Just Destiny (34 page)

“None. We didn’t have the money.”

“Dr. Harrison inherited quite a bit of money when his parents died. In fact, some might say that he was independently wealthy. He didn’t have money to buy you an engagement ring?”

“He may have had money, I don’t know. We lived off what we made.”

“Later then. Surely in the ten years you were married, he could afford to buy you jewelry?”

“We could afford it, but I don’t care much for jewelry.”

That was the truth. She’d rarely seen Judith wearing more than her plain gold wedding band. It was probably a pain, since she couldn’t operate with jewelry on.

“Very well. What kind of car did you drive while you were married to Dr. Harrison?”

“A Volkswagen bug.”

“Did Dr. Harrison buy it for you new?”

“I bought it. It was three years old, but only had ten thousand miles on it.”

“A used car.” She nodded. “And where did you honeymoon?”

“Niagara Falls.”

“He took
you
to Niagara Falls for your honeymoon. Not exactly Hawaii, is it?” Ms. Blair asked sadly, as if feeling sorry for Judith.

Judith looked at the judge, to see if she need answer the question.

He nodded.

“No, it’s not Hawaii.”

“So you had no engagement ring, drove a used car, and honeymooned at Niagara Falls. Dr. Sterling, Mr. Turner testified that he thought Dr. Harrison was a miser, would you agree?”

“Objection,” Helen called out.

“Withdrawn. No more questions.”

When Helen declined cross-examination, Judith was excused and the judge decided to dismiss them early.

Steve bent backwards and murmured something to Judith as Helen leaned close to Jenny. “Is it okay if we go back to your house? We have some things we need to discuss.”

“Sure. What’s up?”

“We just got the P.I.’s report back. I know why George gives money to the Huntington Foundation.”

* * *

“Gabe had Huntington’s Disease? Are you
sure
? Are you
absolutely positive
?” Judith asked. Standing in Jenny’s family room, her arms circled her stomach as if she could ward off the blow.

“Since his body was cremated, we can’t test him for it, but we’re reasonably certain.” Helen said. “Once we find out who Gabe’s pediatrician was we can subpoena his records. If George had him tested, we’ll know. What we know for sure is that Jan Harrison had it.”

“
Sh-it
.” Judith looked away. “If Gabe had it, Alex and Ted are at risk. Even if he didn’t have it, they’re still at risk. Damn it,” she whispered. She looked at Helen. “You’re absolutely certain his mom had Huntington’s?”

“I’m afraid so.”

“That’s why we wanted to talk to you. We wanted to give you a chance to speak with the kids or keep them out of court during George’s testimony,” Steve said.

The thought that Alex and Ted could have that horrible disease sent chills through Jenny as if she’d been electrically zapped. She frowned, trying to remember the exact odds of inheriting—something like fifty percent? Whatever it was, it was way too high. She couldn’t imagine giving a kid barely out of her teens this kind of news. They had their whole lives before them, and it shouldn’t include a nightmare like Huntington’s. And it absolutely shouldn’t be public knowledge—they deserved privacy.

“We don’t need to bring it up,” Jenny said. Alex and Ted didn’t have to find out—at least not that way. It was bad enough that one of them could have inherited the disease without the people in that courtroom being privy to something so personal. They just wouldn’t use the information to discredit George.

“Of course you’re going to use it,” Steve said.

“But why?” Jenny asked. “What’s to be gained? If we keep quiet, Judith can tell the kids in her own time and her own way. George has already had to live with knowing Gabe had this death sentence hanging over him all these years. He’s suffered enough.”

Judith stepped stiffly forward. “No wonder the bastard tried to get me to have an abortion. He knew. He knew all along that we’d be passing it on and he didn’t say anything!” She glared at Jenny. “You have to use it. George has to be stopped. Who the hell does he think he is?” She paced away, then spun and faced them. “What about the organ recipients? Are they at risk? I doubt they’d test for Huntington’s.” She muttered almost as if to herself. “I’d
think
they should be okay—it’s not a communicable disease, but I don’t know.”

She glared at Jenny again. “His little secret could cost dozens of people their lives—including my children. You’ll have to contact Amy what’s-her-name right away and see if it’s a problem. God, what a mess.”

“Oh, no.” Jenny’s eyes widened and she put a hand to her mouth. “I hadn’t even considered that.”

As many as fifty people could be helped by his gift
, Amy’s words echoed in her mind. Jenny looked at the desk where she kept the recipients’ letters. All those grateful, sweet people who’d sent her letters might be at risk? Ted and Alex? Jenny blinked back tears.

“How am I going to tell Ted and Alex?” Judith sank into a chair. “What’ve I done?”

“Nothing.” Jenny sat and put a gentle hand to Judith’s back. “
You
haven’t done anything. You didn’t know.”

“That doesn’t change anything.” She looked through hard eyes. “I should’ve known.
Gabe
should’ve known. George had
no
right to keep that from us. We’re doctors.”

 “Then it’s over. He wins.” Jenny softened her expression in apology as she looked at Judith. She didn’t want to add to her pain, but she couldn’t
knowingly
gamble with her child’s life that way. “I’ll have to give it up; it’s not worth the risk.”

“Don’t be silly. You just have to do IVF and have the embryos tested.” Judith scowled. “You’re fine.”

“But Jenny, we still have to use it,” Helen softly spoke. “This offers indisputable proof of George’s domineering character. He made important, life-altering decisions for your husband—and Judith and their children. And he’s trying to do the same here with you. This could nail it for us.”

But at what cost? Was having Gabe’s baby worth bringing more pain to her family? Judith, Ted and Alex didn’t deserve to have their private business drawn into this. She could not allow them to become collateral damage. Jesus, she’d just wanted Gabe’s baby, how could so many people be hurt?

Jenny stared at them. But even in the face of Judith’s devastation and Ted and Alex’s uncertain future, she couldn’t help the tug of sympathy for George. She’d made her share of huge mistakes that ended up with someone getting badly hurt. She’d kept family secrets.

Jenny took a deep breath, raised her right hand and repeated the oath after the bailiff. She leaned back and watched Ms. Blair expectantly. Although Steve and Helen had worked with her, she was wary of the woman.

“Mrs. Harrison, when you met your husband, you were a freelance journalist, correct?” Ms. Blair began.

“Yes.”

“Your annual income was approximately twenty-one-thousand dollars, correct?”

“No. I made about twenty-four thousand.”

“Okay. Twenty-four thousand. Not a lot to live on. Yet you chose to reject the opportunity to save rent and live with your parents?”

Jenny smiled. “Yes. Like most young adults, I wanted to be on my own. And I shared an apartment with a roommate.”

“But after paying bills at the end of the month you didn’t have a lot of money left over.”

“I had enough.”

“Yet you spent one hundred-fifty dollars on a skateboard for your brother?”

“Yes.” Was being generous a fault?

“You knew that your mother had forbidden your brother to have a skateboard, didn’t you?”

Jenny nodded. Everybody knew that, thanks to earlier testimony. “Yes.”

“You knew that your mother forbade him to have it because she thought it was dangerous and that he’d get hurt?”

“Yes.” She’d truly thought the risk minimal.

“And still you defied your mother and spent your hard-earned money to buy a skateboard for him?”

“Yes.”

“And were you with your brother when he was critically injured in a skateboarding accident?”

“I was.”

“Is it true that your mother was angry with you for your part in his accident and didn’t want you to visit him in the hospital?”

“Objection. Irrelevant and calls for speculation—how can this witness testify to her mother’s thoughts?” Helen asked.

Jenny ignored Helen’s objection, wanting to answer the question. She had no hesitation about taking responsibility for her mistake and refused to allow anybody to make her mother out to be the bad guy. “My mother was justifiably angry with me. She needed a little space so—”

“And did you stay away from your brother?”

“No. Michael wanted me near. He—”

“Mrs. Harrison, there’s a fourteen-year age gap between you and your brother.” Ms. Blair paused dramatically. “Is Michael your son?”

Jenny went utterly still, even forgetting to breathe for several long seconds. Her mind blanked, white and empty. She forced herself not to look at her mother. How would Ms. Blair even think to ask that? “Pardon me?”

“Is Michael your son?” she repeated, slowly and clearly.

Jenny flashed a trembling smile. “No, of course not.”

“Then you lied to the hospital security guard when you claimed that Michael was your son?”

Relief made Jenny lightheaded. She shifted in her seat. “Yes.”

“Did you deliberately withhold information from Dr. Steinmetz, not informing him that you were having difficulty finding a sperm bank willing to store your husband’s sperm, due to the fact that you could not obtain his consent?”

“Yes.”

“So you lied to the guard and lied, by omission, to Dr. Steinmetz?”

“Yes.”

“You bought your brother a toy against your mother’s wishes, knowing she considered it a danger, and then when he was critically injured using the skateboard, you impersonated your mother so that you could sneak into the hospital? This sounds like irresponsible behavior, wouldn’t you agree?”

Impersonated her mother? Not exactly. “Partially. I snuck into the hospital—”

“Yes or no, please. Wasn’t your behavior irresponsible?”

“Some of it, yes.”

“Yes.” At Ms. Blair’s slow nod of satisfaction, Jenny clenched her teeth.

She’d made a few mistakes, but her intentions were good. Jenny hadn’t maliciously hurt anybody; she’d just wanted to make Michael happy. And she’d learned from her mistakes. Didn’t that count for anything?

Ms. Blair referred to her notes. She then asked Jenny a series of questions about her engagement ring, her car, and the house, all of which answers corroborated George’s claim that Gabe had spent a lot of money buying her expensive things. But what husband didn’t if he could afford it?

Jenny had bought Gabe several expensive presents too, but if she mentioned that, they’d probably point out that her gifts were bought with Gabe’s money.

“Mrs. Harrison, did you marry Dr. Harrison for his money?”

Jenny stared at her stunned. Even if she had, did the attorney really think she’d be stupid enough to admit it?

“No, of course not.”
But even if I had, that doesn’t mean he wouldn’t have wanted me to have his child
.

“Mrs. Harrison, was marrying an older man and being a stepmother of two teenagers difficult?”

“At times.”

“Is it true that you advised your, then sixteen-year-old stepdaughter to use birth control?”

She clasped her hands together in her lap. “Yes.”

“Is it true that people often mistook you for your husband’s daughter?”

“Often?” Depends upon one’s definition of often, she rationalized. “No.”

“Did more than two people ever mistake you for your husband’s daughter?”

She nodded slowly. “Yes.”

“Did you act like his daughter?”

She bit back a sarcastic comment. “Of course not.”

“Did you suggest to your husband that you become foster parents?”

“Sort of. I told George that he—”

“Yes or no?”

“Yes,” Jenny snapped, tired of being interrupted.

“Was he opposed to the idea?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

None of your business
. Jenny hated having to justify private things to this woman. “Because we didn’t have the time or energy to help such troubled children.”

“Dr. Harrison thought that the two of you didn’t have enough time and energy to devote to a foster child?”

“Yes.”

“But now, with your husband dead, you think that alone, you would have the time and energy to devote to raising a child?”

She shifted in her seat, tucking one leg comfortably under her. “Yes, I do. And I have all the free time I used to spend with Gabe. I have plenty of time to raise a child.”

“You agreed with your husband that you didn’t have the time and energy for a foster child, yet you claim to have plenty of time for a child now. Would
your husband
think so?”

Jenny wanted to shout that the situations were different. That troubled foster children; possibly terribly abused children, were a different prospect than raising an innocent baby of their own. She raised her chin and sent Ms. Blair a challenging look. “He would.”

“Both Dr. Sterling and Mr. Turner claim that your husband found it difficult being raised by a single parent. Did he ever say anything to you indicating this?”

“Gabe mentioned that his childhood had been difficult, but—”

“Are you implying that Mr. Turner did a poor job raising your husband?”

Jenny shook her head.
I never said that
. “Not at all. I’m saying that—”

“Mrs. Harrison, did your husband ever express an opinion to you about single parenthood?”

Jenny thought back to the night Gabe had come home discouraged about the preemie that’d died at the clinic. He’d wanted to sterilize the teenage mother. He’d been angry and upset on behalf of the dead baby and her neglected children, but that wasn’t the same as a single mother with a good job raising a child in a warm and loving environment.