Valentine's Child (24 page)

“No, I don’t,” Sherry admitted. Then, hearing herself, she added with a sigh, “But I have to.”

“Hmm.”

That was all Bernie got out before J.J.’s strong arm pushed open the glass swing-doors and his gaze collided with Sherry’s. He looked worse for wear, she realized with a guilty pang: tired, drawn, and grim. The ultimatum was here. There was no more sand in the hourglass.

Unknowingly, Sherry squared her shoulders and took a deep breath, preparing herself for round two. As he spied her reaction, J.J.’s mouth turned downward and he shook his head slowly.

“I’ve got to know more,” he said by way of apology.

“All right,” Sherry answered uncertainly.

“Come with me for a drive. I’ve got a car over by Crawfish.”

It was more of a command than a request, but Sherry wasn’t about to argue. She’d come to Oceantides for this special specific purpose. Soon, it would all be over.

Or just beginning…

Following him into the rain, she climbed into the passenger seat of his rental. Remembering yesterday’s intimacy, she shuddered involuntarily, drawing J.J.’s gaze her way. She met his eyes. He looked — shattered.

“You said she’s fourteen,” J.J. began as soon as they were on their way. His gaze was fastened on the winding road in front of him, his hands gripped tightly around the wheel.

“ Her birthday’s Valentine’s Day,” Sherry reiterated.

“She’s been living with …?” He frowned, unable to dredge up the data sheet thrown at him the night before.

This, Sherry could understand, so she began again more cautiously this time in case J.J. should react as he had the night before. She could scarcely blame him. She’d hidden the truth and if the situation were reversed, that sin alone would be unforgivable.

“I made a lot of stupid decisions that I wouldn’t now,” Sherry confessed with a faint smile. “But putting Mandy up for adoption wasn’t one of them. The Craigs, her adoptive parents, love her. She’s just at an age where she’s questioning everything, and it’s really hard.”

She told him about her visit from Mandy, and how their daughter had demanded to meet her father. She specifically related the facts unemotionally; J.J. could fill in the blanks if he wanted to without much effort.

He listened in silence until Sherry had given him every bit of information about Mandy that she could think of. When she was done, she realized belatedly that he’d parked the rental car in the same turnaround she’d found him in the night he’d nearly frozen to death after swimming in the ocean. Mariner Lane. Glancing around, she saw the same, though slightly more dilapidated, snow-cone shop that had been there in her youth.

Night was falling. The sky, already pewter, seemed to darken and sweep down around them, creating intimacy Sherry would have liked to avoid. J.J.’s profile, so sharp moments before, began to blur in the dimming light. He hadn’t turned to glance at her once during the dissertation, so she was surprised when he suddenly twisted in his seat to give her a good, long look.

“I hated that I didn’t know,” he told her.

“I couldn’t tell you.”

“Why not?”

“Oh,… .” She gazed out the side window, needing some space. If this went on much longer, she would choke on the lump in her throat all over again.

“All right. Forget it. I understand.”

“Do you?”

“I was an ass and we were so young. But even so, you should’ve told me,” he added, unable to completely forgive.

“Will you see her?” Sherry asked, her hands knotted into fists.

“Of course, I’ll see her. I just can’t believe it. It’s — incredible. And I don’t know how to feel.”

“You made your feelings pretty clear last night,” Sherry said softly, remembering his horrified reaction to the news that he was a father.

J.J. sucked in a sharp breath. “Okay, I deserved that. But you hit me in the gut.”

“So, what are you saying?”

“You really think I wouldn’t want to know my own daughter?” he asked in disbelief, searching her face.

“But you said …”

“I know. I lashed out. At you. I’m still having trouble getting it all straight, but I want to meet my daughter.”

“You mean it?”

“Yes, I mean it. Just tell me how.”

“I — well, she’s in Seattle this weekend for her birthday. Let me call and see if she and the Craigs can stay over, so you can meet her.”

A long moment passed while J.J.’s jaw tightened and relaxed several times, as if he were struggling to get something out.

“What?” Sherry asked.

“I’d like you to be there with me, when she and I meet.”

With a feeling of unreality still dogging him like a bad smell, Jake let himself into the Beckett home, his footsteps loud in the hallway. His entry didn’t go unnoticed. He heard animated voices suddenly hush from behind Patrice’s sitting room door.

No time like the present for delivering unpleasant news, he thought, recognizing one of the voices as Caroline’s.

They say revelations happen to us all, and at that moment, Jake Beckett had a revelation — and that revelation was that he was chock full of bullshit. He’d made himself believe that he and Caroline were a perfect match when in reality they were completely wrong for each other. Together, they were colorless and empty, and Jake finally recognized how hard he’d hung on to this delusion because he hadn’t wanted to really face the future.

He couldn’t believe himself. It had been Sherry from the beginning. From the time they were barely older than kids. Could love really last that long? Be that enduring despite such a brief, shaky start?

His inaction for so many years suddenly felt like a betrayal. He wanted movement. Change. A leap toward an uncertain but exciting future. All this time spent half at his place, half at the family home. He’d been waiting for the break. Wanting something to come along and slap him on the head — and it finally had.

Without knocking, he flung open the sitting room door. Patrice gazed at him over the tops of her glasses, her ubiquitous crossword puzzle folded neatly on her lap. Caroline stood at the window, her hands clasped in front of her, her expression hard to read. Jake didn’t care. He was emancipated, and in his emancipation he spoke what he felt.

“I’ve been with Sherry.”

Caroline stiffened and a sound of protest slipped past her tight lips before she could hold it back. Recklessly, Jake added, “She told me I’m a father. I have a fourteen-year-old daughter with her.”

Caroline’s regal jaw dropped. She gaped at him in pure shock. Jake felt a pang of regret that quickly changed to wonder and fury when he realized that Patrice betrayed no emotion whatsoever.

“You knew,” he said softly. “All these years, you knew.”

She didn’t deny it. Nor did she look the least little bit remorseful. “It was the only reason that made sense that she left,” she stated primly.

Jake reeled. “You didn’t tell me.”

“Would it have made a difference? You were a child yourself.”

“I may have been a kid, but I was eighteen!”

Caroline slumped onto the window seat, staring dazedly at the floor. Patrice threw her an impatient glance, as if annoyed by her lack of backbone. But it was Caroline whom Jake suddenly wanted to comfort. Her reaction was at least real and heartfelt. His mother’s was alien to him.

“I don’t believe this,” he muttered hoarsely.

Patrice was furious. “I knew that’s why she came back. Just to torture you and turn your life into a circus!”

“Caroline,” Jake murmured, moving toward her as if in a fog.

“You spent last night with her?” she asked stiffly.

Jake couldn’t deny it. “Yes.”

“Did you come here to tell me it’s over between us?”

“He did not!” Patrice answered for him, throwing the crossword to the floor and rising to her feet in a tower of fury.

“I can’t have the two of you run my life anymore,” Jake told Caroline. “That’s over. I’m going to meet my daughter. I’m going with Sherry.”

Patrice stared at him as if he’d grown reptilian scales. “J.J., I — ”

“Don’t say it. I don’t want to hear it.”

“You can’t just leave. The business needs you!”

Very specifically, he told her what she could do with the business.

Twin spots of color flared in his mother’s cheeks. “She took money, J.J. That’s what she wanted, you know. She chased you down because you could give her a future. She got herself pregnant to ensure that future.”

“Stop it.” Jake was terse.

“I gave her ten thousand dollars the first time. And she’s collected damn near a hundred thousand over the years! Yes, I should’ve told you rather than let her blackmail me, but damn it, I knew your ridiculous chivalry would create a worse problem!”

“You gave her money? You bought her off! You
knew
, really
knew?
”

Patrice hesitated for a moment, realizing she’d overplayed her hand. Shrugging impatiently, she barreled on, determined to have her say. “Did you hear how much money I’m talking about? Do you get it?”

“Damn you to hell,” Jake snarled through his teeth.

“I’ll show you the canceled checks. I’ve got every one of them.”

She walked to a drawer in the antique, roll-top desk, pulling out a neatly arranged pile of checks. Holding them in front of his nose, Patrice lifted her chin, but the desperation in her eyes gave her away.

Jake wanted to throw the checks in her face. He didn’t care. He didn’t give a good goddamn. He had a daughter and all the deceptions didn’t matter.

But they did…

Snatching the evidence of Sherry’s materialism, his heart shattered at the sight of her signature on the back of each and every check. Patrice hadn’t lied about the amount. Sherry had feathered her nest with about a hundred thousand dollars of Beckett money.

“You were a fool to let her take you,” he said into the silence that followed, then he swept away from his mother and the worst, most vulgar scene they’d played out in his entire life.

VALENTINE’S CHILD — NANCY BUSH

Chapter Ten

Patchy blue Seattle skies greeted Sherry and J.J. as they drove his newly fixed Jeep toward Sherry’s apartment. Sherry’s tension mounted with each mile that passed beneath the tires, drawing them further from Oceantides and closer to Mandy.

The Craigs had stayed beyond the weekend and were waiting in a kind of strained limbo for both of Mandy’s biological parents to arrive in Seattle. Sherry had spoken with Mandy briefly but most of her conversation had been with Gina Craig, who sounded as distracted and lost as Sherry felt.

“Mandy wants to stay, so we’ll stay. She can make up her classes. She’s a good student. She’s a good kid. She’s just got some things to sort through right now and it’s hard for her.” Gina had drawn a shaky breath. “But it’s good for her to close the chapter — or open it,” she added quickly, hearing how that sounded. “It’s important. Is — is her father anxious to meet her?”

Sherry understood the question. J.J. had been more of a phantom all these years than she had. “Very anxious.”

“Then we’ll see you on Wednesday,” Gina said, reiterating what they’d already discussed.

In the past few days Sherry had had little contact with J.J. She’d expected him to stop by or call. Their last moments together had been surprisingly tender, with J.J. struggling to come to terms with his new fatherhood. Since then, she’d sensed a withdrawal that left her a little baffled.

In their last conversation, in fact, J.J. had been terse to the point of rude.

“I’ll pick you up at noon on Wednesday, or as soon as I get the Jeep back.”

“Okay,” Sherry had agreed.

“Goodbye,” he’d responded shortly and she’d been left staring at the cell phone in her hand, wondering what in the world happened. J.J. seemed to yo-yo from acceptance to rejection with each passing hour. She never knew what to expect next.

Now, she stole a sideways glance at him. His jaw was set and his eyes were locked on the freeway, as if daring to meet her gaze would blind him. When he’d picked her up this morning he’d uttered less than ten words, and apart from a pleasant “Hello” to one of the motel’s maids whom Sherry half remembered from high school and who was also, therefore, an employee of Beckett Enterprises, J.J.’s face hadn’t altered one iota from its unforgiving frown.