Payback (35 page)

Marie was moving into her new house when a young guy in a gray uniform rang the bell. Nancy answered it.

“Marie, it’s for you.”

Marie went to the door and signed for the package that the man had d
elivered. Her forehead furrowed. She said out loud. “I wonder what the hell this is?”

Opening the package, she found a red leather jewelry box
, along with an envelope with a card.  Opening it, she sighed, “Oh crap.”

The card simply said, “
Can we be friends?”

Inside the box was a lovely ruby ring with filigree. It matched the necklace that Caden had given her years ago. “Damn him.  Damn him!”

“Damn who?” Nancy asked, as she looked at the ring.  “Wow, that’s really beautiful.  Someone must like you. Anyone I know?”

There was another deep sigh. “It’s from Caden.  We had a fight and he’s offering a peace pipe. I’m going to send it back.”

“
Why?”
Nancy blurted out.

“It’s just another opportunity for him to tell me that he owns me.”

“A ruby ring says that you’re enslaved to Caden Kelly? Where can I get one?”

“I’d give you this one, but I have to send it back to make a point.”

“When I was there with Jack last weekend, his maid told me that she found an engagement ring in Caden’s sock drawer.”

The color drained from Marie’s face as she backed up to one of the dining chairs and collapsed. “Oh, shit. That means Brooke will be in my life forever.”

Nancy shook her head. “I doubt it. I give the marriage a couple of years at the most.”

“Don’t kid yourself
. Caden is very old fashioned; he’ll hang in there no matter what.”

“But she won’t.”

“Well, at least I know she’ll have to sign a pre nup. That should keep her in check.”

“So, you still love him.”

Looking over at Nancy, Marie tried not to let her see the emotions that were simmering inside. “I will always have feelings for Caden. He’s the father of my child. But he and I have both moved on.”

“You? Moved on?” she chuckled and shook her head. “You are deluding yourself.  I don’t see any men in your life.”

“I don’t need a man in my life to be happy. Look, your boyfriend is overseas and you’re content.”

“That’s because I know he’s coming home to me. I know that soon he’ll be back in my life.”

“Which reminds me, have you made up your mind if you’re coming to Montana for the filming to watch Jack?”

“I don’t think so. Jeff comes back a week after you leave for filming. I want to be in San Diego when he does.”

“What will you do?”

“I’ll find a job as a nanny or something else. Don’t worry.”

“If you change your mind, let me know.”

Nancy nodded, “I will.”

A week later, Nancy responded to a knock on the door. Opening it, she was surprised to see Caden looking agitated and distracted.

“Oh, Nancy, I don’t know why, but I thought Marie would answer. Is she here?”

“She should be back in a few minutes. Come in, come in.” Flinging the door open, Caden stormed through.

There was a sound and then Jack came bounding around the corner directly into his father’s arms. “Daddy! Where have you been?”

“I’ve been working, buddy.” He flashed a frown at Nancy to let her know that he was lying.

“We go see the horses?”

“Yes, we’ll see the horses, sweetie. But first I have to talk to Mommy.”

“Mommy go see the horses with us?”

“I don’t think so, buddy.” He turned to Nancy.  “Do you think you could take Jack out when Marie gets back…just for a walk around the block?”

With the understanding that Caden anticipated some angry words, Nancy raised an eyebrow and frowned at him. “Jack, why don’t you go back to your room and put your toys away before you go with Daddy?”

Jack’s face fell, but he knew that when Nancy used that tone, he had to obey or there would be “consequences,” the term both she and Mommy used. He slouched and moped out of the room.  Nancy turned back to Caden.

“I don’t want to get between you two, but you need to know that I told her about the engagement ring.”

Caden’s face screwed up.
You what?”
he spat, as his hand clenched in anger. “Who told you—no, what right did you have saying anything?” His voice was filled with rage.

“She’s my friend.  I wanted her to be prepared—deal with it.”

“I don’t want you back at my house.”

“Don’t worry, I was about to quit. My boyfriend is coming home a month early and I’m moving to San Diego. So you won’t have me to kick around.”

Caden clenched his teeth, but then he realized that Marie had known about the engagement ring, which explained her refusal to answer her phone, texts or voice mails, and his failure to be able to see his son for the last ten days, even though they only lived fifteen miles apart. Caden took a seat and then a deep breath. “How did she take it?”

Nancy almost smiled, knowing that he would eventually get around to asking. “The real question is why?”

“Why what?”

“Why are you marrying a woman that you don’t love?”

He jumped up, eyes like lasers burning into hers. “
I love Brooke!”
he yelled, not realizing that the front door had opened and Marie was standing with a bag of groceries and a bag of
Big Boy Pants.
 

Nancy winced as she saw Marie’s face over Caden’s shoulder. Caden turned, saw the pain in Marie’s eyes, and felt his chest tighten.

“Marie.” It was just one word, but everyone knew from the tone that he was sorry. He had never meant for her to hear the emphatic proclamation.

Nancy jumped up. “I’m going to take Jack down to the park for a few minutes.”

Marie nodded and then walked to the kitchen of the mid-twenties historical Spanish-style house. It had been remodeled to incorporate new wiring, updated heat and air conditioning, a new kitchen and patio, but all done within the same Spanish motif. She put the bag of
Big Boy Pants
down and then took the half-gallon of milk out of the bag and put it in the refrigerator.

Caden watched and wondered what he should say now that the wind had been taken out of his sails. His anger had taken a back seat to his guilt. “Marie, I want to take Jack for the weekend.”

When Marie turned, there was no mistaking the jut of her chin and the arms crossing over her chest.  She had the look of a wounded animal.  If he’d had a gun, he would have put her out of her misery.

“I never said you couldn’t see Jack.”

“You’re not responding to my texts, phone calls, or voice mails.”

She grabbed a soda from the refrigerator and slammed it on the table as she collapsed into the dining chair. “Well, I’m
responding
now.”

“I need to know that you’ll respond to my calls; that we haven’t stopped talking about Jack.”

“I’m here and I’m talking about Jack. What do you want to say?”

“Jesus, Marie.” He rolled his eyes and then decided to just put it out on the table, “I’m getting married.”

“Yes, I know. In fact, you just let half the neighborhood know that you love Brooke.  I don’t think you ever made an exclamation that emphatic when you were supposedly in love with me.”

Caden’s eyes narrowed into slits.  “Supposedly?” He stared up at the ceiling and took a deep breath. “I’m not going to play this game.  You know who was responsib
le for us not getting married. You’re just upset that I moved on and you haven’t.”

“Oh, right, our breakup was all my fault.
Move on? Don’t forget that you have Jack maybe, say, eight days a month at the max? I spend those eight days catching up on all the changes you and the director are making to the screenplay.  So you’ll have to excuse me that between that and taking care of my son, I haven’t gone out and found the love of my life!”

“I’ll be happy to take Jack full time. You could come see him whe
never you want. Then you can rewrite the screenplay
and
look for the love of your life.”

“Oh, that’s just what you’ve always wanted—to take Jack from me.”

He clenched his fists and growled, “I’m not trying to take Jack from you. I’m trying to give you options, but obviously you just want a fight. I’ll take Jack now and return him on Monday night.  Maybe then we can have a discussion about my marriage.”

“What the hell is there to discuss?”

“How it will affect Jack.”

“How will you being married be any different than it is now?”

“I’m just thinking that Brooke and I might have children and it may change the family dynamics.”

“Oh, so you’ll have a
new
family. Jack will be the
old
family. I suppose you’ll assuage your guilt by promising to see Jack at Christmas, while you take your new kids to Europe and Disney World for the summer.”

His head twisted as he tried to compr
ehend the point she was making. “You think that if I have more children, I’ll stop wanting to be with Jack?”

“Men do it all the time!
They abandon their first set of kids for their new family.”

He shook his head in disbelief. “There was a time you said you loved me…would you really fall in love with a man who could do that?”

“I don’t know. I’ve only ever fallen in love once, and now he’s shouting in the middle of my living room how much he loves Brooke!”

They both heard scrambling through the front door and then a full bore of little feet running in their direction.

“Mommy coming to ride the horses?” Jack asked at the top of his lungs as he ran and grabbed hugged her.

Hurt and angry, Marie bent down and said, “No
, honey, Mommy’s the first family. Daddy’s moved on to the second one.” And then she kissed him, “I’ll see you in a few days.” Unable to take any more, she ran through the dining room, into the hall, and then into the bathroom, locking the door behind her so she could have a good cry.

Caden asked Nancy to grab a few things for Jack
, and then a few minutes later they were out the door. Caden had barely managed to get Jack in his car seat and was about to take off when Marie ran in front of the car, causing Caden to have to break hard and fast.

“What the hell?” Caden yelled out the window at her.

“Here,” she handed the ring box to him. “No, we’re not friends…not anymore.”

“Damn it, Marie, don’t be so childish.  Take the ring.”

She stomped back inside the house. Caden debated whether to chase after her but decided to let her cool off on her own. That was a mistake.  Marie had told herself that if he followed her and attempted to apologize, she would apologize too.  It would mean that he did cherish whatever it was that was left between them. But when he didn’t follow her, she knew that she was, and would always be, his first, forgotten family.

But as usual, Marie was anything but forgotten. Every fight they had weighed on him for days.  Caden hated knowing she was hurt or mad at him no matter how irrational she had been. The idea that he could ever shun Jack in favor of future children was ludicrous. Sure
, he knew guys who seemed to forget they’d ever had kids with their first wife, but that wouldn’t be him.  Jack was too important to him to be forgotten. Why couldn’t she see that?

“Your fight had nothing to do with whether Caden would abandon Jack,” Nancy said firmly.  “It was all about how hurt you were that he had found someone else to marry while you have no one in your life but Jack.”

“Who made you Dr. Phil?”

“I have a degree in sociology.  Half my courses were in family dynamics.”

“Well, I could care less who he marries, as long as they treat Jack well. Brooke’s beach escapade was irresponsible.”

“She was only gone for a few minutes. Sure, it wasn’t the right thing to do, but she realized it and hasn’t made that mistake again.”

“Oh, bully for her.”

“Did you forget about the time in the toy store when you were checking something out and Jack got away from you?  He wandered around for fifteen minutes before we found him under one of the shelves.”

Marie felt her cheeks redden. It had been her worst nightmare, looking down and realizing that Jack was no longer next to her.  She’d screamed and told the store to close the doors and search the parking lot while everyone else searched the huge warehouse store of toys. When Jack was found, everyone had stared at her like she was a terrible mother. She never went back to that store again; she was too embarrassed.

“Whose side are you on?”

“I’m on Jack’s side. And Jack wins when his parents like and respect each other. You don’t think he picks up on all this?  You said he’s waking up in the middle of the night again. He’s probably regressing because he’s stressed out over you and Caden.”

“Which begs the question, why didn’t you go with Caden?  Don’t you usually go when Jack goes?”