When Love Calls (29 page)

“No,” Allie said firmly.

“He loved you too much to say anything, didn’t he?”

“No,” Allie repeated louder.

“You had an affair with Dupree and when you got pregnant, he refused to leave his wife for you—”

“No.”

“Then you passed Mom off as Grandpa’s child to save face, right?”

“No, no, no, no, she wasn’t his,” Allie screamed, then banged her hand on the wooden railing as she broke down and cried. Alyssa rushed up to her side as she collapsed against her. She helped Allie down the steps before she fell. Together they went into the parlor and sat down on the sofa as Allie continued crying. Alyssa hurried to get water.

“Grandma, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to—” Alyssa began.

“I lied, I lied…” Allie kept saying over and over again as Alyssa put the glass of water to her lips.

“It doesn’t matter now. It was a long time ago, Grandma, Grandpa is dead now and he was okay about this even then because he loved you. He never said a word about Mom not being his child.”

“No, baby, that’s just it. Katherine was indeed his daughter. I lied and told Vincent that she was his so that he wouldn’t leave me. I thought if he knew that we had a child together, he’d leave his wife and marry me.”

“But he didn’t, did he?” Alyssa said. “He stayed with his wife even though she couldn’t get pregnant. And even after she shot him, he still stayed.”

Allie nodded slowly. “I thought I loved him, I really did. I wanted him so much, but his political career was too important, more important than me. His father-in-law’s money and influence put him there, and leaving his wife meant leaving his position.”

“Did Grandpa know that Mom was his daughter?”

She nodded. “Katherine looks just like his sister Claire. I have pictures upstairs of Henry and Claire together. She and Katherine could be twins.”

“So Grandpa knew you lied but never said anything.”

She nodded. “I thought that made him weak, but I was wrong, it made him strong.” She looked into Alyssa’s eyes and realized that she couldn’t deny it any longer. She knew that her granddaughter truly loved her senator with a love she had never known. “He sacrificed everything for me just like you’re doing for your senator.”

“Grandma, Randolph isn’t Vincent, he isn’t like that.”

“But his career will always come first. Then the affairs will come.”

“Maybe, maybe not, but I needed to see that for myself. You can’t protect me as if I was four years old again. I’m a woman, a woman in love with a wonderful man.”

Allie looked at her sorrowfully and held her hand. “Correction, a woman who just kicked a wonderful man out of her life because of me.”

Alyssa swallowed hard and the truth stabbed into her heart like a knife. Tears threatened to fall as she thought about their conversation at the Tidal Basin. It was over for good and she knew it. “No, Grandma, I did the right thing for everyone.”

“It’s late,” Allie said. “Go to bed. Tomorrow will be a better day, I promise.”

Alyssa kissed her grandmother’s cheek, then went upstairs to her bedroom. Allie picked up the phone and called for help from the only person she could think of.

“Allie Granger, I never thought I’d say this to you again, but how could you do something so despicable?” Louise asked.

“I called for your help, Louise, not a lecture. I know I was wrong. I messed up. But it’s not too late. Talk to him. Explain it to him.”

“And how am I supposed to do that, Allie? How am I supposed to explain that you purposely tried to sabotage not only his relationship with Alyssa but also his career?”

“You know him, you know everybody. Call him, talk to him. Make him see reason.”

“Allie, I may be good, but I’m no miracle worker.”

“Louise, please.”

Louise sighed. “Tell me exactly what you said to this reporter.”

“She’s not a reporter exactly. She’s a grad student writing a paper on scandalized senators.”

“And what did you tell her?”

“That Randolph was using Alyssa to cover up the fact that he and Senator Goode had done a number of questionable deals together.”

“Oh, Allie, how could you?”

“I was trying to protect Alyssa.”

“No, you were trying to manipulate the situation just like you tried years ago when you lied to Vincent about Katherine. Now you put Randolph’s name out there to hurt him and you’ve hurt them both. You had your life, and what you did with it was your choice. Don’t take that choice away from Alyssa because of your weakness.”

“Louise, you haven’t changed one bit. You’re still the same self-righteous woman you always were.”

“Neither have you, Allie, manipulative and selfish as ever. You saw me as self-righteous because I wouldn’t help you hide your affair and lie to Vincent’s wife so that she’d divorce him. How could I, Allie? We both knew it was wrong. I tried to tell you.”

“I loved Vincent.”

“No, you didn’t and you know it.”

Allie went still. “How can you still say that? I gave up everything for him.”

“No, what you gave up was for you.”

“If you won’t help me, then help Alyssa. She doesn’t deserve this and once that reporter writes her story and it’s published, Randolph’ll never have her back.”

“You should have thought of that before. Randolph is a good, honest man and he and Alyssa deserve this chance to be happy.”

“Then do it, make them happy.”

“Allie—”

“Louise, I know I should have listened to you all those years ago. You were right then and you’re right now. Maybe things would be different if I’d listened. I would still have Henry. You know I think about him a lot now. I didn’t deserve him. He really loved me. It must have broken his heart, the things I did—”

“Allie, yes, Henry loved you very much and that’s what love does, it forgives, and I truly believe that he forgave you.”

“He really loved me,” she repeated. “Why didn’t I see that before?”

“We were young and foolish.”

“All I saw was Vincent and everything he had and everything I wanted. I saw money and glamour. But in the end, that’s all he had to give. But Henry was real. He stayed by my side the whole time, defended me to the press and everyone else. He knew the truth about me, but he never said a word, never accused me, never got angry, never even pointed a finger. I thought that made him weak, but it didn’t. Why didn’t I see that then? He was the strongest one of all.”

“Yes, he was. And he still loved you.”

“I didn’t deserve him.”

“Yes, you did.”

“Oh, Louise, how am I going to fix this? I was so stupid, so foolish. I’ve made a mess of my life, but I don’t want it to affect Alyssa.”

“We’ll think of a way. But not now, tomorrow. It’s late, we need our beauty rest now.”

“Yes, I guess we do.” The doorbell rang. Allie looked at the clock. It was after one o’clock in the morning. “I have to go. Thank you, Louise, for everything.” She hung up and went to the door, half expecting Randolph to be standing there. She was wrong.

“What are you doing here this late?”

“We need to talk, Allie,” he said as he brushed past her and walked into the foyer.

“It’ll have to wait until morning,” Allie said, closing the door.

“No, now, right now,” Benjamin said, then headed for the kitchen. Allie followed. As soon as they were both there, he turned to her and glared. “You won’t be happy until you completely ruined her life. First Alyssa moved in here with you to help you and now you talk her out of seeing the man she loves. What is wrong with you?”

“Get out of my house. You ruined my daughter.”

“No, I saved your daughter. There’s a difference. You ruined her and now you’re trying to ruin my daughter.”

She turned and glared at him. “I love Alyssa. I was protecting her.”

“Nobody’s denying that, Allie, but your love and protection are breaking her heart. You need to butt out of her life and leave her alone.”

“This is familiar.”

“Yes, it is. It’s the same argument we had after Katherine and I got married.”

“It should never have happened.”

“But it did and we loved each other fiercely and there was nothing you could do to change that. So now you’re doing the same thing with Alyssa and I’m not having it.”

“Well, you’ll be happy to know that I changed my mind about Alyssa and her senator friend.”

“What?”

“She has my blessing, but I’m afraid it’s too late.”

“What are you talking about too late? What did you do?”

“I’m tired, Benjamin,” she said, then walked away.

For the first time in a long time he actually saw just how frail and fragile she really was. He followed her down the short hall leading back toward the foyer. “Allie, are you okay? Can I get you something?”

“I’m just tired, Benjamin. It’s been a long day.”

“What about Alyssa?” he asked.

“I’ve already asked for help.”

“Help? What are you talking about, Allie?”

“See yourself out, Benjamin. Good night.”

“Allie, this isn’t over, not by a long shot.”

“You’re right, it isn’t.”

Chapter 20

H
aving just come from an early morning committee meeting on senior health benefits programs, Andre followed Randolph to his office. As they entered they continued discussing the ramifications of the new program they had committed to review. Following Randolph, Andre crossed to the desk, then glanced down at the supermarket tabloid newspaper sitting there on a stack of files. He looked down and smiled, humored by the tabloid gossip. “Nice picture,” he teased.

Randolph reviewed messages left on his desk by his secretary, and chuckled. “Yeah, I really think they captured the more debonair side of my personality,” he joked easily.

“Seducing two women, grandmother and granddaughter, where do you find the time?”

“I often wonder that myself.”

Kent followed moments later with the extra copy of a report Andre requested from the medical conference Randolph had recently attended.

Andre picked up the newspaper and chuckled again. “Lousy placement, though.”

“I don’t know,” Randolph said, “sharing the front page opposite Big Foot and his bride and five alien children isn’t too bad. Imagine the coverage. What do you think?” he asked Kent.

“I guess it’s better than actually being Big Foot and married with five alien children,” Kent pointed out.

“Good point.” Andre laughed.

“Maybe next time,” Randolph said as all three men chuckled at the article. Kent handed Andre the report.

“She’s a lobbyist, huh?” Andre asked. His tone was disheartened as his disastrous second marriage came to mind.

“Support staff, not a lobbyist, there is a difference,” Randolph corrected as he handed him a copy of the report he’d asked for.

“Semantics, same thing, this is chancy, very chancy. With the vote coming next session, this looks very messy and very indiscreet. Not exactly your style, Randolph,” he said as he handed the newspaper to Randolph.

“But well worth it, I assure you.”

“I hope so. Because this is exactly what Goode said and the implications are obvious. Your reputation is on the line here. And of course, you realize that this just might hinder our legislation on lobbyist reform, giving the opposition due cause and those on the fence reason to reconsider.”

“I’m betting it won’t.”

“I hope you’re right. You just might be betting your career on this woman.”

“As I said, Andre, well worth it,” Randolph said without flinching.

Andre looked at him, seeing the glint of love in his eyes. Having loved and lost, he knew the look well. “My first wife, Geraldine, I called her Geri for short, did I ever tell you about her?”

“No, I don’t think so,” Randolph said.

“She was a hell of a woman. Spitfire, bold, idealistic, strong-willed, kind, generous, loving, the kind of woman you’d march into hell with and know that she was right there by your side every step of the way. A man searches his whole life to find that kind of woman. I was lucky enough to have her for ten years. She was killed by a drunk driver. He rammed right into her, then walked away. Why is it that you never get over women like that?”

“I don’t know. I hope I never have to find out.”

“Make sure you invite me to the wedding,” Andre said.

“Front row.”

Andre nodded his assurance. “See you in a few.”

After Andre left, Randolph opened to the article page and read the headline and subhead, then smiled and shook his head.

“We’re not gonna let them slide with this, are we?” Kent said as he took two bottles of water from the refrigerator and handed one to Randolph.

“I haven’t decided yet,” Randolph said, handing him the paper.

“It mentions that the reporter has an inside source that told of secret sexual rendezvous in the Senate rotunda and on the floor of the Senate chamber.”

“Apparently I’ve been very busy.”

“Apparently,” Kent said, “but curiously enough, those are the exact same accusations that were made about fifty years ago when the Dupree-Granger scandal broke. Coincidence?” Kent asked, handing the paper back to Randolph.

He glanced at the cover again, shaking his head. “Somehow I doubt it. I think Grandma is trying to send a message and work this to her benefit.”

“After what you’ve told me, my thoughts exactly,” Kent said.

“It was a nice blow, a bit low, but I think she’s going to have to do better than that if she wants to get rid of me.”

“I agree,” Kent added, “contacting that tabloid reporter was a pretty low blow.”

“Indeed, she definitely insists on getting her way. And her way in this case means me out of the picture.”

“So you’re not giving up?” Kent asked. Randolph smiled at him. He knew the answer. “Still, her grandmother seems a bit cantankerous.”

“She is that and more. I admire her perseverance. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not at all pleased with this. Lies about me I expect, but lying about Alyssa is over the top. That part about her beating a man with a bat was extreme.”

“I’ll take care of it,” Kent said, intending to do his usual PR spin.

“No, actually I have a better idea. I’ll handle this.”