Authors: Sandy Huth
Six weeks later, Peter
sat at home waiting for Blanche to emerge from her bedroom. He was slightly
nervous, but also relieved that there was finally going to be an end to this
disaster of a marriage. He had spent almost everyday of the past month and a
half with Rachel and knew that Blanche was unhappy with the situation. After
everything Rachel had been through, though, he just couldn’t bring himself to
be apart from her. He stopped by the newspaper each day for lunch, if he
wasn’t in court, and then came by again in the late evening to drive her home.
He made sure she ate a good dinner and then, more often than not, he took her
to bed and made love to her. Laurie had left for his final year of school and
they were alone at the estate. He had never been so content and he intended on
making this permanent. He couldn’t move forward, though, without ending it
with Blanche.
“To what to I owe
this pleasure?” Blanche asked, entering Peter’s study. “You’re never here when
I get up.”
He wanted to say
that was because she never rose before noon and he was half-way through his
work day by that point, but refrained. He had a purpose to this conversation
and he wouldn’t lose focus by starting an argument.
“We need to talk,”
he said simply.
He saw her
shoulders pull back as if she was preparing for a fight. “How ominous,” she
purred, sitting down opposite him on the chaise lounge. “I wonder what it
could possibly be.”
“Blanche, I want a
divorce.”
“Why?”
“Because I want to
move on with my life.”
“With your little
innocent, I presume?”
He pretended he
was in court and thought carefully before answering. “Our marriage is not
satisfying to me and I doubt that it’s satisfying to you.”
“On the contrary,
I am very happy with our marriage.”
“It’s the money,”
he stated flatly. “I know that. As part of our divorce settlement, I’m willing
to give you my entire inheritance from Norris.”
Her nostrils
flared. “Do you think I’m so shallow, Peter?”
“It’s a
substantial amount. You could live comfortably for the rest of your life.”
“I’m living
comfortably now.”
“I’ll give you the
house, too.” He felt a burst of exasperation at her mulish expression. “Damn
it, Blanche! What else do you want?”
“What do I want?
What do I want?” she screeched. “I want to not be thrown out like trash just
because you suddenly presume yourself in love with a girl who lived in your
house like your sister! I’ve put up with her for years, mooning after you with
those puppy dog eyes, and I knew once she became a woman, you wouldn’t be able
to resist her. It makes me sick!” She jumped up and began pacing the floor.
“I will not be left, do you understand me?”
“You can’t stop
me,” he said, resuming his calm voice.
“The hell I
can’t.” She smiled and he felt a chill run through him. “I hold the trump
card, Peter.”
“What does that
mean?”
She stopped in
front of him and folded her hands together in front of her as if giving thanks
to her god. “If you divorce me, I will go to the police and tell them the
truth.”
Peter’s mind moved
in rapid thought. He hadn’t done anything illegal. She was bluffing.
“The truth about
what?”
“I know who killed
your mother and Frederick Stern.”
He tried to school
his face, but failed. “What are you talking about?” he said hoarsely. “It was
an intruder.”
She leaned down
close to his face. “It…was…Rachel.” She could barely contain her glee.
“You’re insane.
The police would never believe you. There’s no evidence.”
“I have the
evidence.”
“How?”
“Let’s just say
that Leonard Winston enjoys pillow talk.”
The bottom dropped
out of his stomach. “Damn it, Blanche,” he whispered.
“Your lover’s
little stunt at Geoff’s wake motivated me to take control of the situation.
Leonard was an easy mark although I had to put up with his crying and
recriminations afterwards.”
“Leonard is a
family man,” Peter said tonelessly.
“Too true, but I
have found that there are few men that can say no to an aggressive
proposition. It wasn’t even a challenge.” She shrugged. “It didn’t take long
to get him to start talking and he admitted that Norris had taken the rap to
try to divert attention away from Rachel. Norris knew that he’d never be
convicted because the evidence just wasn’t there.”
“There’s no
evidence that Rachel did it, either. Leonard can’t release any information.
It will break attorney client privilege.”
“He doesn’t need
to say a word. I have the evidence. I have Norris’ journal.”
Peter felt the
panic rising in him. “Where did you get it?”
“I overheard
Laurie and Maryanne talking at Geoff’s wake. Apparently Geoff’s last words
were about a journal. So, while everyone was busy crying in their coffee cups,
I was searching Norris’ study. It didn’t take long to find it. The fool kept
his safe combination written down in his desk. It makes for interesting
reading, Peter. Especially the part where your innocent little angel slept with
her own father.”
Peter jumped out
of his chair and lunged for Blanche. She stepped back and held out a hand.
“If you touch me, I’ll have you thrown in jail for assault. If you kill me,
Leonard has a letter of mine in his possession stating if anything happens to
me, that you’re to be investigated.”
He held himself
back, his hands clenched in fists. “What do you want from me?”
“What I always
wanted. I want our marriage to continue. I want you to stay away from
Rachel.” She sat back down, sure of her victory. “It’s over, Peter. You had
fun, but the affair is over. Even if the police won’t press charges against
her, the whole story will come out. She won’t be able to withstand the
scandal. She’ll lose the paper. She’ll lose everything. Is that really want you
want for her?”
Peter thought of
Rachel and how she had been over the past months. She was thriving in her role
at the newspaper. She was blossoming and gaining self-confidence every day.
She was making friends and becoming accepted into society’s circle. She seemed
truly happy for the first time since he had known her. He couldn’t let it all
come crumbling down around her.
He felt as if he
aged twenty years in that moment. He had been so close to grabbing a handful
of heaven for himself, but instead he was falling, crashing back to earth, back
to his real life.
“Fine. I’ll end
it with her. I have one condition, though.”
“I don’t think
you’re in the position to impose conditions, Peter.”
“Don’t worry,
you’ll like this one. I can’t live here anymore. Remember that job offer from
New York from my old war buddy that I turned down last month? You were furious
with me.”
Blanche sat up
straight, her eyes snapping in excitement. “You’ll take the job?”
“If it’s still
available.”
“It will be. He
wanted you so badly. No matter what, he’ll make room for you. We can really
move? We can live in New York?”
He nodded slowly.
“I’ll call Rob today.”
Before he called
his old friend, though, he called Maryanne and asked her if she would pass
along a message to Rachel that he was tied up in a case and would not be able
to see her for a few days. He asked his sister to keep an eye on Rachel then
rang the operator and asked to place a long-distance call to New York. Each
second that ticked by was another nail in his coffin. He didn’t know what he
was going to say to Rachel but he couldn’t leave her without at least saying
good-bye.
One week later, Rachel
sat in the gazebo in the garden, her hand on her still flat abdomen. Her
thoughts were swirling in her head. She had just come from Dr. Miller’s
office, concerned about how low energy and almost constant nausea. His
diagnosis had knocked her off of her feet. Pregnant! When Norris had turned away
from her after she had lost the baby, she had come to accept that she would
never have a child. Then when she had started her affair with Peter, her
concern had been that she would become pregnant, so they had used contraceptive
methods, except twice, once at the beach and once the night before Norris’ suicide.
Now, here she was, a widow for two months and pregnant. All the signs had been
there but in the shock and transition of the past few months, she had not
noticed any of them.
A smile trembled
on her lips. Peter would be happy, she knew it. With the timing, no one but
them ever needed to know that her baby was Peter’s and not Norris’, but it
would be their very special secret. Peter would want to marry her, she knew,
but they would need to wait a proper amount of time. It would be scandalous on
its own, a woman marrying her step-son, but most would eventually feel that
Peter had done a good deed by protecting her.
She knew he would
divorce Blanche. He hadn’t loved his for years, if ever, and the baby was the
catalyst he needed to finally end the marriage. Blanche would not go quietly
but Peter could handle her, Rachel was sure. She needed to call him.
Strangely, he had not been out to see her for days, maybe even a week, sending
a message through Maryanne that he was tied up in a bear of a case. She missed
him with every fiber of her being but knew that his work was a priority for
him.
A wave of
giddiness swept over her as she realized the full reality of the situation. It
was as if God had orchestrated this to allow Rachel to finally be happy.
The
happiest day ever
… she thought to herself, pressing both of her hands over
her child.
“Rachel?”
Rachel opened her
eyes and gasped in surprise. Peter stood there, one foot up on the first step,
his hand wrapped around the railing. It was as if her thoughts had conjured
him. A beautiful smile broke out over her face. “I was just thinking of you.
I’ve missed you so much.” He didn’t respond and Rachel realized that he did
not look happy to be here. He looked somber and withdrawn and Rachel’s smile
died. “What’s wrong?”
He climbed the
steps and sat down on the bench across from her. “We need to talk.”
“All right. Is
everything OK? Is someone hurt?”
“No, no one is
hurt.” He laid his hands on his thighs and rubbed them back and forth, almost
nervously. Rachel had never seen him look so uncomfortable. He was not even
looking her in the eye.
“Just tell me.”
“I…I took a job in
New York. I’m leaving next week.”
Relief washed over
her. “Is that all?” she asked, laughing a little. “You scared me. Why,
though? What about your practice here?” She took a deep breath and said, “Wait,
can we talk about all of that in a minute. I have something to tell you, too.”
She was sure that her news would make him change his mind about taking a new
job. He had to know that she would follow him wherever he went, despite the
newspaper, but with the baby, she would prefer that they stay settled.
“No, Rachel,” he
stopped her. “There’s more. I’m leaving for New York and Blanche is coming
with me.”
She drew back in
surprise. “She is? Why?”
He raised tortured
eyes to her. “Rachel, I’m sorry, but Blanche and I have decided to give our
marriage another try. We feel that moving away from here is the best thing for
us. It will be a fresh start and get us away from our…mistakes.”
It felt as if
someone had thrown a bucket of ice water on her. The sun suddenly lost its
warmth and she felt cold to the bone. She shivered. “I’m a mistake?” Her
hand crept back to her abdomen.
“I didn’t mean it
that way. We just know that we can’t move forward with our marriage if we’re
surrounded by…our other choices.”
“I don’t believe
you,” she said suddenly, shaking her head. “I’ve known you more than half of
my life. I know you, I know what I mean to you. What’s really going on?”
He looked panicked
for a split second, and then his face was a smooth mask again. “You have to
believe me, Rachel. I don’t want to hurt you, but you have to understand that
my marriage comes first and I owe this to Blanche, and to myself, to try to make
it work.”
“Is she holding
something over you? Are you trying to protect me from something?” Rachel
stood and began walking towards him. She knew she could get him to admit to
her what was really happening.
He stood and
backed away from her, holding out a hand. “Rachel, stop. Please. There’s one
more thing. Blanche is pregnant.”
It was the last
thing she ever expected him to say. If there was one thing she thought she had
known for sure was that Peter and Blanche had not been intimate for years. Her
multiple affairs had made him cold, he had told her. He felt nothing for her
physically. “It’s not yours,” she whispered, now unable to meet his eyes.
“It is.”
“You told me...”
she felt short of breath. “You told me that you weren’t with her like that.”
“I lied. I’m
sorry. I didn’t think you would understand, so I told you I wasn’t sleeping
with her. I never stopped, though. I was with you both at the same time.”
Silence fell
between them. Rachel stood stock-still, her arms hanging uselessly at her
side, her head bowed. Peter stood stiffly, his hands clinched at his hips, his
jaw so tight it looked like it could snap.
“With the baby,
now…I have to try to save our marriage. I’ve wanted a child for so long and
this was like a sign that Blanche and I needed to stay together. I’m sorry
I’ve hurt you.”
“I’m sorry, too.
In my life, a lot of people have hurt me, but you were the one person that I
could always count on. You know what, though? You’ve hurt me worse than
anyone ever could. You betrayed me…you used me and I can never forgive that.”
“I know,” he said
simply. He wished she would lift her head so he could see her face one last
time. “It’s hard for me to walk away from you like this. Except for when I
was away in France, we’ve never really been apart. I can’t see you anymore,
though. It would be too hard.”
“Just leave,
Peter. There’s nothing left to say. Just go.”
He didn’t want to
leave without touching her one more time but he knew she would pull away from
him. If someone else had hurt her this badly, he would want to kill them. He
was the one who had done this to her, though, and he hated himself more than he
thought was possible.
“I’m sorry.
Good-bye.” He turned on his heel and left the gazebo without a backward
glance.