“That is the truth. That is what the MacAllister family is going to be told.”
“Dear heaven,” Kara whispered.
Margaret drew a shuddering breath as she struggled against fresh tears.
An oppressive silence fell over the room as Andrew and Robert stared directly into each other’s eyes. MacAllister eyes meeting MacAllister eyes.
“Andrew,” Robert said quietly, breaking the silence, “how old are you? When is your birthday?”
“What?” Andrew said, obviously confused by the questions.
“When were you born?” Robert said.
“Why?” Andrew said.
“Andrew, please,” Kara said. “Please answer the questions. They’re obviously important somehow. I don’t understand why, either, but…please? How old are you? When is your birthday?”
Andrew stared down at the floor for a long moment, then looked at Robert again.
“I can’t see the point in this but…all right. I’ll be forty years old on April twenty-ninth.”
Robert sighed deeply and nodded. “And there lies the truth.”
“What do you mean?” Andrew said.
“Oh, don’t you see?” Robert said. “We left that camp in early August. Sally, herself, couldn’t have known that she was pregnant then, let alone having told me. Andrew, I didn’t know that your mother was carrying my child. I didn’t know that you even existed until you came to that hotel on New Year’s Eve.”
Andrew reached out blindly behind him until his hand connected with a chair. He pulled it forward and sank onto it heavily, his mind racing.
“I didn’t laugh at the end of that summer, Andrew,” Robert said. “I wept. I cried tears of heartbreak and disillusionment and felt a deep sense of betrayal. I ran into the woods, smashed my fist into a tree and cried until there were no more tears within me to shed.
“For months after I got home I brooded, refused to date, wanted no part of any social life. Time began to heal my wounds, and then I met Margaret. I pushed the memory of Sally Malone into a dusty corner of my mind, was finally able to view what had happened as a bitter lesson learned and moved forward with my life. I came to understand, because of Margaret, what love really was.”
Andrew rested his elbows on his knees and dragged both hands down his face. He straightened again and looked at Robert.
“This doesn’t make sense,” he said, his voice echoing with total fatigue. “You’re right, you couldn’t have known that my mother was pregnant when you left that camp. But I’ve always believed that you abandoned her when she told you she was carrying your child and…” He shook his head. “I just don’t understand this.”
“Andrew,” Margaret said gently, “did your mother tell you that Robert walked away from her when she discovered she was pregnant? Did Sally Malone tell you that?”
Andrew turned his head to look at Margaret, then narrowed his eyes.
“No,” he said slowly. “No, Clara, my aunt, was the one who gave me the facts of that summer. It was Clara. All my mother ever said was that she had loved deeply but hadn’t been loved in return.
“She said there was no purpose in my knowing who my father was, and I never asked. Clara finally revealed my father’s identity after seeing the photograph in the newspaper and the story about the MacAllister reunion.”
“Andrew,” Robert said, “it was Clara, not Sally, who told me that your mother had been using me to gain sexual experience to please her older lover at home. I didn’t hear it from Sally, nor did I ever see her again after Clara delivered her news. She said that Sally didn’t care to go through a messy emotional scene with me.”
“Oh, my God,” Kara said. “Clara lied to you, Uncle Robert, and no doubt lied to Sally, as well, about your having used her. Why would she do such a horrible thing to her own sister? What kind of person would do that?”
Andrew looked up at the ceiling and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly.
“A jealous person,” he said, his voice raspy with emotion. “A person who couldn’t stand to see her younger sister so happy, so complete, while she herself had no one who loved her.
“A person who has since become an alcoholic who marries men, then divorces them when they can’t fill the void within her, the need to have someone make her happy because she doesn’t know how to do it for herself.
“A person who realized that long-ago summer that her sister had found someone who loved her, someone who made it very clear that Sally Malone mattered.
“Oh, yeah, I intended to force you to admit to your family that you had gotten a young innocent girl pregnant, then abandoned her, Robert. But what was of the utmost importance to me, what I wanted for my mother, was to hear you say that Sally Malone mattered.”
“Sally mattered,” Robert said quietly. “I now realize that she was everything I believed her to be. Margaret, my dear, this doesn’t diminish my love for you in the slightest, I hope you know that.”
“I do,” Margaret said. “No one should forget the first time they fell in love. It’s special, opens the door of your heart to new feelings and depths of emotion. It may not be forever love, but that person is important and does, indeed, matter.”
Kara’s heart seemed to skip a beat as Margaret’s words echoed in her mind.
No one should forget the first time they fell in love.
She stared at Andrew, her heart settling into a rapid tempo.
No, she thought frantically. She was not falling in love with Andrew Malone. She knew she would never forget him after he was gone, but that didn’t mean…No!
“Andrew,” Robert said, bringing Kara from her upsetting thoughts, “I’m sorry, so very sorry, that Sally was alone during her pregnancy and all the years that she raised you. I don’t know what to say to you except that I am so very very sorry.”
“It wasn’t your fault,” Andrew said, shaking his head. “It was Clara’s. I know that now. I’m the one who is apologizing. I never should have come to Ventura, gone to that party and…I’m asking you to forgive me for what I did to you and your family.” He got to his feet. “I’ll understand if you can’t forgive me, though.”
Andrew cleared his throat as his emotions began to overcome him.
“I’ll…I’ll be leaving Ventura tonight,” he went on, his voice husky. “I won’t cause you, or the other MacAllisters, any more trouble. Maybe in time you’ll be able to forget that I ever intruded in your lives.”
No! Kara’s mind screamed. Andrew couldn’t leave. Not yet. Oh, please, not yet. Yes, she knew he would go, knew he would leave her, but not yet…please.
Andrew extended his right hand toward Robert.
“Goodbye, sir,” Andrew said.
Robert clasped Andrew’s hand with both of his. “Andrew, please, wait a minute. Let’s talk about this.”
“There’s nothing more to say,” he said, easing his hand free of Robert’s.
Margaret got to her feet. “I beg your pardon, young man, but there is a great deal more to be said. Now, you sit back down in that chair and listen.”
Andrew opened his mouth to retort, blinked, then sat back in the chair with a thud.
“That’s better,” Margaret said, lifting her chin. “I don’t want to hear any more of this nonsense about us forgetting that you were here, that you exist. You are my husband’s son. Whether you like it or not, you are a MacAllister.
“That doesn’t take one thing away from Sally Malone or the wonderful mother you say that she was, but the fact remains that Robert is your father, and MacAllister blood runs in your veins every bit as much as Malone blood does.”
“But—”
“I have the floor, young man,” Margaret said.
“Yes, ma’am,” Andrew said, then shook his head slightly as he realized he felt about ten years old.
Robert chuckled. “Thank you, Margaret. I’ll speak for myself now.”
“You’re welcome, dear,” Margaret said, then settled back in her chair.
Kara
snapped her mouth closed as she realized it had dropped open at Margaret’s outburst and Andrew’s compliance with her aunt’s orders.
“I’m going to ask something of you, Andrew,” Robert said. “I don’t have the right to do this, I haven’t earned a place in your life, but I’m going to make this request, anyway.
“Please stay on in Ventura for a while. Give me a chance to get to know you, talk with you, share with you. I missed out on nearly forty years of your life, Andrew. Please give me an opportunity to share at least some of your future.”
Andrew stared at Robert for a long moment before he spoke.
“You’d be running the risk of doing irreparable harm to the MacAllister family,” Andrew said. “You can’t expect all of them to accept me with no resentment, no question. Your family might be split into camps, and I won’t be the cause of that. I’ve done enough damage already.”
“Let me worry about the remainder of the MacAllisters,” Robert said.
“I don’t know,” Andrew said, shaking his head. “I’m already dealing with enough guilt as it is. I’ll have to think about this. I have a business to run in Santa Maria, and I need to get up there. I can’t promise you that I’ll be back.”
“But you aren’t saying that you definitely won’t return, are you?” Robert said.
“No, I’m not saying that,” Andrew said. “I need some time to think this through. There are, in fact, a great many things I have to get settled in my mind, beginning with what Clara did all those years ago.”
Robert nodded. “I understand.” He paused. “You have nothing to feel guilty about, Andrew. You didn’t cause me to be in this bed—I did. I had been ignoring the signals from my heart, pretending nothing was wrong with me.
“Granted, your appearance at the party triggered my heart attack, but if I had gone on as I was, I might not have survived the attack that was inevitable later. Don’t beat yourself up with guilt, because it’s very misplaced.”
“Thank you for that,” Andrew said, getting to his feet. “I’ve got to go.”
“I’ll be hoping, praying, that you’ll return,” Robert said, his voice choked with emotion, “son.”
“No one…no one has ever called me that,” Andrew said, then shook his head as an achy sensation closed his throat, making further speech impossible.
“It’s long overdue,” Margaret said, smiling at Andrew through her tears. “You have many titles that belong to you, Andrew. You’re a son, a brother, an uncle, a cousin, on the list goes. You are a MacAllister.”
Andrew nodded jerkily, then turned and strode from the room.
Kara got to her feet. “I have to go to him,” she said, her voice thick with tears. “You understand, don’t you? I have to. Andrew must be so confused, so…And he’s all alone and—”
“Go,” Robert said. “Quickly.”
“Yes, dear,” Margaret said. “Hurry.”
Kara rushed from the room.
Margaret stood and leaned over the bed to kiss Robert on the forehead.
“I love you, Robert MacAllister,” she said, “and I will until the day I no longer breathe. You are my life, my darling. Just think—after all these years you’ve just given me another handsome son.”
“Andrew may not choose to own that title,” Robert said, reaching for Margaret’s hand.
“Give him some time,” she said. “Andrew has a great deal to make sense of right now, including, I’m beginning to believe, his feelings for our Kara.”
“What if he never comes back, Margaret?”
“Don’t be silly, dear. Andrew is a MacAllister. He’ll do the right thing in the end, because MacAllisters always do.”
When Kara emerged from her uncle’s room, she saw Andrew standing by the elevators farther down the hallway. She resisted the urge to call out to him, years of training keeping her from yelling in the hospital. She hurried toward him.
The doors swished open and Andrew started to enter the elevator, only to hesitate and look back in the direction he had come from. When he saw Kara, he started toward her. When they met, he gripped her shoulders and looked directly into her eyes.
“I couldn’t get into that elevator, Kara,” he said, his voice husky, “because I realized I couldn’t go without seeing you, saying goodbye.”
“Thank you for that,” she said, tears misting her eyes. “Oh, Andrew, please don’t leave for Santa Maria tonight. You’re exhausted and upset and…you shouldn’t be driving when you’re like this. Can’t you wait until morning to make the trip?”
“You’re right,” Andrew said with a weary sigh. “I’m in no shape to be on the road. I…I just had to get out of your uncle’s room. The walls were closing in on me, seeming to crush me, smother me. There’s so much I have to come to grips with.” He shook his head. “Hell, I’m a wreck, I really am.”
“With just cause,” Kara said, smiling as she blinked back her tears. “I think we’re all on mental overload at the moment. Would you…would you like to come to my apartment and relax? I could make us dinner.”
“I wouldn’t be very good company, Kara.”
“You don’t have to carry on a chipper conversation,” she said. “But if you’d rather be alone, I understand.”
“There’s no one I’d rather be with tonight than you, Kara,” Andrew said. “If you can put up with my gloomy mood, I’d like very much to go to your apartment with you.”
“It’s settled, then,” she said. “You can follow me over in your vehicle. Okay?”
“Sure. And thank you. You seem to know what I need before I do at times. Is that the doctor in you?”
“No, it’s…” Kara hesitated, then lifted her chin. “It’s the woman.”
Andrew nodded slowly, then they returned to the elevator, where he pressed the button once again. They didn’t speak as they rode down to the lobby, but Andrew slipped an arm around Kara’s shoulders and tucked her close to his side. He kept her there as they stepped out into the busy main floor of the hospital.
“Get a picture of this,” a voice said.
A flash went off and both Kara and Andrew jerked and stopped walking. Andrew dropped his arm to his side.
“Nice photograph,” a man said. “Hey, folks, Barry Folger, Ventura Now. This is very interesting. Dr. Kara MacAllister and Andrew Malone were seen together—very together—leaving the hospital where Robert MacAllister lies near death after a heart attack after being confronted by Malone, who claims to be Robert’s son. Do you two have any comment for the citizens of Ventura and beyond?”
Andrew stepped forward, grabbed the front of the reporter’s shirt and nearly lifted the man off his feet.
“Get a shot of this, too,” the reporter called over his shoulder. “If he decks me, don’t miss it. So much the better.”
“Ah, hell.” Andrew released the man, managing to shove him backward at the same time.
The reporter staggered, steadied himself, then grinned. “Temper, temper, Malone. You wouldn’t want your long-lost daddy to hear that you’re in jail on charges of assault, would you?”
Andrew took a step in the direction of the man, but Kara grabbed Andrew’s arm.
“Andrew, don’t,” she said. “He’s not worth it. Come on, let’s get out of here.”
“You print that picture and I’ll…” Andrew started, a muscle ticking in his jaw.
“You’ll what?” Folger said. “Sue me? Pictures don’t lie and I have freedom of the press on my side. I’ve got a hot scoop here about you two, and I intend to use it. I knew that hanging around this place long enough would pay off. And it did—big time.”
“You sorry son of a—”
“Andrew, no,” Kara said, tightening her hold on his arm. “Please.”
Andrew struggled to rein in his raging temper, then finally looked at Kara and nodded. He pushed past the still-grinning reporter, and he and Kara left the hospital through the front doors.
Outside Andrew stopped, planted his hands on his hips and stared up at th
e sky, still scrambling for emotional control.
“I’ve got to get out of this town,” he said, his voice low and flat and echoing with fatigue. “All I do is cause problems, one after the next. Now I’ve made you tabloid news, Kara. Damn it, I’ve hurt you, too, just by being here.”
“No, don’t say that,” she said. “I could have put distance between us before we got out of the elevator, but I didn’t. Whatever ramifications there are from that picture and the story that will accompany it will be as much my fault as yours. We’re in this together. We’ll weather whatever storm that comes from that ugly man’s actions.”
“I won’t even be here when that story hits the newsstands,” Andrew said, meeting her gaze. “I will have left you to face that mess alone. I can’t do that. It isn’t fair to you. I’ll stay on in Ventura and…No, I can’t. I’ve got a business in Santa Maria that I’ve neglected, that needs my attention. I…”
Andrew shook his head. “This is the last straw. Look what I’ve done to you. You. You mean so damn much to me, are so important and special…Ah, hell, forget it. I’m not making any sense. I don’t understand what I’m feeling, what’s happening between us, let alone how to explain it to you.”
“You’re not alone in that confusion, Andrew,” Kara said quietly. “You’re very important to me, too, but it’s still overwhelming and frightening at times. Please, let’s just forget all this for now. We’ll have some dinner, relax, talk about the weather or whatever.”
Andrew managed to produce a small smile. “There you go. We’ll have an in-depth discussion on global warming or some such thing. Let’s get out of here before that jerk of a reporter decides to follow us. The next few hours are ours. No one else’s—just ours.”
“Yes.”
“I’ll meet you at your place,” he said, then started off across the parking lot.
The next few hours are ours, Kara’s mind echoed as she watched Andrew stride away. And then? Andrew would be leaving, going back to Santa Maria.
The Baby Bet: His Secret Son (The Baby Bet #5) Page 14
