Forever Wife by Carolyn Faulkner Read Free Book Online Page A

you?  What have you been up to lately?”
    Suddenly,  he seemed wary as well.  Was he hiding something?  Hard to tell.  He was the master manipulator, after all.  He’d had her daddy in the palm of his hand, even though he had been only the employee and her daddy the boss.  Daddy had promoted him through the ranks until he was second only to him. And then, something changed.  He left the summer she turned fifteen. He still returned for holidays, was still part of her family, but he wasn’t always there.  He moved on, started his own company and became very rich at the same time that her father’s business ventures started to fail.  One after another. 
    “Why did you leave?” she asked, interrupting him.
    “We went over that, Beth.  You told me to.”
    “No, not then.  Why did you leave Daddy’s company?  In retrospect, I realize that you were the brains behind his business.  He lost everything after you left.”
    “I’m sorry,” Vidar said, avoiding eye contact.  “I didn’t realize.”
    “And you cared so little about him that you didn’t make it your business to find out?  He was your employer!  He taught you everything he knew!  At times I was so jealous – he loved you like the son he never had.”
    “Beth, don’t say that.  Your father adored you. You have to know that.”
    She shrugged, blinking rapidly as she tried to gain control over her emotions.  Yes, she had been Daddy’s little darling, but Vidar had had a real relationship with the man.  They actually talked together.  Daddy’s idea of parenting had been to shower her with gifts, clothes, and trinkets.  She missed him so much!  If only he hadn’t died, perhaps they would have grown closer. 
    “You were the little blessing they didn’t think they would ever have,” Vidar said, his voice thick.  “They were older, more like grandparents than parents, I’m afraid.  And you are the one to suffer, as they did not live long enough to see you married, settled, secure in the beautiful woman you have grown to be.”
    “Enough of this,” she snapped.  She took her napkin and dabbed at her eyes.  “ So did you hear the one about a boss who turned up one day with a bunch of new jokes.  He told them one after another, and all his employees but one laughed uproariously.  He glowered at the one girl and asked,  ‘don’t you have a sense of humor?’ and she replied, ‘I don’t have to laugh. I’m leaving on Friday.’”
    Vidar pushed his plate aside.  “Okay, I get the message.  You don’t want to talk now.  But don’t push me away.  Never again.”
    “Why? You want to renew old ties, before you disappear again?”
    “I left your father’s business, Beth, because he asked me to.”
    “I don’t believe you.  He loved you!”
    Vidar took her hand and held it in his, waiting until she looked him in the eyes.  “And he loved you.  Maybe he thought you had a crush on me, and he feared you would never accept a date with a boy your own age as long as I was around.  He wanted you to hang out with kids your age, go to the movies, to Prom, to do all that normal high school stuff.  I’m sorry that my leaving affected your father’s company. I didn’t know.  He hid it well.”
    Liz’s mouth dropped.  Was that true?  It had to be… Vidar looked so sincere, and she had never known him to lie.  So it was all her fault?  Everything!  And for what?  She had been too interested in horses to spare a moment thinking about some awkward, pimple-faced boy in high school. “I need to go,” she said.  “Tracy will be over soon.”
    She made a gesture as though to grab the check, full knowing that Vidar would not let her pay for it.  It was silly, but she hoped to conceal her dire financial strait from him for now, at least until she had a job. 
    Beth was quiet on the ride home.  She had always been mercurial, her moods rising and falling with more frequency and regularity than an outdoor thermometer