To Love and Honor (16 page)

Right now, she needed Roger, and she dialed his number, thankful that she found him at home and not out on special duty. After they chatted about inconsequentials, she said, “Would you like to become an instant millionaire?”

“What's the catch?” Roger asked in a teasing tone.

“I went to see my grandfather today, and he wants to make me his heir. His only other direct descendant is that grandson I told you about. Sadly, the poor man is dying.”

“That's unfortunate,” Roger replied. “So you would be the only heir.” Roger's voice was wary.

“You sound excited.”

She wanted to tell him of how Josiah had dominated her, but no need to worry him when he was too far away to do anything.

“I've had quite a day, and certainly his offer is generous, but you're included, too. He wants me to marry and have children to eventually carry on his business of Midwest Enterprises. When I told him I was engaged, he said he would welcome you and give you a job in the corporation. There's one catch, though.”

“There usually is,” he said with a light laugh.

“We would have to move to Kansas City, live in the family home, and change your name to Conley, or at least I would need to retain my family name in our marriage. How does Roger Conley-Gibson sound to you?”

“Sounds as if you're making up the whole thing to tease me.”

“No, I'm serious. I've spent the afternoon out there listening to him.”

“That's a situation you will have to ponder carefully,” Roger said slowly.
Was his voice strained, or did she imagine it?

“But you would be involved, too.”

“Oh, I don't think so.”

“I can't make any decision without considering you, Roger.”

He ignored her comment, saying only, “What you decide could change your whole life, so think on it carefully.”

“Will you pray for me, Roger? It seems all I've done in the past few months is to make decisions.”

After she told him she had shifted hotels, without giving him a reason, she added, “I love you,” and said goodbye. She had never wanted his presence with her so much as she did when she finally got into bed, even then dreading a call from her grandfather. Again lonely, and somewhat fearful without Roger, she relied on the promise,
I will not leave you alone.

W
illiam O'Brien's office was in a long ell attached to his two-story redbrick house, that looked as if had been built several years ago because the shrubbery and trees on the small lot were well established. Although she hadn't seen O'Brien, her telephone conversations with him had proven that he was not only a capable man, but one who seemingly had compassion for his clients.

Violet had taken a taxi to his office, and when she entered his empty reception room, O'Brien soon came from his office and shook hands with her. The attorney was a short stocky man. His reddish brown hair had receded far back on his splendidly shaped head. Large, brilliant, intelligent gray eyes gleamed from a broad face, which broke into a smile, revealing even, white teeth. He spoke with a brisk cheerfulness, that was welcome to Violet after her encounter with Josiah Conley.

“I must say you've changed quite a lot since the last time I saw you.”

His attitude brought a smile to Violet's face, and the tension that had hounded her after the frustrating visit with her grandfather eased considerably. “For the better, I hope.”

“Without a doubt.” His face sobered. “When I think of how you looked and acted during the six months we kept you when you were a child, I wondered if you would ever be able to overcome the ordeal you had witnessed, but you have, it seems.”

“I don't remember anything about the time I spent with my parents, nor of my time here at your house. Actually, my first memory was with Aunt Ruth in Minnesota. I had a sheltered childhood because Aunt Ruth and I were alone so much, and I was an introvert—didn't make friends as much as I should have. I was ashamed that my mother was in prison, and I didn't want my friends to know that. I suppose that's the reason I didn't make many. After I went to college, I became more social.”

“Come into my office,” he said. “I've canceled all of my appointments today, and have given my secretary the day off. My wife is taking all telephone calls in the house, so we won't be interrupted or overheard. I've guarded your mother's secrets for a long time, and I'll continue to do so unless you decide otherwise. And by the way, Fanny is preparing lunch for you.”

“You're being very nice to me.”

“My wife and I were both friends of your mother—we went to college together. We have two children of our own, but I've always felt like a father to you. We grew fond of you the few months we kept you before Ruth returned to the States. I want to assist you in every possible way.”

“I suppose the first thing I must decide is whether
to allow Mother's story to be aired on that television show.”

“Why are you considering it?”

“To clear her name and memory. If she was innocent, as you've indicated, and if she wouldn't fight for herself, I will do it. Peter Pierce suggested that the story is going to get out anyway, and that I might be better off to have some control over what is told.”

“Frankly, I question if it's wise for you to open up this case. You're going to learn facts that you might be better off not to know.”

“My mother said the same thing, but she also said that if I
had
to know to contact you, for she had buried her past and didn't want to resurrect it. Aunt Ruth would never tell me anything about my father's family—her answer was the same, ‘You're better off not to know.' After my introduction to the Conleys yesterday, I've decided she may be right.”

He laughed shortly. “Yes, I saw you on the late news last night, standing beside the Old Man himself.”

“Are you saying that reception was televised?”

“Of course! Josiah is trying to elect a man to the presidency of the United States, so he can meddle in national political affairs as he's done here in Kansas. He probably had several networks present.”

“Oh, dear, I hope nobody in Maitland saw it.”

“I was watching a local station, but it may have gone nationwide—usually does when a man announces as a presidential candidate.”

“It's too late now for me to worry about my own personal exposure to the media, I suppose, but I didn't have a pleasant time yesterday. I went to his house expecting a short interview with my grandfather, and
he wouldn't allow me to leave. When he was busy elsewhere, I slipped out of the house and transferred from the hotel where I'd been staying to another. I only hope that I can get out of town before he learns where I'm staying.”

“So you now know the real Josiah Conley—he's domineering. That's why his sons didn't amount to anything, and that grandson, Mike, seems to have suffered the same fate.”

“But what about my grandmother, Rachel? Josiah said that she was a wonderful woman, indicating that I looked just like her.”

O'Brien nodded. “That's true. I noticed the likeness on television last night, and the resemblance is even more remarkable in person. She
was
a good woman, but I think living with Josiah undoubtedly shortened her life. She's been dead for years.”

“When he saw how much I looked like her, he immediately told me that he wanted me to come and live in his home, marry and have children to carry on his name.”

“So, now he's decided that you're his granddaughter, has he?”

“What do you mean?” Her violet eyes flashed despairingly as she stared at the lawyer.

“He went to a lot of trouble at your mother's trial to prove that the only reason his son would have abused you or Linda was because you were illegitimate.”

Violet gasped. “Surely that isn't true?”

“No, of course not. But you see, as Ryan Conley's daughter, you would have inherited his estate, which was a considerable share of Conley holdings. He had no will, so therefore you would have gotten it. Josiah
wasn't about to lose control of a third of his wealth, and somehow he manipulated the court into declaring you illegitimate. There wasn't much emphasis on DNA testing then, and besides, Linda just gave up. She decided that to continue to fight them would make it harder for you, but if she went to prison and out of your life, Ruth could give you a good upbringing.”

“So that's the reason for much of the secrecy—no one wanted me to know that there was a question about my legitimacy.”

“Believe me, there was never any question that you are illegitimate—that was just a falsehood perpetrated by Josiah to serve his ends at the time. Now it's in his interest to recognize you, so last night he introduced you to the world as his granddaughter. But this is one of the sordid questions that may surface if you do authorize the TV program, and be assured that Josiah will fight you all the way.”

“Is he big enough to take on a national television network?”

“He thinks he is.”

Violet stood up and paced the room for a few minutes, stopping to look out the windows where a black-and-white cat walked stealthily across the greening lawn that still sparkled with dew. The telephone rang shrilly, and Violet's pulse raced, but the ringing stopped abruptly as Mrs. O'Brien apparently answered in the house.

“Up until the past six months I lived a fairly peaceful existence, but since last October, I seem to jump from one battleground to another, so I suppose one more fight won't devastate me. I have to know the facts before I can make a judgment on the television show. Where do we start?”

“It will take a couple of days for you to review the material I've accumulated. I have a complete legal portfolio of my trial defense, as well as copies of newspaper reports of the proceedings. I don't do that for all of my court cases, but this situation was such a travesty of justice that I felt constrained to keep a record of everything that happened. You may see any or all of this that you want. But, first, let's go over to the house so you can meet Fanny and have lunch.”

Fanny O'Brien was possessed of a lean, energetic body. Whereas William moved with a deliberate step, Fanny seemed in perpetual motion, as if she never stopped to rest. Still, she had a soft manner and her gracious welcome made Violet feel at home. Tears filled her green eyes as she drew Violet into a warm hug.

“My dear, I've prayed often that you would be able to overcome your traumatic past, and it seems that you have.” She settled Violet into a comfortable chair, and made no further mention of Violet's reason for being in Kansas City.

While they ate the lunch of cheese-and-broccoli soup, hearty bread, vanilla yogurt and cookies, Fanny and William discussed their family. Violet was invited to view the pictures of their four wonderful grandchildren, and she calculated how many years it would be before Jason and Misty might bear some children. She could become a grandmother before she was thirty—it was an unsettling thought.

They didn't tarry in the house after lunch because O'Brien indicated that it would take several hours to read the court records concerning the trial. As they walked down the long hallway to his office, the lawyer said, “Your father abused your mother physically and
emotionally, and as long as he vented his emotions only on her, she submitted. She felt trapped I supposed, as women often do in such circumstances. He also threatened to take you away from her if she ever tried to leave him. She knew that with his wealth, he could do it, too. It was when he also threatened you that she rebelled.”

“This is terrible,” Violet moaned as they settled around a table in O'Brien's law library. “My heart has gone out to victims of domestic violence that I've seen in the news, but I can hardly stand to believe that my mother and I were treated in such a manner.”

“As I understand he never actually hurt you until the night Linda shot him, but he kept a loaded gun handy and sometimes threatened both of you with it. That fatal night, he picked you up and appeared about to hurt you. She grabbed the gun and pleaded with him to leave you alone. They struggled and when the gun went off by accident, he was shot.”

Violet sighed deeply, unable to speak. “I'm glad I was too young to remember it,” she said finally.

“I did the best I could at the trial, proving that she acted in self-defense, but I'll have to admit that Josiah Conley outmaneuvered me. He had a bevy of high-powered lawyers, and I just couldn't compete with them. And when Linda wouldn't even testify in her own defense, I just couldn't get her acquitted.”

All of her life Violet had wondered why her mother hadn't loved her, but the more she heard, the more she realized that Linda's every action of the past was motivated by overwhelming love for her daughter. Why did her mother have to die before Violet realized the extent of that love?

After four hours of reading the court proceedings,
Violet knew the whole story—how her mother had been portrayed as a woman of questionable character, even mentally unstable, and her father shown to be an admirable man, perhaps even defending himself from a violent wife.

The trial had indeed been a travesty of justice, but did she want all of this aired to the nation on Peter Pierce's show? She dropped her head to her hands when she laid aside the last paper.

Her voice muffled in her hands, she said, “Everyone was right. I shouldn't have delved into the past. Now, I'll have to live with the knowledge that I had a beast for a father, and that my grandfather conspired to send my mother to prison.”

“Linda said that Ryan wasn't difficult at first, but when they came to live here in Kansas City, he began to drink heavily and their marriage became a disaster.”

Compassionately, O'Brien said, “Why not stay with us tonight? You will need to come tomorrow and read the newspapers anyway. We would be pleased to have you. I don't like for you to be alone.”

“Thank you, but if you'll telephone for a taxi, I'll go back to the hotel. I know how to find your office now—I'll drive out tomorrow.”

Violet did appreciate O'Brien's offer, but all she wanted now was Roger. She had to telephone him as soon as she could, to hear his kind voice, and know, by the soft inflection of his words, that he loved her—even over the phone, Roger's voice conveyed a caress.

She hurriedly dialed his number as soon as she reached her hotel room. Jason answered, saying his father hadn't come home yet. So she waited almost an
hour, with her hand on the phone, before he finally called.

“Oh, Roger, it's good to talk to you.”

“You sound upset,” he said. “Are you all right?”

“No—I've had a terrible day finding out about my father's death and my mother's trial. And after that day with my grandfather yesterday, I've about had it.”

“Have you made up your mind about what you intend to do about all these new developments?”

“No, I'm too upset to even think. Roger…” she paused, tapping her fingers on the table. “Roger, I probably shouldn't even ask this, but could you come here? If you will come by plane, I'll pay for the ticket. I know I shouldn't unload all of my troubles on you, but I just don't know what to do. If you could be with me when I give my grandfather an answer, and if you could talk to Mr. O'Brien, it would be such a help to me.”

There was a long silence, and Violet held her breath. Surely he wouldn't refuse when she needed him so desperately.

“I'm sorry, Violet. You're on your own with this one. It's one situation where you must make decisions without me. There's a lot at stake for you, and I don't want to sway your judgment with my opinions. I won't come, but I'll support any decision you make. I hope you understand.”

“I understand perfectly,” Violet said, biting her lips to control her voice. “I'm sorry I asked you. Goodbye.” When she replaced the receiver, Violet felt as if she had cut the lifeline on her last vestige of hope. After he had promised that he would always be available when she needed him, Roger had failed her. She couldn't believe she had heard him correctly, and she
kept thinking he would return her call to say he would come to her after all, but the phone didn't ring.