Page 58 of Fatal Deception
But Karly appeared wholly unmoved by the word. “All you are to me is a reminder my dad wasn’t who he was supposed to be. I don’t need that in my life. Sorry.”
She didn’t sound sorry, and maybe that’s what had Audra’s temper straining. Or maybe she was emboldened by the fact that Copeland stood back, didn’t try and interfere or step in now.
“He wasn’t who he was supposed to be to us, either. You aren’t special or unique. We’re all in the same Tim Young shipwreck.”
“Maybe. We want to use that metaphor? My brother is lost at sea, so I’ve got more pressing concerns than someone else’s wreck.” Karly looked her up and down, like Audra was the center and cause of everything their father had done. It sent a cold chill through Audra.
“I’m sorry,” Audra said, and she meant it. As frustrating as this was, she understood more than anyone what it was like to be her—their—father’s victim. “I’d like to help.”
Karly shook her head. “I didn’t come here for help.”
“Then whatdidyou come here for?”
Karly’s eyes darted to the house behind them. The broken windows. Audra couldn’t read the expression, but it wasn’tneutral.
“You knew this existed,” Audra said, striving to keep her voice even. “I invited you all here. I wanted… I wanted us to see if we could be a family.”
Karly snorted bitterly. “Benevolent of you.”
Audra shook her head. “No. I was trying to find some way to mitigate the grief of losing him twice. The finality ofdeath, and the death of the man I thought he was. Which wasn’t all that great. I wasn’t under any illusion he was great. He was selfish. He was careless. He was so many crappy things, and caused me a lot of pain and strife, even before I knew he had a whole other family.” The next words stuck in her throat. She didn’t want to admit them, but she saw Karly’s stonewall expression and knew the only way through was to find some common ground. “And I still loved him.”
Maybe Audra was taking it too far, but in the grand scheme of things, couldn’t Karly see that the man between them was the enemy? The man who’d put them both in this position and got to die rather than deal with any of the fallout.
Karly swallowed. Hard. The anger, the bitterness, the sharp edges didn’t dull, but something in her…slumped.
“Okay, yeah. Maybe Dad talked about his ancestral home.” Karly scowled at the house, encompassed it in one dismissive gesture. “Weaved big, tall tales about the Wyoming ranching life. How someday, it’d all be ours.” Her hard blue gaze turned to Audra. “I didn’t buy it then.”
Audra inhaled sharply, because the implication was clear. “But Austin did.”
There was a war playing out on Karly’s face. A face that had little hints of Dad in it—the sharp chin, the blue of her eyes Audra often saw in her own reflection. Little things that reminded Audra of Rosalie—the way her mouth turned down in anger, the arch of an eyebrow.
Audra didn’t know how the wordsisterscouldn’t mean anything to her.
“If Austin did this,” Karly said in almost a whisper, “I’m sorry. Dad’s death hit him hard. He’s…” She blew out a breath. “He’s spoiled. Only boy.”
Audra supposed she should have some sympathy since Dad’s death—or the secrets that had uncovered—had hit themallhard, but…maybe that was why she couldn’t work up any. “Only boy on both sides.”
Karly’s eyes fixed on hers, hard and cold. “I don’t want there to be sides. I don’t want you to exist.”
“I guess that’s too bad, because I do.”
“Not to me.” And with that, Karly sidestepped her and opened her car door. Audra didn’t know what else to do but let her.
It wasn’t a confession exactly, but it certainly added to the idea that Austin might be behind this. Ancestral homes. Ties to Florida…and yes, Mom lived in Fort Myers because of course she did. Spoiled men ruining the lives of the women around them.
Audra refused to let her life be ruined, even if it felt a bit like her heart was breaking all over again as Karly drove away.
Copeland came up behind her, put his hand over her shoulder and gave it a comforting squeeze. He didn’t say anything. Didn’t offer any trite words. Didn’t try to make it okay. He just stood there behind her, like some kind of…pillar.
She didn’t let herself have any pillars that weren’t her own two feet anymore. He was making that hard. He was makingit seem like for once, foronce, she really could depend on someone without losing her own sense of self.
Which was scarier than everything going on with Karly and Austin, so she focused on her half siblings rather than everything she was feeling for Copeland.
“I’m glad, in a way,” she said to him, even as she still watched where Karly’s car had disappeared. “To meet her finally. I never could understand their point of view when it was just a refusal to talk to us. I still don’t fully grasp it. Ignoring something doesn’t change it. But at least I see that’s what they’re doing. If they pretend Rosalie and I don’t exist, they can pretend he wasn’t what he was.”
“They’re not doing that great of a job of pretending though, are they?”
Audra shook her head. This visit hadn’t made much sense, but she tried to put herself in Karly’s shoes. What if Rosalie wanted to do something stupid? What if she wanted to hurt the other siblings in some way? Would Audra have been able to stop her?