A Silken Thread (28 page)

Chapter Thirty-Seven

K
aren was in the dining room sitting at the table with Erica when she heard the doorbell ring. “I wonder who that can be this time of the day,” she said, taking a sip of her tea. She looked up moments later when her housekeeper appeared. “Who is it, Cretia?”

“Mr. Griffin is here to see Ms. Erica.”

“He is?” Karen said, a smile beaming off her face as she quickly got to her feet. “Then please show him in.”

Surprise flickered in Erica’s eyes as she stood, too. Why did Griffin want to see her? Although she hadn’t yet spoken to April, she had gotten a text message from Griffin a few days ago saying he and April were trying to work things out and not to mention anything to her mother about them. His request had been odd but she had done what he’d asked.

She stood by the table as Cretia escorted Griffin into the kitchen. “Hello, Mrs. Sanders.”

And then he flashed a smile over at Erica. “I thought that was your car I saw parked in the driveway. I was passing by on my way to my parents’ house and thought I’d drop in since I haven’t seen you in months.”

He was apparently up to something, Erica realized, since he had just seen her last week. She tried to play along. “It’s always good seeing you, Griffin. Did you need me for something?” Her mother was hanging on their every word while she continued to beam.

“Yes, that new Tyler Perry movie starts today in Cleveland and I wondered if you’d be interested in going to a matinee to avoid the mad rush that will probably be there tonight.”

Before she could reply, her mother spoke for her. “A day at the movies sounds like fun. You two should go and enjoy yourselves. Have a good time.”

Griffin grinned. “I agree with Mrs. Sanders. Come on, Erica. I need to get away for a while and I would love to take you to the movies with me.”

Erica shook her head and smiled. “I never said I wouldn’t go. What time do you want to pick me up later from my place?”

“What about around two?” he said.

“Fine. I’ll be ready.” And then she gave him a look that clearly said,
And you, Griffin Hayes, better be ready to explain what this little stunt is all about.

Griffin was on time and Erica was dressed and ready to walk out the door. “Okay, Griffin, what’s going on and where is April?”

He waited for her to close and lock the door behind her. “I’m taking you to her now.”

“I figured you would be, but why so secretive? And why on earth did you pull that stunt earlier in front of Mom? You deliberately gave her the wrong impression. Now she thinks something is developing between us.”

“April will explain everything.”

Moments later when they were seated in his car, he glanced over at her. “Promise me you’ll keep an open mind.”

“About what?”

“About anything and everything.”

The look she gave him told him that she was more confused than ever. A half hour later he could tell her confusion increased when he took a turnoff for the interstate and headed for the lake house his parents had once owned but sold to him a few years back. But she didn’t ask any questions and he was glad of that.

He was also glad to see April standing outside when they pulled into the lake house drive. Erica, he noticed, had seen April, too, and a huge smile spread across her lips.

Griffin thought it was actually kind of strange the way things had started out between them all those years ago. There had always been a closeness between April and Erica, a deep friendship that even Karen Sanders hadn’t been able to destroy. And the sad thing about it was that the older woman truly thought she had destroyed it.

Karen’s visit to April should have accomplished that. It was sad, Griffin thought, that she didn’t know anything about love—the kind between true friends as well as the undying love between a man and a woman. That had been Karen Sanders’s downfall.

Erica had opened the car door to get out before he brought the vehicle to a complete stop. And as he unhooked his seat belt he saw the two women run toward each other and embrace.

“Girl, where have you been? Don’t you dare let me worry about you like that again. No matter what is happening with you, I should have been there for you,” Erica said, looking her friend over to make sure she was okay.

“I know. It was something I couldn’t share with you at the time but now I can,” April said, smiling.

“And this had better be a good reason for shutting me out.”

“I think it will be. And I understand you’ve been going through your own hell without me,” April said.

The smile left Erica lips when she was reminded why she cried herself to sleep every night and had lost weight. Heartbreak could do that to you.

She tried not thinking about Brian but would find herself doing so anyway, anytime and anyplace. All the time. Whenever she thought about her love for him and the pain caused by his betrayal, her heart would start breaking all over again.

Beside her, April ushered her up the steps. “Come on inside so we can talk.”

Erica sensed something was going on the moment her feet touched the porch and she glanced over at April, who gave her a funny look. Griffin had a similar look on his face. “Okay, you guys, what’s going on?”

Instead of responding, Griffin opened the door and then they stepped aside to let her enter first. She frowned as she walked over the threshold. She was vaguely aware of someone closing the door behind her when she caught a movement across the room out of her peripheral vision.

She knew even before turning who was in the room with her; she picked up his warm, subtle scent. And when he moved out of the shadows her breath caught in her throat. She looked into his face and her heart jumped at the sight of him. His features taut, serious and as handsome as she remembered, Brian stood there looking so overwhelmingly sexy. It had been almost four weeks since she’d seen him, but she had thought of him every day.

“Hello, Erica. It’s good seeing you again,” he said, his gaze focused on her shocked face.

From the first time they’d met his voice had been what had captured her. It was a deep, rich timbre that had made blood rush all the way to her head, as it was doing now. She came close to running over to him, throwing herself in his arms, when she remembered the pain he’d caused her. Then she took a step back before swinging around to face Griffin and April.

“Why did you bring me here? Why is he here?”

April reached out and captured her hand. “Because it’s time you heard the truth, Erica.”

She pulled her hand away. “What are you talking about? I know the truth, April,” she said, fighting back tears. “I haven’t had a chance to tell you what happened, what I found when I arrived in Dallas.”

“You don’t have to,” April said softly. “Both you and Brian were played just like Griffin and I were played, and I think it’s time for us to compare notes.”

Erica frowned. “What are you talking about?”

April crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m talking about the fact that your mother lied to you, Erica. That day you told her you were going to visit me in L.A., she knew you were lying and had every intention of going to see Brian.”

“No, there was no way she could have known.”

“Yes, she figured just where you would go the first chance you got and it wouldn’t be to spend time with me. She knew you were going to Dallas, just like she’d never planned to go to Wyoming to visit that friend.”

“What are you saying?”

“I’m saying that I know for a fact that your mother never went to Wyoming because she came to see me in Los Angeles.”

Erica shook her head, confused. “That’s not possible.”

“It is possible. She did.”

“But why would Mom come to see you?”

April leaned against Griffin as if she needed him for support. She glanced up at him before looking back at Erica. “The reason she came to see me was to make sure I ended things between me and Griffin. She threatened me with dire consequences if I didn’t.”

“She did what!”

“She said she had proof I was fathered by Herbert Hayes and she would tell everyone that Griffin and I were involved in an incestuous relationship if I didn’t end things with him, as well as walk away from my friendship with you. That’s why I didn’t call you. I was too afraid to. And that’s why I ended things with Griffin.”

Erica placed her hand to her mouth in disbelief. “No.”

“Yes. Thankfully you told Griffin where I was and he assured me Herbert Hayes was not my father and we aren’t related. Your mother had lied. And she mentioned while she was in L.A. that she was also making sure you ended your relationship with Brian, as well. That way you and Griffin could be free for each other. She figured heartbreak would bring the two of you together, if nothing else would.”

Erica’s head began spinning and she closed her eyes. “No, no. None of that can be true.”

“It is true, Erica. Everything you saw at Brian’s house that day was exactly what she wanted you to see. What she paid someone to do to make it seem like he had betrayed you. She planned it all. She knew you were on your way to Dallas and made sure things were ready when you got there. She hired Jaye Pittman to help her get what she wanted.”

“Jaye?”

“Yes, your good old cousin Jaye. He did whatever your mother paid him to do. But that’s not all. We have proof she is the one who texted those pictures of your father’s affair and then pretended she was so torn up about it. I’m sure if you searched her room you’ll find the prepaid phone she used, if she hasn’t thrown it away yet. Even if she did, we got the receipt showing Jaye purchased it for her. She used your father’s affair with Brian’s mother to her advantage, playing on your sympathy, getting your support and turning you against Brian. In her mind she had everything to gain by doing so.

“Think about how perfect the timing was,” April continued. “And those prescriptions she’d been taking for a heart problem are nothing more than sugar pills. I had Margie Graham who works for Dr. Cobb check for me. Margie owed me a favor from years ago when I loaned her money for her divorce. I figured someone who was doing as much devilment as your mother didn’t necessarily have a bad heart…just an evil one.”

Erica took it all in, and only one thought was able to form in her brain. She swung around to gaze at Brian. Looked into the depths of his dark eyes, saw the pain and hurt she’d caused by not believing in him and not trusting him. He had tried telling her he was innocent but she hadn’t believed him. She had seen the worst and she had believed it.

“Brian—”

She took a step toward him and he took a step back. Then he turned and walked off toward the kitchen. She flinched when she heard the kitchen door slam shut behind him.

A flood of remorse tore into her and she felt the weight of everything April had told her on her shoulders. Tears she couldn’t stop racked her body and she began shaking.

“It’s okay, Erica.” She heard April’s voice and knew as always her friend was there.

Somehow April helped her over to the sofa and she dropped down on it and hid her face in her hands as her tears continued to fall. Ashamed. She was so ashamed for everything her mother had done. Everything she had believed because of her mother. She dropped her hands down in her lap. “How could she do this to me, April? To Brian? How could she do what she did to anyone? To you and Griffin. How could any one person be so evil, so vindictive and so manipulating.”

“That’s the one thing we can’t figure out,” April said softly. “Why she did it.”

Erica turned to her, filled with anger. “I know why she did it. It has everything to do with that damn curse. She’s always been obsessed with it.”

“Then we need to know why.” April shifted in her seat. “There are two other things I need to tell you about.”

Erica shook her head. “I don’t think I can handle any more.” She looked toward the door through which Brian had left. “He hates me. I should have believed in him, April. I should not have thought the worst.”

“Yes, but from what I heard the evidence against him was pretty damaging. I think even he understands that. However, he can’t help but feel a little down right now. I think he needs a little time to himself.”

“How did you get him to come?” Erica asked, staring at April through her tears.

“He asked to come. To be here for you, Erica. He had hired a private investigator to prove his innocence. They had already figured out your mother’s duplicity by the time Griffin flew to Dallas to pay Brian a visit.”

Erica drew in a deep breath. “And I thought he was having an affair with that attorney at his firm. Donna Hardy.”

“Evidently, Jaye was able to get something on Hardy to make her do whatever he wanted. He told her to set up the scene and make it seem like Brian was unfaithful to you.”

Erica threw her head back and inhaled deeply. “It worked. I didn’t want to hear anything he said. Our love was based on trust and I let him down.”

She then glanced around. “Where is Griffin?”

“He went outside. He’s still shaken by what your mother tried doing, as well. He and Brian were determined to get to the truth. They loved us that much.”

Erica shook her head. “Griffin might love you, but I’ve lost Brian’s love and I doubt that I’ll ever be able to get it back.”