Miss Carol’s condition was in God’s hands; all any of them could do was pray and hope for the best. But the continued threats on Deborah’s life were another matter. It shouldn’t take Sam long to get the information he needed—who besides Buck Stansell had reason to threaten Deborah? Who had something to gain from her death?
Neil Posey was her partner, owning less than forty percent of the business. But what would he have to gain from Deborah’s death? And what about Whitney? Did she stand to inherit anything from Deborah? Deborah had told him that Allen and her mother were her beneficiaries.
Maybe Buck had been lying, covering his tracks, knowing Ashe would have no qualms about coming after him if he thought Buck was responsible for harming Deborah.
Ashe looked at her, sitting several feet away from where he stood. Her shoulders trembled. He knew she was crying. They had come into the chapel nearly fifteen minutes ago, and Deborah didn’t seem ready to leave yet. Maybe she found some sort of solace here. He hoped she did. He’d do anything, bear any burden, pay any price, to ease her pain.
When she stood, her head still bowed, Ashe walked up behind her, draping his arms around her. She leaned back onto his chest, bracing her head against him, folding her arms over his where they crossed her body.
She smelled so sweet, so fresh and feminine, such a contrast to the medicinal odors that mixed with the strong cleaning solutions in the hospital corridors.
“Miss Carol is going to be all right, honey. You’ve got to hang on to your faith.” Ashe kissed her cheek.
“You can’t imagine how close Mother and I are. How much we’ve shared. How we’ve depended on each other completely since Daddy died.” Closing her eyes, Deborah bit down on her lower lip. She could not put off telling Ashe the truth about Allen any longer. She had promised her mother.
“We’re all going to come out of this just fine. Miss Carol is a fighter. She’s not going to let the cancer win. And I’m going to make sure y’all are safe.” Ashe hugged her fiercely, as if holding her securely in his arms could keep the evil away. “I’m going to find out who’s behind the threats and end this nightmare you’ve been living. After that, you and I have some decisions to make.”
Deborah’s heart skipped a beat. This was the first time Ashe had even hinted at the possibility they might have a future together. Would he feel differently about her, about their future, once she told him Allen was his son?
“Ashe?”
“Hmm-hmm?”
She pulled away from him enough to turn around in his arms and face him. He placed his hands on both sides of her waist. She looked into his warm hazel eyes, seeing plainly the care and concern he felt.
“Let’s go to the back of the room and sit. Please. I have something to tell you. Something to explain.”
“What is it, honey?” The pleading tone of her voice unnerved him. He sensed her withdrawal from him even though they were still physically connected. The emotional fear he noted on her face scared the hell out of him. “Deborah?”
She took his hand and led him to chairs in the back of the small chapel. They sat side by side. She wanted to continue holding his hand, to keep the physical contact unbroken, but she wasn’t sure she could even look at him when she told him the truth.
Her heartbeat grew louder and louder; she was surprised he couldn’t hear its wild thumping. Bracing her back against the chair, she took a deep breath.
“Deborah, are you all right?” She had turned pale, her eyes darkening with what he sensed was fear.
“This isn’t easy for me, so please bear with me. Let me tell you what I must without your questioning me. Not until I’ve said it all. All right?”
Ashe reached for her. Shuddering, she cringed, holding both hands before her in a warning not to touch her. “Deborah, what’s going on? I’m totally confused.”
“Please remember that I didn’t know what Daddy did to you eleven years ago.” She took another deep breath. “I thought you’d left town on your own, that you washed your hands of me and…”
“We’ve been over this already,” Ashe said. “I don’t see any need to rehash it.”
Under different circumstances, there would be no need. If she hadn’t gotten pregnant the night they’d made love eleven years ago. If she hadn’t given birth to his son. If she hadn’t kept Allen’s identity a secret.
Dear God, did she have the courage to tell him? Could she make him understand? Ashe McLaughlin was a possessive, protective male, one who would proclaim his fatherhood to the world. If she had ever doubted the deep, primeval urges within him, she knew now, only too well, that the man she loved was a man to be reckoned with, a man whose strength was feared and respected by others.
If only she knew how he truly felt about her. If he loved her, if…
“Please, Ashe, listen to me. A couple of months after that night…our one night together…I—I…”
A tight knot of fear twisted in his gut. “You what?”
“I discovered that I was—” she died a little inside “—pregnant.”
God, no! No! He did not want to hear this. He couldn’t handle the truth. He didn’t want to know that Deborah had lied to him. The one woman on earth he’d thought he could trust.
“What did you do when you found out you were pregnant?” he asked, a deadly numb spreading through his body.
Already his voice had grown cold. How distant would he become when he’d heard the complete truth? “I went to Mother. That’s the reason she told Daddy. After you left town, Daddy said that I was better off without you, that he and Mother would take care of me and the baby.”
“Your father ran me out of town, knowing you were carrying my child?” Nausea rose in Ashe’s throat. Hot, boiling anger churned inside him.
“Daddy arranged for Mother to announce that she was pregnant, but due to her age, she was having problems. He told everyone that Mother needed to be under a specialist’s care.” Twining her fingers together, Deborah alternated rubbing her thumbs up one palm and then the other. “When I was six months pregnant, we went away, then returned to Sheffield several weeks after Allen was born.”
Anger, confusion and hurt swirled inside Ashe’s mind and body. The truth had been there all along, staring him in the face. Even Roarke had tried to tell him. But he’d been too blind to see, too sure Deborah wouldn’t lie to him, too afraid to accept the possibility that Allen could be his son. He hadn’t wanted to admit that he was partially responsible for not having been a part of the boy’s life for the past ten years.
“Allen.” Ashe spoke the one word.
Allen Vaughn was his son. His and Deborah’s. Their one passion-filled sexual encounter eleven years ago had created a child. Why had he never considered the possibility? Despite his rather promiscuous teen years, Ashe had been fairly cautious, using a condom most of the time. But he hadn’t taken any precautions that night. He’d been so out of his head, needing and wanting Deborah, that he’d been careless—careless with an innocent girl who had deserved far better treatment.
Deborah looked at Ashe then and saw the mixed emotions bombarding him. “Daddy gave me two choices. I could give my child up for adoption or I could allow him to be raised as my brother.”
You could have come to me! he wanted to shout. She should have come to him and told him. He would have taken care of her and their child. “You had a third choice,” Ashe said.
“No, I didn’t. You left town. You never called or wrote. You didn’t give a damn what happened to me. You never asked yourself whether or not you might have gotten me pregnant.”
Ashe grabbed her by the shoulders, jerking her up out of her chair as he stood. “Maybe you didn’t feel that you could come to me when you first discovered you were pregnant. I guess I halfway understand your reasoning. But later… Mama Mattie always knew how to get in touch with me. All you had to do was ask her for my phone number, my address. Ten years, Deborah. Ten years!”
“I didn’t know how you’d feel about being a
father, about our child. You didn’t love me. You’d made that perfectly clear.” She sucked in her cheeks in a effort not to cry, not to fall apart in his arms. Somehow she knew he was in no frame of mind to comfort her. Not now. Not when he was in so much pain himself.
He shook her once, twice, then stopped abruptly and dropped his hands from her shoulders. Glaring at her, he knotted his hands into fists. God, how he wanted to smash his fist against the wall. He wanted to shout his anger, vent his rage.
“Is that why you kept Allen a secret from me?” He ached with the bitterness building inside him. “You were trying to punish me because I’d told you I didn’t love you?”
“Of course not!” Seeing the hatred and distrust in his eyes, Deborah knew her worst fears were coming true. “Allen has a good life, surrounded by people who love him.”
“Allen’s life is a lie,” Ashe said, his eyes wild with the hot fury burning inside him. “He thinks Miss Carol is his mother. Hell, he thinks Wallace Vaughn was his father.”
“I did what I thought was best.” Deborah wanted to touch Ashe, to lay her hand on his chest, to plead for his understanding. But she didn’t dare. “I was seventeen years old. My father gave me two choices. Telling you wasn’t an option. If I’d thought it was, then I might have—”
“What about later? After your father died? I know Miss Carol wouldn’t have tried to prevent you from contacting me.”
“After Daddy died, bringing you back into my life was not a consideration. I had to take over my father’s business. I had to support Mother and Allen. Besides, you were halfway around the world most of the time.”
“Miss Carol wanted me to know, didn’t she? Allen was one of the reasons she hired me to protect you.”
“Mother has the foolish idea that you once actually cared about me and that if she could get you back into our lives, you wouldn’t leave us this time.”
Ashe lifted his clenched fists into the air, willing himself to control his rage. He glared at Deborah, at the one woman he thought he could trust. Suddenly, he grabbed her again, barely suppressing the desire to shake her. “I did not leave you eleven years ago. Your father ran me out of town. Do you honestly think that anything or anyone could have forced me to leave you if I’d known you were pregnant?”
“Are you saying that you’d have married me for the baby’s sake?” Deborah pulled away from him, tears swelling in her eyes. “I didn’t want you under those conditions then and I don’t want you under those conditions now. I wanted you to love me. Me!” She slapped her hand against her chest. “I wanted you to want me, not marry me because of Allen.”
“You’ve kept my son away from me all his life because of what you wanted? Didn’t you ever think about what Allen might want or need? Or even what I wanted or needed?”
Ashe clenched his fists so tightly that his nails bit into the palms of his hands. Pain shot through his head. He couldn’t think straight. He needed to escape, to get away from Deborah before he said or did something he would regret. But he couldn’t leave her. He was her bodyguard.
“You mustn’t tell Allen,” she said. “Not now. He’s not old enough to understand. That’s one of the reasons—the main reason—I haven’t told you the truth before now. I was afraid you’d want Allen to know you’re his father. I just don’t think he could handle the truth as young as he is.”
“I won’t do anything to hurt Allen.” My son. Allen Vaughn was his child. He’d looked at the boy and all he’d seen was Deborah. That blond hair, those blue eyes. But Roarke had seen what Ashe had been too blind to see.
“He’s a wonderful boy,” Deborah said. “The joy of my life.”
“Do you know me so little that you think I’d do anything to jeopardize Allen’s happiness, his security? I thought you and I had something special between us years ago. I thought you were my best friend. But you didn’t trust me enough to come to me and tell me you were pregnant. And now, when I thought we might have a future together, you still couldn’t trust me enough to put Allen’s life in my hands.”
“I do trust you, Ashe. I’ve put all our lives in your hands. I know I should have told you weeks ago, but… I was afraid.”
“How am I going to be able to face Allen and not want to pull him into my arms and tell him I’m his father? God, Deborah do you have any idea how I feel?”
Someone just outside the chapel door cleared their throat. Ashe and Deborah glanced toward the white uniformed young woman.
“Ms. Vaughn, I thought you’d want to know that your mother is out of surgery and the doctor is ready to speak to you.”
“How is Mother?”
“She’s in recovery. She came through the surgery just fine, but I’m afraid that’s all I can tell you,” the nurse said.
THE NEXT FEW hours seemed endless to Deborah. She alternated between the desire to scream and the desire to cry. Silent and brooding, Ashe stayed by her side. The barrier of tension between them grew stronger with each passing minute.
Now, when she needed him most, he was as remote, as far removed from her as if he were a million miles away. He would not leave her unguarded, his sense of honor would never allow him to desert her and put her life at risk. But he could not bring himself to look at her or speak to her.
Ashe was afraid of his feelings, of allowing the bitter anger free rein. More than anything, he needed to get away from Deborah, to go off by himself and think.
The doctor’s news had been good. In his opinion, they had been lucky once again. They would have to wait a few days on the final test results, but the preliminary findings were positive, giving them every hope that Carol Vaughn would fully recover.
Neither Deborah nor Ashe had gone for lunch. They had paced around the waiting room, avoiding each other, not speaking, not even looking at each other. Their being together had become an agony for her and she had no doubt it had been as difficult for Ashe. She knew he wanted to get away from her, but he couldn’t. He was bound by his honor to protect her.
When Miss Carol was returned to her private room, Ashe went in and said a brief hello. Not wanting to say or do anything that might upset Deborah’s mother, he made a quick exit, telling Deborah he would remain outside in the hallway and that she should stay with her mother for as long as she wanted to.
“Did you tell him?” Carol Vaughn asked.
“Yes, Mother, I told him.”
“And?”
“And everything is going to be all right,” Deborah lied. “He understands.”
Carol Vaughn smiled. “I knew he would. He’ll take good care of you and Allen.”
When her mother fell asleep shortly before five in the afternoon, Deborah kissed her pale cheek and walked out into the hallway.
Ashe stood, leaning against the wall, his hands in his pockets. “Is she all right?” he asked.
“She’s sleeping.” Deborah glanced at Ashe, but when she saw the coldness in his eyes, she looked away. “I’d like to go home now.”
He escorted her downstairs to the parking lot, not touching her, not saying another word. The drive home was an exercise in torture. For Deborah. And for Ashe.
Suddenly her life seemed void of hope. Where she had felt the joy of being in love, the resurgence of dreams she’d thought long dead, now she felt only loss. Had she lost Ashe again? Or as in the past, had he never truly been hers?
Deborah glanced out the side window of Ashe’s rental car, knowing that nothing she could say or do at this point would change the way he felt. When she heard him dialing his cellular phone, she glanced at him.
Quickly he returned his gaze to the road ahead. “Roarke?”
“How’s Miss Carol?” Roarke asked. “Ever since Deborah called Allen with the good news, he’s been wanting to talk to his mother.”
“Miss Carol is doing real good. We left her sleeping.” Ashe paused for a second. “I’m bringing Deborah home, but something’s come up and I need to go out. Alone.”
“No problem. Want to tell me what’s
wrong?”
“You were right about Allen.”
“How’d you find out?” Roarke asked.
“Deborah told me. Today. While Miss Carol was in surgery.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know.” Ashe clutched the steering wheel. “I can’t see Allen right now. Keep him inside until I drop Deborah off. Okay?”
“Yeah, sure.”
Ashe closed his cellular phone and slipped it back into his coat pocket. “Roarke will take care of you.”
“Where are you going?” Deborah wished he’d look at her, but he didn’t.
“I need to get away by myself for a few hours and do some serious thinking.”
“Ashe, please… You may not believe this now, but…I love you.”
Without replying, he drove up Montgomery Avenue, turned into the Vaughn driveway and waited for Deborah to get out. She hesitated for just a moment, hoping he would say something. He didn’t. She jumped out of the car, slammed the car door and rushed up on the front porch where Roarke stood waiting. Ashe roared away, leaving Deborah alone, uncertain and miserable.
Ashe McLaughlin was good at that, she thought. Leaving. Maybe she had made a mistake, eleven years ago and more recently, too. But everything wasn’t her fault. Surely when his temper cooled and he had time to think reasonably, he would see that he wasn’t the only injured party in this situation.
She wasn’t sure exactly what she had expected when she told him the truth, but somewhere deep inside her, she had hoped he would understand, that he would forgive her.
“Are you all right?” Roarke asked.
“I’ve been better,” she said.
“Allen’s helping Mazie set the table for dinner. He’s going to want to know why Ashe isn’t with you.”
“I gather you suspected that Allen was Ashe’s son.”
“I saw the similarities. I knew your and Ashe’s background. He told me about you, one night when we’d both had a little too much to drink.”
Witness Page 23
