THE GREAT BETRAYAL (20 page)

Luke nodded, agreeing. “You’re right. I’m overreacting. It’s entirely up to you. If you want to go with her to Clearwater, I won’t try to stop you. Go ahead and go.”

The tension left Leslie’s face. She sighed in relief. “Thank you. You don’t know how much that means to me.”

“So, did you reply to her?”

“Not yet. Partly because of you…but also…” She shrugged.

“What?”

“I…I just don’t want to open a door that might invite more strain on our marriage,” she lied. Well, it wasn’t actually a lie, but Leslie realized it would be a dreadful mistake to admit her fear of facing Jeffrey again after all these years. It would be a bitter, dreadful mistake. She could never tell him that.

“Well, as I said, it’s completely up to you. I’ll stay out of it.”

“I think I’ll go,” she said pensively. “I figure it’s the least I can do under—”

“Yeah,” Luke said, heading for the shower. “The least.”

Chapter 38

“
Didn’t it freak you out at first? How much your husband looks like Uncle Jeffrey?”

“Yes,” Leslie answered, remembering. “It did. Very much.”

If Grace had thought to ask any more about it, the look on Leslie’s face must’ve made her decide against it. Instead she said, “I don’t think he likes me very much.”

“Oh?” said Leslie, feigning surprise. “What gave you that impression?”

Grace shrugged. “Uh…not sure. He just seemed…he seemed sort of standoffish, I guess.”

“Ah, don’t think anything of it. That’s just how Luke is. I assure you it’s nothing personal.” But in truth, Leslie had cringed at just how standoffish Luke had been, meeting Grace for the first time.

Leslie had suggested Grace fly to West Palm so she could meet Luke and Kate; then they’d make the nearly four-hour drive up to Clearwater.

Despite his consenting to having Grace come to their home, it was obvious that Luke was in no way ready to accept Grace as part of the family. He’d greeted the girl stiffly; curt but polite.

Even her dear, sweet Kate, apparently attuned to her father’s vibes, had been reserved, although gracious to her half sister. Kate had been unable to hide her curiosity about Grace.

Leslie had simply stood there, feeling terribly uncomfortable. She’d felt badly for Grace, who’d seemed so excited to meet her husband and daughter. She had been very gracious and bubbly, jazzed about being in Florida. She told them that it was her first visit to the Sunshine State.

Now, as Leslie’s Lexus sailed westward bound along the interstate toward the opposite coast of Florida, Grace sitting beside her, she noticed the cheerfulness had vanished. Grace was now subdued and quite distant. Her head rested against the headrest, and she was gazing out the window.

“What are you thinking about,” asked Leslie cautiously.

She turned to look in Leslie’s direction. “Oh…nothing much.” She hesitated. “About my dad, I guess.”

Leslie smiled. Her face lit up like it hadn’t in years. “Oh, Grace…your dad was the best. I’ll never forget the day I first met him. It was at a college party—which I had no business being at, by the way—but I always knew that it was fate. I snuck out of the house that night to be there so that Jeffrey Phillips and I could meet. It was—”

She broke off suddenly, surprised at herself. At her candidness. She gripped the steering wheel.

She’d never spoken of these things with anyone. Ever.

“It was what?” asked Grace. She’d obviously been engrossed in Leslie’s reminiscence.

Leslie blinked several times, the memories hitting her like a physical assault. “Um…” To her horror, tears filled her eyes. Before she could stop them her face was wet.

Grace touched her hand. “Hey, I’m so sorry. Please don’t cry. We don’t have to talk about him if you don’t want to. It’s okay…Hey; we can just talk about something else. I’m sorry I mentioned him.”

“Nonsense,” said Leslie dismissively. She reached into the armrest and pulled out some tissue. “We’re going to visit him—what else would we talk about?” She dried her face. “No, it’s fine. I don’t mind talking about Jeff. It’s just painful…even now. That’s all.”

“To be honest, I’d really like to hear more about your time with him. Maybe then I can get to know him better as my dad…rather than an uncle.”

Pulling herself together, Leslie collected her thoughts. She glanced over a Grace, briefly taking her eyes from the road.

Jeff’s daughter.

Leslie could see Jeff’s mouth and jawline in her profile. She was so gorgeous. This was their child. This was the baby she’d been carrying in her belly. All the nights they’d been up, sitting in bed, Jeff caressing her stomach and, in the later months, massaging her aching back.

Here she was. Grace.

“Well,” Leslie began in a quiet voice, “your dad rescued me. I don’t think he ever really knew it, but he had. He so understood me. And he appreciated every little thing. If you held a door open for him, he’d want to buy you lunch or something. He was just that thoughtful and kind. When I met him I was going through hell at home. I lived in foster home. My mother had me while in prison—I’m not sure what for—but I was turned over to the state, and I later heard that she died shortly after I was born. I guess it must’ve been from complications of the birth, but anyhow, I ended up in foster care, and it just so happened that I wasn’t bounced around like a lot of other kids. The Brenners were the only parents I ever knew.”

“Were they nice people,” asked Grace. “Good parents?”

Leslie grimaced. “You know…sometimes I wished I
had
been bounced around. No, they weren’t nice people. Mrs. Brenner—I could never bring myself to think of her as my mother—she was a drunk. All she did was drink her sorrows away. She drank when the sun was up; she drank when the sun was down. And when she drank, she was mean, so you can imagine what she was like to live with. Then Mr. Brenner…well, he was never home. I think he just couldn’t deal with the drinking and the meanness. So we kids—there were five of us total—just had to learn how to get through each day.” Leslie paused, drained by the memories. She had never spoken of that time in her life with anyone before…except Jeffrey.

“So,” she continued. “When your father asked me to marry him, I simply left. I packed my bags, changed my address at the post office, and never looked back.”

Leslie thought she saw Grace flinch, but couldn’t be sure. She herself wished that she could take back that last part. It had been an insensitive thing to say.

There was an uneasy silence.

Leslie did not know how to continue. Should she apologize? Or would that serve only to call superfluous attention to the statement?

To her relief, Grace said, “That must’ve been great—finally getting out of that unhappy house.”

“Oh, it was, Grace. It was. Jeff and I were so happy. We were perfect for each other. Then I got pregnant. He was beside himself. Started acting like a complete idiot.”

“They always told me that my Uncle Jeff was an Elvis Presley nut. Tell me about that.”

Leslie’s heart fluttered. Would that ever stop? “We went to Memphis to surprise Ingrid with the news that I was pregnant. Jeff thought it would be a fun idea. He couldn’t wait to see the look on her face when we told her.” She paused, remembering. “The next day, Ingrid asked if I’d ever been to Graceland, and I hadn’t, so we went. Well…the shuttle bus picked us up from across the street and drove us over. Those big music gates opened and we went up this long winding driveway that led up to the front of the mansion.

“
We went in, and there was a nice, chubby lady acting as a tour guide. It was very nice; I really enjoyed seeing where the King lived. I was about ten or eleven years old when he died, and I remember Mrs. Brenner saying that the Colonel had caused the undoing of Elvis. I never knew what she meant and didn’t much care to know, really, but after your father went through those gates and toured that house and Elvis’s grave, he soaked up any- and everything there was to be known about Elvis Presley. Then he started explaining about his relationship with Colonel Tom Parker, his Memphis Mafia guys, blah, blah, blah. Let’s just say I learned a lot more about Elvis Presley than I had ever wanted to know, much more than was necessary.”

Grace laughed. “I know. I kind of had the same thing happen to me. Since I was named after Graceland, I’m sort of…I don’t know, it’s kinda weird…I’m, like, drawn to it. My mom took me there when I was younger, and I still go there, like, once a year with some of my friends. Now it’s a self-guided tour; they give you headsets and you hear cool stuff in Elvis’s voice and his daughter Lisa Marie’s.”

Leslie smiled. “Oh, now, Jeff would’ve loved
that
. Yes, it is a lovely place. And your father sure fell in love with it. He said Elvis Presley Boulevard was the Eighth Wonder of the world!”

As they ate up the miles, the conversation shifted toward Grace and her life growing up in Memphis. She loved her brother and sister. As with most siblings, they didn’t always get along, but they’d had a great childhood. They always had big family gatherings at Thanksgiving and Christmas. They had parties for everyone’s birthday every year, and they took yearly family vacations.

Her best friend was the one who had driven her to the Marriott that evening to meet Leslie. Her name was Cindy Aegean, and she’d just turned eighteen. Grace confessed that she was counting the days until she turned the big one-eight.

“
Honey, don’t rush it. I promise you—it’ll come and go so quickly you won’t know what happened. I was nineteen when I had you…Where does the time go?”

Grace fell silent.

“
So…” Leslie said, wanting to get her talking again. “Do you have a boyfriend?”

“
Well…we’re in a snit right now, but yeah. Remember I wrote you about him coming to my party?”

Leslie slapped her forehead. “Yes, of course—CJ. I remember now. What happened?”

“
He’s pushing me to…you know. And we got into an argument.”

“
Oh! Believe me, I know about that. Don’t let him guilt you into it, either. It
has
to be with the absolute, no-doubt-whatsoever, right one. I waited…and I ended up having Jeff be my first. I’m glad for that.”

“
You really loved him, didn’t you?”

“
More than you know.” Leslie stared at the road. It was a beautiful, sunny Saturday morning.

She remembered Jeff as he’d been that day in the park: happy, full of life, full of energy…

Grace started talking again, drawing her attention back to her life in Memphis. Billy and Beth had apparently been model parents.

“
They did tell me that my uncle Jeff had left a trust fund for me because he hadn’t had any children of his own…” Her voice faltered. “Boy, it’s amazing when I think about it. All those years…nothing was the truth, really.”

“
I can imagine it must have been quite a shock,” said Leslie, her eyes trained on the road, “when they told you everything. Quite a shock.”

She saw Grace nod. “Yep. It sure was. Such a shock that at first I thought they were kidding. But they weren’t kidding at all. I’d been lied to my whole life. I don’t even see what the big deal was. Why couldn’t they have just told me the truth? That my mom was my aunt. That dead Uncle Jeff was really my dad. Even after all the rumors I heard growing up.”

She regressed into the quiet pensiveness once again.

Leslie focused on driving. She didn’t trust herself to say anything more.

After Leslie and Grace had driven off, Luke had looked down at Katie.

“
Well…” he began, searching for appropriate words. “She was nice enough…right, sweetheart?”

She nodded, wringing her hands. “Yeah, nice…And did you see how she looks just like Mom? How come I don’t look like Mom the way she does? She has the same green eyes and everything.” Kate sulked. “
I
was her daughter first.”

“Actually, honey,” he said, stooping before her. “
Grace
was her daughter first, because she was born before you were and she’s older than you are. But that has nothing to do with how you both look. Grace just happened to get more of your mom’s features, and you got more of mine.”

“Oh,” Kate had said, as if she understood. But in her eyes, Luke saw that she didn’t understand at all.

“She was extremely bothered by it,” he told Dawn. He’d gone into his office to phone her.

“
She’ll be fine. She’s young; it’s natural for her to feel a bit jealous about it.” Dawn paused. “So…Grace favors Leslie that much in the flesh, huh?”

“
Oh, yeah,” said Luke, booting up his laptop. “She’s definitely Leslie’s daughter. No question there. I’m just concerned about where this is headed, you know? How it’s likely to start affecting
us
…”

Dawn was silent for a moment. “Don’t worry. I’ll call her in a little while to see how things are going. It’s a long drive—they have plenty of time to talk. So it’ll be interesting to hear what’s discussed…and what isn’t.”

“
Thanks, Dawn. I think it’s safe to say you’d probably get more out of her than I would at this point. Keep me in the loop.”