Beatrice returned home from Lenox Hill Hospital feeling both exhilarated and exhausted. Helping Gabrielle deliver her baby was the single most important task she’d ever performed. Through this incredible experience Beatrice had finally become a participant in the circle of life, and, as with most people, she found birth—like death—to be a life-altering experience.
The bittersweet birth of Kylie Helene Hollis had given Beatrice a mighty lesson in maternal love. She learned that loving a child meant sacrificing one’s own needs and desires. Gabrielle, a mother for less than forty-eight hours, already understood that. She was willing to forfeit her sterling reputation to protect the well-being and happiness of her daughter.
Just as Gabrielle was willing to alter her life for the sake of Kylie, Beatrice knew she had no choice but to do the same. Now that Gabrielle had decided to let the world know her secret, everything was going to change. It was time for Bea to release Gabrielle from her protective cocoon and allow her to become an independent woman. The only way to accomplish this was to tell the truth. Beatrice decided to begin with Doug Sixsmith.
Bea sat at her desk staring at the phone. She was reluctant and embarrassed to make the call. She had no idea what she was going to say or how she was going to explain the predicament she was in, but in her heart Beatrice knew that Doug was the only person who could help Gabrielle.
Beatrice slowly dialed his number. After several rings an answering machine picked up. The coward in Bea was grateful that she could leave a message and postpone this conversation. She asked Doug to call her back soon, explaining that it was an emergency. She didn’t want to alarm him, but time was of the essence.
Doug stood in the door of his bedroom, dripping water on the carpet. He rushed out of the shower to answer the phone and was stopped in his tracks by the urgency in Beatrice’s voice. There could be only one reason she was calling him after all this time.
He’d wanted to contact Gabrielle after the death of her husband, but so much time and distance had come between them. Though he still loved her, Doug opted not to rock the boat. Things were back to where they were before their chance reunion on the Bellezza del Mare. Work remained the only constant in his life, and he’d finally come to peace with the fact that he was destined to live a life full of professional achievement and personal failure.
He dried off and quickly got dressed, debating whether he should return Bea’s phone call. Curiosity won out. As he dialed her number, Doug found himself eager to hear news of Gabrielle.
“Hello, Beatrice. This is Doug Sixsmith.”
“Thank you for returning my call.”
“I’m surprised to hear from you.”
“I thought you’d like to know that Gabrielle had her baby—a little girl.”
“That’s great. They’re both doing well?” Doug asked. He found the news depressing. Another monumental event had taken place in Gabrielle’s life without him.
“Physically they’re both fine, but Gabrielle desperately needs you.”
“She said that?” Doug asked, hope rising in his chest.
“No. She has no idea that I’m calling you.”
“If that’s the case, I think you’d better look elsewhere. Last time I tried to help Gabrielle, disaster struck.”
“There is no one else. You’re the only one.”
“Why don’t you tell me what’s going on?”
“Gabrielle is being blackmailed by Stephanie Bancroft.” Doug listened intently as Beatrice explained the bare facts of the situation. By the time Bea was finished, Doug was furious, but still unwilling to get involved.
“If Gabrielle has already decided to let Stephanie write the book, why are you calling me?” he asked.
“She only agreed because she thinks that if she works with Stephanie she’ll have more control over the contents. We both know that won’t be the case. That’s why you have to write this book.”
“Bea, I’ll be glad to give you the names of some other writers, but I can’t be a part of this. Gabrielle has told me on more than one occasion to stay out of her life. I’m sorry she’s in trouble, but I don’t think I’m the guy to come to her rescue,” Doug replied, ignoring his impulse to get involved.
“She still loves you,” Bea blurted out.
“What?”
“She never stopped, not even when she was married to Jack.”
“That’s a nice fantasy, but we both know it’s not true,” Doug said, refusing to acknowledge his heart’s hiccup. “She made her feelings about me quite clear. It’s all down in black and white.”
“Gabrielle didn’t write that letter, I did.”
“Why wouldn’t she write it herself?”
“For the same reason she couldn’t read the note you left on her birthday—Gabrielle is illiterate.”
“I’ve seen her reading with my own eyes,” he said, his mind disbelieving his ears.
“She was covering up, but there isn’t time to go into that now. The truth is, the letter she dictated was not the letter I wrote. She wanted to tell you the truth and ask you for another chance. I didn’t want you to hurt her again, so I told you the relationship was over for good. That’s also why I didn’t give her your letter or tell her you’d called.”
“You meddling old woman,” Doug exploded. “How could you do that to us? You let her go on believing that I didn’t love her and was so repulsed by her confession that I couldn’t even bother to acknowledge her feelings? You don’t think that hurt her even more?”
“I realize that now, and I am sorrier than you can ever imagine, but I honestly thought I was protecting her. Doug, you have every right to blame and despise me, but not Gabrielle. She doesn’t know any of this.”
“Are you planning to tell her?”
“Yes, before the press conference, I hope,” Bea said.
“What press conference?”
“Tomorrow at one o’clock in the hospital auditorium, Gabrielle is going to announce her illiteracy and introduce her biographer. I’m hoping that it will be you. Stephanie shouldn’t be allowed to profit by hurting other people. Will you help us?”
“Tell me something. Has Gabrielle told you that she still loves me?”
“Not in so many words,” Bea admitted. “Does it matter?”
“I don’t know. I have to think about this,” Doug replied honestly.
“Please think fast. You’ll be saving her life.”
But what about my own? Doug thought, hanging up the phone. Beatrice’s confession was in one way a gift, giving him hope that a future with Gabrielle might still be possible. But by helping her, would he merely be helping himself to more heartache?