by Avery James
If he wanted any chance at a real relationship, he knew he had to come clean. As Jack reached down to pick the phone back up, he heard a cry from the bedroom.
Chapter 28
Charlotte jolted awake to the creaking of a door, and for a moment, she didn't know where she was.
"Jack?" she called out.
She looked around and saw the half-light filtering through the bedroom windows. A beam of brighter light broke through the crack of the opening door.
Boston, she reminded herself. You're in Boston with Jack, and everything's going to be fine.
After the night before, Charlotte felt confident for the first time since the honeymoon that everything would work out between her and Jack. As the door opened wider, Jack came into view.
"Hey, did I wake you?" he said as he walked over to the bed. He wore a towel wrapped around his waist, and Charlotte could make out the beads of water on his shoulders in the light that poured through the bathroom door.
"I don't know," Charlotte said. "If you did, it's alright by me." She rolled over to his side of the bed and smiled up at him.
Jack leaned in, and she pushed herself up to meet his kiss. His lips were warm and comforting, and, with his tender kiss, she felt like she could melt right back to sleep.
"That was quite the night," she said. She let her lips wander over his face, feeling the scrape of the unshaven stubble on his chin. Jack almost always shaved when he showered, and she wondered if there was some reason he hadn't done so this morning. She didn't mind though, the light tingle of her cheeks felt good, and just made her want to kiss him more. "Is this another one of your early morning surprises? Where are you taking me today?"
"No," Jack replied. "Last night was wonderful, you're right about that, and I wish I could spend the entire morning with you, but this morning isn't a surprise. At least it's not one I planned. Something came up, and I have to hop on a flight for an emergency meeting as soon as possible. I'm sorry I woke you, but I'll be back tonight."
"Oh," Charlotte said. "Do you want me to come? It would be nice to get back to DC for the day. I've been meaning to catch up with Callie for a while now."
Jack sighed and shook his head. "I'm sorry. I've only got the one ticket," he said. He looked down at her for a moment before brushing his hand against her face. "I don't know what I did to deserve you, but I'm just glad I have you." He kissed her with a hard, slow force that left her breathless.
"I'm glad I have you, too," Charlotte finally managed to say. "Just try to get back as soon as possible. I still feel a bit strange being alone in your family's massive house."
"They're your family now, too. And this house is as much your house as it is mine. It's our house."
"I like the sound of that."
Jack kissed Charlotte on the cheek and looked to the window. "If I don't get going, I'm going to miss my flight. I'll pull the shades down so you can get some more sleep." He went to the closet and pulled one of his blue suits off the rack. He dressed and pulled down the shades, leaving the room pleasantly dark, then headed for the door.
He paused in the doorway for a second and came back for one more kiss. "There's something I want to talk to you about tonight. I can't get into it now, but I've been trying to figure out how to tell you this for a long time."
As Jack pulled back from the final kiss, Charlotte swore she saw him wince, like it hurt him to leave. Even so, he turned and left without another word, leaving her alone in the dark in an unfamiliar room.
Charlotte lay across the wide bed, trying to fall back asleep for an unbearable stretch of time, but she couldn't get comfortable. She was exhausted, but she couldn't sleep.
What is he up to?
Jack was so good at masking his emotions, but that brief flash of pain in his eyes made it clear something was wrong. Charlotte wished she could help in some way. Jack was always protecting everyone from whatever he thought they couldn't handle, taking all of the trouble on himself and denying anything was wrong. She loved that about him, but she hated it too.
Charlotte could see how much it hurt him to be pulled away from the people he loved. She wanted to be there for him, standing by his side. She wasn't just some prop for the camera anymore. She wasn't there to solve his image problem. She was his wife. She loved him, and she'd be damned if he didn't love her too. If only he hadn't been so damn obstinate about not saying it. She pulled her phone out and called him, but it rang through to voicemail.
That's it, she decided. She pulled herself out of bed. She was going to stop worrying and do something with herself. She had spent every day since the honeymoon at Jack's side, even as he tried to deny how he felt about her. Maybe she'd take this day to take care of herself.
Charlotte stumbled across the room into the bathroom and turned on the shower. Before getting in, she noticed a small flip phone lying on the sink. It wasn't Jack's phone, and it definitely wasn't hers.
Must be a campaign phone, she thought.
Before she could step into the shower, she heard her own phone ringing.
Great timing, Jack.
She headed back into the bedroom to answer. When she picked it up, she was surprised to find that Jack's campaign manager was calling.
"Lauren?" she said, "what's going on?"
"Hey Charlotte, I'm sorry to bother you, but is Jack there? I haven't been able to get through to him."
"Me either," Charlotte said. "He said something about an emergency meeting. Hey, does he have a campaign cell you could call?"
"No," Lauren said. "He wouldn't take one. I'll call down to the DC office. They're terrible at keeping me in the loop anyway."
"Hold on. Let me check one thing," Charlotte said. She flipped open the other phone and looked at the call history. All the calls were to one number. She selected it and hit dial.
"Hello?" a woman asked on the other end of the line. Her voice was bright and clear, and she had a thick accent. Charlotte couldn't place it, possibly South American, possibly European. "Jack?" the woman asked. "Are you still coming?"
Charlotte snapped the phone shut. She placed it on the sink and stepped back. From her own phone, she could hear Lauren asking what was going on. She could feel the sharp pang of adrenaline rushing through her veins.
"I have to go," Charlotte said quickly. "I'll let you know when I hear from him."
What do I do? What do I do? Charlotte wondered. She couldn't just call Jack up and yell at him, and she didn't want to simply sit around and wait for him to return from whatever it was he was doing.
She picked her own phone back up, and did a quick web search for the phone number. It was an unlisted number, but the area code was North Carolina. Charlotte tapped her finger against her temple as she tried to figure out a next step. There was at least one thing she could try. She flipped through her contacts and pressed send.
"Good morning, Callie," she said. "I need to ask a little favor."
"Is the long-lost Charlotte Coburn actually calling me?" Callie said. "How have you been?"
"Great," Charlotte said, "but I need your help with something. Can you help look up a number for me?"
"Of course," Callie said. "It's actually a lot easier than you'd think to even get unlisted numbers. Why do you need it? I'm speaking from my experience with Logan when I say if it has to do with your relationship, you'll have much better results if you just talk to Jack."
"I can't get into it right now," Charlotte said.
"Say no more," Callie replied. "What's the number?"
Charlotte read out the digits. Within a minute, Callie had an answer.
"It's Jack's number," she said. "It's a landline to a house his family owns in North Carolina. 2248 East Wind Drive, Sand Hill Island — does that ring a bell?"
"That's what I thought it was," Charlotte said. "Sorry, Jack got a call from the number and—"
"No need to explain," Callie said. "Let me know when you two are back in DC. Is everything going well?"
"Yeah, it's fine.
I have to run though," Charlotte said.
So Jack was meeting this mystery woman in North Carolina. The only question was how soon Charlotte could be there too.
***
By the time Charlotte turned onto East Wind Drive, she wasn't sure what to think. It was warmer in North Carolina than she had expected, and the low January sun broke through the clouds as she looked at the large houses that loomed above the dunes.
Save for one house with lights on over the porch, the whole island seemed deserted. On her long drive from the airport, Charlotte had been alone with her thoughts. She had run through every possible scenario on that drive. She tried to think of why Jack would leave with no warning, why he'd lie about where he was going, what he could possibly have been hiding about her that he wouldn't tell her before he left.
Again and again she came back to the same answer: there was someone else. Charlotte clung to the desperate hope that she was wrong.
Charlotte tried to imagine what the woman on the phone looked like. If Jack was in love with this other woman, why couldn't Jack have asked that woman to marry him? Why was he hiding her? None of it made any sense.
Charlotte racked her brain for any clue as to what other reason would lead a man to keep a secret cell phone that only called one woman, but it only added up to one thing. There was someone else.
Charlotte couldn't bring herself to believe it. It wasn't like Jack had been sneaking away to make secret calls on a nightly basis. The two of them had barely been apart. Whatever it was it had to be something else.
By the time she reached 2248 East Wind Drive, Charlotte's head was spinning. She needed to know more before she confronted Jack. Instead of pulling into the long driveway, Charlotte kept going and drove up to the next house. It stood dark and empty like the others she had seen, and she doubted anyone would notice she was there.
Charlotte reached over and grabbed the binoculars out of her bag. It was time to see why Jack had come all this way. The cool ocean wind swirled around her as she stepped out of the car, and she thought back to the morning she and Jack had watched the sunrise at his family's house on the Cape.
She tightened her grip on the binoculars and walked toward the beach. Within a few minutes, she was high enough up the dune that she could see the back windows of 2248. She lifted her binoculars and focused them.
Jack was pacing back and forth. Charlotte's heart sank. He was talking to a woman who walked up to the window and looked out toward the water.
So that's her, Charlotte thought. That's who he's been hiding.
The woman was beautiful. She had olive skin and a flawless complexion. Even from a distance, Charlotte could see that she was thin with perfect hips and full breasts. She looked like she had been ripped from the pages of a swimsuit magazine, the kind of woman only a man like Jack could have. Charlotte felt like such an idiot.
Then she saw something else. Jack turned and someone else entered the room. A young boy, maybe seven or eight years old, walked over to the woman and gave her a hug. He must have been the woman's son. His skin was a bit paler than hers and his eyes— Charlotte froze — his eyes were deep blue.
There was no mistaking those eyes. She was sure this was Jack's son.
Chapter 29
Charlotte's hand trembled as she watched Jack through the window. She adjusted the zoom on her binoculars slightly and looked back down at the boy standing next to him.
Why am I such an idiot? she wondered. Of course he was hiding something like this. I should I known the whole time that something was wrong. Guys like Jack don't just fall for women like me. He's been using me from the start.
She dropped her binoculars to the sand with a dull thud, but she didn't hear it. The only thing she heard was the buzzing of her anger in her ears.
Charlotte wasn't going to waste another minute pretending to be Jack's wife, she decided as she marched across the dune. He deserved to know she had figured out what he had been hiding.
Her anger grew with each step. She thought of everything he had said to her. She thought of the way he had held her the night before and the way he had looked at her that morning before he had left. Little by little her resolve diminished. Maybe there was some explanation. Maybe he had a good reason for not telling her. Maybe she should just ask him what was going on.
No, she assured herself, you're going to march up to that door and tell him it's over.
The closer to the house she walked, the tighter Charlotte's stomach knotted. She had carried a vague nausea since first realized what the secret phone must have meant, but the idea of finally confronting Jack made Charlotte's stomach seize suddenly. She fell to her knees near a tuft of long beach grass and retched until she felt strong enough to approach the front door.
The buzzing in Charlotte's ears had quieted enough for her to hear how the wind whipped against the house as she stood on the steps. She wondered if anyone inside had seen her tromping through the sand like an idiot. She rapped her knuckles against the plain wooden door as hard as she could. She wanted Jack to hear how angry she was. She wanted him to see the look of betrayal in her eyes. She wanted him to know how much he had hurt her.
"Charlotte?" Jack said as he opened the door. He looked worried, and his cheeks were flushed. "What the hell are you doing here? Get inside." He reached out and placed his hand on her shoulder.
"No," Charlotte said, brushing him away and taking a step back. "I'm not going anywhere."
"You followed me here?" Jack asked. "Does anyone else know you're here? Charlotte, if you told anyone—"
"Jack, I know. I saw her. I saw him. I saw everything. I know."
"You don't know," Jack said. "Come inside. You shouldn't be here."
"You shouldn't be here either," Charlotte said. "You have a kid with another woman, and you never thought to mention it to me?"
"Charlotte, I just told you, you don't know what's going on." Jack reached out again and touched her elbow. He looked like he was going to cry as he grimaced in pain. "Just come inside. I've been trying to figure out how to tell you this for months."
"What is there to explain? You got some woman pregnant back when you were in college, and now you're keeping her and your son here so she doesn't go public. I should have known better when Callie said you needed a wife who wouldn't ask questions. It's not enough that I agreed to go along with this whole thing. It's not enough that I've lied to everyone who matters to me, and that I've walked away from my career to chase after the dream of a real relationship with you. No, you had to lie to me from the start. All that stuff about not wanting marriage and kids, was that all just a private joke on me or were you just hoping to avoid making the same mistake twice?"
"That's not how it is and you know it," Jack said.
"Why did you insist on getting married? We could have just been engaged and I could have walked away after the election. You could have told me you had a kid, Jack. I can't believe you did this to me."
"I moved up the wedding because I didn't want to lose you," Jack said. "I didn't want to run the chance of you changing your mind and leaving me."
"Well, I guess we know why," Charlotte said.
"It's not like that," Jack said. "Come inside and hear me out. It's too much to explain with you jumping in after every word."
"He has your eyes, Jack. He has your eyes." Charlotte turned to walk away, but Jack ran up to her and stepped ahead, placing his hand on her arm.
"He's not my son," Jack said.
"Why can't you just tell me the truth?" Charlotte said.
"You want to know why he looks like me?"
Charlotte could see the pressure building in Jack's chest as he took a deep breath. He looked like he was going to explode in anger.
"He's my brother. He's my little brother. The woman in there, his mother? Her name is Maria. She had an affair with my father eight years ago and became pregnant. My father brought her to the US and gave her this house to live in, and when he died, he left me with the responsibilit
y of caring for both of them. Just like everything else he did, he screwed up and dropped the whole damn thing in my lap. He left me in charge of the trust and the whole family empire because he knew I'd keep his secret. He knew I'd be a good son, that I'd do everything in my power to keep my mother and siblings from finding out the truth. He died down here, you know, with her. He was starting over, giving himself a second chance at a family. He even named the kid Jack. Think about that. He already had one son named Jack, and he decided to try again."
"Jack," Charlotte said. She felt weak and small as she looked at him. "I didn't know."
She looked deep into Jack's eyes. While he was able to hide it from everyone else, she had seen this look before, in the moments when he thought she wasn't looking, that lonely, tired, desperate look. Her heart broke for him as she thought of what it must have taken for him to hide this secret.
"Does anyone know?"
"Just the two of them in there and me," Jack said. "Now you too."
"Why didn't you tell me?" Charlotte asked. "I would have understood."
"I told you from the start that there were certain things I couldn't talk about. What was I supposed to do? Was I supposed to tell you that I've been hiding my father's shameful secret for the past eight years? I didn't want a serious relationship because the idea of lying to you about anything makes me sick. I haven't been able to look at you since the honeymoon, since I realized how much I love you and need you. I can't go on without you, Charlotte. I can't lie to myself anymore. I can't pretend that what we have isn't real. It is real, and I am in love, and I don't want to hide anything from you. That's why I came down here. I wanted to tell Maria and Jack that I was bringing you down to meet them. I wanted a chance to explain this all."
"Why couldn't you have told me this before?" Charlotte said. She sat down in the cold sand and folded her arms over her knees.
"This would destroy my family. It would ruin my mother to know that my father had a kid with someone else. Their marriage wasn't perfect, but he was her husband, and she is a proud woman. Can you imagine what would happen if she found out her husband died in his mistress's arms?"
