Secrets and Lies (Vandervilles Book 2)

by Khardine Gray

  Regina stood on the terrace of the house Brian had gotten the lease for last week. It was beautiful with its garden and water fountain, and that Victorian design she always loved.

  She’d invited Taylor and Wade for her confession session. She had to call it that because that was exactly what this was. Her confession, and she didn’t know how either of them would deal with it.

  It had to be done though. No more waiting.

  They both sat before her looking quite eager. Wade held Taylor’s hand in his lap, just like he used to when they were kids. He was such a good brother, who always looked out for his sister.

  Regina hoped he would be able to forgive her. Wade was her rock and she didn’t know what she’d do if he decided to disown her, like he did with Ben.

  “Mom, come on. We’re in enough suspense as it is. This must be important if you called us here and told us to come alone. Brian’s not even here,” Wade said, looking around the place.

  Regina nodded. “It is. It’s important.” She cleared her throat and looked at Taylor. “How are you, sweetie?”

  Taylor nodded. “I’m better.” She still looked quite weak and so unlike herself.

  “The problem with Richard is fixed. The press won’t bother you or anyone else anymore.”

  “Really? Mom, how did you do that?” She looked completely surprised.

  “We’re suing the TV company,” she replied. “And issued an injunction on the papers so they can’t print the story. A public apology will go out sometime today. So don’t worry anymore.”

  “Thank you, Mom, my gosh, thank you. Thanks for taking care of it,” Taylor said, looking relieved.

  “Please, please. Stay away from Richard. We will deal with him separately once we’ve dealt with everything else.”

  “Trust me, I will be staying far, far away from that man.” Taylor nodded.

  “Good.” When she pulled in a breath Wade leaned back against his chair. “I called you both here because I wanted to speak to you about something extremely important. Something I should have told you both years ago.”

  “What is it, Mom?” Wade asked, sounding impatient.

  This sounded so much more achievable in her head. Setting out to do it for real felt like torture.

  “I wanted you both to be here because it’s something that will affect the two of you, but now I wonder if I should have told you separately.”

  “Mom, please, what is it?” Taylor imparted. She seemed to sense the distress and difficulty Regina felt.

  “You’ve seen what your father can be like, you know that this person is after us most likely because of something he did to them in the past. We haven’t proven that yet, but it’s kind of obvious. When you were younger things were worse. A lot worse, probably the start of this whole thing. I was powerless back then because I didn’t have anything. Runway didn’t even exist. I had to do what I was told and I had to look the other way when I saw your father do bad things.” Her hands were shaking. Wade moved to get up but Regina stopped him. “No, stay there. I don’t know how you’re going to react when you hear this.”

  Now they both looked worried and exchanged nervous glances.

  “Mom, for God’s sake, what is it?” Taylor prompted. “We know Dad is bad. We’ve seen you suffer and wondered why you stayed. Whatever it is, just tell us.”

  A tear ran down Regina’s cheek and she pulled in another breath. “I married your father because my parents forced me to. Back then I would have done anything for them, and my any- and everything was sacrificing the love of my life. Brian.”

  “I didn’t realize you knew Brian for that long,” Wade stated.

  “I’ve known him since I was five.”

  They looked at each other again.

  “Why didn’t you tell us?” Taylor asked.

  “Because, I kept a secret from you that was so terrible that I don’t know how I managed to live with myself. I kept it because I thought we’d all be safer.”

  “Safe? Mom, tell us now,” she demanded.

  Regina looked at Wade and then back to Taylor and held her gaze. “Taylor…Brian is…” She froze, unable to continue, but strength came from somewhere when she thought of all that Brian had been through. “Taylor, Brian is your real father. Not Ben.”

  As soon as she said it, it felt like the world shifted around her and her body felt so light she thought she’d float away in the breeze.

  Taylor’s eyes widened, her mouth dropped and quivered. Regina felt terrible as she watched the color drain from her face and she went ghostly white.

  “Mom,” she said on the edge of a breath. It sounded more like a whisper.

  “I’m so sorry.” Regina could feel the backs of her eyes stinging and she knew the tears weren’t far off but she had to keep strong, if only for a few more minutes.

  “Mom.” Taylor shook her head, stood up and brought her hands to her cheeks. Tears shone in her eyes. “How could you keep something like that from me?” She was crying now, too. Over the last few weeks she’d seen Taylor cry more than she had in her life, and that was just when she’d had the chance to see her. Regina knew the poor girl must have cried more than what she’d seen, and now there was more.

  “I had to.”

  “I’m sorry…I just can’t.” Taylor rushed away, just like Regina thought she would, and hoped she wouldn’t.

  She attempted to go after her but Wade got up and pulled her back. “Let her go. She needs to cool off. She needs time to cool off.”

  “You’re talking to me? You’re still here?” she agonized, looking at him.

  He nodded. “Yeah. I am.”

  “Wade, I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.”

  “I know.” He held her gaze and she could see the pain in his troubled eyes. But, it was the same sort of pain and trouble she’d noticed since he’d been back. “I know.” He looked down to the pebbled path they stood on and then back up to her. His eyes looked sad as he gazed at her. “I had a son once, too, and I would have given anything to keep him safe. I would have given anything to have that chance, but he only lived for a few hours and it was my fault he died.”

  She stared at him, finding it hard to comprehend what he was saying. It was like she was hearing the words but they weren’t sinking into her brain.

  “What?” she managed.

  He placed her back to sit and then she listened to him as he spoke and poured out his heart. She listened as he told her everything that had happened to him and her heart broke for him.

  It broke in so many ways, aching with pain at the thought of all that he’d been through. It deeply saddened her that her boy could have suffered in this way.

  Chapter 12

  Taylor

  It was probably so inappropriate for her to come here, but it was the only place where she felt like she could breathe.

  Too many secrets were all revealed to her in such a short space of time. It was too much for her brain to absorb and it felt like it would explode. Her nerves were on edge, tingling with anxiety. Prickling and burning from all that she’d encountered.

  Wes opened the door and looked at Taylor standing on his door step. He had that look she’d grown accustomed to over the years of knowing him. It was the one where he appeared to be trying to determine what to say. In those moments, she could never tell what he was thinking, and she never tried before.

  Until now.

  Her time spent with him on Friday night had been the closest to normal she’d felt in months. The way he took care of her had meant so much. Considering they’d never been close, she found his company soothing and he really strengthened her.

  “Taylor, are you okay?”

  She shook her head and once again tried to hold back the tears.

  “I’m so sorry to come here like this on a Sunday afternoon, I’m sure you must be busy.”

  “I’m not busy,” he said quickly.

  “I didn’t know where else to go.” Kelly and Chloe had sacrificed enough for her. Chloe had a
lready stayed over for far too long and would most likely stay with her again when she found out what happened.

  She didn’t want her friends getting caught up in yet another scandal. Another thing to add to the list of bizarre that kept happening to her.

  First, they had to witness her failure with Richard right there in the mall when they all saw him with his family. How stupid must she have looked to them when she was planning a wedding that would never be, with a man that would never be hers. Then there was the whole accident, the psycho after her family, and her friends would be mixed up in that, too, just because they knew her. They’d just managed to deal with Friday and the stupid scandal with Richard, she couldn’t go to them with this.

  “Taylor, you can always come here.” He gave her that look she’d found herself so deeply fascinated with the other night and held her gaze. Then he reached out and touched her face. The minute his fingers brushed her cheek her skin warmed and her nerves scattered, sending a pulse straight to her chest.

  Then, the strangest thing happened. She felt her heart beating vibrantly within her chest at an intensity that overpowered her. She hadn’t felt her heart in weeks, hadn’t been able to do anything without it, and now that she had it, it told her that she’d come to the right place.

  She fell into his embrace as he pulled her into the warmth of his arms, and once again she felt that sense of normality her soul cried out for.

  Taylor told him everything, just like the other night, and he listened just as he did then, too.

  They sat opposite each other in his garden, which looked as wondrous as his house. She thought, though, that the garden looked like something from a Tim Burton film. It was the flowers and their unusual colors that changed every time the wind rustled through them. At first she thought she’d imagined it, but then he explained that they were another one of his creations. She wondered how she could have known him for so long and not known how fascinating he was.

  Uber intelligent, yes, but this was intelligence on another level.

  The flowers and their fantasy-like features, the softness of the grass beneath her, the warmth of the bright yellow sun, and his listening ear soothed her.

  “You must think I’m crazy to come running to you with this problem.” It wasn’t normal to go blurting out to the first person you saw that the father you’d known all your life wasn’t yours. But she had to get it off her chest.

  Wes shook his head. “No, I don’t think that at all.”

  “I promise I’m not normally full of drama and all sorts. Life was so much simpler when all I had to worry about was how shiny my hair was, and how to get it to shine more,” she tried to joke.

  “Your hair’s shiny enough. It’s like shampoo-advert hair.” He chuckled.

  She smiled. “Shampoo-advert hair. I like that.” Her hair was probably at its worst right now. Since she woke from her coma she hadn’t felt her usual zing to take that high level of extraordinary care of herself. Today she’d placed it in a high bun. Chloe’s failsafe hairstyle.

  “So, I’m going to tell you something a lot of people don’t know. Actually, the only person who does know is Chloe.”

  “What is it?” She gazed at him, keen to hear what he had to say.

  He straightened up and relaxed his shoulders drawing her attention to the ridge of muscle in them that was just right. “I’m adopted.”

  She widened her eyes and raised her brows. “Really, but you look so much like your mom.”

  “Coincidence.” He smiled. “I found out when I was sixteen, and it was purely by accident. We went to my cousin’s wedding. My uncle got drunk and blurted it out while he was giving the speech.”

  She brought her hand up to her mouth in complete shock. “My God.”

  “Yeah I know. I thought he was messing around, but then my parents came clean and told me. I went off the rails for a bit and tried to deal with it. Then before college I went in search of my birth parents. I found out that my mother died after she gave birth to me, and my real dad lived in Nebraska. I went on this crusade to find him.” A soft smile lifted the corners of his lips. “I had all these dreams of us being together and being reunited. I thought he’d be proud that I got into MIT. But he wasn’t. He didn’t want to know me, and was enraged that I’d gotten his details and found him. I’d never felt worse in my life and it made me stop and look at my life as it was and my parents.”

  “Wes, I’m so sorry.”

  “It’s cool, but if you ever wondered why I’m so much stranger than the rest of my family, that would be why.” He chuckled. It was good that he could still find some humor and seemed to have moved past what happened. If that had been her she didn’t think she could have, ever.

  “I never thought you were strange. Cute and adorable, yes, but not strange.”

  “Cute and adorable like a bear?” He pretended to pout.

  She laughed. “No, not like a bear. Maybe like cupid.”

  “Oh God.” He smirked and shook his head.

  “You don’t look like cupid now, also you’d have to be a dark-haired cupid.” She started laughing again.

  “You’re laughing.”

  She was. She was actually laughing, and it felt good. She felt better. “And I can’t stop. I’m trying hard to get the cupid image out of my head.”

  He smiled at her and shifted slightly. “It’s fine. Take your time. Whatever works.” He ran his hands through his curls.

  She calmed herself and looked at him, wanting to regain the focus in their discussion. She wanted to hear how he dealt with the rejection and how he moved past the whole lie. “What happened after you saw your real dad?”

  “I appreciated life more. I appreciated my parents more. It took awhile, but I saw that love was what mattered.”

  Love. She had that. Her mother loved her dearly. She knew that for certain, and while she was shocked by this news Taylor knew that her mother did whatever she did out of love. Everything she did was always based on love. Her father loved her too. He may not have been a great father, but he loved her.

  And then there was Brian. She used to wonder why she always felt so close to him.

  Thinking back now to when she was younger and saw him, those were the most magical times in her life. Maybe those were the only chances he got to spend with her.

  He was her father. Based on what her mother said. It couldn’t have been easy for Brian to watch her grow up and not be there.

  “What’s your dad like?”

  “My dad.” She had to think now. Her dad.

  “Your real dad.” He smiled.

  Brian. “He’s like an angel… He’s the nicest man I’ve ever met in my life.” Every time she’d ever thought of Brian her heart warmed and she felt happy. From as far back as she could remember. “It’s always great to see him, and he always compliments me on something. My clothes, my hair, anything he thinks will be special to me. He was the first person I saw when I woke from the coma.” She didn’t need to be told that he loved her. All she had to do was look at him and she knew.

  He’d be the kind of person to always be there for her and she knew that he would never let her down.

  So much had happened over the last few weeks. Too much. Talking to Wes was helping and her fury had subsided, but she wasn’t ready to talk to anyone else yet. She would, though, once she timed out and felt like she had her feet beneath her again. She needed to get her head around everything, around the truth.

  “Sounds great. Sounds like the kind of man you could grab coffee with and have a decent conversation.” He chuckled.

  She looked at him and felt like she was having one of those déjà vu moments. She was about to answer but stopped for a second to think. His mention of coffee seemed to jog her memory, but she wasn’t sure of what.

  “You okay?” he asked, noticing her momentary daze.

  When she looked at him she remembered something. Something he said to her. Something about coffee and a muffin.

  “Coffee and
a muffin,” she said more to herself. Fragments of her memory resurfaced and she remembered properly. It was when she was in the hospital. In a coma, in a dream. She smiled to herself as she remembered hearing his voice. He was asking her out. She remembered it all.

  “Yeah, blueberry muffins or chocolate chip.”

  “No.” She shook her head.

  “Okay, then maybe a cherry muffin or lemon drizzle with poppy seeds.”

  “Wes, I remember.”

  “What do you remember?” He smiled.

  “At the hospital. I remember you being there.”

  His eyes widened and he straightened up with a bewildered look on his face. His cheeks coloring fiercely. “I was just um…”

  “Asking me out? On my death bed?”

  “Don’t say that.” His face was bright red.

  “Why didn’t you ask me out before? And, why would you ask me when I was in a hospital bed with my hair and face looking terrible?” Her mind skimmed through all the jerks she’d ever been with. Including Richard, her present jerk who ripped her heart from her chest and caused her deep heartache and serious embarrassment.

  “You weren’t really supposed to remember any of that. It’s like talking to someone while they’re sleeping.”

  She gave him a deadpanned expression. “I don’t get it, I don’t understand why you wouldn’t ask me out if you wanted to.”

  “Because I was sure you’d say no,” he winced.

  “Who told you I would say no, Wesley?”

  He brought his hand to his head and sighed. “I just thought you would.”

  She smiled as an idea occurred to her and she tried to recall what he’d said that day. “Wes.”

  “Yes Taylor,” he answered, looking cautious.

  “I’d like to see the phantom film with you. I can’t remember what it’s called, but I will watch it. I’m certain you must have it somewhere. Also, I love Aerosmith, and yes I would have gone to the senior prom with you if you’d had asked. I’m definitely certain I would have had a much better time with you than Jack Winters, who drank way too much and got arrested for running naked through the streets.”