Chapter Seventeen

Celeste

 

It was time to put it all out on the table. It was time to revisit the past. It was time to tell him the truth behind Veeta. It was time because it appeared that the coast was clear. While Skeet was gone for a couple of weeks, a locket had mysteriously arrived at the Corday headquarters.

“Chinese food containers were delivered to my office today and no one had ordered it.” I had no idea why Clancy was telling me about her lunch and I hoped that it wasn’t a story that involved Pete Remington. The thought of her with Skeet’s father was not appealing.

“Finding it a bit strange, I contacted my spy friend and he popped over to investigate.” Spy friend? What the hell was Clancy involved in?

“Inside of a large carton was a smaller one and then another, then one more until we were down to one small takeout carton. Inside the box was two fortune cookies. Mercer...” I assumed that was her James Bond guy. “...had special equipment to test each one—as he had done with the containers—before we cracked them open.”

She stopped and left me hanging to grab two champagne flutes, Corday liqueur and a couple of Champagne splits—my mother bought them by the case.

“Why are you being so dramatic? What are we celebrating? Was there an engagement ring in one of them?” Please don’t let it be from Pete, I silently wished.

“Oh God, no! Who could handle me? Raising Clancy is only reserved for our parents.” I laughed at that. “Focus,” she demanded, handing me a peach Bellini that I had watched her make and clinked her glass to mine. “So are you ready?” I nodded. “In one fortune cookie was a gold heart locket.” I was sure my eyes had widened. “In the other was the same message as before ‘If a locket is to appear the coast is clear.’ It has to be the one for Veeta.”

“What was in it?” I imagined a photo of Martina in it.

Another surprise. “It didn’t open but there was a definite hinge.”

“You look worried?” I hated the frown on her face and wondered why she would have us drinking and toasting to the locket.

“We were both a little concerned. Mainly, Mercer. He was worried about it containing a tracking device...”

“You told him the whole story?” We usually kept it within our family and lawyers.

“I had to and that’s why I gave it to him. He took it to work and had it x-rayed. He let me know that it wasn’t a tracking device. The iffy part is that it appears to be some kind of micro-chip and he’s using a trusted partner to recover the information.”

I had so many questions. “Why did they send it to the company? Do you think they are trying to mess with us? Trying to get to Veeta?”

“I think you need to relax. The message was if it appeared things were good... For all you know it’s a message from Martina.”

I hadn’t thought about that possibility which was dumb of me since the note about the locket was in Martina’s handwriting in the first place.

Martina. It was time to talk about her and Skeet.

I took a deep breath in and let it out before casting out the first part of the story. Back to the scene that tore us apart. Back to the night that Conrad removed me from the crazy party at the plantation.

“Martina was with you in the room that night...” I bit my lip as a tear fell down my cheek. “She woke up before you did and saw you lying next to her in the bed...” I couldn’t look at Skeet. I just stared straight ahead over the cloudy blue sky reflected in the water’s surface. “She grabbed for any clothes she could find on the floor and got out of the room.”

Martina hadn’t even planned to tell me what had happened—not that she had any recollection of the night before—until she found out she was pregnant. It hadn’t been her in the photos of Skeet kissing other girls so she thought she was safe. She did know that something had taken place between them because she had been a virgin and her blood was on him, as well as the bed.

I saw the blood drain from Skeet’s face as I finished telling him what my best friend had told me. “It wasn’t your fault.” He looked like he was going to be sick and I reached out to rub his arm. “As you know, drugs were floating around in drinks... When Conrad found me, he said I was rattling on about weird stuff and that I even cuddled up to him. He took me straight home.”

Skeet’s voice was cracking as he spoke. “I’m so glad he found you. I’ve already told you that... Why didn’t you believe me...but then... Oh my God! I fucked up so bad.”

“I didn’t know about the drugs or anything else until you were gone.”

“I should’ve stayed and... Veeta looks exactly like Martina. You two always looked like you could be sisters because of your dark hair and light eyes, but that’s where it ended.” Skeet was looking off into the distance like he was trying to remember something. “Why didn’t you tell me right away?”

It was time for me to tell him the next half of the story. How I was at my best friend’s side as her baby was delivered and how she begged me to take care of Veeta as my own if anything ever happened to her. “Of course, I promised her I would.” As he knew I had...was...

Then I followed up with the brief history between Martina and Veeta staying at the farm before I stepped in to care for her daughter... My daughter. I had her longer and she never knew of her biological mother. I had to keep her safe from others that might try to harm her and say that she was mine.

“The rumors about Martina’s family were true. Once they found out about her parents’ car accident being orchestrated, her grandfather Vito learned that his brother had retaliated. It seems that the two feuding families were slowly exterminating each other and Martina was caught in an explosion.”

“I’m sorry.” Skeet had tears rolling down his face the same as me.

“There’s a bit more...” I stated and then told him about the diaper bag and locket along with its recent appearance. We were caught up at that point when I told him about a private investigator’s findings.

Mercer Everett, Clancy’s friend had dug up far more information than I wanted or needed to know since the locket-reappearing situation. He was supposed to come out to the farm and that was why I was in need of a bit of fishing—it always calmed my nerves and made me happy.

“This was not what I ever imagined you saying.”

“It’s pretty crazy...” It was my turn to apologize. “I’m sorry that things went the way they did, but then again... I often wondered if you could’ve been caught in the crossfire with Martina. I’d rather you were alive without me than dead.”