“Your choice, whatever happens, please tell her she’s always welcome in our home. We have a guest room, and Daniel would love to know his grandmother. I’d like to get to know your mother. I won’t tell Danny about any of this until you see her.” JoAnna handed him an envelope with several of Daniel’s baby photographs enclosed.
“I’ll call you in the morning when I land.”
“We’ll be at church until eleven, and then I’ll have the cell phone on.”
“What if she doesn’t want to see me?”
“Than it’s her loss, and at least you tried to repair the damage Benjamin has caused to all of us. Beverly included.” A light knock on the door let him know his car was there. “Be careful and just be you. She’s your mother.”
He pulled her close in a hug that pushed the air out of her lungs. “I’ll call in the morning,” he whispered, leaving one last kiss on her lips. “Joey…”
“Go and find out, James. I need you back here Monday morning or all of this is a waste. I’ll clean this up before Daniel wakes and hide it.”
He gave her one last resigned smile and left her alone. JoAnna didn’t know whether to cry or laugh. What a mess, she decided, while storing the files back in the suitcases. Whatever happened when he found his mother had to be better than thinking she’d abandoned him for a rich lifestyle on the Italian and French coasts as Ben had told him.
Chapter Twelve
James sat outside his mother’s condominium apartment in his rented car. The enormity of what he was about to do finally overwhelmed him. He felt too much. Surely now wasn’t the time to deal with Beverly. And that was how he’d come to think of her, as Beverly, the woman who gave birth to him, not the mother he spent an amazing childhood with. His hands went clammy against the steering wheel, and he wiped them on his thighs. The rush to make the plane had left him off kilter, the last months had left him off kilter as well. This was just one more piece of the puzzle. He wanted to have Joey beside him for this confrontation.
James knew he had to do this for himself, and he’d live with the result. Sleep evaded him during the horrible plane ride. Instead his mind conjured up versions of the meeting with his mother. They ran the gambit from frail and sickly to brazen and hardened, with a cigarette hanging out of her mouth and large banana earrings. From the look of the complex she lived in, he could rule out the earrings.
He knew she owned her unit from the papers Joey had unearthed last night, or at least most of it now. She made a comfortable living by selling real estate, and there didn’t seem to be any men in her life supporting her. Not from the last investigators update.
Seven thirty was too early to confront anyone. Instead, James decided he’d find a diner and have breakfast. Then he’d come back and actually knock on her door. He pictured Joey giving him her “you’ve got to be kidding me look”, and forced himself to open the car door. Slowly he stood, stretching in the early morning. He took several deep breaths, the air heavy and humid so early in the morning. As he surveyed the neighborhood, it began to come awake around him. Newspapers were being retrieved, dogs were being walked, and the joggers were enjoying the muggy March air. James knew he was garnering looks from the neighbors and knew the time had come.
He strode purposefully to her door, not hesitant any longer. He pressed it lightly only once. The bark of a small dog came from inside her home, and he smiled. His mother had a dog. They’d always had animals when he was growing up, although it was widely known Benjamin didn’t think animals had a place in the home. Beverly had kept them sequestered on the rare visits Ben made to their house.
“Hush, Spike,” he heard her say, her voice still clear and distinct. “Who is it?” she asked, and he knew she was looking at him through the peep hole.
Her first impression of him would be distorted, as were their lives, so he figured it just. “Spike, sit,” he heard then listened to the chain being moved and several locks being released in turn.
Standing tall, he stared directly at the woman who opened the inner door, the screen misrepresenting her image. He said nothing; instead they simply stared at each other. James wondered what was going through her mind. Had she waited for this day all these years or was she going to send him away?
“Have I come at a bad time, Beverly?”
“That depends on why you’ve come, James.” For a protracted moment she waited then pushed the screen door open. “I was making coffee,” she added, walking down the hallway.
Beverly had known this day would come, but she still wasn’t ready for the reality of it. Her son was a man, grown up without her because she wasn’t strong enough to challenge Benjamin Montgomery. It was her most profound failing in her life. A chill ran through her, and she pushed it aside.
In the past years she’d made several small attempts to contact James with no response. Now he was here. She’d let him have his say and then decide if she approved of the man he’d become. Making the coffee gave her something to do other than stare at him. He looked so much like his father. Beverly pulled a breath, refusing to let her mind wander to James Senior.
He stalled in the hallway for several moments while the dog sized him up.
“He won’t hurt you, James.”
He also used the time to glance into her living area. Small but neat, the furniture was overstuffed, comfortable and inviting. Dark and light woods were mixed amongst the furniture. There were several large paintings in the room, one of them almost disturbing it was so dark and bleak against the rest of the light room. The hard wood floors were a light oak with several area rugs. The colors were a blend of soft green with touches of ivory and peach, very much like their old home in Oyster Bay. He’d spent his first sixteen years living in a home, not a dorm room or apartment but a real home, just like Joey was building for their son.
“I was trying to figure out what he is.” James realized his mouth was dry and his mind blank. His mother was still lovely.
“A dog, of course, just a little mixed.” She gave him a familiar smile, one he’d forgotten to miss. Warm and caring, she’d chosen the dog because he was ugly and probably unwanted.
“Mixed alright, he looks like a cross between a poodle and a hound dog.”
“There’s a bit of German Sheppard and St. Bernard!”
“I want to like him mainly because he’s so ugly.” James glanced up and regrouped, “I mean, not everybody would appreciate his big brown eyes.” He studied the dog a bit closer, laughing. “He’s cross-eyed too!” The laugh released some of the pent up anxiety he’d been holding in for far too long.
“Yes, it was those sad eyes that made me take him home from the shelter. He’s a good guard dog and companion and, surprisingly he doesn’t shed. Come inside, the coffee’s ready.” Her glance told him they’d stalled enough.
He still had pictures of her and his father, only they were buried away in some closet these past years. In his mind, he remembered her vividly, both good moods and bad. Her laugh had stayed with him. Occasionally he’d hear something similar and turn to look for her. He had to let those memories be what they were. His home had been loving and fun. His father worked too much, and his mother never missed a baseball or football game.
Holidays were always big deals, even the “Hallmark” ones, as Benjamin would call them. Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, even the presidents’ birthdays were acknowledged. Fourth of July was a big deal in their household, which was their annual summer party.
It seemed a lifetime away when they’d had those backyard BBQ’s with fireworks and volleyball in the pool. James rarely acknowledged holidays in any form. From Thanksgiving until the New Year, he hated all the decorations and holiday spirit that seemed to infect everyone but him.
Benjamin wasn’t one to get involved with them. He saw holidays as a forced, paid day off for his workers. In fact, James knew it royally pissed him off. A lot of things annoyed Ben. You learned what they were and never brought them up. Now, here in his mother’s home, it all came rushing back, th
e laughter and love. It had been fun, and he missed it.
She’d been setting up the coffee, having just gotten back from walking Spike. Beverly knew one day she’d see her son again but knew it would be when he was ready or Benjamin finally died. It didn’t hurt her conscience to think in those terms. He’d wronged her horribly and had too much clout to go up against. No respectable lawyer would argue her side once they realized the other side was Benjamin of Montgomery Industries.
Her son had turned out well, had his father’s build and looked like him, but he had her coloring and brown eyes. Beverly busied herself getting the coffee mugs out and taking the sugar bowl from an upper cabinet. She didn’t know if James used it. There was a lot about James she didn’t know. First on her agenda was to find out what specifically and why today. She’d promised herself all these years if she ever saw him again she wouldn’t be angry with him and she’d control her anger with Ben. But the reality of having her son standing in the doorway of her sunny little kitchen was a bit overwhelming for early on a Sunday morning, especially with no warning.
“You’ve come to me, where do you want to start?” She stared at the coffee as it dripped into the pot. “I’ll be as honest as I can with you, I hope you can handle direct. I no longer feel the need to censor my feelings or thoughts”. Now he was back in her life, and she was aching to touch him, to hold him, but she didn’t. “I almost went to hug you at the door and I realized I’m a stranger to you.”
James watched her move easily around the space, efficient, yet her hands shook as she pulled down the sugar bowl. She was as nervous as he was, he realized.
“At least you didn’t shut the door in my face.” Beverly had aged well, considering what the last years of her life must have been like. Her hair was fashionably styled in a brunette layered cut. He noticed she had a lot of grey sprinkled amongst the brown yet hadn’t colored over them. At this hour she wore a tee shirt the color of coral with a long-sleeved over blouse in a vivid coral and white print. She had on white jeans and sandals. Her makeup was nil, a bit of color to her lips, yet her complexion was flawless.
Beverly motioned with her hand to take a seat at the round table overlooking the golf course just beyond her small back yard. They both became very involved with fixing their coffee.
“Am I interrupting plans?” he asked, his voice raw with emotion.
“Nothing I can’t reschedule.” Her tone was blunt, and she sat back.
“You look well,” he said, then shook his head. “Would you listen to me? I feel like I’m talking to a total stranger.”
“To a point you are. You look well too, James. Tall and broad like your father only you got my brown hair and eyes. But something is heavy on your mind. Your eyes give you away just like your father’s, expressive and kind.”
“And I got Benjamin in the process.”
She didn’t look away. He understood she wouldn’t offer information until he stated his reason for showing up now, today in her life, not yesterday or tomorrow.
“Has Benjamin died?” she finally asked her voice calm and steady.
“No.”
“All well,” she all but sighed. “Then something else drastic has happened, or you wouldn’t be here now.”
“Drastic and sad and angering and defeating to a point.”
“Oh, James,” she whispered, starting to reach to him before pulling quickly back.
He saw her movement and laid his hand on the table near her.
“Talk to me. You came all this way for a reason, best to just get it out.”
Instead of reaching to him, she picked up her mug and cradled it between both her hands.
“It’s come to my attention in the last eight weeks that my life has been another maneuver for Ben.” He looked around and saw a home, similar to Joey’s. Not just a place where he slept and kept his possessions.
“I suppose this means you haven’t been living on Dad’s insurance in the south of France all these years?”
Beverly laughed aloud. Somehow his words had hit a target. Now they could begin.
“I’m sure the director of the sanitarium enjoyed his European jaunts each summer with your grandfather’s generous donations.”
“How long were you there?”
“Almost four years. He’d had me committed two weeks after your father died, told everyone I’d lost my mind with grief and needed to rest. What was needed was for me to be out of his way.”
“He took over Dad’s estate and insurance and control of me.”
“Ben didn’t think any woman could raise his grandson to his liking, so it was better to dispose of the problem.” She hesitated, adding, “I was upset and didn’t think. I should have kept quiet until the plans were made, but I never considered he’d lock me away.”
“What do you mean?”
Her cheeks blushed pink and she said, “After your father’s funeral, Ben wanted me to send you to some academy in Connecticut. I wanted to make a fresh start with some distance between us. I had friends in California and unwisely mentioned moving us there.”
James stared at her. “Within days of our argument I was being driven to the sanitarium for a rest! If only I’d kept quiet.”
“We can’t change history, Beverly.”
“It’s reality. I ceased to be your mother that very day.”
“I only found out about you wanting to move us this week. Ben said the sanitarium was the only way to get you healthy, and I believed him.”
“It gave Ben time to get his legal wrangling in place. Does Aaron Metz still slink around him in the background all the time?”
James smiled openly and relaxed. “Unfortunately, yes. You never wrote or phoned. I was told you weren’t allowed visitors.”
“I wrote every day in the beginning. When no response came I realized you probably never got them. Phone calls were always monitored by his staff. I doubt you ever got a message, and if you did, you didn’t call me back. So after a while, I decided the only way to get my life back together was to back off as Ben wanted. You were well cared for, and I still had a few friends who would give me tidbits of information about you. By the second year, even they stopped visiting and calling.”
“There are so many questions and not enough time. Beverly, I’m sorry. I was led to believe you were beyond help and my presence would only antagonize you. I realize now that was an outright lie. I’m sorry I didn’t try to find you sooner.”
“You were young and had just lost your father unexpectedly. Then you were led to believe your mother had lost her marbles and apparently when collected, left you with Ben to start a new life. It’s in the past, James. What’s happened to bring you to me today?”
“You won’t believe it,” he started, waiting while she refilled their cups. “Yes, you will believe it, because you’ve lived it.”
“What did the old man do?” James laughed and told her it was the same term Joey used for Benjamin.
“Was she the young woman at your graduation from law school?”
He slowly put down his mug and stared.
“A pretty brunette woman, you both seemed so in love. Whatever happened to her?”
“Oh, God, Mother,” the word halted him, and he looked at her.
She didn’t say anything just held out her arms and stood. James finally moved to hug his mother, to smell the same perfume she’d used all those years back. He let himself cry for just a moment while she cried against his shoulder. When they were both in better control of their emotions, they pulled back, “Well, we got that out of the way,” she teased as she dumped their cold coffee in the sink and refilled the cups
“James, talk with me. You came here, why?”
“Her name is JoAnna. I’ve always called her Joey, from the first time we met on campus.” He felt himself start to relax and gave his mother a brief history of their time together. “We’d had Daniel just at the New Year and were planning our wedding for Presidents weekend, our two year anniversary. Ben wasn’t happy
to say the least.”
“No, I wouldn’t think so.”
“Well, he convinced me to have Daniel’s DNA tested so there’d be no problem with future claims in regard to Montgomery Industries.”
Beverly reached out and touched his hand.
“Did you suspect he wasn’t your son?”
“No, never once. When you see him, meet him,” he said, then halted. “I’m sorry, I’m pushing.” Adam’s face floated before him, and he dismissed the image. All this time Ben had made sure by innuendo that Adam was Danny’s real father. That Joey and he had a torrid affair behind his back and he’d been too stupid to realize.
“I’d like to meet my grandson one day, but only if it doesn’t create World War III.”
“We’re into war number five, Mom.” The name slipped off his tongue easily, and she smiled.
“Call me whatever’s comfortable. Now get back to my grandson.”
“I never questioned Joey’s love or Daniel’s parentage. I only agreed so Ben would back off. I figured once he realized Daniel was his great-grandson, he’d cut us some slack.”
“Poor James. You believed him, didn’t you?”
“I should have known it was a set up, walked right into it with my eyes wide open. Even Joey knew it was wrong. She kept trying to tell me, but I wouldn’t listen. Ben had us meet him at the office conference room. He told me it was to set up a trust for Danny. There with too many lawyers in the room. I should have taken Joey and Daniel out of there immediately. I didn’t. And as you can assume, the results that were read to us that day were revised.”
“That son of a bitch, he had the test results changed?” Beverly shook her head a second time. “I knew he was a bastard, but that’s over the top. How did you finally find out?”
James gave her the quick version of leaving Joey and Dr. Harris walking into his office the day after New Year’s with an envelope full of test results and a guilty conscience.
“And you never saw her again, never were curious or wanted closure?”
“Right after it happened, he sent me to England for a year, a project that couldn’t wait.”
Deceptions Revealed (Siren Publishing Classic) Page 16
