Chapter Thirty-Two #2
“Actually, I came to them. When Barbie called me and asked me to come out to the camp, I had no clue that any of this had gone on. The minute I walked in and saw the state Maxine was in, I thought, Oh no—this will be bad. She didn’t even look like herself.
” He took a sip of water. “I didn’t realize just how bad it was, or how bad it would get.
Barbie told me everything. I mean, everything that had led up to me sitting at the dining room table with Maxine on one side of me and Barbie on the other.
Ed insisted on a goof-proof agreement, something so legally binding that it could never be broken by either party.
” Banks played with a pen on the desk, as if confessing this part made him nervous.
“Of course, I knew Barbie and Ed would never bring you back. The wording was airtight that Maxine could never claim you.”
“Did she try?”
“Oh, yes. On more than one occasion. Until Barbie threatened to take her to court for harassment. Right after the meeting in my office, Ed and Barbie moved to Pennsylvania. Ed’s father, who knew a lot of people in many places, had a birth certificate made naming Barbie and Ed as your parents and certifying your birth as a home birth with only Ed as the witness. ”
Kit recalled the scrap of paper she’d found in Maxine’s bedside table drawer. You don’t get to change th—
“Change,” Kit said aloud. “You don’t get to change the—terms, the agreement . . .”
“Excuse me?”
Kit told him of her finding.
“She did try, you know. Maxine was in my office at least once every week. Couldn’t we say this, or why can’t we do that, or try something different.
It had taken a while for Maxine to come to her senses, and when she did, she wanted her daughter.
” He shook his head. “Barbie was going to take out a restraining order against Maxine at one point. Which of course she didn’t want to do because she and Ed would have had to explain the circumstances, and they didn’t want that sordid mess to get out.
Of course, if Maxine had taken them to court, there was a chance that a judge might have given you back to her.
But even she knew she really wasn’t stable enough to be a mother.
I’m so sorry. She loved you and she wanted to be your mother, but she knew she couldn’t be. ”
“How did she manage to run the camp through all that?”
“Somehow she was able to separate the one from the other. By then she’d managed to heal enough to realize what she’d done, and she made an earnest attempt to contact Barbie to see if they could work something out, some sort of visitation for your ‘aunt’ to visit.
But Barbie dug her heels in. She didn’t trust Maxine to not go off the rails and disappear with you, so she refused.
” He sighed deeply. “Barbie cut all ties with Maxine and refused her phone calls, returned her letters, enlisted me to explain to Maxine that she wanted no contact ever.”
“And she honored that?”
“To a degree. Once she tracked you down, she did make several trips to Pennsylvania over the years so she could watch you grow up.”
“I never knew.” Kit got up and paced. “I can’t stand it. I hate hearing this.”
“No more than I hate telling it. I was sorry for my involvement in the charade. I had drawn up that agreement and effectively made my bed.”
“How did you come to represent Maxine? Wasn’t that a conflict of interest?”
“There was no one else Maxine could turn to, and as her friend, I did feel obligated to her as well as to Barbie. Mostly, though, I felt an obligation to you, the innocent caught in the middle. Someone needed to watch out for your interests, and without spilling the whole story, there wasn’t anyone else.
So I took my chances in trying to look out for everyone’s best interests. Not an easy task, believe me.”
Kit buried her face in her hands.
“So,” he said. “Now you know.”
He waited a few minutes before speaking again, allowing her some time to process it all.
“Is that everything?”
“What else do you want to know?”
“You mean there’s more?” She looked horrified.
“It seems there’s always more.” Banks took off his glasses and cleaned them with a cloth he took from his top desk drawer. “But I should congratulate you for figuring it out on your own.”
“But you never would have told me.”
“I never would have. Even as much as she’d wanted you to know, she made me promise I’d not volunteer the story. If, however, you somehow learned the truth, she wanted you to know everything.”
“My mom and dad—they never gave a clue.”
“Of course not. Whatever you think of the relationship between Maxine and Barbie, your mother knew she was paying a heavy price to have you. She knew the choice was between you and Maxine, and as much as she loved her sister, she loved you more. She was afraid for you because Maxine was erratic. She did settle down in time, but by then, it was too late. Barbie would have killed to keep you, to keep you safe and to keep you hers.”
“It’s so wrong she had to make that choice.”
“Don’t blame that on Barbie. That was all on Maxine.
She practically begged her sister to take you right after you were born, then tried for years to get you back.
She finally did make her peace with herself and went on with her life.
But she always hoped you’d come back. That maybe Barbie would tell you the truth when you became an adult, and that you’d come to find her.
Then Barbie died, and Maxine realized she’d never told you. ”
“That’s when she had you write up the will.”
Banks nodded. “She was hoping you’d come to camp and love it and want to stay, and maybe somehow put it all together.
I never thought that would happen, I have to admit it.
But Maxine said a daughter of hers and Miles would be clever enough to figure it out.
” He smiled at her from across the desk. “She was right.”
“Russ didn’t want me to come to Maine. He wanted me to call you and ask you to sell it all, take your commission, and send me a check for the rest.”
“I’d have gladly done it, if that’s what you wanted. What was your first clue?”
She thought back. “Well, for starters, the fact that Mom always said she was an only child, and here’s this woman telling me that she wasn’t got my attention.
And then the fact that Maxine didn’t mention Beth in her will.
She had to have known about her. So why omit her and not me? It didn’t make sense.”
“Enough to make you curious, which was her intent. But then you found the baby . . .”
“Do you think that’s why she left it there in the house, so I’d find it?”
“I don’t think she was thinking that far ahead. As the years went on, she thought less and less about the baby she’d miscarried and more and more about you.”
“But it was finding the remains of her baby that led to the DNA testing. Without that, I’d never have had reason to question who my parents were.”
“Maybe in the back of her mind, she was thinking if she could get you to camp and you’d find the remains, that would be the natural progression. We’ll never know for certain.”
Kit sat for a moment longer, then stood.
“Thank you, Banks. As much as I hate to admit it, I’m glad you kept her secret.
If you’d told me straight away that Maxine was my mother, not the wonderful woman who raised me, I don’t know what I’d have done.
At least this way, I got to know Maxine a little.
I can’t say I understand all of her decisions, but they were hers to make and we can’t change the past. Hers was quite the story. ”
“Now, I’ve been told that you’re planning on staying in Tolerance and opening up the camp again.”
“We are. At least, we’re going to try to. Pray for us, Banks, we have no idea what we’re doing.”
“I’m sure you’ll figure it out. As Maxine’s heir, you’re entitled to the royalties from Miles’s works that she received. It’s all been invested over the years, so there’s quite a nest egg.”
Kit’s jaw dropped. “Royalties . . .”
Banks nodded. “I don’t know how I would have explained those to you if you hadn’t figured out who your parents were, but I’d have thought of something.
As soon as the estate is wrapped up, you’ll be able to access those funds.
” He stood and took several steps toward the door, then stopped.
“Kit, I’m going to ask you to sit for another minute.
” He opened the door and went into the reception area.
She heard him say something to Caroline, a desk drawer open and close, and the sound of his footsteps going down the hallway.
Moments later he returned, a brown Bankers Box in his arms.
“Here you go. I wasn’t to give it to you unless you were staying.”
Kit frowned as Banks slid the box across the desktop.
“And now I’ll leave you to it.”
“Wait. What—”
“It’s the last piece of the puzzle.”