“The kids are with Marc and Mari this weekend,” Colleen said after they’d talked awhile, her mind spinning into crisis mode. “As soon as we get off the phone, I’ll call and get a plane ticket to Reno.”
“No, that’s okay. Linc… Well, he’s not gone yet,” Deidre murmured in her characteristic low, smoky voice.
“You can’t go through this alone, Deidre,” she said, looking nervously out Eric’s front window, her thoughts coming rapidly. Wou
ld the snow prevent her from catching a flight out of Detroit? Maybe the conditions at Chicago’s airports would be better.
“I’m not alone. Linc’s doctor and two hospice nurses are here…along with Nick Malone.”
“You mean Lincoln’s Chief Executive Officer? I thought he’d gone to the San Francisco offices and left you in peace,” Colleen said, concerned. She’d gotten the distinct impression from Deidre that her biological father’s right-hand man was more than just a business acquaintance: he was like an adopted son. Malone was highly suspicious of Deidre’s sudden appearance and Linc’s official proclamation that she was his daughter. Colleen had always looked up to and admired her older sister. A fortune hunter was the last thing Deidre was, but apparently Nick Malone didn’t believe that. Colleen had to wonder if he wasn’t so irritated by Deidre’s sudden appearance because he was worried she’d steal some portion of the pie he’d been counting on as his own from Lincoln DuBois’s inheritance.
“He did leave for a while, but he’s back,” Deidre said, her flat tone becoming a little more animated. “He’s one of the coldest, most paranoid people I’ve ever met, but I can’t fault him for being here. Linc isn’t doing well, and Malone is concerned. I may not like him, but there’s no doubt that Lincoln cares about him.” She sighed. “You should have seen how he lit up when Nick came into the room.”
It pained Colleen to consider everything her sister had gone through in the past few months. “Deidre, I refuse to leave you there without any family to support you, especially if Nick Malone is giving you a hard time.”
“I can handle Malone,” she stated, her mellifluous voice going grim. Suddenly, Colleen had a clear vision of her sister in her mind’s eye, the determination stiffening her delicate features, the steely expression that entered her large, grayish blue eyes just before she tried a risky new ski jump or new dive. Deidre was a daredevil, a championship diver, trick-skier and a decorated army nurse, but Colleen couldn’t help but feel that her fearlessness could only get her so far during this difficult trial. “Just promise you’ll come to Tahoe if…when…Linc—”
“I will,” Colleen said firmly when Deidre wavered. “The second you call. And after everything is settled, I really want you to consider coming back to Harbor Town with me.”
“I can’t even go that far in my mind, right now. I’m already feeling overwhelmed with the fact that I’m losing Linc when I just found him. He’s the second father Mom stole from me,” Deidre whispered.
Her heart squeezed in her chest when she heard a muffled sob through the receiver.
Colleen wanted to weep, too. She loved Deidre. She loved her mother, even though she knew Brigit had made a terrible mistake in lying about Deidre’s paternity. She wanted to knit things back together between mother and daughter, and knowing that it was beyond her control hurt. It hurt a lot.
It was all such a mess.
She stayed on the phone a while longer, trying her best to bring Deidre comfort. When she did eventually hang up, she sat curled up in the corner of Eric’s couch, feeling lost. She wasn’t sure how long she sat there, feeling miserable. The next thing she knew, Eric was coming down next to her and his arms were surrounding her.
She lost control at his touch. For some reason, his compassionate, strong embrace made the dam break. She sobbed with emotion. She’d held so much inside of her since that night last summer when she’d heard her mother’s confession about her affair with Lincoln DuBois and her subsequent pregnancy with his child—Deidre. It bewildered her, this upsurge of emotion. Sadness, worry, hurt and anger swelled and spilled to the surface. Eric didn’t say anything but just held her and made soothing noises. When her storm began to recede, however, Colleen knew she had to offer some kind of explanation. He stood to get her a box of tissues.
“I’m sorry. Here I go again. You really must think I’m a basket case,” she mumbled, wiping off her cheeks with the tissue he offered her.
“I don’t think that at all.” He sat down next to her again on the couch and put his arms around her. He’d pulled on a clean T-shirt and jeans before he came downstairs. The clean cotton smelled good when she pressed her cheek against it. He stroked her back. “Who were you talking to? Are the kids okay?”
Colleen realized he’d noticed her cell phone sitting on the couch cushion next to her. “I was talking to my sister, Deidre,” she whispered.
“Is she okay?” he asked, concerned.
“She’s fine. It’s…Lincoln DuBois. He’s dying.”
“The family friend? The one she’s visiting in Lake Tahoe? Natalie told me something about it. Isn’t he the DuBois of DuBois Enterprises?”
Colleen swallowed thickly. She’d shared so much with him in the past few days. Somehow, lying to him given their new closeness felt wrong. Very wrong. She lifted her head and met his stare.
“Yes. Lincoln DuBois isn’t just an old friend of my mother’s,” she whispered. “He’s Deidre’s biological father. That’s what Liam and Natalie discovered last summer, when they investigated the reason Derry was so upset on the night of the crash. My father had encountered some medical information about Deidre that made him suspect she couldn’t be his biological daughter. He confronted my mother about it on the afternoon of the accident, and my mother had admitted the truth about her affair with DuBois and her suspicion that Deidre was his child. That’s why my father got so drunk that night…the night he killed your mother and injured Natalie.”
Eric’s stroking hand stilled on her back. His expression looked flat…incredulous. The sound of the furnace turning on interrupted the thick silence.
“Deidre is out there in Tahoe with none of us there. She just told me DuBois is near death. She’s losing another father, just when she got to know him, and she’s so angry at my mom…and there’s nothing I can do.” She broke at the last, a fresh convulsion of grief tearing through her. Eric tightened his hold on her while she wept.
“I thought about telling you before,” Colleen said, lifting her head off his chest and straining to compose herself.
“Why didn’t you?” he asked.
She shrugged. “Embarrassment?” More tears spilled down her cheeks, and she wiped them away impatiently. “I used to think my parents were the perfect couple, but in the background, in secret, all this drama was taking place, and it’s so…tawdry,” she spit out. “It’s bad enough that the crash happened…that you lost your mother, and Mari lost her parents, and Natalie went through all that pain. But the reason behind it is so shameful.”
Her gaze flickered over him. He looked sober as a judge. He inhaled slowly, and she found herself on pins and needles, wondering what he would say. He placed his hands on her jaw, tilting her face so she was forced to meet his stare.