Eternally Yours - Brenda Jackson [103]
Syntel Remington stood, crossing his arms like a protective shield. Clayton couldn’t help but note it was something Syneda did occasionally.
“Ned, I asked you, what about Janeda?”
The room fell silent once more and before Senator Lansing could respond Syntel spoke again. “All right, I think I get it now. If the two of you are here to warn me that you’ve gotten wind that one of those slick and sleazy tabloids have somehow dug up information about my relationship with Janeda and plan to print it, don’t concern yourselves with it. I will never deny ever loving her. You should know that, Ned.”
Nedwyn Lansing nodded. “Yes, I know, Syntel, but that’s not it. That’s not why we’re here. There’s something else, something you should know. And I think you should sit back down before hearing it.”
Syntel looked for a moment like he wasn’t going to take the senator’s suggestion, but then he took his seat again. “What is it, Ned?”
“Jan had a child. Your child.”
Clayton watched the color drain from the man’s face with Senator Lansing’s words.
“What did you say?” Syntel’s lips barely moved when he asked the question.
Senator Lansing forced himself to respond calmly. “I said Jan had a child. Your child. A girl.”
Syntel jumped up out of his seat, nearly knocking a plant off his desk in the process. His face was filled with rage. “Who told you that lie, Ned? How could you believe such a thing?”
“It’s true, Syntel. I checked it out myself. If you remember, Jan disappeared right after you’d left for the Air Force Academy. I think she did it because she knew she was pregnant.”
“If what you say is true, why wouldn’t she have told me? She knew I loved her. There was nothing I would not have done for her.”
“I think she knew that, and that’s the reason she left without telling you. She didn’t see a place for her in your life. You and I know that society would never have accepted a marriage between the two of you. At least not back then. She knew it, too, and left.”
Syntel slumped back down in his chair. He buried his face in his hands, shaking his head. “No, I don’t believe it. I refuse to believe Janeda would give our child away.”
“She didn’t give the child away. She raised your child alone as a single parent until her death.”
Syntel’s head snapped up. “Are you saying I have a child somewhere? A daughter?”
“Yes. She was ten years old when Jan died.”
Syntel shook his head as if dazed with disbelief. “What happened to her?”
“Because the authorities assumed she didn’t have any living relatives after Jan died, she became a ward of this state and was placed in a foster home.”
“No!”
Clayton watched as Syntel Remington’s entire body jerked as if it had been struck. His face filled with rage. “Are you saying my child was raised by strangers?”
Clayton spoke for the first time. “That was the only recourse under the circumstances. But I can tell you that the Phillipses were good people and she was treated very well.”
Syntel looked at Clayton as if he had forgotten he was there. His shoulders slumped. “So no one knew I was her father?”
With a sigh of resignation, Senator Lansing stood, knowing he had to tell his friend the rest of the story. During the flight from D.C. to Austin, Clayton had told him everything, including his investigator’s personal interview with Clara Boyd. It had been a case of downright deceit and betrayal by Syntel’s father.
“That’s not true, Syntel. There were two others who knew you were the child’s father. When Jan knew she was dying, she told someone she thought she could trust to contact you. In fact, she died believing you were contacted and were coming for your child. She even told your daughter you would be coming for her.”
He wiped a film of perspiration from his forehead before continuing. “However, instead of getting you, the person who’d made the call for Jan spoke to your father instead. And…”
“And what?”
“Your father made the