A Trusting Heart (20 page)

* * *

Megan paced up and down the walkway, glancing at her Timex every few seconds. She couldn’t believe he was late. It was a good thing she hadn’t seriously bet her mortgage payment—she would be in huge trouble. How was she going to explain to her grandkids that their grandfather had been obnoxiously late to his own proposal? Megan’s shoulders slumped in relief as she saw his car pull into the parking lot.

Trevor usually walked with such vigor and energy, but today he was walking so slowly, as if he were sick or exhausted. Maybe today wasn’t the best day for her to propose to him? Nah, what better way to put a smile on his face. She took one last look up at the temple spires for courage and then walked the rest of the way to meet him.

“I’m guessing you took the long way.”

Trevor didn’t even crack a smile. Megan frowned. He must really be having a bad day. Well, she knew one way to make his day better.

“Well, since you’re here, would you mind coming over here to sit down on this bench? I have a question for you.”

Trevor’s blood had turned to fire. He was so furious, he could barely contain himself from ringing her neck. How dare she tell him to take a hike on the sacred grounds of the temple? He should be relieved to find out how sick and depraved she was before he had offered her eternity. Trevor sat down and stared coldly up at Megan, who must be really charged up about taking his heart out and stomping it into the ground, because she looked really excited. Trevor was beginning to feel ill.

“Trevor, would you do me the great honor of marrying me?”

Megan pulled the ring she had slid onto her own finger and reached down for Trevor’s cold and lifeless hand. She grinned at him as she slid the simple gold band onto his left hand. Perfect fit. Perfect husband for her.

“What?”

Megan looked irritated by his question, but restrained herself and tried one more time.

“I’m asking you to marry me. You know, in the temple, for eternity, that sort of thing. Don’t tell me you need time to think about it?”

Megan looked unsure of herself as she stared down at Trevor’s dumbfounded expression. If this turned out to be just one more humiliating experience for her, she was going to move to Alaska. Could she have read the signs so wrong? He had been coming on so strong. He had even talked about marriage just last week!

“What?”

Megan stomped her foot, yanked the ring off of his finger and walked stiffly away from the romantic setting towards her car. She would have just enough time to pack all of her clothes and catch a plane to Anchorage. She would find a nice dark cave, hopefully without a grizzly bear, and hibernate for the rest of her life. What an idiot she had been!

Trevor watched Megan’s quickly disappearing form and tried to understand the events of the last five minutes. He wouldn’t be getting any answers from her if she took off and a surge of new anger had Trevor on his feet and sprinting after Megan who was now unlocking her car door.

“How can you play with somebody’s emotions like that? I am a person who breathes and feels and bleeds just like anybody else. Did you think I wouldn’t find out about your little game? What were you going to do? Wait until after the wedding and then take me for millions? You got greedy, didn’t you? Or was it Dylan? Now that I’m thinking more clearly, this was all his plan, wasn’t it? Then, after he’s divorced and you’re divorced, you can both retire to your choice of Caribbean bungalow or love nest in the canyon. Heck, take both, you’ll have enough money then, won’t you?”

Megan’s mouth went slack with shock. Did Trevor have a mental disorder Cora had never bothered to mention? What was he talking about? She was the one who was offended here! He had no right to look so . . . so completely devastated. Megan walked around the car and took Trevor’s hand in hers. This time, it wasn’t lifeless; it was balled up with pent-up rage and emotion.

“Trevor, look at me. Look at me. Whatever it is you think I’ve done, I haven’t. Now, why don’t we walk back to that little bench and sit down and you can tell me all about it.”

Trevor didn’t want to follow her back towards the temple, but when she had taken his hand and told him to look at her, she had seemed so sincere and genuine. Almost as if she was innocent. Well, fine. He would just confront her with her betrayal and watch her crumble with guilt.

“You transferred two hundred thousand dollars from your credit card account into Carlisle’s bank account. Do you deny this?”

Megan looked surprised for a second and then smiled. Of all things.

“Nope, I don’t. Remember, you said I could spend it on anything I wanted to.”

Trevor groaned deep in his chest and got up from the bench for the last time. This was just too painful. He couldn’t stand to see her smile as she admitted she had given Dylan his money. Forget her crumbling, he was about to disintegrate.

“Trevor, wait! My father stole two hundred thousand dollars from Dylan’s father. That’s what I found out when I had lunch with him. I went to talk to my dad about it and he freely admitted it. He told me he used part of the money to pay for my college education. He even laughed about it. So when you told me the other day that I could go back to school, it gave me the idea. I just wanted to be completely free from the past. From Dylan and from my parents. I didn’t want my children to have that kind of legacy. I didn’t want your children to carry that burden. I’ll pay you back when we’re married. I’m sure I’ll sell another house someday. I only get six percent commission, but it really adds up after a while. I’m sorry if I hurt you, but you said I could spend it on anything I wanted to.”

Trevor turned slowly around to face a now very insecure and unhappy woman. If what she said was true, then . . . .

Trevor grabbed Megan’s hand and pulled her at a run towards his car, grinning and whooping as he worked the gold band out of her clenched fist and back onto his finger.

“Get in, sweetheart! We have to catch the custodian.”

* * *

Megan leaned back into the tub filled with bubbles and held her left hand up to admire for the hundredth time. It had taken her twenty minutes to clean all of the pizza sauce out of the crevices, but it had been worth it. She still couldn’t believe how furious she had been at Trevor when, instead of explaining a few details to her, he said, “I’ll explain later.” He then chose to sing to his favorite James Brown CD at the top of his lungs all the way to his office building, completely ignoring her. He had horribly embarrassed her when he had dragged her laughing and jumping all the way up to his office on the top floor of the building complex. Everyone had stared at them as if they were lunatics. And as she witnessed him dumping his trash all over his immaculate office, she knew for sure she was changing her phone number. But she would always remember the shock and delight she had felt when he crammed the dirtiest ring she had ever seen onto her finger. It had been the most romantic moment of her life.

And then he had kissed her. Of all the kisses in her life, this one was it. The kiss of a lifetime. She had felt it from the top of her head to the tips of her toes. She now understood the theory of spontaneous combustion much better.

It was probably a good thing he’d had to catch a plane right then. Sometimes distance was a good way to make sure you were subscribing to all of the celestial dating laws.

Megan stuck her pruny toes out of the water and sighed with happiness. Men and women were that they might have joy. She would take her smidgen of it and be very thankful.

Thirty-One

TWO WEEKS LATER, MEGAN found herself sitting between Linette and Cora on Cora’s living room couch having a surprise bridal shower. Trevor hadn’t been kidding around when he had called her the next day and told her that he wanted to get married soon. They were scheduled to be sealed in the Timpanogos Temple in American Fork on that coming Saturday morning. Every time she thought about it, she had to catch her breath. They were foregoing the reception and taking their close friends and family out to lunch at the Tree Room at Sundance instead. They would be catching a flight to Italy that same night.

“Megan, this is your bridal shower. It wouldn’t hurt to pay attention.”

Megan snapped back to her surroundings immediately, blushing as her sister laughed at her.

“Sorry, guys. I was just thinking about my honeymoon.” The whole room erupted into hysterical laughter, causing Megan to turn an even darker shade of red.

“I didn’t mean it that way! Come on, I’m back on track now. Hand me that big present in the back. It’s been calling out to me ever since I walked in the door.”

Jackie jumped up and grabbed the present for Megan, handing it to her with a grin.

“You really had me fooled, Megan. I thought you and me would end up old maids together and here you are marrying the most eligible bachelor of the year. You have to promise to set me up with one of his friends.”

Megan shook her head and laughed as she tore the wrapping paper off.

“As if you need any help.”

Megan groaned and rolled her eyes as she pulled out yet another item of lingerie.

“Aren’t I supposed to be getting toasters and towels? I can open up my very own Victoria’s Secret store now.”

Brenna grabbed the lingerie Megan was holding and checked the size and smiled.

“Tell you what. I’ll trade you my toaster and a couple towels for this one.”

Megan snatched the nightgown back, giggling as all of the women surrounding her started grabbing all of her gifts.

“I take it back! I love my presents! Hey, Linette, that one’s my favorite. You have to wait for your own shower.”

Linette whimpered pathetically as she handed her sister the cream satin pajamas back.

“Who knows when I’ll have my own bridal shower? I think it’s customary to actually be engaged first.”

Megan gave her sister a quick hug.

“Not everyone moves as fast as Trevor does. Just give Blaine some time. After he sees how ecstatic Trevor is when he’s married, you know Blaine will want to be just as happy. They have matching cars, for Pete’s sake. Why not matching sisters, too?”

Linette sighed and slumped down on the couch next to Cora, who automatically put her arm around Linette’s still thin shoulders. Megan smiled at the relationship the two women were developing. Cora was turning out to be the mother they both desperately needed and wanted.

“Hey everyone, don’t eat all the hors d’oeuvres before I get back,” Megan warned everyone, then walked down the hall to use the bathroom. All of the sparkling apple cider was finally getting to her. She tried the door, but it was locked. Brenna must have beaten her to it. Megan glared at the closed door and walked further down the hall towards Cora’s bedroom. She was sure Cora wouldn’t mind. After all, it was an emergency.

As she walked out of Cora’s bathroom five minutes later, she paused as she saw a carelessly strewn contract on Cora’s dresser. She was almost positive she had seen her name at a glance. It wasn’t one of her real estate contracts either. Why would her name be on a contract? Megan hesitated before picking it up. This was Cora’s bedroom. And she knew Cora’s privacy was important to her. But her name was on it. Megan shut the door to Cora’s bedroom softly and grabbed the contract, scanning it quickly.

Trevor was a dead man.

Thirty-Two

HELLO?” MEGAN ASKED INTO the phone.

“Hi, sweetheart. So how did your bridal shower go? Mom called and said it was a huge success. Too bad about those towels and toasters, huh?”

Megan laughed at the outright lie and hopped up on the counter to get more comfortable.

“Yeah, I’m pretty broken up about it myself. But it was really nice. Your mom was so sweet to put it together for me. And on such short notice, too.”

“Did your mom decide to come?” Trevor asked.

Megan closed her eyes, wishing things were different. She had called her mom and personally invited her to the shower, but Trisha had insisted she was way too busy to make it. It was looking like she wasn’t in the mood to be involved in any of the wedding preparations.

“Well, she wasn’t able to make it this afternoon. But she did say that she might be able to come to lunch at the Tree Room with us.”

Trevor frowned, wanting everything to be perfect for Megan. He knew how hard she was working on forgiving her parents. It only seemed right that they do their part. Megan’s next question caught him totally off guard though.

“By the way, how did you get your mom to sign your matchmaking contract? You must really be an amazing negotiator because, if it were me, I’d have held out for more than just a passel of grandkids and a new house.”

Trevor sat up in his chair, clutching the phone as if his life depended on it, his voice squeaking like a teenager’s.

“You saw the contract? How did you see it? Did Mom show it to you?”

Megan smiled, leaning back against the wall, enjoying the moment to the fullest.

“Oh, it was just lying around. My only question is, was it really necessary? I mean, I’ve never known a man who would make his own mother sign a contract to help him secure a wife. I’m really intrigued here.”

Trevor walked in a tight circle, rubbing his hand against his forehead, not knowing if her calm voice was camouflaging anger or if she just thought it was weird. Either way, he wasn’t looking too good. If he had only taken his mother’s copy with him!

“All I can say is, you were worth any and all effort. I thought I could use all the help I could get, so being the wise businessman that I am, I took advantage of all my resources. As far as making her sign a contract, that was mostly for her benefit. She hates feeling like a burden to me, so she didn’t want me paying for a new home for her. This was just my way of making sure that she ends up where she needs to be. Are you okay with this? You’re not mad, are you?”

Megan remembered how she had felt just three hours before and was glad he was asking her now, instead of then. If he had been in the same room with her when she had finished reading the contract, she would have shoved her engagement ring down his throat. As luck would have it, she was able to calm down enough to realize that Trevor was just a goof and that, sometimes, she actually liked that about him.