On the other hand, did she really want to relive the whole horrible experience again? She shivered. Because it went deeper than that. And she felt really guilty about it. But in fact, did she really want to know the truth? It was one thing for her to think she caused it. It would be a whole other story to know for sure.
Her head ached with confusion. Was that message in the hotel bathroom just a sick joke? she wondered. A one-time occurrence? Or was it really a warning for her to stay away from Middleton?
“So, what do you think?” Tom asked, eager and excited.
The phone rang before she could answer.
She stuck out her tongue at him and rose to find the cordless phone. “Momentarily saved by the bell. It’s probably the hospital.”
She found the phone in her bedroom. “Hello?”
“June 25, 1994.”
“Excuse me?” Pam’s heart started to pound.
“June 25, 1994,” a raspy voice repeated. Then the line went dead.
Truths Unveiled
Chapter Thirty-One
“She did it on purpose,” Rebecca said, refilling her glass with lemonade.
Pam crunched on a carrot stick. They sat on the couch in the sunroom and had a clear view of the driveway. “Any idea why?”
Rebecca shook her head. “It could be a zillion reasons—one being to detract attention from you and paint herself in a good light. Remember, next to you, Susan looks like the wicked witch of the west from The Wizard of Oz. She probably realized she needed to improve her image, especially if she expects to get sympathy from the zoning board.”
Pam tapped her hand in thought. “So if Susan decides to pretend to put their troubles behind them, Tom needs to do the same thing and withdraw his objection to her plan. Otherwise, he will look like the bad guy. Right?”
“Exactly,” Rebecca agreed, reaching for a stuffed mushroom. “Like tonight, for instance, she won either way. If Tom refused to see the kids, especially after all this time, he’d be portrayed as a rotten father. It doesn’t matter that he’d made other plans. If he really cared, he’d break or at least change them. And if he agreed…”
A new voice broke in. “Then Susan still looks good because everyone at the party will get to see the boys. They’ll think she’s making an effort to resolve their differences. They’ll expect Tom to do the same.”
Pam and Rebecca turned to find Katie Jarrod approaching. Tall and thin like her son, she wore her silver hair short, in a stylish cut. A lovely, teal, beaded dress flowed gracefully around her while she carried in a tray of shrimp cocktail.
“That was very understanding of you to encourage Tom to see the boys this evening,” she told Pam. She set down the platter on the buffet table. “You’ve made this a doubly festive occasion.”
Pam wondered how she should respond, then noted tears rimming the older woman’s eyes. Without a second thought, she reached for her hand. Katie squeezed tight while her expression said thank you.
****
“Hi Dad,” A.J. greeted cheerfully. He gave his father a big hug. Mark, always the more reserved of the two, stood there looking like he didn’t know quite what to do.
Tom scooped both boys up and buried himself in their embraces. Thank you so much, God, he prayed. Thank you protecting them. For keeping them healthy. For everything. His dad was right. They didn’t hate him. In fact, they seemed fine. Even happy to see him. He wiped a tear on Mark’s shirt before standing up to deal with their mother.
“Hey. What about me?” Tom Sr. asked.
Thrilled, the boys ran to their grandfather.
“Let’s go find Grandma,” Tom Sr. suggested. “I know she’s anxious to get a look at the two of you.”
Tom noticed A.J. glance at his mother for her approval. Ever so slightly, Susan gave him a nod.
They grabbed his dad’s hands. “Let’s go, Grandpa!”
“You’re looking well, Thomas.”
Tom could tell his ex-wife was making an enormous effort to appear civil. Maybe even pleasant. Even so, he detected a hiss at the end of his name. He waited until the boys were inside before turning his attention to her.
“You too.” Knowing Susan as he did, Tom braced himself for the price she would expect him to pay in exchange for this seemingly magnanimous gesture on her part. He practically bit his tongue to stop from demanding to know what it would be. Instead, he thought back to the advice they’d received from a family mediator during the divorce proceedings.
“Keep your tone cordial,” he’d told them. “Try to treat your exchange like a business meeting. You don’t have to like a person to do business with them.”
That guy was the only ‘helping professional’ Tom encountered who acted like he had any common sense. Tom even consulted with the man privately. But that was short lived. Sure the guy had a lot of insight. And even some other helpful suggestions. But Susan wasn’t concerned with agreements. She enjoyed the fight—plain and simple. And she was good at it.
“When should I bring the boys back?”
“Aren’t you going to invite me in? It looks like you’re having quite a party.”
The hurt-little-girl routine rubbed his already thin nerves raw. If she were a man, he’d tell her she had a lot of audacity to even suggest such a thing. She didn’t want to go inside. She hated his parents. She’d said as much to them and anyone else within earshot on more than one occasion. She just wanted to needle him. Please God, he prayed. I don’t want a scene. Give me the right words to say.
“Hey, Jarrod! Whatcha doing out there?”
Eddie. Tom wasn’t sure if he was God’s response to his request, but he’d take it. “Thanks,” he whispered to his best friend.
“Oh, Susan. Didn’t we just see each other last Thursday. Isn’t that twice too often in this decade?” Eddie chided.
Susan obviously seethed. Tom pursed his lips in a straight line to hold back a grin. Clearly, Eddie’s presence infuriated her. For whatever reason, whenever he appeared, she usually backed away from whatever game she was playing.
Her eyes blazed with warning. “Bring them home by nine!”
“It’s the weekend, cousin, and your ex’s engagement party. Try as you might, you will not ruin it. The boys will be brought home by eleven.” Then he waved. “Bye-bye.”
Susan’s eyes shot him with arrows. She scrunched up her lips, no doubt biting back something vile. Instead, she swung open the car door and angrily got behind the wheel. Eddie stepped forward and closed her inside. Then with an arm around Tom, he urged him toward the house. “Don’t look back. If she runs us over, at least there will be plenty of witnesses.”
Relieved to end the scene, Tom complied. He knew Susan would find a way to make him pay eventually, but for now he was thankful for the reprieve. “When are you going to tell me what you have on her that makes her listen to you?”
Eddie waved him off. “It’s no big deal. Glad I could be of help. Now get your butt in there and find your kids and fiancée.”
****
“Grandma!” the boys called in union. The pounding footsteps bounced into the room and into Katie’s arms.
Watching the scene, Pam held her breath to keep her eyes from welling. A.J. and Mark seemed genuinely happy to see their grandmother. And Katie’s face beamed with pride and joy.
“You did good, kid,” Eddie whispered to Pam.
Then she felt Tom’s arm around her waist. “Have I told you today how much I love you?”
Pam couldn’t remember ever feeling so...she couldn’t even find a word to describe the warm and wanted feeling that washed over her. Thank you, Lord, she whispered. She leaned back against Tom and rested her hands on his.
Her gut reaction to include the boys at the party was simply that. It just seemed like the right thing to do. After all, they would soon be her stepsons. She really disliked that term. It made her recall an old episode from the Brady Bunch. Bobby got the off-the-wall idea that stepparents couldn’t love their stepkids as much as their
“real” kids, so he ran away. When he returned, Carol Brady showed him the steps leading upstairs. She told him, “These are the only steps in this house.” And that’s how Pam felt.
****
“I don’t know what I should do,” Tom said later.
Immediately, Pam understood what he was talking about. From their places, Eddie, Rebecca, Pam and Tom watched the boys in the adjoining room playing a game of Monopoly with their cousins. T.J. Jr. led the group, clearly enjoying his role as banker.
“What do you mean?” Eddie asked.
“I haven’t seen them in almost two years, and here we are acting like nothing happened. Should I try to explain? And what about Pam here? Should I be having them make an effort to get to know her?”
Pam had no idea. Sure, under ordinary circumstances she’d like that. But this was such a delicate situation.
Fortunately, Rebecca came to the rescue. Wiping barbeque sauce from her fingers, she said, “You’re doing fine. And they’re doing fine. Just leave them be. There’ll be plenty of time to get serious later.”
That sounded good to Pam. She just hoped Rebecca was right about there being time in the future. What if tonight was just a ruse to catch Tom off guard and try to interfere in their celebration? Then she stopped. Even if that was Susan’s intent, it had failed. It was a beautiful party.
With that thought in mind, Pam reminded herself she was not in control. All she could do was pray and do her best. God would handle the rest. She swallowed. From past experience, she knew sometimes that was easier said than done.
“Have you set a date yet?” Katie walked up and asked. “I know you mentioned sometime after Christmas, but everyone wants to know when.”
Pam’s gaze flew to Tom. Secretly, they had spoken earlier about the possibility of eloping. But now seeing all the trouble his mom went through for this evening and the hopeful look in her eyes, Pam gave Tom a look that said, She wants a wedding. A real wedding. She’d be crushed if she and your dad weren’t there.
Nodding, Tom placed his hand over hers. “How about March? The weekend that falls closest to the 17th?”
“It’s the anniversary of our first date,” Pam added, feeling her face flush.
Katie jumped to her feet. “Well, let’s get out the calendar.”
“My mom said there won’t be a wedding.”
All eyes focused on the innocent nine-year-old boy who had entered the room.
Truths Unveiled
Chapter Forty-One
“Two men?” Eddie questioned. “At the accident? Since when?”
Perplexed, Tom tossed a pen down on his desk and paced the length of his office at the rescue station. “Since Friday night. One of the staff shrinks approached Pam at MMC’s dinner dance. Out of the blue, he floored her by seeking her out and telling her Ryan Collins wasn’t drinking the night of the accident.”
Eddie let out a troubling whistle and took a chair at the small, round table. “Well ain’t that just grand? We’ve got a medical report and a police report that say something different.”
“No kidding.”
“Go on,” Eddie urged, unwrapping a meatball sub. “What happened next?”
“That night, Pam had a bad dream. A very clear dream of the accident. Way beyond what she recalled during the first hypnosis session.”
Tom continued to fill him in on the details. “A few days later we got an emergency session with DeOreo, the hypnotist guy. He was able to sort out the events in the dream when he put Pam under.”
Eddie swallowed a mouthful and washed it down with a big gulp of soda. “Surprise, surprise.”
“You’re telling me.” Scowling, Tom reached for his coffee mug. “I knew there was more to the accident. Pam told me so after the first session. She thought she might have missed something. Or that something wasn’t quite right. Still, she was able to accept all of what she did recall. That’s what helped her to handle the situation and to move back here. But Tedford’s remark, followed by the new dream, the break-in, and discovering that there were two strangers at the accident scene…” Shaking his head, he frowned and scratched his head. “The situation is even more confusing than before.”
“And she has no idea who these guys are?”
Tom made a aggravated face. “No.”
“Okay. I’ve heard enough.” With that, Eddie rose to his full height and reached for the phone. “There’s too much missing here. Too many holes. Too many sudden revelations. And both you and I know there were more than three photographs taken at the accident scene. Somebody’s playing games.”
Tom nodded. “I know. And the idea makes me sick. At this point, I’m open to any suggestions.”
Eddie dialed a number. “And I know someone who may be able to offer a few.”
****
Pam parked her Volvo in her new parking space at the medical center and switched off the ignition. Glancing at her watch, she estimated the entire trip, to and from the bridal shop and mall, took just under five hours. Going seventy most of the way. She rolled her eyes. At least she’d bought most of what she needed. Shoes, garter, and lace thigh-highs. Even gifts for her maid of honor, Tom’s best man, and the ushers.
Stepping out of the vehicle, she smiled and stretched. Hills and fields, dotted with silos and animals, surrounded her for miles. Then she gulped. Okay. So things weren’t perfect. Someone was trying to scare her away and the accident didn’t happen the way she’d originally thought. And Carl Tedford said that Ryan Collins wasn’t drinking that night. But hey, who said life was meant to be perfect? She twisted her lips into a smirk. Hey, God. I hope you’re getting all of this.
With that thought in mind, Pam closed the door and caught a glimpse of her wedding gown draped across the back seat. She thought of the wedding. All the arrangements had been made. They’d decided to hold the reception at Tom and Eddie’s restaurant downtown. Tom’s mom had handled the church, managing to convince the minister he could let Pam and Tom take a crash course in the marriage class instead of the long, drawn-out version. That meant they would be busy every night this week.
Katie also took care of the invitation list. Close to all of the one hundred guests had already responded. That left the music. Dan, Tom’s cousin, volunteered there. His band played all the local places and had just cut their first CD. Last, Eddie volunteered to videotape and Rebecca offered to take photographs. What more could I want? Pam asked herself. Uttering a small prayer, she headed inside.
Greeting the staff, Pam noted the ED was quiet. Good. Though her shift didn’t start for another few hours, she’d feel compelled to help out if they needed an extra hand. Now she had time to grab a sandwich from the cafeteria and make some phone calls.
“Dr. Harrington? I have a message for you.”
Pam turned and headed back to the nurses’ station. “Thanks.” Reading the pink slip, she frowned. The call was from Susan. Pam released a snarl. I forgot to add her to the not so perfect list, she thought to herself. What could that woman want?
Pam decided to go directly to the cafeteria. Dealing with her fiancé’s ex-wife required fortitude. Maybe she should reach Tom before she returned the call. If she decided to return the call. He might know what it was about.
Pondering Susan’s motives, Pam prepared to enter the elevator as the doors opened.
“Isn’t this convenient?” the cool redhead greeted. “You’re just the person I’ve been looking for.”
Table of Contents
Truths Unveiled
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Sev
enteen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Truths Unveiled Page 27
