Sins of the Father (40 page)

“She could stay with us, but you know what
that would tell Aidan.”

“Yeah. That we’re all wise to who you really
are.”

“So will you do it? Can you keep her away
from Aidan?”

“I’ll try, but Helen, she’s got all kinds of
weird ideas about being submissive to him. They’ve brainwashed her
for four decades.”

“Do you have your cell phone?”

“Of course I do,” he said then warily asked,
“Why?”

“Call him. Call Aidan right now.”

“And say what?”

“We’ve got to cut Kathleen out of the loop
on this one. We’ve got to make this seem like it’s Aidan’s idea.
She’s not going to be welcome to come home.”

“Helen, she’ll freak. We can’t do that to
her!”

“Let me handle Kathleen. Believe me. I’ll
make it so worthwhile to her that she’ll be free of his abuse for
the rest of her life, Crevan, even if he isn’t guilty of more than
not giving a damn if he ever found me.”

“I’m not sure why that scares me even
more.”

“For God’s sake, do you trust me at
all?”

Crevan pulled out his cell phone. “What am I
telling him?”

“You ran into Kathleen at the charity
luncheon on the island today. You talked, invited her to dinner
with you and Alex, and she accepted. You’d like him to come
too.”

“He’ll have a fucking stroke,” Crevan
predicted, but dialed the number while he cursed.

I listened while he laid out the ruse. It
was like Aidan was on speaker phone. No turning back now. Again.
Seemed like I was living through lots of those
no turning
back
moments of late.

“Well, I’m sorry you feel that way about it,
Dad, but she’s my mother. She wants to be part of my life again.
I’ll continue to hope and pray that you come to your senses.”

Crevan disconnected the call.

“We need to get to your mom now,” I said.
“He’ll call her before I’ve got the door open, you mark my
words.”

I dashed through the door just as Kathleen
pulled her ringing cell phone out of her purse. “Don’t answer that
yet!”

“What? Why not, dear? It’s Aidan.”

“Mom, listen to Helen. I just –”

“He just called Aidan and invited him to
dinner with you, Crevan and Alex tonight.”

Kathleen looked like she might
hyperventilate. She dropped the phone into her purse. “Oh! Crevan,
why would you do that? He’ll never forgive me!”

I strode across the room and took her hands.
“He’ll know you know the truth if he sees you. And then he’ll know
that
we
know the truth. If Lyle Henderson is part of what
happened to me, if he and his wife were really responsible for my
abduction and Aidan doesn’t know it, he could tell Lyle, confide in
him. We can’t risk that. If he stole me from you, don’t you want
him punished for that?”

“Oh, I don’t know how Lyle could possibly be
involved, Helen. And Aidan is my husband. He’s your father –”

“Yet he’s been nothing but horrible to
Helen, Mom. You remember how he treated her when she came to the
house a few months ago.”

Her teeth sank into the flesh of her lower
lip.

“Please,” I said, “if you ever hope to have
a relationship with me, we’ve got to get to the truth and stop
these men. I’m still in danger. My children are in danger. Please
help us… Mom.”

I know. It was cheap and manipulative. But
it worked. She crumbled right before my eyes. Weeping ensued while
her phone started and stopped ringing three more times. It took
Crevan and me the better part of half an hour to shut off the
waterworks. When she was composed, she called Aidan back.

“He’s my son!” she said softly. “I will not
lose him too, Aidan. If that means I’m not welcome to come home, so
be it. I’ll – I’ll stay with Crevan.”

He nodded encouragement, and I caught a
glimpse of Johnny’s expression out of the corner of my eye. He
knows me so well. I doubt he realized how quick I am with a plan
when backed into a corner. Then again, I hadn’t really lied this
time. Not yet anyway. I didn’t know if I could lie to him about
what I told Crevan.

Kathleen disconnected the call and let out a
shuddering sob. “He’ll never forgive me.”

“Maybe he will,” Crevan said. “If we can
prove what really happened to Helen, maybe he’ll understand why it
had to be this way, Mom.”

“He said I’m not his wife anymore, that he
won’t tolerate this kind of disrespect.”

Crevan hugged her. “When you said you could
stay with me, it was true, Mom. You can stay as long as you
like.”

“And you’ll love Alex,” Johnny said.

I shot him a glare.

“Oh, I hadn’t thought about that. Will I
really have to meet him right away, Crevan?”

Johnny’s eyebrows wiggled mischievously.
Bastard. I hadn’t thought about how to explain to Kathleen that
Alex lived with Crevan now.

“Mom, Alex lives with me. If you can’t
accept that, I’m sorry.”

My silent reply to my husband was shrouded
in smug. Didn’t think Crevan was strong enough to stand up for
himself, did he?

Johnny sighed. “If you’d rather have your
own space, Kathleen, I’ve still got my folks house in Downey. You
could stay there until this situation resolves itself.”

Her eyes filled with panic. “Would that be
safe? I mean, what if Aidan tries to see me? I don’t want to do
anything that would put my children at risk – or my
grandchild.”

Exactly where I didn’t want this nonsense to
go, but it was better than the alternative. “Then you’d be much
safer at Crevan’s penthouse, Kathleen. And we know for a fact that
if Aidan knows you’re really there, he won’t try to see you, at
least not until we close our investigation.”

Kathleen bit into her thumbnail. “Will he
hate me because of how your father and I –”

“Mom, did you want to disown me?”

“Of course not. I’ve always known you were
special, Crevan. I never wanted anything to hurt you.”

“I don’t mean to be inhospitable,” Johnny
said, “but Helen needs to eat and get some rest.”

Kathleen reached for my hand and squeezed
it. “Of course you do, dear. You must take care of yourself. You
look so thin, except for the tummy.”

“She’s having twins, Mom.”

And thank you for that, Crevan. Apparently
Kathleen hadn’t picked up on all the plural children references
this afternoon.

“Oh, that’s so wonderful. I know how tired
you must be, Helen. We’ll talk again soon. Won’t we?”

I sure hope my smile didn’t look as sick as
it felt. “Of course. But Johnny, Crevan and I have a lot of work to
do.”

“I know. And I don’t expect that knowing the
truth will erase the life you had with your adoptive parents. They
must’ve loved you so.”

“My father did.”

Johnny and I walked them to the door, and I
endured the most awkward hug of my life.

“I hope you know that I loved you, Helen.
Always.”

“Thank you.”

Johnny closed the door and stared hard.

“So it was a ploy to get me alone so you
could grill me, not the sincere plea for my hunger and rest.”

“
Are
you hungry?”

I snorted. “What do you think?”

“I think I don’t have the first clue what
you’re really up to, Helen. In light of recent events, you can see
why that sense would concern me.”

“I don’t think I could eat if I tried.”

“Then you’re laying down and taking a
nap.”

“No,” I said. “I need to start looking for
Dad, Johnny. If I fall asleep now, I’ll be up all night.”

“I’ll wake you in an hour, and we’ll try
something light for dinner. No arguments, Helen. An hour isn’t
going to prevent you from finding Wendell.”

“You’re not going to grill me about my
conversation with Crevan?”

“Do I need to?”

Guilt descended. “I told him the truth,
Johnny.”

“Hmm.” He looked disgusted, but not really
shocked by my revelation.

“Are you mad at me?”

“I guess we should probably clarify what you
mean by
the truth
.”

“I told him that I helped Dad escape,” I
said softly. “He needs to understand that this isn’t as hopeless as
it looks, Johnny. And if my father was part of it –”

“I thought we agreed that he wasn’t.”

“I don’t think he is, but what if I’m
wrong?”

“If you’re wrong, I doubt we’ll find
Wendell. But if you were wrong, I doubt you’d have any money left
either.” Johnny clasped my hand and led me toward the bedroom.
“Didn’t you tell me that your father rescued children?”

“Yes.”

“Then why would he be part of something that
sold them into slavery?”

“He wouldn’t, but I have a hard time
believing that Crevan’s father would be part of this either,
Johnny, even if I do think he’s generally an asshole.”

He nudged me onto the bed. “Lay down and
rest. I’ll wake you in about an hour.”

“You’re not going to stay with me?”

“If I stay, I have a feeling we won’t be
doing a whole lot of searching for Wendell later.”

My fingers slipped through the belt loops on
his jeans. “And you really think we have so little self
control?”

“Positive,” he grinned. “But that also
translates into an inability to tell you no.”

I stretched out on the bed and patted the
spot beside me. “Well, come on then. If you want me to rest, you’re
going to have to unwind me.”

He tugged me onto his chest and smoothed one
hand over my back. “You’re impossible, Helen. I really wish you
hadn’t told Crevan everything.”

“I didn’t. I just told him about Dad. He
already knew I was holding something pretty big back. I thought you
wanted me to start trusting people, Johnny.”

“Not with things that could eventually put
you in prison.”

“He was excited about it, not angry or
disappointed in me.”

“And I’m not sure that’s comforting.”

I lifted my head and peered up at him. “Why
not?”

“Because it’s hard enough to keep
you
in line. If I have to start worrying about a twin brain thing going
on, I’m not sure I can –”

I pinched his side. “That wasn’t funny.”

“Well, I’m not kidding, Helen. You see
Crevan as the flip side to you. He’s the calm and rational one.
You’re all passion and action, the pent up fury for the both of
you. I think you need to remember his gut reaction earlier today
when you strolled into the restaurant with Kathleen. He’s got the
same instincts you do. He’s just far more repressed. If he’s at the
point where he’s being his own man and standing up to the person
who kept him down all these years, how long do you really think
it’ll be before he’s unable to control his urges too?”

I thought about my red-black rage, that part
of me that was unstoppable, irrepressible. I always thought it came
from Dad, that he must’ve experienced the same thing too when he
got so fed up that he couldn’t tolerate the failures of the justice
system anymore. It was all wrong. Everything I thought I knew and
understood about myself was completely wrong.

“Helen,” Johnny said softly, “you do know
who you are. How many times do I have to tell you that it isn’t
nature versus nurture? It’s both. You’re a child of two families
now, and while you and Crevan might have a lot of the same
inclinations, you’re still very different people.”

At least Johnny seems to know who I am, even
though his words didn’t do much to quell the swirling doubts in my
head.

Chapter 38

I set the mail on my iPhone app to push
notifications. No way would I miss a reply to the cryptic messages
I floated to every conceivable place where Dad might see them.

Johnny kept reminding me that it could take
time and a whole lot more effort than we’d expended so far. I knew
better. Well, I hoped.

See, I can’t quite bring myself to accept
some of the nagging worry that’s been growing in my brain for the
past couple of days. I believe that I know my father. I might not
know every single detail of his criminal history, but I know who he
is. I don’t doubt his love for me. It’s that surety that erases the
caution my husband is trying to instill.

He’s afraid that he’ll be picking up a whole
lot of shattered pieces when his worst case scenario happens, and
Dad remains out there and we don’t get our questions answered.

I know better. I know the man I love will
always be there when I need him, for as long as he has life, he
will be there.

“Stop rearranging your breakfast and eat. I
knew I should’ve made blueberry pancakes.”

“I’m sorry.” I pressed the button on the
cell phone again. No notifications.

“Honey, it’s only been a few hours.”

“Maybe we should call Crevan and see how
things went at the penthouse last night. What if Aidan was so angry
that he charged over there to drag Kathleen home?”

Johnny chuckled. “Not possible, Doc. You
don’t know Aidan at all.”

“I know the type.”

“Do you honestly think that a man who is
never wrong would run after his wife for any reason?”

“No, but –”

“Helen, Kathleen is in the safest place in
the world right now. Your instinct was right. That was the only way
to make sure that Aidan doesn’t confront her. He won’t go near
Crevan.”

I nibbled on a slice of crispy bacon,
dropped it and picked up the phone.

“Stop playing with that thing and eat. Do
you really want bad news at your checkup?”

“I can’t stop worrying about this. Why is he
taking so long to contact me?”

“He’ll reply. You know it. I know it. When
it happens, we’ll tell him what we know.”

I laid the phone down. A millisecond later,
it rang. I grabbed it. “Yes?”

“Helen, it’s David.”

“Oh. Hi.”

He chuckled softly. “Were you hoping to hear
someone else’s voice?”