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“That call earlier was from GenLabs,” she said quietly. “Lincoln
was right. I am his biological daughter. I’ll make sure you get a copy of the formal report.”
Nick watched, frozen to the spot, as she walked past him toward the hallway. A moment later, he heard the latch on her bedroom door shut with a click of finality.
Chapter Eleven
Deidre arrived in Chicago early the next afternoon. It was a gray, blustery winter day that perfectly matched her mood. Marc and Mari lived in a brownstone on a quiet, residential street in the Lincoln Park neighborhood. The cheery Christmas lights and festive decorations on the attractive, affluent homes only seemed to amplify Deidre’s numb misery.
Mari stood on the sidewalk while Deidre parked in front of the house, a coat draped haphazardly over her shoulders. She took one look at Deidre’s face when she got out of the car and rushed to give her a hug.
“Don’t say a word,” Mari said. She opened the back door of the sedan and withdrew Deidre’s suitcase. “Let’s get you inside and make you something hot to drink. Marc is at work and Riley went to Gymboree with her nanny, so we’ll have an opportunity to talk.”
She hustled Deidre into the elegant brownstone and deposited her bag in the guest bedroom. It wasn’t long before the two women sat together before the fireplace with hot mugs of tea warming their hands. Deidre was hesitant to get started with her confession, but once she began, the words seemed to roll out of her of their own volition. Mari listened, her expression becoming increasingly concerned and sober as time passed.
“...I was so confused after Nick left last night that I couldn’t think. Thank God I was able to sleep a couple hours. When I woke up today, I only wanted to do one thing—escape,” Deidre told Mari in conclusion. “And...well, here I am.”
Mari patted her knee, her expression tight with compassion and worry. “You did the right thing, coming here. You know we’re always ecstatic to have you. I just wish the circumstances could be different,” she said, slumping back in her chair. She glanced at Deidre and shook her head. “I don’t know how anyone can be expected to balance so many stressful situations in such a short period of time.”
“I bet I know what you’re thinking,” Deidre murmured. “That I was the one who made things worse for myself by getting involved with Nick.”
“I wasn’t thinking that. I know firsthand that the heart can lead you into some very sticky situations, indeed—look at Marc’s and my romance.” Mari’s gaze sharpened on her. “How do you feel about Nick, Dee? From what you just said, I’m getting the impression you’re intensely attracted to each other.”
Deidre smiled sadly. “You want to know if there’s more to it than lust, you mean?”
“I guess so,” Mari conceded.
Deidre took a sip of her tea, her gaze on the flaming logs in the hearth. “On my part, yes,” she whispered after a pause.
“And you’re angry at yourself for feeling that way?” Mari prompted.
“Wouldn’t you be?” Deidre said, meeting her sister-in-law’s stare. “I made a fool of myself. I got involved with a man who planned all along to take me to court, who never believed in my claim to be Lincoln’s daughter.”
“I thought you said Nick wasn’t planning to contest the will.”
“He did say that, but should I believe him?” she asked Mari desperately. “John Kellerman implied that was Nick’s fallback plan all along—to contest the will based on his belief that Lincoln was of unsound mind at the time it was drawn up. He intended to use that letter as evidence of Lincoln’s incapacity. That’s why he refused to let me see it.”
“It would have been very upsetting for you to see.”
Deidre did a double take and studied Mari’s face. “So you think Nick was trying to protect me by keeping the letter from me?”
Mari sighed uncertainly and took a sip of her tea. “I think it’s possible. I don’t know. There is a terrific amount of money and power at stake.”
“Exactly,” Deidre muttered. “You begin to see why I doubt myself.”
“I don’t know Nick well enough to say what he’d do, one way or another. You must not feel you know him well enough, either.”
A log popped in the silence that followed. Mari persevered when Deidre didn’t respond.
“You wouldn’t be here in Chicago while he’s still in Harbor Town if you didn’t think Nick was being duplicitous,” Mari prompted.
“He was being duplicitous,” Deidre stated with more energy than she felt. “He shouldn’t have slept with me, knowing what he knew. If he didn’t have faith in Lincoln’s judgment and planned to contest the will—even if his plans were tenuous—that was crucial information he should have given me before we got involved.”
“Nick changed his mind about contesting the will once he got to know you better,” Mari said softly. “That’s significant, don’t you think? I can’t help but wonder...”
“What?” Deidre asked when Mari trailed off.
“Well...if the thing that hurt you the most wasn’t that Nick had doubts that you were the rightful heir to DuBois Enterprises. It was that Nick doubted the validity of Lincoln’s blind faith that you were his daughter.”
