Finding Julian (18 page)

I lingered by the car door, still
untangling it all in my head.

“Julian,” Detective Walters pulled me
out of my thoughts. “It’s all over. Case closed. You can go home now.”

Bobbing my head slowly, I hopped onto
the passenger seat. Seven squeezed my shoulder and I glanced over at him and
smiled. His face was all I needed to see to uplift me. But Detective Walters’
words left an unsettling feeling in my stomach.
You can go home now
.

The only question was where was my home?

Chapter Twenty-Seven

I woke up the next day feeling
renewed
. Mr. Cornwell’s murder had been solved,
along with the mystery surrounding my father’s death.

Getting out of bed, I drew back the
curtains and let the luminous rays of the sun warm my skin. It was time for me
to call Mom. I’d made the decision to stay in Narragansett for a while,
especially to work on my relationship with Mackenzie now that she was starting
to take small steps with me.

As for Seven, my feelings for him were
still troublesome. I hoped one day he would admit he felt the same way about
me. Still, while that day might take forever to come, I certainly didn’t mind
staying in such close proximity to him.

I showered and got dressed in a t-shirt
and jeans shorts. Afterwards, I went outside to call Mom, sitting on one of the
beach chairs. I feared she wouldn’t take my decision well.

Mom answered at the first ring. “Jules,
my God. It’s been a few days now. Did you get through with the legal stuff? Are
you finally—”

“I’m staying in Narragansett,” I blurted
out.

The sounds of rushing waves filled the
line. I could also hear her breathing deeply, anxiety gnawed at my insides.

“Mom, it’s only for a little while,” I
tried to make her feel better.

“No. You can’t stay there. You have to
come back to Manhattan.”

I got up from the beach chair. “No,
listen to me. Mackenzie and I are actually talking now. Can you believe that?
She’s actually treating me like a sister—”

“And what about her mother?” she grunted.
“Is Marlene comfortable with you still staying there? Of course she’s not.”

“I know that. So I was thinking I
would—”

“Enough with your thinking,” she cut me
off again. It was starting to drive me insane. “You listen to me, Julian. If
you’re not back in Manhattan by tomorrow, I’m coming to Narragansett to get you
because they’re obviously messing with your head. It’s only because of the
inheritance he left you, do you hear me? They don’t care about you, Julian.”

Tears flooded my eyes. Her words hurt so
much my lips trembled as I spoke. “Why do you do that? You make me feel like
it’s impossible for anyone else to want me besides you.”

“That is not true,” she retorted. “I’ve
always taught you to accept who you are and not care about what other people think.”

“Yeah, and who I am, Mom? How can I
accept myself when I don’t even know that and you don’t want me to find out?”

I was unable to stop the tears. They
streamed down my face like a waterfall. I didn’t care if she heard my sobs over
the line. She needed to understand all the hurt I’d experienced over the years.

“What is it, Jules? What do you want
from me?”

Collecting myself, I said, “I want you
to tell me about my father. I want you to tell me how you felt about him.”

“We are
not
having this conversation
over the phone. Now when you come back to—”

“You and I both know we won’t have this
conversation in person either, Mom.” I’d had enough of her interrupting me.
“You always dodge the topic. So please, for once, just tell me. Don’t make me
go on assuming. I need to hear it from you. Was it a mistake? Was I a mistake?”

I sobbed quietly, waiting for her to
respond.

She let out a long breath before finally
saying, “I loved him, Julian. No. What we had wasn’t a mistake. It was
beautiful. It was love.”

Drying my eyes, I stayed silent so she’d
go on.

“I’m sorry I never told you about it,
that I let you believe whatever. But I did love him. And in spite of telling
you otherwise, I knew he was married.”

I gasped, hearing her confession.
“But…you said he kept it from you.”

“That was a lie. I just didn’t want you
to think less of me if I told you I knew.”

“You knew he was married and you still…”
my voice broke off.

“He was going to divorce Marlene,” she
explained, it still didn’t make it right. “We were going to move to New York
together.”

My eyes widened as it all started to
make sense. “That day, you were going to leave together, weren’t you?”

“Yes,” she breathed.

“But, that was years after…I was
eleven…you’d already ended the affair.”

“We’d met up a few months before I moved
to New York. He said he’d had enough and that he was finally going to leave it
all behind, but…” she trailed, sobbing. “When I called him that morning he
wouldn’t answer, and he wouldn’t even see me when I showed up at the house.”

“Mom, he was married. There was
Mackenzie, not to mention all the responsibilities his own father had placed on
him with the family business.”

“But don’t you see, Jules,” she said
lowly. “I wasn’t worth giving up anything for. We weren’t worth it.”

And that was the reason she made me feel
like only she could love me. “Mom, I want to let it go. I want to move on from
that.”

“Then what? He’s…gone, Julian,” she
struggled to say the word. I knew how much it hurt because she obviously still
loved him.

All I could do was explain how being in
Narragansett made me feel complete.

“I just feel so different here, Mom. I
want to stay and learn about the other side of me I didn’t get the chance to
know before.”

“No,” she sneered. “You listen to me,
Jules. I’m driving to Narragansett and I am not leaving without you.”

Choking back tears, I said flatly,
“You’ll never understand.”

I hung up before she could get another
word in, turning my phone off.

I stood on the beach for a while,
soaking in everything my mom had said. None of it mattered anymore though. With
all that had happened, I was starting a new. Too bad my mom found it so damn
hard to accept that.

When I finally decided to go back to the
guesthouse, I spotted Mackenzie on the lawn. She was waiting for me.

“Hey,” I whispered as I got close.

“Hey.” She offered me a genuine smile.
“I was thinking I’d like to show you the rest of his paintings.”

Mackenzie tugged on the belt at her
waist. She was wearing a floral romper with flip fops and her hair pulled back into
a loose ponytail. She still managed to amaze me with how effortlessly
put-together she looked even when dressed casually.

Taking a deep breath, I nodded. “Sure.
Lead the way.”

She drove me to the condos overlooking
Narragansett town beach. Mackenzie parked across the street and we walked over
to the building, taking a flight of stairs up to the third floor where her
condo was.

Entering the front door, I saw that it
was far bigger than it appeared to be from the outside. The place was already
set up for her. I browsed around as I stepped further inside, going out to the
deck which gave Mackenzie the view of the ocean. 

“They’re in here,” she called out to me
and I walked back inside and across the living room.

I followed her around to the guest
bedroom, where she stored our father’s oil paintings that she’d bought from
Marlene’s gallery anonymously. There were five hanging on the wall and others
piled delicately in boxes.

To my surprise, Mackenzie hung up the
ones that included me. I turned and stared at her in wonder.

She lowered her eyes and kicked at the
carpet. “I was mad at him because I felt like he threw you away. And then when
he finally decided to take responsibility, I was mad at you because you kept
turning him down.”

Mackenzie sat down and I joined her on
the lounge chair. “I was hurt,” I explained.

“I know, Julian,” she breathed her
words. “But, being at the house and seeing how sad he was, that’s when I
started making an even bigger effort to get his attention. I wanted him to see
that he had me. That I was the daughter who forgave him in spite of all the
shit he’d done. I didn’t understand until after I saw these paintings of me and
you together.”

I gazed up at them as she went on. “He
wanted us to know each other—to stick together.”

“Like sisters,” I muttered.

She touched my hand and I winced, a
little surprised. “We
are
sisters, Julian. Don’t sign the papers. Forget
about what I said. Forget about Mom. You deserve that inheritance, whether or
not it’s in the original will.”

I couldn’t hold it back any longer, a
tear fell down my cheek and unexpectedly, Mackenzie threw her arms around me.
It felt so natural, so real. She was my big sister and she was comforting me.

We finally released each other, letting
out giggles at how different we were compared to when I first showed up. So
much had changed since then.

Getting off the lounge chair, Mackenzie
inquired, “Has Seven admitted his feelings for you yet?”

My eyes widened and she laughed. “Come
on, anyone can see how much you two like each other.”

I suddenly felt shy. “Is it awkward? I
mean, he’s your cousin and we’re sisters.”

Mackenzie stifled back a laugh. “No.
It’s not awkward,
per se
.”

I scoffed. “Seven and I will just be
friends.”

“Yeah, right.” She crossed her arms and
gave me a sly grin. “Seven’s been hot for you ever since you showed up. There’s
no way you two can just be friends.”

She nudged me out of the room and as we
got to the front door to leave, I pressed her about Gavin to switch the
subject. “Why aren’t
you
and Gavin together when he obviously has a lot
of feelings for you? And I do mean a lot.”

Avoiding my eyes, Mackenzie replied
nonchalantly, “His feelings are way too intense. Gavin can be a little too much
with his so-called love.”

We walked down the stairs. I was still
curious about him. “But he’s done so much to prove his love—”

“Jules, I never asked him to do anything
for me. All he’s done is turned me off. He was always such an ass-kisser for
Mom too. He’d show up randomly over the weekends to take her out for lunch—”

“Wait a sec,” I stopped her on the
bottom step. “Gavin knows the security code for the gates?”

Mackenzie shrugged. “Of course he does.
He’s been coming over since we were in elementary school. We used to study
together as kids.”

I drifted in thought, remembering back
to the night when I was attacked. I never considered it before but I did now.
Gavin was just as tall as Seven and they were
both
of the same built.
Dressed in the right disguise, I could easily confuse the two.

“Jules, you okay?” Mackenzie’s voice
dragged me back to reality.

She regarded me with worry.

I nodded and feigned a smile. “I’m okay.
Let’s go.”

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Before heading back to the estate
,
Mackenzie took me to a boutique. The annual company dinner was tomorrow night and
she wanted me to have something nice to wear. Once again, I didn’t want anyone
spending money on me, even my sister. We’d only just started opening up to each
other and I was uncomfortable with her buying me things. Still, she insisted.
And I promised to pay her back once I received a little payment from working on
the project with Aunt Bev.

I tried on a few dresses before finally
settling on one that Mackenzie and I both agreed looked perfect for me. It was
a dark blue, high-low asymmetrical dress with gold embellishments around the
waist.

After getting the dress and some sandals
to go with it, Mackenzie gushed about how Seven was going to go crazy once he
saw me all dressed up tomorrow night. I waved off her optimism. He was only
keeping a promise. Seven wouldn’t see our relationship as anything deeper.

Getting back to the house, Mr. Danton
and Marlene met us outside the second Mackenzie and I got out of the car.

“What’s going on?” asked Mackenzie,
walking over to her mother.

Mr. Danton raised his hand with some
papers in his grasp. “I’ve got the original will, along with the papers for you
to sign to turn over your inheritance, Ms. Rowell.”

Mackenzie glanced back at me. She nudged
me over. “Let’s hear what he really wrote before you do anything, Jules—”

“Jules?” Marlene sneered. “What’s this,
Kenzie? Have you switched sides?”

She spun on her heels and urged Mr.
Danton inside the house as she walked past, a writhing Mackenzie and I followed
behind.

I sat down in the long sofa next to my
sister, placing the bag with the dress and sandals on my lap.

Marlene sat in the armchair and Mr.
Danton stood. He cleared his throat as he began reading. “This is the last will
and testament of Cole Vanderson. I hereby ask that you comply by my wishes and
accept them with gratitude.”

“Wait,” Mackenzie interrupted, holding
up her hand. “Shouldn’t Aunt Bev and Seven be here for this?” she asked.

Mr. Danton answered, “No. Their parts
are unchanged. Mr. Monroe can remain at the guesthouse for as long as he wants
and Ms. Vanderson is given full control of the family business.”

So Aunt Bev did inherit the company.

“Then can you please skip to my part
along with my daughter’s and…” Marlene’s eyes drifted to me for a split second
then back to Mr. Danton. “This girl,” she concluded.

Bitch!
I wanted to
punch her so bad. If it wasn’t for Mackenzie, I certainly would’ve knocked
Marlene flat on her ass.

“Certainly,” Mr. Danton proceeded. My
mind settled down. “In the case of my wife, I leave a large sum of money that
will be enough to let your life remain comfortable without me. Mackenzie, I’ve
purchased that condo you love so much. To Sarah, who I know will not—”

“Blah, blah, blah. Speed it up, Mr.
Danton,” Marlene grew impatient.

He flashed an irritated glance her way
then continued, “Julian, I’d love for you and your sister to share the
Vanderson estate as well as all my wealth—my years of hard work I leave to the
both of you. None of this will be applicable if you don’t share it together. It
is my dying wish for you sisters to establish a relationship with each other as
I know you’re capable of doing. My dear Mackenzie, forgive me for not paying
attention, but I do see you, my beautiful daughter. And I’m proud of who you’ve
become. Don’t let your mother’s influence cloud your mind.

“Julian, I ask for so much more
forgiveness than I’ll possibly ever receive. But I do hope you will find it in
your heart to one day forgive me and make Narragansett and the Vanderson estate
your home. Signed, Cole Vanderson.”

Marlene gasped. “Even the original is
just as disastrous. How could he split my daughter’s inheritance and call it
void if she doesn’t want to share it.”

She shot up from the chair and walked
over to Mackenzie, stroking her face. “It’s all right, dear. Once she signs the
papers that’ll be the end of her presence here—”

“Stop it already!” Mackenzie slapped her
and away and jumped up from the sofa. “Enough with the ‘
her
’ and ‘
that
woman’s child’
,” she fumed. “Julian’s my sister and I want her here. I
won’t let you chase her away like you did before.”

  
Looking over at me, Mackenzie nodded. I got up from the sofa just as she walked
over to Mr. Danton and snatched the papers out of his hand. She ripped them to
pieces.

“What are you doing?!” Marlene snapped.
“She doesn’t deserve this, you do. You’re—”

“A
Vanderson
,” I finished for
her. “I’m one too.”

She pressed her lips tightly together,
regarding me intensely. A few seconds past before Marlene finally spoke again.
“I’m leaving.”

Marching past Mr. Danton, she brushed
his shoulder harshly before storming up the stairs.

“Well,” Mr. Danton chipped in. “It seems
my presence is no longer needed here.” He nodded at me and Mackenzie then went
out the front door.

Mackenzie walked over to me right after,
hugging me lightly. “I’m serious, Julian. I want you to stay so we can work on
this.”

I inhaled then let a deep breath escape
my lips. “I’d love to stay. But there are still things I need to sort out on my
own.”

She bobbed her head, considering my
words. “Well at least wait until after the dinner tomorrow night to make up
your mind, especially after you worked so hard with Aunt Bev on the magazine.”

I slipped out of her grasp and walked
out the living room, heading for the kitchen door.

When I got back to the guesthouse, I
surveyed the place to make sure no one else was there to jump out at me. Then I
entered my room and lay down on the bed. A pity Mackenzie didn’t know how much
I wanted to stay in Narragansett and keep working on having a sisterly
relationship with her. Sadly, my mother was against the idea and even though I
was twenty-one years old, I still found it hard to stand up to her and follow
my heart.