A Silken Thread - Brenda Jackson [102]
“Why shouldn’t I? Like mother, like son.”
He flinched as if he’d been slapped. “You’re wrong for that, Erica,” he said, as hurt filled his lungs to a bursting point. His body ached and he felt wounded all over.
“And you’re wrong for what you did,” she replied. “Just stay the hell away from me. I don’t ever want to see you again.”
She grabbed her carry-on and stormed out of the house.
Chapter Thirty-One
April crossed her arms over her chest. “I doubt there is anything we have to talk about, Mrs. Sanders. And why are you here in L.A. and not Wyoming?”
Karen sneered. “Maybe I should be asking why Erica is in Dallas and not here. The two of you thought you were smart to pull something on me, but me being here shows I’m a lot smarter than either of you.”
April shook her head. She could so clearly remember the day Erica had brought her home from school for dinner. Mrs. Sanders had acted as if April was no better than the mess on the bottom of someone’s shoes. She hadn’t even pretended to like her and, in fact, she would go out of her way to let April know just how much she detested her. Erica always said it was just the way her mother was and not to take it personally, but for some reason April had always taken it that way.
“My visit won’t take up much of your time,” Karen said, placing her purse on the coffee table and sitting down.
She glanced around. “Nice place you have here. You have certainly come up in the world, April.”
“I would say thank-you if I thought for one minute you meant it.”
Karen smiled. “You and I are more alike than you think. You see something you want and you go after it. You’ve always wanted Griffin, haven’t you?”
April saw no reason to lie about it. This woman couldn’t hurt her and she most certainly would not let her intimidate her any longer. “Yes, that’s right.”
Karen shook her head with a sad expression on her face. “I wished I had known before now. I could have saved you a lot of pain.”
“Could you have?”
“Yes. You can’t have Griffin.”
April glared. “Why? Because you refused to give up your obsession that he and Erica get together?” The woman had a smug look on her face and April could feel her flesh beginning to crawl.
“Yes, but that’s not the only reason.”
“Is there another?”
Karen smiled. “Yes. Have you ever wondered about the identity of your father?”
April shrugged. Even if she had she would never admit it to this woman. “Not really.”
“Then maybe you should have. It would have spared you a lot of grief now.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Karen threw her head back and chuckled. “That doesn’t surprise me. You were never very bright, and your mother had even less intelligence.”
April filled with rage. “How dare you say such a thing about my mother. I want you to leave.”
“Not until I have my say. You can hear the truth from me or you can read about it in the Hattersville newspaper when I tell everyone, which will ruin any chance of Griffin becoming a politician.”
“What truth?”
The smile that appeared on Karen’s face was so cold that April felt chilled to the bone. “The fact that the two of you share the same daddy. In other words, April, Griffin is your biological brother.”
The woman’s words were like a hard blow and April felt her head spinning. She lost her balance and sank into the chair beside her.
She closed her eyes, thinking this was all a bad dream and when she reopened her eyes Karen Sanders wouldn’t be sitting across from her with a smug look on her face, looking as if she had finally delivered the fatal blow to destroy her forever. A question rang through her head—one that had always been there, where Mrs. Sanders was concerned. Why did she hate her so much?
April had once mentioned it to her grandmother, who’d merely shrugged and said the woman had issues, always had and always would. Nana had told her to ignore her and her ways, and most of all to pray for her. For a while April had done just that, asking God to somehow change the woman’s heart. But so far he hadn’t.
“That’s not true,