Ties That Bind (39 page)

Authors: Brenda Jackson

BOOK: Ties That Bind

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“Are you sure you don't want anything to drink, Anna?” Zach asked before sitting beside her on the leather sofa in his father's office.

“No, I'm fine, just don't leave me,” she whispered, holding his hand tightly as she nervously glanced around the room. The senator and Randolph had wanted answers immediately and had refused to wait until after the party to get them. She and Zach, along with a few family members, had quickly been ushered into the senator's office.

Zach smiled down at her. “Don't worry about that. I won't leave you.”

The clearing of someone's throat made the both of them look up. The senator was looking down at them, still smiling in utter disbelief. “I apologize if I made you nervous a few minutes ago, Anna. It was just such a shock seeing you after all this time.”

Anna nodded and drew in a deep breath. “I admit things were overwhelming at first but I'm fine now.”

Tension was beginning to slowly leave Noah's shoulders. Zach had
told them about receiving Patrick Sellers's report while they were away and how he'd made the decision to go to San Diego and meet Anna himself. “I know tonight has been taxing for you, Anna, but if you don't mind we would like to ask you a few questions.”

“No, I don't mind.”

Noah then took the time to introduced the other people in the room. “This is Randolph Fuller, your uncle, and his wife Jenna. This is my wife Leigh and this couple here is Robert and Julia Fuller, your great-grandparents. The young man sitting on Randolph's left is his son and your first-cousin Trey. But his real name is Ross Donovan Fuller III. He was named after your father.”

Anna nodded, smiling softly at Trey, noticing how much the two of them resembled each other. “I see.”

“And of course you know me,” Zach said teasingly.

Anna turned and captured his gaze, grinning fondly at him. “Yes, I know you, Zach.”

With introductions made, Noah sat in the large chair behind his desk and faced Anna and Zach. “My question to you, Anna, is that if you knew all along who your father was why didn't you ever try to contact his family?”

Anna met Noah's stare. “It was my belief all these years that the Fuller family had rejected me once by not acknowledging my existence. I had no desire to be rejected a second time. I do have my pride.”

“Of course you do. You're a damn Fuller,” Zach grumbled teasingly, trying to keep the mood in the room light although the issue at hand was serious.

Noah smiled at his son's attempt and looked over at Anna. “And you believed they rejected you?”

Anna didn't want to look at the others in the room so she kept her gaze solely on Noah. “Yes. My aunt told me when I was a little girl, and she told me again right before I left Vietnam to come to America. She also gave me a piece of paper that was signed stating I was not Ross Fuller's child.”

“Do you have a copy of that paper?”

“Yes. It was in my father and mother's belongings that my aunt kept for me.”

Randolph Fuller, with barely restrained anger in his voice, spoke up and asked, “Was there a family Bible with their belongings?”

Anna met his gaze and thought about how much he resembled the picture of her father. “Yes. There was a family Bible. There were also letters and a picture of my father and my mother.” She glanced around the room at the large picture that was framed on the wall and pointed. “It's that same picture but mine is only a snapshot.”

Noah smiled. “That's the picture taken the day your parents got married. I'm the third person in that picture.”

Anna chuckled softly. “Yes, I know. I figured that out after meeting Zach. He favors you a lot.”

Noah smiled brightly. “Yes, he does, doesn't he?” he said, looking at Zach and taking note that Zach had his full attention on Anna. He cleared his throat again to regain Zach's attention. “Earlier you mentioned something about a document, Zach.”

Zach nodded then turned to Anna. “Tell them about the document you have, Anna,” he said. “The one you let me look at.”

Anna tensed and the hand holding Zach's tightened. “Yes, it was among the things, too, and it clearly stated that the Fuller family did not wish to claim me as Ross Fuller's child.”

Randolph's jaw tightened and he crossed the room to stand in front of her. “And can you tell us whose signature is on it?”

Anna hesitated a moment before answering. “Yes.”

“Whose?”

Anna's gaze moved from Randolph to Zach. Pain flared in her dark eyes. “Go ahead, Anna, it's okay. You can answer his question,” Zach said quietly.

Anna's gaze returned to Randolph's but only briefly. It moved across the room to someone else. “It was signed by a Julia Fuller.” She held the older woman's gaze, challenging her to deny it.

Julia did. She quickly got out of her seat. “No! That's not true!” she said when all eyes turned to her. “I swear it. I would never have done that to Ross! I loved him! I finally accepted how much he loved
that girl after Randolph shared his letters with me,” she said, dragging in a pained breath as tears came into her eyes. “I wanted my great-grandchild home as much as anyone. I would never have done that.”

Randolph's body began shaking in anger as he stared across the room at his grandmother. He remember her doing some devious and malicious things in the past, but a part of him could not believe she would be that cruel and turn her back on Adrianna. Mainly because one thing she had said was true. She had loved Ross. There had never been any question of that. And even with her prim and proper ways, she would not have defied his wishes and prevent his daughter from coming home as he would have wanted.

Randolph turned his attention back to Anna. “Do you remember what year the document was signed, Anna?” he asked quietly.

She met his gaze and nodded. “Yes, it was signed in nineteen seventy. June twenty-fifth, nineteen seventy.”

Randolph frowned. He turned around to his grandmother and saw her tear-stained face that pleaded for him to believe her. He turned back to Anna. “My grandmother had a stroke in February of nineteen seventy which left her slightly paralyzed in both her hands. She remained that way for a year. She didn't get the full use of her hands back until November of nineteen seventy-one. Are you absolutely sure the document was signed in nineteen seventy?”

Anna nodded her head. “Yes, I'm sure.”

“That means someone forged Julia's signature,” Noah said angrily. “Who would have done such a thing?”

“Angela,” Robert Fuller's deep voice filled the room. He stepped forward. “During the time of Julia's illness I had asked Angela to handle any type of correspondence that may have come in as a way to help out. I didn't see anything wrong with it at the time. After all, she was your wife, Randolph.”

Before Randolph could respond, Trey stood. “Hey, wait a minute! There's no way my mother would have done something like that! What was done to Anna was cruel, devious and malicious. I admit Mom was
wrong in keeping you and me apart all those years, Dad, but this is something altogether different. She wouldn't have stooped that low.”

“Oh, yes, she would have,” Julia Fuller came before her grandson. She was filled with fury at the thought that Angela had forged her name on a document that had kept her from being a part of her great-granddaughter's life for thirty-four years. “Any woman who would drug a man to sleep with her with a devious plan to get pregnant, would do anything.”

Shock appeared on Trey's face. “Drug a man? What are you talking about? What man did she supposedly drug?”

“Your father! He would never have slept with her any other way, since he was in love with Jenna,” Julia all but screamed, clearly getting hysterical. Pain tore at her heart, knowing all those years her great-granddaughter had thought that she had been the one to keep her from the family.

Stunned, Trey's gaze left his great-grandmother and moved to his father. “Is what she's saying true, Dad? Did Mom drug you?”

Later that night, Haywood snuggled closer to Trey in bed. “Are you sure you're all right?”

Trey said nothing for a few moments and then he pulled Haywood into his arms, “I'm all right for a man who found out more about his mother in one day than he's known in his entire lifetime. And the sad thing about it is that I discovered I don't know her at all. The woman who did all those things isn't the woman I know.”

Haywood released a deep sigh. “So, what are you going to do?”

“I'm flying back to California tomorrow to confront her about all of this.”

“What if she denies it?”

“She can't, Haywood. There's too much proof that says otherwise. Seeing that paper Anna brought tonight from her childhood nearly twisted my gut. When I think of what a better life Anna could have gotten over here while growing up, compared to what she got, I feel sick.”

Haywood nodded. It sickened her as well. “Do you want me to go to California with you?”

“No, this is something I have to do alone.”

“All right.” A part of her wanted to ask him if he was coming back but she couldn't. He hadn't made any promises for their future or even said that they had one. “I'll be leaving myself in a few days to return to Paris,” she said softly.

“Do you still plan to turn in your resignation?”

“Yes.”

“I'm glad.” He pulled her into his arms and held her. There was so much he wanted to say to her but could not. He couldn't commit himself to her until he got beyond this thing with his mother.

Forty-two

Angela looked up and smiled when Trey walked into the living room. “Trey, I didn't know you were coming back today!”

“Hello, Mother,” he said, coming to stand directly in front of her. “Can we talk for a minute?”

“I was just about to go shopping. Can it wait until later?”

“No. It can't.”

Angela raised a brow as she looked at her son, suddenly feeling chilled inside. “Is everything all right? You seem bothered by something.”

“I am.” He took her hand. “Please, let's sit down and talk.”

The message in his tone was unmistakable, and Angela allowed herself to be led to the sofa and sat down next to Trey. She wasn't sure what he had been told but she knew he had been told something. Deep down she felt she had nothing to worry about. After all, she was his mother and deserved his loyalty, no matter what.

“What's this about, Trey?” she asked him, noticing the firm set of his jaw.

“I know, Mom,” he said, staring hard at her.

“You know what?” she asked, trapping his angry gaze.

Trey's eyes narrowed. “I know what you did to Dad thirty-four years ago, the day I was conceived. I know you drugged him to get him to participate.”

Angela's eyes flashed. “I did no such thing!”

Trey ignored her outburst. “I also know that he
did
want to be a part of my life while I was growing up and that Jenna did not come between us. You did.”

“Lies! Those are all lies!” she said angrily. “I can't believe you let them convince you I did any of that, Trey!”

“So, you're denying it?”

“Of course I'm denying it. What sort of woman do you think I am?”

Trey looked long and hard at her. “To be totally honest with you, I really don't know. You sit here next to me and lie to my face, Mom. I know you did those things because I have proof.”

“Proof? What kind of proof?”

“I saw documentation of the many times Dad tried taking you to court for visitation rights.”

“Oh, that. Your father is an attorney, Trey. He can come up with any bogus form that he wants. He has friends in high places.”

“And what about that signature you signed regarding Adrianna?”

“I didn't sign that. I wouldn't put it past Julia to have someone sign it for her but it wasn't me. No one can prove that's my signature.”

Trey stood and walked to the window and looked out, deciding to call his mother's bluff. “Someone already
has
proven it. Noah took it to a handwriting specialist, a friend of his who works for the FBI. The man confirmed it was you and not Grandmother Julia who signed it.”

He saw the color literally drain from his mother's face. Then suddenly her composure returned and she said, “Okay, I admit I did sign that form, but only after Julia asked me to.”

Trey shook his head in disgust. “I don't believe you.”

Anger flared within Angela. “What do you mean you don't believe me? You would take their word over mine? How dare you! They are
nothing. I even had a report run on Jenna's daughter, the one you've been sleeping withâand yes, I know the two of you have slept together because she's as much of a slut as her mother was. The report I got indicates she's currently screwing around with her boss, who happens to be an older man. So it looks like she's banging her way to the top.”

Trey's eyes flashed anger, nearly ripping him from reality as his jaws clenched like stone. “Jenna is not a slut. And I know all about Haywood's past relationship with her boss,” he said, his anger having reached boiling point.

“And you accept the kind of woman she is, Trey? Are you so taken in by her that you would take her any way you can have her? Don't try defending her because she's nothing but a slut just like her mother!”

“And what does that make you, Mom, a woman who would drug a man to get him to sleep with her?”

Angela stood, clearly upset. “Like I said before, that's a lie. Your father had no right to tell you that!”

Trey shook his head sadly. “He didn't. That was the one thing he didn't tell me about you. That, and the fact that he caught you in the act of being unfaithful. He respected how I felt about you enough not to tell me that. But he didn't have to. The truth came out after all. So, Mother, as you can see, secrets aren't secrets forever.” He turned to leave.

Panic surged through Angela. “Trey! Wait! Where are you going?”

“Right now I don't know. All I know is that I'm going as far away from you as possible. You are my mother, but I don't know you. You are heartless, cruel and calculating. You were willing to let Adrianna stay inâ”

“Adrianna! Who cares about her?! Yes, I did it and would do it again to protect you.”

“To protect me?”

“Yes! To protect you and what you were due! You were supposed to be the Fuller heir. If Ross's child had been found then everything would have gone to her, since she was the oldest. Don't you see I did it for you?”

Trey stared at her and then uttered a disgusted sound. “For me! You cause someone undue pain and grief for me? Don't even try it. You did it for yourself and your own selfish greed. You didn't do anything for me.”

Angela's eyes suddenly filled with tears “No, that's not true. Everything I've done was for you and Randolph. Do you know how long I wanted your father? How long I've loved him? He's the only man I've ever wanted and he hurt me by going back to that woman. I'll never forgive him for that. I'm the only woman for him and one day he will realize it and when he does, the three of us will be a family again.”

Trey shook his head sadly. There was no doubt in his mind that his mother needed psychiatric help. It seemed that she was having a nervous breakdown right before his eyes. Deciding not to make her anymore hysterical than she was already, he coaxed her into lying down in her bedroom by telling her everything would be all right.

Closing her bedroom door behind him, he then went to the phone and called his stepfather. “You need to come home right away.”

Four hours later Trey sat in his apartment after returning from the hospital where he and Harry had taken Angela and had her admitted. Sadly, while sitting in the waiting room for the doctor to give them feedback on her condition, Harry had admitted that he had known of his wife's emotional state for a long time but had ignored it, hoping things would eventually get better and her obsession with Randolph would come to an end. He loved his wife and was going to make sure she got the best medical care possible.

Trey had told Harry that he would help with Angela any way he could; after all she was his mother and he loved her, too. He just hated the things she had done.

For the third time Trey reached for the phone, wanting to talk to Haywood. And for the third time he didn't make the call. He wondered if she was still in Richmond or if she had returned to Paris.

He again reached for the phone. This time he was determined to make the call. His father picked up on the third ring. “Hello, Dad.”

“Trey? How are you, son?”

“I'm fine.”

After a few brief moments, Randolph asked, “And how are things with your mother?”

Trey let out a deep sigh. “Not good, Dad. She was admitted to the hospital a few hours ago. The doctors agree she needs psychiatric help.”

“I'm sorry, Trey.”

“I know, and I'm just glad Harry agrees that Mom needs help. He really loves her, Dad, and she's going to need him now more than ever.”

“You know what they say. Behind every good woman is a good man.”

“Yeah, and behind every good man is a good woman. Speaking of good women, how's Jenna?”

Randolph smiled. “Jenna's fine. She and Randi are out shopping.”

“And what about Haywood? Has she returned to Paris?”

“No, not yet. In fact she's back at Glendale Shores.”

Trey lifted a brow. “Alone?”

“No, not exactly. Noelle and Anna went with her. They wanted to return the family Bible to its rightful place. Noelle and Anna came back today but Haywood decided to stay a few days longer.”

“Oh.”

After a few minutes, Randolph said, “Trey, can I give you some fatherly advice?”

“Yes.”

“If you're in love with Haywood, let her know it.”

Trey's chest tightened in response to what his father had said. “Thanks for the advice, Dad. I think I'll take it.”

Haywood lay facedown on a blanket beside the pond. The calming sound of the rippling water and the gentle rays of the afternoon sun made her eyelids grow heavy as she felt the weight of sleep pressing against them.

Her eyelids snapped open at the sound of footsteps on broken
limbs and crunched grass. She sat up at the exact moment a figure stepped from among the trees.

“Trey!”

He stopped walking as his eyes took her all in. The two-piece bathing suit she was wearing wasn't as revealing as the one she'd had on that first day but it was still eye-catching. “You like living dangerously, don't you?” he asked in a husky voice.

“What do you mean?”

“You shouldn't be out here alone dressed like that.”

“There's no one else on this island.”

“You can't always be absolutely sure of that, so try and be more careful.”

“All right.”

She looked at him expectantly and he suddenly realized that he hadn't told her why he was there. “I called Dad and he told me you had come back here.”

She nodded. “Yes. I thought it would be a good time for Anna to see the place since she'll be sharing it with the two of us. Besides, she wanted to return the Denison family Bible to its rightful place.”

Trey nodded, then crossed his arms over his chest and looked down at her. “I understand Noelle and Anna left yesterday. Why didn't you go, too?”

“I wasn't ready to go back yet.”

“Any reason why?”

Haywood shrugged. “I just wasn't ready. How's your mom?”

Trey came and sat down beside her on the blanket. “I don't want to talk about my mother right now.”

“Okay.”

After a few moments he looked over at her and said, “I missed you.”

Her lips curved into a smile. “And I missed you, too.”

Trey decided to take it one step further. He looked out at the pond then back at her and met her gaze. “And I love you.”

He heard Haywood's sharp intake of breath and saw the mistiness that suddenly clouded her eyes. “Oh, Trey. And I love you, too.”

He shifted his body to reach into his back pocket to pull out a box.
He flipped it open as he handed it to her, a beautiful diamond ring. “Will you marry me?”

“Trey,” she reached out and hugged him as she began to cry in earnest. Somehow through it all he was able to place the ring on her finger. Then he kissed her the way he had wanted to kiss her from the moment he had seen her drifting off to sleep on the blanket.

“You know what, Haywood?” he asked, moments after breaking off the kiss and while still holding her in his arms.

“What?”

“I think Ma Mattie had all this planned. She knew this place would get to us and break down our resistance.”

“You think so?”

“Yes, I really think so.”

Haywood nodded. “I think you're right,” she said as she kissed him again and pulled him down to her, to show him just how right she thought he was.