mention Bonita’s heavy drinking, they all still felt obliged to maintain the illusion of a happy family gathering over Sunday dinner.
Yet, it was rare for all the Garrison siblings to be present, and tonight was no exception.
Stephen looked around the room. Bonita sat at the head of the dining room table, and his younger brother, Adam, and younger sister, Brooke, sat across from him.
Missing were Parker and Anna, and Brooke’s twin, Brittany. Stephen figured the newlyweds had better things to do, lucky dogs. And since Brittany had recently decided she was in love with Emilio Jefferies, she preferred avoiding tense family dinners.
Now, as they chewed dinner mostly in silence, Stephen reflected on how an outsider might perceive tonight’s gathering.
Valuable artwork hung on one wall, and in front of the opposite wall sat a china closet displaying various crystal pieces. Potted ferns sat in two corners of the room, and Greek columns flanked an arched entry. Overhead, a magnificent chandelier hung from a painted domed ceiling.
The room, like the rest of the estate, was majestic—and cold as ice.
His gaze came back to his family. Better to bite the bullet, he thought grimly.
“I just found out I have an illegitimate child,” he announced into the silence.
Brooke gasped, and Adam froze.
Bonita stopped in midmotion, her wineglass halfway to her lips.
Given the shock waves that the discovery of John Garrison’s illegitimate child had recently sent through the family, he had no illusions about how his news would be received.
Suddenly Bonita gave a raucous laugh. “Just like your father, except you don’t have a wife to trick.”
He ignored the outburst, though it was uncharacteristic. He was the only one of the Garrison off-spring that his mother didn’t criticize, but he knew his news was a bombshell. “There’s a three-year-old little girl named Jade.”
“How?” Adam asked, raising the question he knew must be in everyone’s mind.
He held his brother’s gaze. “I had a relationship with her mother, Megan Simmons, when she did some interior design work at Garrison headquarters.”
Bonita shook her head. “Just like your damned father!”
He heard the note of betrayal in his mother’s tone, and felt his face tighten. “I’m planning on publicly acknowledging Jade as my daughter as soon as possible.”
And marrying Megan, he added silently, if he got his way. He planned to do everything in his power to get his way.
Bonita’s hand came down, her glass hitting the table with a thud and sending red wine across the white tablecloth. “You will do no such thing, do you hear me? I will not have the child of another tramp in this family! I will not tolerate another slut getting her hands on the Garrison fortune!”
He faced his mother. “You have no say in the matter,” he ground out.
“I’m disappointed in you, Stephen,” Bonita said, her voice frigid despite her inebriated state. “First your father betrays this family, then you do. Don’t we have enough turmoil to deal with?”
In fact, he’d been thinking the same thing, but he rebelled at putting Megan in the same category as his father’s faithlessness.
His fling with Megan may have been careless, but it sure as hell hadn’t amounted to marital infidelity.
And it wasn’t the fact that he had fathered a child out of wedlock that bothered him. It was having a child and not acknowledging her for years that, for him, created uncomfortable parallels with his father.
The longtime housekeeper, Lisette, appeared in the archway, no doubt having heard raised voices.
Bonita knocked a wine bottle to the floor, sending more wine, as well as glass this time, everywhere. Then she rose unsteadily to her feet.
Stephen stood, and Adam did the same.
Immediately, Lisette moved to Bonita’s side. “Let me help you, Mrs. Garrison.”
Stephen watched, along with Adam and Brooke, as Lisette helped Bonita from the room.
His hands bunched at his sides. He figured Lisette, as well as the missing Garrison family members, would find out soon enough what caused tonight’s ruckus.
“Well, another rockin’ Garrison family dinner!” Adam said, then picked up his glass and raised it in a mock salute before taking a swallow.
“Why don’t we continue this conversation outside on the patio where the wet bar is?” he said to Adam and Brooke. Outside, they would be away from any prying eyes and open ears among the household staff. “We can let the staff clean up in here.”
They’d almost finished with dinner, anyway. He looked down at the spilled wine and broken glass in distaste.
“Sorry,” Brooke demurred. “I think I’ll pass.”
Stephen noticed his sister continued to look pale.
“Is something wrong?” he asked. “Did my news shock you that much?”
“N-no,” she stammered.
He searched her face. “You look upset.”
“I’m concerned about Mother’s drinking.” She lowered her voice. “Did you notice she drank almost a full bottle of wine at dinner—before she spilled the rest?”
Yeah, he had, and he hated to think how much his mother had imbibed before dinner.
Still, he had to admit that sometimes he’d felt the need for a fortifying drink before a Garrison family dinner.
They’d all moved to one end of the dining room, and he gently chucked Brooke under the chin. “Don’t worry, kid. Let our mother deal with her own problems. But if it makes you feel better, I’m planning on having a talk with her.”
Fat lot of good it would do, but he’d try. For some reason, today’s dinner aside, Bonita usually held her tongue with him, and he figured that gave him some leverage. He’d also have to make clear that he wouldn’t tolerate his mother taking any more cheap shots at Megan.
After he and Adam had said goodbye to Brooke and had retreated outdoors to the patio, he went to the marble-topped wet bar to pour himself a Scotch on the rocks.
The patio was dominated by an Olympic-size pool and lined with queen palms that swayed in the cool breeze. There was an unobstructed view of the ocean.
Their surroundings were serene, which made the recent tumult inside the mansion seem all the more out of place.
“Drink?” he asked Adam, who’d taken a seat on one of the bar stools.
“Booker’s Bourbon, thanks.”
From there, the conversation quickly
