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Gregg didn’t know what to think. “I don’t understand. Why didn’t he tell us about you? I mean, he told my sister he was divorced. And why use a different name? It doesn’t make any sense.”
“I know. The thing is, when my father met your sister, he wasn’t divorced. He was still married. To my mother.”
As she continued to explain, Gregg learned that Ben had never divorced his wife. That his wife…Sabrina’s mother…still lived. That his marriage to Glynnis was not valid. That Ben was a bigamist.
Gregg was speechless. How was he going to tell Glynnis? It would have been hard enough to tell her Ben was dead, but this! This would kill her. Shock gave way to fury as the truth finally sank in. Damn Ben. Damn his very soul. Glynnis didn’t deserve this. Gregg hoped Ben burned in hell.
“I’m so sorry,” Sabrina said again. “I know how you feel, because I feel the same way. I just couldn’t believe it when I read my dad’s letter.”
“That’s how you found out? Through a letter?” Gregg asked. He didn’t try to disguise his scorn.
“Yes. He’d given the letter to our attorney with instructions to give it to me in the event of his death.”
“How did he die?” At this point, Gregg didn’t really care, but he knew Glynnis would want to know.
“He had a heart attack. We…we were walking in the park in the town where…where we live…and he collapsed. The emergency personnel tried to save him, but it was too late.” Her eyes glistened.
Oh, hell. He hoped she wasn’t going to cry. He had enough to handle right now without a weepy woman on his hands. But though he told himself this, he felt bad. She was as much a victim in this mess as Glynnis was.
Then their food arrived, and they didn’t talk until Chris had finished serving them and walked away. By then she’d gotten herself under control again.
“Does your mother know about this?” Gregg asked.
“No. I haven’t told her yet.” She looked away. “It’s going to be one of the hardest things I’ll ever have to do.”
Yeah. He knew exactly what she meant.
She picked up her fork. Speared a tortellini. Then she put the fork down again. “I’m sorry. The food looks wonderful, but I no longer have any appetite.”
“I know.” Gregg’s appetite had gone south, too. “But you need to eat. Come on.”
She shook her head. “I can’t. I’m sorry. Is…is there anything else you’d like to ask me?”
“Nothing I can think of right now.”
“Well, if you do think of something…” She reached for her handbag again. This time she withdrew a business card. “That’s where I work. You can call me there anytime. If I’m not in, call my cell phone number.”
After she left, Gregg debated whether to go and see Glynnis immediately or wait until morning to break the news. He decided to wait. He might as well allow his sister to have one more peaceful night before she had to find out the sordid truth.
Besides, he couldn’t face telling her tonight. He hadn’t completely digested the news himself, plus he was tired. It had been a long and busy day.
And Glynnis was going to need him to be strong. Best to get a good night’s sleep himself so he wouldn’t let her down when she needed him most.
Chapter Three
Sabrina couldn’t get Gregg Antonelli out of her mind. She hadn’t expected to like him; she certainly hadn’t expected to sympathize with him, but she had. She did.
He had a terrible job in front of him. It wouldn’t be easy telling his sister what he’d learned. Yet although Sabrina had only met the man tonight, she could tell he was equal to the task. Strength and confidence were written all over him. He was the type of man who would face any crisis head-on. He was also the type of man women gravitated toward.
Sabrina wondered if he was involved with anyone. For some reason, she didn’t think he was married. Why, she couldn’t have said. It was just a feeling she had. Besides, he hadn’t been wearing a wedding ring. Funny how she’d noticed.
Oh, come on, admit it. You were attracted to him. Of course you noticed.
It was discomfiting to admit it, because under the circumstances, her reaction to Gregg Antonelli was totally inappropriate.
Forget about him, she told herself. He’ll do what he has to do, and you’ll do what you have to do, and you’ll probably never see him again.
Deliberately, she turned her thoughts to her mother and the best way to approach the coming ordeal.
The next morning, Gregg rose early. He showered and shaved, drank his coffee, then picked up the phone. Glynnis was a stay-at-home mother, but she was a morning person, so even though it was only seven-thirty, Gregg knew she’d be up. In this they were alike.
Truth was, in most things they were alike. The only thing noticeably different about them was their appearance. He looked like their father; she resembled their mother. Gregg’s hair was a medium brown. Her hair was a reddish-blond. His eyes were blue, hers were hazel. They were both tall, but there the physical similarity ended.
The surface differences meant nothing, though. They had always been close, always been able to tell what the other was feeling without words.
They’d faced tough stuff before. The death of their parents had been especially difficult. But they’d never faced anything like this. This was the worst.
Quit stalling. He punched in the code for her home. It rang twice.
“Good morning,” she said.
“Good morning.”
“I love this caller ID.”
In the background he could hear the children. “Kids are up already, huh?”
“Oh, yes. Lately they’ve been getting up before seven.”
“Guess they’re going to be morning people, too.”
She chuckled. “Until they hit their teens, anyway. So, bro, what’s on your mind so early this morning?”
“I was thinking maybe you’d feed me breakfast.”
“Sure. The kids’ll love to see their Uncle Gregg. Well, I will, too. What would you like? Waffles? Scrambled eggs and biscuits?”
“Waffles sounds good.”
“Waffles it is, then. Are you coming now?”
“Be there in fifteen minutes.”
Driving over to Glynnis’s house, Gregg couldn’t stop thinking about what was going to happen to his sister now. With two little kids to raise on her own, her life wouldn’t be easy. At least she wouldn’t be penniless. Gregg knew Ben had taken out an insurance policy shortly after they were married. But it wasn’t a huge policy. If she had to live on it, it wouldn’t last five years.
He frowned as a thought struck him.
What if the insurance company wouldn’t honor the policy because her marriage to Ben wasn’t legal? Could they do that?
No. He was sure they couldn’t. Anyone could be the beneficiary of an insurance policy. You didn’t even have to be related to the person who’d died.
She’d get the money.
And then another thought left him cold. What name had Ben used on the policy? His real one? Or the name he used to marry Glynnis? Gregg made a mental note to call his lawyer as soon as he got back to the restaurant. He had a feeling they were going to need him.
Even if the insurance thing was okay, Glynnis would still have to go back to work a lot sooner than she’d expected. Gregg knew she’d been planning to teach again when Olivia, her youngest, started school. But Olivia was barely two years old. It was going to be hard for Glynnis to leave her. Michael was five and more independent. He had started kindergarten this year, so day care afterward probably wouldn’t faze him.
Briefly Gregg wondered if Ben had left Glynnis anything else. He’d always been vague about his business affairs, and since he and Gregg had not been close, Gregg wasn’t sure what Ben’s financial situation had been. There’d always seemed to be plenty of money, though, and now that Gregg knew the truth of Ben’s situation, he realized Ben must have been fairly well-off if he was supporting two households.
Had he been, though?
Or was Sabrina’s mother a successful career woman herself? Damn. Why hadn’t he asked Sabrina more questions last night? He didn’t even know if she was Ben’s only other child. For all Gregg knew she could have brothers and sisters.
Jeez. What a mess.
Furious again, he pounded the steering wheel. What had possessed Ben to do what he had? Even though Gregg hadn’t been thrilled by the marriage, he could have sworn Ben really loved Glynnis. Why hadn’t he just divorced Sabrina’s mother? Why the lies that were going to cause so many people so much pain?
But there were no answers to these questions, because the only person who knew the answers was dead. Now all that was left to do was clean up the mess Ben had left behind.
When Sabrina got back to Rockwell, she decided to go to her apartment rather than straight back to her parents’ home—no—she had to quit thinking of it as her parents’ home. It was now solely her mother’s home.
At the realization, a fresh wave of sadness flooded her. No matter how hurt she was by her father’s duplicity, nothing changed the fact that she had loved him. She would always love him, no matter what he’d done. And she knew he had felt the same way about her.
He would have forgiven me anything, and I need to forgive him.
Pulling into the covered parking slot behind her back door, she could feel some of the stress of the past few days begin to lessen. Her apartment always had this effect on her. From the moment she’d first seen it, she’d loved it. The apartment was located in a small complex near Rockwell University—on the opposite side of town from where her parents lived. Typical of areas around colleges, the neighborhood was trendy and popular with the younger residents of Rockwell.
Sabrina especially loved that she could walk to neighborhood shops and restaurants if she wanted to. One street over from hers had a movie theater, a bookstore, a coffee shop and a bakery. On weekend mornings, she loved to walk over to the bakery and buy fresh bagels or crusty rolls, then take them home to enjoy with a latte purchased from the coffee shop.
Her mother had fought Sabrina’s moving out of the family home, insisting there was plenty of room and it was ridiculous for her to pay rent when she practically had her own suite and all the privacy she could want right there. “It makes no sense at all.”
But Sabrina had been firm, saying, “Mother, I’m twenty-four years old. I’ve been out of college for nearly two years. It’s time to cut the cord.”
Her father had backed her up. “Everyone needs their own space, Isabel. We can’t keep Sabrina a child forever.”
That had been four years ago, and Sabrina had never been sorry she’d moved. Sure, it had been nice to have Florence waiting on her, doing her laundry, not having to buy food or pay rent, but those luxuries didn’t compare to the thrill of having her own place and the satisfaction of paying her own way.
Entering her apartment, she even breathed easier. It smelled a bit musty from being shut up for more than a week, and it needed cleaning, but it was hers. Every stick of furniture was there because she’d chosen it and she’d paid for it. She had taken nothing from the family home, even though her mother had offered all the furniture in her bedroom and adjoining sitting room.
Isabel had turned up her nose at the inexpensive furniture and discount house accessories Sabrina had purchased, but Sabrina didn’t care. All the antiques and valuable objets d’art that filled the March home hadn’t been enough to make her mother happy. They certainly didn’t tempt Sabrina if it meant giving up her independence.
It was bad enough, she thought, that she was trapped in a job that no longer fulfilled her and shackled by duties and responsibilities she hadn’t asked for. Her apartment was her oasis, the only place where she felt at peace.
Sabrina had stopped at the mailboxes on her way into the complex, and now she sorted through her mail. There was nothing urgent—a few bills, a few pieces of junk mail and her newest copy of Vanity Fair.
She then headed for her bedroom. After changing clothes and unpacking, she put a load of laundry in the washer, opened some windows to air the place out, and cleaned the refrigerator, getting rid of anything that looked as if it might be past its prime.
She debated calling the paper, then decided there was no reason to. If anything urgent came up, they would call her. Finally she could stall no longer and knew she had to decide what she was going to do when she finally did go to her mother’s.
Should she tell her mother everything today?
Or should she wait?
It was difficult for Gregg to pretend this was a normal visit with Glynnis and the children, but somehow he managed it while Michael was still there. But once Michael’s car pool came and he was off to kindergarten and Olivia was almost finished eating her breakfast, Gregg knew he could no longer put off telling Glynnis the bad news.
“There’s something I need to talk to you about.” He glanced over at Olivia, who had just stuffed a last piece of waffle and cut-up strawberry into her mouth. “Think you could set her up with a video in the playroom?”
Glynnis smiled. “Sure.” Turning to her daughter, she said, “Livvy, pumpkin, would you like to watch Dumbo?”
“Dumbo, Dumbo!” Olivia shouted, her hazel eyes—a mirror of her mother’s—shining.
She grinned at Gregg, who grinned back. His niece could always make him smile.
“I guess her earache is gone,” Glynnis said in wry amusement. “She’s gone back to her normal tone of voice. Loud.”
Gregg chuckled.
Once Glynnis had cleaned syrup off Olivia’s face and hands, Gregg took his niece out of her high chair and carried her into the playroom, which was on the other side of the kitchen. The builder had intended it to be a sunroom, but it made a perfect play area for the kids, with lots of light and proximity to the place where their mother spent a good portion of her time.
“I can be working in the kitchen and still keep a close eye on them,” she’d said happily. In fact, she’d admitted later that the sunroom was the top selling point when it came to making a decision about buying the house.
Once Olivia, surrounded by her stuffed animals, was settled on the floor in front of the TV, Gregg and Glynnis walked back into the kitchen, and she poured them each a fresh cup of coffee.
“Now, what’s on your mind?” she said, settling herself at the kitchen table. She reached for the sugar bowl and added two heaping teaspoons to her coffee. Sugar in her coffee was one of her few indulgences.
His heart ached at the unsuspecting smile on his sister’s face. She probably thought he had a problem at the restaurant, the kind of thing he usually wanted to discuss with her.
Girding himself, he made his voice gentle. “I’ve got some bad news, Glynnie. You’re going to have to be strong.”
The smile on her face slowly faded. She put her coffee cup down. “What is it?”
Reaching across the table, he took her hand. “There’s no easy way to tell you this.” The fear in her eyes made Gregg wish he could be anywhere else but there. “Ben is dead, Glynnie.”
Her hand jerked, but he held fast. She shook her head. “That…that can’t be. Wh-why would you say such a thing?”
“I’m so sorry. I wish it wasn’t true, but I’m afraid it is.”
“No.” She kept shaking her head. “No.”
“Glynnie, listen to me. It’s true. Ben had a heart attack last Thursday, and he died almost immediately.”
“Last Thursday! But…but where?” she cried. “How? I-I don’t understand. It can’t be true. Someone would have called me. It’s a mistake. It has to be. He’s not dead. Don’t you see? Someone would have called me, Gregg!” Her eyes pleaded with him to say it was all a big mix-up. “It’s true I haven’t heard from him, but that’s because he’s abroad. This is just a mistake.”
“I’m sorry. It’s not a mistake. Ben is dead.”
Suddenly she just dissolved. Her face crumpled, and tears welled in her eyes. “No,” she wailed. “No, no, no, no…”
Gregg wanted to cry himself. He got up and took her into his arms. Her body shook with sobs. From the playroom came the sounds of happy music and Olivia’s laughter.
