She walked with him to the front door, supporting him around the waist. He had his arm around her and held her tight. To anyone looking on, it appeared they were walking arm in arm. The feel of him in her arms leaning on her made it clear. He was losing his battle with the tumor. His physician had told her it was a matter of days now, not weeks.
Once he was gone, she’d leave this house and be on her own again. She needed to make her own plans for the future. The task seemed daunting, especially since she’d set her heart on a life with Cameron and Emma. She didn’t want to consider anything else, because everything else was simply existing, not living.
Cameron and Emma came over twice the last few days to have dinner with George. Cameron brought Shelly both times. Both times Marti excused herself after dinner and took Emma up to her room where they spent time alone together. He’d been nice and friendly. They’d kept what little conversation they shared to everyday things, Emma, and George, but she caught the heated looks and longing in his eyes whenever she let herself look directly at his face.
He and Shelly looked and acted like they’d come to some agreement on their relationship. Closer, more comfortable in each other’s company, Cameron paid attention to her with an attentiveness that proved his intention to make a life with her. Shelly was friendly to Emma and didn’t dismiss the little girl every time she talked. She’d actually heard Shelly engage the little girl in conversation several times. They were becoming a family. Marti was happy for them, but knew it was just another reason to make her own plans.
She never thought she’d have to say goodbye to so many after returning home from her trip.
Over the next two weeks, she needed to say goodbye to George upon his passing, and goodbye to Emma and Cameron before his wedding to Shelly. She’d say goodbye to Jenna, Jack, Sam, and Elizabeth after the charity benefit for Cameron’s foundation.
She’d already taken care of the artwork for Jenna. Jenna didn’t know it was her doing, but it was taken care of just the same. She’d had her assistant at Fairchild Industries contact Cameron about the property and working on a development idea. Those plans were in the works.
She had a few gifts to finish up before she left for good. It didn’t matter if she stayed in the city or left on her ship. Able to work anywhere, she liked it that way.
She would forever be tied to Cameron, but she needed her freedom. Maybe another trip on her ship was just the ticket. Someplace exotic, warm, nothing like San Francisco and the memories she’d made here.
She opened the front door and stepped out onto the entryway with George at her side. A man wearing a suit handed her a set of keys.
“Miss Fairchild, I presume. These are for you.”
She took the keys and looked behind the man at the brand new convertible Jaguar parked on the circular driveway. Black with tinted windows, it gleamed in the morning sun. She’d been looking at brochures with George, trying to decide which car she’d like to buy. She’d never had a car of her own and wanted something wonderful for her first big purchase. This was the car she’d picked out. Speed and beauty combined into the most perfect automobile. She loved it.
“George, no. You didn’t.”
“It’s the one you wanted. I called the dealership and had it delivered. It’s yours.”
“No. You can’t. It’s too expensive.”
“It certainly is,” Walter said and stepped out the door. “Dad, you can’t be serious. You bought your friend a car.”
“Walter, shut up. I can do as I please.”
He turned to Marti. “It pleases me to buy this for you. I hope you like it and enjoy it. Think of me every time you’re behind the wheel.”
“Oh, George. I will. I will always remember you. I’ll remember our long talks and poker games. I’ll forget you owe me twenty-five fifty, by the way,” she said and winked at him. “I’ll remember the day I met you, again, on the docks at the harbor, and how we stood in the pouring rain. I’ll remember everything we talked about and the reasons for my being here. Because of you I met Emma and Cameron, and for a little while, I was happier than I’ve ever been in my life. My grandmother gave me The World; you gave me a little piece of heaven. I’ll remember it all. I’ll remember you.”
In the end, a life came down to the people you leave behind and their memory of you.
George held her close. She understood his inner desire to be remembered by someone who loved him for who he was and not what he had.
“I’m leaving.” Walter’s angry voice intruded on her moment with George. “Just remember, Marti, no judge will uphold his will if he’s left it all to his mistress. I’ll keep you in court for the rest of your days.”
“Just leave. I don’t want anything from George except his friendship, and I’ve already got it. You and I have nothing to fight over.”
The attorney thanked George for his time, assured him everything was in order, and left with Walter.
She took her new car for a spin with George. They took some back roads and listened to the purr of the engine as she put the car through its paces around every turn. George had the time of his life, told her he hadn’t felt like this since he was a teen, driving his first car.
She was glad to give him one more fun day. It was the last one they would share. His health took a turn for the worse the next morning.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
* * *
CAMERON SAT BACK in the limo listening to Shelly talk on her cell phone with some girlfriend of hers. He’d never get used to her itemizing and calculating the cost of everything they’d gotten for the wedding or ordered for the ceremony. In fact, she did it all the time with everything. She was obsessed with how expensive something was, and the more expensive, the better.
Things had changed since he watched Marti walk out the door of his penthouse two weeks ago. He’d made a concerted effort to get to know Shelly better and make her a part of his life. He’d even taken her to dinner at George’s. He knew it was just another stab in the back to Marti, but he couldn’t help it. He had to make things right with Shelly, which meant accepting her as part of his life.
He had to let Marti go. He thought he was doing a good job of changing things between them to more of a friendly acquaintance. He told himself the lie that they were only friends; every second of every day he spent thinking about her and the time they’d spent together making love.
He watched Shelly closely over the last two weeks. The more he accepted her, the more she settled down and took a real interest in Emma. Pleasant to be around, she remained appropriate at all his business dinners and at George’s. She never said anything snide or contrary to Marti. In fact, she ignored her unless absolutely necessary to speak to her.
Emma began to like Shelly. She chatted with her and they’d even sat and watched a movie together the other night.
While Shelly seemed to be doing better with Emma, she was a long way from being a mother to her. He felt like he’d lost two mothers for Emma, Caroline, and Marti.
He figured if things had improved this much in two weeks, over a lifetime things could change considerably. He’d accept her as a wife and companion and Emma would find a way to see her as a mother. Maybe just a friend.
He hadn’t made love to Shelly since Marti left the penthouse weeks ago. He told her he wanted to wait until after they were married. She’d thought it an old-fashioned idea, and at the same time accepted it saying she’d been having some cramping due to the pregnancy and her changing body and the doctor told her to take it easy.
He was concerned about the cramping and told her so. She said it was normal and not to worry, she’d take good care of his baby.
He’d pampered her ever since, making sure she stayed off her feet and rested. He asked her to quit her job, which she protested because she had expenses, so he’d paid off all her bills. Nothing was more important than her health and that of his baby. He’d do anything and everything to prevent a repeat of Caroline’s devastating fate.
They would move in together at the penthouse the night of the wedding ceremony. Elizabeth had agreed to keep Emma for the night and he’d had a new bed delivered to the house. Neither Emma nor Shelly said a word when the men arrived to deliver it. He’d simply said a new wife deserved a new bed. He’d even let Shelly go with him to pick out new sheets, pillows, and blankets. Nothing remained of his morning with Marti, except the perfectly clear details in his mind.
He rubbed the back of his neck. He was tired. He felt like he was working three jobs. Things at Merrick had become even more hectic, and he’d gotten a call from Fairchild Industries to work on a development deal on some property they owned. It was a great opportunity and would build community ties. A great project, one they requested he work personally on with Fairchild Industries. He’d been working to put together the proposal for the building and finances.
His mind veered back to Marti. He wondered if she’d be there tonight. Every time they went to see George, he wondered if this would be the day George said she was gone. He wondered if she left, would he ever see her again. What would he do when that day finally came?
Please, God, let her be there. I just want to look at her. I just want to be near her.
“Darling, did you hear me?”
“What? No. I was thinking about a land deal I’m putting together.” It was partly true.
“We’re almost there. What did George say he wanted to talk to us about?”
“He didn’t. He probably wants to give us a wedding gift or something. He’s getting worse each day and I’m sure he just wants to make sure he congratulates us on the wedding and the baby while he has the chance.”
George hadn’t been specific and Cameron wondered why he’d sounded so persistent about their coming tonight. He didn’t want to think about George and his failing health. “You went to the doctor’s today, didn’t you?”
“Yes, of course.”
“What did the doctor say?”
“Everything is fine. Normal. Nothing to report.”
She smiled for him and patted Emma’s knee beside her. Everything changed the day Marti left Cameron’s penthouse. He paid attention to her and talked to her more about his job and life. He included her in his business dinners and invited her to George’s with him. If he sometimes got a strange, almost sad look in his eyes, she ignored it and tried to make him smile. Emma broke through those solemn moments better than she did, and that was okay too. Things between them were good, settled, and the wedding plans were moving forward. Even Marti’s presence at George’s didn’t deter Cameron, or make him any less interested in her. She didn’t know what happened between the two of them. She didn’t care, so long as she had the ring on her finger and Cameron’s last name on her bank accounts.
Only one problem. She needed to figure out how to explain not being pregnant when, no matter what she did, Cameron refused to sleep with her before the wedding. Options limited, she’d have to fake a miscarriage. She’d make a show of how upset it made her that he’d only married her for the baby and now that it was gone he didn’t want her. A good guy, that truth would shame him into staying with her. She hated knowing the baby kept him with her, but she wanted the life she’d have with him and one day, given time to get to know her better, he’d want to stay with her.
“You never said: did they give you the baby’s due date? I’ll want to mark it on the calendar at work. I can take some vacation time at the end of the pregnancy and after the baby is born.”
“He said the baby will be here near the end of December. Won’t that be a lovely Christmas gift for us all? Right, Emma?”
“Sure,” she said absently.
No matter how hard she tried, the little bugger remained polite but distant. She played along, which suited Shelly fine. Marti might have found the key to gaining Emma’s devotion, but Shelly accepted she didn’t have the instinct or inclination to be anything more in Emma’s life than her father’s wife.
“I thought you said your doctor was a woman?”
“She is.”
“Why did you say, ‘he’, before?”
“Hormones. They shut off my brain. All the preparations for the wedding and the dinner engagements you have for business plus with George. It’s just so much.” She tried to sound exhausted as all pregnant women were in their first trimester. She wasn’t exhausted. She loved all the attention and dinner parties. She’d met people she’d never hoped to associate with, rich people.
“What is the due date? I want to know.”
“December twenty-seventh.” Actually, the date was her old boyfriend’s birthday and the first date to pop into her head. It would do.
Cameron turned skeptical. He knew a little bit about babies having had one already and gone through the process with Caroline. He’d read books and gone to her appointments both in the beginning of the pregnancy and in the end. He thought about the night he’d met and slept with Shelly and mentally went through the calendar he kept in his head. He calculated forty weeks’ gestation for the pregnancy. She was close, but something was off.
They arrived at George’s and the matter of the due date nagged at the back of his mind.
George waited for them in the dining room, looking wan and pale. Cameron took his seat after seating Shelly and Emma, immediately noticing the absence of a place setting for Marti. She hadn’t joined them or come to say hello.
She had to be there, somewhere. The Jag George told him he’d bought for her sat outside in the driveway. His heart raced at the thought of seeing her. Then again, maybe she left the car with George and sailed away on her ship. He wondered if he should ask about her. Thankfully, Emma saved him the trouble.
“Where’s Marti?”
“She’s upstairs. I asked her to allow us dinner together alone tonight. I want to talk to all of you in private.”
“Why? She wouldn’t tell anyone. She’s good at keeping secrets. She taught me how. The trick is not to tell.”
Everyone laughed at Emma’s serious tone.
Cameron wondered just what secrets Marti was keeping. When he thought about her and tried to picture her during the day and what she might be doing, he often drew a blank. He had no idea what she did for a living, if she went into an office, what she liked to do in her free time (except play with Emma), or anything else. The things he knew about her were from the time they had spent together. He figured she knew more about him than he knew about her. She’d asked him a hundred questions over the last weeks. Every time the conversation turned to her, she evaded answering anything personal. He barely knew more than a few facts. Her parents died in a car crash, her grandparents raised her, and to fulfill a promise to her grandmother, she’d sailed the world for a year.
He wished he knew everything about her. He wished they had no secrets.
He would have to settle for learning all of Shelly’s secrets, even if he didn’t really care what they were.
“Marti wouldn’t tell my secrets. I’ve told her a great many over the last week. It’s just, I want to give something to your dad and I haven’t told Marti about it yet.”
George took a sip of water. Tired, the shaking in his leg had become pronounced over the last day and a half. His legs had failed him. Soon the rest of his body would as well. The doctor had been feeding him medication like it was candy. He feared his days had turned to hours. He needed to settle things with Cameron.
“George, what do you want to give me? Something for the wedding, or the baby?”
Cameron didn’t like the way George looked tonight. His skin turned a sickly grey. He shook and trembled uncontrollably. His speech was slow and slurred. He understood him fine, but it wasn’t the same baritone voice he’d always heard.
“You know I think of Emma as my very own granddaughter and you as my son. I’ve raised you from afar. Your mother was a wonderful woman, and she would have been proud to see you grow to such a fine man and the president of a company like Merrick International. She’d have been proud of her granddaughte
r.”
“I regret she died the year before Emma was born. I would have liked her to see her grandchildren. She’d have been a devoted and loving grandmother.”
“Indeed she would have. This thing I want to give you is just a thing really, but in order to give it to you I require a promise in return. Well, a few actually, but you can still have the thing with just the one promise. You’re an honorable man, and if you give me your word, I’ll accept it and die knowing you’ll keep it.”
“Whatever the promise, it’s yours. You know I’d do anything for you, George. Without your generosity and mentoring all these years, I wouldn’t be half the man I am today. You’re the father I always wanted.”
George took that into his heart, let it heal old wounds. “Sometimes that’s all a person needs when they don’t have the parent they want, even if it is just for a short while.” He looked at Emma and back to Cameron. “I wish we could have many more years together, and I would see your children come into this world and grow up to be like Emma. A beautiful, smart, funny, and kind girl,” he said to Emma.
“Cameron, the promise I ask is this. The thing I’m going to give you will only be half yours. The other half will be given to someone else and you will own it together.
“The promise I request, you must never sell your half, not even to the person who owns the other half. You will own it together for the rest of your lives. Upon your death, your half will go to Emma, as she is your firstborn child. The other person will leave their half to their firstborn child. This will become the legacy I want to leave.”
“Okay, I agree. I promise you George, I’ll never sell it even to them. Have they agreed to this promise as well?”
“Not yet. I haven’t told them. If they don’t, I will leave the entire thing to you, and then Emma, and then her first child, etcetera.”
He smiled at Emma. “Agreed, Princess?”
The Right Bride: Book Three: The Hunted Series Page 16
