Karen Woods Read online

  “Look, I know both of you love me. All I’m asking is that you keep an open mind. Can you do that? Please?”

  “Open, but not so open that we lose our minds,” Jase only half-teased.

  “That’s all I ask,” Harry replied with a small laugh.

  “I know I told her what time we gathered,” Jase stated.

  “Cut the child some slack, Jason,” Audra replied. “She drove straight through from Illinois. If she

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  doesn’t come down for dinner, then I’ll have Billie take a tray up to her. The child needs her rest. It had to have been an eighteen or nineteen hour drive in that dinky little car of hers. I shudder to think about it.”

  “She’s hardly a child, Mother,” Jase said. “She is a woman, fully grown, with a tongue acid enough to etch steel.”

  “Jason Alexander,” his mother warned. “You will be civil. I found her to be quite charming.”

  “I am always civil, Mother.”

  Missy’s voice rang with laughter. “Right!” Missy agreed clearly not meaning the agreement. “And all your training in the military only served to soften your hand in dealing with people, Major Wilton.”

  Mary Kate stood there immobile on the steps. She debated turning around and returning to her rooms. But that would be cowardly, she mentally chided herself. Devlins may be many things, but cowards aren’t among them, she mentally encouraged herself.

  Missy asked, “Is Mary Katherine pretty?”

  “Quite,” Audra stated.

  “Pretty?” Jase echoed. “No, Missy. I wouldn’t call her ‘pretty’. She has the face of a Renaissance courtesan. Her body matches her face. But I wouldn’t call her ‘pretty’. It’s far too tame of a word.”

  Renaissance courtesan, Mary Kate echoed in thought. What a high opinion he has of me!

  “Noticed all that right away, did you?” Missy teased her brother.

  “When a package comes wrapped that enticingly, it’s impossible not to notice it, even when you know that its contents are pure poison.”

  “Jase,” Audra warned. “That was uncalled for. Mary Katherine is a delightful young woman.”

  “What does she look like?” Missy asked.

  “The last time that I saw a woman with hair as long as hers was in a painting of Lady Godiva,” Jase said. “It’s as black as Starchild’s coat. Black, glossy, and straight, going all the way down to her knees. Her eyes are dark as a moonless night. She’s tall for a woman, slender, but not skinny. Athletic, is how I’d describe her build.”

  “You know, big brother, you wouldn’t be so susceptible to poison if you would finally make an honest woman out of Alice Richards.”

  “Alice is a profoundly honest woman, Melissa,” Jase chided with no warmth in his voice. “And my love life is none of your business, baby sister. So, I would suggest that you refrain from making comments.”

  “Well, I would like for Jaime to have some cousins to grow up with,” Missy teased. “And you are my only brother. It’s up to you.”

  Jase laughed. “Don’t rush me, baby sister. Jaime could use a brother or sister more than a cousin or

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  two. Why don’t you do something about that, if you’re so concerned? I know Keith is all too ready to pick up where you two left off before you married John.”

  “That’s a low blow, Jase,” Missy said in a pained voice, before she continued in a warning tone, “Still, Alice isn’t getting any younger. You might be able to father children into your twilight years. But Alice’s biological clock is definitely ticking, Jase. She isn’t going to wait for you forever. She wants children of her own. And she only has a few more years to do that in.”

  “Butt out, Missy,” Jase told her, without heat. “Just butt out.”

  “You aren’t being fair to her,” Missy continued. “It’s not like you to be so selfish. Don’t say that I failed to warn you if she marries someone else.”

  “I’ll dance at her wedding.”

  “I’ll never understand you, Jase!”

  Mary Kate made her way to the sitting room from which she had heard the voices. Taking a deep breath to steady her nerves, and gathering her courage like a mantle about her, she walked into the room.

  The first person whom she saw was Jase. If he had appeared handsome in a business suit, then he was stunning in evening wear. She wondered what he would look like in uniform. Devastating probably.

  “Mary Katherine?” The voice she’d identified as Harry Devlin asked.

  “Yes,” she answered softly, turning her attention away from the younger blue-eyed man to the older man who had to be her father. One look was all it took to convince her that he was indeed her father. This man was an older version of the man in the photograph her mother had always kept on her bedside table. The family resemblance between her and this man was unmistakable -- dark hair, dark eyes, the same facial features. But then again, her mother had always said that Mary Kate had favored her father. Now she saw first hand how true that had been.

  “Come here and let me look at you,” he said. Harry looked at her for the longest moment. She returned the assessment. Mary Kate forced herself not to flinch under his frank appraisal.

  “You favor my mother. She used to wear her hair in exactly that way. Don’t you think that she favors Mama, Thea?” Harry asked.

  “There is some slight resemblance,” a lilting voice allowed. The voice belonged to a middle-aged woman whom Mary Kate hadn’t noticed when she had come into the room. This woman looked something like Mary Kate supposed she would look when she grew older, elegant in an understated way.

  “Slight resemblance? Bull! Come with me, Mary Katherine. I want you to see something,” Harry Devlin invited.

  Mary Kate followed her father through the house into his office. The rest of the family followed them

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  into the spacious room. Above the fireplace mantle, there hung a large oil portrait of a young woman. The portrait was obviously old. Except for the clothing and the color of the woman’s eyes, Mary Kate knew she could have been looking into a mirror.

  Mary Kate looked at the portrait for a long time before she spoke. “This was my grandmother?”

  “The portrait was painted just after Mama and Father married,” Harry told her. “She was twenty-two in this portrait.”

  Mary Kate blinked back tears. “She looks very happy.”

  “Thea, still claim that there’s only a slight resemblance?” Harry asked his sister.

  Thea looked at Mary Kate and then at the portrait. “There’s a strong resemblance. But Mama was a good five inches shorter, and Mama’s eyes were blue.”

  “Nancy’s eyes were brown. My eyes are brown. Father’s eyes were brown. It isn’t unlikely that Mary Katherine’s eyes would be brown as well,” Harry said.

  Mary Kate looked up at the portrait again. This was her grandmother. Mary Kate felt a strong sense of belonging. This was her father, her family. Not her home. But her family, the only family she had left. She just wished that she felt welcome.

  “Resemblance, in and of itself, means very little,” Jase asserted, cutting into her thoughts. “People can look like one another without there being any bloodties whatsoever.”

  Mary Kate looked at Jase for the longest moment without speaking. Then she sighed. “Just what is your problem?”

  Jase looked at her in disdain. “My problem is with people trying to take advantage of Harry.”

  Mary Kate shook her head. “Then you should have no problem with me. Taking advantage of my father isn’t my intention.”

  “What is your intention?”

  “To get to know my family. It’s past time, don’t you think?”

  “Indeed, I do. Come on, let me get you something to drink before dinner,” Harry stated as he took her by the arm and led her back to the sitting room without further comment.

  Returning to their starting point, Harry asked her, “What would you like to drink, my dear?”

 
“Club soda and lime, please.”

  Harry laughed. “Girl, you don’t have to abide by my teetotaling ways. Have whatever you want.”

  “Honestly, club soda and lime will be fine,” she replied. “I really don’t drink much.”

  The woman called Thea asked, “You wouldn’t have any objections to submitting to a blood test would you?”

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  Mary Kate looked at the older woman curiously. “A blood test? What for?”

  Thea smiled, but the expression held no warmth. Mary Kate really didn’t like the barely contained hostility in the older woman’s eyes. “To verify that you are whom you say you are, of course,” the older woman explained. “They can do marvelous things with genetic codes these days. Paternity can be proven or disproven quite readily. All it takes is a small blood sample. And the patience to wait for the results, of course.”

  Mary Kate looked over at the man who was her father. “Is there any real question as to my paternity?”

  “You have to understand that this is an unusual situation,” Harry explained.

  “Believe me, I am only too aware of that.”

  “If you have nothing to hide,” Jase goaded.

  Mary Kate cut him off. “Of course, I have nothing to hide. If he wants some sort of blood tests run, I’m more than willing to submit to them. Whatever he wants.”

  Harry nodded, but apparently reluctantly. “We’ll have the doctor out tomorrow morning to draw the samples then.”

  “As you wish,” Mary Kate replied, not quite covering with nonchalance the confusion that she felt. “However, we could have easily delayed this meeting until after the blood work had been done. I would have been glad to have the samples drawn three weeks ago, if I had known there was any question. That way, we would have been much closer to a definitive answer to the question.”

  Harry sighed. “You’re right. We should have taken care of this weeks ago. I’m sorry, Mary Katherine. This was profoundly thoughtless of me.”

  “It’s an unusual situation for all of us. I’m just as uneasy being here as many of you are with my being here. It’s not easy for any of us.”

  Harry allowed. “Change always is difficult.”

  “Why have you decided to show up just now? Why not years ago?” Melissa Hardin, aka Missy, asked.

  “If my presence here is causing problems, I’ll simply walk away. I’ve gotten along all my life without a father. I suppose that I could easily continue in that vein.”

  “No!” Harrison denied. “You are not walking away from me now that I’ve found you. There will be adjustments to be made by all of us. Now, let’s make the introductions so that at least we can get to know one another a little better. After all, we are all family.”

  “Are we? I thought that was the question the DNA test was to resolve,” Mary Kate said pointedly. “And there’s more to family than ties of blood. Right now, at best, I’d say that all we are is relative strangers.”

  Harrison sighed. “So we are. But, that doesn’t mean that we can’t get to know one another.”

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  “We can try. What do you want to know?” Mary Kate replied with an ease she didn’t feel.

  “They tell me you’re a teacher. What do you teach?” Missy asked.

  “Physical education, high school business,” Mary Kate answered. “I’d like to move towards a specialization in gifted children someday.”

  Missy looked over at her brother before returning her gaze to Mary Kate. “Really?” She asked, obviously interested. “Gifted children? Are you really interested in gifted children?”

  “I love children and teenagers. Period. Gifted children are of special interest to me. Too often those gifted children at the top end of the range are either forced to grow up too quickly, or are discouraged from fulfilling their potential. There has to be a middle ground. Children should be allowed to be children. Yet there is a real need to have these children develop intellectually at their level. Not letting a gifted child work at his level is almost a sure guarantee of stifling the child’s creative instincts.”

  “Sounds like you really love teaching,” Missy said.

  “I do. I hope to find another job teaching before the start of the next school year.”

  “You’re between jobs?” Missy asked.

  “At the moment. My job evaporated under the ax of budgetary concerns, along with a dozen other jobs in the district. But I’ve got resumes out to every school district in Illinois and Western Indiana. I’m hopeful that I’ll be hearing something soon about interviews. With the tight budgets of many of the districts, it’s difficult. Still, I’ll make it, one way or other, when I return home.”

  “Then you aren’t planning to stay in Virginia?” Thea asked as she came over with the requested drink.

  “Thank you,” Mary Kate said, taking the glass from the older woman. “To answer your question, no, I don’t plan to stay. I just wanted to meet my father and spend some summer vacation time visiting before I get back to real life.”

  Harry laughed. “This is real life.”

  “Not my reality,” Mary Kate dismissed. “A pleasant, I hope, interlude before I go back and pick up the pieces of my life.”

  “I’m Thea Devlin, Harry’s sister, by the way.”

  “Aunt Thea,” Mary Kate acknowledged.

  “There’s the question, now isn’t it?” The older woman responded something less than civility in her tone.

  Her eyes met Jase’s for a moment then she looked at her aunt. “It seems that way.”

  Jase spoke, “I suppose we all should have introduced ourselves to you. This is my mother, Audra Devlin.”

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  “Your mother and I met earlier today.”

  “And this lovely young woman is my sister, Melissa Hardin. Then, of course, the man beside you is Harry Devlin. But you already knew.”

  “I recognized him immediately from the photograph my mother always kept on her bed table,” Mary Kate replied with a smile. “They were both younger then, but it was clearly him.”

  The silence in the room was broken only by Billie announcing that dinner was served.

  Mary Kate put down her drink without even sipping from it.

  The dining room of her father’s house was as imposing as every other room she had seen. Everyone took his or her positions around the table. Harry smiled, “Come sit here at my left hand, Mary Katherine.”

  The offered spot was between Harry and Jason.

  “I’m puzzled by something,” Jase addressed Mary Kate after the first course, a chicken soup served with whole wheat rolls and a white wine, had been eaten and cleared away.

  Mary Kate sighed. She really didn’t want to face yet another attack from this man, but there was nothing she could do about this baptism by fire. “I’m certain that you’ll enlighten me as to the topic.”

  Billie had returned with a small roast turkey that she placed before Harry.

  “Looks good, Billie,” Harry said as Billie gave him the cutlery and put a stack of dinner plates on the table before him.

  “You graduated from college summa cum laude with a triple major in two areas of education plus accounting, with a minor in Management Information Systems, and another minor in Art. Odd combination,” Jase continued. “You obviously have quite a diverse number of interests and abilities.”

  “I wanted to make sure I would be able to make a living. Teaching jobs are not known for having world class pay scales,” Mary Kate replied.

  Jase sipped his wine then spoke, “And money is very important to you.”

  “Only in that I have this unreasonable attachment to the idea of eating regularly, having a roof over my head, clothes on my back, and staying out of debt. It’s terribly unreasonable of me to be attached to silly things like that, I know.”

  Harry laughed boldly.

  “Hard work doesn’t frighten you?” Jase asked.

  “Why should it? Hard work is the only way a person builds any kind of a life for hersel
f. I’ve always known that anything I wanted, I’d have to work for. I can’t remember a time when I didn’t have at least one paying job and chores.”

  “If you had kept and sold the gifts that Edward Hastings had given you during your engagement, money

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  would not have been a problem for you,” Jase offered.

  “No, it wouldn’t have been,” she acknowledged. “But I couldn’t do that.”

  Harry asked, as he carved the turkey, “Dark meat or light, Mary Katherine?”

  “White, please.”

  “You testified against Hastings,” Jase stated.

  “Yes, I testified against him. I came to realize just how badly I had been duped. That wasn’t, and isn’t, a pleasant knowledge for me to live with.”

  “Your testimony wasn’t a deal in which you turned State’s evidence to avoid charges being made against you?” Jase demanded.

  “With that imagination, you should be a novelist,” Mary Kate replied, trying to keep her temper in check. “Preferrably writing whodunnits. No, I was never offered that sort of deal, primarily because there was no evidence linking me to Edward’s crimes. The only guilt was by association. I was, and am, completely innocent of any wrongdoing.”

  “So you say,” Jase replied.

  “If you don’t believe me, you can contact the Champaign County State Attorney or the Federal District Attorney. Court proceedings are a matter of public record. Have them photocopied and sent to you.”

  “I’ve already placed the order. Weeks ago,” Jase replied. “I should have had the transcripts already. They’re very late.”

  “I surprised that you didn’t simply have them faxed to you,” Mary Kate responded as Billie served gingered baby carrots, a baked potato, and steamed broccoli, along with her slice of turkey. In part of her mind, she registered the fact that the menu was low fat and relatively healthy.

  “I thought they’d be here by now, even by snail mail,” Jase admitted.

  “We’ll that just proves that none of us are above making a misjudgment now and again,” Mary Kate replied, her tone weary. “When they do arrive, you’ll be able to see for yourself that I had nothing to do with Edward’s crimes.”

  “Perhaps,” Jase allowed. “We’ll see. I’ll reserve judgment on that based on what I see in the transcripts.”