All That Matters (23 page)

Regret squeezed her heart. She was bidding a final good-bye to a parent who refused to let love enrich his life.

She’d always felt invisible around her daddy. At first she’d looked to her mama for support, but that never happened. Beryl Morgan was so intimidated by her husband that she never crossed him, rarely disputed his word. To say she was submissive would be the understatement of the year. So with sadness, Faith acknowledged the very real possibility that her mama would stand by him.

Sorry for the few family ties being cut, she hugged her arms to her chest and eyed her father sitting silently, jaw set in a stubborn line. “You’ll never know the joy of bouncing that baby on your knee or having tiny arms hug your neck. Never cuddle a little one close to your heart or sing sweet lullabies. You missed that happiness with your own child.”

She struggled to keep her voice level as she added, “All I ever wanted was for you to love me for myself, not as a reflection of the Morgan money. My child will be rich with love instead of cold cash. I pity you, Daddy. I really do.”

Gulping air to steady herself, she saw his expression change and felt a trace of satisfaction. It looked as if he was regarding her for the first time as an individual with valid opinions and the right to be respected for them.

But he shattered that illusion quickly.

Lionel’s face reddened. His breathing grew harsh, his eyes flashed. “Ungrateful! You’ve always been ungrateful for all the privileges the name Morgan afforded you. Now you come in here and accuse me of underhandedness? You choose the white trash you’re sleeping with over your family?” He stabbed the newspaper with his finger. “According to this, your husband is a suspect in Royce Webb’s murder.
Hhmmph
! Like father, like son.”

“
Like father, like son”...No, Daddy, like father like daughter.

By the time she was twelve, Faith had concluded that her parents were united against her. Thus, the rebellion of her teen years had become her prime ambition. She’d worked hard at it, too. Ask anyone in town.

Then Buddy Lee began to act as a buffer between her wild escapades and her irate parent, making her acts of defiance that much easier. As her friend, he could always be counted on to pick up after her and occasionally take the blame to save her skin.
 
And she’d been selfish enough to let him, disregarding any hurt or humiliation he might have suffered on her account.

Had she subconsciously thought that because of his name, he had no feelings? The suspicion that her actions back then made her no better than her father sickened her.

“Buddy Lee didn’t kill Royce.” She didn’t want to cry. But right then, guilty tears burned behind her eyes, ready to spill at the slightest provocation.

How could she have known this would hurt so much? She swallowed back the tears. Her heart felt poked full of holes, and all the love she’d saved up to share with her parents was leaking out. But she couldn’t talk rationally while blubbering through a waterfall, so she laced her fingers together in her lap, gripped them tight, and talked faster.

“What if I told you the baby isn’t Buddy Lee’s? That the father is Royce, who betrayed everyone’s trust. A man who only cared about money. Like you, Daddy.”

“What do you mean?” Lionel barked. “Of course, the kid is a Walker. You said so, yourself. You and Boyd Walker’s boy ran off and got married and humiliated us all. Shamed the Morgan name.”

Lionel’s voice boomed across the room like a cannon’s echo, but Faith refused to be browbeaten any longer. “No I didn’t. What
you’re
doing is shameful. You never tried to understand. Never cared enough to be there when I needed you. Now you’re getting revenge by punishing Buddy Lee for something he had nothing to do with. Nothing, you hear? You’re destroying his business when you should be helping him build it for your grandchild’s security. A child that has Morgan blood. Your blood.”

She shuddered and took a deep breath. “Buddy Lee is a bigger man than you’ll ever be, because he didn’t condemn me or turn his back on me when I needed help. Because he’s decent and willing to marry me so an innocent child that’s not even his could have a father—and a name. Because,” her voice broke, snagged on a sob, “because my baby’s unscrupulous father is dead, and I don’t even care. All the money in your bank won’t buy what really matters. Love and respect.”

The tears came now in torrents. She buried her head in her hands and let them flow unchecked. She had more to explain, much more to reveal, but right now she needed the cleansing release that crying brought to her anguished heart.

A hand pressed lightly on her shoulder, so faint she barely felt it. A gentle hand that had been too long absent in giving solace, but Faith’s bruised heart recognized the touch immediately.

“Mama?”

Beryl Morgan tenderly stroked her daughter’s cheek. “I’m here, Faith, where I should’ve been a long time ago. I heard everything. I’m so sorry. Can you forgive me?” Then she turned to her husband, one comforting hand still on Faith’s shoulder.

“She’s right, you know, Lionel.” Despite the soft tone, Beryl’s words packed a punch. “We’re both guilty of dereliction of duty as parents. You believed money and prestige substituted for love. You were wrong. By letting you control our lives, I thought I was being a dutiful wife and loving mother.” She shook her head, eyes filled with sadness. “Both terrible mistakes. Because of our warped sense of duty, our misplaced pride, we’re about to lose the most precious gift God ever gave us—our child. Think about it, Lionel. I don’t want to lose a grandchild, too.”

Beryl left Faith’s side, and with head high and clear determination strode over to stand beside her husband’s chair. There was no mistaking the new mantle of strength she had taken.

Faith’s heart swelled with love for this fragile woman who, after all these years, had finally found the courage to demand the respect she deserved.

“If you don’t tell your son-in-law, and yes, I mean Buddy Lee Walker, that you’ll extend his loan without interest
and
go to the sheriff to confirm his air-tight alibi for the night of Royce’s death, then I’ll be moving out, too.” She paused and looked Lionel straight in the eye. “And don’t think I’ll hesitate to go to Elroy if you decide not to. Buddy Lee was here that night, and I’ll sign a statement to the effect. I don’t want to give up a chance to be a part of our daughter’s and our grandchild’s life, and if I have to do it without you, so be it.

I’ve waited too long to have real love in my life.”

Lionel squirmed in his seat. “Blast it, Beryl,” his fist hit the table, “haven’t I given you everything you asked for? You’ve got the biggest house in town, expensive clothes, luxury car. What more do you need?” He slumped back in his chair, clearly puzzled by his wife’s demands.

“You truly don’t know, do you, Lionel?” Beryl placed both hands on the table and leaned toward him. “Maybe if you think seriously about what your own life has become, you’ll understand and do the right thing. Is losing your family worth the money you consider so important? Do you want to grow old all alone?” Taking a deep breath that shuddered clear through her, the newly-confident Beryl Morgan squared her frail shoulders. “I don’t intend to.”

Faith rushed forward and flung her arms around her mama in a long overdue hug that had them both smiling through their tears. “I love you, Mama. So much.”

Beryl hugged her back. “I love you, too, child. And I suspect you love Buddy Lee, as well.”

“I do,” came Faith’s adamant reply as mother and daughter stood arm-in-arm. “But I’m not sure he feels the same way. Helping me has cost him everything he’s worked for, and unless a miracle happens, he’ll lose his business. He must regret ever seeing me again, since I’ve been nothing but trouble for him for as long as I can remember.”

Beryl moved from her daughter’s side and stood across the room to gaze out of the window. After a long pause, she turned her attention from the perfectly groomed gardens outside to the daughter who needed her now more than ever.

“Something tells me Buddy Lee wouldn’t make such a sacrifice if he didn’t care a great deal about you, sweetheart. That he offered to give your child his name says a great deal about his sincerity. Obviously, you mean more to him than money.”

“Ha!” Lionel scoffed. “He’s smart enough to know he needs the Morgan money to keep from losing that business of his.”

“That’s where you’re wrong, Lionel. Buddy Lee loves Faith.”

The pointed look her mama sent her daddy right then was filled with newfound feminine courage, and Faith silently applauded.

“Do you really think so?” She wanted to believe her mama more than anything, but her own usual self-confidence was in danger of slipping.

“Of course, dear. I would consider myself lucky to have that kind of love. A love worth fighting for.”

Lionel
harrumphed
loudly a time or two until the women stopped talking and turned their attention to him. “You said there was more to your story,” he muttered. “I suppose I can spare the time to listen.”

His attempt to regain control of the situation didn’t surprise Faith. She never expected her daddy’s unbending ways to change overnight, but with her mama offering loving support, maybe revealing the ugly truth about Royce wouldn’t be too difficult.

Might as well get it over with
, she thought, and pulled out a chair for her mother.

“Sit down, Mama. Daddy, don’t interrupt until I’m through talking, you hear?”

B
uddy Lee whipped into the parking lot of the Newcomb County courthouse, parked, and strode into the red brick building with two minutes to spare. Elroy had made good on his request to keep the highway boys looking the other way.

The deputy was standing outside his office door, apparently waiting for him. Behind the open door, Buddy Lee caught a brief glimpse of...that couldn’t be Morgan in there, could it?

Before he could get a better look, Elroy yanked the door shut.

“Walker,” he addressed him with a nod, “before we go in, I’ve got something to say.”

“Yeah?” He figured Elroy was probably
fixin
’ to say Faith’s old man had brought another trumped-up charge against him to add to his growing collection. Why else would the banker be in there? Sure, the note was due today, but the bank didn’t close for a few hours. Four o’clock was the end of the bank’s business day and, ironically, the end of his entire business.
Sheese
! The damned alligators were
takin
’ over the swamp.

“Lionel Morgan’s in there,” Elroy jerked his thumb toward his office. “Says he can verify your whereabouts last night.
   
Why didn’t you tell me that? You could’ve saved us all a lot of time in this investigation. And paperwork.”

Buddy Lee couldn’t have been more surprised if one of those alligators had asked him to dance.
What is going on?
He craned his neck and tried to look around Elroy’s brown-uniformed shape to get a glimpse of Faith’s daddy. If word got around that he’d gone to Lionel—and why—Faith’s secret was bound to be exposed. Didn’t make any sense.

“Did Morgan say why he was gonna do that?” Better be careful not to say more than necessary, just in case his father-in-law had some wild idea to implicate him in something besides Royce’s death. He’d learned early on to keep his mouth shut and watch his back.

“Guess you’ll have to ask him yourself,” Elroy stated. “But I apologize for jumping to conclusions. Should’ve checked my facts more carefully.” The deputy’s face reddened and he stuck out his hand.

The gesture of apology took Buddy Lee by surprise, but he wasn’t so dumb as to ignore it. The men shook hands, then Elroy turned and opened the door.

The electrical currents zinging through the office could have powered to the whole town. Beside Elroy’s desk, Lionel Morgan sat in a straight-back chair, body rigid as cast-iron. Seated next to him, Beryl Morgan looked amazingly calm and confident. Not a bit like the woman Buddy Lee had known most of his life. No longer a shadowy extension of her husband, she exuded an air of self-assurance that puzzled him and set him to wondering.

Faith stood beside her mother’s chair, looking happy as a cat with one paw in a fishbowl. She flashed him a mega-watt smile and his heart flip-flopped. He had an eerie feeling everyone here knew something he didn’t. And that wasn’t a comfortable feeling, at all. Neither was his sneaking suspicion that Faith had been
planning
again.

And what was Beryl grinning about? She never
grinned
, for
cryin
’ out loud. Hardly ever smiled, come to think of it. Had somebody spiked the water fountain?

Faith spoke first. “Hey, Buddy Lee.”

At first, he couldn’t get his damned tongue unstuck from the roof of his mouth. Then after a couple false starts, his tongue finally cooperated. “Hey, Faith. Wanna tell me what’s going on?”

“Sure, but why don’t you ask Daddy? He’s got all the facts.”

Noooo
, Buddy Lee protested silently. Not all of ‘
em
, he hoped. “Your daddy?” He needed to sit down before his legs buckled under him.

He fell into the nearest chair as Elroy fiddled with a palm-sized tape recorder. “Y’all don’t mind if I tape this, do you? For the record, you know. It’s required.”