For Jenny's Sake Read online

  For Jenny's Sake

  By

  Barri Bryan

  Copyright 2003 by Billie Houston

  Names, characters and incidents depicted in this book are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of the author or the publisher.

  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  Dedication

  For Fran, who is a good mommy.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  Chapter One

  Erin Bennett looked from the magazine she was perusing to glance around the expensively furnished office. Eight years had brought few changes. The same portrait of Joshiah Harrow hung on the far wall. The same antique oak desk stood near the entrance to the inner offices. One thing had changed. Middle-aged Mrs. Pritchert had been replaced by a younger and much prettier receptionist.

  Erin caught the young woman's eye. "My appointment was for ten-thirty and it's now—"

  "Please be patient, Mrs. Bennett. Mr. Harrow will buzz when he's ready to see you."

  Erin suspected that Gabriel Harrow would never be ready for another meeting with his ex-wife. She laid her magazine in her lap as memory took her back to their last encounter. They were seated across from each other at a conference table in the private office of Gabe's attorney. After a long stretch of uneasy silence, Gabe pushed himself to his feet. "I don't know any easy way to say this. You can't see Jenny again."

  Erin's heart dipped like a roller coaster. "Why?"

  "The fact that you have to ask only strengthens my resolve."

  "You can't keep me from seeing my own daughter." Or could he? Foreboding rose in Erin's throat.

  "She's our daughter," Gabe stretched his neck to stare at the ceiling. "I have sole custody. I can do as I choose."

  Pain brought Erin to her feet. "No, Gabe. Please, no!"

  He dropped into his chair and rubbed his hand across his brow. "I have to do what's best for Jenny."

  Erin had expected he would limit her access to Jenny. Never in her wildest dreams had she thought he would forbid her to see her own child. "How can it be best for a four-year-old never to see her mother again?"

  "I didn't say you could never see her again." Gabe ran his finger around his shirt collar. "She needs time to adjust to all the sudden changes in her life."

  Erin's fear escalated to panic. "She's so young. If... if I don't see her for a long while she will forget me."

  The contempt in his eyes was unmistakable. "Maybe that would be best."

  She gasped, "You don't mean that."

  "Oh, but I do," Gabe assured her with calm detachment. "Jenny's become quite a problem. Your visits make things worse. Cora is concerned."

  "Cora," Erin echoed. The thought that Gabe would listen to his stepmother—who despised Erin—added fuel to the fire that raged inside her. "Cora hates me."

  Gabe's distasteful gaze raked across her face. "She's not the only one who's concerned. Even Mavis can see—"

  "Your stepsister has the mind of a child. She's incapable of seeing anything past her own world of make-believe." As suddenly as it flared, Erin's anger died to dusty ashes.

  Gabe bristled. "I know you would like the world to believe Mavis is unbalanced. She isn't. She is mentally challenged. She is not irrational."

  Tears choked in Erin's throat. The last ounce of fight drained from her. She had lost again, and this time it cost her Jenny. She stood, pushed her chair under the table, and glared at the man across from her. "You will pay for this—sooner or later—one way or another."

  Without a backward glance she spun around and walked away. She hadn't seen Gabriel Harrow since that day.

  "Mr. Harrow will see you now, Mrs. Bennett." The receptionist inclined her head toward the door behind her desk. "Mr. Harrow's office is the first door on the right."

  Erin tossed her magazine on a nearby chair and hurried down the corridor. The sooner she got through this ordeal, the better she would feel. She lifted her fist and rapped on the door marked Gabriel Harrow, President and CEO.

  From inside an impatient masculine voice called, "Yes, come in."

  Erin squared her shoulders, opened the door, and stepped into the lavishly appointed room.

  Gabe sat behind a massive mahogany desk. He wore a gray business suit that matched the color of his silver-gray eyes. Those eyes rounded in surprise at the sight of her. "Hello, Erin."

  She lifted her chin as her cool, defiant voice fell out into the vacant silence. "Hello, Gabe."

  She had forgotten what a commanding and formidable physical appearance he possessed with his broad chest that tapered to a slim waist, a solid torso and strong firm legs. Inside that chest beat a cold and unfeeling heart.

  *****

  Gabriel Harrow looked at the slim creature that came through the door, and gasped. This was not the woman who eight years ago vanished without a trace. Erin Harrow was a shy, naïve young girl. Erin Bennett emanated an aura of sophistication and assurance that spoke of wealth and refinement. Her beauty was not so startling now. He could almost believe she had sought to subdue it. Her flame-red hair folded into a bun at the nape of her neck. The severe style accentuated her elegant profile and emphasized her delicate bone structure. The expensive rust-colored dress she wore heightened the provocative curves of her slim figure. The translucent skin of her oval face was enhanced with skillful touches of make-up. Her eyes, huge and green as cut emeralds, looked out from beneath the dark fringes of incredibly long lashes.

  He once thought her to be as kind and loving as she was beautiful. How could he have been so foolish? Perhaps it was genetic, this predisposition to be captivated and then completely fooled by a beautiful woman. Hadn't his father suffered the same fate?

  He extended one hand toward a chair near his desk. "Please sit down." After all these years, why had she returned?

  His mind was jerked back to that terrible day in his attorney's office. He believed he was acting in Jenny's best interest when he suspended Erin's visiting privileges. Time and experience soon taught him that his painful ultimatum was a mistake.

  He set out to find Erin. He called her apartment. She had moved and left no forwarding address. He called her sister, Elizabeth. Liz hung up the second she heard his name.

  He visited his Aunt Maybelle. She was kind, sympathetic, and a bit condescending. "If she had told me, do you think that I would betray that trust?" She asked in that soft southern drawl, "Haven't you learned anything from your father's mistakes?" She shook her head as she answered her own question. "It's obvious you haven't." Her heavy bosom heaved in a weary sigh. "Leave it be, Gabriel. Jenny will get over losing Erin and so will you." They hadn't. They got through it, past it, around it, but neither of them
would ever be over it.

  Gabe hired detectives. Sooner or later Erin would seek employment, rent an apartment, put up deposits for utilities—something. She didn't. After several years of vain searching, one Sunday morning, he picked up a newspaper and read that Erin had married Sheldon Bennett, a reclusive and eccentric billionaire. Now she was back.

  His mind fast forwarded eight years as Erin perched on the edge of the chair in front of his desk, and said, "You're looking well." Her voice had changed. It was richer in tone and deeper in timbre.

  "So are you." Gabe pressed his broad shoulders against the back in his chair. "This is a surprise."

  "It shouldn't be. I had a ten-thirty appointment." She glanced at her watch. "It's now eleven-ten."

  Gabe stared at that lovely, composed face. Curiosity overrode any thought of social amenities. "Why did you come here?"

  Erin looked him in the eye without blinking. "I want to see Jenny."

  He had always known this day would come. "I think that can be arranged after a proper amount of time and preparation."

  Erin placed her hands on the arms of her chair and leaned forward. "I don't have time to wait, or prepare. I want to see my daughter immediately."

  All the heartache and heartbreak of the past eight years rolled across Gabe like an onrushing tide. His answer was cold and calculated. "I am the one who will decide when and if you see Jenny."

  Erin didn't blink. "I don't want this to disintegrate into a mud-slinging contest but I will see Jenny, one way or another."

  An insidious thought unraveled inside Gabe's brain. Did Erin have some notion of trying to take Jenny from him? She could wage that battle now. Sheldon Bennett had been a rich and influential man. A moment's reflection changed his mind. If she intended to pursue some legal course to gain custody of Jenny the last thing she would do was alert him to that fact. "I don't like being threatened."

  "It's not a threat." Her tone was mild. Her eyes flashed green fire. "It's a promise." After a moment of uneasy silence, she said, "Stephen Palmer's lawyers have petitioned for a new trial."

  Those words hit Gabe with the force of a well-aimed blow to his mid-section. "You stayed in touch with your jailbird lover? How did your husband feel about that?"

  "My personal life no longer concerns you."

  That was true. He had no right to pry. "Is there any chance that the petition will be granted?"

  Erin nodded. "There's a better than average chance according to Birdie Lafferty, Steve's attorney. New evidence has surfaced."

  How could Steven Palmer afford to engage an expensive attorney like the flamboyant Birdie Lafferty? He couldn't, but Erin could. "So you came back to stir up trouble."

  Erin's eyes widened. "You think I'm responsible for this turn of events?"

  "Aren't you?" She was so beautiful. He couldn't take his eyes off her.

  "No. Steve's daughter is."

  "Sarah?' Gabe questioned. "She's just a child."

  "She was a senior in high school eight years ago. She's an attorney now with one burning purpose directing her life—to clear her father's name. Sarah has convinced a very influential group of people that Steve was framed for a crime he didn't commit. She has also enlisted some elite members of the national press to help her publicize the new evidence she's uncovered. Marc Renfro of America Now has done a documentary on the case. It's scheduled to air nationwide this Saturday evening."

  That, Gabe knew, all too well. "Renfro's staff contacted us earlier to ask for an interview. I refused."

  Erin lifted one dark eyebrow. "You did say us?"

  "He wanted to interview both Mavis and me. I refused, of course." Surely Erin hadn't—maybe she had. "You granted them an interview?" Gabe's question was in reality an accusation.

  Erin's fine features hardened. "I have nothing to hide."

  "You're implying we do?" Eight years ago Mavis' testimony placed Erin at the scene of a drug-deal-gone-wrong murder. Mavis's statement coupled with later evidence proved to Gabe, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that the wife he adored was unfaithful to him.

  Erin looked him squarely in the eye. "I don't care about you or Mavis. I do care that this affair is going to be dragged out into the limelight and laid bare to public scrutiny all over again."

  "This conversation is over." Gabe stood and folded his arm across his chest. "Good bye."

  Erin glared up at him. "You can't get rid of me that easily. I want to see my daughter immediately."

  Gabe fell back into his chair as an inarticulate sound growled from his throat. After a long moment he said, "I can't expose Jenny to such a traumatic experience. We must do this gradually. I have to protect her."

  Erin's hands gripped the arms of her chair. "How will you protect her from the consequences of this sordid story being dragged out in detail again?"

  That was an eventually Gabe had not considered. "If she asks questions, I can explain."

  "I can do my own explaining. I want to see my daughter and tell her the truth about what happened eight years ago."

  Anger consumed Gabe's intent to be composed. "No." He pointed to the door. "Get out and don't come back."

  Erin met his knifing stare with a look of steely determination. "I intend to see my daughter. It would be to your advantage if you and I could come to some amicable agreement. If we can't, I'll see you in court."

  Gabe swallowed. "You are threatening me."

  "It's not a threat," Erin said with quiet resolve. "One way or another, I intend to see Jenny."

  "You won't. I won't let you."

  "I should have known this was how you would react. In fairness to Jenny, I had to try for a peaceable solution." Erin stood and pushed her chair back with one foot. "You are a hard man, Gabriel Harrow." Turning, she walked swiftly from the room.

  Gabe watched her small, erect figure as she moved through the door and disappeared down the corridor. His jaw tightened as a rigor of anger shook through him. Beneath that anger ran an elusive thread of apprehension. The Erin who ran away so long ago was a frightened, naïve little girl. The Erin who had returned was a poised, sophisticated, and very determined woman.

  Chapter Two

  Twilight had dropped its mantle over the countryside. Gabe relaxed on the patio lounge and stared toward a darkening sky. A sigh slipped through his lips.

  The young girl seated across from him put her elbows on the patio table and dropped her chin into her hands. "Daddy, is something bothering you?" She was a tall child, and skinny—mostly knees, angles and elbows. In that gawky awkwardness there lurked the promise of rare and unique beauty that would one day blossom. Her dark hair was pulled back from her heart shaped face. It hung down her back in long luxuriant curls. Her eyes, so like her mother's that it haunted Gabe, were questioning. "You haven't said two words in the last hour."

  Gabe focused his gaze and his attention on his daughter. "What could possibly be bothering me?"

  "Daddy," the young voice was firm, "don't treat me like I'm a little kid. I'm almost a teenager."

  Gabe groaned. "Don't remind me." He wondered if Jenny knew her mother was back in Summerville. If she didn't, she soon would. How he longed to spare his daughter the kind of heartbreak that marred his childhood. His growing up years were punctuated with his mother's drifting in and out of his life like a restless phantom. She would appear, lovely and repentant, and this time, according to her honeyed words, "For good." Over and over, Gabe and his father hoped, believed, and trusted. There would follow a few weeks, sometimes a few months, of sheer happiness. Then as suddenly as she had appeared, Serena Harrow was gone.

  "You're getting to be quite a young lady." Gabe's resolve hardened. Erin wouldn't hurt Jenny. He wouldn't allow it.

  Jenny stared down at her hands now folded and resting in her lap. "Daddy, she's back in town."

  Jenny seldom spoke of Erin. When she did, the reference was to She, or Her, or That Lady. He knew his daughter was still deeply wounded by her mother's desertion. How well he understood t
hat feeling, how profoundly he sympathized and how guilty he felt. If he hadn't taken away Erin's right to visit Jenny, maybe she would have stayed in Summerville. "Your mother came to see me today."

  "She did?" Jenny's voice lifted in surprise. "Why?"

  This was a subject Gabe had avoided for years. It seemed the moment of truth had come. "Do you know what the word custody means?"

  "Pretty much. Kim's mother has custody of her." Jenny twisted in her chair. "You have custody of me, don't you?"

  Gabe nodded. "Yes, I do."

  Jenny swallowed before saying. "Kim's dad comes to see her every other weekend. Now that She's back in Summerville do you think That Lady will come to see me?"

  As painful as it was, Jenny had to be told. "I don't think so."

  Tears collected in the corners of her eyes. "Daddy, why doesn't my mother like me?"

  Gabe's heart went out to his young daughter. "Don't be foolish. Of course, your mother likes you."

  "Why doesn't she come to see me?" Jenny asked, and then added, "She came to see you."

  There seemed to be no answer to that question, short of telling the truth. Gabe took a deep breath. "Your mother can't see you without my permission. That's what she came to see me about."

  Jenny's voice soared with elation. "She wants to see me?" Leaning forward she asked anxiously, "When, Daddy, when?"

  Resentment at being put in this difficult position made Gabe's voice sharp. "I'm not sure you should see your mother."

  "But I want to," Jenny argued, "And she wants to see me. She wouldn't have come to see you if she didn't. Why Daddy? Why can't I see her?"

  Gabe wasn't the villain in this little scenario. Why, then, did he feel like one? "There are some extenuating circumstances."

  "What's that supposed to mean?" Jenny came directly to the point. "Did you tell my mother she couldn't see me?"

  Her bald question caught Gabe unaware. He extended one hand in supplication. "Jenny, please try to understand."

  Jenny was unyielding. "Is that what you told her?"

  Gabe reacted automatically and foolishly. "Yes it is."