The Truth Be Told (The Truth in Lies Saga #3) (5 page)

I nodded, caught in the wake of his gaze.  When he released me, I slumped back against my chair and exhaled.  He smirked and finished his coffee and the rest of my scone.

“Where are we going?” I asked, more like squeaked.

“I thought you might like to see a few of my favorite places.  Maybe even visit my old alma mater?”

“You want to take me to Harvard?”  I chugged the remainder of my coffee.

“I thought it might be fun to see the old place again.  It’s been years since I’ve been there.”

“I’m honored you’d want to share that with me.”

““The honor is all mine.”

The waitress delivered our ticket and Drew, in his usual, carefree fashion, dropped a fifty dollar bill in the pocket without so much as looking at the receipt.  He stood up and offered me his hand.  “Care to join me?”

“If you promise that I get embarrassing details about you.  After what my family put me through last week, it only seems fair.”

“They weren’t that bad,” he teased.  

I laughed, shaking my head as I took his outstretched hand.  Before I had a chance to move, he lifted me up out of my seat and had me pressed against his chest.  He lowered his lips to mine and placed a sweet and tender kiss to them.  Kissing him in public was liberating.  He was mine for all the world to see.  No secrets.  No regrets.  Just me and him, together and in love.  

Andrew

So far, everything was going according to plan.  McKenzie and I finally had a free day together.  No Father.  No Olivia.  No Jared.  No wedding plans.  Just the two of us, enjoying each other and reconnecting as we should.

I placed her hand in mine and we walked out of the coffee shop.  “I hope you don’t mind walking.  We’re only about a ten minute walk from campus, and this city is best seen outside a moving vehicle.”

“I welcome the walk,” she replied.  Yet another reason why I loved my girl.  She didn’t care if her shoes would be damaged by the walk.  Then again, she didn’t wear shoes that would be damaged by a walk.  Her little peach colored shorts—that gave me a great view of her sexy legs—matched a white collared shirt with a slight midriff and black sandals were perfect for the warm, sunny day outing.

I wrapped her arm in the crook of mine and started on the path to the college.  

“I love all of the brownstones.”  McKenzie reached out with her free hand and touched the building as we passed.  I felt her sigh as her fingers brushed over the rough bricks.  “It must’ve been amazing growing up in a city with so much history and beauty.”

“It was and I miss living here.  I really do.”  That wasn’t a lie.  I loved my hometown.  It was a piece of me that I carried with me always, but the ghosts of my past haunted me there.  No matter how much I loved Boston, I could never live there again.  Boston and I were better off without each other.

McKenzie rested her head against my shoulder.  We continued to walk, slow and steady.  “Do you ever think there will be a day you might want to move back here?”

“I don’t think so,” I admitted.  

“Because of Autumn?”  She sounded so small asking such a question.  I hated her second guessing herself.  We were together now, and whatever she wished to know, I would tell her.

“Yes and no.  You see, my father will never let me live that day—or all the days following it—down.  I’m a disappointment to him, and being here, while a constant reminder of my loss, is also a reminder that I will never be good enough.”

McKenzie tilted her face upward.  “You’re not a disappointment.”

“Oh, but I am in so many ways.”  I softly stroked her cheek.

She reached up and tapped the tip of my nose.  “If you could only see yourself the way I see you.”

The feelings that swirled up inside of me for this woman were uncontainable.  In a single swift motion, I pushed her up against the brick wall we were passing.  Her eyes widened and a smile danced over her lips.  My body tingled with anticipation as I pressed up against her, holding her firmly between me and the wall.  I leaned in and kissed her hard and deep, my hands trailing up her arms and stopping at her neck.  The bill of my visor pushed back against my head, hitting the wall as I made love to my girl’s mouth.  Her divine taste on my tongue was water to a thirsty man.  

When I could feel her heart pounding against my chest, I pulled back.  She gasped for air and smiled that beautiful smile I knew so well.

“I love the way you see me.  You’re an angel.”

“I’m no angel,” she breathed.  “I believe in redemption.”

“Spoken like a true angel.”  I brushed her hair back from her face.  She reached up and removed my sunglasses from my eyes.  The sun appeared at that moment from behind the clouds and seemed to somehow spotlight her.  Her blonde locks shimmered like gold and her blue eyes sparkled like diamonds.  “If you could only see how beautiful you look right now.”  Her blush deepened in her cheeks, giving her the perfect glow. I kissed her forehead and released her from my grasp before taking her hand in mine.  “It’s not much farther from here.”

She let out a soft sigh and smiled, handing back my sunglasses.  “I don’t mind.  I love the walk.”

I slipped my glasses back on and adjusted my sun visor.  “Me too.  It’s peaceful.”  Wrapping my arm around her shoulders, I pulled her into the curve of my side and we started our journey again.  Everything felt so easy with McKenzie.  She had a way about her that was calm yet exciting.

We arrived on campus a few short minutes later, and it was exactly how I remembered it. My heart swelled with pride as I watched her take in the sites around us.  I pointed out my dormitory, an old brownstone—like so many others in Boston—but there was something magical about it.  Three years of memories filled that place.  It was co-ed living, so the amount of trouble I got into was of biblical proportions.  And even though the man I once called my friend lived inside those walls with me, I wouldn’t trade a single memory.

“So this is where the Harvard elite live?” McKenzie teased.  

“For three years.”

“But I thought law school was four years?”

“Aiden and I got an apartment off campus for our last year.”

“Aiden?  The same Aiden you mentioned the other night?”

A solemn chuckle bubbled in my chest and nodded, moving her away from the building.  “Yeah.  Aiden Wright.  He was my old roommate and a good friend at one time.  That was until he decided to sleep with my wife.”

“That wasn’t your fault, Andy.  Just like the way things between Nate and me ended wasn’t my fault.  Bad things happen.  You pick yourself up, dust off, and start over again.  A really smart guy taught me that.”

I stopped and cupped the side of her face in my hand.  “Or maybe that guy was an idiot and just wanted in your pants.”

McKenzie took my hand from her face and placed a sweet kiss to my wrist.  “Of that I’m sure.”

As we walked hand in hand, I realized that the heaviness that usually plagued me with thoughts of Aiden and Rebecca were not there.  Being with McKenzie freed me in ways I was only beginning to imagine.

I pointed to each building, giving her a description of what was inside as we walked past.  The grounds were practically empty, save for summer students determined to get ahead in their studies.  We approached one of my all time favorite buildings on campus, and I felt my heart race with excitement.  The law library.  A modern day neoclassical style structure, but if you asked me, it looked like a Grecian temple crossbred with the White House.  The entrance was noted with high marble pillars, and marble pillars sectioned off each window.  The building sparkled in the sunlight, standing proud and beautiful for everyone to see.  

I’d spent countless hours poring over books in that place.  “That’s Langdell Hall.  It houses the largest academic law library in world, not to mention some amazing rare books.  A few my family has donated over the years.  The smell and atmosphere are one of a kind.”

“I love the smell of books,” she noted.  Her eyes glued to the building.  “I bet it’s gorgeous inside.  Can we go in?”

“It’s very beautiful inside, but only the first floor is open to the public, and there’s not much available there that you can’t find in a normal library.  You have to be a student to go upstairs to the other three floors.  The top floor is private reading rooms.  My father still has ownership of one of them.  He passes it on to one lucky senior each year that he deems worthy of using it.  Usually, it’s the senior that he’s already chosen for an internship at Wise & Associates.  It’s a coveted spot and many students vie for it each year.”

“Too bad they won’t let little ol’ me see upstairs.  The way you describe this place makes it seem like a world of its own,” she mused.

“In a way it is.”  I leaned over and kissed the top of her head.  “I have one more place I want to show you.  This one we can actually go inside and explore.  I think you’ll enjoy it.”

We ambled along a path I knew all too well.  The trees swayed softly in the breeze and the sunlight shone down on the elegant landscape.  I had let myself forget how much I loved Harvard.  Other things had overshadowed the memories of this place, but being here with McKenzie brought it all back to me.

We approached a reddish-brown building.  The brick looked more like cobblestone than brick.  The bell tower to the west side rang every hour on the hour.  Cobblestone stairs led up to the entrance where a plaque hung next to the grand oak door―Wise Hall.

McKenzie’s eyes grew big when she read the plaque.  “You have a building at Harvard named after you?”  Her voice raised several octaves in surprise.

“Technically, it’s named after my great great Grandfather, but yes, I guess you could say I have a building named after me.  It was built back in 1921 as a place to study family law.  Family law was just getting started at that time.  The Great War, or World War I as we call it today, was doing things to people that this country wasn’t prepared for.  Trust funds were being set up for minors, the horrible word divorce entered the vocabulary of the American people, and the need arose for lawyers to begin practicing these methods.  My great great Grandfather, Reuben Wise, having been a Harvard alumni just as his father was, donated the money to have this building constructed.”

McKenzie traced the lettering of my name on the plaque.  “Established in 1921,” she read aloud.  She looked back at me, and in her eyes, I could see the pride I’d longed to see from Rebecca.  This meant as much to her as it did me.  Almost as if she were apart of my family and this was her heritage.  “What an honor to be a part of history like this, Andy.”

“Would you like to go inside?”

“Absolutely!”  

I reached around and opened the door for her.  The smell of the building transported me back to a day where I was still young and naïve.  Removing my cap and sunglasses, we walked down the halls looking at various pictures of former classes, professors, and even a bust of Reuben Wise.  McKenzie read each description carefully, like she was trying to memorize something for a test.  I enjoyed watching her excitement.  So many knew my heritage, but few actually understood it.  They took it as just another rich family leaving their mark on the Harvard campus.  This meant so much more to me.  While in college, I must admit I was kind of embarrassed by it, but now as an adult, I was proud of my heritage and what it meant to be a part of this institution.

As McKenzie looked at a picture of my grandfather teaching a class, I heard a familiar voice echoing in the halls.  I rested my chin on McKenzie’s shoulder and whispered in reverence, “Would you like to crash a lecture?”

Her eyes widened.  “We wouldn’t get in trouble for that?”

“I’m an alumni and a Wise.”

“Yeah, but I’m not.”

I placed a tender kiss to her jaw.  “They won’t say a thing.  I promise.”

“I’ve always wanted to know what it felt like to be in an Ivy League class.”

“Now’s your chance.”  I took her hand and led her to the class of my old professor.  We slipped into the classroom and sat on the back row.  Niles Peltier hadn’t changed a bit since I was last under his tutelage.  His gray hair was wild and unkempt, and his green eyes danced while he talked.  As always, he was very animated in speaking.  He was dressed in his usual khakis with a navy tweed jacket and a bow tie adorned his neck.

“Divorce is a trying time for all parties involved.  That includes the husband, the wife, the children, the surrounding families, as well as the attorneys.  Anyone who tries to tell you that it’s your job to be cold and calloused while dealing with a client is wrong and needs to find a new profession.  You wouldn’t tell a doctor to close his heart to his patients, would you?  No.  You want him to care.  You want him to be empathetic.  Well, when your client is sitting in front of you telling you that their marriage is coming to an end, they don’t want a cold-hearted bastard.  They want someone they can trust.  They want someone who makes them feel safe when their world is crumbling around them.

“Can anyone tell me what the cardinal rule is when interviewing a client for the first time?”

The class sat in silence, looking around at each other, hoping someone would answer before Niles called on someone.

I raised my hand.  “Yes, you in the back.”  Niles pointed to me.  I looked at McKenzie as I stood up.  Her face went from pink to red in a matter of seconds.  She slinked down into her seat, trying to hide from the crowded gaze that was now on us.

“The cardinal rule is you must review all the facts before building a case.”

Niles crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back against the dry erase board behind him.  “And why is that important?”

“Because the evidence won’t lie.  People, on the other hand, can and will.  It’s our very nature.”

“But divorce is a messy and emotional business.  Especially where children and money are involved.  How do you know that all the evidence is given to you when you accept the case?”

“You don’t.  But a good attorney knows how to utilize information to their advantage.  You either find some loophole to have the evidence dismissed, or you confront the client and request that they accept a settlement in light of the new information.  Either way, the client gets what they truly deserve in the end.”

A proud grin careened Niles’ wrinkled face.  “I’m impressed Mr. Wise.  Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. Andrew Wise of Wise & Associates has graced us with his presence and knowledge today.  See me after class, Mr. Wise.”

With a bow of my head, I returned to my seat.  I wrapped my arm around McKenzie’s shoulders and relaxed, listening to Niles finalize his lesson.  After he dismissed the class, McKenzie and I stayed seated.  A few students stopped by and shook my hand, introducing themselves to me before leaving the class.  Once the last student exited the room, we stood up and made our way to the front.