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Jace
Iheard Janae talking on the other side of my office door, but it wasn’t until I heard Oren’s voice that I realized she wasn’t on the phone. I looked up from the antique manual foghorn I was examining. It was a little after one in the afternoon on Halloween.
Janae buzzed.
“Mr. Blackwell, there’s a Mr. Oren Osborne here to see you. He doesn’t have an appointment.”
“It’s fine, Janae. Send him in.”
Oren stepped through the door seconds later in an uncharacteristically dark suit that washed out his complexion. Or maybe he looked more tired than usual because he was ready to tell me what he couldn’t when we last met. A secret that would change Greer’s life forever—I prayed for the better.
“Jace, boy. Thank you for seeing me.”
“Of course. Please,” I said, gesturing to one of the leather seats opposite my desk and seating myself in the other, so the chairs were facing. Some men liked sleek, minimalist chairs, but I was a big guy and always felt either uncomfortable or like I was about to break them. Mine had sturdy legs and arms, and deep seating.
“Would you like a drink?”
“Yes,” Oren said, “but I shouldn’t.”
I’d started to move toward the bar but sat back down at his admission. He began wringing his hands. He looked like a man with the world on his mind, and I decided to wait until he was ready to start. Finally, he did.
“I’ve waited a long time to confess what I’m about to tell you. Almost thirty years. And I know the person I should really be telling is Greer Elizabeth, but…I just can’t. Not yet.”
“I understand.”
“You’re a good boy, Jace Blackwell. Always liked you. I know you won’t judge me too harshly.”
“Of course not.”
Oren took a deep breath. “The first time I came to Richmond House, I came to meet with Sterling about our common business interests. I believe it was 1985. Sterling’s daughter, Blair, was ten years old. I didn’t know it at the time—that she was being abused. You have to believe that.”
“Go on,” I said, noncommittally.
“I didn’t spend much time at Richmond House when Blair was young, didn’t know her at all, but by the early nineties, Sterling was throwing more and more work my way, and Blair had of course grown into a beautiful young woman. She was always small—both of Sterling’s daughters are…so petite.”
“I already know all this, Oren. Where do you come in?”
“According to Blair, you see, Sterling began pushing her away immediately after Anna was born in 1989. And the more Sterling distanced himself…well…Blair increasingly turned to me.”
I held my breath as he struggled to go on with his story. But I knew then. I knew.
“At first, it was completely innocent. She’d catch me after my meetings with Sterling in his office and ask if I could recommend any books to her. Or ask if I’d like to go for a walk. She didn’t have anyone. Like Greer the first time she came to Richmond House, she was completely ignored. Left to her own devices.”
“She attended school, didn’t she, Oren?” I said in what I hoped was a neutral tone. “She could have made friends with anyone there. With any of the boys.”
“But she didn’t. She didn’t want to. Looking back, she wanted someone who was more of a father figure. Someone to replace Sterling, if you will.”
“That’s sick.”
“Maybe. But I fell into the trap. I fell in love with her.”
“Greer told me Blair was seventeen when she got pregnant. And you were how old?”
He looked at me for a moment, thoroughly ashamed. “I was twenty-eight. I told her it wasn’t right, that people wouldn’t understand, but she didn’t care. We were so careful, but she got pregnant anyway. Like it was preordained. I was petrified. Scared of getting caught. Scared of Sterling terminating what was my most lucrative contract. And scared for the baby. Blair was struggling with food—it became more and more apparent in the waning months of our relationship. I was worried she’d lose the baby or there’d be something wrong with it.”
“Greer is perfect,” I challenged.
“She is,” Oren quickly agreed. “But there was every reason to believe she wouldn’t be. At first, Blair was going to stay in the house until she could figure out a plan—a plan I happily agreed to finance and hoped would include me. But when she found out about Anna’s parentage—that he was having an affair with Eugenia—it sped up the timeline.”
