Death of the Family Recipe (A Scotti Fitzgerald Murder Mystery Book 3) (41 page)

I studied Jennifer looking for any signs of deceit but saw none. "And when you came back?"

Jennifer smoothed her hair. "It was a terrible scene. Rose was so agitated, she made no sense. Then the police took her away."

I threw up my hands. "Why didn’t you go with her? She was in shock and you let her fend for herself with the police?"

Jennifer’s anger flared. "You have no right to judge me. You weren’t there. You don’t understand how quickly things happened. How out of control everything was." She held out her arms. "What could I have done if I’d gone with Rose? I was a young girl, I didn’t know what to say to the police or how to help her."

Angry tears spilled down my cheeks. "You could’ve held her hand. You could’ve stood by her. You could’ve been there, so she knew somebody was on her side."

Jennifer rushed to the sofa and took my hand. "Oh Kristine."

I pulled my hand away. "Don’t call me that. My name is Scotti."

Jennifer inched back. "You’re right. Scotti, I know this is hard for you to understand, and that you see things through your own experiences. You’re protective of Rose because you were torn away from her. I understand that. But we weren’t the enemy. We loved her. We never would’ve done anything to hurt her — not intentionally." She shook her head. "I can’t explain why things happened as they did. I can only tell you what happened. Do I wish that I’d never left her? Yes, with all my heart. But I can’t change the past."

I sighed and looked away, wiping tears from my face. "I know."

Jennifer whispered. "I’m so sorry. I wish things were different. I wish you could’ve grown up with your mother. Rose would’ve been a wonderful mother."

I turned to Jennifer. "Why haven’t you asked me?"

Jennifer frowned. "Asked you what, dear?"

I glared at her. "What happened to me? This is the third time we’ve spoken and still you haven’t asked about my life. Why?"

Jennifer stared at me for a long while. "Was it terrible?" I nodded. Her eyes glazed with sadness. "Were you abused?"

I boiled over with sarcasm. "Not so bad. If you like having the crap kicked out of you on a regular basis."

Jennifer’s hand flew to her mouth. "By whom?"

"By any kid who wanted what I had. My sandwich, my fruit punch, my pillow." I shrugged. "Sometimes just for fun."

Jennifer looked into my eyes as though she really cared. "You were never adopted? Why?"

I couldn’t control my attitude. I hurt and I wanted her to hurt too. "How do I know? Nobody wanted me. It’s just that simple."

Jennifer’s eyes brimmed with tears. "I’m so sorry."

"Don’t be sorry." I cradled my belly. "I have a good life now. A family who loves me, the best husband in the world, and two perfect babies on the way. I don’t need your sympathy."

Jennifer tilted her head. "You’re still angry and hurt."

"Does that surprise you? There’s nothing you can do to change that." I stared at her. "Except tell me the truth."

Jennifer reared back. "But I have told you the truth."

I shook my head and smirked. "I talked to Father Fran. The priest who found me in the church. Well, not exactly found, right? Because the plan was to have him line up a proper family for me, right?" I squinted at her. "What went wrong? The family back out?"

Jennifer looked away. "I don’t know what you mean."

"And I talked to Detective Marley. Remember him? He confirmed the secret adoption scam running at that church." I shrugged. "Can’t afford your baby? No problem, we’ll find a family who can. Something like that?"

Jennifer stood and backed away from the sofa, shaking her head. "No, you were abducted."

"And yet somehow, I ended up at the very same church that arranged secret adoptions for inconvenient babies." I snarled at her. "Now you’re going to tell me you never saw the story in the papers? That you didn’t know that baby was me? You kept it from Rose too, didn’t you?"

Jennifer stared at the floor. "Rose didn’t know."

A breath caught in my throat. "Rose didn’t know what?"

"About the baby in the church." She chanced a look at me. "She was in the hospital for weeks after you were taken. Under sedation. The doctors worried she’d have a breakdown…"

I got to my feet. "Sounds like that worked out fine for you."

Jennifer backed away. "You can’t honestly believe I took you to that church and left you there? And let Rose believe her baby was kidnapped?"

"What else can I think?"

Jennifer cried outwardly. "Why would I do such a thing? Why would you think that?"

Her tears didn’t faze me. "You didn’t go to Child Services to see if I was that baby, did you? Why wouldn’t I think it?"

Jennifer snatched her handbag from the floor. "Coming here was a mistake. I hoped we could put the past behind us and start new. Jason said you’d be open to that."

"Jason didn’t steal me from my mother to give me to strangers."

Jennifer shook her head and rushed toward the door. "This was a mistake."

I followed her. "You’re right, this was a mistake."

Before she left, Jennifer whispered, "Someday you’ll understand."

I watched her hurry down the walk to her car. "I’ll understand all right, Jennifer. When you tell me the truth. I’ll understand."

On Tuesday, the Atkinson case went to the jury. On Thursday, the jury came back with a guilty verdict. I heaved a sigh, celebrated silently and washed my hands of the whole disgusting mess. Maybe Joe and I could smooth things over, after he got over it. But for the time being, I was concentrating on my business, my babies and my mother.

When the weekend rolled around, Ted, Zelda and I put in a garden — complete with an automatic watering system. And I fantasized about making homemade baby food from the harvest. I wanted to start my kids off right and put all the crap behind me. The babies were less than two months from their world premiere — if they'd wait that long — and peace and family were all I wanted.

I lay in bed trying to see over my belly, while Ted changed into his red silk pajama bottoms. He laughed at me. "What are you doing?"

I raised my head a little. "Trying to get a peek."

He slipped his pajamas up over his hips and snapped the waistband. "I’ll give you more than a peek, baby."

He came toward the bed, and I raised the blankets to my chin. "Didn’t I tell you? Sex is off the table, until after the babies are born. Yep, Dr. Val’s orders."

Ted slid into bed beside me and chuckled. "So now Dr. Val is running our sex life too?"

I patted his cheek. "Yeah, I guess so. She’s afraid I’ll go into premature labor."

Ted looked like a cat had farted in his face then after a few seconds of mental calculations, he made the math work. "Oh."

"And we’re having twins, so I probably won’t go to term. So no touchy, only looky." I patted his chest. "Sorry, honey."

He slid his arms around me. "What do you think I am, some horny teenager? You think I have no restraint?"

I laughed. "You’ve never shown any."

He bit my ear. "I’ve faced tougher challenges than that."

"Ouch!" I elbowed him. "I think biting is off limits too."

He took my hand and frowned. "Where are your rings?"

I groaned. "Like everything else, my hands are too fat. I took them off to bake and couldn’t get them back on." I pointed to the bedside table. "They're on the chain with my locket."

Ted scooted up against me. "We can get them resized if you want."

I shook my head. "No, I don’t want somebody cutting my beautiful rings. I’ll just wear them around my neck until I have the babies." I sighed. "It’s only eight more weeks."

He kissed my neck. "I know."

"If I go to term." I faced him. "What if I don’t?"

"It’ll be fine, honey."

"But they’re twins and they’ll be little already. If I don’t go the whole nine months then what? I don’t want them starting out their lives in incubators."

Ted caressed my cheek. "Think good thoughts. And maybe you could ease off on the baking? We’re almost to the finish line. You copy?"

I twisted my lips. "Since I’m the one growing these babies, ah yeah, I think I do." I kissed him. "I’ll try to slow down a little, but it’s not my style."

"Can’t Matt do some of the baking? And Zelda too?"

I propped up on my elbow. "Doesn’t seem fair. They’re out on the truck all week and then they have to work on Sundays too?"

"They’d understand."

"But it’s easier if I bake during the week. That way, we all get the weekend off." He gave me the one eyebrow raise, which meant he wasn’t buying it. "All right, we’ll huddle and figure something out."

He tweaked my nose. "And what about after the babies are born?"

It felt like a trick question. "What about after the babies are born?" He looked at me. I looked at him. "What?"

"Two babies, one for each breast. How does baking fit into that game plan?"

I fell back and stared at the ceiling. "Oh crap."

"Scotti?"

"I’m thinking." I sighed like a little girl. "I don’t know. Guess Matt and Zelda are going to have to wing it." I cringed. "They’ll ruin my beautiful kitchen." I poked his chest with my finger. "This is all your fault."

He laughed. "My fault?"

"Yeah, if you didn’t have such super sperm, I wouldn’t be knocked up."

He grinned proudly. "Super-sperm, I like the sound of that."

I swatted him. "Easy, Romeo — it’s not a new product line."

He kissed me. "Nope, definitely private reserve." He pulled me into a hug. "Everything will be fine honey, the Jordan clan will come to the rescue. We’ll all pitch in."

I frowned. "I hate imposing on your family like that."

"They’re your family too."

I smirked. "My family is useless." I sat up and leaned against the headboard. "It’s not fair that whenever I’m in a bind, your family has to come running.

Ted rubbed circles on my belly. "Have you heard from Jennifer since her visit?"

I sighed and gagged myself. "What do you think? She probably left town so she’ll never have to see me again."

Ted took my hand. "You could call her." He pulled me into a hug. "She’s probably just waiting to hear from you."

I shrugged. "Maybe. But I still think she was involved in what happened to Rose."

He cupped my chin. "Baby, you got a raw deal. No question. But that doesn’t mean your aunt was part of it. I know you want someone to pay for what happened — but what if there isn’t anyone?"

I pulled away from him and punched my pillow. "You mean that it was just fate? Just some kind of bad luck?"

Ted shrugged. "Bad stuff happens to everybody. It doesn’t mean they deserved it. Or that anyone else is to blame."

I shook my head. "Well somebody is to blame. Rose didn’t kill herself, and I didn’t crawl out of my crib on my own."

Ted nodded. "Okay, I’ll give you that. But it doesn’t mean it was her family or friends."

I rubbed face and sighed. "Maybe so, but I know Jennifer is keeping something from me."

Ted shrugged. "Even if she is, it doesn’t mean it’s about Rose."

I groaned and tugged on my hair. "You’re confusing me." I scowled at him. "I’m Rose’s daughter, and it’s my duty to find out what happened to her. I can’t just let it go. She deserves some kind of justice, doesn’t she? And who’ll get it for her if I don’t?" I looked at him. "Who?"

Ted brushed away my tears. "I’m just saying that instead of assuming her family had something to do with it or even looking for a bad guy around every corner, you could try letting it come to you."

I smirked. "How does that work?"

"You find a way to make peace with it and let it go. If there’s some truth out there, it’ll come to you."

I lay my head on his chest and sighed. "You think so?"

He put his arms around me. "Yeah, I do."

"Okay, I guess I could try that."

But I was pretty sure that letting go would get me exactly nowhere.

I sat in my car and stared at the little blue ranch house, imagining my kids playing in the yard. Could Jennifer be a surrogate grandmother? I wanted that for them — and for me too. So there I was, ready to let go, hoping the truth would come to me. Then the front door banged open, and Kathy Morrissey burst out of the house with Jennifer right behind her. Out of reflex, I slumped in my seat so they wouldn’t see me.

They argued, but Kathy seemed to have the upper hand, and she crowded Jennifer, wagging her finger to punctuate her words. Still, Jennifer held her own until Kathy leaned in and said something. Jennifer reared back in shock, and Kathy proclaimed herself the victor. After giving Jennifer a smug smile, she turned on her heel. Jennifer called Kathy back, but she flipped Jennifer off and went down the walkway to her Lexus. Pausing at her open door Kathy looked around for a moment. Then she tossed her cigarette in the street, got in her car and sped off.