Is Three A Crowd? (19 page)

“Damn it, I’m tired of waiting.”

Blake turned to stare at her. “You, my dear, are still are a rare woman in many ways. Five years ago you had a power over us that took us…out of our comfort zone.” He squirmed in his seat but didn’t look away. “You managed to get us both here one night, introduced us, and told us you weren’t going to give up either of us and we’d better learn to get along.”

“So you each knew about the other, but I introduced you?”

“Yes. We all were caught up in the forbidden ideas that swirled in your mind. We did what we did to please you.” Blake finally looked away.

“Was I pleased? What did I ask of you?” Maris tried not to let on that she’d had a flashback of the three of them together. “Well, what was so bad that you can’t verbalize it?”

“We all wound up in bed together, the three of us.” At that second, she realized Blake wasn’t as worldly and sophisticated as she’d thought. While her memory of their time together was mere snippets of their actions, she understood he hadn’t been the instigator. She was the one who took him out of his comfort zone, she orchestrated their sex games, she pushed each man to see just how far he’d go.

“Nathan, your perspective?”

“We wanted to please you, Maris. Neither of us was as adventurous as you wanted us to be, but you coaxed us to let down our guard and just feel.”

“The problem is, Maris, once we tasted your style of erotic, neither of us could go back to just being our old selves. We missed the part of you that brought out our deeper wants, ones we wouldn’t share with other women.”

“And since then?” She glanced to each man, neither giving her an answer. Clearing her throat, she asked again. “Since then?”

“Since then, women have come second to fixing the lousy house, to waiting for you to show up and tell us you remembered how you changed our lives.”

“Blake, that’s enough,” Nathan’s tone sounded like a warning.

“No, let him talk, tell me.”

“Neither of us was interested for a while, especially right after the accident. Then there was the trial, and we both assumed you would regain some memory of us.”

“And when I didn’t?”

“We focused on the house.”

“Surely you dated, had some kind of recreational sex?”

“I eventually did,” Blake said, not looking at Nathan. “But it was never the same. Every woman I met was measured by your memory. You’re a hard act to follow.”

“Nathan?”

“I’ve dated in the last years, nothing important.”

“I can’t believe you both wasted five years of your life waiting for me. Why didn’t one or both of you just go to
Manhattan
and show up at my door one day? I had a separate apartment from Margo the last four years, why not come when I was alone?”

“You were never truly alone. You mother had eyes and ears all over the city. Other residents in your building regularly reported to her on your schedule and any company you might have had.” Blake nodded to Nathan to continue. He shook his head at a memory he didn’t share. “We did try to contact you, at work and at home. Your boss was one of her informants, too.”

“Are you saying I only got the job because of Margo paying Roland to spy on me?”

“We figured you got the job on your own, but she made it clear once you’d started what was allowed and what wasn’t.”

“We never got a call through to you there, either.” Blake picked up a second cookie but put it on the table before him.

Maris rested both her elbows on the table, using her fingers to massage her aching head. “Talk about being manipulated, all of us were.” She stood and walked to the refrigerator, studying its contents.

“I can have Aminta bring us supper if you’re hungry, or we can go back up to the main house.” Nathan’s voice was questioning.

“I’m not ready to confront Aminta just yet.” She continued to rummage, pulling out a package of bacon, a dozen eggs, and butter. “So, I’ll keep occupied cooking while you tell me who caused my accident.” She paused and turned to her men. “I’ve referred to it so long as an accident, it’s hard to believe it wasn’t. So, who tried to kill me?” She turned away, reached under a cabinet beside the stove, and pulled out a frying pan. When the bacon was sizzling, she glanced over her shoulder. “Nathan?”

“You’re not going to believe it,” Blake muttered.

“Right about now I’d believe almost anything.”

“You were right earlier.” Nathan hesitated, but finally continued after considering his words. “You said things changed after your mother married your stepfather. Apparently, that was about the time your stepbrother and sister found out about your parentage. They blamed Margo for all the turmoil in their lives growing up.”

“We don’t know the specifics, only that their history was sprinkled with incidents. Their mother apparently found out about you and Margo. She refused to divorce your father and never let him forget his shortcomings.”

Maris spun on her heel to face the men. “You were about to say his mistake, weren’t you?”

“Apparently, he promised Margo he would leave his wife and family for her, but she controlled the money. She found out he’d been supporting you. She wasn’t happy, but wouldn’t let him go and wouldn’t let him ever forget.”

“I wonder how all our lives would have differed if she had thrown him out?”

“He wasn’t willing to find out, he liked her money. It seems he wasn’t very good at his job, and only kept it because of his wife’s influence. It was more of a social position than earned job.”

“He died before my incident. Who continued the grudge?” She pulled out a large bowl and started cracking eggs into it.

“Blake, you’ve been quiet, please continue.”

“Once I say this, you’ll never be able to go back to who you were. Are you sure you want to know?”

“It seems I have no choice now. Better to go forward armed with the truth than the lies I believed were true.”

Blake squirmed in his seat, glancing to Nathan. She watched a look cross between them, but Blake finally continued. “After your stepfather’s…father’s death, your step-sister…” He paused, but she gave him an exaggerated roll of her eyes. “Your stepsister, Robin, decided to confront you. About your parentage and the inheritance. She was highly annoyed you got part of their mother’s money.”

“I don’t know that I’d blame her, I’d be pissed too.”

“She went beyond pissed, Maris. She lured you to
Niagara Falls
that day on the pretext of making amends and healing the family. When she confronted you, she apparently didn’t like your response.” Blake looked away.

“And?”

“And,” Nathan continued, handing her the salt and pepper shakers. “And in a fit of temper she claims she lost her…perspective, and she shoved you. She said you slipped and she tried to save you, but others had seen what happened.”

“She shoved me over the side of
Niagara Falls
?”

“The walkways were wet. She claimed you two argued and you slipped.” Nathan shrugged his shoulder. “It was the best defense they could think of under the circumstances.”

“So I slipped with her help.” Maris kept occupied by setting the table, digesting the information her men finally gave her.

“What happened to her?”

“More important, what happened to you right after? What do you truly remember?”

“I have no memory of being at
Niagara Falls
. My last true memory, or at least I think it is true, was being at the lawyer’s office, settling the estate. I wasn’t in on the meetings, just brought in to sign the papers after it was explained about my share. I have no memory of finishing school or working here.” She looked in the microwave and found a fresh loaf of bread waiting. Taking several slices, she popped them in the toaster near the stove and pulled out the cooked bacon, dropping it onto paper towels to drain. Then she poured out most of the bacon fat and set the pan back, using a fork to beat the eggs before dropping the liquid into the pan.

“Go on, how long after that meeting was I thrown?”

“About two years. The concept festered inside Robin, made her crazy, her brother claimed. She’d become so wrapped up in the betrayal as she saw it, she wasn’t able to move on. Your stepsister was livid. There was definitely premeditation about the meeting. She chose the spot, saying she wanted to be away from familiar settings and people, wanted to talk to you on neutral ground. You’d been working here, so she came to you. Apparently she figured no one would recognize her there.”

“Wait, why did I block out working here?”

“We don’t know,” Nathan offered, “but when you finally roused from the fall, you thought you’d just finished college. Margo wouldn’t set it right because she wanted you to forget your history.”

“And Robin, what happened to her?”

“She chose poorly, it seems. While she figured no one would recognize her dressed in the rain gear, some tourists saw you two arguing and her push you over. They snapped photos while others ran to help.”

“So some unknown person just trying to enjoy a holiday got wrapped up in all this, too.” Maris used the fork to scramble the eggs in the pan, pausing to put more bread in the toaster after the first slices popped up.

“They didn’t get involved, just left their photos with the authorities and gave statements to what they saw.” Blake hesitated and went to the refrigerator, pulling out a carton of orange juice. “In the end, the family plea bargained her charges.”

“Go on,” she prompted.

“Well, when it was all said and finished, she copped an insanity plea. It was better than assault and premeditated attempted murder charges.”

“So what happened to her?”

“She was remanded to a facility for the insane until she could prove she was stable.”

“How long was she there?”

“Until six months ago when she was finally considered cured. She was released into her brother’s care, but after a few weeks, she ran away from him. That’s how we knew she was out there, apparently still harboring all the old animosities. Nelson called us to let us know. He wanted you warned she was coming for you.” Blake ran out of steam and sat down.

“We’ve had police and private detectives looking for her. That was when we decided it was time to bring you home, here where we could protect you better.” Nathan took the second slices of toast from the machine, added them to the first ones, and put the plate on the table.

Maris was quiet while she finished the eggs and divided them onto three plates. After dropping several slices of the crispy bacon on each, she brought them to the table. None of them talked. They all became very intent on buttering their toast.

“We’ve tried to find her, Maris, but it’s like she disappeared from the face of the earth. We’ve had reports of her being sighted back in
Montreal
and in
Vancouver
. But none of the leads panned out.”

“So she’s the one who’s been watching me these last months. At least I wasn’t crazy. Instinct told me something wasn’t right.”

“Once we find her, she’ll go back to the facility. Running away voided her release terms.”

“So we just have to wait for her to find me and…and what? Kill me this time, or just fuck with my life so I never have any peace? And your lives, too. Did she know about you?”

Nathan became very interested in his eggs. Blake finally looked directly at her. “She found out about us at the hearings. Their lawyer used us to ruin your reputation, to make it seem like you deserved the comeuppance.” He shook his head. “All the transcripts are available if you want to read them.”

“So she hated me, hurt me, but didn’t succeed in killing me, and used you two as pawns?”

“Her lawyers tried everything to make it seem she was insanely jealous and not in her right mind instead of criminally responsible.”

“Holy crap! If I read this or saw it in a movie, I’d say they were stretching it. To actually have it happen to me, I can’t quite comprehend it all right now. I’d like to read the transcripts later.” She drew a deep breath and smiled. “For now, I’m hungry.” She tucked her fork into the eggs and ate heartily. “It’s hard to believe I can’t remember any of this.”

“Margo said it was a blessing in many ways, all in her favor.” Blake didn’t manage to cover his disgust.