House of Payne: Ice Read online

  A woman in the front was the first to put her hand up. “The dementia that Mayor Fairfax has been diagnosed with. Is it AIDS-related?”

  Claire shook her head. “No, though I’m not sure what difference that makes. When a loved one slowly fades from this cruel disease, it doesn’t matter what type of dementia is stealing that loved one away from you. At this point in time, science has yet to find a cure for any form of dementia, but they’re working on it. I have every belief that one day we will defeat this disease, and I’m determined to spend the rest of my life raising both awareness and funds for dementia-related research. In the New Year, I will be announcing the start of a foundation, in Archie’s name, with the goal of one day defeating Alzheimer’s and dementia-related diseases.”

  Lord, she was good, was all Sunny could think. After Claire dropped the twin bombs of her husband’s homosexuality and illness all in one neat package, she then unveiled a new and helpful idea that would both distract and soothe.

  No matter how much stress she was under, Claire Dubois-Fairfax knew how to operate like a pro.

  Lanny Beranthal, a grizzled reporter who’d been pounding the political beat since Sunny had been in diapers, put his hand up. “Do you feel that putting on a show of a loving couple to hide your husband’s homosexuality was akin to pulling the wool over the eyes of the people who voted for him?”

  A low growl emanated from Ice, something Sunny wholeheartedly agreed with, but Claire’s calm expression didn’t waver. “I suppose that’s a fair question from you, Lanny, since you and I are from the same generation. After all, it wasn’t too long ago that our culture was far less evolved and accepting of alternative lifestyles. Allow me to address the misconception you clearly have in the hope educating those who might still be living in the last century.”

  “Nice,” Sunny heard Ice mutter, and she couldn’t help but agree.

  “I never questioned the sexuality of the man I married. He gave me no reason to do so. I loved him and I knew he loved me, a fact which holds true to this very day. Through fifteen years and the birth of our daughter, I had no idea that the love of my life was waging a war against who he’d been born to be. When he finally told me what he’d been dealing with all his life, he was just beginning his third term as mayor. Of course I thought about leaving him, but we had a young daughter to raise, and I still loved him. I do to this very day. So as for pulling the wool over the eyes of the citizens of this fine city, I’ll just say this. When my husband pushed for legislation to open up elite charter schools to deserving, lower-income children, no one cared about Archie’s sexual orientation. When he fought against the powerful gun lobby and won, thus succeeding in establishing some of the strictest gun ordinances this city had seen in a decade, again no one cared if he was straight or gay. And when you drink a glass of water, my friend, I doubt you or anyone else will be angry that it was a closeted gay man who pushed for and got the clean water ordinance that still protects Chicago to this day. Archibald Fairfax III was doing the work this city needed. He put this city first, as any good mayor should. Everything else—including who he was on a personal level—came in a distant and unimportant second. Next question.”

  “Damn,” Ice muttered in Sunny’s ear. “Now I know where you get your skills. I’m ready to vote for your mother to be mayor.”

  “She’s too smart for the job,” Sunny whispered back, slanting a proud glance her mother’s way. Then when she heard someone call her name, she looked into the sea of reporters.

  “Sunny, were you aware your father was gay?”

  For a fraction of a second, her jaw locked. No surprise there, since she never spoke about personal things. But when Ice squeezed her hand, she found the strength to let the truth out for the first time in her life. “I was, though it didn’t seem like such a big deal that it warranted a freaking press conference,” she added, and the room rumbled with a collective chuckle. “It was just life, you know? Water is wet, the sky is up and my dad is gay. It never changed how I felt about him. How could it? He’s my dad, and I’m a daddy’s girl. Even when he’s…he’s gone, I’ll still be a daddy’s girl.” Her voice broke, like her heart, because that was the most basic truth she knew. “I just hope people will recognize that my dad’s life, and how he chose to live it, can be learned from. He chose to deny who he was for most of his life. He had a good life with my mom and me, but I can’t imagine he was ever truly happy because of that denial.”

  “Are you all coming forward with this revelation now because Mayor Fairfax is dying?”

  “No.” Before she could open her mouth Ice answered for her, and the room seemed to rumble again as cameras turned his way. “Claire and Sunny are two very brave and honest women who came forward today because a disgusting, twisted monster threatened to expose this secret in the twilight of Archie Fairfax’s well-lived and honorable life, in an attempt to deny this good man dignity in death. That monster is none other than Damien Eisen.”

  A collective gasp rang around the room, and Sunny’s was one of them. She turned to stare at him but he didn’t seem to notice as he looked out at the avidly listening reporters.

  “I won’t go into how the man people know as my father stole his brother’s inheritance, the tabloid known as Inquiring Minds, through forgery and bribery, because the statute of limitations has expired. Nor will I waste your time talking about how he spent a lifetime getting dirt on influential people around the world so he could blackmail them or squeeze them for money. Though, if law enforcement is interested in how blackmail and extortion are Damien Eisen’s current stock and trade, I can back that claim up with the proof I collected, in case anyone’s interested. So can Sunny, now that I think about it.”

  She gaped at him. “I can?”

  “You still have that thumb drive I gave you, right? The one with the pics of the art for IBKC’s Cool Cat Kickers?”

  Baffled, she nodded. “Yes, I think it’s in the mudroom with the rest of my stuff from IBKC. But what does that have to do with—”

  “I put copies of all of Damien’s dirty deeds on there, just in case something happened to me. So if a law enforcement officer out there listening now can guarantee they can protect the victims Damien Eisen has been extorting and blackmailing, I’m fine with turning over that proof. All you have to do is swing by the Fairfax house tonight to pick up that drive. I honestly don’t know if it has any legal value, but it’s here if you want it.”

  “Oh my God,” Sunny whispered, mind boggling. “Stolen blackmail and extortion secrets…and designs for cat toys. In my kitchen.”

  “Hey, I didn’t steal a damn thing. The old man was so arrogant, thinking he had me by the short hairs, that he had me work on his computer whenever it went on the fritz. It was sitting right there in his emails and photo files.”

  “That’s not the point,” Sunny all but screeched before anyone could get a word in. “Ice, why the hell didn’t you tell me I’ve been carrying around information on freaking blackmail all this time?”

  “I’m telling you now,” he shrugged, like the fact that she possessed earthshaking material that could ruin lives was no big deal. “In fact, I’m telling everyone everything now, because playing the role of son to the likes of Damien Eisen taught me an important lesson—secrets and lies destroy happiness. When we’re married, I don’t want a single secret or lie to be between us. That’s the only way to make sure that what we build together is going to last a lifetime.”

  Again a collective gasp went through the room, this time with Claire joining in. Sunny didn’t, however. Breathing at this point was beyond her. “M-married.”

  “No secrets,” he said again, as if that explained everything. Then to her shock, he slid off the settee and on to one knee, her hand still in his. “You love me. I’ve wanted to marry you for as long as I can remember, so to hell with whatever’s still standing in our way. We’re getting married, Sunny day, and that’s all there is to it.”

  A high-pitched, air-starved laugh es
caped her. Apparently that was what hysteria sounded like. “Nice ask, pal.”

  “This is as close to asking as I’m going to get, so you’re just going to have to find a way to cope. I don’t care how and I don’t care when we do this—you decide. But I can’t handle the threat of you slipping out of my grasp yet again. We. Are getting. Married.”

  “Christmas Eve,” she said without giving it another thought. How could she think? She wasn’t even sure if this was real, and not just because she’d wanted it in her heart of hearts for so long. For all she knew, this was just another bone Ice was throwing out for the media to focus on instead of her father’s revelations. “I want my father to be there, so we can’t wait. Is that all right?”

  “Yeah, baby.” His face softened like a miracle, something she loved seeing, before he raised her hand to his lips, then leaned in to kiss her, uncaring that cameras were snapping away. “That sounds perfect.”

  Sunny’s brain spun at how her life had swung from the depths of despair to the heights of joy within a twenty-four hour period. The truth about her father—the one that had kept her locked inside herself her entire life—was now out in the open. Because of that, she found a peace she’d never known before. She no longer carried the burden of someone else’s secret, and her father and his legacy had still managed to maintain the dignity he deserved.

  That was good.

  But life got even better than that.

  The invitation Ice had extended to the law enforcement community had people practically lining up around the block. Within an hour of her mother’s live press conference, Ice was opening the door to Chicago PD, the sheriff’s department and field agents from the FBI.

  Claire, savvy woman that she was, anticipated a crowd and decided to keep with the spirit of the season. She enlisted Sunny and Hannah to help her put together the detestable eggnog everyone loved so much, as well as a large pot of coffee and an assortment of holiday candy and cookies. Then she had Matt and Ice set up a sideboard between the merrily crackling fireplace and the tree, smoothed a red plaid tablecloth on it, and arranged all the goodies there for easy access. Since the press knew what was going on, they hadn’t budged from their spots, so the formal parlor had turned into a weird kind of news gathering-slash-Christmas party. With law enforcement.

  Leave it to her mother to turn the much-dreaded reveal of her father’s secret into a festive celebration.

  But that was what it felt like—a celebration. Sunny had never been free of the family’s secrets before, and the sensation was nothing short of euphoric. Tears kept stinging her eyes when she realized she had her whole life ahead of her, and it was a life she could share openly with Ice.

  Ice.

  Time and again her eyes slid to his broad shoulders and sweptback hair that glinted deep gold in the firelight as he spoke with the authorities. For their part, they munched away on cookies and drank her mother’s eggnog while asking him questions. The thumb drive had already been dug out of the box she’d lugged home from Itty Bitty Kitty Committee and handed over. At one point she’d overheard them tell Ice that authorities in San Diego had arrested someone trying to take Ice’s mother, Ingrid, from the rehab facility on Damien Eisen’s orders—no doubt Damien’s last-gasp attempt to get leverage on Ice to retract his story. The facility was now in lock-down; Ingrid was safe with a platoon of cops right outside her door, and they would remain there with her until Damien was in custody.

  As Sunny watched them wrap things up, she entertained herself by imagining Damien Eisen running for the nearest country that had no extradition treaty with the US. Somewhere tropical, perhaps. Wherever he landed, it was a good bet Ice would never have to worry about him again.

  That was all she cared about.

  It was after midnight by the time Claire closed the door on their final visitor and headed back into the parlor still alight with Christmas lights and the last of the fire. “And that, ladies and gentlemen, is that. I’m ready for this day to be over. Did Matt and Hannah check in?”

  Sunny nodded and crossed the room to hug her mother. “Before they went up to bed, Matt wanted you to know Dad’s up-to-date on his meds and is tucked in for the night. None of this hullabaloo disturbed him.”

  “Wonderful. In fact, everything is wonderful,” she added with a chuckle, hugging her back. “Life is a funny thing, isn’t it, darling? We went from darkness to light all within the span of a single day. And it’s all thanks to you, Ice,” she added, and held out her hand to him with a radiant smile. “The way you were willing to sacrifice everything for Sunny was what inspired me to do what needed to be done. I think it’s safe to say you saved us today.”

  “You saved yourselves. It was your decision to let that light shine in, Claire, not mine.” With a smile, he took her hand even as Sunny went from her mother’s side to his. “After everything I’ve seen today, I now know where Sunny gets her backbone. You’re one hell of a woman.”

  “I am, aren’t I?” With a surprisingly happy laugh, Claire released his hand and headed for the stairs. “Don’t forget to tell your father goodnight, Sunny bunny. And Ice—welcome to the family, darling.”

  “Class act all the way,” Ice remarked, watching her go before turning his attention to Sunny. “How you holding up?”

  “Other than a case of emotional whiplash, not too bad.” She took a breath, sifted through all the insane events that had happened in the past few hours, and settled on one point. “I just need to know if you’re mad at me.”

  He blinked. “Mad at you? Why the hell would I be mad at you?”

  “Because in keeping my father’s secret, a part of me has never been completely honest with you. From the moment we met until now, I’ve kept a part of myself locked away from you and the rest of the world. All I can say in my defense is that I was trained to never share anything too personal. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust you, specifically. It’s that I was taught to never trust anyone, period.”

  He shook his head. “That’s the only thing I am pissed about. That burden—the burden of someone else’s secret—should never have been put on you. It fucking kills me that you’ve lived your life being so jammed up inside. You never got to be completely free with me, or anyone else. That’s not right, no matter how you look at it.”

  Anyone else. Like a trouble-seeking missile, her brain hopped to another possible landmine. “Did you really demolish Dan Harper? I’m not complaining,” she added hastily when his expression turned homicidal at the name. “Early on I figured out that jerk was an actor, so I kicked him to the curb before anything serious could happen. I was just curious, that’s all.”

  “Motherfucker straight-up targeted you. I’ve never taken greater pleasure in tuning up a guy in my life.”

  And that, she decided wisely, would be the last they’d ever say about Dan Harper. “I know the last few hours have been kind of a lot—”

  “Yeah, and then some.”

  “But,” she went on valiantly, “I need to know something, and it’s important you tell me the truth.”

  “Baby, you should know by now I’m all about the truth.”

  “You weren’t when you refused to tell me why you fired me,” she reminded him. “Why didn’t you just tell me the truth? That your father—”

  “Not my father. Damien Eisen will never be referred to as my father from here on in.”

  She bit back a sigh. “Why not tell me that Damien had sent Dan—”

  “And we’re not saying his name ever again.”

  Yep. There it was. “Why didn’t you explain the real reason why you fired me—that you felt you had to get me out of Damien’s reach? It hurt when you fired me, Ice. It cut me right to the bone.”

  “I know it did.” His brows drew together in what looked like pain, and his hand came up to hook around her nape. He reeled her in close and dropped his head so that his brow rested against hers. “When that fucker told me how close he’d gotten to you—a spy my old man had sent that I hadn’t even cl
ocked—it shook the hell out of me, Sunny. At that time, I was beginning to relax my guard, you know? I honestly began to think that maybe Damien was going to leave me alone, but that pretty-boy spy woke me the hell up to what my reality was. As long as I didn’t fight for my freedom with everything I had, I was never going to be safe. That meant you were never going to be safe, because you’re the only person I give a damn about.”

  “I get it. I do,” she said even as she shook her head to belie her words. “I just don’t get why you didn’t tell me all this in the first place.”

  “Because I know you, Sunny. And after hearing how devoted Claire is to Archie despite their circumstances, I realize now that you’re just like your mother. Loyal…to a fault.”

  That made her frown. “I can’t tell if that’s a compliment for me, or an insult for my mother.”

  “It’s neither. It’s just how it is. Whether you inherited a genetic quirk of staying the course against impossible odds, or you picked up on that bad habit while being raised in that environment, I don’t know. All I know is this—your loyalty is both your superpower and your weakest link. It brought you to me and Skull and Bones in the first place. You put your heart and soul into building it up—building me up—to the point where the whole world knew who we were. I figured if I’d told you what had happened with that asshat Harper and the producer, and that we were probably surrounded by Damien’s spies, you would have fought like hell to stay by my side—maybe even go on the attack if you felt I was threatened enough.”