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Mac scowled. “Trent can be absolved on that account, but even back then I realized that Jesse’s sweetness and compliance was an act. I was trying to protect him and you, too, Bryn. But I handled it badly. If I had encouraged you to stay and had challenged Jesse to own up to the truth, I’m convinced that things would have gotten very ugly, very fast.”
“So you sent me to Beverly.”
“Your mother spoke highly of her older sister, and after you ran out of the study that day, I contacted Beverly to explain the situation. We both agreed that you needed to be with a woman during your pregnancy.” He came over to the chair and laid a hand on her shoulder. “But it wasn’t that I didn’t love you, darlin’. I never stopped loving you.”
Bryn reached up to stroke his hand. “Thank you, Mac. And I’m sorry I was such a brat and sent all your presents back.”
He grinned. “They’re in a closet in my bedroom. You’re welcome to them.”
Her eyebrows went up. “Ooh…an early Christmas. I might have to take you up on that.”
Mac sobered. “Allen is your son, and any decisions about his future are up to you. But I want you to know that I already have my lawyers preparing the paperwork to make him a legitimate heir to my estate.”
Bryn looked at Trent, begging him without words to say something, anything.
He was stoic, watchful.
Her stomach churned with tension. What did Trent’s silence mean? Was he angry? Would he challenge the will?”
She straightened. “I assume you’ll want to do DNA testing to establish the relationship between Jesse and Allen.”
Mac snorted. “Allen’s a mirror image of Jesse at that age. Any fool can see it. I don’t think we need a test.”
At long last, Trent spoke up. “It might be important to the boy one day to have the proof positive. So no one can ever doubt him.”
Bryn’s heart sank. Trent still wasn’t sure she was telling the truth. “Does this mean you don’t believe me, Trent?” She had to know.
Impatience darkened his features. “Of course I believe you, Bryn. Even before I saw the boy I believed you. But I deal in legalities, and it never hurts to dot the i’s and cross the t’s.”
She nibbled her lower lip, not at all certain what was going on inside his head. It seemed as though he couldn’t even bring himself to say Allen’s name. Was he angry that Bryn had borne Jesse’s child?
Mac raked a hand through his thick silver hair. “Today was a big day, and I’m almost as wiped out as the kid. I’ll say good night. See you both in the morning.”
His departure left an awkward silence in the room. Bryn had hoped to approach Trent in a better mood when she revealed the letters, but the time had run out. No wills could be notarized, nor big declarations made, until the truth about the letters from Etta came to light.
She took a deep breath. “Trent, there’s something I need to show you. Something important.”
He lifted an eyebrow. “What is it?”
“It will be easier if I show you. It will only take me a minute. Please wait here.”
His gaze followed her out of the room, and she went rapidly to extract the shoe box from its hiding place.
When she returned, Trent hadn’t moved. His eyes narrowed suspiciously. “What is that?”
She held the box to her chest. “Not long after I arrived—the day you took your dad to the doctor and I was here alone—I realized that Jesse’s room had not been cleaned since his death. I did some laundry…straightened up the mess. And in the process, I found a box of letters written to him by Etta. As far as I can tell, they started arriving about the time he turned sixteen.”
Trent’s eyes blazed with emotion, and he took the box from her hands with a jerk. “Let me see that.”
She hated showing them to him, knowing it would cause him pain. “They’re bad, Trent…wicked in cases…and cruel. Perhaps Jesse’s self-destructive behavior was being fueled by something none of us knew anything about.”
Trent reclaimed his original seat at the desk and opened the box. He riffled through the contents for maybe ten seconds before selecting an envelope and extracting the enclosed piece of notepaper. As he read it, his scowl blackened.
