Patricia Kay - Secrets of a Small Town

His heart ached at the unsuspecting smile on his sister’s face. She probably thought he had a problem at the restaurant, the kind of thing he usually wanted to discuss with her.

Girding himself, he made his voice gentle. “I’ve got some bad news, Glynnie. You’re going to have to be strong.”

The smile on her face slowly faded. She put her coffee cup down. “What is it?”

Reaching across the table, he took her hand. “There’s no easy way to tell you this.” The fear in her eyes made Gregg wish he could be anywhere else but there. “Ben is dead, Glynnie.”

Her hand jerked, but he held fast. She shook her head. “That…that can’t be. Wh-why would you say such a thing?”

“I’m so sorry. I wish it wasn’t true, but I’m afraid it is.”

“No.” She kept shaking her head. “No.”

“Glynnie, listen to me. It’s true. Ben had a heart attack last Thursday, and he died almost immediately.”

“Last Thursday! But…but where?” she cried. “How? I-I don’t understand. It can’t be true. Someone would have called me. It’s a mistake. It has to be. He’s not dead. Don’t you see? Someone would have called me, Gregg!” Her eyes pleaded with him to say it was all a big mix-up. “It’s true I haven’t heard from him, but that’s because he’s abroad. This is just a mistake.”

“I’m sorry. It’s not a mistake. Ben is dead.”

Suddenly she just dissolved. Her face crumpled, and tears welled in her eyes. “No,” she wailed. “No, no, no, no…”

Gregg wanted to cry himself. He got up and took her into his arms. Her body shook with sobs. From the playroom came the sounds of happy music and Olivia’s laughter.

When Glynnis finally calmed, he sat her down again and pulled his chair close to hers.

“How…how did you find out?” she asked tonelessly. “Did someone from the company he was working for call you or was it the Greek authorities? Are they shipping his body home?”

Gregg took her hand again. “No, it was nothing like that. Ben didn’t die in Greece. He died right here in Ohio.”

“Here in Ohio?”

“Yes. Look, I need to back up and start at the beginning. Okay?”

She nodded miserably.

If Gregg could have spared her this…but he couldn’t. He had to tell her everything. “Yesterday I got a call at work…”

As he talked, telling her about Sabrina, what she’d said, how she’d come to the restaurant last night, and what she’d revealed to him, he saw a host of emotions play across his sister’s face and in her eyes. Shock, disbelief, denial, anger and lastly, an almost tranquil acceptance.

She sat unmoving, staring sightlessly into space, silent for so long Gregg became uneasy.

Finally she stirred. “Poor Ben,” she said softly.

“Poor Ben?”

“He must have felt so desperate.” Glynnis’s eyes, swimming with tears, met his. “He loved me, Gregg. I’m as sure of that as I am of anything in my life. He would never purposely have hurt me. For him to be driven to something like this…obviously he felt he had no choice.”

Gregg wanted to tell her she was crazy to be defending him, but something about the look on her face stopped him. Ah, hell, he thought. If it made her feel better to think well of Ben, what harm was there in that?

“I know what you’re thinking. But I’m right, I know I am. Ben would never have done what he did if he wasn’t desperate.”

“Right now, his reasons don’t matter. What matters is the future. We need to talk about what you’re going to do. You’ll have to—”

“Does his…his other wife know?”

“She didn’t as of last night, but I think Ben’s daughter was going to tell her today.” This was strictly guesswork on Gregg’s part, for Sabrina had not said anything other than that her mother didn’t know the situation.

Glynnis wiped away her tears with her hands. “Do you know anything about her? The other wife?”

“No. I didn’t ask.”

“What about his daughter? What was she like? Did she look like Ben?”

“Not really. She has dark hair like he did, but she’s little and has gray eyes. She must look like her mother.”

“I—I can’t get over it. Michael and Olivia have a sister.” This was said with wonder.

“Half sister.”

Her gaze shot to his. “You hate Ben, don’t you?”

“No. I don’t hate him.” This was true. The emotion Gregg felt was stronger than hate, but there was no sense in telling her this and making her feel worse. “I hate what he did. I hate what this is doing to you. And what it’s going to do to the kids.”

She bowed her head. “I’m going to miss him so much.”

He could see how hard she was trying to keep herself under control. Ashamed of himself, he softened his voice. “Ah, Glynnie. You know I’ll do everything I can to make this easier—”

“I want to talk to her. Meet her.”

“Who? Sabrina?”

“Yes.”

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”

“I don’t care. I want to see her. I need to see her.”

When he still hesitated, she said, “Please, Gregg. Will you call her?”

He thought about the business card he’d left on his dresser. And he thought about how much he had liked Sabrina March.

He sighed. “All right, Glynnie. If it means that much to you, I’ll call her later today.”

After giving it much thought, Sabrina decided the easiest and kindest way she could break the news to her mother was to simply give her the letter her father had written. Taking the letter out again, she reread it and abruptly changed her mind. Better not to let her mother see the things her father had said about Glynnis and the children.

There’s not going to be an easy way out for you. You’re going to have to tell her yourself.

Once the decision was made, she realized there was no point in putting off the inevitable, so she called Leland Fox and asked him to meet her at her mother’s house at four o’clock.

Then she called her mother.

“Where are you?” There was a petulant note in her mother’s voice. “I thought you’d be back hours ago.”

“I did get back earlier, but I had some things that needed to be taken care of here at the apartment, and since I knew Aunt Irene was there with you…” Sabrina let her voice trail off and told herself not to get irritated. Her mother was under a lot of stress.

“You are going to be here for dinner, aren’t you? I told Florence you were.”

“Yes, of course, I am. In fact, I’ll be there in about an hour.”

A few minutes before four, Sabrina pulled into the driveway of the family home. She’d barely gotten the door open and was just stepping out of the car when Leland pulled in behind her.

“I’m dreading this,” he said. He looked awful. There were dark circles under his eyes as if he hadn’t been sleeping well.

“Me, too.” Sabrina felt sorry for him. This wasn’t his problem. But she was terribly grateful for his presence. She had no idea how her mother was going to react, and Leland’s presence always had a calming effect.

“Leland! We didn’t know you were coming over,” Sabrina’s aunt said as they walked into the foyer. She looked bright and cheerful in a pink cashmere sweater set and dark wool skirt, but her smile faded at the expressions on their faces.

“Hello, Irene.” Leland smiled and gave her a hug. “How’re you holding up?”

“Oh, I’m all right.” Her voice lowered. “But there’s something’s wrong, isn’t there?” She looked worriedly from him to Sabrina.

Sabrina nodded grimly. “Yes. Where’s Mom?”

“In the sunroom. Do…do you want me to make myself scarce?”

“No, there’s something we have to tell her, but I think it’s a good idea for you to be there, too. We might need you.”