Adam's Daughter (64 page)

“Stephen, I
-—”

“No, let me talk.” His voice was firm. “I’ve been thinking about this for a week now, trying to figure it out, trying to understand why.” He paused, taking a deep breath. “I know you haven’t been happy. I thought going back to work would change that. But I guess it wasn’t enough.”

He stared at the carousel. “When I finally realized what was going on, I blamed myself,” he said. “I thought there had to be something I wasn’t doing, something I wasn’t giving you. But then I realized it’s not me at all.”

He looked at her. “It’s you, Kellen. It’s just the way you are. You need this...this excitement in your life.”

The matter-of-fact emptiness of his eyes and voice rendered her speechless. “I didn’t mean to hurt you, Stephen,” she said finally, knowing how weak it sounded.

“Oh, Kellen,” he said quietly. “I’ve spent most of my life running behind you, and I long ago stopped expecting you to turn around to see how I’m doing.” He stared vacantly ahead. “You never had to. You always knew I was there right behind you. Good old reliable Stephen.”

Kellen started to say something, but suddenly Sara came bounding over. “Daddy, can we go again?” she exclaimed.

Stephen pulled some change out of his pocket and handed it to her. She ran off to buy more tickets, leaving Kellen and Stephen sitting in silence.

“It sounds like I’m feeling sorry for myself.” Stephen said calmly. “But I’m not. Not anymore. I’m just fed up, Kellen. I won’t just sit back with everyone else and watch you and Garrett make a fool of me and a mockery of our marriage.”

“Stephen,” Kellen said softly. “It’s not as simple as
that.”

“Yes, it is as simple as that,” He interrupted, turning to face her. “It’s black and white. It’s him or us. It’s Garrett or your family.”

Kellen looked over at the carousel. “Don’t use them like this, Stephen. It’s not fair.”

“Fair? What the hell is fair about any of this?” T
he anger had finally burst free and he looked at her accusingly. “I’ve been patient, Kellen, for years, hoping you’d forget him. I thought you had. But I was wrong. And obviously this is not just something you need to get out of your system.” He paused, his eyes locked on hers. “So you tell me what it is. Do you love him, Kellen? Is that it?”

She closed her eyes. “I don’t know.”

He looked away. “You don’t know,” he repeated flatly. After a moment, he looked back. “Well, do you love me?" he asked angrily. “Maybe you can tell me that at least.”

“Yes,” she said softly, still unable to look at him.

He sat there, staring at the carousel. He ran a hand over his eyes. “What about Sara? Have you told him?”

“No.”

His eyes did not leave the carousel. “In all the ways that count, I’m Sara’s father,” he said. “This is our family. You have to decide if you want to keep it together. ”

He stood up. “Until you do, I’m moving out of the house.” He looked once more toward the carousel. “Tell the kids what you want for now. I’ll talk to them later.”

She looked up at him. He had stuck his hands in his pockets and he was squinting in the sun, staring off at some distant point. “You take the car,” he said. With a last glance at the carousel he turned, went up the path through the playground, and was gone.

Kellen sat motionless, her senses painfully acute. She could feel the sun hot on her bare neck, could hear the click of the metal balls on the lawn and the rippling calliope music. She looked at the carousel and it metamorphosed into a blur of color and motion. The sun ref
lecting off mirrors, the lulling gait of the wooden horses and a flash of blue ribbon, going round and round and round.

CHAPTER SEVENTY-
SIX

Kellen stood at the window, watching the storm as it moved inland. The afternoon sky was heavy with gray clouds and green foaming waves crashed on the kelp-littered beach.

“Kellen? Is something wrong?”

She turned toward Garrett, who was building a fire. They had just arrived at the house in Carmel, and their bags still stood by the door. She clasped her arms around herself and shivered then turned back to look out the window.

“This’ll get rid of the chill in a moment,” Garrett said. He came over and wrapped his arms around her. “I think we’re in for a bad one,” he said, looking out at the ocean.

It began to rain, first just a few huge drops pelting the glass, then a steady beat.

“Garrett, Stephen knows,” Kellen said. “He’s moved out of the house.”

“How did he find out?”

She slipped out of Garrett’s arms and went over to the fire. “Apparently, it’s been no secret,” she said softly.

“But we were so careful. We were together only here and at my house.”

“It doesn’t matter now. It’s out in the open. Maybe it’s for the best.
I just don’t want Sara and Ben to be hurt by this.”

“Do they know what’s happening with you and Stephen?”

She shook her head. “Stephen has been down in San Mateo so much lately that they haven’t questioned his absence. I have to tell them soon, before they hear lies from someone else.” She paused. “I don’t know how I’m going to explain.”

“They’ll be all right, Kellen,” he said.
“Children are tougher than we think. They know you and Stephen love them. That’s all they need to get through this.”

He paused
. “But I’m the last person to give you advice right now. I’m rather prejudiced about the outcome.”

She sat down on the sofa and looked up at Garrett. He had been so patient, letting her deal with Stephen in her own time. But now she knew she owed him something. He had a right to know where they stood. And he had a right to know about Sara. It was time to tell him.

A rush of emotion filled her. “I love you, Garrett,” she said softly.

For a moment, he just looked at her. But then he smiled. It was a smile unlike any she had seen from him before, not calculated to charm, not tinged with irony. Just a slowly
unfolding expression of joy. Before he could say anything, the doorbell rang. They glanced at each other.

“
Did you tell anyone you’d be here?” Kellen asked.

“No one,” Garrett
said.

The bell rang again. Kellen rose and went to the door. She looked back at Garrett and he moved out of sight. She opened it, and her mouth fell open. It was Ian.

“What do you want?” she asked.

“You could at least ask me in from the rain,” Ian said
.

“You’re not welcome here,” Kellen said.

“We have business to discuss.” He pushed by her and paused to take off his raincoat, tossing it on a chair. He picked up his briefcase and went into the living room.

Garrett looked at him in shock, and Ian gave him a sour smile. “Well, look who’s here. I was hoping you would be,” Ian said. “Makes the drive down here almost worth it.” He hoisted his briefcase onto a desk and snapped it open. “Poetic justice, you might say,” he added under his breath.

He pulled out a folder and tossed it on the sofa. He looked at Kellen. “Some papers for you to sign,” he said.

With a glance at Garrett, Kellen picked up the folder. She opened it slowly and began to read.

“Just sign it,” Ian said, staring at Garrett.

Kellen looked up, first at Ian, then at Garrett. “This is a purchase agreement,” she said. “From Richardson Newspapers Ltd. to buy out the Bryant Newspaper Corporation.”

“What?” Garrett said. “Let me see that.”

Kellen made no move to give it to him.

“Kellen,” he said. “I haven’t the faintest idea what this is about!” He turned angrily to Ian. “What are you trying to pull?”

Ian ignored him. “Sign it,” he said to Kellen.

“Get out of here,” she said quietly.

Ian shrugged. “Is that the thanks I get? I come all the way down here to save you the trouble of having to do this on Monday. And you will have to deal with it
—- now or later -—whether you like it or not, little sister. Now sign it. Bottom of the last page, right next to Tyler’s signature.”

Kellen flipped to the last page. The color drained from her face and she slumped down on the sofa. Garrett grabbed the papers from her limp hand. There was
the signature: Tyler Landon Bryant, right next to Ian’s.

Garrett froze. There was a third signature: Arthur Richardson. “Oh
no,” he said softly.

Ian pulled a pen out of his breast pocket and held it in front of Kellen’s face. “Sign it,” he said.

Garrett slapped Ian’s arm away, sending Ian reeling backward. He threw the contract into the hearth. “Get out,” he said.

Ian straightened and glowered at Garrett, then at Kellen, who was still sitting motionless, staring at the floor. “Fine,” he said. “We have plenty of copies. We’ll do this Monday, with a lawyer, if necessary.”

He picked up his briefcase, went to the foyer and put on his raincoat. “I’ll see you bright and early Monday morning, little sister.” He smiled coldly at Garrett. “It’s been a pleasure doing business with your family, Mr. Richardson.”

With a slam of the door, he was gone. Garrett sat down next to Kellen. For a long time, there was nothing but the sound of rain on the roof and the snap of the fire. Garrett looked at Kellen. Her eyes stared dully ahead.

“Kellen,” he said softly. “I swear to you, I knew nothing about this. Please believe me.”

“It doesn’t matter,” she
said without looking at him. “Ian’s won. I’ve lost the newspapers. I don’t understand why Tyler would —-”

He reached for her but she pulled away. “Kellen, don’t,” he pleaded. “It wasn’t me who did it.”

She looked at him, eyes brimmed with tears. “It was your father. He signed the papers. You can’t separate yourself from that. I can’t separate you from that.”

“Kellen
, this has nothing to do with you and me.”

“It won’t work,” she said softly. “Not now.”

“I know what you’re feeling,” he said. “But don’t let it destroy what we’ve got. I’ll go to my father. I’ll talk to him. We can work this out. What does it matter who owns -—”

The look in her eyes caused him to stop in midsentence.

“What does it matter?” she said. “These newspapers have been in my family for years. They were given to me in trust to care for. They are my family, as much a part of me as Sara and Ben. It does matter who owns them.” She paused. “If you don’t understand that, you don’t understand me.”

“Kellen, I didn’t mean
-—”

“You’d better leave,” she said. When he didn’t move, she closed her eyes. “Please, Garrett. Leave. Right now. I just want to be alone right now.”

He rose slowly, standing above her, waiting.

“Just go,” she repeated softly.

He went to the door and picked up his bag. He looked back, waiting for Kellen to stop him but she didn’t even look up. He left, closing the door softly behind him.

The rain came to a sudden halt, leaving the house eerily quiet. The contract lay in a co
rner of the hearth where Garrett had tossed it. A log fell with a snap, and Kellen watched the flames slowly eat into the curling edges of the paper.

CHAPTER SEVENTY-SEVEN

With a spray of gravel, Garrett pulled his car to an abrupt stop in the driveway of Durdans. He let go of the steering wheel, his fingers aching from the viselike grip he had exerted during the drive. He was exhausted, having flown nonstop from California to New York, then catching the first plane to London. But now, he was also fueled by the surge of adrenaline and a rage that had been building since he had left Kellen twenty hours ago.

He went quickly through the front door, surprising a maid sorting mail in the foyer. “Where’s my father?” he demanded.

The stunned woman, new to the household, stared at the disheveled stranger. “I don’t...”

“Mr. Richardson. Where is he?”

“In the sun room, having his breakfast.”