Jeanie London – Pillow Chase (страница 8)

Leaning back against Troy, Miranda settled in for the long haul. Judging by her sister’s excitement, she intended to play this for all it was worth.

“Got it,” Miranda prompted. “So you two rehashed past history. I won’t ask why.”

“It’s irrelevant, anyway. What is relevant is that we decided we needed to find out what really happened. So we’ve been talking to Aunt Suzanne and Mother.”

Aunt Suzanne? When had Laura Granger’s mother become Aunt Suzanne?

“I’ll have you know that Mother was very forthcoming with me,” Victoria continued. “Aunt Suzanne, too. And in getting both sides of the story, Laura and I learned that there are some really big questions about our family history.”

“What sort of questions?” she asked.

“Like how come we were told our grandmother was English.”

From the corner of her eye, Miranda caught sight of Troy’s frown and supplied the reason. “Because she was English. Mother said she came to America from England after they married.”

“She told me the same thing.”

“So did my mom,” Laura added.

“And you’re saying she didn’t?” These two had to be off their rockers. She couldn’t vouch for Aunt Suzanne, but Miranda knew her mother would never mislead them about the parent she’d lost in a car accident while still a very young child.

“As far as they’re concerned, our grandmother did come from England,” Laura explained. “Tori and I haven’t told them what we’ve found out yet.”

“What’s that?” Troy threaded his fingers through Miranda’s, a silent show of support.

“Grandfather said he’d met our grandmother during the war and married her before they came back to the United States. Well, I’ve been doing some investigating and couldn’t find a thing about his marriage to Laura Russell. I got curious, so I looked into her immigration records. If she was a British citizen, she had to have papers to get into this country.”

Victoria met her gaze with an expression positively alive with excitement. “Laura Russell doesn’t seem to have existed until she appeared in the good old U.S. of A, fully grown and married to our grandfather.”

“I should add that Tori had to dig for this information.” Laura gave a tight laugh. “I’m still waiting for Interpol to show up in the lobby.”

“Pshaw.” Her sister waved a dismissive hand. “Have a little faith, please. We’re talking immigration here. I didn’t have to dig that deep. Besides, I happen to be good at what I do. No problems, trust me.”

Trusting Victoria was enough to strike terror in the bravest of souls, and Miranda was surprised Laura recognized it. “Exactly what did you learn? Our grandmother must have existed or the three of us wouldn’t be here right now. Will you please tell us before you wind up in prison?”

“Oh, our grandmother existed, all right,” Victoria said. “Only she wasn’t English. She was a French citizen. Her name was Laure Roussell not Laura Russell.”

Miranda wasn’t at all sure what to make of this revelation, except that she could tell by her sister’s expression that she was serious. “Victoria, that’s crazy.”

“I have documentation to prove it.”

“Can you possibly be mistaken?”

“Not a chance. Grandfather’s name is on the marriage certificate.”

“And you don’t think Mother knows?”

She shook her head and Laura agreed. “My mom, either. She named me after our grandmother. I’m Laura. No question there.”

Troy looked as puzzled as Miranda felt. “If your information is accurate, then the question here would be why. Why would your grandmother hide her French ancestry? And why wouldn’t the senator tell his daughters?”

“That’s the mystery,” Laura said. “And since we’re pretty sure our moms don’t know, we didn’t want to start asking questions. Not until we have some idea of what this is about.”

Miranda tried to digest this information. Their grandfather had been an Army commander during World War II, had even been decorated after being captured by the enemy and leading many of his men in a daring escape.

She knew he rarely, if ever, discussed the war, and any media inquiries were always met with a stony “No comment.” His handlers had spun his silence to make him look like a humble man who’d done his job and didn’t feel comfortable with accolades.

“If Grandfather kept our grandmother’s heritage a secret, then it must be a secret that needs to be kept,” Miranda said. “Victoria, you know as well as I do that Grandfather would never sidestep this kind of information without good reason.”

“I agree,” Troy said. “The senator wouldn’t risk the publicity if word ever leaked out. If you were able to uncover the information, no doubt other reporters could, too.”

“Laura and I discussed that,” Victoria said. “We believe everything looks nice and neat on the surface so no one will have any reason to dig into our grandmother’s past. She died a long time ago. Before Grandfather became a senator.”

“Let’s hope it stays that way.” Miranda meant it. “What if all this investigating raises unnecessary interest? You’re a reporter. You know better than anyone how this could blow up in our faces. With Father up for reelection, the media would have a field day with this. And if Mother doesn’t know…”

“It’s a chance we’ll have to take.” Victoria’s frown made the hair on the back of Miranda’s neck prickle.

Laura nodded. “If we want to fix things.”

“What do you want to fix?” Troy eyed them curiously as he slipped his arm around her.

“Our family,” Victoria said. “We need to find out what happened so we can figure out how to solve the problem and bring our families back together again.”

Why was Miranda even surprised? This was her sister they were talking about here, with Laura Granger tossed into the mix. A crazy combination no matter how she came at it. “What do you mean fix our family? What makes you think anyone wants to be fixed? I mean, if you two want to play nice, then have at it—”

“Not us, big sis.”

Miranda barely got a chance to brace herself before Laura said, “Our mothers.”

“They haven’t talked for decades and seem content with the arrangement.” She tried to sound reasonable, but didn’t quite manage. These two had lost their minds. “What on earth makes you think that’s likely to change?”

“Take a look at this.” With a few maneuvers of the mouse and some blips and beeps, Laura enlarged the pImages** on the computer monitor to reveal two familiar faces.

Miranda had honestly never realized how much her mother and Laura’s looked alike. Her brief interactions with Aunt Suzanne, mostly at Westfalls Academy where the woman had once worked, had left Miranda with the memory of long dark hair and a wardrobe that favored comfort over style.

But while the woman wore long skirts and a minimum of makeup, a closer examination revealed Laura’s mother to be as striking as Miranda’s own.

The hair was different. The features were different, yet so much about the fine-boned face was the same…the soft full mouth…the deep blue eyes…the aching look that made her face seem raw.

And her own mother…Miranda barely recognized her anguish. She’d watched her mother conduct press conferences filled with rabid reporters and not flinch, but here her expression openly wore the weight of too many years.

“Guess what they were looking at,” Laura said.

“Each other.” Victoria’s voice was soft, affected in a way Miranda had never heard her before. “Tyler caught them on film. Can anything be worth this sort of heartache?”

Miranda didn’t know what to say. Seeing this only drove home how right she’d been to worry about her mother.

When Miranda had married, Troy had been stationed in Virginia, close enough for her to return home for frequent visits. But not long into their marriage, he’d received orders to the naval base in San Diego. She simply couldn’t make it home as often, and her mother had lost an important part of her support system.

Miranda knew because she’d felt the loss, too.

Victoria was more concerned with her own life than she’d ever been with their family. And given their prominence around town, her mother simply didn’t have many friends she could trust or confide in. Certainly not many who understood the stresses of her position in a political family.

But even more concerning was what could happen if the reason for their grandfather’s secrecy turned out to be some scandal. Miranda disliked airing personal business in front of Laura Granger, but as Victoria had chosen to collude with the woman…

“Mother doesn’t need this sort of stress right now. Neither does Father. His opponents will be looking for anything they can find to crucify him with. Even some old mystery. If Mother wanted to talk to Aunt Suzanne, don’t you think she’d pick up the phone and call her?”

Laura shook her head, her hospitality-perfect expression fading behind a thoughtful look. “I don’t. I think our moms are behaving exactly like they’ve been expected to behave.”

“As who’s expecting them to behave?” Troy didn’t give Miranda a chance to ask as he leaned in close.

“The senator,” Laura said. “When he and my mom had it out all those years ago, he told her to choose between her family and my father. She made her choice, and he disowned her. They were very young and the situation was cut-and-dried. He expected my mom to stay away and Miranda and Tori’s mom not have any contact. That’s exactly what they’ve been doing.”