Unexpected Happenings,
Chapter 53
by SIPort
“ Pookie, you wanted to see me?”, Rebecca asked, as she came into the Library.
“ Indeed I do.” Julian got up from his desk and sat down on the sofa.
” What is it you want?”
” I want for us to say goodbye, Rebecca.”
” Goodbye?”
” Yes. It’s time we ended this.”
” Ended it? We’re supposed to get married!”
” Rebecca, I don’t love you, and you don’t love me. You love my money.
It’s not enough. I happen to be in love with another woman, and I have a
chance with her. “
” So, you’re going to dump me for some tramp that you MIGHT have a chance
with?”
” Yes, Rebecca.”
” Julian, you know that I can be a good ally or a bad enemy.”
” Oh, I know that, Rebecca. That’s why I didn’t want you to leave here
empty handed. I thought this would help salve things.” Julian slid a piece
of paper over to Rebecca with a number on it.
” That much is in trust for you. Beginning next month, you’ll receive two
hundred, fifty thousand per month in perpetuity. And, when you die, the
trust will automatically go to Gwen. I think that’s being generous, Rebecca.”
“ Well, I..”
” And, before you say anything, I thought you should take a look at these.”,
Julian slid an envelope over to Rebecca. They were pictures of her with
Alistair the night that he died.
” My father isn’t the only one with spies. I’m willing to think the best
of you, Rebecca. That you were just being yourself. That you are a virile
woman with needs, and that night, my father could satisfy them. I see it
as the best explanation for everyone, don’t you?”
Rebecca smiled. “ Why Pookie. Alistair would be so proud.”
” He probably would. And, I’ll sweeten the pot even more. A three month
stay at the Hotel Ferrat in Monaco. One hundred thousand limit at the gaming
tables.”
” Julian!”
” Rebecca, we both know you’ll be using the gambling to stake out the biggest
available whales, um, prospects. So, do we have a deal?”
Rebecca put out her hand. “ You drive a hard bargain, Pookie. But, fair.”
“ Thank you, Rebecca. I truly hope you find what you want.”
Rebecca kissed him and left.
Whitney and Simone arched their backs into the latest yoga pose.
” Ya know, when we talked about this trip, I never thought I’d be twisting
my body into a pretzel. Or would be getting up at dawn to exercise.”, Simone
sighed.
” Awe, come on Simone. This exercise is great.”
” Whitney, you’re a natural as well as practicing athlete. For folks like
me..”
” This is good for you. What were we to do? Julian arranged for a personal
trainer.”
” I know. I’m getting toned up, which is good.”
” Simone, do you think we should push Mom some more about Julian?”
” Um, no. Whitney, Mom’s made it clear – Julian is off limits to us.”
” I don’t really think that’s fair. After all, Simone, she is our mother,
and we’re just worried about her.”
” I know, but Mom doesn’t need anymore pressure from us. I think our request
about our grandparents has really spooked her.”
” Do you think we should drop it? Just enjoy this time with Mom and go
home?”
” Nope. If we drop it now, Whitney, we might never get to meet our grandparents.
What do you think they’re like? On the one hand, I’m so excited at the possibility
of meeting them. On the other hand, how horrible were they that Mom hasn’t
spoken to them in twenty-five years?”
” I’ve been thinking about that too. I don’t know what to expect. I have
NO idea. These people are our grandparents, and yet, they’re total strangers.”
” Do …do you think they want to have anything to do with us, Whitney? I
mean, maybe they’ve written off Mom, and wouldn’t want any grandkids.”
”Simone, I think they’ll want us. And why not? We’re fabulous.”
They break out into laughter, and continue on with their lesson.
” Eve, I’m impressed. Most people can’t keep up with me on my power walks.”,
Lady Jane said.
Eve sighed. Her legs were about to give out, but she smiled. “ Lady Jane,
you rock, as the kids would say.”
” You’ve only got one body. Have to take care of it.”
” As a doctor, I wish more patients sounded like you.”
” Why don’t we get some fresh juice.”
” Sounds good.”
Jane and Eve ordered their drinks and sat down.
” So, Eve, why are you and the girls here, on this vacation?”
“ Direct.”
” Best policy.”
” I’m here, Lady Jane, because my life fell apart, and I needed distance.”
” Your husband left you for another woman?”
” Yes, and no. He didn’t leave me. I asked him to go. I know I sound terribly
cliché, but I mean it when I say that my husband was the last man
on Earth that I ever thought would cheat on me.”
” Oh dear.”
” He says that it was the one time. I tend to believe him.”
” Well, my dear, if it was only the ONE time…”
” The woman’s pregnant.”
” Oh. Well THAT complicates things.”
“ You don’t know the half of it. The woman? My best friend.”
” NO!”
Eve nodded. “ Yes.” Eve sighed. “And, if I tell you that the only person
I thought would NEVER cheat on their spouse other than my husband, it would
be my former best friend. To this day, I can’t wrap my mind around
it. I’m living through it, but I don’t believe it. I don’t believe that either
one of them is that callous. Or cruel. I’m living through it, and just can’t
grasp it. I think that’s why I needed this trip. I think I’m supposed to
hate both of them, but I don’t. I went through a few weeks where all I saw
was rage, but now, it’s just sadness. Sadness at what I lost. My marriage.
My best friend. My closest circle. You know, those things you depend upon
emotionally. I’m mourning the loss of all of them, and it’s just a lot of
pain.”
” Well, maybe if you did hate him..”
Eve shook her head. “ No, I can’t hate my ex-husband. It’s not good for
the girls. They need their father, and he’s a good father. He adores them.
I’m trying to make it through all of this because of them. I want them not
to lose their father. I’ve seen what warring parents can do to their children,
young and old. Young, the scars are more obvious. How I work through this
with their father will influence how my daughters deal with men in their
own relationships.”
” Very astute of you.”
” I’m trying. I haven’t even told you the most bizarre part of all of this.”
” There’s more?”
” Yes. There was a young man who came to our town about two years ago,
searching for his biological parents. I finally was able to run a DNA test
on him, using our hospital’s database. I found his parents – my ex-husband
and best friend.”
” WHAT? They abandoned the poor boy? What rats!”
Eve held up her hand. “ I know I sound crazy for defending them, but I
have to. Neither one of them knew.”
” Eve, come on. You HAVE to know when you have a child together! Are you
sure they weren’t cheating your entire marriage.”
” Jane, I hear you, and if it were any other people, I’d think the same
as you. But, if my husband had known that he’d had a SON? There would be nothing
to keep TC away from his son. As for Grace – she didn’t remember having the
baby.”
” Not remember?”
” This is one of those ‘ truth is stranger than fiction’ stories. She doesn’t
remember her entire life before the night she met her ex-husband. He was
a policeman, just out of the Police Academy. He gets to this burning house,
finds her tied up, and rescues her. Her first memory is of waking up in
a hospital and seeing her ex-husband. Someone had put her into a house,
tied her up, and set it on fire. “
” Wow.”
” I know. And to meet her, she’s one of the kindest souls. I could never
think about WHY anyone would want to kill her. But, she doesn’t remember
anything before that night. Her husband spent years, taking her around the
country, hell the world, to the foremost experts on the subject of amnesia.
No success. “
”Your ex-husband didn’t have amnesia.”
” No. But, by the time she arrived in Harmony, married to his best friend,
what would there be to dredge up something that he couldn’t change, and
she couldn’t remember? On that score, I agree with my ex-husband, considering
I did the same thing.”
” Oh.”
” So, I’m working through the hurt and..”
” And?”
” Only half of the problem.”
” But, something we’ll pick up on another morning walk?”
” I’d like that.”