Chapter 12
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"Hi, honey." Katherine sat at her desk frozen in angry surprise as Jace let himself in the front door and then crossed the room to lean down and kiss her on the cheek. "Boy, I'm beat. Is there any coffee left?"
"I think so," she answered stiffly.
She watched his back as he walked into the kitchen chatting as though he had only stepped out for a newspaper – two days ago. He was remarking on the weather, asking after Allison's health, and expressing disappointment when informed she was down for her late morning nap. He didn't mention anything about where he had been for the past two days and what he had been doing with Lacey Newton Manning.
Katherine had lived in a vacuum since getting the telephone call from Billy. Jace had run to Lacey. He had been gone for over two days without one word. Did he expect to come home and resume life where they left off? Was he going to act as if nothing had happened? Well, it wasn't going to be that easy for Mr. Jason Manning.
"How's the work coming?" he asked her as he came back carrying a steaming mug of coffee. He collapsed onto the sofa and lay his head back on the cushions, closing his eyes briefly. He opened them and looked at her with a perplexed expression when the answer to his question was so long in coming. She saw the purple shadows around his eyes and the dark stubble of neglected beard. He looked gaunt under his dark tan.
"It's going well," she replied after a moment. "I got a letter from Mr. Newton yesterday commending me on the first drafts I sent him. I also talked to the production chief at the television station. He's already scouting out locations for videotaping."
"Hey, that's great. I knew you could do it. I'm proud of you."
She stood up from the chair at the typing desk and went to stand in front of the windows. Her back was to him as she said, "I suppose you're relieved too. Now you won't have to feel so responsible for me."
A long moment of silence yawned between them. When he spoke, his voice had a distinct edge to it. "What's that nebulous remark supposed to mean?"
Katherine swallowed, trying to suppress the anguish which was twisting her heart. She straightened, put on a cold, unemotional face, and forced herself to face him, turning around slowly.
"That means," she said testily, "that I think we should put an end to this travesty we call a marriage." If the words she had spoken didn't kill her, she was sure the heartache would. Determinedly she continued, unable to meet the piercing eyes boring into her from beneath hooded lids.
"Y-you have other ... interests ... and I have always been independent. I don't like having someone else managing my life all the time." Why couldn't she keep her tone firm? Her voice was wavering in accordance with her resolve. She hated to admit that his increasing anger and accusing eyes unnerved her.
"I see. You've got it all figured out," he said bitterly.
"Yes," she averred.
"You can't accept Lacey's existence."
She was stunned that he would verbalize the source of their immediate problem, but she didn't hesitate in retaliating. "No, I can't. I can't accept—"
"You can't accept me! You haven't accepted one goddamn thing about me since I walked through that door the first time." He stood up and came stalking toward her in angry strides. She took an instinctive step backward.
"You see!" he shouted, indicating her retreat. "That's what I'm talking about." He stopped a few feet from her and demanded, "What got you on my case, anyway? Huh? Why was I automatically the boogeyman in all of this?"
She only stared at him, riveted to the floor in fear of the fierce temper she had seen exhibited before.
"Answer me, dammit!"
"Because you're a Manning," she lashed out. Her heart pounded in her temples and she gulped for breath. Now that the showdown had come, she feared and dreaded it.
"I was hurt by your family once before, and I don't intend to open myself up for any more pain.
"My family. Not me," he asserted.
"Isn't it the same thing?"
"No! Haven't you learned by now that my values are as different from theirs as night is from day? My God!" He slammed one fist into his other palm.
"Not necessarily." Katherine was warming up to her argument now. She was intimidated by the anger which emanated from every pore of his body and flashed like fireworks out of his eyes, but she was determined to state her case and make it sound convincing. She couldn't tell him that it was impossible to live with him when he was in love with another woman. That was an untenable situation when she was in love with him herself.
"You have behaved just as I expected you to, Jace. You're manipulative, charming your victims into letting down their defenses, then moving in for the kill. What small amount of trust I was beginning to have in you, you've betrayed."
"Oh, shi—" He bit off the expletive. After raking frustrated fingers through his unruly hair, he put his hands on his hips and surveyed her with undisguised contempt. "You're a sanctimonious, suspicious bitch. Did you know that?"
"There!" She pointed an accusing finger at him. "You've just proven my point. Peter used abusive language to my sister. Mary admitted to not even understanding all he called her. But that was only the first round. Later he resorted to physical abuse. Allison is the result of rape. Did you know that? Can I look forward to such manhandling from you? You're doing everything else right on schedule – even to seeing your ex-wife- turned-mistress and flaunting her under my nose. Peter taunted Mary with his affairs with other women too."
He was across the space that separated them in two long strides. He gripped her upper arms with fists that were made of steel and drew her up close against him.
Through gritted teeth he growled. "I warned you never to compare me to Peter, Katherine. He was a monster. Do you understand that? From the time we were children, he was destined to ruin. He murdered my first puppy and left a note on my pillow telling me where I could find it buried. He raped one of the maids' teenage daughters. I think she was about thirteen. She came to our house after school to meet her mother. Of course, it was hushed up. Money changed hands." He gripped her arm harder and asked bitterly, "Am I going too fast for you? I'll give you all the gory details if you wish."
"Jace, please—"
"Oh, no, Miss Katherine. You want to know what we Mannings are all about, and I don't want to disappoint you." He released her arms and turned away abruptly. He stuffed his hands deep into his jeans pockets and paced the floor as he continued.
"Naturally, he was the apple of my parents' eyes. He was the heir apparent; I was superfluous, a fact I was constantly reminded of. As a boy I sometimes wondered why I wasn't showered with such indiscriminate love and devotion. I resented their preference for Peter when I was a kid, but I'm glad about it now. I would have become just like him. You see, they loved him, but they loved in the wrong way. They were too ignorant to see that. It took me years to figure that out. Years of too much booze and rowdy brawls and wasted energies feeding reckless adventures. One day it occurred to me that if I were going to be a decent human being, I'd have to do it on my own. I was determined that they wouldn't ruin my life."
Katherine covered her mouth with a shaking hand to keep from crying out. If she could have taken back some of the hurtful words she had said, she would. But it was impossible.
Jace wasn't speaking to her now. He was analyzing things in his mind as he articulated them.
"I grieved for poor Mary. I know she must have felt like Daniel in the lion's den. I guess it was time for Peter to marry. Good for the banker's image and all that crap. But I couldn't figure out why Peter would marry someone like her, and why my parents would allow such a match. Then it occurred to me. If he had married one of the set, at his first indiscretion, that woman would have run home screaming to Daddy, or worse, the press, and Peter would have been faced with a big scandal. But sweet, naive, little Mary, an orphan with only an older sister to watch out for her wouldn't make such a scene. She would stoically suffer the slings and arrows, so to speak."
He stopped pacing and drew a deep breath. He stared at Katherine for a long time, his eyes straining to focus through his fatigue.
"Jace, I'm—"
He held up both hands, palms out as if warding her off. "Please, Katherine, I don't want to hear anymore. I'm tired." He squeezed his eyes shut and rubbed them hard with his middle finger and thumb. "I think you've said what you had to say, and I've responded. Let's leave it at that."
He leaned down to retrieve the keys to the jeep lying on the coffee table and started toward the door.
"Where are you going?" she asked timidly.
"To work. I was going to take the day off, but under the circumstan- ces..." He allowed his voice to trail off as he shrugged.
When he reached the front door he turned around and faced her. "You're right, Katherine. Feeling as you do, I think it would be best for all of us if we called a halt to this ... 'travesty we call a marriage.' Was that an accurate quote?"
Katherine's heart shattered into a million pieces, each shard splintering her soul.
"And if that's the case," he continued in that flat, unemotional voice, "one of us will have to give up Allison."
Katherine put a clenched fist over her aching chest and her mouth formed a small O. "W-what do you mean?" she asked tremulously.
He stared at her from squinting eyes, his mouth a firm, hard line. "You're so smart, you have all the answers, so you figure it out. Just remember how vicious we Mannings can be when anyone stands in our way."
The door slammed behind him.