed the application’s icon and then contact before selecting Adam’s number. The phone began to ring.
Looking at her own reflection in the screen, Sophie smiled when it indicated a pending connection. Adam’s smiling face appeared.
“Hey there!” he greeted.
“Hi Adam. Hope you don’t mind me calling. Are you still at home?”
“No,” Adam waved his phone around, showing her he was in the office of his restaurant. After a few waves, he looked back into the phone’s camera. “I got here about an hour ago, trying to catch up on some paper work. Where are you?”
“At my Dad and step-mom’s.” She waved her phone around briefly giving him a quick look. He noticed flashes of what appeared to be leopard skin.
“When do you start work?” Adam asked.
“I haven’t really decided what I’m going to do yet. I wasn’t supposed to return for three weeks, so it’s not like he was expecting me to start work. I’m just crashing here temporarily; I need to find a place to live.”
“Oh, that’s right; you can’t stay at your grandmother’s house anymore.”
“Nope. Sales all final, the new people have moved in.”
“You don’t just want to stay there for a while, at your dad’s?”
“It’s kind of weird here. I’m in the spare bedroom with twin beds. Strange animal prints. Not sure about my step-mother’s decorating skills.”
“I noticed that when you gave me the tour.” Adam chuckled.
“Oh, she’s been nice. In fact, too nice. She’s been all attentive and clingy.”
“She isn’t normally that way, I take it?”
“No. I’m sure it’s because of the abduction. When I got home, she threw her arms around me, told me how worried she was. Wanted to feed me pasta. Weird.”
“Sounds kind of sweet.”
“I suppose. But it made me feel uncomfortable.”
“You don’t sound happy, Sophie.”
“I miss you, Adam.”
“I miss you, too.”
“I wish you had made love to me.”
“Oh, stop that!” Adam groaned. “When I think about it, one minute I want to kick myself, and the next, I know we did the right thing.”
“You did the right thing. I wanted to be a bad girl.”
Adam laughed.
“Is this going to turn into phone sex? If so, I need to lock my office door.” Adam laughed again.
“Never done phone sex.” Sophie narrowed her eyes and looked to the right, as if she were considering the possibility. After a moment, she grinned into the phone. “Oh, it would be just my luck to have my stepmother walk in. There is no lock on my door. I can just imagine her reaction!” They both laughed. Adam’s office phone began to ring.
“I hear that. I’ll let you go so you can get back to work.”
“Sorry, Sophie. Thanks for calling. I’ll call you later.”
“Okay. Adam…” Before she could finish what she wanted to say, the screen froze. He was no longer on the line. Smiling sadly, she tossed her phone on the bed.
On Tuesday morning, Adam called Sophie using his FaceTime app. She picked up his call after two rings.<
br />
“Morning, Adam,” Sophie whispered at the screen.
“Why are you whispering?”
“I am at Starbucks.”
“They have Starbucks in Portland?”
“Ha, ha funny.” Sophie grinned into the camera. “Everyone can hear you.”
“Does this mean no phone sex this morning?” Adam whispered. Sophie blushed and quickly glanced around the coffee house to see if anyone overheard.
“How about I call you back when I get to my car?”
“That would be great, but I have to get out of here in about five minutes.”
“You’re still at home?” Sophie asked.
“Yes, but we have a liquor delivery this morning.”
“Then I won’t keep you.”
“I’d love for you to keep me, Sophie.”
“Bye, Adam,” Sophie said with a grin, blowing him a kiss as she disconnected the call.
Adam and Sophie exchanged a number of text messages throughout Tuesday, eventually making a date for a FaceTime chat late Wednesday evening when Adam got off work.
Sophie sat on the living room couch, iPhone in hand, waiting for Adam’s incoming call. It was agreed he would make it, since his schedule was subject to sudden change.
“Hi, Adam. How was work?”
“It was a slow night.”
“I’m sorry.”
“My bad news wasn’t the slow night. It’s Angela.”
“She’s home from the hospital?”
“I guess so. Sam stopped by and told me.”
“Really? That surprises me.”
“It did me too.”
“Is Angela okay? She was in there for almost a week.”
“I guess she’s fine now. It was nice to have her safely at the hospital, not wandering around unattended.”
“How is your new alarm system working?”
“Okay, I guess. It hasn’t gone off yet. I suppose that’s a good sign.”
“You will let me know if she buys an airplane ticket to Portland?”
“Oh, yes, I promise.”
Their conversation turned back to the Lucky Lady Restaurant and Saloon, discussing ideas to boost business.
On Friday morning, Adam walked from his office to the bar of the Lucky Lady Restaurant, his eyes on the screen of his iPhone as he typed out a text message to Sophie. Smiling at her reply, he continued to walk and text.
“What is with you these days?” Steve asked when Adam reached the bar.
“What do you mean?” Adam glanced down at the phone in his hand.
“You do realize you’ve been acting like Hannah and Sarah.”
“What are you talking about?” Adam frowned.
“The incessant texting. Put that damn phone away. You’re driving us all nuts.”
“Am I really that bad?”
“I keep wanting to shout get a room when I see you texting and smiling. And these days, that’s all you seem to do.”
“I suppose I have been on this a lot.” Adam placed the phone on the bar top and sat on a barstool.
“So, what’s the deal with you and this girl?” Steve asked as he poured Adam a cup of coffee. Steve had started as a server at the Lucky Lady Restaurant back when Adam’s father was still alive. He’d been one of the pallbearers at Ryan’s funeral. When Alex married Garret, management of the restaurant was turned over to Steve. After Adam graduated from college, Steve stayed on to help Adam run the family business.
“She’s terrific. I’ve never felt this way about anyone before.”
“Different than Kim… Angela?”
“Oh yeah, much different. Kim was my immaturity, Angela my insanity.”
“I have to agree about the insanity part, but I think it was Angela’s not yours. Long-distance relationships are a bitch.”
“I know.”
“Does this mean you aren’t going to be dating other women? She’s not seeing other men?”
“We haven’t discussed it.”
“Interesting.” Steve poured himself a cup of coffee.
“To be honest, Steve, the idea of dating anyone else doesn’t really appeal to me. I want to be with Sophie. I can’t stop thinking about her. I’d rather be texting her than going out with some woman here.”
“It could be the absence makes the heart grow fonder situation. We sometimes want what is out of our reach, and Portland is a little out of reach.”
“Maybe. But I don’t want to mess this up like I did with Kimmy.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I was so incredibly selfish. I know that now. Kimmy just needed someone to love, and I just wanted sex. I mean, I cared about her. Told myself I loved her. She was someone to lean on after Dad died. But I never considered her needs. When she wanted an abortion, I didn’t even consider what she was going through. I was a jerk.”
“Have you told Sophie?”
“Told Sophie what?”
“About Kim?”
“Sure. She knows Kimmy and I used to date. She even knows about our brief… thing… when I was engaged to Angela.”
“The world knows about that after the trial. But I mean the other thing. Does she know that?”
“Other thing?”
“About the baby. Does Sophie know you got Kim pregnant in high school, that you two were engaged?”
“No… I … that’s Kim’s private business.”
“The only reason that didn’t come out in the trial is because Angela never took the stand. You know she would have loved to shout that tidbit just to hurt Kim. But remember how the news of the pregnancy pushed Angela over the edge. While Angela’s reaction was extreme, it does illustrate how damaging omissions can be to a relationship. Not much different from lies. I’m not saying Sophie would go ballistic and run down someone if she learned about the baby, but it could damage whatever trust you share if you withhold this information for long.”
“Are you saying I should tell her?”
“Eventually, but only if you feel your relationship is going somewhere serious. The hard part is not waiting too long. While you don’t want to violate Kim’s privacy by making the announcement with every girl you date, there comes a time in a relationship when you need to share that information. Trust me, that is not something you want your fiancée or wife to discover on her own.”
Chapter 42
Helen Adams looked down at the sleeping bundle in her arms. The baby slept soundly, her tiny lips sucking contently on the pacifier. Glancing up at the counter, Helen wished they’d hurry up and call her number before Anna woke. It would be nice to get her burger before the baby started crying. It was technically her last day of maternity leave; the weekend didn’t count. She had to admit she was looking forward to going back to work on Monday. Helen didn’t know how other mothers managed it, staying home all day long with a crying baby, changing diapers, and waiting for the husband to come home so you could talk to another adult.
Anna squirmed, still sleeping; the sucking intensified. Helen jiggled the baby a little faster, in an attempt to keep her sleeping. Glancing back up at the counter, she saw a familiar face—Joe Carter. Helen smiled.
She’d had such a crush on Joe Carter when she was in high school. Of course, he was the police chief back then and much too old for her. Not that he ever paid any real attention to her, but he was always friendly. It was probably a good thing he was retired, considering she now worked at the police station and was a married woman. Flirting with her boss might get her in trouble. Sam Peterson was a nice guy, but the thought of flirting with him was laughable.
In many ways, she saw Joe Carter as a tragic figure. He’d lost his wife and raised his daughter on his own. It was especially heartbreaking, what had happened to Joe’s daughter—the breakdown and then being sent to jail. Helen was happy to hear Angela had been released. The poor girl was sick; she didn’t need to be with hardened criminals.
Joe placed his order then turned from the counter. He noticed Helen immediately. Flashing her a
smile, he walked in her direction.
“Helen, I thought that was you,” Joe greeted.
“Hi, Chief.” Helen grinned. She had called him Chief since high school.
“So this is the new member of your family?” Joe leaned down to look at the sleeping baby.
“This is Anna May Adams,” Helen introduced proudly.
“She is absolutely beautiful. How old is she now?”
“She just turned eight weeks.”
“Well, treasure every minute; it goes too fast.” Joe sat down on the bench next to Helen.
“That’s what my mother keeps telling me.”
“Are you planning to go back to work?”
“Yes. My first day back is Monday. In fact, I was just at the police station, showing off Anna.”
“I bet she was a hit. How do you feel about going back to work?”
“My mom has offered to babysit, so I don’t have to worry about daycare. That sounds like such a nightmare.”
“You’re lucky.”
“And I’m anxious to get back to work. Things going on down there… if you know what I mean.”
“Like what?”
“Looks like they might get a break in the Myrtle Scarlet murder,” Helen whispered.
“Murder? I know the paper said it was under investigation, but I didn’t think they actually felt there was foul play.”
“That’s what I thought, too. I’m not supposed to say anything, but considering who you are, I figure the chief would tell you about it anyway if you saw him. When I stopped by the office today, they told me all about it.”
“So, they really think she was murdered?”
“They’re positive. Someone drug that poor woman up the stairs before she fell, according to the coroner. I guess her arms were all bruised where she was grabbed. And there was skin under her fingernails—from the killer. They sent it out for DNA testing, and according to what I heard, they’re expecting it back this afternoon.”
“It must have been a robbery.”
“No. Nothing was taken, and she was wearing an expensive diamond necklace when she was killed.”
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