Chapter 14

Anders and Gloria were back in New York City. After missing a flight connection, it had taken an extra day for them to get home, and today they’d finally awakened in their own bed.

Anders immediately got up and headed for the shower, while Gloria buzzed the kitchen and asked for coffee to be brought to their suite. She’d long since gotten over the luxury of having what she called “help,” and now took it for granted.

Anders was still in the bathroom, and she’d propped herself up with all the pillows and was watching TV when there was a knock at the door.

“Come in,” she called, and then pointed to the table near their sitting area. “Just put it there,” she said.

The maid nodded. “Yes, ma’am. Chef wants to know if you’ll be having breakfast.”

Gloria glanced at the clock. It was already almost 9:00 a.m. “Tell him we’ll be down for brunch in about an hour.”

“Yes, ma’am. Thank you, ma’am,” the maid said, and slipped out, quietly closing the door behind her.

Gloria got up, poured herself a cup of coffee, stirred in all the extras she enjoyed, and sat down to continue watching the morning news. She was absently scrolling through her phone with the TV in the background when she heard a name mentioned with the lead-in to the next story, glanced up in shock, and saw Trey’s face flash on the screen, and then it went to commercial.

She ran across the room and knocked on the bathroom door. “Anders! Anders! Come quick! Something about Trey is on the news!”

Anders came flying out of the bathroom wearing nothing but the towel wrapped around his waist. Half his face was shaved. The other half was not.

“What’s happened?” he asked.

“I don’t know. It was the lead-in to the next story and then they broke for commercial.”

“Damn it, what now?” Anders said, and plopped down beside Gloria, poured himself a cup of coffee, and waited with her.

Moments later, the newscast resumed, and the news anchor began the story, starting with a few comments about the Search for Cinderella man, and then went into the immediate story, of how he’d just repaid the favor by saving Marley Corbett’s life.

Gloria gasped, and even Anders was shocked at the thought of a psychopath hiding in an attic, waiting for a chance to strike.

“Oh, Anders, she was alone! Can you imagine how horrifying that must have been?” Gloria said.

Anders shook his head, but he was thinking about the fact that Trey had given up his home in Phoenix to go live with this woman. He’d promised Gloria he wouldn’t make a scene, but he was even more convinced now that he needed to meet this woman face-to-face and talk to Trey. He knew they didn’t have to like it. He knew it was none of his business. But Trey Austin’s business, whatever it was, could rub off on him, and Anders hadn’t spent his whole life chasing the almighty dollar just to have his good name slandered in any way.

“We have to go there,” he said.

Unaware of what he was thinking, Gloria agreed. “Yes, I’ll call Trey shortly and see if they’ll talk to us.”

Anders stood abruptly, then grabbed the towel to keep it from falling off. “I’m not about to beg an invitation. I’m flying there today.”

“But what about tickets? We might not be able to get a flight at such short notice,” Gloria said.

“I don’t need tickets for the company jet. I’m calling the pilot. Even if it’s a hit-and-run visit, I’m still going,” he said, and went to finish shaving.

Gloria sighed and went to get dressed. So much for brunch. They may not be welcomed, but she needed to be there, if for no other reason than to make sure Anders didn’t get into a fight with his own son. That would certainly wind up as news they didn’t need.

***

The moving van was gone, and Trey and Jack were in the family quarters setting up his office.

Wanda and Marley had finished the order list and inventory and were now in the primary bedroom putting up Trey’s clothes. Every so often Wanda would notice Marley pause and run her hand lightly down the fabric of one of his jackets or straighten the collar on a shirt.

“It’s a woman thing,” Wanda said.

Marley blinked. “What’s a woman thing?”

“Taking pleasure in the sight of your man’s clothes hanging next to yours. Knowing you are now responsible for the welfare of each other, and doing it out of love,” Wanda said.

Marley’s eyes welled. “That’s so beautiful, Wanda. I never thought of it like that. I do love him so much.”

Wanda hugged her. “We know, Bug. And the best part is how much he loves you back.”

Marley sighed. “Who knew a search for a chocolate gravy recipe would lead me to the love of my life?”

Wanda burst out laughing, which made Marley giggle.

Trey and Jack were down the hall in the office when they heard the laughter. “Something was sure funny,” Jack said.

Trey set down the printer he’d just unboxed. “Five dollars it was something Marley said.”

Jack grinned. “You’re on!” he said, and bolted out of the office and up the hall into the bedroom. “Okay, you girls are having way too much fun! What’s going on?”

Wanda frowned. “Nosy britches. Can’t we have a girlie moment without an audience?”

“Oh, it was nothing,” Marley said. “I just made a comment about the irony of how Trey and I met.”

Jack glanced at Trey and the grin on his face, knowing he was about to lose that bet.

“What did you say?” Trey asked.

“I just said, ‘Who knew a search for a chocolate gravy recipe would lead me to the love of my life?’”

“Dang it,” Jack muttered, and fished a five-dollar bill out of his wallet and slapped it in Trey’s outstretched hand.

“What’s going on?” Marley asked.

“When we heard the laughter, I bet Jack five dollars that it was because of something you said, and he just lost the bet,” Trey said, and then put the five dollars into Marley’s hip pocket and kissed her. “And thanks to the both of you for unpacking my clothes.”

Marley patted her pocket and blew him a kiss. “We’ve actually finished. We keep the luggage in the attic, but I’m not ready to go up there just yet.”

“We’ll go,” Wanda said, and grabbed one bag, while Jack picked up the other two and left.

Trey couldn’t bear the haunted look in Marley’s eyes. Without saying a word, he just wrapped his arms around her and held her.

Marley locked her hands around his waist and held on as if she was about to blow away. He’d become the anchor she hadn’t known she needed.

“I am so glad you love me,” she whispered.

He sighed. “Ah, my daring, darling Cinderella… You gave me no choice.”

***

Wanda and Jack left for the day, with a caution to call if anything came up that Marley needed help with, and finally, Trey and Marley were alone. He’d finished setting up his office, and Marley was in the family quarters with him, curled up on the sofa with her book.

It was nearing two in the afternoon when someone began ringing the doorbell at the entrance to the lodge.

Marley sighed, put a marker in her book, and called out to Trey. “Be right back. Someone ringing the doorbell.”

He bolted out of the office and followed her partway, just to make sure there were no ugly surprises at the door. Then he caught a glimpse of the man standing just outside the entrance and frowned.

“You just couldn’t let it alone, could you?” he muttered, and lengthened his stride to catch up.

***

Marley saw the well-dressed couple standing on the porch and first assumed they were guests hoping for a room without a reservation.

She opened the door. “I’m sorry, but we’re closed until New Year’s Day.”

“We’re not here for a room. We came to speak to our son, Trey.”

She lifted her chin. “Ah…I see a vague resemblance now that you mention it. But let’s be honest. You didn’t come to talk to Trey, because you’ve never bothered to do that before. You came to look at me.”

Anders blinked. Forthright wasn’t something he’d expected.

Marley frowned. “Well? Are you coming in, or are we doing this out in the cold?”

Trey hadn’t heard much of what was said, but was shocked to see his parents scuttling inside in silence. God. Whatever she said had just taken the wind out of the storm that was his father. Where was Marley when he was growing up?

Marley closed the door and then saw Trey as she turned around. “Ah, Trey, your loving parents have come to inspect me. Wanna watch?”

“You do you. I’ve got your back,” he said.

“Follow me,” Marley said. “We’ll sit by the fire. Despite the sunshine, it’s cold enough to freeze the balls off the devil.”

Trey grinned.

Anders was dumbstruck. He’d expected a simpering, clinging blond.

Gloria was intrigued, both by the woman and her vocabulary. It reminded her of where she’d grown up, and anyone who’d just rendered Anders Austin mute had her attention.

Marley couldn’t see herself through other people’s eyes. She was just being herself. All five feet, four inches of her in skinny jeans and a blue cable-knit sweater, padding through the lobby into the great room in her fuzzy black socks with gripper soles.

She plopped down in her favorite chair, knowing Trey would sit down on the arm of it beside her and slide his arm across the back of the chair, like he always did. It was just him being protective of her, but in this instance, she knew his parents saw it as a united front against the enemy (them), and that was fine with her.

“Okay, we’re here. You’re in my world uninvited, so we’ll get the nasty details out of the way first. How’s that sound to you?” But she didn’t wait for an answer. “I did, by accident because you were shouting, overhear your conversation with Trey about me being after your money. And we both know you weren’t worried about Trey. You were worried about yourself. So, Anders Austin the second. Look around you. All this and a good portion of the land around it is all mine, and business is good, and my reputation is stellar. But I know you understand how this works, because you also inherited what your father created, just as I inherited what my great-grandfather, my grandfather, and my father created. Four generations.

“And of course, you have grown your holdings, because in your mind, you’ll never have enough. While as I continue to build the business, which is amazingly sound, I want for nothing. I have all the money I’ll ever need. I own the lodge, which is also my home. So, our situations are exactly alike…aren’t they? Oh…except for the greedy part. Now, that’s all you and I have to say to each other, unless you two came to thank me for saving your wonderful son’s life. And while you’re at it, try to see him as the brilliant, amazing man that he became without anyone’s help. And know that yesterday he saved my life. If it hadn’t been for him, they would still be looking for my body.”

Her voice was shaking now, and Trey knew it was taking everything she had to get this said, but she was the one they’d come to crucify, and he wanted them to see her as he saw her. When she was done, he would happily peel the hide off their pretense and send them packing.

Anders cleared his throat. “Yes, we heard about what happened yesterday.”

Marley waited, then shifted her focus to Gloria. “Are you allowed to speak, or…”

Gloria nodded. “I am. But I have been basking in the guts and glory of the woman you are. Trey has no right to forgive us. And you have no obligation to us whatsoever. If I read the room correctly, and I’m usually very good about that… I’d say you are the perfect woman for any man to love, and that my son is most fortunate to have found you. I came along for the ride to make sure Trey’s father didn’t make another ass of himself.”

And then Gloria looked straight at Trey. “Everything you said to us was painfully true, and I am ashamed to admit I never once thought about how you felt regarding the decisions we made for you as a child. Knowing it now, I will regret it for the rest of my days. I didn’t come to beg forgiveness or hope for any kind of reconciliation. You just deserved to hear your truth acknowledged. I don’t know what you’re doing with your life, but I know whatever it is, you earned it all on your own, and I am proud of you.”

Trey was silent for a moment, reading her steady gaze as being as truthful as she knew how to be. Finally, he nodded.

“I don’t have any gushing gratitude to give you, Mom. But thank you for the honesty.”

Gloria blinked back tears. He wasn’t being rude. He didn’t even have enough emotion to be cold toward her. She was the stranger who’d given birth to him and given him up to others from the day that he was born. There was no maternal bond. No familial bond. In truth, no bond at all. But it was done.

And yet she knew from the way he looked at Marley Corbett, and the way she looked at him, there was an emotional bond between them, and for that she was grateful. At least she and Anders hadn’t destroyed the man. Just their relationship with him.

Anders sat staring at the floor. Now the onus was on him to speak or remain the monster in the closet.

“I did what I thought was best for you,” he finally said. “I thought I was supporting you by making sure you had money, only to find out you not only hadn’t spent it, but that you sent it back with the interest it had accrued. So now I wonder how you’ve been making a living.”

“It’s entirely legal, if that’s what’s been bothering you,” Trey said. “And everything I am, and all that I earn, I do without the auspices of your power, or your name, or your help. You own nothing of me. I owe nothing to you. Understand?”

Anders glared.

Trey stared back without blinking.

Anders shifted focus to Marley. “I suppose you know what he does?”

“Of course, I know. What an absurd thing to ask of me. Am I going to talk about it? Absolutely not. Not my business to tell.”

Anders stood up, but before he could open his mouth, Trey was standing between them, so close to his father that he could see his own reflection in Anders’s eyes.

“Don’t you do it! Whatever it is you were about to say to her, suck it up now. Yesterday, I took out a man with a crowbar whose sole intent that day was to destroy her. So, know that I will lay you out before I’ll stand by and let you bully her like you used to do me.”

Marley wasn’t surprised by Trey’s reaction, but she hadn’t seen it coming, and then before she could react, she heard the voices.

The first was the worst. Say it.

“The first was the worst,” Marley said.

Anders paled, staggered backward, and sat down with a thud.

Trey didn’t know what was happening. His father looked like he was going to pass out from what she’d said. He turned and looked at her.

“What does that mean?” he asked.

“I don’t know. The angels told me to say it.”

Gloria frowned. “Angels? What are you talking about?”

“They talk to me,” Marley said. “I’ve always heard them. It’s because of them that I even found Trey in the wreck. Everyone who knows me knows it. It’s not a secret.” And then she heard voices again and tilted her head slightly to catch all the words. Afraid he’d repeat it.

Marley looked back at Anders. “Afraid you’d repeat what?”

Anders couldn’t quit staring at her. “How did you… Why did you… You couldn’t possibly…”

And then Marley’s understanding dawned. “Your father physically and emotionally mistreated you, didn’t he? You were afraid to be a father for fear of repeating it. Weren’t you? You kept Trey at arm’s length for fear you’d become the monster like the man who raised you.”

Gloria gasped, and Trey turned, staring at his father as if he’d never seen him before.

“Dad. Is this true?” he asked.

“I’m not talking about this,” Anders whispered, but Gloria was at his side, clutching his hands, and Trey was looming over him like an avenging angel, and for the first time since his youth, Anders wanted to hide.

Trey sat down, and when he did, Marley scooted up beside him. At this moment, her presence was everything.

Nobody spoke. It was like sitting vigil beside a body waiting to be buried. And then Marley heard another message.

All is forgiven.

Oh man…he’s not gonna like this, Marley thought, but she knew better than to ignore the messages.

“Sir…they said to tell you, ‘All is forgiven.’ I would take that to mean your father has been forgiven his trespasses. And God has already forgiven you, even as you still repeat them.” And then she laid her hand on Trey’s knee. “Trey doesn’t hold the key to your happiness. He isn’t the answer to your emotional needs. He’ll do what he feels right for him, and that may not include being the crutch for either of you.”

“Look at her. Both of you. She’s brave and strong and gutsy and the funniest person I’ve ever known, and she freakin’ talks to angels,” Trey said. “I’m the living proof. She is also the love of my life. She is who I choose. And lord love her, she chose me, too. So, you came, you saw, and now just go on about your lives as you’ve always done. Be happy with each other. You don’t need me to do that. You never did.”

Marley got up, moved the fire screen to stir the embers, and added another log to the fire, then slid the screen back in place and dusted off her hands, while Anders and Gloria watched her perform a task that neither of them would have lowered themselves to do. But Marley didn’t care what they thought about her.

“Trey, my love, I’m going to make coffee. Your dad is going to need a little caffeine to be able to get up. I won’t be long. Gloria, would you care to join me?”

Gloria hadn’t been asked to help do anything since she left the Ozarks, but she didn’t have the guts to tell this woman no.

“Of course,” she said, patted Anders’s knee, and then followed Marley out of the room, leaving Trey and Anders alone.

Anders finally looked up. “I have this rage I can’t control. I couldn’t fight back then, and I carried it into life, thinking I had to fight for everything or be lost again.”

Trey listened without comment, never taking his eyes off his father’s face as he kept talking, and all the while, the lack of emotion in Anders’s voice was almost as scary as what he was saying.

“He walked with a cane…my father…and used it as a weapon. When he didn’t beat me, he locked me in closets. In the basement. In the attic. He refused me food, but in public showered me with everything. I loved him. I hated him. I feared him. When I was twenty-four, I married your mother. She was my escape from the main house. He died before you were born. But the day I saw you in the hospital, I saw my reflection in the nursery windows and saw him instead. I feared I would turn into him, and so I abandoned you to hired help and felt like I’d done the right thing. I don’t want your forgiveness. I don’t deserve it. But I will forever believe that I saved you from turning into me. Be happy, Trey. Love her hard. I think she’s worth it all.”

Trey nodded. “I know she is. Go to counseling, Dad. You have demons to banish.”

Anders shrugged. “No counseling. No sign of weakness. Austin Enterprises would sink at the first sign.”

Trey shook his head. “You’re still doing it…putting power ahead of sanity. It’s your funeral.”

Before Anders could say more, Gloria came out of the kitchen. “Coffee is ready. You come to it. It’s not coming to you.”

Trey grinned. “Marley said that, didn’t she?”

Gloria nodded. “She has hand pies. I haven’t had hand pies since I left home. She said she made them.”

“Oh, she’s also an amazing chef as well,” Trey said. “So far, the only thing I haven’t seen her do is fly, but I swear she could if she wanted to. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen wings.”

Gloria tilted her head, smiling as looked at Trey. “You have quite a way with words. I don’t think I knew that about you.”

“In the months to come, you’ll learn all kinds of things about me,” Trey said. “In the meantime, we are going to have pie and coffee. And then you two will go back to New York City and tend to your business, and leave Marley and me to ours.”

***

It was dark by the time Anders and Gloria left. But there was no rush. No scheduled flight to catch. The jet had been refueled and was sitting off-site at a private runway, and the pilot was already in the plane, waiting for their arrival.

Anders was silent as they drove away from the lodge, but Gloria hadn’t stopped talking. She knew he’d told Trey things he may never tell her, but she’d lived with Anders Austin long enough to know that he would feel ashamed to be weak in front of her, and that was the last thing she wanted.

And at least Trey had given them the space to unburden themselves. The fact that he still held his secrets close to his chest was fair. She was proud of him, and in awe and just the tiniest bit afraid of the woman in his life.

By the time they drove into the city and headed for the airport, she’d fallen silent.

“We’re still good, aren’t we?” Anders asked.

Gloria reached across the seat and patted his knee. “Yes, dear, we’re good. As long as you’re happy, I’m happy. Will you hang my clock tomorrow?”

He nodded. “I will hang your clock.”

The last of a huge weight had been lifted.

Within the hour, they were in the jet and taxiing down the runway. When they lifted off, Anders glanced down once into the lights of the city below and then up at the mountain. He fancied that he saw a glimmer of the lodge’s security lights outside, but it could also have been a reflection in the glass from the lights on the jet, and then they were gone.