The Coach House (46 page)

“At least now you know he really cares about you. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have had Mr. Feinstein say all that to you.”

Marie nodded. “I guess.”

What Gregory Feinstein relayed to Marie played over and over in her head, sometimes when she least expected it. She tried to think of it in a positive way, closure of some kind. But every time she thought it through, the outcome was always the same. The only way Jonathan Brooks could infuse something positive in her life would be to be in it. She wanted more than anything for him to look at her face-to-face and talk to her, cultivate a relationship with her, console and guide her. But in her heart she knew the odds were highly stacked against her as far as that went.

She kept going back to a conversation she had had with Karen when Marie told her how she longed for a relationship with him. She had said, “Well, he snuck around with your mother. Maybe he could do the same with you.”

At first, Marie had been offended by Karen’s comment, but the more she thought about it, the more she thought maybe that wasn’t so farfetched. And somehow, clinging on to even the most unlikely scenario gave Marie a ray of hope.

Her more tangible ray of hope came the next day when Mr. Feinstein called her. She called Karen immediately afterward.

“Jonathan wants to meet with me.”

“What?! He wants to meet with you?”

“Yep. That’s what he said.”

“When?”

“Tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow.”

“Where?”

“At the Union State Bank.”

“So he’s coming here?”

“Mm-hm.”

“Holy cow. What time?”

“They’re going to call me when he gets here. Probably close to noon.”

“Are you okay?”

“I don’t know.” She paused. “Karen, I’m going to meet my father tomorrow.”

“I know, hon.”

“Do you know what that means?”

“Yeah. Well, no maybe not. What’s going through your head right now?”

“A million things.” She looked up toward the ceiling and closed her eyes. “I’m picturing myself calmly talking to him about the threats Richard made, but on the inside I’m shouting, You’re my father, damn it all! You are my father!’” The tears started rolling.

“Where are you going to be when they call tomorrow?”

“At my studio. Why?”

“I was just thinking you might want some moral support before…and afterwards.”

“That would be great, but what about your shop?”

“I’ll just put a sign on the door. Thursdays usually aren’t very busy anyway.”

The morning dragged. Marie tried to busy herself with work, but her mind was already at Union State Bank. What would be his first words? Would he hug her, or would he be all business? Would he ask about her mother? How would she react? Would she break down in tears? Karen had told her to suck on peppermints to keep her stomach calm, but after the tenth one, her stomach still fluttered.

Karen came over at eleven. They sat in Marie’s office with the door closed.

“Right before you enter the bank, take in a few deep breaths through your nose and then exhale slowly through your mouth. That will help calm you,” Karen advised.

“I’ll try that, but I think it will take a lot more than that to calm these nerves.”

“Well, if it makes any difference, you look calm.”

“I wish you could come with me, but I have to do this alone.”

“I know.”

The phone rang at twelve fifteen. They were ready for her.

She walked the ostensibly long block to the bank. The receptionist asked her to take a seat. Five minutes later, a tall thin man approached her.

He held out his hand. “Hello, Miss Costa. I’m Gregory Feinstein.”

She stood up and shook his hand. “It’s nice to meet you.”

He led her to a small conference room. “How are you?” he asked.

She smiled a weak smile. “Nervous.”

“Don’t be. Jonathan is a dear friend of mine, and one of the nicest men I know.” He smiled. “I think you’re going to like him. Wait here. He’ll be in shortly.”

She stood in front of the window looking at her reflection in the glass, taking in slow steady breaths. She twisted a strand of her hair.
I’m going to meet my father.

When she looked away from her own reflection, she saw him standing in the doorway. She surveyed his image on the glass for several seconds before turning around.

“Hello, Marie.”

She felt as though she was living the moment in slow motion.

“Hello, Jonathan.” With clear light brown skin and soft features, he was more handsome than she remembered from when she saw him from afar on his porch. He wore a crisp pale blue dress shirt, striped tie, and black suit. His eyes were almost black, but warm.

“Please sit down.” He pulled out a chair from one side of the conference table. He took the chair across from her. He fixated on her eyes until she had to look away. Then he held out his hand, palm side up.

She put her hand in his, and he squeezed it. It was all Marie could do to keep the tears from spilling down her cheeks.

“I hope you understand, Marie, why I’ve stayed away all these years.” He waited for a response, still squeezing her hand.

Unable to speak, she nodded.

“I want you to know I loved your mother…and while this may be hard for you to believe, I loved you, too. In my heart, I always have.”

She didn’t know how she was supposed to react to that. She held his gaze as long as she could.

“That was you in the car that day, wasn’t it?” His voice held a smile.

She felt comforted by him and was relieved at his attempt to lighten the moment. She gave him a faint smile. “Yes, it was.”

“I knew it right away, big hat and all.”

That was enough to prompt a wider smile to her face.

“You’ve got your mother’s smile.”

She felt the blood rise up her neck. “Thank you.”

He let go of her hand when Mr. Feinstein entered the room. “Gregory. Come on in.”

Gregory sat down next to Marie. “I filled in Jonathan on what you told me about Richard, Miss Costa.” He cleared his throat. “Obviously, we’re concerned. Can you tell us any more about what he said to you? Do you know what he intends to do to him?”

“Well, I think I told you everything.” Marie paused while she collected the right words. “Richard is used to getting what he wants, and it doesn’t matter how. I wouldn’t put anything past him.”

It was Jonathan’s turn to speak. “Let me get this straight. What he really wants is
you.
He wants you to come back to him. And then everything is good?”

Marie nodded.

Jonathan leaned forward and planted his fist on the table. His jaw was tight. “Well, that’s preposterous. It’s blackmail. It’s…”

“Calm down, Jon. We need to think this through with level heads.”

Jonathan drew back. “I know. I know.”

“Marie, do you have any inclination to go back to him?” Greg asked.

Marie looked down at the table and let out a sigh. “No, but it would solve a few…”

“No. We’re not going to let you do that. End of discussion.” Jonathan’s facial expression affirmed the certainty of his words.

“I really don’t want to think about the worst that could happen,” Gregory offered, “but I am interested in what you, Marie, think he is likely to do.”

“I think he’ll start by exposing Jonathan. That he had an affair with my mother and a secret child as a result of it.” She turned to Jonathan. “I think he’s thinking that would destroy you personally and maybe even professionally. I don’t know. Like I said, I would put nothing past him.”

“Marie, has he ever harmed you physically?” Jonathan asked.

Marie told them of the incidents when Richard had grabbed her by the arm pretty hard after she had interrupted his so-called business meetings. When she told them about the basement stair episode, she half defended him. “He said he didn’t intend to hurt me and didn’t even know at the time I fell down the stairs.”

Both men looked at her with dropped jaws.

“What I think is important to know about Richard, and this is something that took me a while to figure out, is that he’s a master at playing into my emotions. Twice after I left him, he told me he never stopped loving me and pleaded for me to come back to him. And when I didn’t give in, he got frustrated and he didn’t really threaten me, but he tried to scare me, thinking I guess that when charm failed, fear might work. He told me at one point that he would protect me, implying I needed protection I guess.”

“He’s a bully then,” Gregory said.

“Maybe. The thing is…I really don’t think he’d hurt someone physically. He’s had that opportunity with me, and he hasn’t gone there.”

“Can you give us some examples of his scare tactics?” Gregory asked.

Marie relayed accounts of the few more memorable incidents, like the crumpled up business card she found on the hood of her car, the time he showed up at the airport where she was about to pick up her suitcase, only to find it missing, and suspicious sightings of the short fat man with the cigar.

“Let me ask you this, Marie,” Gregory said. “We know what he has on Jon and what he could do to make his life difficult. Is there anything similar he has hanging over your head that has you concerned?”

Marie’s hands fell to her lap.
The Lillian Strauss break-in.
She hoped her hesitation wasn’t noticeable. “The obvious thing would be my ethnicity.”

“Jon?”

Jonathan’s attention was focused on Marie. “Hmm?”

“This is your call, Jon. What do you want to do?”

He sat back in his chair and rubbed his forehead. “Look, I’ve been married for nearly forty years, and with the exception of Sophia, I’ve never given Claire any reason not to trust me. And that was over twenty years ago. I think the first thing I have to do is tell her.”

Marie’s heart raced while she listened to their conversation.

“Are you sure?”

There were no signs of worry on his face. “Yes, I’m sure.” He cocked his head and let out a sigh that said it all. “I should have done it long ago.”

Marie tried to hold back the smile. And the tears.

“Then what?” Gregory asked.

“Then let the chips fall where they may. My wife and children will know, and if that destroys my family, then I’ll have to face the consequences. At least they won’t find out through the likes of Richard Marchetti.”

“What about your business?”

“Well, that’s tougher in some ways. I could tell my constituents that there’s someone out there who’s threatened to destroy me and ask them to not hold whatever they hear against me.” He paused while he thought. “And if what they hear is that I have a child from another relationship, well, that’s true.” He looked at Marie. “What do you think about that?”

“I think that’s up to you.” She looked down at the table before she met his eyes again. She let out an audible sigh. “But to be truthful, it would be such a relief for me to have it out in the open. You have no idea.” Her mind traveled someplace far away for an instant. “I just thought of something. If you expose yourself before Richard can, that will foil his plan, and then he might do something even worse. He’s not one to ever let someone pull something over on him. Not Richard.”

The two men looked at each other.

“He doesn’t give up easily, gentlemen. He’s like a dog digging up a bone. He won’t stop until he has it in his mouth.”

“Then I’m just going to have to cross that bridge when I get to it. Look, I can’t have a plan for every scenario.” Jonathan leaned back in his chair. “I’m willing to take the risk and go ahead with alerting the people who matter to me the most. Then as things happen, I’ll decide on how to deal with them.”

Marie and Gregory nodded.

“May I have a little more time alone with my daughter, Greg?”

Marie’s stomach jumped at his words.
My daughter.
In her twenty-four years, no man had ever uttered those words in her presence.

“That’s what I planned for, Jon. Lunch should be coming in soon for the two of you. Let the receptionist know when you’re done, and she’ll come get me.” He gave a faint smile to Marie. “I’ll be in touch.”

Jonathan talked about his family over lunch. “I have three wonderful sons: twins Evan and Arthur and Melvin, the youngest. Melvin has two daughters; Brenda and Denise.” His face lit up. “The little joys of my life.”

“Jonathan, can I ask when your children were born?”

“The twins were born in 1919, and Melvin was born the following year. Why?”

“I was just trying to get perspective to when I was born.”

“June 28, 1925.”

“You know my birthday.”

Jonathan blinked his eyes for a full few seconds. His lips curled up at the corners. “Of course I do.”

They sat looking at each other for a long moment.

“I have so many questions, so much I need to know,” she said.