Peril in Paperback (32 page)

The emotional strength behind those words hit Ruth and she burst into tears. Grace pulled her closer. After a moment Ruth used her blouse cuff to wipe the moisture from her eyes. Then she glanced around the room. She seemed to be searching for the right words and finally blurted, “Grace and I have been lovers for five years.”

“Well, duh,” Kiki said.

Madge gasped. “Grace! That’s disgusting.”

Suzie threw her aunt a world-weary look. “Seriously, Madge? You’re going there? Now?”

“Shut the hell up, Mom,” Kiki said, clearly appalled
by her mother. Then she turned back to Ruth and Grace. “That’s so cool, you guys.”

Suzie grinned and gave her cousin a thumbs-up.

“But, Aunt Grace, why did Merrilee call you her mother?” Kiki asked.

Grace flinched in shock. Her eyes grew big and she stared at Merrilee. “Did you call me that?”

Merrilee nodded and bit her bottom lip, but didn’t say anything.

Grace was befuddled now. “Oh, my. Everything was happening so fast, I—I didn’t realize.” She turned to Ruth and shook her head. “Help me?”

Ruth’s forehead furrowed in apprehension. “Are you sure?”

Grace’s head bobbed as she nodded over and over. “Please.”

“Okay, okay.” She patted Grace’s knee, then took a deep breath as she scanned the faces of everyone there. “It’s just that, well, it’s simple. Grace is Merrilee’s mother.”

Utter silence filled the room for a full thirty seconds. Derek’s arms gave me a squeeze and I was really glad he was there.

“Wow, lots of secrets coming out,” Harrison said finally. “And that’s a real nice one.” He walked over to the couch and bent down to give Merrilee a light kiss on the cheek. “Welcome to the family, sweetheart.”

“Thank you,” Merrilee whispered, “Uncle Harrison.”

But Ruth wasn’t finished yet, apparently. She took another deep breath and held it in her lungs as though she was considering her next words. Then she said in a rush, “And, Peter Brinker, you are Merrilee’s father.”

I watched Peter’s face lose its color in an instant as he gaped at the three women on the couch. “I’m…what?”

“No!” Sybil screamed, and launched herself headfirst into Grace and Ruth.

“Stop it!” Grace cried, and tried to bat Sybil away, but the woman was unstoppable despite having her wrists
bound behind her. She thrust her shoulders as hard as she could and managed to knock Ruth twice in the head before Gabriel yanked her back into her chair.

“Jeez, woman,” Gabriel muttered, clutching the squirming woman’s arm to hold her down.

Derek moved in. They got Sybil to stand up and turn around so Gabriel could rip the old duct tape off her bound wrists. Then Derek moved out of the way and Gabriel pushed her back into the chair. Both men wrestled to keep her arms steady against the arms of the chair. It wasn’t easy; Sybil was a fighter. But finally Gabriel was able to wrap the duct tape around each of her wrists and the arm of the chair, binding her to the piece of furniture. She looked like a monster, seething with rage as she tried but failed to escape.

Gabriel looked at Grace and Ruth and shook his head. “Sorry. I really thought I’d subdued her. Guess not.”

Ruth and Grace were both breathing heavily, gulping in air as Sybil continued to spit epithets at Grace and Merrilee. Then she turned on Peter. “You rotten son of a jackal. I should’ve killed you, too.”

“God, Sybil,” Peter said, shaking his head. “What’s come over you?”

“I told you,” she said, spitting the words out. “I read that stinking book she wrote.” She struggled and writhed in the chair. “It made me sick, but I read every page. I knew you were in love with her. Have you been lovers all this time? You have, haven’t you? You bastard! How could you sleep with her? She’s a lesbian!”

Suzie hissed out a breath and clenched her fists, but said nothing.

“She wasn’t when I knew her,” Peter muttered in his own defense.

Sybil laughed wildly. “And now you’re the father of that idiot child of hers? Oh, that’s rich.”

Ruth bounded off the couch. Gabriel stopped her just in time, but she still managed to jab her finger at Sybil. “I told you not to call her names, you vile cow.”

Sybil bared her teeth and looked ready to growl, but she caught a glimpse of Gabriel looming above her and said nothing.

Now that Sybil was securely constrained, Nathan approached Grace. “Since you’re Merrilee’s mother, I would like to ask you for the hand of your daughter in marriage.”

Ruth sighed. Love was in the air. Well, love and murder, along with assault and attempted kidnapping and a few other crimes I’d already forgotten about.

“Looks as though I’ve missed quite the house party,” Derek murmured in my ear.

His breath was warm and soft and nearly distracted me from the scene that was playing out before us.

“My mom doesn’t think I should marry you,” Merrilee said, cutting Grace off before she could answer Nathan.

“I didn’t say that,” Grace replied.

“Then what did you say?” Nathan lifted his chin as he faced Grace and said, “I’m in love with your daughter and she loves me, too.”

“Is that true, Merri?” Grace asked the question quietly, her gaze fixed on her daughter.

“Yes,” she said, then turned to face Nathan. “I do love you.” Merrilee hesitated, then said, “It’s just that when it comes to brains, I’m a few sandwiches short of a picnic.”

Ruth bit back a rueful smile. “That’s not true, Merrilee. You’re a lovely, smart woman.”

“But Nathan is a brilliant archivist,” she insisted. “He’ll get tired of me.”

“Impossible,” Nathan said, but his smile faltered at her adamant tone. “Grace, help me.”

Grace reached for Merrilee’s hand and kissed it, then touched it to her cheek. “You are a beautiful woman with a lovely heart, Merrilee. Any man would be lucky to have you.”

“That’s right,” Nathan said.

“Do you really love him?” Grace asked her quietly.

She nodded. “Yes, Mom.”

“Then marry him, baby. Don’t give up this chance for happiness. Those chances don’t come around that often.”

Merrilee looked up at Nathan and began to smile. “Okay. If you’re sure, then, yes, I’ll marry you, Nathan.”

“Thank you,” Nathan whispered, then reached his hand out. Merrilee took it and stood. And Nathan kissed her with all the love he had in his heart.

“Aw, sweet,” Ruth whispered.

“They make a beautiful couple, don’t they?” Grace murmured, dabbing at her tear-filled eyes.

I sniffled and then blinked to clear my bleary vision. Without a word, Derek passed his handkerchief to me and I blew my nose.

“You people are as stupid as she is,” Sybil mocked.

“That’s it,” Gabriel said, and tore off a six-inch length of duct tape. He pressed it over Sybil’s mouth and said, “You need to learn to quit while you’re ahead, lady.”

It looked like she was trying to shriek but no sound came out. Only blessed silence.

“I think this calls for some more champagne,” Marko said, lifting the magnum up from the bar. “Who’s with me?”

Grim-faced, Peter held his glass out immediately.

“You’re gonna need it.” Marko giggled as he filled Peter’s glass to the brim. Then he moved on to the next glass.

Something occurred to me and I turned to Grace. “Does this mean that the story in your book was real? There really was a baby.”

Grace glanced quickly at Peter, then said, “Yes, there really was.”

“But you didn’t give her up for adoption.”

“I couldn’t.” She gazed up at Merrilee and took hold of her hand. “I was going to—I really was. But the moment I held you in my arms, I knew I couldn’t give you away to strangers. You were so beautiful, so tiny. You needed me too much.”

“But you never said a word,” Peter said. “No one at work ever knew. Why?”

“I’m sorry.” Grace stared at her hands. “I just couldn’t tell anyone about her. I couldn’t take the chance that someone might see her.”

“Not even me.” Regret colored Peter’s voice, and Sybil’s half-muted mutterings from behind a layer of duct tape was the only other sound in the room.

Grace smiled at her business partner. “We had a one-night stand, Peter. By the time Merrilee was born, you and Sybil were engaged to be married. I couldn’t ruin that for you. And until the very end, I had honestly planned to give my baby up for adoption.”

“But why couldn’t you tell anyone?” Kiki asked.

“Times were different back then,” Grace said. “We had advertisers that would have dropped us in a heartbeat if they knew I was an unwed mother. We had government contracts that would have been canceled if word got out. It’s just the way things were in those days.”

“You had government contracts back then, Aunt Grace?” Suzie asked.

“Yes. They were interested in our war game strategies,” she explained absently.

“So what did you do about the baby, Auntie?” Kiki asked.

Sybil started kicking her heels against the chair, objecting to all of this in the only way left to her. I scowled at her and Gabriel held up the roll of duct tape, one eyebrow lifted as if to ask,
Want some more of this?

She quieted down, but her eyes showed how livid she was.

Grace gazed at her nieces. “I had a wonderful housekeeper who took care of Merrilee in her home.”

“Mrs. Bancroft,” Merrilee said fondly.

“Yes,” Grace said, patting her daughter’s hand. “I stopped by the Bancrofts’ home almost every night and rocked Merrilee to sleep. And when she started school, I sent her to the best boarding school in the country.”

“I wasn’t very good in school,” Merrilee admitted. “But I was really good at making the beds in my dorm room and seeing that all my friends ate really well. I like taking care of people.”

“You’re still good at that,” I said.

“I know. So when I graduated from high school, Mom wanted me to continue with school, but I knew I would be a lost cause in college. I convinced her that I could run her home smoothly and efficiently and she put me to the test.”

“And you passed with flying colors,” Grace said proudly. “You are perfect at your job.”

“Mrs. Bancroft taught me everything she knew.”

Grace smiled her love.

“And I love living here with you so much. And I love Ruth and Shelly and Ray and Chef Tang.” Merrilee beamed, but her smile disappeared abruptly and she turned to Nathan. “Oh, no. I didn’t ask. Would you be willing to move in here and live with my family?”

He didn’t hesitate. “Absolutely, yes.”

They kissed again and Grace clapped her hands with joy. Ruth chuckled. “Looks like we’ll have more babies in the old house one day soon!”

I was just happy that someone would be watching out for Grace’s books from now on.

“I suppose we should call the police,” Grace said, casting a glance at Sybil, who scowled back with her eyes.

“Wait,” I said. “Now we know that the part about the baby was real. But, Grace, was there really ever a corporate thief stealing your ideas?”

Grace opened her mouth to answer, but Nathan stepped forward and jutted his hand out to stop her. “Oh yes,” he assured me. “There really was a corporate thief.”

“How would you know?” Marko said.

Nathan’s steely gaze took in Marko, then circled to Peter, and finally zeroed in on Grace. “I know, because the thief was my father.”

I gaped at him. Seriously, this was the best house party ever. But now what was going on?

“Who the hell are you?” Peter said, studying Nathan more closely.

Grace drew in a sharp breath. “I don’t understand,” she said, staring at Nathan. “What are you saying? The thief was never found, Nathan.”

“Because he was hiding in plain sight all along,” Nathan said, then spun around and fixed his gaze on Marko. “Isn’t that right,
Dad
?”

Marko stared dumbfounded at Nathan. He studied the younger man for a long moment; then his eyes narrowed and he said, “Marky?”

“Marky. Right. Nice try,
Dad
.” Nathan stared at the older man with naked contempt. “My name is Nathan. When Mom walked out on you, she ran as far away from you as she could get. Then she changed our names. She didn’t want to have anything to do with you, your name, or your sleazy lifestyle choices.”

Nathan used air quotes for those last two words.

How odd. Now that Nathan had revealed himself to be Marko’s son, I could see the resemblance as clear as day. Why hadn’t I seen it before? Nathan was a taller, sturdier, blonder, healthier, younger version of Marko.

Grace was clearly stunned by the revelation. She stared back and forth at the two men as though she were attending a tennis tournament.

Finally, after a quick glimpse at Peter, who looked equally dumbfounded, Grace settled her gaze on Marko. “Marko? Why?”

“Why what?” Marko asked, sounding like the twelve-year-old jerky kid again.

Grace’s eyes were damp, but she sniffed proudly and pounded her fist against the sofa arm. “I want to know
why you did it. How could you? How could you steal from us? We gave you everything. Money. Fame. An ownership interest in the company. For God’s sake, the company was practically your home. Even before your wife left you, we had become your family.”

Marko blinked and looked around nervously. Derek and Gabriel and even Peter had shifted their stances, leaving him no way out. But it didn’t look like Marko was ready to go anywhere. He continued to say nothing, just swallowed apprehensively as he seemed to consider his shrinking options.

“Dad appears to be tongue-tied,” Nathan said easily, “so let me answer that for him. He did it because it was the easy way to get money. He’s a cheap, lazy bastard who’d rather do anything than work for a living.”

Nathan paced in a leisurely circle around his father as he spoke. “Back in the good old days Marko was never home. In fact, I wasn’t sure I’d recognize him, since I barely remember him being around. And when we moved, Mom tore up all her photos of him. Anyway, back then he worked all the time, around the clock, creating new video and arcade games for the company. And why did he do it? Because he was addicted to money. He was a greedy bastard. He made a ton of money but it was never enough.”

Marko said nothing to defend himself. He just kept staring at Nathan with a half smile on his face, almost as if he were
proud
of him. Bizarre.