THE GREAT BETRAYAL (14 page)

She had e-mailed Grace her arrival time, hotel, and room number, but her daughter had said she’d rather meet in the lobby, if that was all right.

All right
? Leslie had thought. By now, the prospect of meeting Grace in the flesh was so precious, she’d have agreed to a meeting in Outer Mongolia if that’s what she’d wanted.

Settling into the room, Leslie flipped on the television. They were meeting at seven o’clock, so she had a good half hour to kill. Her fingers itched to go and buy something, but she resisted. She’d already stopped at Zales on the way to the airport before leaving West Palm and bought a silver necklace for Grace.

Grace had said she’d tell her parents she was going with a friend to the mall. Then she’d have the friend drop her off at the hotel.

Leslie could hardly wait to see her.

When she entered the lobby of the Marriott, Grace Cunningham didn’t know what to expect. She’d spent nearly an hour agonizing over what to wear, and finally settled on jeans and a tank top. She decided not to overdo it.

She spotted Leslie Cavanaugh almost instantly. Jesus, who could’ve missed her? She was beautiful!

She was wearing an elegant olive tunic over loose black slacks. Her hair was a long mane of deep auburn, deeper than Grace’s own hair. It was also much fuller and far more luxurious. She wore it up, secured by a long, silver butterfly clip. Several tendrils hung loose around her face. Her smile was so warm. So loving. She had risen to greet Grace the minute she’d stepped through the doors.

My God, her mother was gorgeous.

Feelings stirred inside Grace. This was her “real” mother. She could see herself in Leslie Cavanaugh’s face. She had definitely come from this woman.

Grace walked over to the sitting area to greet her. They stared at each other.

“Hello, Grace,” said the husky-velvety voice. The voice she’d heard on the phone. The voice she’d mentally filtered her e-mails through.

The voice of her mother.

Grace managed a timid smile. “Hello.” She felt like crying, but she didn’t know why. Her feelings were in disarray.

Leslie Cavanaugh held out her right hand. “It’s so nice to see you. You’re exactly like the pictures your grandmother sent—absolutely beautiful.”

So are you
, thought Grace, placing her right hand in Leslie’s. Now they were touching. “It’s nice to see you, too,” she managed.

What was she saying? She had no clue. She’d left herself outside and was watching the whole thing from the doorway.

People milled about in the lobby; the elevator doors opened and closed; chatter filled the air. But Grace heard none of it. She truly felt outside of her body. This was happening to someone else.

“
Grace, I’d really love to hug you…” Leslie looked at her pleadingly. “Would that be all right?”

Unable to speak, Grace nodded. She stepped closer, raising her arms, and before she knew what was happening she was melting into Leslie’s arms. Leslie held her tightly.

Her mother smelled so good: A mixture of honeysuckle, roses, and lavender all at the same time. Grace inhaled the scent. She didn’t want to forget it. Her real mother.

They were both in tears when they finally parted.

“
I have to say I’m sorry again, Grace,” Leslie began, staring at her. “I’m so sorry. It never should’ve happened this way. I should’ve come back for you.” She embraced Grace again. “I’m so sorry.”

They had dinner at the restaurant in the hotel. Mother and daughter. Nearly sixteen years had passed since they’d last breathed the same air. But for Grace, time had stopped for the moment. Time did not exist.

She found herself committing Leslie Cavanaugh’s every move to memory. Treasuring her every gesture.

This sophisticated woman was actually her mother. She wanted to soak up everything there was to know about her.

“
In your e-mail,” Grace began as they waited for their order, “you said you intended to come back for me…Why didn’t you?”

Sipping a ginger ale, Leslie took a deep breath.
Here we go
, she thought.
Even if she leaves here hating you, at least you got to see and hug her
.

“
Well,” she began, “I thought that once I could deal with the shock and the pain of losing Jeff, and felt like a normal person again, I’d go back for my baby, bring her back with me to Florida.” She paused, toying with a napkin. “Wow.” She averted her eyes. “This is really hard.” She gave a nervous laugh. “I’m not sure I really know how to explain it so that it makes much sense.”

“Maybe it doesn’t make sense. I’m not sure it should…but I just want to
try
to understand what happened.”

“Yes,” Leslie agreed, admiring her daughter’s wisdom. “You’re absolutely right.” She cleared her throat. “Well, I guess it took such a long time for me to get used to
my
still being alive when Jeff was dead…and I just…too much time had passed. By then I was too ashamed to come back. Although I’d inherited more than enough to live on from your dad, I was restless. I got a job as a receptionist in a law firm in West Palm Beach and enrolled in classes to get my HR degree. Then I got an entry-level position at Crystal Clear Pharmaceuticals and moved in with a roommate to share expenses. Then about a year later I met my best friend, Dawn, dumped the tramp of a roommate, got a brand-new apartment in Palm Beach Gardens, and met my husband, Luke, the day I was moving in. Two years later we were married and pregnant with our daughter, Kate.” Leslie paused. “So there you have it. Right up until last November when a package arrived in my office…bringing you back into my life.”

Grace just sat looking at her. Somehow she felt more abandoned now than she had before. It didn’t make any sense. She didn’t understand what had happened at all.

But she wanted to. She desperately needed to make some sense of the abandonment.

So in that moment, Grace redefined the scope of
sense
.

The waitress arrived with their meals: shrimp scampi for Grace and chicken enchiladas for Leslie. Once the server left, Grace asked the burning question.

“Did you ever think about me through all that?”

Leslie didn’t hesitate. “Every…single…day.”

“Then how come you never even called…
ever
? No birthday cards, no Christmas cards. Didn’t you wonder what had become of me? You didn’t even keep in touch with Mom or Grandma.”

“Oh, Grace…I couldn’t…It just…How could I explain the fact that you weren’t with me? I had passed the point of being able to make a dignified return. And I guess I wasn’t strong enough to deal with that…and it was either going to be all or nothing. Losing Jeff changed me at such a fundamental level…I guess it was easier to live with the guilt of leaving you behind than it was to accept that I had lost him.” Leslie paused. “And, at the time, you were a constant reminder of that. It’s what I had to do to survive, to keep from going crazy. I ran.”

Grace frowned. “I just don’t understand why I got to fifteen before anybody told me I wasn’t raised by my real mother. That I was adopted, and that my mom was actually my aunt, and that Uncle Jeff who died was actually my dad. It really hurts. It makes me feel like I’ve been really
stupid
. Like I’ve been made a fool of all my life. Nothing was the way I thought it was at all…” She trailed off, looking down at the shrimp on her plate. “It hurts. Bad.”

“I know, honey,” said Leslie softly. “But you have to know that none of it’s your fault. It’s mine. You’re not a fool. Don’t blame your mom and dad for not telling you. They thought it was for the best. They never meant to hurt you at all.”

After they’d finished their meals, Grace agreed to go up to Leslie’s room so they could continue their discussion, but with a bit more privacy.

They sat together on the edge of the bed…and they talked.

“Tell me about my…about my father,” Grace said. “I’ve heard lots about him from Mom and Grandma, but…tell me about him.”

Leslie told all. She held nothing back. She told Grace just about everything—everything from how in love they were, to how happy Jeff was when they found out they were pregnant. From how his dream was to become a respected neurologist, to how in the last year of his life he’d developed an obsession with all things Elvis Presley.

Leslie even shared the fact that, to this day, she couldn’t so much as hear the name Elvis Presley without another little piece of her heart being chipped away. “I don’t know if I’ll ever get over losing your Dad, Grace.”

And as they talked, for the first time Leslie was able to laugh, swept up in a flood of memories. “And let me tell you something else!” she said excitedly, at one point, grabbing Grace’s hand. “Do you know what your father wanted to name you? Elvissa!”

Grace scrunched up her face. “
What
?”

“Yes,” said Leslie, chuckling. “He wanted to call you Elvis outright, claiming it could work for a girl, but we had to put our foot down. So then he came up with all these ridiculous variations: Elvisann, Elvissa, Elvisalynn!” Leslie flung her head back, laughing. “And the funny part is that he was
serious
!”

Grace doubled over in laughter.

“Finally, he said, ‘How about Grace, for Graceland?’ But
we
wanted to name you Audrey—”

“Audrey as my first name?” Grace made a face.

“Yep,” said Leslie, nodding. “What? You don’t like Audrey either?”

“Heck, no. I’ve never liked it. Do I look like an Audrey?”

Now it was Leslie’s turn to crack up. “Figures! Jeff didn’t like it either. In fact, he hated it. He said it was an old person’s name—too ‘yester-century,’ to quote him.”

“They’d always told me I was named for Graceland, that my uncle Jeffrey was a card-carrying Elvis freak…” She drifted off, her smile fading. “But they never told me anything about…anything about you.”

“Oh…” Leslie, no longer smiling either, boldly reached out and cupped Grace’s jaw. “I’m so sorry, sweetheart. I hope that maybe one day…maybe
someday
…you’ll be able to forgive me. That somehow you’ll be able to understand.”

At first Grace said nothing. A battle seemed to be taking place in her eyes. Then, without warning, she put her arms around Leslie and said, “Could you promise me something?”

“
Oh, Grace, anything.”

“
Let’s wait awhile before we…I mean, I really have to go easy with this because my mom…I can’t hurt her feelings. So let me find a way to explain it to her. I think she’ll understand…eventually. I’ll write to you when the coast is clear.”

“Sure, honey,” Leslie said, returning the hug. “I promise. I promise. I promise. I won’t do anything you don’t want me to.”

Just before she left, Leslie took the jewelry box from her travel bag and handed it to Grace. “This is for you. I sure hope you like it.”

Grace sat on the bed. She opened the box and took out the necklace. It had a shimmering pendant, a cute cherub complete with a bow and arrow. Her face lit up. “Oh, this is gorgeous!” she exclaimed. “Wow, I’ve never had any jewelry this nice before!” She looked up at Leslie. “Thank you so much!”

“Oh, you’re more than welcome. I so hoped you’d like it.”

“Like it? I love it!”

They hugged one final time, birth mother and daughter. They promised to keep in touch. For the time being it would be their special secret. Their quiet connection.

“It was so good to see you,” Leslie whispered, holding her tightly. She hesitated. “I do love you, Grace. I always have.”

After a lengthy, emotion-laden hug, Grace finally pulled away. “It was really, really good to see you, too.”

And then she was gone.

Chapter 28

West Palm Beach, Florida

The flight back to West Palm the following morning was a smooth one. They had taken off on time and were scheduled to land at Palm Beach International at nine twenty.

Leslie had a window seat in first class, and she was thankful the seat next to her was empty. She sat gazing out at the pale blue morning sky, reliving every second of her meeting with Grace. In her wildest dreams she hadn’t expected what took place. She had expected anger, resentment, rage…but she’d gotten none of those things.

Her heart was heavy with oodles of new feelings. Meeting Grace changed everything—everything that mattered. Her daughter was back in her life and had come not with hate or bitterness, but with a spirit of forgiveness…and hope. Leslie dared to share that hope.

Somehow she had to make Luke understand. Once he calmed down and digested her past, things could work themselves out.

They simply had to.

When Leslie arrived at the office, Monica greeted her with a dozen messages, all marked URGENT. In reality, only about half were actually of an urgent nature, but for the remainder of the morning and throughout the duration of her meetings in the afternoon, Leslie had very little time to think about anything but the day’s agenda at C&C.