The Right Bride: Book Three: The Hunted Series

by Jennifer Ryan

  Shelly sat beside him fuming over everyone clamoring to get the painting. As the night went on and Cameron continued to ignore her, she got even angrier. He didn’t care. Not anymore. Trying to do the right thing blinded him to the truth. He’d never let that happen again. He had a lot of making up to do, but he held fast to the promise in Marti’s note. I’ll always love you. All he needed to know to get her back. As long as they shared this kind of love, they could overcome anything, even his temporary insanity.

  Chapter Forty-Eight

  * * *

  HE SPENT THE night alone in his room making plans, deciding what to do and how he was going to do it.

  Emma stayed with Elizabeth and Sam. He went into her empty room in the early morning, dawn breaking the new day, and looked at the room Marti had painted for Emma. Truly spectacular. The fact that she’d done all of it, every detailed wall, was an amazing feat. She was a world-class artist.

  He lay down on Emma’s bed and looked up at the starry sky she’d painted and the image of Emma’s mother looking down on him.

  His heart and soul became quiet and he stared at her image. Silently, his heart spoke to her, telling her he was sorry she’d died. He told her about Emma and how well she was growing up. He remembered stories about Emma and told Caroline how sorry he was she missed the chance to see their little girl grow. He told Caroline about Marti and how he’d screwed things up so terribly he might have lost the mother he knew Caroline would have wished for Emma. He promised to make things right and their daughter would smile again.

  He lay there for a long time cleansing his soul. He’d spent so much time being angry at Caroline for dying, leaving him and Emma, he hadn’t grieved her properly. He hadn’t put all his hopes and wishes for them aside. He did now and felt a weight lift as he lay there on his daughter’s bed.

  He went down the hall to confront Shelly. Before he got to her room, he went into Marti’s. It smelled like her. Fresh. Flowery. Inviting and calming. Whenever he smelled her, something deep inside him sighed and relaxed.

  The empty, perfectly made bed reminded him how she’d collapsed in exhaustion the night she’d shown Emma her new room. Pregnant then, it explained her dizziness and fatigue. She hadn’t said anything. He’d made it next to impossible for her to tell him.

  Hairbrush and lipstick and a bottle of perfume sat atop her dresser. He picked it up. French. He wondered if she’d gotten it on her world trip. He opened a drawer and found her nightgowns. He didn’t even know what she wore to bed. Silk. They would probably skim her thighs. Some had lace, others plainer. All of them would look great on her, and she’d look great when he took them off her.

  He opened the door, connecting the other room, the room she’d been working in the night she’d told him she was pregnant. She’d been hurt the next day on the stairs, and he’d left her alone in the hospital.

  He rubbed the back of his neck and wondered how he’d ever make this up to her. She could have lost their baby. She must have been so scared and all he’d done was yell at her. She’d understand, know he was just upset because he’d thought she’d lost the baby.

  He took a deep breath and glanced around her workroom. A simple desk with a laptop computer. She had a phone and fax machine set up. What amazed him were all the folders and files on the desk. It looked like she had more work than he did. He had no idea what everything was, but he saw her organized and efficient methods. Everything appeared to be in its place.

  She’d spent so much time with he and Emma. He had no idea how many late nights she must have put in, allowing her the time to spend with them. She never told Emma she didn’t have time for something. She always made the time.

  Two easels were set up by the windows and a long table with tubes and jars of paint. Brushes and sponges and all kinds of tools he didn’t recognize stood in jars and lay about the workspace. He stepped around the easels and looked at the paintings she’d been working on.

  The first painting caught him by surprise. The garden bench they’d made love on in the rain. The painting captured her sadness. The garden and the night were all done in grays and dark blues. The moon peeked through the gloomy clouds highlighting the bench and the sparkle of the rain. The bench appeared lonely and isolated, cast in shadow, in the center of the lush garden, rain pouring down. The life and vibrancy of the garden had been sucked away by the loneliness and emptiness of the bench.

  He felt ill. He’d ruined that night and left her feeling this way.

  The other painting had a cloth draped over it, a piece of paper attached with his name scrawled in Marti’s script.

  He opened the folded sheet.

  I thought you might find your way in here. This painting is for you, my love. It’s your wish come true, at least on canvas. It’s the best I could do to give you a memory to heal your pain.

  Love, Marti

  He pulled the cloth back from the painting and took a step back, stunned.

  The painting showed Caroline holding Emma as a baby. He had no idea how she had done the painting. He looked around on the table of paints and saw some photos from Emma’s baby book. Marti must have used them to make the painting.

  Caroline held Emma, her beautiful face turned down to Emma’s. Caroline wore a white gown and her hair spilled over her shoulder like a curtain behind baby Emma. As you looked out from the center, the painting blurred into white clouds or mist. Like a scene from a dream.

  She’d given him his greatest wish. He’d always wanted to see Caroline holding her baby. It was something she’d never gotten to do, but Marti had created the moment so perfectly he imagined this was exactly what they would have looked like together.

  She’d helped him heal by giving his daughter her mother to watch over her while she slept. He’d used the mural to let go of his pain. She’d furthered his healing by giving him his greatest wish.

  It was his turn to heal some of the hurt he’d caused her.

  He took the painting of Caroline and Emma and went down the hall to Emma’s room. The “Princess Party” painting already hung on the wall where Marti had left a space when she’d done the room. He hung the picture of Caroline and Emma on the other hook. Marti had thought of everything.

  Everyone walked into Emma’s room and found Cameron staring at the paintings in their spots on the wall. Sam, Elizabeth, Jack, Jenna, and Emma all stared up at the paintings with him.

  “Oh, Cameron. They’re perfect.”

  “They’re Emma’s mothers,” he said and glanced down at his daughter. “She painted you your mothers. Marti is the mother you want, isn’t she?”

  “Oh, yes. I want that more than anything, Daddy.”

  “I’m going to do everything I can to make it come true for you and me. I’m sorry I didn’t make it happen sooner.”

  Emma ran to her father and jumped into his arms and hugged him tight. “It’s all right. Marti said it would all work out.”

  “She did?”

  “Yes. She always tells the truth.”

  “Yes, she does.”

  Shelly came into the room. Her gaze went to the paintings. “It’s not a very good likeness of me. How does she know what the baby will look like?”

  Everyone had been calling him stupid. “The painting is of Emma and her mother, Caroline.”

  “Oh. Why is everyone here so early? No one is dressed for the wedding. Oh my God, Cameron, you can’t see me today, not until the wedding.” Shelly turned and started for the door.

  Cameron handed Emma over to her Uncle Jack.

  “Everyone, will you excuse us?” He grabbed Shelly’s arm and led her down the hall and into Marti’s bathroom.

  “What the hell, Cameron? Why are we in here?”

  Cameron opened the drawer where Marti had pulled out the pregnancy test kits and found one left. He took it out and put it on the counter.

  “You have only one choice. Take the test and prove you’re pregnant. Right now. Either way there isn’t going to be a wedding. Take the test, no
w, and if you’re pregnant we’ll settle on custody arrangements and payment. If you aren’t, you can leave here and I never want to hear from you again. Refuse to take the test, and I’ll take you to court and make you take the test. If it’s positive, I’ll sue you for full custody and I’ll win. If it’s false, I’ll sue you for fraud and make sure you pay me back every dime I gave you to pay off your bills.”

  “Cameron, I already told you I saw the doctor and they did the test. I’m pregnant. We’re supposed to get married today.”

  “No wedding, Shelly. Not today. Never. I’ve spent the last two months hurting the woman I love because you claim you’re pregnant and all I wanted to do was give my children a whole family. Now prove it. You aren’t leaving this bathroom without peeing on the stick.”

  “I will do no such thing.”

  “Yes, you will, because it’s the difference between leaving here on your own, or leaving here in a police car. I’ve already contacted my lawyer. If you don’t pee on the stick, I’ll proceed with fraud charges, and since you benefited financially from the fraud, you will be charged and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

  “It’ll be in all the papers if you do that.” Shelly tried to make him change his mind. “You and Merrick don’t want that kind of publicity.”

  “Pee on the stick, or I’ll be the first one to call the newspapers. You won’t get out of this house without the press following you everywhere and waiting to find out the results of the test. You’ll have exactly what you want, all the attention focused on you. You won’t have the money though. I’ll never marry you. No millions for you. No mansion for you. You won’t be the queen of the castle. Two princesses already live here, and that suits me just fine. I don’t need a witch spoiling things anymore.”

  She’d never heard him like this. So far, she’d been able to talk her way out of things and get him to take her side. He wasn’t buying it this time, and she had nothing left to bluff with.

  “Fine. You win. I’m not pregnant. I never was. I’m on the pill. How’s it feel to be played for a fool?”

  “Feels like shit. I almost lost my friends, my daughter is upset, and I’ve treated the woman I love more than my own life like crap for two months when all she’s done is love me and Emma. All because you lied. Pee on the stick.”

  “I told you, I’m not pregnant.”

  “You could be lying and come back after me later for child support for some other fool’s baby. You aren’t leaving until you prove it one way or another. Pee on the goddamn stick,” he shouted.

  He planted his feet, stood with his arms crossed, waiting for her to comply with his demand. Humiliating her wasn’t his goal, he didn’t care about her feelings at this point. Time to get rid of the trash and go after Marti.

  She peed on the stick, knowing this was the end. She wouldn’t get what she wanted. “You know, I quit my job. I don’t have any money. I’ve already given notice on my apartment. I have to have everything cleared out by the end of the month.”

  “You should have thought of that before you lied.”

  “You could at least give me a little something to get by until I can get a job and a new place.”

  He took the pregnancy test and watched the windows. The results were negative and the test confirmed with one line it had worked. He glared at her with pure hatred surging through his chest and mind.

  “Had the test been positive, I would have paid you a king’s ransom to get the baby from you. You aren’t fit to be a mother. It’s negative and you won’t see a dime.”

  Sam waited behind Cameron. “You should have taken the million George offered you before he died. Now you’ve got nothing. As it should be, if you ask me.”

  Cameron had no idea George made the offer to Shelly. It must have been the night he’d asked him to take Emma up to see her surprise room with Marti. He wasn’t surprised by George’s gesture. He was always trying to protect Cameron. He was a good father, Cameron realized, not for the first time. It felt good to think of him that way.

  “You really screwed that one up,” he said to Shelly. “I guess the fifty million I got from his death must have looked real tempting. It must really burn you I’d give it all to Marti if she’d take me back.”

  “She doesn’t need it. She’s rich.”

  “She doesn’t care about it, because for her, life isn’t about the money. It’s about being honest. She truly wants to be a mother to my children, and I thank God she’s the one having my baby and not you. I’d have never let you keep the baby.”

  They all walked out of the bathroom and Cameron grabbed Shelly’s arm and propelled her into her own room. He didn’t want her in Marti’s space anymore.

  “You have five minutes to pack your stuff.”

  “Cameron, why are you being so mean?”

  “I spent the night Marti was in the hospital consoling you over a baby who doesn’t exist. She was lying in a hospital bed alone, terrified she’d lose our baby. There’s no end to the number of things I’ve done wrong, but that one thing will haunt me the rest of my life. I wasn’t there for her when she needed me most.”

  “You left her on the stairs after Shelly shoved her down them.”

  Cameron turned on Sam. “Is that what really happened? Shelly pushed her down the stairs?”

  “No, I didn’t.” Shelly didn’t want Sam arresting her for pushing Marti, and Cameron was mad enough to make him do it.

  Emma stopped in her tracks in the center of the hallway and shouted, “Yes, she did. She stole my necklace from my room and yelled at me and wouldn’t give it back. Marti came up the stairs and told her to give it back. She wouldn’t. Marti took it, and Shelly pushed her down the stairs. Marti fell and hit her back and fell over backward. I thought she was dead.” Emma’s bottom lip trembled and tears filled her eyes. “Shelly said if I told, I’d never see you again, Daddy. I hid under my bed and cried.” She cried harder now.

  Cameron scooped up his daughter and held her close. He turned on Shelly.

  “You stole a little girl’s necklace and you pushed Marti down the stairs, knowing she was pregnant.”

  “I couldn’t let her ruin everything.”

  He had never wanted to hit someone so much in his life. Her being a woman barely kept the reins on his control. “Your five minutes is running out.”

  “Cameron, the jeweler is here,” Jenna announced from behind everyone.

  “The jeweler. You got me a ring, finally?” Shelly’s eyes lit up.

  “No. Funny, I never got around to getting you a ring. Then I just didn’t want to. I had my assistant call everyone this morning and cancel the wedding, including your parents, who were surprised to find out you were getting married. I guess you figured you better make sure it happened before you told them. She canceled the flowers and the food and everything else. My next call was to Harrison Jewelers. I asked them to bring over a selection of their most expensive and unique engagement rings.”

  “Harrison’s is the most exclusive jeweler in town. You have to have an appointment to get into the back room to see the best pieces,” Shelly rambled.

  “Yes, or you have to be really rich, like me, and they’ll bring the goods to you.” He gave her a snide smile. He hoped she realized just how much she was losing. He was a nice enough guy to pay her off and make her go away. She’d gone too far, and even his need to be nice didn’t exceed his need to get her out of his and Marti’s house with nothing.

  “Emma, want to pick out a nice ring for Marti with me.”

  “I hate you, Cameron,” Shelly shrieked and stomped her foot.

  “The feeling is mutual. Pack your bag. If I was you, I’d be real careful about what I take. Marti won’t be happy if she finds something of hers missing.”

  “I think we should get Marti a really sparkly ring,” Emma said with a huge grin.

  “Great idea. Sam, please see Shelly out. Shoot her if she takes more than five minutes.”

  Sam leaned against the door, cocke
d his elbow, and watched his watch and Shelly.

  Cameron took Emma downstairs and sat in the living room with her. Several trays of diamond rings lay spread on the coffee table before them. He made sure to hold up the largest of them when Shelly came down the stairs. Drawn to the huge diamond, she frowned, her face heating with rage. Cameron felt a little satisfaction. Sam saw to it she was taken home in the cab waiting outside.

  “I like this one the best. It sparkles the most,” Emma said and held up a ring.

  Mr. Harrison smiled his agreement. “A fine choice, my dear. It does indeed sparkle the most.” He turned to Cameron. “It’s the most expensive piece I brought. Your daughter has excellent taste. It’s a round, brilliant cut diamond. Six carats and set in platinum. It would pair nicely with this diamond eternity band for the wedding ring. If the lady likes the sparkle, you can’t beat the two together. For spectacular, you could use two eternity bands and place the solitaire in between.”

  He showed them how it would look and put the rings on Emma’s small finger.

  She held it up, admiring them. They caught the light, the many diamonds twinkled.

  “It’s like rain dancing in the moonlight,” Emma smiled and made the light dance some more.

  That’s all Cameron needed to hear. He thought the rings looked great. He couldn’t have picked a better set for Marti. Emma helping him would make Marti happy.

  “We’ll take all three.”

  “Don’t you want to know the price?”

  “It doesn’t matter, that’s the one she wants and I want. Marti will love it.”

  “Yes, she will,” Elizabeth said. She and Jenna had sat with their children watching Cameron and Emma picking the rings. It was so sweet to watch the little girl with her dad getting a ring for a mom she always wanted.