Family Secrets: Books 5-8

by Virginia Kantra

  She left him and strode to the door. Halfway there, she realized she was furious. Yes, shed made her own bed with her family, and shed lain in it, too. Shed determined what everyone thought of her by her own behavior. But shed done it to fight back. Against them. Against this. She wondered if Drew was here, too. Marcus? Had they all ganged up on her? Were they here to drag her off to Conover Pointe and keep her under lock and key so she couldnt get away?

  She slammed through the front door and felt Max come in behind her. He mothers voice came from the living room. Honey veered that way and was immediately besieged by hugs and kisses. They loved her, she thought. They just didnt love her enough to let go.

  This is a surprise, Mom. Hi, Daddy. She smacked her lips against their cheeks.

  Youre here. Youre in Georgetown, her mother said, relief palpable in her voice.

  Well, where did you think Then she remembered the runaway note she had left them in Brunhia. Im still going to run away. I just stopped at home to tidy things up first. She turned back to Max. This is who Im running away with.

  Stony silence fell over the room. Honey watched everyone looking at each other.

  I know you, her father said.

  Of course you know me Honey broke off. He wasnt looking at her. He was looking at Max. She pivoted on her heel to glance at Max as well. You know each other?

  Her father came forward fast and urgently, his hand held out to Max. Pleased to make your acquaintance. He pumped Maxs hand hard.

  Somehow this feltbad, Honey thought. She looked at her mother. For one of the few times in her life, Sarah Evans seemed poleaxed.

  Honey, you didnt tell us, she said.

  Tell you what?

  I was going to tell you last night, Max said to her.

  You know, she said huffily, weve got a lot of people here telling things to each other, or not telling them, and just for the record, Im lost.

  Her father looked at her. Youve been seeing Maxwell Strong?

  Maxwell what?

  It came to her slowly. They were all staring at her. And the name meant something to her. Of course, it did. But she had to reach for it. She liked movies more than reading. She hadnt even known Zach Ingram had been abducted until shed gone to that library.

  Maxwell Strong.

  Billionaire Maxwell Strong.

  Multi-billionaire Maxwell Strong.

  Real estate developer. Things inside her exploded.

  She veered back to him. Hammers and nails?

  Lord, Honor, your voice, her mother chastised.

  Honey whirled to her. Stay out of this. You just stay out of this.

  Honey, for Gods sake, Max said. I just needed some time.

  She went at him, her claws bared. Her father caught her from behind.

  We need to speak quietly and concisely here, Charles Evans said.

  Screw concise, Honey hissed.

  Please, lets just sit down, her mother fretted. We need to make sense of this.

  I already have. Honey jerked away from her father. She had so much to say. So much to say to all of them. It was pounding inside her. She wanted to scream, yell, be all the things her mother hated. But there was enough Evans in her that she took a deep breath instead. Im leaving now. But dont any of you She broke off and spun to Max. Dont any of you dare to follow me.

  Honor, her father began.

  I havent been Honor since I was thirteen! Her voice was rising again, she thought. And damn it, Im not Honey either.

  Darling, youre making no sense, her mother said. We came here to find you, to learn whats troubled you so that youd want to run away.

  Then Ill tell you. She chugged in more air. Im not you. Im not Drew and Im not Marcus. Perfection leaves me cold. I hate politics and Iand I She trailed off, feeling helpless. How to say it? I was miserable. I was bam-bamming and rat-tatting, and I was heading down, and it wasnt about sex at all. It was me!

  Honor, please speak English, her father said.

  Honey gripped her head in her hands. I dont want to have to fight back anymore. I just want to be left alone to do what I do best. And I didnt even know what that might be until tonight. Maybe she wasnt making sense, she realized. They were all looking at her, stupefied. She glanced over her shoulder at Max again. You promised me a new start but you lied. You lied about who you are and what you had to offer me. I thought you had nothing to offer me but yourself and that was exactly what I needed. She jerked around fully and headed for the door.

  With nothing. No clean underwear. Just the keys she snatched out of Maxs hand as she passed him, and the credit cards in the purse she still clutched in her hand. Honey fled.

  It took Max a long time to recover after she bolted out the door. He didnt know what to say first. Then words came to him. I love her.

  Charles Evans remained stone-faced. Sarah Evans began fanning herself before she sank down onto the sofa. This is an utter scene.

  Max was gathering himself. Maybe I can explain.

  Would you like a drink? Charles asked.

  He almost laughed. Upper-crust and polite to the end. Sometime, someday again, hed appreciate that. Id love one.

  Charles poured. Whiskey for himself and Max, a sherry for his wife. Somehow, Max thought, they ended up seated across from each other in the living room as though a mini-tornado had not just whipped in and out.

  I love her, he said again. Now, Max thought, now was the time to come up with his official press release for his retirement. This could be a dry run. Ive had an excellent go at things.

  Sarah nodded. One might say so, Charles agreed.

  Then my dad died.

  Sarah began looking around for something with which to dab her eyes. Im sorry. This is all so shocking.

  Max knocked back the shot of whiskey in one gulp and it spread through him, warm. They havent really found me yetthe press, my associates. But theyre getting closer. And Im ready. Ive been ready since my father died. I just didnt know it. I needed your daughter to show me. I thought I was courageous slinking off in the night. She showed me the way in the light of day.

  Charles nodded. Sarah looked teary-eyed again.

  Shes sharp as a tack, Max said. Shes clever and shes wily, and shes as bright as the sun and as dark as a new moon, and no one knows that. No one knows it because you keep pushing her intointoan ivory tower. And she keeps clamoring to get out and no one ever hears her over her shouting. Shes not like any of us. She has to go her own way.

  Are you going to marry her? Sarah asked hopefully.

  And Max understood, in that moment, some of Honeys frustration. Im going to find her, he said quietly, standing again and putting his glass down on the nearest table. Which may be a little like traveling after a whirling dervish.

  Shell go home now, Charles said.

  Max looked at him, wondering if the man had suddenly gone insightful or if he had lost his mind. She just blasted out of home, he reminded him.

 
No. Home. She loves the horses. And were here and she doesnt want to see us. So shell go home.

  Sarah stood, suddenly assertive. Conover Pointe. Its on the eastern shore. She likes you. You can talk sense into her.

  More than likely, Max thought, hed just aid and abet herassuming she ever spoke to him again. He started for the door, then he paused. He struggled with himself. At first it was a battle, viciously waged. More betrayal on one side, honesty on the other. But he couldnt lose her. Do either of you happen to know why someone would be stalking her with a gun and why she would meet with a man at the Marriott about it? he asked.

  They looked dumbfounded, he thought. So much for enlightenment.

  Never mind, he said, and headed out the door.

  No wheels, he thought, no boat. He turned about again and went inside. On second thought, he said to Charles and Sarah Evans, I need directions and I need a car.

  She had no idea where she was going, Honey thought, and she didnt care. If he had to be a lie, why did he have to come back and find her again?

  Shed been all right when she left Brunhia. Not good, not by a long shot, but all right. Then hed come blasting out of nowhere to tackle that guy in the park. Why had he followed her home if it had all been lies?

  The sensible thing to do now would be to find a map and head straight for Lacrosse, Kansas. But God, she was so bone-tired.

  Her parents were in Georgetown. Conover Pointe would be safe at least until tomorrow. They could return at any time, but at least she had tonight. Maybe that was all she needed.

  She was bleeding inside. Love sucked. Especially when you loved a liar.

  Charles looked at Sarah again when they were alone. She sat neatly on the sofa, hands tucked in her lap. Shed reclaimed some of her serenity. That serenity had not filtered down to their only daughter.

  Maxwell Strong? She breathed it, still amazed.

  Honor has always gone for the outer limits.

  Yes.

  I think hell find her.

  If she isnt at home, he certainly has the financial wherewithal to track her down.

  It was everything theyd ever wanted for her, Charles thought. A good marriage to a man who could provide for her. But yet, thinking that, he felt as though he was cheating her somehow. Are we absolutely certain we got the right baby out of the nursery? he asked.

  She cracked a smile. I have never been sure of that.

  Shes the brightest star.

  Of all our children? Yes, she is.

  Sarah, Im very concerned about Maxwells comment regarding guns and stalkers and meeting men in hotel bars.

  Do you think it has something to do with Marcuss bizarre difficulties?

  I do. He went to the phone to call his youngest son. He should be back in the States by now. There was more going on there than what that young man was telling them.

  Honey smelled the horses when she was halfway down the long drive to the coast. It was one of those unique smells that could either turn a person totally off or bring them peace. It had always brought her peace.

  Shed grown up here. In the mornings, after the maid had made bacon or ham and eggs, some atrociously cholesterol-laden breakfast, Honey had always snagged carrots from the fridge and gone out to the barn. Before school, before anything, because of the smell. The hay had almost a sweet edge. The wood shavings that they bedded the stalls with had the ripe cut of cedar. Bins of sweet feed for the lactating mares and the breeding stallions carried the aroma of molasses. And sure, that thing underneath, the touch of manure, but all of it came together in an overriding aroma that meant peace to her.

  She didnt even go to the house when she made it home. She stopped the Jeep in front of the first barn. And when she strode in, it came to her. Here was the only place in twenty-three yearsbefore Max and Brunhiathat shed ever been real.

  That made her want to cry. So she did, but she made it into a stall first. She didnt know the mare inside. One of the new ones, she thought. Her father was always buying and selling them. This was a chestnut with a golden mane and tail who paused only a second in munching at her feed trough to observe Honeys intrusion.

  Just going to sit a minute, Honey told her, if thats okay with you.

  She could have sworn the mare nodded.

  Honey sat down against the stall wall. She drew her knees up. He lied to me. Thats the biggest thing. He lied to me. I feel like such an idiot! Do you know how much I worried about him not having any money? He probably thought I was stupid enough to buy the charade and I was.

  The mare looked at her, chewing oats, as though to say: Get real. If you had wanted to see the truth, you would have seen it. All the signs were there. You didnt want him to be Maxwell Strong because then hed be the kind of man your family wants for you.

  Yeah, yeah, I know in the beginning I said I was Elise and he said he was Joe. That doesnt bother me. We were justyou know, flirting then. But when you follow someone back to the States, that sort of takes it a notch or two above flirting.

  It takes it a notch or two above just running away, too, said the mare. Then she gave a friendly whinny to a stallion a couple of stalls down.

  Oh, please, Honey responded. It was more than sex. He believed in what I gave him and I just gave him myself.

  Did you? the mare asked. Then how come you didnt tell him who that sports jacket belonged to tonight? How come you didnt say, This is my dads? How come you didnt let him get that close to Honor Elise?

  She was starting to hate this horse, Honey thought. There were things I couldnt confide in him. I couldnt tell him the Marcus thing. That wasnt mine to tell.

  The mare stopped eating and folded her front legs to lay down with a big huff.

  Ah, Im boring you.

  The mare closed her eyes.

  Good point. Its late. Im tired. Ill sort this out tomorrow. She reached outside the stall for a horse blanket, then she lay down in the wood shavings with the mare. Shed deal with it all tomorrow, after her parents came home. Then shed have to run again. But for now she was where she had always needed to be.

  Honey woke in the morning to shouting. The mare was agitated enough that she almost stepped on her. Honey scrambled out from beneath the horse blanket and laid a hand on her long, glorious neck. Easy, babe, easy.

  When the horse was calm, Honey poked her nose out of the stall. And saw Max at the mouth of the barn. This is not a safe place for you to be right now!

  Youre a reasonable woman. Let me explain.

  You must be thinking of another lover you lied to. I am never reasonable. Ask anyone in my family.

  You need to listen to me, Honey.

  Give me one compelling reason. At least shed had the foresight to hole up somewhere with weapons. She let herself out of the stall and went to the feed room where she found a pitchfork. Im armed! Say whatever you have to say, then retreat before someone gets hurt!

  I love you! came Maxs voice.

  Her legs buckled. That
was certainly compelling. Liar!

  I couldnt tell you who I was at first because I didnt want to be him anymore!

  Oh, God, she thought, oh, God. Did he have to say something she understood so well? You are not reaching me at all!

  Liar!

  How could she laugh with so much emotion inside? That ticked her off enough that she let the pitchfork fly. She was gratified by another shout. Finally, she went to the barn door. Speak.

  You caught me when I was undercover. And by the time I wanted to tell you the truth, I was someone else. I wasnt Max anymore. You gave me myself back again. I didnt want to lose that.

  Damn it, she was not going to cry. Shed been away from that Brunhia water for a week now. That works.

  Im not going back to that, Honey. Im retiring. I dont want you to marry me. I want you to marry Joe.

  She understood. God help her, she understood. Youre paying for the gas.

  I can do that.

  She sighed and sat down suddenly in the barn alley. I need to stay mad at you. But the mare was right.

  He wasnt even going to touch that one, Max thought.

  You played me for an idiot, but I kept things from you as well.

  Maybe we both just needed to be somebody else for a while before we definitely decided to change our skins. And, he thought, their someone-elses matched perfectly. But there was still a big question mark. Honey, I really need to know about the guy at the Marriott and the gun. I asked you once, back on Brunhia, if firearms were going to enter into this running-away business, and you said no.

  Honey let her air out. Suddenly she was exhausted. But she found the energy to tell him. She was going to marry him, after all.

  She told him what Marcuss letter had said and the cracks that Hatch had filled in. She told him why shed gone to the Marriott. Hatch is as clean as they come. I think he wants Willard Croft as much as the gene-y babies do. Hes been keeping an eye out for the man for years and he knows something about him that hes willing to share. Ive got to tell Matt Tynan to meet with him. Except