Savage Beauty - Peggy Webb Page 0,51
fold to produce an heir to the Allistair throne.”
Clive’s horrible remark about her breeding possibilities played through Lily’s mind.
“Is he doing the same thing with Stephen?”
“Yes.”
“What happened with Stephen?” Though she considered the chances of changing her mind to be zero, she would still like to know what had shaped him.
“Clive insisted Wyler return to Ocean Springs so our child would be born in Allistair Manor. We left New York, Wyler entered the business again, and everything went horribly wrong from there. He was developing his rose.”
“The Vanishing Red?”
“Yes. He became more and more distraught, and when I’d ask him what was wrong, he’d clam up. I’d given up my career and left my home to embrace family life and motherhood in Mississippi. I was isolated and miserable, and I was slowly losing the love of my life.”
Toni paused for moment’s reflection. “Wyler got worse after Stephen was born. He became distant and brooding. I didn’t know how to help him. I was trying to cope with a new baby and all the rules and regulations of living the life of an Allistair wife in a house I hated.”
“I’m so sorry, Toni.”
Every word she said was an arrow aimed straight at Lily’s heart. Seen in light of this new information, her decision not to marry Stephen had been the best one she’d ever made.
“By the time Wyler’s breakdown came, I was a wreck. Wyler broke my heart, and I knew the son who looked so much like him would do the same thing. When Clive presented me with his plan, I thought it was the best thing for everybody concerned.”
“That he’d raise Stephen?”
“Yes, and take care of Wyler. Stephen was almost a year old, and he already had a nanny he preferred over me. Why wouldn’t he? All I had done since the day he was born was mope and cry over Wyler. Clive had mental health experts flown in from around the world, and at first I held out hope I’d get my husband and my son back. I had this pipe dream that we could live in New York and rebuild what we’d once had.”
“I once had a pipe dream about Stephen.”
“Had?”
“Yes. It’s over. I’m only staying through the holidays for my daughter’s sake.”
“I knew you had grit. Good for you.” Lily was so surprised she almost got out of her chair for a hug. Toni held up a hand. “Don’t expect me to hug you. I stopped being the warm and cuddly type when Wyler stopped talking.”
“Then how do you know he wants to see me?”
“When he stopped talking to all of us, we assumed he couldn’t speak.”
“By all of us, you mean the family?”
“Yes. And Graden. Either Clive or Stephen checks on Wyler at five every morning, and Graden checks on him at nine in the evening, like clockwork. They take his food and make sure he eats and takes his medicine. They stay exactly thirty minutes to tell him what’s going on in the family.”
She paused to check the time on her wristwatch. “I talk to him, too, of course, and have through all these years. He’d never responded until I came for the engagement party. I was shocked when he begged me to help him talk to you. He told me he’d started reading aloud to himself about a year after they moved him into the east wing so he could keep his voice intact.”
“Why on earth does he want to see me?”
“I don’t know anything. I can’t know. I’m the glamorous face of a dynasty.” She made a rueful face. “And I sold my soul to the devil a long time ago.”
“I understand, but surely you must have some idea.”
“I have my suspicions. I think Clive is keeping a terrible secret, and Wyler knows about it. He’s a devious, wicked old man. Looking back, only someone with a certain level of evil in their hearts would force a son back to the business he hated for the express purpose of producing an heir, and then take that child and keep the father behind locked doors.” Toni took a tissue from her purse and dabbed at her eyes. “And I let him. I was a party to that. What does that make me?”
“You’re not a monster, Toni.”
“Oh, yeah? I was the one who let Wyler out to put the note in your room, and then I pretended I didn’t know where it came from.”
“Do you know what it means?”
“No. I was telling you the