MrTemptation (16 page)

“I am and thank you for being so patient with me. I really
needed a break,” Cadence said with a tight smile.

Maryanne accepted the apology with a perfunctory nod. She
turned a hostile gaze on her son. “What took you so long?”

“Cadence needed comforting.”

“Yes, well…”

Cadence pursed her lips before she burst out laughing.

“Let’s go inside,” he said. He turned away from her like
nothing had happened.

Cadence led the way into the inner office where her grandfather
had held court.

“I’m sorry about my outburst,” Cadence said.

“Your reaction was understandable. You’ve no need to
apologize to me.”

She looked at Preston. In a snap, he’d transformed into a
completely different person. The heart-stopping smile that had curved the
corners of his lips disappeared, replaced by a no-nonsense
I don’t take any
crap, I give it
expression.

Cadence stared at him in amazement, even though she
understood the necessity of putting on a game face. She’d done the same thing
most of her life, for different reasons.

She resumed her seat and folded her hands on top of the
desk. She would listen politely. Then she’d ask Maryanne to find a way for
Victoria to pay for spreading malicious lies about Cadence’s birthright.

“We were talking about Edward Burke.” Maryanne hovered over
her as if she might break.

“My father.”

Maryanne’s face tightened. “I’m afraid the rumor is true.”

“I don’t believe you. I have his blue eyes.”

“So does your biological father.”

Cadence gulped. There wasn’t enough air in the room.

“This isn’t how you were supposed to find out,” Maryanne
continued. She sat down. “I know your mother wanted to be the one to tell you
but you were so young. When she found out about Edward and Victoria, she waited
until it was too late to set the record straight.”

“She must’ve been very unhappy,” Cadence answered.

“The marriage was a sham from the start.”

“So what you’re telling me is she cheated on my father years
before he took a mistress.”

Maryanne’s perfect composure wavered. Creases formed around
her mouth as she pressed her lips into a thin line. She stared at Cadence with
such intensity Cadence shivered. “I’m afraid so.”

“Why didn’t she leave him?”

“She had her reasons.”

“What reason could she have had to live her life as a lie?”

“You should know your mother never wanted to hurt anybody,”
Maryanne said finally. “Especially her family.”

It was too much to take in.

“Tell me who my father is.” Cadence barely choked out the
words and grasped the edge of the chair to keep from pitching forward.

“Your real father is Bryce McClain.”

She didn’t recognize the name. “Is he alive?”

“Mr. McClain is very much with us.”

If she thought her heart had been racing before… “I want to
see him.”

“He’s not an American. He’s a Scotsman. He lives near
Edinburgh.”

Cadence was speechless. She had a father.

“I know this is a major shock to you,” Maryanne said.

“Major shock?” She could feel her anger rising. “Major shock
is finding out the mayor and Victoria had an affair. This, this is just insane.
I can’t take it anymore.”

She’d like to scream or run out of the building. Underneath
her hurt and confusion, Cadence found a reservoir of pity for her mother, who’d
done what she no doubt thought was best.

“I wish my mother would’ve told me,” Cadence said.

“It seemed prudent at the time to keep you unaware,”
Maryanne answered.

“I’m sorry,” Cadence said sputtering. “I’m sorry my parents
couldn’t have been honest with me and with each other.”

“Do you want a break?” Preston asked.

She shot him a warning look to back off. What had he known?
Why hadn’t he told her about this yesterday? She’d deal with him later.

“No, let’s continue.” Cadence flopped back in the chair. She
might as well get this over with, out into the open. She couldn’t move on until
she’d heard the whole story.

Maryanne straightened and resumed her mask of careful
confidence.

She’s very good at her job
, Cadence mused. This
couldn’t have been easy. “Tell me more about my father.”

“I don’t know him.”

“How did my mother meet him?”

“Your mother often went with your grandfather to Scotland,
where she met Bryce. At the time that she met him, she had already been engaged
to Edward, a marriage her parents approved of. Bryce was a very charming man
and courted her relentlessly. She fell in love with him.”

Here, Auntie Anne paused. She scrutinized Cadence as if
testing her resolve.

Cadence met her gaze, trying to let the information sink in.
Nothing would shock her ever again.

“They married at a small chapel.” Maryanne stopped again.

“Please don’t tell me you’re saying she wasn’t married to
the mayor?”

“I’m afraid so. She married Bryce before she married
Edward.”

One, two, three…

“No one knew of the marriage, except for her and Bryce,”
Maryanne continued. “If your grandfather had any suspicions about Bryce, he
never said a word. And your mother, fearful of her father’s reaction to a
secret marriage, never told him.”

“She told you,” Cadence said.

“I will get to the reason in a moment. When she returned to
the U.S. she realized that she was pregnant, not far along at all, maybe a
month or two.”

“Why didn’t she stay in Scotland?”

“Your grandfather wouldn’t have permitted it.”

So many secrets
, Cadenced mused,
so many lies
.

“Her parents insisted she marry Edward without delay,
believing he was the father. Your mother was very young at the time and went
along with her parents’ wishes. She was ashamed to tell them what she’d done.”

“When did they divorce?”

“She never divorced Bryce. She couldn’t let anyone know she
was married, especially after Edward Burke started his career in politics. She
was trapped in her own lies.”

“Poor mother, how did she manage to keep such a secret?”
Cadence couldn’t fathom how her mother handled the pressure.

“It took a toll,” Maryanne replied. “Edward expressed his
doubts you were his when you were born six weeks early at eight pounds. She
always maintained you were a preemie and swore Edward Burke was your father.
She had to. He went along because he already had political ambitions and
couldn’t afford any scandal in his background.”

“But he hooked up with his assistant Victoria.”

“Yes.”

Cadence let this new information settle. She’d admired
Edward Burke. She’d even been proud of him. He’d accomplished great things for
the city of New York. Improved transit. Provided shelter for the homeless. Gave
the city’s reputation a new polish so that tourists would come back and spend
their money.

Her hands were ice cold and she rubbed them together. She
just couldn’t imagine her mother living with a man she didn’t love. Or Edward
Burke acting like she was his daughter when he knew she wasn’t.

If what Maryanne was telling her was true, her mother’s
marriage to the mayor had been a sham. And a disgrace. And illegal.

And Cadence had never been a Burke.

She stopped rubbing her hands. Nothing would make the chill
go away.

“What proof do you have?” Cadence asked.

“I have their marriage certificate and your birth
certificate in this envelope, sealed for you and you alone to open.”

Maryanne set a large white envelope on the desk in front of
Cadence.
Confidential
had been stamped in red. Cadence turned the
envelope over and saw the seal hadn’t been broken. Her hand shook as she opened
it.

The marriage certificate was from a church, the posting of
banns with two witnesses in attendance. Cadence didn’t recognize the names or
the signatures. They belonged to a world she knew nothing about.

Her birth certificate had been issued at the Lennox Hill
hospital where she’d been born. She’d seen it once before when she applied for
a passport. It clearly named Edmund Burke as her father.

She was confused and handed the documents back to Maryanne.
“Why did she keep these two documents together?”

Maryanne took her time looking them over. “She wanted you to
know the date of her marriage to Bryce McClain and that the marriage was
legal.”

Cadence hadn’t missed the date. Her mother had married the
Scotsman two months before she married Edward Burke.

“How did they keep the press from finding out?” Cadence
asked.

“Bryce McClain is a private man. He kept their marriage
private because he loved your mother very much. All he ever wanted was for her
to be happy.”

“He must be someone very special,” Cadence said.

“I haven’t met him,” Maryanne said.

“Who told him when Mother died?” she asked.

“I called him.”

“Does he know about me?”

“Your mother and I agreed it was best he not be told.”

Cadence could feel her skin burning. Auntie Anne had honored
Mother’s wishes but at a steep cost to them both.

Looking back on her life and relationship with Edward Burke,
the man she’d thought was her father, she saw things differently. When he
didn’t come home when she was there to visit, he wasn’t busy, he was ignoring
her. When he neglected to call and see how she was doing, he wasn’t forgetful,
he didn’t give a damn.

She realized with sudden clarity that she had been making up
excuses for the way he treated her all her life.

Who could blame him? Each time he saw her it had been a
reminder of her mother’s infidelity. He must’ve detested her.

He’d taken up with Victoria, not a perfect choice, because
she’d shared his ambition and was willing to share his bed.

Cadence exhaled loudly. She’d been caught in the middle of
their marital war from the start.

Tears started to well in her eyes, unbidden, and she took a
deep breath, fighting for control. She wouldn’t cry. She couldn’t. Not in front
of Maryanne and Preston. She had to wait until she got back to her hotel room,
and she knew once there she would burst.

“Let’s move on,” Cadence said. “I want to finish.”

“Are you sure?” Preston asked.

This time her look was one of gratitude. “Positive.”

“This is a lot…”

“You did warn me,” she said. She turned to Maryanne.
“Please, tell me everything so I won’t continually wonder if there’s more.”

Maryanne nodded. “Your grandparents liked Edward initially
but they soon found out he was a money-grubber, a gold digger. Which your
mother had known but hadn’t been able to persuade her father. The marriage
turned ugly early on and she regretted not confessing to her father what she’d
done.

“When her father died, she inherited a great deal of money.
She suspected Edward might harm her so he could claim that money as his. So she
came to me and we devised a plan. I helped her to carry out that plan. She said
she would stick with him as long as possible, as long as she could to give you
a home. And she did.”

Cadence couldn’t be angry with her mother. She had been too
frightened to tell the truth. She’d been stuck in a bad relationship for
sixteen years. She’d been caught in the web of her own lies and didn’t know how
to get free.

“This is good,” Cadence said. “I’m not a Burke. Victoria has
no claim to my fortune.”

“Do you really want your mother’s name dragged in the mud?”

Cadence considered. “I don’t know how you kept this secret
for so long but I think it’s time the truth came out.”

“There is one last piece of the puzzle you should be aware
of,” Preston said.

Cadence turned to face him. “Of course there is.”

“We suspect Edward Burke is Cyrus and Sybil’s father.”

Cadence shook her head. “For real?”

“I’m afraid so. The investigator I hired has turned up some
discrepancies in their birth certificates.”

Cadence shook her head. “You suspect but you aren’t sure?”

“A DNA test would confirm our suspicions.”

“Incredible.”

“I understand Cyrus Burke would like to go into politics,”
Maryanne said.

“Fat chance that will happen now,” Cadence replied. For a
second she almost felt sorry for him.

“He will have a chance if you keep quiet,” Preston said.

Cadence couldn’t believe Preston would suggest such a thing.
“Why would I do that? Cyrus Burke shouldn’t be in office. He doesn’t care about
people.”

“The Burkes will leave you alone if you leave them alone,”
Preston said.

“And because you won’t dishonor your mother’s memory,”
Maryanne added.

Cadence considered what they’d said. It was so tempting to
spill the beans now that she had the facts but Auntie was right, she would keep
this secret to protect her mother.

“Like mother, like daughter?” she said.

Preston smiled.

If Cyrus and Sybil were Edward Burke’s children, they were
entitled to his estate. Cadence was not. Okay, she would let that go, move on.
She’d plenty to live on. Victoria would never know how much.

“Does Mr. McClain even know about me?” she asked.

“We actually have a signed document in our files from your
mother stating that Bryce is your father. A simple paternity test could clear
it up if there was any question.”

“That’s not what I’m asking. Does Bryce McClain know he has
a daughter?”

“No, I don’t think he does.”

“I’d like to meet him.”

“That’s not possible.”

“Why the hell not?”

“The terms of the trust state clearly that he shouldn’t be
contacted.”

“I didn’t agree to any conditions,” Cadence said.

Maryanne removed a piece of paper from one of the folders
and set it in front of her. The letterhead was Night and Night. The language
was legalese in words only a Latin scholar would comprehend.