The Unexpected Wedding(13)

“I’m sorry I didn’t get to know him before, too. Or that I never got to meet your brother.”

“TJ was so into family… all about my brother and Scotty. I never could figure out why she didn’t want to see her own family. But then, you must have been important to her because she asked me to bring Scotty here.”

“All I know is she had a big fight with Pops. He wouldn’t talk about it. Theresa Jean packed up that night and left. I didn’t really even think much about it at the time. She was so fiercely independent and was always so sure she was right. I figured she’d move away for a bit, cool off, and come home. But when she didn’t come home for months on end, I just couldn’t figure it out.” Becky Lee looked over at him, pain evident in her lapis blue eyes, the eyes so much like TJ and Scotty’s. “Did she ever tell you what happened?”

“I have no idea. She just said she was estranged and left it at that.”

“I’ve tried to get Pops to talk, but he’s a closed book. About Theresa Jean. About my aunt.”

“Your aunt?”

“Pops had a sister. She left town, never to be heard from again. She’s passed away now though. We all got a bit of an inheritance from her a few years back. Pops won’t talk about her either.” Becky Lee poured herself another glass of tea and took a sip. “None of my siblings have figured out the mystery of my aunt, and none of them have heard from Theresa Jean, either.”

“I’m sorry you missed so many years with your sister.”

“I am, too. How about you? Were you and your brother close? Any other siblings?”

“My brother and I were close. And, yes, I have a sister. My sister is a carbon copy of my father, ruthless in business and life. She’s climbing the ladder at the company.” Cal rubbed his temple. “I just wish my brother would have been able to escape the hold my father had over him sooner. I will say, he never took a second look at my father or his company when he got out of prison. He and TJ moved across the country. He started over. I never believed it was Gordon who did the fraud. I think… I know my father threw him under the bus to protect my sister.”

“So your brother took the blame for your sister?”

“The evidence all pointed to Gordon, along with my father’s second in command’s testimony. But my brother isn’t the type to defraud anyone. I just think my brother didn’t have it in him to fight it and send our sister to jail. He took a plea and got off early for good behavior. But it almost cost him his son.” Cal could hear the bitterness creak through his words. How could his father have done that to Gordon, one of the kindest, most honest men he’d ever known? Though maybe that was the problem. Gordon was too honest for his father’s way of life.

“I can see how you wouldn’t want Scotty around a man like that.”

“Father would love another heir apparent to his company. Though I’m sure Scotty would be shipped off to boarding school at the first opportunity. Then camps in the summers. That’s how it’s done in my family. If we were lucky, we’d get to come home for Christmas. Quite often my parents had plans, and we’d stay at our boarding schools through the holidays.”

“I can’t even imagine that.” Becky Lee wrinkled her brow. “That’s no way to raise children.”

“I will do anything in my power to make sure Scotty doesn’t have an upbringing like mine. I owe my brother that much. Besides, Scotty is a great kid. No way I’m going to let my father ruin that.”

Cal got up to walk to the door and check on Scotty. The boy was curled up on a lounge chair, fast asleep. “I think all this has worn him out. It’s been so hard on him. Losing his father. Sitting by his mother in the hospital. We had my brother’s funeral without TJ. A simple burial, just Scotty and me. I didn’t know if I should bring him or not. I keep worrying I’m making the wrong decisions for a kid his age.”

“It was probably good closure for him.”

“I had no one to ask, so I went with my gut.”

“That’s all you can do.” Becky Lee got up and walked over to the counter. “So, where is TJ exactly?”

He paused, but he figured it didn’t hurt to tell her. “She’s in the medical center in Baton Rouge.” He moved over to stand beside her. “TJ and my brother lived in a small town out of Baton Rouge. They loved it there.”

“That close, and she still didn’t come home.”

He could see the pain clearly in her face and wished he could take that away. He’d seen so much pain the last few weeks, on Scotty, on TJ, now on Becky Lee. And, of course, the haunted look of pain and uncertainty was present on his own face when he looked in the mirror. He reached over and placed his hand over hers. “Maybe that’s why they moved this direction. Maybe she was going to try to mend things.”