aside, as her sons, you should know who your mother really was, and what she sacrificed for the two of you. It’s all I can do to honor the memory of the woman I never stopped loving.”
“What do you mean who she really was?” Graham asked, his brow knit.
“Your mom wasn’t who you thought she was. Her real name was Amy Jo Turner.”
The brothers all looked taken aback. “She moved here from Cool Springs, a small town in Texas.”
“Son of a bitch,” Roman muttered, shaking his head. With the truth out it all made sense. He’d always suspected that Cynthia Newport was an alias, but he could never be sure and his investigation had proven inconclusive. “That explains why I couldn’t find anything on her before she moved here.”
Sutton’s nod seemed to take extreme effort. “She had no choice.”
“Why would she change her name and lie about where she’s from?” Brooks asked, sounding a little less cocky this time. “Was she a criminal? On the run from the law?”
“She was on the run, but not from the law. She was trying to get away from her father, your grandfather.”
Graham frowned. “Why?”
“He was an evil man. A violent and sadistic alcoholic. She told me about the beatings and the emotional abuse...” He shook his head, wincing, as if the words were too painful to speak. “He was a monster.”
“She had scars,” Graham said. “Physical ones. I remember asking her about them and she brushed it off, said something about being clumsy. I think deep down I knew it was a lie. Maybe I didn’t want to know the truth.”
“She wasn’t clumsy. But she did get careless, and found herself pregnant. She knew he would beat her. Two of her classmates turned up pregnant the previous year, and her father told her that if she ever got herself knocked up, he would take care of the ‘problem’ himself, with a fist to her stomach. Then he would kill the man who’d violated his daughter.
“She knew that he would do it. For everyone’s safety she knew she had to leave. But she couldn’t just disappear. She knew he would try to find her. And kill her.”
“Jesus,” Brooks mumbled as the color leeched from his face, the reality of the situation finally sinking in. “What about her mother?”
“She left when Cynthia was five. She couldn’t take the beatings and the abuse any longer.”
“And she just left our mother with him? Why?”
“She didn’t have a choice. He would have never let her take Cynthia away. And she feared that if she tried, he would kill them both.”
“So our mother changed her name,” Graham said.
“She did more than change her name. As far as everyone in Cool Springs is concerned, Amy Jo Turner went for a swim in Whisper Lake and never came back out. They found her belongings on the ground at the water’s edge, and though they never did find a body, she was assumed dead.”
Carson shook his head in disbelief. “Our mother faked her own death?”
Sutton nodded, looking sallow and tired. And so sad.
Knowing the man’s reputation as a shameless womanizer, the depth of emotion he was showing in regard to Cynthia blew Roman away. He could hardly believe it, but he actually felt sorry for the man.
“She had no other choice,” Sutton told them.
“So what about our father?” Graham asked. “Do you know who he is?”
Sutton shook his head. “She never told me his name, but I know that he lived in the same town. And she told me once that you boys look just like him. I don’t doubt that with this new information, Roman will be able to track him down.”
As long as Roman had known Sutton, that was the closest thing to praise he’d ever gotten from him.
“Does he even know we exist?” Graham asked.
“She never told him about her pregnancy.”
At least now Roman knew why Sutton wanted to keep Gracie out of this meeting. Sutton’s dalliances were legend in Chicago. But it would have been awkward, explaining in front of his own daughter how he’d not only cheated on her mother, but had been in love with Cynthia.
As if reading his mind, Sutton looked over to Roman and said, “My daughters can never know about this.”
So what the hell was he supposed to tell Gracie when she asked Roman about the meeting? Did Sutton expect him to lie to her? Or would she accept that what was said was confidential? That it was official business and as such he couldn’t break privilege. He was a man of his word. Once he made a promise, he would not break it. He’d learned that lesson too late to save his relationship with Gracie, but it was a mistake he would never make again.
Either way, he couldn’t tell her.
The brothers were eager for answers, and Roman was eager to finally solve the mystery, but when the other men left, he hung back, hoping to have a word with Sutton alone.
“You have something to say to me?” Sutton asked him when he didn’t leave.
Roman stood at the foot of the bed, feet spread, arms folded across his chest. It was an intimidation tactic, and one he did automatically, because he knew that despite being so ill, no one could intimidate the great Sutton Winchester.
“That was good what you did for them,” Roman said.
“I didn’t do it for them,” the older man said, looking so weak and pale Roman worried he might drop dead right there. “I did it to honor Cynthia and her legacy. I couldn’t let the truth of who she was die with her.”
“You really did love her,” Roman said, finding that hard to imagine.
“I’ve loved deeply, and I lost her. But that was my fault. I never should have let her go, but I did and I’ve had to live with that. I was torn between being with the woman I loved and losing my family, who I loved just as much. Though I haven’t always been good at showing it.”
“Yeah, about that. Kudos on the reconnaissance mission you sent Grace on.”
He folded his hands in his lap. “You disapprove?”
“That’s putting it lightly.”
“Everything that I do, every decision I make, is for the good of the family name,” Sutton said.
He really was a selfish bastard, wasn’t he? Though Roman really should be thanking Sutton. His actions had brought Roman and Gracie back together.
Which, come to think of it, was probably the worst thing he could have done if he wanted Roman out of the picture. Sutton had never approved of him before the first scandal, and he sure as hell never would now. But Sutton had seen
