The Inheritance (The Donatelli Series) (26 page)

“I know, but she’s your mother, and she has custody. She needs to know.”

Blade leaned down and lifted Robbie’s chin. “Trust me, Robbie. My father beat me so much I still have scars, and I didn’t have anyone to tell. But you do. You have a mother who loves you, and we have to tell her, so we can make sure your dad can’t ever hurt you and your brothers again. Okay?”

“Dad never hurt me.”

Oh yes, he did. Fred hurt this kid in other ways, in singling him out as the favored one. Robbie didn’t see it clearly now, but someday he would.

Blade finished drying Daisy and set her on the floor. He shook his finger at her. “Stay out of trouble.”

She woofed and wagged her tail. Robbie laughed. “She can’t stay out of trouble. She’s a puppy.” His smile disappeared. “Dad wouldn’t ever let us have a dog.”

“That’s too bad.”

Out of the blue, Robbie said, “Blade, if you want to be our new dad, it’s okay with me.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. You wouldn’t beat on Andy and Jimmy. You didn’t even smack Daisy for dumping oil all over your driveway.”

No, he wouldn’t beat the kids. He might yell at them, but he wouldn’t beat them.

<>

Blade and Robbie told Maria together. She took the news as Robbie predicted. She cried.

“I talked with Gerry this morning. He suggested taking them to a doctor, so we have a record,” said Blade. “I doubt if there’s any evidence of Fred’s knock on Andy’s head, but the marks from Fred’s belt are still visible on Jimmy’s backside. We need pictures, and they need to be taken by a doctor, not by us.”

Maria wiped her eyes and hugged Robbie.

“It’s okay, Mom. We’re okay,” said Robbie.

No, it’s not okay. It’ll never be okay if Fred finds out.

Blade wondered what that was about, but he didn’t ask. He wasn’t officially a member of this family, and whatever Maria had going with her kids and her ex-husband wasn’t any of his business except when it came to their safety. Then he made it his business.

If that son-of-a-bitch ever caused any of these kids another minute of pain, Blade would give it back to him tenfold. Punishing your kids was one thing. Beating them hard enough to leave scars was another.

Thinking about what Fred had done to Jimmy brought back all the pain of Blade’s childhood, of the beatings he suffered from both John and Sunny, and of the taste of the bourbon. Sunny called it medicine and said it would make him stop hurting, so he pinched his nose and swallowed it down. Many times it came right back up, but by the time he was eight, he’d learned how to keep it down. He’d also learned to stay out of Sunny’s sight when she was coming down off whatever drug she took at the time.

Maria hugged Robbie and thanked him for telling her about Dad’s behavior. She’d always been the go-between, protecting the kids from Fred’s foul temper, but she wasn’t there this time. The DNA testing left a feeling of dread in the pit of her stomach. When Fred saw the results, he’d know about Robbie. She’d tell her son the truth when he was old enough to understand, if Fred didn’t blurt it out first. And he would, not for Robbie’s sake, but to punish her. During their marriage, Fred had slept with countless women. She’d had one indiscretion, slept with another man two times, and she had his child. How many children had Fred created? How many had he claimed?

She looked up at Blade. “I need to call Gerry.”

“Go ahead. Robbie and I will see if Mr. Pettibone knows a doctor.”

As soon as Blade and Robbie left the room, Maria closed the door and called Gerry in Gig Harbor. She related what Robbie had told her. “We’re looking for a doctor right now. Gerry, you once told me that you needed to know everything.”

“That’s right.”

“There’s one thing I haven’t told you, something I’ve never told anyone. Robbie isn’t Fred’s.”

Dead silence from the other end said she’d surprised a man who wasn’t easily surprised. “Say that again, Maria.”

“I was working part-time at the University of Washington when Molly was a little girl. Fred had been ragging about me not giving him the son he demanded. He called me every name in the book because I’d had three miscarriages before I had Molly, as if I’d done it on purpose. He was on his third or fourth girlfriend, and my self-esteem was at a low point. The professor I worked for offered something Fred had never given me—compassion and understanding. We had a short affair, and I broke it off before I knew I was pregnant. I didn’t know Robbie wasn’t Fred’s until after he was born. He physically resembles his natural father, more so as he gets older. The professor is very intelligent, and so is Robbie.”

Gerry groaned. “Why didn’t you tell me this before?”

“I thought I could keep it secret until Robbie was old enough to understand.”

“Robbie may have to grow up fast, Maria. If he has to hear it from someone, better to hear it from you.”

“I know.” But she dreaded telling him. He may have a brilliant mind, but emotionally, Robbie was still a little boy, and he thought Fred was his father. For the kid who’d had the most trouble handling his parents’ divorce, this kind of news could knock his emotional legs out from under him.

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That afternoon, Maria took the boys to see Dr. Bergman, the Andrews family doctor. He examined them all and took pictures of the welts on Jimmy’s behind. They were healed, but still red. When Maria saw them, she felt like screaming. Fred’s belt had cut into her baby’s tender flesh. It must have hurt like hell.

“I wanted to call you, but Grandma wouldn’t let me,” said Jimmy.

Fred’s mother, a meek little woman, told Fred to stop, but she wouldn’t let the kids tell their mother.

“Did Grandma put some medicine on it?”

“Yeah, and she gave me some ice cream, but I couldn’t sit down.”

Maria held her littlest boy, her sweet baby, and promised him he’d never have to go visit Dad again. If she could terminate his parental rights, none of the kids would ever have to see him again. But she knew Fred, and she knew the only way he’d let Robbie go would be if he knew the truth.

Robbie wasn’t his son.

Chapter Fifteen

M
aria tried to be upbeat for the kids, but the sadness wouldn’t leave her. Secrets had a way of coming out, and this secret could destroy an innocent, vulnerable young boy. The indiscretion was hers, not Robbie’s. She had to find a way of telling him, of softening the blow so it wouldn’t hurt so much.

After the boys went to sleep, Maria and Blade walked out to the pavilion with Daisy. Blade asked, “How did the doctor’s visit go today?”

“All right.”
Gerry thinks I should tell Robbie before Fred does.

“Tell him what?”

She blew out a breath. “Sometimes I forget you can hear my thoughts.”

“Only sometimes. Tell him what?”

“I can’t talk about it, Blade.”

Blade whistled for Daisy, who had wandered off, and the puppy came on the run. “Then we won’t talk about it.”

Thank you.

“I’m leaving for New York tomorrow.”

So soon?
“What time?”

“My flight leaves at noon from San Francisco.”

She didn’t want him to go, especially right after the shooting, but she knew him well enough to know that he needed to face Colin Jacobs, and he had to get control of the stock in his grandfather’s estate.

One way to tell Robbie would be to make it a learning experience. They could go to the airport with Blade and stop at a book store on the way back, so she could buy a book on genetics. Did they make those that an eleven-year-old could understand? No, but Robbie wasn’t a normal eleven-year-old kid.

What if he wanted to meet his natural father? Roberto was single at the time, but twelve years had passed. He could be married now, and she didn’t want to make trouble for him. But if Robbie wanted to meet him, she’d find a way.

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Blade walked quietly back to the house with Maria and Daisy. Maria had something on her mind besides Fred hitting the boys, something she couldn’t tell him. She’d closed down. What could be so bad that she couldn’t tell him? Was she worried about the DNA test? Robbie said his father thought Andy and Jimmy weren’t his, when Andy looked just like him. Robbie was the odd kid in the family. If one of her kids had a different father, it had to be Robbie.

He didn’t say anything to her, and she was too preoccupied with her own thoughts to listen to his. If she cheated on Fred, would she cheat on him, too? He didn’t want a wife who cheated. Being single and dating different women was no big deal, but marriage required a commitment, and one leg of that commitment was fidelity. Fidelity was no problem for him as long as he and Maria were able to spend some private time together.

Love was another leg of that commitment, and he still wasn’t too sure about that one. He admired Maria’s love and devotion to her family. He valued her friendship, and the sex had never been better, but did he love her? Sometimes it felt like love, but he didn’t know if he was capable of the forever kind of love that Angelo and Teresa had or that Nick and Cara shared.

For now, he’d have to take it one day at a time.

<>

Before Blade left the house the next morning, he handed Maria a roll of bills. “Buy the kids some toys. I know you didn’t bring much with you.”

Without counting it, Maria stuffed the money in her purse. She hoped they didn’t have to stay away from home long enough for the kids to miss their toys. “I’ll use some of it to buy books on the way home from the airport. Since Fred is having DNA tests done, I thought Robbie might like to read up on genetics.”

He looked deeply into her eyes. “Maria, is there something you want to tell me?”

She looked down. “I can’t—”

“Talk about it,” they said together. She wanted to tell him, but she couldn’t. He wouldn’t understand.

“Okay, we won’t talk about it.”
Someday I hope you trust me enough to tell me.

She blinked away tears.
I do trust you, Blade, but I can’t talk about it now.

He kissed her, not a kiss of passion, but a tender kiss of friendship and affection. She knew he had feelings for her, knew he was on the verge of falling in love, and she also knew that one secret could ruin the trust between them.

The boys were excited about riding in Cara’s limo, and Blade teased them about being famous movie stars. The limo ride was out of necessity, since Blade had insisted they bring a guard along. The estate van was in the shop, and four adults and three kids wouldn’t all fit in any of the other vehicles.

At the airport, Blade kissed Maria and told the kids he’d see them in a few days, and then he disappeared into the terminal building and the limo driver pulled away.

Minutes later, their driver dropped them off in front of a big bookstore. When they left, everyone carried a bag. Maria chose romance novels and two games for the kids, Robbie had a book on genetics and one on astronomy, and Andy and Jimmy picked out toys and books and a ball for Daisy. She’d bought enough to keep them all occupied until Blade returned.

After the truth came out, she might have to get used to not having Blade around. She had no idea how he’d react when he heard she’d been an unfaithful wife. After meeting Fred, he should understand, but she couldn’t count on it.

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Mort Schuler’s assistant had made reservations at a hotel in Manhattan, and Blade would have a car and driver to use during his stay. The flight was late, the hotel was classy and obscenely expensive, and Blade was tired and hungry. Although two meals had been served on the plane, he’d eaten very little. The last time he’d come to New York, he was with Maria. They’d left Washington as single people and returned as a married couple. And now she was hiding things from him.

Some marriage.

If Jacobs hired the hit man to kill Sunny, what would he do when he learned that Blade and Maria were married? And what would he do when Blade demanded that the estate be turned over to him? Would changing attorneys at this point jeopardize the sale of the Banner home?