I laugh at his imitation. “And what did you tell her?”
“I just agreed with her, then let them wear whatever they wanted.” His phone vibrates in his suit jacket. He checks it. “It’s Kiefer. He has everything lined up to send to the networks.”
“This is making me nervous. Are we going to have reporters and photographers following us around after this story comes out?”
“It depends on what other news comes out tomorrow. If it’s a big news day, your story may not get much coverage.” He types something into his phone, then puts it away. “Let’s have lunch and then I have to go. I’ve instructed the security guards not to let anyone past the gate. Just stay here at the house and you won’t have any problems. I can’t receive phone calls during the meeting but if you need to reach me, leave a message and I’ll call you back as soon as I can.”
The three of us have lunch, then Pearce leaves for his meeting. I’m nervous seeing him go. I don’t know what they’re going to do to him. And I’m a little afraid being alone here at the house. The security guards are outside, and Lilly and Charles are home, so I’m not actually alone, but I still feel uneasy being here without Pearce. This is the first time we’ve been apart since I returned.
It’s almost four and Pearce has been gone for hours. I’m worried about him. He told me it might be a long meeting but I’m still worried. I don’t like him being around those people.
After Pearce left, Lilly and I watched a movie in the theater room on the other side of the house, and now I’m waiting for her in the kitchen. She went upstairs, but when she comes back down we’re going to have ice cream out on the patio.
I didn’t expect Lilly to spend all this time with me. It makes me wonder if Garret asked her to. He’s talked to her several times since I arrived. When I called him this morning, he told me again how much Lilly likes me. She just met me, so I’m not sure if that’s really true, but we are getting along really well. She reminds me of Garret in a lot of ways. I can see how much he’s influenced her.
Ten minutes have passed and Lilly still hasn’t come down to the kitchen. She was just going to change into a t-shirt, so what’s taking so long? I decide to go check on her.
As I’m walking through the living room, I hear voices in the foyer. Lilly’s talking to someone. A woman. I abruptly stop when I hear the voice. It’s Katherine. What is she doing here? And why did the guards let her through?
“I bought you these dresses,” Katherine says in a harsh tone. “And then you just left them behind. That was both disrespectful and ungrateful and I will not tolerate such behavior.”
“I don’t have anyplace to wear them, Mother.”
“That is your father’s fault, and I will be speaking to him about that. At your age, you should be attending events that require you to dress in designer gowns and be photographed for the papers.”
“I don’t want to go to those events,” I hear her quietly say.
“It’s not about what you want. It’s about what’s best for your family. Do you want to disgrace the Kensington name the way Garret did?”
My fists clench hearing her say Garret’s name. I want to storm in there right now and yell at Katherine for how she treated my son, but I’m not supposed to let anyone know I’m alive yet, especially Katherine, who spreads gossip faster than anyone.
“Don’t talk about Garret,” Lilly says, raising her voice slightly, like she’s defending him.
“I will not allow you to follow in Garret’s footsteps. He chose to give up this lifestyle, but you are not going to do the same. You are my daughter, and you will take part in the high society life you were born into, and you will be happy about it. Which is why you WILL wear these dresses.”
There’s silence.
Then I hear Katherine again. “What did I say about wearing your hair like that?”
“I’m at home. No one’s around. What does it matter how my hair looks?”
“It always matters,” she snaps. “Appearance is everything. You must look your best at all times. And that ratty low-class braid is not acceptable. If you are unable to properly fix your hair, I will send a stylist to this house every day to make sure your hair looks as it should.”
“Dad would never allow that.”
She huffs, as though she knows Lilly is right. “Then it is up to you to make sure your hair is done properly. And while I’m away this summer, I expect you to lose ten pounds.”
Ten pounds? Is she crazy? Lilly is already too thin. She should be gaining weight, not losing it.
“A girl your age should not still have baby fat,” Katherine says. “Stop eating so much. It’s not lady-like and it’s a detriment to your figure.”
“Yes, Mother.”
I’m so angry right now. How could she talk to her daughter this way? She has done nothing but insult her and order her around. It reminds me of how Holton used to talk to Pearce years ago.
Before I can stop myself, I storm into the foyer and face Katherine.
“You need to leave.” I instinctively put my arm around Lilly. I know she’s not my daughter but the mother in me can’t help but protect her.
Katherine’s jaw drops and her stiff posture collapses as shock overtakes her.
“You…no…this can’t…” She’s unable to even form a sentence.
“Hello, Katherine.” I smile, enjoying the shock I’ve caused her. “It’s been a long time.”
“I…I don’t understand,” she stammers. “You’re dead.”
“No. I just went away for a while. But now I’m back.”
“That’s not possible. I saw the plane. There were no survivors.”
“I wasn’t on the plane.”
She stares at me, like she’s seeing a ghost. Behind her I notice a clothing rack filled with ballroom gowns. Her driver must’ve brought those in. There’s no way Katherine would’ve carried them. She’s so skinny she looks frail, and the lack of fat in her face makes her appear much older, even older than me. She has her blond hair pulled back in a twisted knot at the back of her neck.
“Why are you here?” she demands.
“Why do you think?” I ask, glaring at her.
She straightens up, her eyes narrowed. “So you’re getting back together with Pearce. In my house, no less.”
“What Pearce and I do is none of your business. And this is no longer your house. Now as I said before, you need to leave.”
She notices my arm around Lilly and says, “Get away from my daughter.”
“If she wants to move, she can.” I glance down at her, but she remains tucked into my side.
Katherine takes a step closer to me. “Let me make this very clear. Do not think for one second that you will be raising my daughter. If you and Pearce are planning to live together, I will be getting custody of Lilly.”
“No!” Lilly says, panic in her voice. “You can’t. Dad said—”
“Stop interrupting!” Katherine yells at her. “You’re being a brat!”
“She wasn’t interrupting,” I say. “And stop yelling at her, and criticizing her, and calling her names.”
“Don’t you DARE tell me how to talk to my daughter!” Now Katherine’s yelling at me, her face getting red.
“I’m not going to stand by and let you say those things to her. And the fact that you told her to lose weight is disgusting. Absolutely disgusting. She is a beautiful girl and extremely talented. You should be praising her, not putting her down.”
I feel Lilly move a tiny step closer to me.
“Leave, Katherine,” I say forcefully. “I’ll tell Pearce you stopped by, although I believe doing so without telling him is outstepping the bounds of your custody agreement.”
She sneers at me. “I always hated you, you piece of trash. You should’ve stayed on the farm where you belong.” She pivots on her heels, swings open the door, and storms out to her Mercedes, where her driver is waiting.
I go over and close the door, then turn back to Lilly. “I’m sorry, h
oney. I didn’t mean to yell at your mom. I just—”
“Thank you,” she whispers, as she comes up and hugs me. Her words and her gesture make me tear up.
I hug her back. “You don’t have to thank me. Your mother should never talk to you that way. No one should talk to you that way.”
“She always does,” I hear Lilly whisper.
I pull back enough to look at her. “Does your father know this?”
She shakes her head. “I don’t want them to fight. I hate it when they fight.”
“I know, honey, but your father needs to know. Would you like me to tell him?”
She shrugs. “It wouldn’t do any good. Garret always says you can’t change people.”
I’m afraid to even ask this, but I have to know. “Did Katherine used to talk to Garret that way?”
“Yeah. But he didn’t put up with it. They used to fight all the time.”
What an awful life Garret must’ve had living here with Katherine. All his teen years were spent here in this house with that horrible woman. I could’ve yelled at her just now for how she treated Garret, but I didn’t want to do so in front of Lilly. And besides, what good would it do? If anything, it would make Katherine happy to know I was upset about it. And in a way, I’ll be getting back at Katherine by raising Lilly. She turns 13 in August and will be spending all her teen years with me. So Katherine will soon know what it feels like to have someone else raising your child.
“Garret always stuck up for me,” Lilly says, “and took care of me. And now…” I see her lip quivering, her eyes damp.
“What, sweetie?” I hold her hand. “What were you going to say?”
“Now Garret is gone, and Dad has you, and…I don’t have anyone left.”
“Garret isn’t gone. He’s just a phone call away. And you still have your father. He’s not going anywhere.”
“What if he makes me live with her? So he can be alone with you?”
“Lilly, look at me.” I wait until her eyes lift to mine. “He will not make you live with her. That will never happen. He loves you, and being with me doesn’t change that. We both want you in our lives.”
She sniffles and wipes the tears off her cheek with the back of her hand.
I smooth her hair. “Lilly, if things are that bad with your mom, why did you want to go see her last week?”
Her gaze drops to the floor. “Because I thought if I spent time with her, that maybe she’ll like me. I try to do what she says, and look the way she wants me to look, but it’s never good enough. She still hates me.”
“Oh, honey.” I pull her into my arms and hug her. “She doesn’t hate you. She’s just dealing with her own issues. But that’s not an excuse for her to take her anger out on you.”
We hug a moment longer, then I let her go.
“Why don’t we have some ice cream?” I smile at her. “Ice cream makes everything better.”
After having ice cream, we sit outside by the pool and she tells me about her artwork and some of the painting classes she’s taken. She’s eager to tell me, and seems surprised that I’m listening, which tells me that Katherine never does.
When Pearce gets home, I need to tell him about Katherine. Not just about how she treated Lilly, but that she knows I’m alive. By now, she’s probably told everyone she knows, and I’m sure the first person she told was her father, which makes me feel like I’m not safe. I hope Pearce gets home soon.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
31
PEARCE
This meeting has been going on for hours. The first hour was spent discussing what happened to Rachel. Everyone knows the plane crash was my punishment for marrying her, but nobody knew who was on the committee that planned it. That information was kept a secret. Even William didn’t know. And until Rachel told me, I didn’t know Leland rigged the plane. When it happened, we all assumed Leland was in Europe on business. He had been there that entire week and was in a meeting in Sweden when the plane crashed. So he must’ve flown into DC just long enough to rig the plane and talk to Jack. But since I didn’t know that, I assumed a freelancer rigged the plane.
Today at the meeting, I told everyone about Leland’s involvement, then asked if anyone knew who else was involved. I didn’t expect anyone to come forward with information, but then Harold Knight raised his hand and admitted that his father was on the committee. Harold is my age, and was one of the people who has worked with me over the years in my efforts to keep our sons from being forced to join Dumanis. I’ve always considered Harold a friend, so was surprised when he said his father was involved. But he said he didn’t find this out until right before his father died a couple years ago.
As he spoke, I could tell Harold felt regret for what his father had done, and in what I can only assume was an attempt to ask for my forgiveness or ease his guilt, he disclosed the other members on the committee. Although it’s not against the rules to do so, it’s frowned upon, and therefore could’ve resulted in Harold being reprimanded. But my fellow members didn’t seem to care. The crash was so long ago, and the members who were on the committee were in their seventies and eighties at the time, so are now all deceased. Except for Leland.
If anyone were being reprimanded today, it would be my father if he were alive. He failed to tell anyone that Rachel didn’t die, and that he’d been holding her hostage in that small town in Italy. My fellow members were shocked when I told them what he’d done, not because they care about Rachel, but because it was such a bold and dangerous move. If Dunamis found out my father had lied to them all those years, he would’ve been killed. But knowing my father, I’m sure he enjoyed having that secret and the risk that came with it. He was always a risk taker, and he was arrogant, always assuming he was too clever to get caught doing something he shouldn’t.
“We’ve been informed that the media will be alerted about this tomorrow,” Roger, the man leading the meeting, says. “Given that many of you are known to be friends with Pearce, you may be asked to comment on his situation. If so, you are to decline comment. We don’t want this story getting out of hand. The sooner it goes away, the better. We don’t want an investigation starting again regarding the plane crash.”
The crash was deemed suspicious years ago by a group of curious reporters and conspiracy theorists, which caused them to look closer into what happened. Their suspicions arose because Senator Wingate was on the plane, not because of Rachel. Nobody cared about Rachel, but when a senator dies in a small plane, conspiracies abound and reporters start digging for information. They never found anything and eventually gave up.
“Who’s handling the press?” someone asks.
“I am.” I stand up and face the room. “I’m working with Kiefer on this. The two of us have everything under control.”
I don’t dare tell them that William is involved. He’s not supposed to be helping me, or any of the other members. It’s against the rules for someone at William’s level to do hands-on work, so he’s putting himself at risk by helping me with this.
“What happens now?” someone else asks.
“Pearce would like our permission to remarry the woman,” Roger says.
I’d marry her even without their permission, but I have to play along with their ridiculous rules. William has been able to change a lot of those rules, but the marriage one remains. The members still insist we marry women who are approved.
“Isn’t he still married to her?” I hear a man ask from the side of the room.
“Technically, no,” Roger says, “given that she was presumed dead and he married and divorced someone else, so he’d like to make it official again by remarrying her.”
“When this story is released to the media,” I say, “the public will expect Rachel and me to be reunited as husband and wife. If we do not do so, it will generate negative press. I’ll be known as the husband who rejected his wife after she returned from being presumed dead. If that happens, this story will continue rather than go away. The public like
s a happy ending. It’s in our best interest for me to remarry Rachel.”
There’s mumbling in the crowd as the members discuss this amongst themselves.
After five minutes, Roger taps his microphone, getting the attention of the room again. “What is the general consensus?”
A man in the front row says, “I agree with Pearce that it would be best if he married her to avoid the negative press that would result if he didn’t. This story has to go away as fast as possible, or as you said, interest in the plane crash may resurface.”
“Do others agree?” Roger asks. “Raise your hand if you do.”
Most of the men raise their hands. Years ago, this would’ve shocked me, but now, the members are much more reasonable. Part of that is because of William’s leadership at the top level, but it’s also because the older members have died off. They were the ones determined to make everyone’s lives as miserable as possible, even when there was no reason to do so. They just liked assigning punishments. It made them feel powerful. That was my father’s generation. The people here in this room are a new generation, and the people in my age group are now the leaders, and luckily, most of them like and respect me.
“There needs to be a negotiation,” I hear someone say. “If we’re allowing him to go outside the rules, he needs to give us something in return.”
Everyone nods in agreement. I knew this was coming and I came prepared to offer them something.
“Pearce,” Roger says. “I’m sure you were aware this would be a condition of us granting you permission to marry her.”
“Yes. And I’d like to present my offer.”
“Step up to the microphone, please.”
He moves aside and I take his place at the microphone, facing the crowd.
“In exchange for your approval of my marriage, and an agreement that Rachel will not be harmed or threatened, now, or in the future…” I pause. “I will give you my company. All assets. All future earnings. It will all be yours to do with as you please.”
Only Her Page 31
