“It won’t work, Nelson. This time you won’t sidetrack me, especially not by complaining about Mason. Mason’s fine. He’ll outgrow all this rebellion. He’s bright and talented and good-hearted.” He sighed. “You see, it almost worked again. Mason’s right this time, as it turns out, and he had the guts to confront me about it. I kept hoping, kept wanting to believe you’d accept the fact that Elisa and I are happily married, but I think I’ve only done you a disservice by not facing this earlier on. It’s only a matter of time before the other children become aware of it. Caleb already has, I think, on some level. At his age, it won’t be long before he can name the reason he keeps wanting weekends with ‘just our own family.’”
Nelson tried to protest, but Richard interrupted him and said, “Look me in the eye and tell me you aren’t in love with my wife.”
When the silence stretched between them, Richard said, in that gentle way of his, “I think, Nelson, it will be better for all of us if you limit your visits to my home to once or twice a year. You can visit me any time at my office, but-”
“Has Elisa asked you to say this to me?”
“No, right now this is between the two of us,” Richard said. “Do you want me to discuss this with her?”
“No,” he said quickly. That would have been the final mortification. “I would ask,” he added, not quite steadily, “that you never mention this to her. It would make her so…uncomfortable.”
Richard agreed and thanked him for understanding.
THE banishment. That’s how Nelson thought of that awful day. He acknowledged now that long before the banishment, he had been thinking that it would be convenient for Richard to die. He had not brought himself to think of murdering him. He just wanted him to have a fatal car wreck, a drowning accident, or a heart attack. Something quick.
The banishment made it easier to listen to Giles, as he talked of bringing the best and the brightest into the family sphere of influence, of taking children-who would never be allowed to otherwise reach their full potential- away from the parents who hindered them. To think differently of Richard, think of him as hard-hearted and misguided. To believe that Giles’s plans could give Nelson what he wanted. He convinced himself that it would give Elisa a better life, too. He could love her better, give her more.
His part, too, was so simple. Take the child, Jenny, with him. Jenny knew him, trusted him. He had already taken her to visit Roy and Victoria, and she adored Victoria’s little girl, Carrie. That day he simply did what he had done on three other mornings. Because he wasn’t coming to the house, Richard had no objection to his brief visits to the office. He had missed Nelson, he said. Jenny clearly was happy to see him. And it did make it easier for Richard to get work done if Nelson entertained Jenny.
So when Nelson arrived that last morning and asked Jenny if she wanted to come with him, she didn’t hesitate.
Two business clients who had been referred to him by Nelson found Richard’s body-as Nelson had known they would-so when police arrived, the clients asked the police to contact Nelson, just as Giles had predicted.
The grisly murder scene had nearly made Nelson faint. He had not expected it to be so bloody, for Richard to be so…damaged. A single thought repeated itself over and over:
What have I done? What have I done? What have I done?
He had not expected this horror. He discovered that the anger he had felt toward Richard seemed petty and misplaced. He thought of the child Richard, whom he had always protected and cared for as an older brother should, and a sudden upwelling of great and genuine grief overcame him.
IN his rosily imagined versions of how it would go, before it actually happened, he could pursue Elisa by comforting her, and go on from there. Mason, who tormented her, would be in prison, at least for a time. Jenny, adorable as she was, would have made it difficult for them to have the kind of honeymoon-forever lifestyle he envisioned. He knew Elisa would miss her child, but that child would have a wonderful upbringing, with more advantages than Richard could have provided, and other children to play with as she grew up.
Jenny was hardly more than a toddler, and would eventually accept what she had been told-her parents were dead, Roy and Victoria were her new mommy and daddy. To Jenny, Uncle Nelson would still be Uncle Nelson- although Nelson would ensure that Elisa remained aloof from the Fletchers, and if she did have contact, she would never be at Graydon Fletcher’s home at the same time Roy’s family was there.
Caleb would be in college. Nelson hoped to help him grow closer to the rest of the Fletcher family.
IT hadn’t happened that way, of course.
Oh, parts of it had. Elisa never developed any interest in the Fletchers, which was a blessing in some ways, but unsettling to him in others, because the family meant so much to him. Jenny settled in-or so it seemed to him, although guilt kept him from visiting Roy’s family very often. Still, he hadn’t counted on how long and deeply Elisa would grieve for Jenny, how persistent she would be in her belief that Jenny lived.
Nor had he predicted how much she would miss Mason and worry over his well-being. So he did all he could for Mason after the young man was convicted. That actually helped Nelson’s pursuit of Elisa more than he could have dreamed possible.
Caleb had proved as impossible and stubborn as his father. Elisa had been terribly hurt by Caleb and missed him, too, but she was angry with him on Nelson’s behalf. She saw Nelson’s attempts to befriend him and his rejection of Nelson, and felt disappointed in her son.
Nelson tried to make her life as comfortable as possible. She had needed someone to lean on after Richard’s death and all her other losses. Nelson loved helping her to embrace life again. She was an amazing woman, much stronger than some supposed.
He loved her, and he was convinced that she loved him. Or loved the man she believed him to be. That would all change now.
If he committed suicide, she would have his fortune at least. He felt the sea breeze, the warmth of the sun on his face. Not yet, he thought. Not yet.
He’d wait until he was sure Dexter was right. He had waited so long to be with Elisa, he would wait a little longer to let go.
CHAPTER 50
Tuesday, May 2
8:15 P.M.
SAN BERNARDINO MOUNTAINS
GENIE,” her dad said, “Cleo and I are going to go outside for a little while. Boys, go upstairs and brush your teeth and get in your pajamas. I’ll come back in to tuck you in soon.”
The boys glanced at Genie, who gave a small nod, and they went upstairs. She turned to see Cleo watching her. She smiled and said, “Thank you for letting us stay at your cabin, Cousin Cleo.”
“You’re welcome, Genie.” Genie thought she might say more, but Cleo seemed to change her mind, and went to a closet to gather a warm coat, mittens, and a wool cap.
When they were out of the house, Genie felt a sense of relief. She felt sure that Cousin Cleo was a liar. Genie had made a point of mentioning Carrie several times, and could see that Cleo didn’t like that. She hoped that meant that Carrie was with Ms. Kelly, or maybe Carrie was already meeting her real father. She found it hard to think about the idea of Carrie maybe not coming back to live with them.
Cleo also didn’t like it when Aaron cried and said he wanted Mommy. She gave Aaron a mean look that made him cry harder. Genie had quickly comforted and distracted him, and he stopped. Genie had to admit that Cleo hadn’t said or done anything to him, but that look…that look was scary.
Dad seemed not to even notice they were there. You had to say his name a bunch of times to get him to pay any attention to you. Two minutes later it seemed as if he hadn’t heard anything you said to him, or had forgotten you were there. Since Cleo got here, it was even worse. Dad was willing to do whatever Cleo said.
