Dare To Love Again
“Is this a leftover from all the drugs you did in college, or the harder ones you’re doing now? He’s been around you for fourteen years and never even looked at you in that way; get a grip.”
“Drugs? What drugs?” I looked between the two of them at sea.
“She snorted her way through college, among other things. If you look between her toes, you will find the needle tracks, I bet.”
“Mom, how do you know all this?”
“Did you really think your father and I would send our only son off to university without vetting everyone in the vicinity? Why do you think I never liked her? She comes from a good family, was smart enough, pretty enough if you like that sort. At least on paper, there was no reason for me not to like her. Thank heaven you never had any romantic interest in her or who knows what I would’ve done to protect you.”
I felt like an ass. I’d brought this around my family. “I had no idea.”
“That’s okay, son, your dad, and I knew. As long as she kept herself in check, I was willing to leave her alone since what she does has nothing to do with me, but she messed with my family, and that’s a big no-no. I thought I told you to leave.” She looked back at Dana, who was now staring down at the floor in shame.
I watched as she squared her shoulders and left the room before turning back to mom. “Why are you here?”
“Delores called and said you were gone and that snake was here shut away in the study with Giselle and the baby. I was out shopping when she called, that’s why it took so long for me to get here. Shoot, my hand's sting.”
“Come on, slugger, let’s go take care of them.”
“No, they’re fine. What are we going to do about this turn of events?”
“How much did you hear?” She studied me as if weighing her options.
“Enough to know we have some more trash to take out.”
“No, your trash hauling days are over; I’ll take it from here.”
“Well, if you need us, your dad and I are always here. Now I’m going to go see my grandson.”
She walked over and wrapped her arms around me, tapped my back, then pulled away. When she reached the doorway, she stopped without looking back. “I’m sorry you lost your friend today, sorry that she cost you so much. Being betrayed is never an easy thing.” She walked away, leaving me alone with my thoughts.CalenI wasn’t ashamed to face Giselle. It was much worse than that. As mom made her way up the stairs, and I was left alone in the study, my thoughts went immediately to the last few days and the way I’d been treating her. My mind was a jumble of thoughts and emotions as I tried to make sense of everything I’d learned in the last few hours.
I wasn’t stung as much by Dana’s betrayal as I should be, or maybe the severity of what she’d done hadn’t set in as yet. I was more worried about the facts that I was still missing from this miserable situation. I’m still no closer to knowing what it was that her mother had used to get her to leave me, still have no idea why she’d gone to the trouble of changing her name and all that. “Shit! Mom.”
I rushed out of the room, catching her just as she reached the top of the stairs while I stood at the bottom looking up. She turned and walked back down, and I met her halfway. “Don’t tell Giselle about what happened here. I need to take care of some other stuff first.”
She rolled her eyes and turned to continue on her way up. “Give me some credit for having some common sense, son. This is between you two; of course, I’ll let you handle telling her yourself. I’m just here to knock the hell out of twits when they need it. Not to worry, I just want to go hug those two and reassure myself that they’re fine.”
Once again, I watched her walk away until she was out of sight. This time instead of heading back to the study, I made my way outside to the garden; I needed the serene beauty of the place to help settle my mind so I could think of what to do next. The most obvious move is to go see Ann Winthrop, but it didn’t seem sensible to face such a formidable foe without having all the ammunition I might need, and I wasn’t about to ask Giselle for it.
I’m not sure if her mom still has her contact number because it doesn’t seem like she’d called her since she’s been here, but if the woman keeps such close tabs on her, then it’s only a matter of time before she realizes that her prey had escaped. One of the things I’d impressed upon the PI before Silas let him go was that he wasn’t to let his client, who I now believe to be Ann know that Giselle was gone. That should buy me some time, but I’m not kidding myself that it’s a surefire or long lasting solution.