The President's Daughter - Mariah Stewart [128]
“Dr. Norton, I’d been hoping for an opportunity to thank you for all you did for me. For all of us.”
“It was merely a matter of keeping a trust, my dear.” Norton leaned toward her, so that no one other than Dina could hear. “As I promised your father I would always do.”
Dina folded her arms over her chest and studied the older man who stood before her. Simon had been right on the money. Sean Connery without the accent. Definitely . . .
“Might we have a few minutes alone?” Gray handed Dina a glass of pale wine that sparkled just slightly.
“Of course.” Dina nodded, then looked up at Norton. “If you’ll excuse me. I know there are other things I’d like to talk to you about.”
“Whenever you’re ready, my dear.”
Dina squeezed Simon’s hand for luck and said, “I’ll be back.”
“I’ll be here.”
Dina followed Gray into the cool of the house.
“How about here, in the den?” Gray held the door for her, and she smiled tentatively.
“That’s fine.” Dina followed him into the room.
“I’m so grateful that you agreed to come here today, Dina. I’ve been wanting to meet you ever since . . . well, since . . .”
“I’m surprised you’d want to meet me at all.” Dina looked up at him. “Since I am, after all, responsible for your sister’s death.”
“My sister took your mother’s life.” Gray met her gaze head-on. “And, from what I understand, tried her best to take yours. My family and I were stunned. Never in a million years could we have imagined that Sarah would do such things. None of us were prepared for the truth, especially my mother. Sarah had been . . . very ill . . . emotionally . . . on and off as a young girl, but she’d received the very finest treatment. We’d been assured that her illness was far behind her. None of us could ever have guessed that it was still there, under the surface. Dr. Norton thinks that Sarah found out about you from the tape she stole from Simon’s apartment—we found it in the glove box of her car—and apparently, the discovery triggered a relapse. . . .”
“But no one had noticed any change in her behavior?”
“Actually, yes, Julian had. He’d spoken to my mother about a month earlier, about Sarah’s mood swings and sudden bursts of anger. He’d tried to get her to return to the doctor, but she refused. Julian was hoping that Mother could convince her to go.”
“I’m assuming she declined.”
“She did. Unfortunately, no one realized just how deeply ill she was.”
“How is your mother doing?” Dina asked gently.
“She’s not been at all well since Sarah’s death. It’s all been such a horror for her. To find out that her daughter was a murderer, that she’d harbored such a terrible secret for so many years . . .”
“I’m so very sorry.”
“I appreciate that. This has all been too much for a woman of her age to deal with.” Gray appeared to swallow hard. “It’s been too much for all of us. Sarah deeply hurt so many people. Her children. Julian. Even his sister feels betrayed. You’ve heard, I suppose, that Sarah’d been driving Carolyn’s car the night of the accident. Sarah told her that she’d hit a deer on one of the back roads around the school. Finding out what really happened has been a terrible shock to everyone.”
“Why did you invite me here, Gray?”
“Because I felt that we needed to meet, at the very least. Because I felt you were due an apology on behalf of my family. Because I think my father would have wanted me to know you. And because there is the matter of needing to know how much information you’re comfortable with ultimately being shared with the public.”
Dina sat back on the arm of a wingback chair placed to one side of a small brick fireplace, Gray sat on the arm of the chair facing hers.
“None,” Dina said adamantly.
“You mean you’re not planning on going on Oprah?” He tried to force a smile.
“No. As a matter of fact, I’m not planning on telling anyone.”
“You could make a great deal of money from this.”
“Are you crazy? Do you know what would happen to my life?” Dina stood, horrified at the thought.
“Yes. You’ll