Chapter 11

9:50 p.m. Tuesday

Regan sat her phone on the nightstand and reclined on her bed. She had talked to Andy for almost three hours and she was happy. She would see him in less than 48 hours.

Ruth seemed happy that Andy was going to try to find her a date and she agreed immediately that she would like to talk to the guy on the phone if it could be arranged.

Regan was thinking of ways she could arrange to be alone with Andy on Thursday evening when her phone buzzed. She glanced at the time and saw it was 10 minutes before the phone had to be put away.

"Did you miss me already?" she asked, thinking Andy had called with something else he thought about.

"Well, I do miss you," Robert Riley said to his daughter. "But that isn't why I called."

"You're still picking me up Thursday night, aren't you?" Regan asked urgently.

"Yes," Robert said. "Uh, this is a bit delicate and I don't want you going crazy on me."

"What did you do?" Regan hissed.

"It wasn't me this time," Robert said with a sigh. "It appears that I am not the only person who has had Andy investigated."

"That bitch," Regan muttered.

"Honey, she found out something that I think you should know," Robert said, ignoring his daughter's epithet. "I don't think Andy has hidden it from you. I'm not sure even he knows but his father is ... a public figure."

"I know that," Regan said.

"You do?" Robert asked. "I mean, how do you know? Did you have him investigated, too?"

"Of course not!" Regan said. "He told me."

"So he did know," Robert answered.

"He found out Sunday and told me immediately," Regan corrected. "Yes, I know all about it. I'm sure that news made mother incredibly happy."

"Actually, it did," Robert said. "I guess she found out this evening. She called me to see what time your phone had to be put away. I lied to her and told her nine o'clock. I wanted to talk to you first. Honey, there is one thing that all the money in the world can't buy – the cachet of royalty. The fact that Andy appears to be the heir to an earldom appeals to your mother. Truthfully, I think she had already determined that he was a good guy but this is something more. My question is ... well, I'm going to be indelicate so please forgive me. Why in the hell are they living in squalor when Andy's father is worth millions?"

Regan let out a long breath and looked over at Ruth DeLancy. The girl was trying to feign disinterest by it was evident that she was paying attention to the conversation.

"That is something we can discuss Thursday," Regan answered. "Camille has her reasons and I accept them. I think you will accept them, too."

"OK," Robert said. "I just wanted to warn you to expect a call from your mother early in the morning. I wouldn't be surprised if she comes home early to shepherd you through landing the poor boy."

"I will knock her on her ass," Regan threatened. "You let her know that. I am still a minor so I can probably do it and never see charges."

"Honey," Robert tried.

"Don't 'Honey' me," Regan said firmly. "I didn't want her involved when she hated him and I don't want her involved now that she loves him. The same goes for you. If you can't judge him on who he is and not what he is, just stay away from me."

"After I pick you up Thursday, of course," Robert said with a laugh.

"Yeah, fine," Regan said. "I'm sorry. You have to understand how this has been for Andy, Dad. Spending time with me has really turned his world upside down. He seems OK with what he's learned but it hasn't been easy. I have to put my phone away. They just sounded the buzzer. I'll give you a call tomorrow."

"One more thing," Robert said. "Honey, I will judge him on his actions toward you. I give you my promise. But you have to understand that I have very little control over what your mother does. I do not want anything that happens to ruin what we're starting to develop. I do love you. I want you to know that."

"I do know that," Regan said with a sigh. "I'll talk to you tomorrow."

She put her phone back on the stand and buried her head in her hands. Now she had to explain to Andy that a secret his mother had kept for almost two decades would be coming to light as soon as her mother could get the word out.

"Are you OK?" Ruth asked.

"No," Regan answered. "Every time I turn around, I'm fucking up Andy's life. You know, he would have been just as happy if he had never met me. He gains nothing from spending time with me – and pretty soon he's going to figure out that I'm the reason for all the bad shit that happens in his life."

"It can't be that bad," Ruth said sympathetically.

"You don't understand and I can't tell you," Regan said. "I promised him I would keep it a secret. But it's not going to matter because my mother knows and in a day or two, the whole fucking world will hear the news."

"Is it bad?" Ruth asked.

"I don't think so but my opinion doesn't matter," Regan said. "Andy and his mother might think it's bad and that's all that is important. I haven't even met Camille Drayton and I'm already screwing up a life she's worked her ass off to make."

She looked at her phone again and contemplated calling Andy. She knew the headmistress would throw a fit if she found out.

"Call him in the morning," Ruth suggested. "The old biddy is probably standing outside the door listening to see if you're on the phone. Or if you want, I'll call him. She can kiss my ass as far as I'm concerned."

"I'll call him in the morning," Regan decided. She could slip away on the way to her first class and call Andy's new cell phone. At least he'd get a good night's sleep before she turned his life on its end again.

7:45 a.m. Wednesday

"If we don't stop meeting like this, people are going to talk," Andy remarked when Elizabeth Pena walked up to his car door.

"Let them talk," Elizabeth said with a smile. She waited until Andy pulled his backpack onto his shoulder before she took his arm in hers.

Andy looked down but didn't say anything.

"You know, if you expect me to continue playing secretary for you, I expect some sort of enticement," Elizabeth continued.

Andy's gaze travelled up Elizabeth's arm to her grinning face.

"I hear you got a new cell phone," Elizabeth added. "I also hear you have chosen not to carry it with you. That really doesn't accomplish much."

Andy used his free hand to pat his pocket and looked up at Elizabeth sheepishly.

"I'm not used to having one," he admitted.

"Regan has been trying to call you since seven o'clock," Elizabeth told him. "She said it is urgent that she talks to you as soon as you get a chance. She wouldn't tell me why but she asked me ... no, actually, she almost begged me ... to let you know."

Andy frowned.

"I talked to her until almost 10 o'clock!" he said. "I had to finish my essay this morning. I still need to get to the library to type it."

"She called me just a couple of minutes ago," Elizabeth said. "She seemed ... upset, I guess. Did you fight last night?"

"No," Andy answered. He glanced at his watch. He only had time to type his English essay. "Can I borrow your phone at lunch?"

"You should probably call her now," Elizabeth pointed out. She already had her phone at the ready.

"Our essay is due second period," Andy pointed out. "I should have finished it early. I could have typed it at the library in town. But I didn't."

"You've had a lot happen this week," Elizabeth told him. She pulled her arm from his and stepped in front of him. "I'll go type your paper. You need to call Regan."

"I can type my own paper," Andy insisted.

"The 'B' you got in keyboarding says differently," Elizabeth answered with a wink. "Seriously, she was upset. Just give me my phone back second period."

Andy looked down at the iPhone and shook his head. Elizabeth had a pink protector and he recalled what Regan had told him a day earlier. He held his hands apart in defeat.

"Oh, and if Paul calls, don't answer," Elizabeth told him as he took the phone from her fingers. "He gets a little jealous."

"OK," Andy answered.

"I'm joking," Elizabeth shot back, punching him on the shoulder. "First off, he won't call me at school. Secondly, he won't care if you have my phone. Sure, if you answered it in the middle of the night, he might have a couple of questions but otherwise, he won't care."

She disappeared into the mass of students ready to start their day before Andy could respond.

Regan had ignored the calls from her mother that began before sunrise – which came early in May.

Ruth had answered at six o'clock and told Rita Riley that her daughter was in the shower. Rita called back half an hour later and Ruth had lied again. This time she said that Regan was off to the library to study for an exam.

Rita was furious. She had left strict instruction with the girl who answered the phone that Regan was to call her back immediately. She first lashed out at Ruth DeLancy, suspecting that she hadn't given Regan the message. She was appalled when the girl fired back.

"I am not your daughter's keeper and I'm not your flunky," Ruth said in a snarky voice that Regan used to hate but now enjoyed. "If you hadn't stuffed her in this school out of your way, you'd be able to walk down to her bedroom and talk to her. She isn't here; she won't be back until afternoon and I'm done screwing with you. Don't call back."

Regan had given Ruth a fist bump after she closed the phone.

"Next time my Dad calls, I expect the same service," Ruth noted.

"You got it," Regan promised. She had started to call Andy not long after her mother's final call. A call to his cell phone went unanswered because he hadn't set up a voice mailbox yet. She had called him every 15 minutes from 6:45 a.m. until she finally gave up and called Elizabeth Pena.

When Andy hadn't called back by 7:45 a.m., she worried that she kept him on the phone too long and he had overslept. She knew he needed to turn in an essay. She decided to call his phone one more time.

She let out a long sigh when she heard the ringing end. The sigh turned into a gasp when she heard a female voice on the other end.

"Hello," Camille Drayton answered. She heard nothing so she said it again. "Hello?"

She waited for a moment for an answer.

"Is this Regan?" she tried.

"Yea ... yes," Regan stammered. "Who's this?"

"I'm Andy's mother," Camille told her. "He's already left for school. I've been trying to figure out where the ringing was coming from and I finally tracked it to his room. I was trying to figure out how to turn the phone off when you called."

"Oh," Regan said dejectedly.

"Is everything OK?" Camille asked. She didn't know Regan Riley at all but she had once been a teenage girl. She understood the emotions that crested and ebbed at that age.

Regan was in a quandary. She wanted to let Andy know what Robert had told her the night before but she didn't want her introduction to Camille Drayton to be this way. She took a deep breath and plowed ahead.

"My mother has found out who ... uh ... about Evan Duffield," Regan said.

This time it was Camille who sat silently. It took her a few moments to parse through her thoughts.

"How did that happen?" she asked in a voice cold enough to send ice into Regan's veins.

"I... ," Regan began. She was about to tell the woman that she didn't tell her mother anything. Instead she decided to go a different route.

"She has more money than God," Regan said in a firm voice. "If she wants to know something, she pays someone to tell her. I would imagine that she was willing to spend a great deal of money to find out something of this nature. I'm equally sure that the news she received was not what she expected. I can usually predict her actions but I'm not sure what she will do with this news. Please know; there is nothing I can do to stop her from doing anything. I will threaten all sorts of retribution but, to be honest, I've used those threats so frequently in the past that I doubt it will help. I'm sorry and I wanted you to hear it from me before you learned about it from anyone else."

"Of course," Camille said. "I'm sorry I jumped to an incorrect conclusion. I should know that you would keep Andy's confidences if you could. So you believe that your mother will use the news to try to discredit Andy?"