Payback (43 page)

I trust Marie
, because she came to me with her heart in her hand and I took advantage of it.  She came up here as a city slicker, having never worked on a farm or a ranch, and she braved the Montana winters, helping Jason and I take care of the cattle.  Marie could have asked for a fortune when Jack was born, but all she asked me for was enough to make a down payment on a crappy little house in Bakersfield.”

“So what are you going to do about it?” someone yelled from the crowd.

“Yeah, I guess I’ve gone on long enough. Well, we’re getting married.”

There was a huge cry of jubilation from the crowd.

Marie turned and stared at him with horror.  “You must be absolutely nuts!” she started shaking her head and waving her hands in the air. “No, no, no! We’re not getting married.”  Turning her head back to Caden, she said, “I’m not signing a prenup.”

“Did I ask you? Hell, I realized that if you needed it, I’d give everything I have to you anyway, so why should I care? Darling, you and I don’t have a chance with anyone else. We’re like these huge magnets
. If something or someone is between us, they get crushed in our magnetic field. You’re stuck with me for life. Now, you and Jack need to move in with me, and we need to plan a wedding.”

People started to rush them with well wishes, hugs and kisses. Caden started accepting them with a huge grin and lots of head shakes.  

Marie was being pushed by the throng of happy drunks. Caden pulled her to his side to keep her from being trampled. She whispered into his ear, “I haven’t said, yes.”

“You don’t have to
, honey. Come on, I forgot something.” He yanked her through the crowd towards the house.

“Where’s Ona?
” Marie asked worriedly. “She has Jack.”

“Jack is among people who adore him. The worst that is going to happen is that he’s going to get kissed to death.” Caden continued to accept the happy greetings of everyone they passed
, while Marie was stunned into silence. He started up the stairs, but when she balked, he narrowed his eyes. “Do I have to throw you over my shoulder again?”

She grabbed onto the balustrade with her hands. 

He laughed at her. “Yeah, you’re Arnold Schwarzenegger and I’ll never be able to pull those mighty hands away.” In one quick move, he had her over his shoulder and was walking up the stairs.

“I’m not having sex with you!” she yelled from behind him.

“I haven’t asked you, but now that you’ve mentioned it, I’m game.”

“If we’re not going up to have sex, what are you doing?”

He reached the top and took her into the bedroom where he went to the Remington painting of horses. Pulling it to the side, he began to open a safe and grabbed a ring box from inside. “This was my grandmother’s engagement ring.” He opened the box and inside was a gold ring with a large emerald shaped diamond surrounded by two smaller ones.

“It’s beautiful, but this wasn’t the ring I saw on Brooke’s hand.”

He looked at the ring. “I never offered it to her.”

She wasn’t sure what she should say. “Why not?”

His mouth opened, but nothing came out at first.  “Wow, I just realized that I couldn’t give her the ring that represented the only solid marriage I’d ever known in my life.”

Stunned, Marie couldn’t respond at first. “And you want to give it to me?”

“I’ve wanted to give it to you for over eight years.”

“Caden.” It came out with such appreciation that he sat down next to her on the bed and put an arm around her.

“I love you.” He slipped the ring on her finger and kissed her lips.

“I love you too.”

He slid down to the floor on one knee and kissed the palm of her hand. “Marry me, please.”

She grabbed his upper arms and pulled him onto the bed. “Was there ever any doubt? You and Jack are my world.  I can’t think of anyone but you in my bed when I’m 64.” Marie put her finger under
his chin and pulled it around to face her. “Caden? Are you crying?”

He quickly wiped a tear from his cheek. “I’m such a sucker for you. I love you so damn much. I can’t believe we finally got here.”

“Me neither.  By the way, I’m pregnant.”

His eyes flew open. “The picnic?”

“Duh.”

“What about Zeke? You said you couldn’t remember what, if anything, happened.”

Marie hit his upper arm. “Zeke? Nothing happened. Ona told me he took shrapnel in the groin and nothing’s worked down there since the early nineties.”

“Ewww, poor dude.”  He started laughing. “I’d have to classify this as the best night of my life so far!”

Epilogue

“Mommy, Daddy is on TV!”

“Yes, I see.”

“Why aren’t you with Daddy?”

“Because Mommy has a fever and feels really sick.” I kept watching the screen and thinking h
ow
much I wanted to be on the red carpet with him.  A reporter from a major network spotted him and was angling for an interview.  He looked so handsome I was jealous of every woman who stopped and talked to him on the red carpet.

“Caden! Over here,” she
yelled and waved at him.

Caden, the gentleman that he is, walked over with a nice smile on his face and gave the famous woman a kiss on her cheek. “You look lovely, G. How have you been?”

The woman practically melted when Caden kissed her cheek.  “I’ve been great.  Wow, you’ve had a big year!  Once again, you’ve won the SAG award, the Golden Globe, and tonight you’re up for the Oscar.  Do you think you’ll get it?”

Caden shrugged. “I’ve had a great year
. The Oscar would be nice, but it can’t beat marrying the love of my life and the birth of our daughter.”

“Talking about your wife, she’s up for Best Screenplay, where is she?”

“Marie has a fever over a hundred. She desperately wanted to be here, but she can’t keep anything down.  It’s a shame because this movie was very important to her.”

“It was both of your comebacks. Are you both here to stay?”

“We plan to make Montana our home, but both of us have decided to do one picture or screenplay a year.”

“Together?”

“Not necessarily.”

“Well, we want to wish you well tonight.”

“Thank you.  May I say something?”

She glowed with delight, “Yes, of course.”

“I’d like to say something to my family.  Marie, get some rest, honey. I wish you were well enough to be here. I promise to take you somewhere that you can wear your dress. And Jack, you should be in bed, buddy. I’ll tuck you in when I get home.  And to my little Bridget, Daddy loves you.”

“Ahhhh, that was sweet.  I take it that Marie had a special dress for tonight?”

“Yes. We didn’t have a huge wedding, so I told her to splurge on the dress for tonight. It’s a stunning dress, and she looks beautiful in it.”

“Can you tell us the designer?
”

Marie
groaned.
Who the hell cares? 
The truth was that she would care if she was feeling better. It had certainly mattered to her when she was standing in the middle of Sarah Fludde’s fashion stylist studio surrounded by racks of dresses and her husband sitting with Jack and Bridget on a chair waiting for Marie to come out to model the different gowns.

“I don’t know this designer,” Marie commented to the stylist
. “And I don’t like the color…look, I’m going to be walking down the red carpet with the most handsome and sought after man on the planet. No one’s going to be looking at me, but I have to wear someone everyone recognizes so they don’t think Caden’s cheap.”

Sarah nodded and within ten minutes the racks were pared down to one
tall rack and Marie walked out to her handsome husband in numerous over-the-top ball gowns that made her look more beautiful than she thought she was.

Caden wasn’t a push
over. He often shook his head, “no” to a dress, while chasing Jack down.  But on occasion, he would nod and suggest Marie put it on the ‘maybe’ rack.  In the end, she let Caden choose the gown. She ended up with a scarlet red, tight-fitting silk gown with a train. The dress had cap sleeves but dipped down dramatically in the front, showing off her milk-laden breasts, something Caden found incredibly sexy. When she got home with the gown, the nanny took the kids. Caden bent her over their bed and had Marie several times in several ways until they both were too weak to move. But now she wasn’t going to have a chance to wear the dress.

When
Marie couldn’t make it, she had asked that Caden accept the Oscar in her place if she won.  Marie almost hugged Jack to death when they announced her name. Jack wasn’t as impressed with them calling Marie’s name as he was seeing his father in a tuxedo go up on stage.

Caden look
ed at the statue and then grinned. “Isn’t my wife brilliant?” he said, waving the statute in the air. “She asked me to thank a couple of dozen of our friends and colleagues, but they all know who they are and that if she were here, she’d read out their names. So thanks. But I want to say that I’ve never known a writer who could bring to life human pain and joy like Marie. She deserved this, and I’m very thankful that you thought she did too.  Marie, I love you darling, now please get well.”

Marie
blew kisses at the screen and was so excited when Caden called her from the back room where he was being bombarded with questions by the press.  He held the phone up so she could hear the questions being thrown at him.

“Do you hear that, darling? I doubt you’re missing
this grilling. God, I’m so proud of you. You did it. Two Oscars. Damn, you’re good.”

Almost two hours later
, he won the Oscar for his part in the movie and the first person he thanked was Marie.  At the end of his speech, he thanked the people of Montana, and then looked directly into the camera. “Most importantly, I could never have done any of this without the love of my wife, my son, and my daughter. They make my life so rich.”

She
cried her eyes out. Marie was so happy for him. The phone rang fifteen minutes later, and neither of them could hear above the crowds that were surrounding him now that the Oscars were finished. The film had also won Best Picture and Best Director, so Jeremiah was absolutely over the moon.  Caden begged to be allowed off his leash so he and Jeremiah could go out on the town.  It was actually a joke, since Marie would never tell him to come home or make him give up time with his friends.

When he got home
, he must have quietly climbed into bed because she didn’t realize he was home until she woke up the next morning with his arms wrapped around her.

Walking into the bathroom, she shrieked and then started laughing. Sitting
in the shower were their two Oscars and a note from Caden. “A new meaning to golden showers. Love you, Caden.”

The End