Page 98 of Mine

“Are you coming to the hospital to say goodbye to Landry?”

“I am.” He smiled, taking the duffel bag from me, leaving me with Landry’s garment bag. “And I’ll drive. I paid for your cab.”

“Thank you, you didn’t have to do—”

“I know,” he assured me. “I have to pick up my father this morning. He stayed at a hotel last night while my mother was still here, but he can come home now that she’s gone.”

I nodded. “Are they going to charge him?”

“Yes. They’re charging him with obstruction and being an accessory either before the fact or after, I don’t remember. I mean, I don’t expect him to do any jail time. I expect many hours of community service.”

I didn’t doubt it. He was a pillar of the community. How did you put a pillar in jail?

“So I’ll see you at Thanksgiving, okay?”

My eyes flicked to his. “That would be great.”

He smiled suddenly. “I’ll be sure not to bring any women that want to sleep with you along. I know Landry found that annoying.”

I sighed deeply. “I’m sure that—”

“No excuses, let’s just forget it.”

But he had brought it up.

“And you won’t bring your father,” I said flatly.

“No Trevan, you’ll never see my father again.”

“That’s how it has to be. He and Landry, that’s not gonna happen.”

He nodded.“Agreed. Shall we go?”

I reached for Chris, and he stepped in close and hugged me tight.

“Thanks for everything, Trevan. I know it doesn’t feel like it, but it was for the best. We were all living a lie, we just didn’t know it. The truth was gonna come out sooner or later, and if it hadn’t been Landry, it would have been one of the rest of us.”

He was right. Brendan Arnold wanted money. It had been promised to him, and his father would have made good on his word eventually, but not in the timeframe that his illegitimate son was counting on. He had been holding out for something that was never coming, and had Landry never shown up, then it would have been Scott or Christian. Why Jocelyn wasn’t ever a consideration had come out the night before. She, apparently, had been the only one ever to give Brendan the time of day. He liked her, so he wasn’t ever going to kidnap her. It was amazing.

The whole thing had come to a head because of the money, yes, but also, it was simply too much to bear after a lifetime of being kept a secret. Brendan Arnold had needed to be recognized as Neil Carter’s son. I could only imagine what it must have been like to see your father right there in front of you but never be able to just run up to him and hug him without permission. It had to have been like a knife in his heart.

“Trev?”

I realized my mind had been drifting, and came back to the present, where Chris was standing there looking at me. “Sorry.”

“No, it’s okay. I’m gonna call Landry now, but I’m sorry, I just don’t think I can go back to the hospital. Are you pissed?”

“No,” I assured him. “You were there last night, all night, until the hospital staff kicked you out, just like Jo. You were there, I know you love him.”

He nodded. “I do, and I’ll see you at Thanksgiving, okay?”

“I’m looking forward to it.”

His smile was bright as I turned to Scott, who was standing with the front door open, ready to leave.

“I’m surprised,” I said as I walked beside him toward his black Jaguar, “that there weren’t reporters at the end of your drive when I got here.”

He grunted. “My father has friends in the district attorney’s office—he’s a generous campaign supporter—so the report of his arrest and arraignment wasn’t released until this morning. I suspect they’re going to start converging soon, and I have men meeting me at his hotel, and my assistant is taking care of security for the house and grounds as we speak. It’s probably best you and Landry are leaving today. It’s going to be a circus around here.”