A Weekend Getaway (11 page)

Parker turned
and faced him. “Not everything is about money. Beth isn’t like that. She’s
successful in her own right.” He remembered how he’d drunkenly come onto her at
their college reunion. She’d always had a pretty face, but time had only made
her more attractive. She’d pulled away when he tried to kiss her. No woman had
ever pulled away from him. It unnerved him. And now she’d dropped this bomb. “I
don’t know what her motive was for telling me this, but I’m glad she did.”

“My advice is
to get some more details. I can’t do much without a birth date, a place,
a
name. Something.”

Parker sighed.
He knew Stan was right. Parker shouldn’t have told Beth to go away. He’d just
been so shocked. Overwhelmed with loss. Years with his child that he could
never get back. And for Bethany to do this to him…he’d never expect such a
thing from her. She’d always seemed kind and sweet, but maybe that was a
façade. “You’re telling me I have to make nice with Beth in order to gain
access to my own child?”

“The law states
you only have a short time after birth to claim paternity.”

 
“How could I when I didn’t know about the
pregnancy?” He twisted his wedding band. “The law is biased against men.”

His lawyer
nodded. “Look, if you want me to fight, I’ll be glad to. But if you just want
to meet your child, I don’t know that I can help you.”

Fury surged
inside Parker. “I want you to draw up the papers. I’m suing Bethany for
everything’s she’s got. I’m definitely in the mood for a fight.”

# # #

Instead of
eating lunch, Beth forced herself to go to the company gym. She climbed onto
the elliptical machine, calculating that she could burn about 200 calories and
still have time to shower before her break ended. She placed her Kindle on the
ledge in front of her, anxious to read the latest Jennifer Weiner novel about a
woman “thick of thigh” finding love.

Legs pumping,
she ignored the growling in her belly and the dizziness in her head. Mind over
matter. Mind over matter. If staying thin was the secret to breaking the glass
ceiling, she would do it. She’d been researching her spray vitamin idea and it
seemed promising. This could finally be her chance.

The perky
brunette from the daycare center climbed onto the machine next to her. “
Gotta
sneak in our work-outs whenever we can, don’t we?”

Beth smiled and
nodded.

Amy, whom she’d
sponsored in a 5K autism fundraiser, didn’t look as if she’d ever had to order
a skinny, no-whip latte in her life. “Emma’s bob looks adorable, by the way.”

“Sorry I wasn’t
more understanding about the gum.”

“No, no. You
were fine. It was totally my fault. Now I leave my purse locked in my trunk, so
there’s no chance the kids can get into something.”

“That’s good.”
She knew she was lucky to have on-site childcare, but the facilities were small
and mostly unfurnished. All of the toys had been donated by staff members. The
brothers who ran the company didn’t understand much about what women value.
Ironic since females comprised the majority of their customers. “How is Emma
doing these days? Is she still crying when she doesn’t get her way?”

Amy nodded.
“We’re working on it, though.”

The tantrum in
the pet store had really been embarrassing. “I’d give you a thousand dollars if
you could break Emma of the habit.”

They both
laughed then exercised in silence, but Beth felt Amy looking at her. “You’re
good with Emma. Patient. Just like I’m sure you are with your customers.”

“Thanks.”

Amy took a
breath, struggling to speak while maintaining such a vigorous pace. “Luke said
he’s going to recommend that you take his spot when he gets promoted.”

A surge of joy
helped speed up Beth’s legs swinging back and forth. Dating for two months now,
Amy and Luke represented one of Beth’s matchmaking successes. She’d never
gotten much more than a personal sense of accomplishment from her matchmaking
hobby, but clearly it had its occasional perks—and having insider info on
a possible promotion was one of them.

She remembered
back to when she realized they’d be great together. Even though Luke was forty,
he’d indicated that after years of embracing bachelorhood, he felt empty when
he crossed the finish line alone. Since Amy was about her age, Beth had guessed
correctly that the woman would want a running partner that was ready to commit.

“I’m so glad
Luke believes in me.” Beth wiped her moist forehead with a small towel.

“Just between
you and me, he’s hoping to move up soon. He had a great meeting this morning
with the brothers. Something about a vitamin spray for people who hate to
swallow pills.”

Beth’s face
froze. “I didn’t know he was going to pitch it so soon. I was still doing
research on it.” One other company had something similar in the works and she
wanted to make sure Healthy Habits would stand out.

“Were you
helping Luke with that?”

Beth grabbed
the handles in front of her for balance. Was Luke acting as if it were his own
idea? She’d expected to present it alongside him, or at the very least to be
present when the idea was unveiled. But it was clear Amy didn’t even know she
played a role in Luke’s worthy-for-a-promotion vitamin spray product idea.
Worry twisted in her gut.

Beth turned off
her e-reader and climbed off the exercise equipment. “I’ve got to go. Have a
good work-out.” Leaving a sweating Amy behind, she hurried to the locker room
and back to her office. She couldn’t let him get away with this.

Luke paced
behind his desk as he drank a can of coconut water. His eyes lit up when he saw
her. “There’s my protégé.”

Beth closed the
door behind her, his gym bag swinging from the coat hook on the back. She
braced herself for a confrontation. “I hear you pitched my idea today. How’d it
go?”

His face
flushed for a moment, but he quickly recovered. “Great. They want to move ahead
with it. I knew you had it in you.” He gestured toward a seat, but Beth ignored
him.

“So what’s
next? Should I present all of my research to the brothers? I still have a few
more things I’m looking into. Potential issues with the idea.”

“Give me what
you’ve got and I’ll pass it along.”

That didn’t
sound right. She really needed credit. She really wanted to get out of the
complaint department. Now that she’d paid her dues, she longed for a new
challenge. “I’d like to talk directly to them if I could.”

“They’re on
board. There’s no need to convince them.”

“Good. I
just...” Why couldn’t she say it? “I thought you’d include me in the meeting.
I’ve worked so hard, but I’m not even sure the brothers know my name.”

He nodded. “I
understand. The truth is I wasn’t planning on saying anything, but I was in
this meeting and they seemed desperate for a great new idea. It was perfect
timing.” His eyes darted side to side as if searching for the right thing to
say. He stopped pacing and leaned on his desk. “Tell you what. The next
meeting, I’ll make sure you’re invited.”

The list in her
mind popped up.

Luke: 1) told
her she should lose weight, and 2) may have stolen her idea.

She needed to
make sure she was in the next meeting before the list grew longer.

CHAPTER TEN

“I can’t wait
to put on my Halloween costume,” Emma said from the backseat.

Beth looked at
the little girl in the rearview mirror and saw her twinkling eyes. “You’re
going to look so pretty. Just like Cinderella.”

“Lucy is going
to be Cinderella, too. And Monica is going to be Snow White.”

“Uh-huh.” The
whole drive home from work, Beth listened to Emma’s chatter about Halloween. It
was neat how a child’s excitement over a silly holiday could take the edge off
a crappy day. Besides Luke’s suspicious behavior, Beth’s last caller had cussed
her out. Even though she knew she shouldn’t take it personally, the abuse still
hurt.

Emma kicked the
back of Beth’s seat. “I think Lucy should be Snow White since she has brown
hair. Don’t you think I look more like the real Cinderella than Lucy?”

Beth didn’t
know which child was Lucy. “If she has brown hair and you have blonde hair,
then you’ll look more like the Disney Cinderella.”

“Disney
Cinderella? What’s that?”

“That’s the
cartoon you watch. The
real
Cinderella.”

“Oh.” Emma did
a little happy dance in her car seat. Then she froze. “You’re not going to make
me wear a coat, are you?”

“If it’s cold
out.”

“But I don’t
want to cover up my pretty dress.”

Beth sighed.
“Your coat will look fine.”

“No, it won’t.
I don’t
wanna
wear a coat!”

“I tell you
what. We’ll take it off before you ring the bell at each house. That way
everyone will see your gown. Then to keep warm, we’ll put the coat on as we
walk to the next house.”

“Only if it’s
really, really cold.”

By the time she
parked in front of the Victorian, Beth’s spirits had been lifted. The little
girl immediately ran upstairs to her room and put on her costume. Beth opened
the pantry to try and find a can of soup or something easy to make for dinner.
While searching, she saw an open bag of fun-sized candy bars. Had Emma snuck a
few early treats or had Drew?

Weren’t there
more bags of candy? She’d asked Drew to pick candy up last night, so she
wouldn’t be tempted. There was only one package here. She reached for it and
peered inside to see five chocolate bars left. “What the hell?”

“What the
hell-what the hell?” Captain Kirk chimed in.

“
Shhh
!” Beth hadn’t realized how often she cursed until she
heard her words repeated back to her by an eavesdropping parrot. She slammed
the pantry doors shut.

Emma ran into
the kitchen wearing her shiny blue Cinderella gown. “What’s wrong, Aunt Beth?”

Beth looked at
the clock. Trick or treating started in fifteen minutes. If she had known they
were out of candy, she could’ve stopped on the way home. “Did you eat some
chocolates without asking permission?” She tried to give Emma a stern look, but
being called “aunt” always melted her heart.

“No.
Pinky-promise.” She held up her little finger.

So cute. Maybe
she was lying, but how was Beth to know? She grabbed the phone and dialed Drew
who was still at work. “Did you break into the Halloween candy?”

“I might’ve had
a few pieces.”

She heard Emma
open the parrot’s cage with a squeak. The bird flew around the adjoining dining
room, the air off its wings clanking the chandelier prisms. Beth tried to ignore
the commotion by plugging one ear. “Did you hide the rest of the candy
somewhere?”

“Did you check
the pantry?”

“Of course I
did.”

“I bought a big
bag.”

“Only one bag?
That’s not enough. Can you grab some on the way home?”

“Sure. But I’m
going to be here a while.”

She sighed loud
enough for him to hear. “What am I supposed to do? And if you’re at work, who
is going to take Emma around the neighborhood? I can’t hand out candy and be
with her at the same time.” For the first time in Beth’s life, Halloween was
definitely a two-person job.

“Just turn off
the porch light and take her.”

She shook her
head. Would anyone egg her house if she didn’t participate in the sugar fest?
Probably not. But she didn’t feel right asking for candy and not handing out
her fair share. Twice today she’d been undermined by men. “You’re no help.”
Click. “Emma, get your coat. We’re going to the store.”

The phone rang.
She grabbed it hoping that Drew had changed his mind and decided to come home.
“Hello?”

“It’s Sarah.
Can you talk?”

Beth heard Emma
jumping in the front parlor, probably trying to reach her jacket. “Things are
kind of hectic right now.” Beth walked over to the antique coat rack and handed
the lilac jacket to Emma.

“I know. It’s
Halloween. But you’re not going to believe who called me.” She paused as if
Beth had time to guess. “Your daughter.”

Beth stopped
breathing for a moment. Her daughter. She leaned against the wall for support.
“She did? Why?” She noticed Emma staring at her.

“She thought I
was her mother.”

That didn’t
make sense. “How did that kind of mix-up happen?”

“Maybe it’s
because we used my cell phone to call when we found the adoption records.”

“What did you
tell her?”

“Not much. Just
that she’d made a mistake. Have you called her adoptive parents yet?”

“No.”

“I thought you
agreed to make contact.”

Emma, still
listening, pulled at her blue sparkly skirt.

Beth sighed. “I
can’t talk right now.”

“Sure. That’s
all I had to say. Just that she sounds like a good kid. On the honor roll and
stuff.”

“What’s her
name?”

“Hannah. You
really should give her a call.”

Hannah. The
name sounded…perfect.

“I’ll try.”
Beth hung up and allowed an odd combination of emotions to bounce around inside
of her. Fear, joy, relief. Her child was okay. Her child wanted to connect with
her. Her child.

She looked down
at Emma and affectionately patted her blonde bob.

# # #

A child’s
scream came from Emma’s room soon after they returned from trick-or-treating.
Beth raced up the wooden staircase and ran into the corner room. On the floor
was the cracked ant farm and Captain Kirk was eating the freed bugs for dinner.

Emma, still in
her blue Cinderella gown, shrieked again. “Make him stop! Make him stop!” She
could do sound effects for a horror movie.

Beth waved the
back of her hand toward the parrot. “Shoo! Bad boy! Bad boy!”

The gray parrot
flew across the room and started singing the theme to Cops.

Beth tried not
to laugh. Especially since ants were loose in her house. Ugh! She stepped on
the bugs crawling in jagged lines across the wooden floor.

“Aunt Beth!”
Emma protested.

“I’m sorry. But
we don’t want ants all over the place.” She considered promising to buy another
ant farm, but she didn’t want to. Part of her was relieved the bugs were no
longer pets. “I never should’ve bought this in the first place.” When Captain
Kirk returned to the scene of the crime, she didn’t stop him.

“I hate you! I
want my mommy!” Emma stomped out of the room.

Feeling like a
terrible person, Beth sighed as she tossed the plastic cage in the trash. The
small bugs scurried across the floor, away from Beth’s attempts to capture and
kill them. She needed ant poison. Lots of it.

When she heard
the front door unlock, she decided to give up. Drew was finally home, and there
were more important things going on than wayward ants. Emma’s tantrum, for
one…and Hannah…

When she walked
down the stairs, Beth saw him handing out candy to a miniature Batman. He
closed the door and smiled at her. “I brought more candy.”

“Thanks.” Even
though trick-or-treating officially ended in ten minutes. “Could you read Emma
a bedtime story tonight? She’s mad at me.”

“Why?”

“Captain Kirk
knocked over her ant farm and I panicked seeing all of those bugs trying to
escape. Instinct kicked in and I squished them.”

A chuckle. He
put down the bag of candy and gave her shoulders a squeeze. “She’ll get over
it.”

“I hope so.”

He called
upstairs. “Cinderella, the clock’s about to strike midnight. Better hurry up
and get in your
p.j.’s
.” He started his ascent.

“I’m not so
good at this motherhood thing,” Beth mumbled.

He didn’t
respond. Did he agree or had he not heard her? She wasn’t sure.

All night long
she tossed and turned, wrestling with the covers. She
wasn’t
good at being a mom—not like Sarah, who was a natural.
Maybe deep down, Beth had known that all of those years ago. Motherhood
wouldn’t be her
forté
.

Sarah’s phone
conversation replayed in her brain:
You
should give her a call. She sounds like a good kid.

After Emma went
to bed, Beth still did not call her daughter. If she made contact, she’d have
to answer for the fact that she’d given away her baby. How could she possibly
justify that? Sure, she’d done it in her head a million times, but she worried
all of her reasons sounded weak.

Even worse,
she’d have to tell her the bad news. Part of her hoped that Parker would do it.
He could explain Huntington’s disease better than she could. But he couldn’t
call because he didn’t know their child’s phone number.

Hannah. Hannah
Taylor. Her daughter’s name was Hannah.

In the wee
hours of the morning, she gave up on sleep. She climbed out of bed, rubbed her
tired eyes and pulled down the box in her closet. Inside she found the plastic
hospital bracelet that had been on the baby’s wrist. Baby Girl Morris. She
reached in for the tiny pink hat someone at the hospital had placed on the
baby’s head. Bringing the yarn to her nose, she sniffed and told herself it
still held her baby’s scent.

She heard Drew
roll over and she flinched. Quickly she put the evidence away.

Somehow she got
dressed in the morning and went through the motions at work. But she couldn’t
stop thinking about Hannah all day.

As soon as she
got home from the office, she told Emma she could play dress up. That would
keep the little girl occupied, while Beth locked herself in the office and took
a deep breath. She pulled out the number Sarah had given her. Then she dialed
the Taylors.

A young, female
voice answered, “Hello?”

Beth’s blood
pressure shot up. Her heart hammered.

The woman asked
again, “Hello?”

Beth opened her
mouth, but nothing came out. She couldn’t breathe.

 
“Hello?”

She hung up.

 
I
can’t believe I’m such a chicken!

For a minute, she
stared at the phone. Then she dropped it in its cradle and headed to the
bathroom. Bloodshot eyes stared back at her in the vanity mirror. She shook her
head at herself.
Coward.

She splashed
her face with water and washed off her makeup. That made her feel a little
better.

The phone rang
and Emma answered it. “Hi.”

Beth raced down
the hall. She smirked at Emma, once again in her blue princess costume. Beth
took the phone away and tried to chastise her. “Since when do you answer the
phone?” She put the receiver to her ear. “Sorry about that.”

“Is that your
daughter who answered the phone?” An unfamiliar, female voice asked. She
sounded a little peeved.

Beth hesitated.
Emma wasn’t anybody else’s business. “Who is this?”

The girl
cleared her throat. “My name is Hannah Taylor.”

She kept
talking, but Beth couldn’t focus on her words. This was her. Her daughter was
on the telephone. Her daughter was old enough to track her down. Beth fell into
the office chair and its wheels spun, causing her to feel even more off-balance.

“Did you give
birth to a girl in Bloomington on August second?”

“Yes.” Beth’s
voice was barely audible. She looked at Emma who waved a magic wand in mid-air
and said, “Poof!”

 
“Just a minute,” Beth said, and headed
downstairs with Emma in tow. Flipping on the TV, she sighed in relief. Dora the
Explorer was such a lifesaver at times. Beth never thought she’d be the kind of
parent who resorted to the electronic babysitter, but then again, she wasn’t
the person she thought she’d be at all.

When Emma sat
contentedly on the floor in front of the television, Beth made her move. She
tiptoed back upstairs, into her bedroom and closed the door. “Sorry about that.
I needed to
um.
. . go somewhere quiet.” Her heart
pounded and her throat dried. She sat on an oversized chair in the corner. A
stack of vitamin research she’d printed off the internet filled the nearby
table.

“So you admit
you’re my birth mother?”

“Yes. Were your
adoptive parents good to you?”

“They were.”

Relief whooshed
through Beth’s body. Sixteen years of worry eased its hold.

“My father died
a few months ago.”

“Oh, I’m so
sorry.” She’d never anticipated that. He wasn’t that much older than Beth. “He
was an optometrist, right?”

“Uh-huh. He was
a great man. I miss him every day.”

 
Beth didn’t know what to say.

 
When Hannah spoke again, her words came
in a rush. “I’m kind of at a crossroads. I could easily graduate high school a
year early and go to college. In fact, my SAT scores are strong enough that I
could get into an Ivy League school.”

“Wow.” Her baby
was old enough to go to college. Smart enough to go to the same universities as
presidents and entrepreneurs. “Do you want to do that?”

“I’m torn about
skipping my senior year. My friends say that’s when you can finally relax and
have some fun. Once you’ve been accepted to college, you can stop worrying
about grades. Go to prom, stay out late, do what normal kids do.”