Say You Will (The Alexanders 5)

“I talked to Trent this morning. He was looking for you.”

“You didn’t tell him where I am, did you?”

“No. I don’t want him anywhere near you. I can come up there and get you. You’ll come back here and stay with me and Penny for a while. You won’t have to be alone.”

Her heart swelled with love and appreciation. She’d always had him to rely on and knowing that he was there for her made it easier to go forward with what she had to do. But she couldn’t allow him to disrupt his life anymore than he already had. Once upon a time, she’d been a bold and confident woman. She’d allowed herself to forget that but it was time to take that back.

“I don’t want you to do anything but give

Penny a hug for me. And to get me a phone number out of that file you have on Trent.”

“A phone number?” Matt sounded confused but she could tell from the rustling sounds on the phone line that he was moving; probably searching through the junk pile he called his desk to find the file.

“Yes, I need the number for Sophia Townsend Winbush. She’s Trent’s sister. There’s something I need to ask her.”

Matt read the number and she jotted it down on the pad of hotel stationery. “Thank you. I promise everything is going to be fine. I’ll call you when I’m back in town.”

Matt grunted but then said, “Will you at least let me know your flight number and when you’re arriving? Give me that much at least.”

She smiled to herself. “I’ll send it to you once I book the ticket. I love you.”

“I love you too, sis. And I’m still going to kick his ass when I see him.”

She shook her head, smiling at his grumbling as he hung up the phone. Looking down at the pad of paper she typed out Sophia’s number.

Although not the warmest soul she’d ever met, Sophia had known all along that Avery was a snake. She also seemed to want the best for her brother. It was a long shot but maybe she’d be willing to help Mara now. When she heard a clipped voice answer on the other end of the line, she launched into the whole story, not giving Sophia a chance to hang up before she understood everything.

When she finally paused, Mara took a breath. “Sophia, are you still there?”

“Yes, I’m here. I can’t say that I’m surprised by any of this. This is exactly what I feared would happen.”

“You saw through Avery before I did. I should have listened to you. But I figured that you didn’t like me either so maybe you were just down on any girl that was close to your brother.”

Sophia’s sigh came over the line. “I’m sure it seems that way but I have good reason. Honestly, I have nothing against you personally, Mara. I just didn’t think it was a good thing for my brother to have a permanent reminder of what happened with Tia. When you two showed up to the gala, I thought that perhaps I’d been wrong. Trent looked so happy. I haven’t seen him look like that in years.”

“I think he was happy that day. Before Avery came and dropped her bombshell into the middle of it all.”

“What did she do now?”

Mara hesitated. She wasn’t sure that Trent wanted anyone to know about the situation. Then she decided that she didn’t care. He’d kept so many things from her, including the truth about how they’d met. Sophia was the only person in this screwed up world who had been straight with her. Despite her cold demeanor, she was at least trying to help and Mara knew she was only acting out of concern for her brother.

“She was waving around a DNA test that James had done on Travis. It was negative so James is not his father. Apparently she and Trent had too much to drink one night and …”

“Oh god. No wonder Trent looked so frantic last night.”

“After that, Avery showed me a picture of Tia. Finding out that Trent was a father wasn’t enough to drive me away so she used her final trump card.”

Sophia’s voice softened when she said, “I’m sorry. When I told you about Tia, I knew you’d go home and ask him. I figured that he’d be forced to tell you then. When you didn’t leave after that, I assumed you knew and understood.”

“He told me about her death. Not about her life. I wonder now how I could have missed that. He was very deliberate with the things he told me.”

“My brother isn’t a bad guy, Mara. He was never like this. Lying and keeping secrets. He needs to heal and move on. Seeing you everyday can’t have been helping him. He’s been isolated from his family and his real life ever since and he needs to stop that and face reality. Tia’s gone and she’s not coming back.”

“I agree. And that’s why I’m going to leave. Trent needs to figure things out and he can’t do that while I’m here. But I need your help to do it. Can you get him out of the house for a while? Ask him to meet you somewhere?”

“I can do that. I’ll have to think of a way to get him to show up but yeah, I’ll do it.” Sophia sounded shocked but happy.

Mara tried not to think about the fact that she was happy because Mara would be gone and out of Trent’s life.