Golden Lies - Barbara Freethy [100]
"You were the one who had it the worst," Alyssa said generously, even though she still couldn't quite forgive her mother for withholding the name of her father for so many years.
"What about David?"
"What about him? He obviously didn't want to know me. If he did, he would have asked you about me. He would have wanted to see me."
"It is much more complicated than that," Jasmine replied with a helpless wave of her hand. "He did ask at times. I refused. I had my reasons. I didn't want you to be confused any more than you already were."
"That I don't understand, but it was your choice."
"Yes, perhaps it was wrong. I don't know anymore, but he is awake now."
"He is?" she asked, her body tightening.
"It was on the news last night."
"Well, that's good, I guess. He can clear you if the police come back." Alyssa paused, not sure she was ready to ask the question in her head, but it came out before she could stop it. "How did you two meet? How did a humble Chinese girl from Chinatown meet a rich, handsome man like David Hathaway?"
"It is a long story."
Alyssa sat down on the couch. "Tell me."
Jasmine stood in the center of the room, looking decidedly uncomfortable, but finally she began to speak. "I met him at a party at his home. I was working as a waitress for a caterer, and the Hathaways had ordered a special Chinese feast in honor of David's birthday." She paused. "He was very sad that night. His daughter had died only a few weeks earlier."
"His daughter?" Alyssa asked in shock. "I thought Paige was an only child."
"No, there was an older girl. Her name was Elizabeth. David left the feast as soon as possible. I was on the terrace collecting glasses. He started talking to me. I think for some reason I was the only one in the house that night that he could talk to. He said they were all pretending -- his wife, his father, his friends. They were acting as if life was normal, but he didn't think it would ever be normal again." She took a breath, collecting her memories. "I don't know how it happened. One minute we were talking, and the next minute we were kissing. It was wrong. He was married. But there was something between us, a connection. I felt as if we belonged together, as if this was meant to be for some reason."
Her mother made it sound romantic and lovely, but the consequences of that night had been anything but. Her own existence was a testament to that fact.
"I fell in love with him at first sight," Jasmine continued. "I've loved him ever since."
"But he never really loved you, did he?" she asked sharply.
"I suppose not," her mother admitted, her voice edged with pain.
"And he never loved me, either." Alyssa made it a statement, not a question.
"He couldn't. He thought loving you would be a betrayal of his love for his daughter Elizabeth. He had come to me out of grief. When I became pregnant; when I had a daughter, he didn't know how to react. For him to care about you seemed wrong."
"Were you together after I was born?"
Jasmine cleared her throat somewhat awkwardly. "A few times in the early years, usually around Elizabeth's birthday. I thought that's why he had come this past week to see me. Her birthday is on Wednesday. I was surprised when the reason for his visit was the dragon."
Alyssa nodded, her mind reeling with the information she had just received. "So you and my father met by chance at a party. It seems like such a coincidence."
"What do you mean?"
"When I was at Ben's apartment, I saw a photo of my two grandfathers. Wallace Hathaway was shaking Grandfather's hand at a New Year's celebration a long time ago. Don't you think it's odd that they knew each other?"
"It's not odd at all. When my father first came to San Francisco, he worked at the House of Hathaway."
"He did?" Alyssa asked in amazement, wondering when she would stop being surprised.
"Yes, but it was only for a short time. It was a long time ago, before he and your grandmother started the herb shop. I used to wish when I was a little girl that he worked at Hathaway's still, so he could