by Jo Leigh
At his mocking tone, Lee snorted. “For a smart man, Robert Landry is a damn fool. Not that it’s any of my business.”
Parker had watched him relax in stages. “I know what you mean. Poor Ginny.” He smiled, pretended to head back to the Jeep. “Thanks. Maybe I’ll give her a call after I fly home.”
“I think they’re headed for the Marriott Suites in Providence, but with all the traffic I imagine they’re still on the road.”
Parker tamped down a smile. “How long ago did they leave?”
“About thirty minutes. But she said she had to fill up the car. Can’t expect to get anywhere fast with all the tourists around here. The curse of the summer season.”
“Too true. I don’t miss the seasonal traffic. Even at the best of times, those roads to the highway are a mess.”
“You don’t have to tell me,” Lee said, after he finished with the last nail. “I’m on the committee to get the roads widened to at least two lanes. But a lot of the locals, you know how they can be so nostalgic...”
Parker caught most of what Lee said, but he was thinking that if Ginny had only been gone for half an hour he might be able to catch up to her. “Thanks a lot. For helping Ginny out. She said she can always count on you.”
“That’s true. She’s a good’n, that Ginny.”
Parker nodded. As he hurried to the Jeep, he heard Lee shout, “You should try her cell.”
With a wave, he got in the car. Oh, no, he wasn’t going to try to call her again. He wasn’t about to give her a single minute’s warning.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
GINNY PUT THE gas nozzle back in the cradle, grimacing at the traffic buildup. The tourists were leaving in droves, scared of being swept away by the tropical storm. Or worse, being without air-conditioning. Her cell rang and she pulled the phone from her bag. It was her father calling, but she’d have to call him back later.
The passenger door slammed and Tilda, still looking disgruntled at being woken up so early, sighed mightily. “Can I go get some snacks? It’s going to take forever to get to the hotel.”
Ginny grabbed the receipt. “Now? You couldn’t have thought of that when we first got here?”
Tilda sighed again. “I still don’t understand why we have to go anywhere. The storm’s probably not even going to reach our house, and we have the generator. It’s so stupid that we’re leaving. I’m supposed to go with Kaley to the community center. Now she doesn’t have a doubles partner for the Ping-Pong tournament.”
“I’m sure she’ll find someone to fill in. Is it really so terrible that I wanted to spend some time away from the house and the piano for a few days before the students come pouring back? Just us? I don’t think it’s too much to ask.”
“Fine. Do you want anything?”
“Coffee. A big one. You know how I like it.”
“Can I have one too?”
“Really?”
Rolling her eyes, Tilda went inside the mini-mart, most likely to pick out a varied range of unhealthy snacks that Ginny would find revolting.
Getting back in the car, she thought she might run in after all. She started the car to move closer to the door and to free up the bay when a very familiar Jeep turned into the lot.
She ducked her head, and did her best to hide behind the wheel, then changed course to find a space at the far end of the lot, between a couple of big trucks. Not that it would help. It wasn’t a coincidence, Parker showing up here. He must have gone to the house and spoken to Lee. She’d considered telling Lee not to say anything about their abrupt departure, but knew it would make him worry, and she hadn’t wanted to do that.
Sure enough, Parker found her easily, and he parked directly behind her, cutting off her escape route. At least Tilda wouldn’t see them.
He hopped out of the Jeep like a man on a mission. She got out, just so he wouldn’t be able to hover over her, and made the first move. “Are you following me? There are laws against that you know.”
“Why are you running away if you’ve got nothing to hide?”
“Running? We’re leaving because of the storm. Heard of it? Most private pilots have already cleared out before the worst hits. I’d assumed you would be smart enough to do the same.”
The door to the mini-mart opened, and Ginny held her breath as someone walked out. Thank goodness it wasn’t Tilda. If it had been, she’d have spotted them. The fear that gripped her was her own personal storm surge, and she had to make a decision. Quickly.
Her cell rang. She saw it was her father again and she turned it to Silent. She had no time to think about him at the moment. “Look, Tilda is inside the store. She can’t hear us arguing about this. It’s confusing enough being a fourteen-year-old. Please, I’m begging you not to say anything that will upset her. She’s completely innocent in all of this.”
Parker’s nostrils flared as he pressed his lips together. “You really think I’m that cruel?”
Shame joined the mix of emotions causing her turmoil. “No. I don’t.”
“Although she’s going to ask at some point. You know that, right?”
Trapped, panicked and knowing Tilda would be out any second, Ginny looked at Parker, making sure she met his gaze squarely. “Look, I’ll tell you everything, all right? Just not here.”
“How do I know you’re not going to make a run for it?”
“Oh, please. There’s no chance of running anywhere with this traffic. Why don’t you meet me at my place in an hour. I’m going to drop Tilda off at her friend’s house, at least until the storm gets closer. That should leave us enough time to talk.”
“I don’t know why I’m even considering believing you. It’s not as if you’ve given me reason to. But fine. Just know, I’m not going anywhere until you tell me the truth. All of it.”
“I will. Not for your benefit, I assure you. But I won’t let Tilda be hurt. Not for anyone or anything. Now, please, go before she sees you.”
He hesitated for a second as if he had more to say, but then he got back into the Jeep and backed out with the speed and finesse of a stunt driver. He’d just gotten on the road when Tilda walked out with a large plastic bag in one hand and Ginny’s coffee in the other.
“Was that Parker?”
There was no use prevaricating. Ginny nodded. “He wanted to make sure we were okay.”
After tossing the bag onto the floorboard of the passenger side, Tilda made what Ginny thought might be an attempt at a Victorian swoon.
“So romantic,” she said. “Chasing us down like that. He must really like you.”
“It wasn’t like that,” Ginny said, although she couldn’t offer an alternate explanation.
“Seriously, Mom. You shouldn’t be leaving with me for a few days away. He seems like a really nice guy, and honestly, it’s time you had a life of your own. You’re not getting any younger.”
Ginny wanted to cry. Instead, she made a face at her daughter which she hoped looked cynical and mother-like before she got into the car.
Tilda got in beside her and handed the coffee over.
“I’ll have you know I’m going to grant you a reprieve for the day, unless the weather changes drastically. First, I’ll call Kaley’s mom, and if it’s okay, I’ll drop you off at their place.”
“Oh, does this mean you and Parker are gonna—” Tilda made kissing sounds.
“No. We’re going to have a talk. Despite what you think it has nothing to do with romance. He wants to speak to me about Meg.”
Tilda settled, looking a bit chastened. Then she pulled out a bag of jelly bean sours and stared out the windshield.
* * *
NO WAY WAS Parker taking her word that she’d meet him at her house. He followed discreetly behind her. And if she noticed him, too bad. He wouldn’t apologize. This was too important.
They drove to a neig
hborhood bordering Waverly Hills that had some of the most ridiculous looking homes. They were all meant to appear nautical or just Cape-Cod-like, a somewhat subdued version of the Newport cottage scene. But most of them fell short and sat on the wrong side of the street to enjoy an ocean view. He was surprised to see Ginny turn onto the gated driveway of a good-sized home that could’ve been attractive but crossed the line into ostentatious.
He pulled to the side of the road, wishing there was more shade or at least a spot where he could linger before the neighborhood security forces swooped down on him. But a few minutes later, she came out the other side of the circular drive, and all he had to do was wait to see which way she turned. Left if he hadn’t lost his ability to find true north.
Left it was, and the closer they got to Ginny’s, the closer he got to her car. It was a nice car, a Subaru, but nothing extravagant. He imagined she was more interested in the safety features than the leather seats. She pulled into her garage, and he parked in the driveway, glad to see no sign of Lee and all the windows prepared for whatever might come.
She let him in the front door quickly, then led him to the living room where she sat in an elegant wing chair while he took a seat on the couch across from her. She didn’t offer him a coffee or anything else. She simply stared at him, looking as if she wanted to be anywhere else.
“First, Tilda isn’t your child. Honestly. She’s not.”
Instantly the hackles he’d thought he had under control rose and the slow simmer in his gut turned up to medium high. She’d better start talking soon because once his thermostat ratcheted up to boiling, it wasn’t going to be pretty.
“A month after I started Juilliard, Meg showed up at my off-campus apartment. I lived there by myself so I was able to practice long hours on my piano without disturbing a roommate.” Ginny looked down at her hands and stopped rubbing them together. After a deep breath she met his gaze again. “Meg wasn’t alone.”
Parker kept his expression neutral. She’d brought a guy with her? So?
“Bundled in a blanket underneath her coat, she had a one-week-old baby. I hadn’t even known she was pregnant, but I had a good idea who the father was.”
Parker leaned in, his elbows on his knees, his heart rate elevating rapidly.
“She begged me to find the child a good home. And she made me promise not to tell anyone, including you and your mother, even if I could have found you.”
“What the hell?”
“She said her boyfriend had ordered her to have an abortion, and if he ever found out she’d lied about not having one, it would be bad. For both her and the baby.”
“Who was this guy? Was he the same one she’d gone to Florida with?”
“Yes, I’m pretty sure. Meg didn’t tell me too much about him. Other than that he was going to be someone important someday. And rich. His boss had taken notice of him, and he was rising up the ranks quickly.”
The ranks? Yeah, that didn’t sound unsavory at all. “Doing what?”
“I’m not sure, but I got the impression it was something sleazy.” Ginny wet her lower lip, and despite all he was hearing, the shocks reverberating down his spine, he couldn’t help watching.
When she jolted up, he thought she would kick him out for staring at her lips, but all she said was, “I’ve got to have something to drink. My mouth is as dry as the Sahara. You want anything?”
He nodded but didn’t move to join her. “Water’s fine.”
She hurried into the kitchen, leaving him alone to ponder who this mystery man was and what could be so dangerous about him that fear would have prompted Meg to abandon her baby. He sure hoped the guy wasn’t involved with the mob. Or worse, a drug cartel.
Ginny returned, her steps quick, handed him a large tumbler filled with ice cubes and water and sat down with one of her own. She’d already downed a good portion of it, and suddenly he needed to do the same.
“You said his name was Danny.”
“Right. I knew that from before.” She took another quick sip. “Oh, I remember now. Meg had mentioned something about him being connected or wanting to be connected. I thought she may have meant he was working with the Mafia, but I don’t think they exist anymore, do they?”
“I’m sure the new generation is around in some form or another.”
Ginny nodded grimly. “She said he dressed well. Mostly tailored clothes, and he’d started taking her to fancy dinners and to meetings in extravagant hotels. She was wearing designer clothes herself. But for all I know I’m completely off the mark with that Mafia business. What I am sure of is that something had changed—she was more frightened than impressed with him when she found me at Juilliard.” Ginny’s brow furrowed. “I mean, when she first told me about him, she was excited about how he was on his way up the ladder. But by the time she had the baby, she didn’t want her to be his kid. Or around him.”
“She’d obviously gotten away from him to take the baby to you. Why didn’t she keep going? Run?”
“Where to? She was afraid she’d already told him too much about me. You guys were in the wind. She thought her father had run off with another woman. Besides, it wasn’t as though he’d been holding her captive. He’d been away on business and thought she’d gone to get the abortion.”
“She could have found us somehow.”
“Parker. Think when that was. How scared she must have been. How bad it would have turned out if this guy found out about her family and used that to keep her in line.”
Parker stared daggers.
“Look, please understand all of this speculation is in retrospect. I was a kid too at the time. I asked her to go to the police and she just laughed. Now I understand she was probably right not to.”
“Yeah, but—”
“Let me finish.” Ginny stood, and paced behind the chair, back and forth, rubbing her hands again, not looking his way. “She asked me to find a home for her baby.”
“You said that already.”
After a quick glare she regained her stride. “She wanted to make sure he could never find a way to get to Tilda. Or to me. But I didn’t exactly follow her wishes to the letter.”
“What do you mean?”
“It was overwhelming, her showing up like that with a child. A baby girl. She hadn’t named her yet. A week she’d had that infant, and she’d only called her sweetie. I said I’d help, but it wasn’t a simple matter. I couldn’t go to my father because he’d have put the child in the welfare system before letting me think it through. I couldn’t let the school find out about Tilda because everyone there knew I hadn’t been pregnant. They’d have questions and would probably report me to the authorities. So I took some money out of the trust fund set up by my mother’s family, and got Tilda what she needed, including a reliable babysitter.
“I still had to practice long hours and keep up with my studies. But every day, I fell a little more in love with her. I wrote her a lullaby,” she said, with a little smile and an air of wistfulness that Parker tried to process. “I taped it. It helped her fall asleep. Then I started skipping school to make sure she had her checkups and vaccinations. It was too easy to forget she wasn’t actually mine.”
“Meg’s daughter.”
Ginny had stopped pacing; he wasn’t sure when. But when he looked into her eyes, he could see she’d been crying. Tears were still running down her cheeks.
“Did Juilliard kick you out?”
“No. I left as soon as I could. I had to make sure people would believe she was mine. I brought her to Temptation Bay and moved back home.”
“Your father?”
“Was filled with rage. At me. At Tilda.”
Parker shot up from the couch.
“He never hurt either of us. Not physically. But after trying to bribe me, browbeat me, threaten me, he realized I wasn’t going to change my mind. So he left. I had the t
rust fund, which helped a lot in the beginning, but it wasn’t enough to keep us going.”
“Didn’t your dad wonder about the pregnancy? Did you have a boyfriend at the time?”
“I made one up. It was perfect because I used the excuse that I was going with ‘Caleb’ to spend Christmas with his family, which meant my dad hadn’t seen me for months by the time I came home with Tilda.”
“So he bought the story that you’d gotten pregnant and hidden it.”
Ginny nodded. “I think he must’ve checked and seen that I’d drawn money from my trust fund, which supported my story. Anyway, he wouldn’t have imagined I’d lie about something like that.”
Despite still being pissed at Ginny, Parker would’ve liked to have a word or two with her worthless father. “So he just walked out...”
“We’ve been estranged ever since. He feels as though I didn’t just betray him but my mother, as well. After a while, I began to understand that I was supposed to follow in her footsteps. He wanted me to be just like her, but for me, when it came to choosing between the piano and Tilda, there was no contest.”
“I’m sorry, but I still don’t understand something. How could Meg have met someone like...Danny?”
“I think it was at Grand Central, right after she’d gotten off her train. She’d looked lost and Danny had swooped right in. He was good-looking and charming, and he spent money on her.”
“That’s it? Looks and money?”
“Competition had a lot to do with it too. It wasn’t easy for her at Roger Williams. The top tier could be brutal to everyone who wasn’t one of them, and Meg felt that deeply.”
“Felt what, exactly?”
“That she was one of the have-nots. I think that’s why she wanted to fit in with me and my friends. I’d never been in the running to hang out with the really wealthy crowd, but then there was Cricket whose father is a popular local surfer with roots in the fishing community, and Jade, whose family are fish people, as well. Even Harlow was more like me, on the lower end of the financial spectrum. None of us liked the rich kids.”
