With These Four Rings - Book Five: Wedding Bonus (Billionaire Brides of Granite Falls 5) (14 page)

“All I know is that my uncle was so scared after my mom died, that he packed me up and took me far away from Cleveland and everyone who knew me, everyone
I
knew. He was so paranoid of something bad happening to me that he kept me in isolation. Instead of growing up in a loving family, I grew up with a huge hole in my heart where precious memories of both my parents should have been. I have a hole where my mother’s love should have been.”

She paused to catch her breath and blink back the tears stinging her eyes. “I cried out for my mother in the middle of the night, not understanding why she wouldn’t come. I had tears she didn’t dry, hurts and pain that she couldn’t soothe away. I have questions that she will never answer, that no one else can answer. My son, my children will never know their grandmother—a woman who many of her friends now tell me was sweet, kind, loving, and trusting.”

Tashi folded the paper, raised her head and stared at the three men. “It was my mother’s trusting spirit that made her vulnerable to you. You pretended to be her friends. You threatened my life and made her commit crimes for you. Then when she wanted out, you killed her. While she struggled for life, you laughed and you made bets on how long it would take her to die. You are evil, despicable, soulless, and you deserve to rot in prison for the rest of your miserable lives. You don’t deserve to walk among decent people, and I’m asking the court to make sure that you don’t.”

Tashi was shattered inside, but she would be damned if she let her mother’s killers see her cry. Recalling how they’d laughed at her mother when she begged for help, Tashi took in a deep breath. “My mother is gone. But she will never be forgotten. You will remember Evelyn Grace Holland every single day for the rest of your wretched lives. You will be haunted by her cries for help. But the moment I step out of this courtroom, I will forget you, and so will most of the people present here today. Your families will carry your ugliness, your shame for generations to come while mine will carry my mother’s beauty and her honor.”

Tashi turned to her father. “Get me out of here. I want to go home and hold my son.”

She felt like a zombie as Paul and Adam led her out of the courtroom through a side door and to the back of the building where a car was waiting to take them to the airport and the Andreas’ jet. As she sat in the limo, cradled between the men in her lives, it dawned on Tashi that she’d never grieved for her mother.

Like all children, she’d cried when she was scared and called out for her during the night. She’d cried when she was hurt, and then cried some more when her mother never came to her rescue. So like all children, she’d simply stopped crying and moved on with her life.

When she was older, she still never grieved. She didn’t know how or even why she should cry for someone she never knew, someone who’d faded from her memory, slipped out of her mind. The prosecution had brought in character witnesses—her mother’s former friends, coworkers, and even mild acquaintances to discredit the defense’s portrayal of her as an irresponsible, drug-addicted party-girl.

Evelyn’s friends spoke kindly of her as a responsible employee, loyal friend, and devoted mother. One day when court had adjourned early, Tashi had invited all twenty-four of them, both men and women, to lunch. They’d related stories of her mother’s first crush, her science experiment that burned down a table in the science lab, how at age ten, she started a small library in her parents’ garage to encourage her friends to read more, of her being the head cheerleader for their high school football team, the trophies she’d won in swim competitions, and the times she climbed out of her bedroom window to meet her friends so they could sneak into the theater to watch R-rated movies. Those amazing people had known Tashi from the moment she was born. They would have kept her mother alive in her heart and mind if her uncle hadn’t taken her away.

Carol told her how Evelyn had started a single mothers support group when she was pregnant with her, and that’s how many of them had first met. Carol had been her mother’s Lamaze partner, and she’s the one who’d nicknamed Tashi “Little Eve.” Tashi had also learned that Carol was her godmother.

“We used to meet twice a month at the library,” Carol had said. “I kept the group going after Eve’s death. It has grown over the years. Many single mothers with needs come to us, some without even a place to live. We managed to raise enough money to rent a small space in downtown Cleveland. People donate clothes, furniture, food, and other baby essentials.”

“Your mom loved to have fun,” Charlie, a former neighbor said. “She wasn’t a bad person. She didn’t run around and she never did drugs like those people said. She knew how to make people laugh.”

As they jumped from one story to the next, images of a young Evelyn began to materialize in Tashi’s mind. She imagined her doing all the fun things they’d described. Her mother was spirited, independent, friendly, and outgoing—all the qualities her uncle had spent his life crushing inside her because he didn’t want her to end up like her mother. Those qualities had forced their way to the surface of Tashi’s soul the day she’d walked into Adam’s garden, and found him naked. Adam had brought her to life.

When she left the restaurant that day, Tashi had begun to identify with her mother. She felt her in her heart and soul. She missed her, needed her, wanted her. Her mother was no longer an entity, a faded memory, or someone imagined. Evelyn Holland, “Mommy,” as she used to call her, was a real person with aspirations, dreams, hopes, wishes, and love, lots and lots of love for the little girl she’d left behind. Tashi knew without a doubt that
she
was the last thought in her mother’s heart at the moment she drew her last breath.

As the Andreas jet taxied down the runway in preparation for takeoff from Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, Tashi felt the pressure of nineteen years of suppressed grief detonate inside her. She turned to her father and began to cry hysterically. She was faintly aware of Adam closing in from the other side, and then the sobs of the two men in her life mingling with hers.

Three hours later, Tashi walked into the foyer of her grandiose home, took her son from his nanny, and headed for the room where she stored her mother’s possessions. Only now did she feel confident and passionate enough to begin to educate him about his other grandmother, Evelyn Grace Holland.

CHAPTER NINE

Andreas Estate – Wednesday evening…

Adam eased the door open and peeked inside. The drapes were drawn, shrouding the room in darkness. Leaving the door open a crack to let in some light from the gallery, he tiptoed across the hardwood floor toward the bed.

He felt a tightening in his chest as he gazed down on his sleeping wife and child. Tashi was still wearing the gray pencil skirt she’d worn to the sentencing, but she’d taken off the matching jacket. The buttons of her white silk blouse were undone and her white lacy bra was unclasped. She lay on her side with their son clutched in her arms, his little rosy mouth nestled between her breasts, indicating that he’d fallen asleep while nursing.

Adam swallowed back the sob of emotion that welled up inside him. He’d been worried about Tashi since they got home and she’d locked herself inside this room with Alex. He didn’t think she would do anything foolish; he just wanted to be there for her, to absorb some more of the pain she was experiencing.

She’d cried so hard and so long on the flight back home, Adam had been afraid she would literally break apart in his arms. The only other time he’d seen someone display such hysterical grief was the day his mother received the news of her beloved sister’s death. Adam was eight years old when his Aunt Giuliana died, and he remembered fearing that his mother would die from a broken heart. Just as he was incapable of doing anything for his mother then, he could do nothing for his wife today. Nothing, but hold her close and weep along with her.

Adam’s concern for Tashi had led him to call Samantha. She was unavailable, so he’d called Michelle who had been providing counsel and comfort for Tashi since the trial began, but she, too, was unavailable. Adam had no idea what it was like to grieve the loss of a parent, so he’d called his cousin, who only last night had celebrated the twenty-fifth anniversary of his mother’s death, and sadly, the recent death of his cherished leopard, Jabari.

Mass had told him that all he could do was give Tashi space when she wanted it, not to bombard her with questions about her feelings, but to be there to hold her, and to listen when she was ready to talk. So while his parents and Paul had gathered in the solarium to await the details of the sentencing, Adam had planted himself on a sofa in the gallery outside the block of second-floor guestrooms so he would be there when Tashi needed him. He’d been waiting so long that he’d fallen asleep. Paul had awakened him a few minutes ago with the judge’s final decision.

Tashi would be pleased, he thought. It could not bring her mother back, but it would give her complete closure. Adam sat down on the edge of the bed, ruffled his son’s head of curly black hair, and then leaned over to kiss his wife.

As their lips connected, the heavy lashes that shadowed her cheeks flew open. She sprung up in the bed, clutching Alex protectively.

“It’s just me,” he whispered, turning on the bedside lamp. His stomach clenched when he noticed the swollen pockets beneath, and the sadness buried in her emerald eyes.

Adam gathered his family into his arms, stretched out on his back, and held them tightly. Taking Massimo’s advice, he asked no questions. When Tashi relaxed her head against his chest and sighed, he knew she was comforted simply by his presence.

After a while, Tashi eased out of his arms and rested her cheek on a pillow. She smiled at him, and his heart danced at the sliver of light in her eyes.

“What time is it?” she asked.

Adam shifted to his side and placed Alex on the mattress between them. He planted his elbow on the other pillow and cradled his head in his hand. “Late. The sun has set, but it’s still light out. You must be starving. You haven’t eaten since breakfast.” He tried desperately to avoid any talk of the day’s courtroom proceedings. “They will be summoning us to dinner soon.”

She wet her lips with her tongue. “I am famished. More so because he sucked me dry,” she said, smiling down at their sleeping son. She ran her knuckles along his chubby cheeks. “Are we dining alone?”

“Not tonight. It’ll be a big Italian family-style dinner, starting with the
aperitivo
in the great room, then moving to the main dining room for the other ten courses from the
Antipasto
to the
digestivo
and everything in between. But if you’d rather—”

“No. I need to be surrounded by my entire family. I need all of you tonight, and just hearing you talk about the elaborate dinner is making my stomach growl.” She glanced down at her open shirt. “I should go shower and change into something elegant since we’re dining in style.” She attempted to cover up her breasts.

“In a moment.” Adam brushed her fingers away and cupped one swollen mound in his palm while he teased the smooth nipple between his fingers until it became hard as a pebble. She closed her eyes and sighed aloud, sending a bolt of electricity rushing from his head to his toes.

They’d been making love regularly since the trial began, which also coincided with Dr. Walsh’s okay to resume postpartum intercourse. Some days when Tashi got back from Ohio, she would nurse Alex and then call for Adam. If he were downtown at the office, she would request that he come home and meet her in the garden. If he were working from home, she would just walk into his office and close the door. On the days when he accompanied her, they would lock themselves in the bedroom on the jet and make love until they touched down in Granite Falls.

They never talked—well, not with words. Their loving was always intense, hot, and consuming. When it was over, she would come into this room and surround herself with her mother’s possessions. It was as if she straddled two worlds—the past and the present—trying to connect to the living and the dead. Today was different. Today, she’d turned to her father for comfort, then when she got home she’d chosen the past and the dead, but she’d brought Alex with her for the very first time. Was their son her bridge across the great divide?

She stilled his hand and, opening her eyes, she stared at him. “I’m not shutting you out,” she said as if she’d read his thoughts.

“I know. It’s natural for you to turn to your dad in this situation. I’m the outsider here.”

“You’re not an outsider. He’s hurting as much as I am. I’m all he has. I have you and Alex, but I’m the only person with whom he can share his grief.”

“You’re a great daughter. He’s lucky to have you.” He caressed her lips with the pad of his thumb.

“I’m lucky to have him. If it weren’t for him, this day never would have come, and those poor excuses for men would still be walking around free.”

Adam wanted to tell her about Judge Kingsley’s sentencing ruling, but decided she should hear it from her father. He followed her gaze as she turned onto her back and focused on the collection of crystal ornaments arranged on a bookshelf. There were bowls, baskets, vases, animals, birds, candleholders, and picture frames—some filled with photos of Evelyn and Tashi from the time she was an infant until she was four years old. That’s where the memories ended.

He stilled as her gaze transitioned to two black and white sketches—one of Evelyn and the other of Tashi—hanging side by side on a wall. Adam was still stunned at the striking resemblance between mother and daughter. Anyone looking at them would swear it was the same woman at two different stages of her life. No wonder Tashi was nicknamed “Little Eve.”