Almost Home (37 page)

“Why would we want it reversed? Don’t you love me?”

“Well, yes,” she said, exasperated. “That was the whole point.”

“I don’t think I understand the problem.”

“The problem is that I wanted you to love me because of
me
, not because of some spell. Which is why I told Vanessa not to—”

“Stef, I do love you for yourself, not because of a spell.” Wade paused. “Are we really talking about this? I can’t believe we’re having this conversation.”

“I can’t believe it really worked.”

“Stef. There was no spell.”

When she started to protest, he said, “I don’t care what Vanessa did or what she thought she was doing. There’s no spell. And the only magic I believe in is the magic we make when we’re together.”

After a long silent moment, Stef sighed. “That was the most romantic thing I’ve ever heard anyone say.”

“You’re going to find that I am a very romantic guy.”

“I’m packing a bag and I’m going to ignore the fact that right down the hall from your room, my brother and your sister are … never mind. I’ll be there in ten minutes …”

Stef was already up and out by the time Berry arrived home. From the kitchen window, Wade watched his aunt park her big old Mercedes sedan and walk slowly to the house. Berry looked crestfallen, and he wondered if things had gone all right with Archer.

“Coffee?” he offered when she came in through the back door.

“Oh. Yes, thank you.” Berry dropped her overnight bag and her purse on the floor near the table. Having heard her voice, Ally came racing down the steps and flew into the kitchen. “There’s my girl,” Berry crooned to the dog. “There’s my very sweet and precious girl.”

Berry sat on one of the chairs and stroked her dog’s head. “Finding Ally was one of the nicest things I’ve ever done for myself,” she told Wade. “She always loves me, no matter what. And she’s always happy to see me. No matter what.”

“Much like Dallas and me.” Wade smiled and brought Berry’s coffee to the table.

“Where is the little fellow?” Berry asked.

“I took him to the babysitter’s for the morning. I have some calls to make about equipment. It’s tough to watch him and try to get work done.”

“Now you know what mothers deal with every day.”

“Are you sorry you never had kids, Berry?” he asked.

She turned her head and seemed to study his face but didn’t immediately answer.

“I have a few regrets when it comes to children, yes,” she finally told him, “though probably not quite what you meant.”

It was his turn to stare. It wasn’t like Berry to be cryptic.

“Is your sister here?” Berry asked.

“She’s in her office. The library.”

“Be a darling and ask her to join us, please.”

“Berry, are you all right?”

“That remains to be seen, dear. Now please …”

“I’ll get her.”

What the hell, Wade was thinking as he went down the hall to the room Dallas used as an office. He knocked on the door, then pushed it open.

“Dallas, Berry wants you in the kitchen.”

She glanced up from her desk. “When did Berry get home?”

“Just a few minutes ago, but she wants you now.”

“Is she all right?” Dallas rose from her seat and placed her glasses on the desktop.

“I asked her the same question, but I didn’t get an answer that made any sense. I just got the impression she wants to talk to both of us at the same time.”

“Then she shall.” Dallas led the way back to the kitchen.

“Hello, Berry.” Dallas kissed the older woman on the forehead, then sat next to her. “Wade said you wanted to see me.”

“Both of you. I need both of you for this.” Berry
took a sip of coffee. With her free hand, she petted Ally, who leaned against her leg.

“What’s wrong, Berry?” Dallas put her arm around her aunt.

“Tell us what’s bothering you. We can help.” Wade sat on Berry’s other side.

“Oh, dear. I had my courage up all the way from Archer’s, and now it seems I’ve lost it again,” Berry said.

“Why do you feel you need courage to talk to us?” a confused Wade asked.

“It’s such a tangled web, I barely know where to begin. Just like Shakespeare said. I have deceived you both—I’ve deceived everyone—and the web I’ve woven has finally tangled me up in it.”

Wade fought a smile. Whatever was bothering Berry, her sense of the dramatic was still intact.

“Well, why don’t you tell us what you’re talking about, Berry.” Dallas rubbed her aunt’s back with obvious affection.

Berry sighed deeply and for a moment, Wade thought she’d changed her mind, that she wasn’t about to untangle any of her webs after all.

“I made a mistake—a very, very terrible mistake—a long time ago. I was young and headstrong and vain and self-centered and I was convinced that I should always have my way.”

And that’s different from now in what way?
Wade was tempted to ask, but he thought better of it. Berry was obviously in no frame of mind to be teased.

“Berry, we’ve all done things in our youth that we’ve come to regret later. We can’t change the past, but we can learn from it and not make the same mistakes today that we made back then.”

“My dear, it simply wouldn’t be possible for me to repeat
that
mistake.” Berry took a deep breath and visibly steeled herself. “You see, I … oh, dear. I don’t think I can go through with this.” Tears pooled in her eyes. “You’re all I have, and once you know the truth, I’m afraid you’ll hate me, and I won’t be able to bear it.”

Wade looked at his sister. She looked as confused as he felt.

“Berry, there is nothing—I mean, nothing—that could make us hate you. We love you. You’re more than a great-aunt to us. You’re more like our beloved grandmother, and I know I speak for Wade, too—”

Berry burst into tears.

“Nothing can be that bad.” Dallas turned Berry’s face to hers while Wade retrieved a box of tissues from the powder room.

He handed her a tissue and remarked, “Berry, I don’t know that I ever saw you cry before.”

“I knew this day of reckoning would come, but truthfully, I thought I’d die before it got here. A heart attack in my sleep, perhaps. Or a slip off the dock some night into the river …”

She might be distraught
, Wade thought,
but she still knows how to deliver a line
.

“Berry, take a minute to relax and collect your thoughts. We’re here for you, whatever the problem is,” Wade assured her.

“You’re such a dear boy. So like your father.” Berry began to sob all over again.

Wade shot a what-did-I-say look to Dallas, who shook her head.

“Berry, perhaps you should take a few sips of water
and calm down. Then just start from the beginning,” Wade told her as he fetched a glass of water for her.

“Thank you, dear.” Berry took a few sips. “All right, then. I suppose I must get through this.” She sighed deeply. “Years ago, when I was just a girl growing up here in St. Dennis, I had many admirers. Oh, I should just come out and say it. The truth is, I was the prettiest girl in town. Well, of course, there was Sylvie, but our personalities were so very different. I always had a flair for the dramatic, and Sylvie was always so shy. Everyone told me I belonged on the big screen, and I totally agreed with them. I knew that was my destiny. I couldn’t wait to turn eighteen so that I could leave this dull little town behind and strike out on my own. I knew in my heart I was going to be a big star.”

“And you were,” Dallas reminded her. “And will be again.”

“Yes, yes, but you’re getting ahead of the story, Dallas.”

“Sorry.” Dallas appeared to be biting back a smile.

“Anyway. I was young and beautiful and talented and I had the world by the … well, on a string, let’s say. My future was bright and I knew that my life was going to be glorious.” She stopped and dabbed a tissue at her eyes. “There was one thing standing in my way, though.”

“What, Berry?” Dallas asked.

“Not what, dear. Who. I was in love with the most wonderful man, and he loved me, too. We had plans to marry, you see. I wanted him to come to California with me and share my dreams of fame and glory. Unfortunately, his dream was to be a lawyer, maybe even
a judge someday. But here, on the Eastern Shore, not Hollywood, no. He wanted no part of that life.”

“You’re talking about Archer, aren’t you, Berry?” Dallas said softly.

Berry nodded. “So, off he went to Columbia, up in New York City, and off I went to California. We did see each other, and for a while we did try to work things out, but after a time it became clear that neither of us was going to budge. After one of those weekends in New York—” She stopped again, the words seeming to be almost too painful even now, all these years later.

“Berry, listen, we—” Dallas began. She was interrupted by Ally’s mad dash to the front door just as the doorbell rang. Fleur, who’d been sleeping on the second-floor landing, flew down the steps to join her.

“I’ll go see who it is,” Wade said. “I’ll be right back.”

He reached the door and opened it to find Archer Callahan on the front porch.

“Ah, Archer …”

“Wade.” Archer stood in the doorway. “May I come in, please? I’d like to see Berry.”

“I don’t know if this is really a good time.” Wade lowered his voice. “She’s upset about something and …” He stared at Archer. “Did you do something to upset her? Did you have an argument with her?”

“Dear Lord, I told her to wait.” Archer stepped past Wade and went straight into the kitchen.

“Archer, for heaven’s sake,” Berry said when she saw him. “I told you I would deal with this myself.”

“And I told you that I would not let you go through this alone. I wasn’t there to stand by you then, but I’m standing by you now.”

“Oh, Archer.” Berry looked up at him with eyes filled with love.

“Have you told them yet?” he asked.

She shook her head. “I’m working up to it.”

“As only she can.” Wade’s remark earned him The Look.

“Will one of you please tell us what’s going on?” Dallas looked from Berry to Archer then back to Berry.

“I was saying, that I came back east to visit Archer from time to time. I was by then quite the hot young thing. I’d made several movies by this time—I’d just turned twenty—and I was very much in demand.” Berry averted her eyes from everyone. “And then I found out I was pregnant.”

“Oh, my.” Dallas sat back in her chair. “That is … news.”

“It certainly would have been, back then. It was a different time. An unmarried woman having a child was simply not done. Not in Hollywood, and certainly not in St. Dennis.”

“What did you do, Berry? Did you have the baby?” Dallas asked.

“Oh, of course I did. There was never any question but that I would. But I had quite the dilemma. I had a career that was just taking off, and I had a man I loved who’d have none of that life. I had to choose. I told myself that if he really loved me, he’d come with me. So, for better or for worse, I chose my career.”

“And the baby was Archer’s?” Wade asked.

Berry nodded. “I never told him. He thought I just left him because I didn’t love him, when of course, that wasn’t the case at all. He’d already made it clear
enough that he never intended to move to California, and I’d made it clear that I was not about to give up my films to live here while he played country lawyer.”

“If you’d have told me then what you’ve told me this week, I would have come to you,” Archer told her. “I never would have let you go through all that alone.”

“Berry, you never told him until this week?” Dallas’s jaw dropped.

“I know, dear. It was terrible of me. Just one more terrible and wrong decision on my part. But I was very young and I’d had amazing success in a very short period of time. It’s a very heady feeling, at so young an age, to feel like the center of the universe.” She shook her head. “I see these young girls today and I wish I could take them all aside and tell them to be mindful of the choices they make. I know exactly who they are, because I was them, once. But that’s a story for another time.”

“Berry, what happened to your baby?” Dallas asked softly.

“He was born in California. A beautiful, healthy little boy.” She cleared her throat. “And I gave him to someone else to raise.”

“Oh, Berry.” Dallas’s eyes filled with tears. “Did you ever see him when he was growing up? Did you ever know him?”

Berry lifted a hand and smoothed Dallas’s hair. “Of course I did, dear. I’d given him to my sister, Sylvie, and her husband, to raise as theirs. And they did.”

For a moment Wade thought he hadn’t heard her clearly.

“But our dad was the only boy they …” he began,
and then the import of her words struck home. “Dad was your son, Berry? You were Dad’s
mother
?”

Berry nodded, then started to cry again. Archer sat next to her and put his arms around her, and she buried her face in his chest.

“How did you pull that off?” he asked. “I mean, didn’t people around here notice that your sister wasn’t pregnant?”

“I had several months between films, and I stuck close to my house for that time. I had Sylvie come out to stay with me in California for a while,” Berry explained. “When she returned to St. Dennis, she brought Ned with her. Everyone assumed she’d been pregnant when she left here. As far as I know, no one was ever the wiser.”

“Berry, that makes you …” Dallas said.

“Yes, dear. Your grandmother.”

“Which makes Archer …” Wade was still trying to grasp the concept.

“… your grandfather,” Archer finished the sentence.

“Holy shit.” Wade sank onto a chair.

“That’s a lovely reaction, dear.” Berry looked up at Archer. “I told you he was most articulate, did I not?”

“Sorry, Berry, I’m just so overwhelmed.” Wade frowned. “Did Dad know about this? Did you ever tell him?”

“I told him, yes,” Berry replied, “but not until he was grown. And he never knew Archer. By then, Archer was married and had children and, from all appearances, was enjoying a very happy life. Both Ned and I agreed that there was no need for Archer to know.”

“Another mistake on your part, Berry,” Archer said.

“Archer, we’ve been going around and around about this for the past two days. What good would it have done for me to have shown up on your doorstep with Ned? What would the news have done to your family?” Archer started to say something but she cut him off. “I know you like to think you’d have acknowledged him as your son, but it was asking too much of your wife. I know you must have loved her to have married her. I wouldn’t have put her through that pain. It was too late by then to change things—I’d made my bed, you see—and Ned didn’t feel right about contacting you to introduce himself. We both agreed to let it go for a while. I thought maybe the time might come, that when he got a bit older, perhaps he’d change his mind.” Her eyes filled up again. “But then, of course, Ned died so young and so suddenly.”