When Love Calls (31 page)

He’d only met J. R. Wellington a few times. A braggart, his overbearing personality and boisterous demeanor annoyed Randolph. Bigger than life in all respects, he completely dwarfed his son. Senator Bob Wellington had handled the scandal as well as expected. Having his father, a former senator and now a resigned-in-disgrace secretary to the president, embroiled in this was major humiliation and had all but kicked him out of the presidential contention.

As Bob once said, “Family ties run deep. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.” Funny how what comes around goes around, he mused.

For Randolph, the latest political scandal had kicked his love life off the front pages. So he got back to work and hoped that that would ease the pain of losing Alyssa.

“You have a very impressive visitor waiting in the front lobby to see you,” Kent said, standing by the desk.

“Alyssa?” he asked hopefully feeling his heart lurch.

“Close. Her grandmother is here,” Kent said.

Randolph was indeed surprised. “Allie Granger is here, downstairs, waiting for me?”

Kent nodded. “Apparently so, what do you want to do?”

Randolph picked up and toyed with his pen again, threading it easily through his fingers. The idea that Allie Granger had come to him was totally unexpected. She obviously knew that he and Alyssa had broken up, so her visit was meaningless. Or was it? “Escort her up, please,” he finally said.

“My pleasure,” Kent said, then turned and left.

Randolph closed the folder and placed it on top of the pile of reports he intended to read that day.

Alone time was the ruse she’d come up with, but that was the only excuse she could think of in order to get Alyssa out of the house for the weekend. Surprisingly it worked. They had talked as soon as she arrived on Crescent Island and then again late last night. Then after spending the evening talking with her son-in-law, she decided to take matters into her hands and correct what she started. Benjamin agreed with her. He drove her and now they were united on one plan.

“Are you okay, Allie?” Benjamin asked as he sat, seeing the stillness of her expression. “You look a bit shell-shocked.”

Allie nodded. “I guess it’s just being here after all these years. This is my first time back and it looks exactly the same,” she said as she shook her head. “I was such a fool all these years.”

“Don’t worry about it now. All that’s in the past.”

She nodded. He was right, but still, the ghosts haunted her.

“Mrs. Granger?”

Allie looked up. “Yes.”

“Good morning, my name is Kent Larson. I’m Senator Kingsley’s assistant. Welcome back to the Capitol Building. I’ll be escorting you to Senator Kingsley’s office.”

“This is my son-in-law, Benjamin Wingate.” The two men shook hands.

“Will you be joining us?”

“No, I’ll wait here for you. I’m sure the senator will be visiting me shortly.”

Kent nodded, understanding. “Ma’am, please follow me.”

Benjamin nodded to Allie one last time for assurance.

Allie and Kent walked through the halls as memories surrounded her. It was surprisingly similar. A few new structures and a few new faces were all that separated her from all those years ago when she had worked here. It was like a time capsule unlocked.

They took the elevator up two floors, then walked down the familiar long marble hall and stopped at open double doors. They entered and, to her surprise, there were quite a few people already inside. They talked on phones or sat at desks, working on computers.

“If you’ll wait right here, ma’am, I’ll inform the senator that you’re here.”

Allie nodded silently and took a seat as Kent walked into the next office. Moments later, he returned and nodded. “The senator will see you now. Please follow me,” he instructed.

Allie stood and walked into an inner office. It was empty and obviously Kent’s office. Kent crossed in front of her, knocked, then opened a second set of doors. “This way, ma’am.” She entered. “Senator, Mrs. Allie Granger to see you, sir.”

The formal introduction was impressive. In all this time, she’d forgotten just how important U.S. Senator Randolph Kingsley really was. She looked at him impressively dressed as he stood at his desk, then walked over to her.

“Good afternoon, Mrs. Granger, please have a seat. May I offer you a beverage—water, tea, perhaps?”

“No, thank you. I won’t take up too much of your time. I realize I don’t deserve to even be here after what I did and that you could just as easily have turned me away, so thank you for seeing me. I know it couldn’t have been easy.”

“On the contrary, it was very easy. Please have a seat.” The coldness in his voice and the hard stare in his eyes assured her that this would not be easy. She glanced down at the offered seat. “Actually I’m curious as to what you feel you need to speak to me about,” he said.

“Then I’ll get right to the point,” she said as she sat down. “Alyssa, my granddaughter—”

“If you’ve come here to express your disapproval again, you’ve wasted your time. I got your message loud and clear.” He glanced at the newspaper. “And you obviously haven’t spoken to your granddaughter lately. We are no longer together.”

“Yes, I know. That’s what I need to talk to you about. I was wrong, I shouldn’t have interfered.”

“Be that as it may, it doesn’t change the fact that—” he began.

“Yes, I know, you’re not together, but please, let me finish,” she implored. He nodded, then stepped back to sit on the edge of his desk. “Alyssa loves you and she told me that you love her, too. And all this mess in between is nonsense, including me and my interfering. I’m a foolish old woman and I’m sorry. I should have stayed out of this. It was none of my business from the start, but you see, I was trying to protect her. That’s not an excuse, it’s an apology. So if you would call her.”

“No,” he said simply.

The quick answere surprised her. “No?” she repeated.

“That’s right,” he told her.

“I don’t think you understand. It was me, I did everything I could to hurt you. I called the reporter and told her terrible things. I talked Alyssa into getting rid of you.”

“Yes, I’m well aware of that.”

“Then how can you profess to love her and not give her another chance?” she asked. He didn’t respond. “Don’t penalize Alyssa for my mistakes. She had nothing to do with the article. I called the reporter and said those things. Alyssa had no idea what I’d done until it was too late. I hurt her and I hurt you. It never should have gone this far. I was trying to protect her from my memories. Be angry with me, don’t punish her for what I did. Please go to her, talk to her.”

“Mrs. Granger, I’m sorry, I can’t.”

“Your pride—”

“My pride has nothing to do with this,” he assured her.

“Please.”

“I’m sorry.”

Allie was heartbroken. Louise had told her that it wasn’t going to be easy. She had to try anyway, but now she had no idea what to do next. “I can go to the newspapers and retract everything. Tell them the truth.”

“Mrs. Granger, when lies are already out, you know as well as I that the truth doesn’t really matter much anymore.”

She remained still, feeling his words penetrate deep in her heart. He was right. “You’re right and so was Alyssa. I ruined your chance to be together for my selfish reasons. I’m sorry. Is there nothing I can do to change your mind?” He didn’t reply. She nodded, stood and turned to leave.

“How is she?” Randolph asked when she got to the door.

“Like you, heartbroken.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Are you?” she asked, turning back to him.

“Yes, I am.”

“Then do something about it. Go to her.”

“She asked me to stay away. I’m honoring her wishes.”

“But don’t you see why she did it?”

“I know why she did it.”

“No, I don’t believe you do. She didn’t walk away from you because of me, she walked away because of you.”

“What?” he asked.

“She wasn’t doing this for me. Yes, she knew I’d be angry and hurt, but that wasn’t her real reason,” Allie said, walking back over to him. “I’m not proud of my behavior or what I did. I was wrong, back then, and even now. I know that. All those years ago, I was a fool and I’m right back in the same place.”

“I’m sorry. There’s nothing I can do.”

“Of course there is. Go to her.”

“She doesn’t want me.”

“Of course she does, she didn’t push you away because of me. She was trying to protect you.”

“Protect me? From what?”

“From this. The press. From yourself. From her. With her out of the picture you’d be able to go back to your nice normal political life free of distractions because of my past.”

He went silent as he thought for a moment. “She was thinking of me, trying to protect me?”

“Yes, she loves you and I can see now that she was right, you love her, too. Don’t be a fool like I was and ruin your chance at happiness because of meaningless lies and misunderstandings. Go to her.” Allie reached into her purse and pulled out an address. She handed it to him. “She’s staying with a friend of mine in Virginia on a small island off the coast, called Crescent.”

“Yes, I know where it is.”

Her grandmother and Mamma Lou were right, this was the perfect place to escape. Alyssa closed her eyes and relaxed back on the hammock, letting the warm, gentle breeze whisper softly in her ear. The mellow sounds of nature and the sweet aroma of the flower garden were exactly what she needed. She’d never felt so relaxed and at ease. For some reason there was always something swirling in her life that kept her on edge, but today, right now she refused to think of a single worry.

All her cares and concerns had faded as soon as she stepped off the ferry. No more drama, no more newspapers and no more reporters. The idea seemed foreign, but she had to admit she liked getting back to her less-than-glamorous life.

Alyssa never knew that Crescent Island, just hours away from D.C., was so beautiful. She only wished that her grandmother had decided to come with her. When Louise Gates invited them both to visit, she implored her, but her grandmother flatly refused, saying that she’d ridden out the storm years ago and that she had every intention of riding this one out, as well.

By Wednesday evening the boredom must have set in because the questions began to wane, restoring their lives to relative normalcy.

She spoke with Pete and Ursula and they again offered her the position, then told her of their less-than-successful meeting with Randolph. She wasn’t at all surprised. She knew that Randolph was too strong and independent to fall for any of their sneaky gimmicks. He was a man of principles and purpose. Even though when it came to senior healthcare reform they’d agreed in most cases, he still had his own agenda and time frame.

By early Thursday morning it was Allie who suggested she spend a long weekend on Crescent Island. After much persistence, Alyssa reluctantly agreed, giving her grandmother the alone time she wanted. She called Louise, who extended her an invitation to visit. After packing and making travel arrangements, she called her father and asked him to look in on Allie. He agreed. Then five hours later, her ferry reached Crescent Island.

She had talked to her grandmother the night before and was surprised to hear that her father had stopped by earlier and brought Chinese food for dinner. Apparently they sat, ate and talked about her and her mother most of the night, each telling stories and sharing memories of both laughter and tears. She said, after eating, the two of them headed up to the attic and went through some of her old boxes. He helped organize a few things, then promised to return again today with wood and tools to build more shelves so that finding her memories wouldn’t be so difficult.

The idea that her father and her grandmother were not only getting along but actually talking and listening to each other was a true blessing. Both stubborn and fiercely loyal to family, they had so many things in common and now it looked as though they had finally gotten past their pain and anger long enough to see that.

“So, are you enjoying yourself so far?”

Alyssa opened her eyes and smiled. “Hello, Mamma Lou, you’re back,” she said as she sat up and swung her legs to the side.

“Yes, thank goodness,” Louise said as she sat down and relaxed. “What a long day.”

“How was the flower show?”

“Good, but exhausting as usual. How was your day?”

“Quiet and peaceful,” she said.

“Do anything special?” Louise asked.

“I swam this morning, then rowed a boat on the water. After that, I went into town to look around and even saw a few of the sights, including the old slave church and the cemetery this afternoon. It was wonderful.”

“I’m glad you enjoyed yourself.”

“I did, I’m really enjoying myself. Crescent Island is incredible. I don’t see how anyone can ever leave here.”

Louise sat down on a lounge chair beside the hammock. “Well, you’re perfectly welcome to stay as long as you like. I have plenty of room and I love having company.”

“Grandma always said that this place was magical.”

“I just spoke to your grandmother.”

“Is she coming down, too?”

“No, she just wanted to make sure you were doing okay.”

“But I talked to her last night,” Alyssa said.

“A little secret about grandmothers. We need a little extra assurance sometimes when it comes to our grandchildren and their happiness.”

“I wish she came with me. She loves being here.”

“Well, anytime either one of you wants to come visit, feel free. If I’m not here, just come anyway and make yourselves at home.”

“Careful, Mamma Lou, I just might stay forever.”

“You’re welcome to do that, too. Now that Tony and Raymond are gone, it gets too quiet around here. So stay as long as you like.”

Alyssa looked around wistfully. The gentle waves lapped slowly against the shoreline and a sweetened breeze caressed her lovingly. The escape was well worth it, but she knew that she needed to get back to the real world sooner or later. “I really wish I could.”

“When is your next vacation from work?”

“Actually I’m going to need to find a job first.”