Page 122 of The VIP Doubles Down
He felt a surge of old anger and hurt. If she felt that way, why had she abandoned him? But he let it sink back into the past he’d left at Odelia’s house.
“One day Kenneth wanted to punish you for reading a book when you were supposed to be doing some chore or other, nothing important. I wouldn’t let him, but even worse, I challenged him in front of you. He hit me.” She shook her head, as though to rid herself of the memory. “I think it shocked him as much as it did me. We both knew I had to leave.”
Rage scorched through Gavin. He knew his father had done something serious to drive his mother away, but he hadn’t expected physical violence. “The bastard. I didn’t know ... wouldn’t have guessed.” He realized why. “He never hit anyone that I saw.”
“Thank God!” She met Gavin’s gaze straight on as she twisted the stem of the wineglass between her fingers. “I made him swear on the Holy Bible that he would never, ever strike you. Every month for about two years I called him at the store to make him swear he had not done so. I was sure he wouldn’t lie to me.”
His father had found other ways to make his life miserable.
“It took me longer than I had hoped to scrape together enough money so that I could support both of us. By that time, you had a stepmother and sisters and a home. You were settled in school and doing brilliantly, according to your father.” Her mouth twisted as she choked on a sob. “Kenneth told me in no uncertain terms that my rented apartment and paralegal job weren’t secure enough to risk uprooting you. He said he’d fight me for custody.” Now the sob broke loose. “I knew the law well enough to be afraid he would win, so I just kept sending cards and money and hoping for a miracle.”
Gavin knelt in front of his mother, taking the wineglass from her fidgeting hands before he gripped them in his own. “Dad was a man of powerful convictions. We were both too young to fight him.”
She pulled her hands free and wrapped them around his shoulders. Bending forward, she buried her face on his shoulder and wept full out. He held her, letting all his loneliness wash away with her tears. If he had suffered, she had suffered even more, because she carried a burden of guilt on top of all the other pain.
It reminded him of the day Allie had comforted him, taking on the storm of emotions battering him. Until now he had not understood how hard it was to see someone you cared about suffer so deeply. But Allie had stayed with him, offering her body for him to escape into, and her healing to bring him back to himself.
She had given him so many gifts, and he’d ground them under his heel at the first sign of trouble. He had to swallow a groan at the agony twisting in his chest.
His mother’s sobs quieted, and she lifted her head, wiping her eyes with the back of her hands. “Thank you, my dear one. You’re a better son than I deserve.”
“I’m not a good son. I waited too long to find you,” Gavin said, putting his forehead against her knee. “I’ve also done a terrible disservice to a woman I care deeply about. A woman who has been nothing but generous and giving to me.” He looked at his mother and reached into his pocket to pull out the velvet jewelry box and open it. “I’ve kept this with me ever since you left. I would like your permission to give it to this woman if I can convince her to offer me a second chance.”
His mother touched the heart-shaped ruby at the center of the locket with her fingertip. “It was the only thing I had of value to give you. My mother was wearing it when she died, so the police passed it on to me. I don’t even know what its history is.” She dropped her hand. “You don’t have to ask my permission. I’ve forfeited any right to tell you what you should or shouldn’t do. However, I’m still your mother, so I would like to know who the woman is, if you would share that with me.”
Gavin came to his feet. “Allie Nichols. She began as my physical therapist but has become much more.”
“I’m so relieved. I was afraid it would be that actress.” Her lips thinned as she pressed them together.
He shouldn’t be surprised that she knew about his very public love affair. “No, I’ve been done with Irene since Dad died. Allie is as different from her as gold from arsenic.”
He passed the velvet box from one hand to the other and back. “May I ask your advice?”
Susannah raised one dark eyebrow. “How do you convince her to give you that second chance?”
He nodded.
“What I was prepared to do with you.” His mother paused. “Grovel.”
Chapter 32
Allie wished she were anywhere other than sipping mediocre wine as she stood beside Jane Dreyer in a fancy hotel ballroom at a literary-awards ceremony.
“Has your client arrived yet?” she asked the agent. Jane had invited her to the dinner to meet a prospective patient who was reluctant to embark on physical therapy. Jane thought Allie’s presence would persuade him. Of course, that reminded Allie of her first meeting with Gavin. She winced as hurt and a searing sense of loss twisted in her chest.
Jane glanced around the room and shook her head. “Not to worry. Writers are notorious for losing track of time. He’ll show up.”
Allie hadn’t told Jane about her ugly split with Gavin. She was afraid it would appear unprofessional. Instead, she had casually asked if Gavin would be at the awards dinner. “He didn’t buy a ticket,” Jane had said. “And he’s not getting an award. Or presenting one.”
Allie had skimmed the ceremony’s program to confirm the truth of the latter statements, so she’d been able to relax up to a point. He was the one who was in the wrong, soheshould be nervous about running intoher. But she couldn’t quite convince herself of that.
She had braved the possibility of encountering Gavin because she was desperate. The patient Ben Cavill referred her to had hired her for the next couple of months, but even at the exorbitant rate she charged, it wasn’t enough income to keep her afloat. Damn Gavin for interfering with that, too.
Of course, the check that he had sent to her, claiming it was compensation for her work on the Julian Best bible, had been beyond anything her work was worth. Guilt money, to assuage his conscience. She’d kept what she thought was fair and sent back the rest.
But for all that, she missed him so much that she felt empty. Funny that she’d never felt that way about Troy. With him it had been a sense of failure and disappointment, not like her guts had been ripped out. Gavin made her feel fully alive, whether they were trading sass and snark, discussing Julian Best’s character, or making love with an intensity that lit up every inch of her body and soul.
Allie shifted on her high-heeled pumps. She’d been afraid that Jane would want to talk about Gavin, but the agent had simply thanked her for her excellent work with the writer and moved on to another topic.
