“Sit down,” Aldon repeated emphatically as Tara then took a seat on the sofa.
“Who are they? Why are they here?” Tara asked her father quickly. Her lower lip trembled slightly. “Everyone’s been asking where you were? What are you doing at a different hotel?” As she spoke she grew more nervous.
“Tara, I have something to tell you,” Aldon gathered himself together.
“What? Tell me,” Tara was growing more restless and ill at ease. “Why couldn’t you tell me what you have to over the phone? I had no idea what to tell Lynch or his mother when you called. I just said my father needs to talk to me instantly. Both of them were upset by this.”
“You and Lynch were with Raina when I called?” Aldon obviously didn’t like it.
“Everyone is spending time together,” Tara answered quickly. “There’s a million things to take care of.”
“And I suppose Raina’s in the middle of it all?” Aldon’s lower eyelid trembled.
“Raina’s helping out, of course. Dad, what is wrong with you? We want you with us to help out as well. We’ve asked you.”
“You know how I feel about Raina,” Aldon bristled, despite himself.
Tara flushed with annoyance. “Is this what you’ve called me over about? Your feelings about Raina again?”
“No, not at all,” Aldon collected himself immediately. “I have accepted Raina, though she makes a display of herself in the papers. I have accepted that Lynch’s mother will play a prominent role in your life. Remember though, she is totally different from your own mother and from the woman we raised you to be.”
“Dad, Tara’s voice grew more brittle, “you don’t have to like Lynch’s mother, ever. The two of you are not getting married.”
“Thank heavens,” Aldon murmured.
“Lynch and I are the ones getting married,” Tara went on.
At that Aldon bristled clearly. “Tara, listen quietly before you say anything. There is something I have to tell you.”
“Tell me already,”Tara flushed with irritation.
“You know all along I have not felt comfortable with Lynch,” Aldon spoke softly.
“Oh God, are we starting with that again now?” Tara’s voice grew louder.
“No, we’re not. I’m not going over old territory. There’s something else I have to tell you.”
Tara seemed to want to get up off the sofa and fly out of there. “What? Tell me immediately.”
“Lynch has a child with another woman,” Aldon announced.
At first his words did not register. Tara closed her eyes and brushed her hand over her forehead.
“Did you hear what I said?” Aldon repeated.
“Not really,” Tara remarked. “I must be imagining things.”
“Tara, pay attention!” Aldon demanded.
Tara’s eyelids fluttered open and close. “I am paying attention,” she said in a suddenly small voice, as though she were having difficulty taking his words in.
“Your husband to be is the father of a child with another woman,” Aldon repeated more firmly.
Suddenly Tara’s eyes opened wide and she exploded. “What in hell are you telling me now? Another one of your crazy stories?”
“Has Lynch told you about his son?” Aldon demanded, unaffected by his daughter’s outburst.
“Has Lynch told me about what?” Tara was trying to grasp it.
“About his young son with the Caribbean mother, who live down here on St. Martin and who he supports?” Aldon spoke emphatically, hammering each word in.
Finally, the words took hold. Tara visibly reeled and sunk back into the sofa. “This can’t be true,” she said in a wobbly tone.
“But it is true,” Aldon continued. “Ask these two detectives if you don’t believe me,” and he motioned to Cindy and Mattheus who stood silently, looking on.
Tara looked up at Cindy with two huge, sorrowful eyes that looked stung, like a deer pierced by an arrow in the night. “What is my father talking about?” she asked finally.
“Your father called us down here to investigate your fiancée,” Cindy started in a soft tone. “Your father was worried about you, felt something was wrong.”
“Whatever I do, he feels that I’m in danger, that something is wrong,” Tara moaned. “How can I convince him that I’m fine, all is well?”
“All is not well,” Cindy continued. “We found that Lynch is the father of a four year old son.”
“But I don’t believe you,” Tara wrung her hands together, hopelessly. “Someone is trying to hurt us, to ruin our love, destroy our marriage.”
Mattheus took a step closer then. “Who would do that, Tara?” he asked in a comforting tone.
“I have no idea,” said Tara, her eyes tearing. “I thought everybody was happy for us.”
“They are,” Aldon insisted. “Everybody wants happiness for you. Especially me.”
“This is your father’s way of caring for you,” Cindy chimed in. “He wants everything to be right.”