Acceptance, The Page 15

  His cell phone buzzed in his pocket. This time it was a text from his brother. BEER, PATIO, BBQ, YOUR HOUSE. Tyler laughed. That was just what he needed.

  Tyler lit the grill and sat down in one of the chairs on the porch overlooking the back yard. The beer in his hand was cold, the air was hot, and his heart ached as he missed Courtney.

  He heard the front door slam and a moment later his brother was standing in front of him, loosening his tie, and opening a beer.

  “I got notice today that I have to fly out to Oregon tomorrow. Does anything sound less fun?” Spencer asked as he sat down next to Tyler.

  “What’s in Oregon?”

  “Lumber. Looking at a manufacturer that we could buy out and have under our belt.”

  “I guess that’s good, right?”

  Spencer nodded. “Especially with the new business venture I convinced Dad and Ed to take on.”

  Tyler slid his brother a look. “What’s that?”

  “Housing development.” Spencer lifted his beer in salute.

  “BBH is going to build housing developments?”

  “Starting in three years we will break ground on one just outside Memphis.”

  “I didn’t think I’d ever see that happen.”

  “That’s because you don’t give a crap about all of this.”

  Tyler took a pull from his beer. His brother was right. His focus was on putting together a gala that would bring enough revenue to the Diamond Gift and in turn help more women out of bad situations.

  “So,” Spencer pulled the tie off his neck, “tell me about Courtney. She seemed nice.”

  “She’s more than nice.”

  Spencer smiled. “Mom said you had it bad for her.”

  “She said that?”

  Spencer nodded as he drank from his bottle. “Said she figured this would be her new daughter-in-law.”

  The heat on the porch kicked up and Tyler wiped the back of his hand across his brow. “Sure, we’re serious. I mean we’ve said things…”

  “Are you kidding me?” Spencer planted his feet on the floor and sat forward to study his brother. “Said things? Like ‘I love you’ kind of things?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Man, you’ve known her a week. You don’t say stuff like that to a woman you just met.”

  “Why not?”

  Spencer groaned and leaned back in his chair. “It makes you a freaking wuss, that’s why.”

  As if his brother had any room to talk in his prissy button up suit shirt.

  “There’s a connection, okay? I wouldn’t expect you to understand. You’re not like me.”

  “You’re right. I’d rather date a lot of women. I’m young. I’m good looking. I’m not going to tie myself down.”

  They were different, he and his brother. They had a similar look, but Spencer had always been more carefree and Tyler more the caretaker. Maybe that came from being the oldest, he didn’t know.

  “But in all seriousness, man,” Spencer looked at Tyler and gave him a nod. “I’m really sorry to hear about her brother.” He lifted his beer again in salute. “To our service men and women.”

  Tyler smiled and lifted his bottle too. Something told him that Fitz Field was one hell of a man and he’d have liked to have known him.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Courtney had ignored Tyler’s text message telling her goodnight.

  She needed to be alone tonight with her computer and the Internet. She needed to find out who this man was that held her heart so tight.

  Sitting quietly through dinner while her mother sobbed had been heart wrenching enough. Hearing about the cards and phone calls that still came in with condolences had drained her. When Courtney returned home, after arguing with her mother about staying at their house, she’d collapsed into a chair and cried.

  Now she went searching for answers on who Regan Keller was before she married Zach Benson. Really, she couldn’t be so cold as to have killed a man.

  Her computer read story after story about Alexander Hamilton and his marriage to a wealthy debutante. She found connection to Hamilton and Pierpont Oil, which she thought was interesting. It had been three hours of searching before she came to an article that even mentioned Regan Keller and Alexander Hamilton together—and it was very brief.

  Then she found the article about the fire at the Rockwell Theater. It had been gutted after an extensive remodel. The play Annie had been in rehearsals and Clara Keller was the lead.

  The article went on to say that Regan Benson, Arianna Keller, and Clara Keller had all been treated for smoke inhalation and subsequent injuries. And then it mentioned the body.

  The body of an unidentified man was also found inside the theater. There was evidence he had been shot.

  Courtney rubbed her hands along her pant leg. Did her father really know what he was talking about?

  She sulked back in her chair. Certainly he wouldn’t make something up just to detour her from loving a man.

  Her father had said it was in self-defense. None of the articles that came up even mentioned Tyler’s mother as a suspect. She had to assume his source, most possibly police related, knew what they were talking about.

  The point was, Regan Benson, mother of the man she loved, hadn’t been pegged as a killer by her own father. So what happened that she’d give up her baby and kill the man so many years later?

  She had to know. She had to know the whole story and she needed Tyler to tell it to her. When she heard his voice she’d know the truth of it all. At that point she’d make her decision as to whether it was better to have loved and lost—or she’d fight for her man.

  ~*~

  Tyler arrived in the office earlier than he’d planned. What else was he to do when he’d been tossing and turning all night long?

  His father’s assistant, Mary Ellen, had let him into the board room and started a pot of coffee.

  “You don’t need to do that. We can handle it,” he said as she added coffee grounds to the filter.

  “It makes me happy. Probably why I’ve been doing it for so long.” She laughed and pressed the start button. “Who would have thought so many years would fly by so quickly? My baby is having a baby and Zach’s babies are running corporations and non-profits.”

  “I’m not running anything.”

  She smiled. “In time.” Mary Ellen walked past him and toward the door. “I met Courtney yesterday. She’s a lovely girl.”

  “She is.”

  “Your dad says you’re serious about her.”

  Now Tyler laughed. “Everyone seems to think so.”

  “Do you?”

  He nodded. “Yeah, I think so too.”

  “Perhaps it’s fate, you working from within BBH. Lots of true love has happened within the walls of these offices.” She gave him a wink and walked out of the room.

  Ten minutes later she was back in his doorway, but this time Courtney was on her arm.

  “Thank you, Mary Ellen.”

  “My pleasure, sweetheart.” She gave Courtney’s arm a pat and walked away. “I would have been able to find the room myself. I can smell your cologne.” Her voice shook as she spoke.

  “That strong, huh?”

  “Just something I’m keen to be drawn too.”

  He was across the room and he wasn’t moving toward her, so she walked in. Surely her blunt text, lack of response to his texts, and the rigidness in which she stood there were more than enough reason for his lack of movement

  She let her cane open up and she walked toward the table. The chairs behind the table moved and she could feel the air stir as he moved.

  “Good morning,” he said as he touched her arm and leaned in to kiss her warmly on the mouth. “I have to say waking up alone this morning wasn’t nearly as much fun.”

  Courtney pushed back her shoulders. “I’m sorry about that. We can’t always be together you know. I mean we still have lives away from each other.”

  Her words weren’t ones she’d p
racticed or even meant to use.

  Tyler stepped away from her and the press of his fingers on her skin disappeared.

  “Right. I know that.”

  “I’m sorry, Tyler.” She let out a sigh. “I don’t mean to be so nasty this morning. I got a little worked up yesterday.”

  “Did something happen with your parents?”

  Didn’t something always, she thought. “Mom is very emotional.”

  “To be expected.”

  Courtney nodded. “She’s devastated. I’m devastated,” she admitted.

  “And your dad?”

  “He’s worried about me—and you.”

  “Ah,” Tyler sighed. “Should I talk to him? I’m never going to hurt you. I’ve told you that. In fact, even if this doesn’t work out between us I’d still want to be your friend.”

  “Will you shut the door? I want to talk to you about something. I don’t know how this is going to go.”

  He didn’t move right away and she’d heard the breath he’d taken and held in too long. But then he moved past her and the door shut to her back.

  Courtney collapsed her cane, pulled out a chair, and sat down.

  “Mary Ellen made us some coffee. Would you like some?” he offered.

  “I’d really like a bottle of water if you don’t mind.”

  She heard him move toward the corner of the room where a small refrigerator held waters. The door opened. The bottles shifted. And a moment later he was standing next to her.

  “Here you go.”

  “Thank you,” she said as she held out her hand for the bottle. Tyler placed it in her reach and she opened it and took a sip.

  He moved the chair next to her and sat down. “Is everything okay? You’re making me very nervous.”

  “I’m nervous. It’s wearing off,” she joked poorly. “I learned something last night and I don’t know what to do with the information.”

  “Okay, tell me what it is and I’ll help you.”

  Courtney sucked in a breath hoping it would give her courage. It only made her light headed.

  “Your mother—tell me about the man before your father.”

  The air in the room grew thick and Tyler leaned back in his chair. The cushion gave to the pressure of his back and the chair squeaked as it rocked.

  “That is a very strange request.”

  “I know. I’m sorry.”

  “I don’t have a lot of information for you. He’s Darcy’s birthfather. He tried to kill her and my mother. He left her for dead.” His voice was rising. “I can’t imagine what you’d want to know about him for.”

  Her heart pounded in her chest. She didn’t like this confrontation. She didn’t want to make him go through this, but she had to know.

  “What happened to him?”

  Tyler moved to her side and the chair moved back. She could hear him pace behind her; feel the breeze as his body moved back and forth.

  “Why do you want to know all of this? What does this have to do with anything?”

  “My father knows your mother killed this man and it worries him that the ghosts in your closet will hurt me.”

  The room went silent, but the air grew even thicker.

  Tyler’s pacing had moved from behind her to around the table. He’d walked away from her.

  “Your father is accusing my mother of being some vicious attacker? He’s worried she’ll hurt you or does he think that something like that is in my blood?”

  His voice had raised enough she was now more than uncomfortable in her situation. Why had she done this? Why here? There was no escape if her father was right. She didn’t want to think he was, but at the very moment, she was scared.

  “No, it’s not like that.”

  “Really? You want to know about my mother killing a man who tried to kill her because your father is worried about you. That’s what you’re saying. He’s worried I will hurt you.”

  “Tyler, stop.” She felt the tears begin to sting.

  “You asked the question. You’ll get your answer.” A chair was pushed into the table, though not slammed, but she knew he was angry and she didn’t blame him. “Yes. My mother killed the bastard who tried to kill her and my sister. He beat her and left her for dead, Courtney. Left-her-for-dead.”

  He paced more and now it was quicker. “Tyler…” she started, feeling the need to reel him in.

  “She gave Darcy away, never even looked at her because it hurt too much. She didn’t want the bastard to find her baby and hurt her. Can you even imagine wanting a baby so much and then giving her away?”

  The very thought had tears breaking free. “No.”

  “Dad told me just yesterday that every year on her birthday my mother would get very emotional.” His voice began to ease. “I never knew anything was going on. I didn’t know she mourned someone so much.”

  “That says something about her that she could love that much after someone hurt her so badly.”

  He stopped moving. “Yeah.” She heard him move around the table and come back to the seat next to her. He pulled it out and sat down.

  “My uncle told the man she died. He’d replaced her with some other woman and that was the reason he’d tried to kill her. But my uncle told him she and the baby died and he went away, which was the plan.”

  “Why not send him to jail?”

  “Because then it drug it out and involved my mother more. My uncle was trying to just make it go away. I don’t know. The man moved to Europe and that was better, at the time, than dragging my mother though some battle in court.”

  Courtney nodded. She supposed she understood that. “He found out she was alive.”

  Tyler took her hand. “Yes. Though he didn’t come after her then. It wasn’t until after Spencer and I were born that he’d lost everything and he came back for revenge. He began stalking Aunt Arianna because he’d seen her in New York. Then he stalked Uncle John because he’d become involved with my aunt and would lead him to my dad. He reeled them all in until my aunt and my mom were at the theater together one night alone.”

  “Clara was with them.”

  “You sure do know a lot,” he said interlacing their fingers. “Wrong place-wrong time.”

  “He hurt them.”

  “He knocked out John. Took Clara, hit her, and locked her in a closet before setting the theater on fire.”

  Courtney covered her mouth with her other hand as the tears fell freely down her cheeks.

  “All I know is they got her out of the closet, but the theater was engulfed. Somewhere in the chaos of black and smoke my mother got the gun my aunt carries on her and shot him.”

  A small unnecessary croak of a laugh escaped Courtney. “She shot him in the dark in an engulfed building.”

  She felt the tension ease away from his fingers. “She’s quite a marksman. She taught Spencer and me how to shoot. Oh, heck, she taught my dad to shoot.”

  Now she laughed freely but then brought it back in. The mood was still too serious to enjoy that insight into his mother. “He was going to kill her,” she said.

  “Her, John, Arianna, and Clara. I know she’d have killed him even if she was going to die, to protect me and my brother.”

  Courtney gave his hand a squeeze now. “And Darcy.”

  He rubbed her hand with his other hand. “Yeah, and Darcy even though she had no idea where she was.”

  “The articles only talk about the fire and a man being found. Not about your mother.”

  “But you knew that.”

  “My father has many connections.”

  She heard him groan. “So does my father. It was swept under the rug to protect us. Yes, she killed a man in self-defense.”

  Courtney began to sob harder now. “I’m sorry. Oh, I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have worked this into something that it wasn’t.”

  He pulled her to him. “It’s okay. I’ve never dealt with it. I needed to.”

  “I can’t imagine your mother had to go through that.” The sobs ca
me harder. “She survived and she found love. She had two more sons. Her daughter came back to her.”

  “Yes.”

  “What if had he gotten to her in that fire? What if…”

  “She wasn’t going to let him. There was no way she was going to leave my brother and me.”

  And then everything inside of her broke loose. Fitz had left her.

  Tyler pulled her even closer to him as tears poured down her cheeks and her body shook. “Honey, take it easy. Breathe. Breathe.”

  She sucked in a breath but it was a ragged one. Her entire body quaked against him.

  “Fitz,” she said between those breaths she tried to draw in. “Fitz.”

  “Okay, okay.” He kissed her forehead. This was the moment he and his father had been talking about. Of all things to have set her off about her brother, he thought.

  He let her cry against his chest and he simply held her, stroking her hair. Avery looked in the window by the door and he’d nodded her away for a moment. She knew. She understood, he could see it in her eyes. Right now the moment was for Courtney and he’d hold her as long as he needed to.

  The sobs lasted the better part of an hour, but he held her. She clung to him and he gave her comfort. He wiped her tears and kissed her cheeks—and finally it stopped.

  “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

  “Shh,” he said wiping away the last of the tears. “It’s okay. It’s very okay. You needed to do this.”

  “Not here. Not when I came in here accusing you of being something you’re not.”

  “Now.” He pulled her to him again. “And I’m sure it’ll come again.”

  “He left me, Tyler,” she said with her face pressed to his chest. “He always promised to stay and be with me. He left me.”

  “Not on purpose.”

  She nodded. “I know. Just as your mother wouldn’t have left you on purpose either. And she didn’t leave Darcy on purpose.”

  Who would have thought two very different things could be so much alike in feeling?

  Her breath began easing back. She pulled back. “I shouldn’t feel so sad that he was defending his country when he died. But I do. I take it very personally that he died and left me here alone. He always promised me he’d come back to me.”