Meant to Be (RightMatch.com Trilogy) (20 page)

His was a wide, white-gold band and hers was the same, only a bit thinner. He slipped the small circular symbol on her finger, then grinned hugely when he received his own. It looked right on his hand.

“With the powers I’ve been given by the state and by God, I bless you both as husband and wife.” Anabelle wiped away a few tears. “You may seal this bond with a kiss.”

Cole had just taken Beth in his arms and lowered his head when a screech came from the back of the church. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

Cold dread seeped into Cole’s bones. Beth stiffened and they both turned to the commotion. From the corner of his eye, Cole saw Joey leave the wedding party and step off the altar.

“C-Cole, who’s that?”

Because she’d stormed down the aisle, Johanna had heard Beth’s question. “I’m Johanna Carlson. Ellie’s mother.” Her face was mottled red and her eyes were wild when she came closer. “If you think getting married is going to help you keep my daughter, you’re wrong.”

The group let out a collective gasp. Joe approached Johanna and took her arm; by then, Spence had come up to her, too. They spoke softly to her and she began to sob. Gently, they assisted her down the aisle.

Beth turned to him. “Cole, I don’t understand. What’s going on?”

Cole couldn’t speak given the atrocity that had just occurred.

“Cole?”

He faced his wife. Now, tears streamed down her cheeks.

“I’m sorry, love, so, so sorry.”

Chapter 14

Beth felt as if she was watching a stranger. Cole had followed her into an anteroom of the church when she’d left the sanctuary hurriedly. The news was tragic—that Cole could lose Ellie was unthinkable. And as she deduced from Johanna’s marks, the woman had talked with Cole, which meant he’d kept this from Beth. Again! So she stood trembling, staring at him blankly, unsure of what to do.

“Honey, please, say something.”

She concentrated on his face. Just minutes before, when she’d pledged to be his wife, she’d been thinking how handsome he looked in his new suit, how his hair had shone in the light streaming in from the stained-glass windows, how his eyes sparkled when she took her vows. Minutes later, he didn’t look good. His face was pasty and his eyes haunted. In order to resist him, to resist falling victim to his vulnerability, she chose to be angry instead.

“How are you going to explain this, Cole?” She held up her hand, her new wedding ring gleaming, which mocked them both. Her index finger raised. “First, you lied about your age because you thought I wouldn’t give you a chance if I knew you were so much younger than me. Which was correct, by the way. I don’t know if I ever told you that.” Another finger up. “You lied about Ellie because you knew I didn’t want to raise another child. It was a deal breaker for sure.” She shook her head. “I even swallowed that you didn’t tell me about the stalker because you were so upset, which means I totally ignored a third instance of your deception.” Her anger increased as she said the words aloud. “And then, the
piéce de resistánce.
Apparently, Ellie’s mother is back, and do you tell me this, like you promised to do from this point on? Nope. I can’t wait to hear why.”

His jaw dropped. “You must know why.”

“No, Cole, I don’t.”

“Because I’ve been crazy, thinking crazy, about Johanna’s threats. I haven’t been eating or sleeping. Surely you realized the nightmares—”

“Oh, my God.” She clapped a hand over her mouth. “You were saying Jo, as in Johanna, not Joey.”

He ignored the comment. “Beth, my entire existence was—
is
—being threatened. I was afraid I’d lose you, too. I couldn’t bear the thought of either.”

Forcefully, she hardened her heart. “Do you have any idea how tired that line has become? You’ve used it so many times.”

“It’s not a line. It’s fact.”

“Why am I arguing with you? You’ve won every other disagreement we’ve had about our relationship, about your lies. Why would you listen now?”

“I’m sorry. I’m listening.”

“Well, that’s too bad because I don’t have anything more to say. You deceived me a final time.”

“We can work this out. Let’s go to Jamaica and talk it through.”

Her brows skyrocketed. “You’re kidding, right? I’m not going to Jamaica with you.”

“You aren’t?”

“God, you
are
naïve. No, I’m not going anywhere but back to the Inn.”

His brow furrowed as if he didn’t understand and that made her angrier. “You’ve moved into the house next door.”

“That can be undone. And you won’t be living there, either.”

“We’re married, Beth.”

She had to push. Say the right things or God, he could talk her into accepting this, too, and
that
she couldn’t live with. “I ought to be able to get that detail legally annulled after what you’ve done.”

“Surely, you’re joking.”

“Not in the least.”

His face reddened, she thought at first, from embarrassment. But she was wrong. Right before her eyes, he exploded. He pounded his fist on the nearby table. “How can you even think of leaving me now?” he shouted. She realized she’d never heard him raise his voice. Not once. “Don’t you see how horrible this is? How I can’t live without Ellie?”

Again, her impulse was to comfort him, so Beth took a deep breath, forced herself to calm. After all, she loved this man. “You’re right. You’re not seeing the situation clearly. Johanna won’t get Ellie. You might have to share her, but not only isn’t that the end of the world, it might be good for Ellie in the long run to know her birth mother wanted her.”

Beautiful, blue eyes narrowed on her. “Or maybe you’re thinking you could get your single, unattached man after all.”

Beth’s throat clogged and all she could do was stare at him. Finally, she got out, “How can you say something like that to me?”

“How can you ignore the agony I’m going through? Brush it off like it’s okay for Johanna to take Ellie from me.”

“I’m not brushing anything off. I know this must be heart wrenching for you. You just made the wrong decision to cut me out of it. For all of us.”

He raked a hand through his hair. “Beth, please don’t harp on your hurt feelings now. I need you.”

Harp
got under her skin. “I’m sorry.
I
don’t need you now. I need to be alone and figure out where I’m going from here.”

“You’re not going anywhere. You’re my wife. Legally, and more importantly, emotionally.”

“Face it, Cole. This time your plan didn’t work. I can leave you and I am.”

She started for the door.

When she reached it, he called out, “I’ll never forgive you if you walk out on me at a time like this.”

She glanced over her shoulder. “That’s okay because I’ll never forgive you for this last and final blow to our relationship.”

o0o

For the five days they were supposed to be in Jamaica, Cole worked feverishly. First, he had to deal with yet another issue at RightMatch.com. Sabrina discovered a second man and one woman operating under false identities, showing all the signs of stalking their prey. Cole didn’t want to deal with this, but the situation did distract him from the pain that welled up inside him every time he thought of Beth’s abandonment. God, was nothing going to go right?

When he wasn’t dealing with the site, he researched legal cases where the courts did or did not rescind a mother’s surrender of her parental rights. A woman losing or giving up her rights was less common than a man’s rejection of his kid, but Cole found several instances and took meticulous notes, accumulated a lot of data. The outcomes were mixed. Some of the women got partial custody or visitation rights. Most men who had full custody got to keep their kids, though. Only in a few instances did the woman get or regain full custody and usually because things weren’t going well for the father and he was floundering in the role of a solo parent. But those few instances kept Cole up at night.

As Ellie took her morning nap, he scoured the web for any precedent he’d missed. A long time later, the doorbell rang. As usual, he didn’t answer it. He’d cut himself off from everybody, to lick his wounds.

The door opened, telling him the visitor had to be a family member. His brothers had keys, too, but he’d asked them to leave him alone for a while and they’d respected his wishes. After all, what could anyone say about the mess he’d created?

He looked over. His father entered the apartment, his cheeks ruddy, his eyes clear, seeming healthy and fit after several weeks of rehab. He carried a bag labeled
Romero Bread,
a local eatery. “I brought you lunch, son. You’re going to eat, then talk to me.”

How could he kick his dad out? The family knew Cole would be nice to his parents and Dana; he wouldn’t offend them for the world. So they sent Rick as an emissary. Like a little boy being chided for bad behavior, Cole stood and crossed to his father, who opened his arms. Cole walked right into them and hugged the man as he had all through his life when bad things happened. When he pulled back, he knew his eyes were wet. He swiped impatiently at his cheeks. “Jesus, this is why I didn’t want to see anybody.”

“We all understood and gave you time. Enough, I thought, when I got up this morning.”

Cole swallowed hard. He knew he didn’t have to worry about making a mistake and losing Rick Matheson’s support. Like a good father, the man’s love was unconditional. “All right; I am hungry. Want a beer?”

“Sure.”

As they ate, his dad told him about rehab, about his mom’s nurturing and, unfortunately, how she cooked for him. Rick even joked about what he was doing when he had the attack.

“Didn’t know you still had it in ya, Dad.”

“Children. What do they think about people in their sixties? They just eat ice cream and watch TV?”

Cole played along. “Me and the guys are never going to let you forget it, you know.”

“That’s good to see.”

“What?”

“Something that passes for a smile on your face.”

The emotion welled again and he battled it back. “Haven’t had much to smile about.”

Rick nodded to his plate. “You done?”

“Yeah.” The turkey sandwich had fortified him and he sipped his beer.

“Okay. Let’s talk about it.”

“Which thing?”

“Ellie first. Spence put his assistant on the case. She’s gathered tons of research, which reveals there’s almost no chance of you losing Ellie.”

“Any percentage is too high, Dad. What would you have done if your parental rights were threatened, if you might not have been able to keep me?”

“Probably gone crazy. Then I would have settled down and seen things more clearly.” He seemed faraway. “I fought for Spence, remember, and in the end compromised and kept him with us.”

Cole shrugged.

“There’s more you should know about your chances of keeping full custody. Dana had her video camera going during the wedding ceremony. She captured Johanna Carlson’s tirade on tape. One of the lawyers for Global Industries believes the tape is evidence of how unstable she is. So much so, the court might not even give Johanna visitation privileges.”

“That’s good.”

Rick leaned back in his chair and crossed an ankle over his knee. “For what it’s worth, I don’t think that would be good at all.”

“Why?”

“Because when Ellie gets older, she’s going to suffer over Johanna’s rejection. Remember how hurtful it was to Spence when his father brushed him off, or worse, treated him like one of his commodities? If Johanna is at least partially in her life, Ellie won’t have to deal with those feelings of abandonment.”

“I can make up for it in loving her to pieces.”

“Cole, listen to yourself. That’s not enough for any child. You’re being purposely stubborn and blind to the facts. You need to get over that.”

His brows raised. “Don’t hold back, Dad.”

Rick’s face flushed. His voice rose a bit. “I won’t. Not when what I’m saying is the best thing for my child. You’ve got to get a grip.”

Again, tears welled in his eyes. “How, Dad? How do I do that?”

“By looking at the situation objectively.” He drew out a card from his pocket and handed it to Cole. “Here. This is the name of a therapist I’ve seen. She’s a family counselor. She’s great.”

“You went to a counselor?”

“Yes, when I got custody of an eleven-year-old and a twelve-year-old who’d been through hell. On top of that, I had a new baby and didn’t want to make any of you feel I loved you any less.”

“Oh, Dad.”

“Elsa Eden has been practicing for decades, but she’s only in her sixties now and scaled down her number of clients. I’ve gotten in touch with her and you have an appointment Thursday. I’ll babysit.”

Since he was thinking about losing Ellie all the time anyway, what could it hurt to have somebody professional lay it out for him? “I guess I could go.”

“All right. Now, let’s talk about Beth.”

“No.”

“No?”

“I refuse to talk about her.”

Rick shook his head. “Then it’s a good thing you’ve agreed to counseling. You really are a mess, son.”

o0o

“I think we should expand to the yellow house. Peter and I bought that property planning to live there ourselves for a while, unless the Inn outgrew itself.” She sighed. “It has, really.”

MJ sighed at Beth’s statement. They’d gone for a walk even though it was late November and snowy on the path which bordered the lake.

“You don’t agree?”

“Nope. When you’re in the depths of despair is not the time to make rash decisions.” Her tone held exasperation. Ava was furious at Cole again, Rob was at a loss about what to do for Beth and MJ was becoming impatient with her.

Beth fisted her gloved hands and concentrated on the puffs of breath in front of her. “I’m not in the depths of despair.”

Leaning in, still walking, MJ slid her arm around Beth. “Of course you are. Don’t try to kid me.”

To avoid the issue, Beth shot a glance at the lake. The sun sparkled off the ice, which was almost as pretty as the water in the summer. “I’m not kidding you, or myself. I’m serious about this. I have a meeting with an architect from Peter’s old firm to talk about how to bridge the two properties.”