by Mary Malcolm
With pursed lips she yanked some clothes out of his dresser. She pulled on panties and a pair of pants before saying, “I agreed to be your wife because my family needed the help. Not because I love you. And the truth is, Stephen, I had fallen in love with you.” Turning away, she let the robe slip as she fastened a bra and pulled a blouse over her head. She turned back to him. “But now? Now I can’t stand the sight of you. Have a nice life, do whatever the hell you want with Tatiana. I don’t have to stick around.”
“Cassie!” She stormed away, but he grabbed her arm. “Annie just got into the school, do you really want me to yank the funding now?”
Horrified, she turned to face him. “After everything you’re still going to throw that in my face?”
He took a step back. “The party. You at least agreed to go to the party. Keep that agreement and I’ll let you off the hook for everything else.”
Cassie turned away. Tears rolled down her cheeks and she had no desire for Stephen to see that. He didn’t deserve to see how much he’d actually hurt her. “I’ll go. I’ll let you finish out whatever it is you wanted from me, then you’ll sign the divorce papers. That’s all I want. I’ll go, but only if you agree to let me live in peace once it’s over.”
“Okay, Cassie.”
She took a few steps down the stairs and stopped at the sight of Abigail standing gaping at the bottom. “Cassie, I’m sorry.”
She held up her hand. “No, Abigail. You wanted to protect him. He’s got Tatiana, and his brothers, his father. Everyone in the world. I’ve got to protect myself. I’m all I have.” With that, she stepped past the woman and headed toward the garage. Her apartment was sublet, but she could stay with Graciella until she worked things out. Not the ideal solution, but much better than her current situation.
She couldn’t face Liz and Annie with the truth.
Her sister had seemed so happy these days, so much more relaxed. Cassie realized she may never be able to share her life entirely, they way they had in the past. It meant more to her to protect Liz than to unload. Cassie knew Stephen would stick to his word, if she just went to the party, he’d finish this out and let her be.
Besides, she’d been missing Graciella. They’d lived together once before—actually, this might be nice.
On the way there she stopped at a drugstore. No reason to delay the inevitable. If she was pregnant, better to know now.
Her hand clenched around the white plastic bag as she walked back to her car. On the way, she saw William Sands. Damn, she really couldn’t catch a break this morning.
“Morning, Cassie, how are you today?”
“You can cut it, William, I know all about the party and what you all planned.”
He looked shocked, but had the good sense not to deny it. “We’re the Sands family, we stand up for our own. It isn’t personal.”
She quirked her lips. “It sure feels that way.” Taking a step off the curb, she tossed the bag into the front seat of her car before turning to him. “But you know, William. I actually did love him.” She got in the seat and pushed her key into the ignition.
He knocked on her window and bent down as she rolled it down. “It didn’t have to be this way.”
She smiled, no more fight left. The only thing she had to worry about now was whether she carried his baby. If she did, they’d be tied together for life whether she liked it or not. And if not, well, then in a few days this whole thing would be over. “It did. You’re Sands’ men. You take care of your own. This is the only way it could be.”
With that, she rolled up her window and backed out of the parking spot.
A look of what might have been construed as admiration flashed across William’s face before he turned toward the drugstore.
Cassie slumped lower in her seat as she put the car into Drive. In a few days she would no longer be part of that family. She didn’t know the brothers well, but she knew Stephen.
Her heart broke at the prospect of letting him go.
She had no choice. They had their plans and Cassie knew that a family like that never changed their minds about someone like her.
She drove through the city and pulled in front of her Graciella’s house a few minutes later. The lawn needed mowing. She’d have to do that this afternoon before she left to do anything else. It was the least she could do for her friend. Getting out of the car she walked the ten or so feet up to the small brick ranch style home and removed the spare key from its hiding place. Dead rose bushes sat in front of the bathroom window. A holly bush outside the living room. Cassie pushed her key into the lock and turned it. The door stuck so she had to push it with her shoulder. “Welcome home,” she said as she walked toward the bathroom.
This time she did nothing to hide the tears. She had the place to herself. She could be as pathetic as she wished.
After taking the test, she set it on the counter and took a few minutes to do the dishes and tie up the trash before looking at the test.
To be truthful, Cassie knew her life after Stephen would never be the same regardless of the results. She loved him. She loved him and had believed he loved her as well, only to find out he’d been exacting some sort of strange revenge fantasy on her. At least she knew the truth now.
Steeling herself, she picked up the test.
Chapter Sixteen
“So you’re sure you want to do this?”
Stephen appreciated his brother’s concern, but he knew what had to be done. The only thing that mattered was winning Cassie back.
She’d been gone three days and he was a wreck. He couldn’t sleep, couldn’t eat, couldn’t concentrate on work. And all over this scrap of a girl. She’d done this to him once before and he hadn’t chased her down. Now, he couldn’t let her go.
“I’m positive. If we show Tatiana the way she truly is, Cassie will have to believe I have nothing going with her. I need Cassie, I can’t live without her. I know that now.”
Andrew shook his head as he took a swig from his beer bottle. “Better you than me.”
Stephen grinned and clapped his brother on the back. “Glad to know you’re behind me on this.”
The decorators and party planners did a great job. They’d decided to have the party at his father’s house. Not only was there plenty of room for this number of guests, but he’d be certain his father would get a good seat for what he had planned. Stephen had talked with him the day before and explained the truth behind his and Cassie’s marriage. Not exactly an easy thing to do, but in the end much less painful than he’d imagined.
His father actually seemed pleased. Mentioned a need for grandchildren.
Stephen would get to that as soon as possible. Nothing would make him happier than to have children with Cassie. Her green eyes, his black hair. He’d finally have the opportunity to fill up all those empty rooms in his house.
“Excuse me.”
Stephen stepped out of the way as a man with a platter of food weaved through the already crowded room. Guests had begun arriving a little over an hour ago, but not Cassie.
Then, as if on cue, she was there. He noticed her immediately. She stood in a floor-length purple gown with her auburn hair flowing around her shoulders and a look of set determination filling her stubborn eyes.
Stephen’s heart beat faster as he walked toward her.
All around, guests craned their necks awkwardly trying to gain a view of the new Sands bride. The roar of the tightly packed room dropped to all of a hum as he went to join her. Stephen should have felt guilty about his campaign to pack the room with people in order to gain his revenge, but instead he felt pride to be with a woman so beautiful.
“I’m glad you made it,” he said as he drew up beside her.
She turned to him. “I didn’t really have a choice now, did I?” Her face softened. “You look nice.”
He’d worn a black tuxedo and felt very 007 until she arrived. Now he felt almost boring in comparison. He leaned in and placed a kiss on her cheek, close to her e
arlobe. “You’ve always got a choice. I’m just glad you came.”
Uncertainty crossed her eyes as he took her elbow and led her away from the door.
“Look, there’s something I need to tell you.” Out of the corner of his eye he saw Tatiana draw into the room.
“I’ve got to tell you something as well.”
“It’s about Tat—”
“I’m pregnant.”
He stopped cold and held his breath. “Pregnant?”
She nodded and took a step away from him. From her purse she drew a set of documents and handed them to him. “Divorce papers.”
“Cassie, we need to talk.”
She shook her head. “No. We don’t. Legally I can’t fight you. You’ve got more money than God and I don’t have hardly a cent to my name. But I won’t raise my child in a home where its parents don’t love each other. I had two loving parents. I think if you’d had the same, you would be a completely different person right now. Our child will be loved. By both its parents. Do you understand me?”
It felt as if the air had been knocked out of the room. “Cassie, this is wonderful!” He went to grab her but she pulled away.
“No, Stephen. No matter what the consequences to us, we will do what’s right for this baby.”
Tatiana drew up beside him and laid her perfectly manicured claws on his shoulder. Cassie’s eyes narrowed on the tall, leggy blonde. “You must be Cassie.” She purred the name, but her eyes were filled with malice and something akin to anger.
Stephen looked between the two women who had dominated his life over the past few weeks. He’d, at one point or another, sworn revenge on both. On Cassie for leaving, on Tatiana for not letting go. Now, he knew where his priorities lay.
“Cassie.” He turned to her. She had the decency to not look as ill as he imagined she felt. “This is Tatiana. She’s been trying to blackmail me since she found out we were married. She thought she could hold my love for you over my head and take me for a million dollars.”
Cassie gasped.
“And Tatiana,” he turned again, “this is Cassie. She’s the woman I love, the woman I married and she’s having my child. I will do anything to protect her.” He leaned in closer. “And I mean anything, Tatiana.”
She sputtered and her face turned red. Almost as red as her dress, but not quiet. “We had a deal,” she hissed.
He turned back to Cassie. “You see, Tatiana thought if she told the world about our marriage, that you’d be thrown into the spotlight and you would hate me. But, I don’t think that’s the case. I think you’d rather know the truth and have a chance to choose for yourself. That’s the one thing I’ve not let you do this entire time is make a choice for yourself. So for this, you get to choose.”
Cassie looked from Tatiana to Stephen and her eyes narrowed. Thankfully, not on Stephen. “So all this time you’ve been calling my husband it was to try to blackmail us?”
“Do you know he was with me the night before he met you?” she spat. “I was the reason he was late to his father’s wedding, he couldn’t get enough of me.”
“It doesn’t matter.” Cassie raised her voice. “Stephen is my husband and you’ve been trying to drive a wedge between us since day one. I saw how often you’ve called.” Her voice rose higher. “What did you think you’d accomplish, Tatiana?”
She took a threatening step toward his ex-girlfriend and Stephen never felt so proud in his life. She was tiny, in comparison. But gorgeous. Especially in her anger.
She reached a finger forward and poked Tatiana in the chest. “You call my husband and threaten my family one more time and I’ll take you down. Stephen might have to work within the bonds of proper society, but this is not my society. I might be a Sands by name, but I don’t believe in these rules. Do you understand me?”
Tatiana looked completely taken aback and turned to leave the room. Instead, she ran into a wall of the Sands men.
“Stephen,” Daniel said, “I thought we were supposed to be the ones to do that.”
Stephen grinned and wrapped his arm around his wife’s middle. “She beat you to it. Sorry, I don’t know what to say.”
The younger man’s face fell “I was really looking forward to it.”
“We Sands look after our own,” William added.
Cassie turned her eyes to him. “And you…”
“Whoa.” He held up his hands. “Stephen told us what happened. We only wanted to protect our brother.”
She turned to Stephen. “I don’t know what to say.”
“Say you’ll stay,” he said.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Tatiana slink from the room. It might not be the last he heard from her, but he had a feeling she wouldn’t try to hold his family as leverage anymore.
“I can’t,” she said before turning and walking away.
****
She loved him. She hadn’t let that go, but she had to think of what was best for the baby. With no idea where to go, she ducked behind a closed door.
“Hiding from someone?”
Great. She turned to find Charles Sands drinking a tumbler of something or other and reading a book peacefully in front of a large bay window.
“Not hiding, as such,” she muttered.
He motioned for her to sit. “I heard about my boy’s plans yesterday. Seemed a bit foolhardy, but he had the best of intentions.”
Cassie sat primly on the edge of the sofa. “Your boy thinks of no one other than himself. None of them do.”
“That’s not true,” Charles said. “They stand by each other. And me. No matter what they say, they stand by me. In time, if you give them a chance, they’ll stand behind you, too.”
She tugged at the sleeve of her dress. “I don’t think so. Just a few weeks ago, Stephen swore revenge against me. He’s given it up for now, but what happens next time I slight him? Or someone else? I don’t want to be married to someone as vengeful as that.”
“You could work with me.”
Cassie turned to find Stephen standing in the doorway. “What are you doing here?”
“Looking for my wife. Trying to apologize.” He took a few steps in and stood in front of her. “I’d spend my life apologizing if that’s what it took to win you back.”
Cassie stood and faced him. “Until I did something else wrong, you mean.”
He shook his head. “No. Cassie, I love you. I loved you when I first met you at the wedding. You thought I was a waiter and you bossed me around. You treated me like a normal person for the first time in my life and I didn’t want to let that go. That’s why I lied. And when I asked you to hide the truth after we got married, that was my very foolhardy attempt to protect you. I didn’t want to take you away from your life, I didn’t want my money or my family or the people in my life to change you. I love you just as you are. And you are amazing. I’ve never known anyone like you. When you came back, all I could think of was how much I hurt. How much your leaving hurt me. But now...”
She waited. Sands men don’t cry, and Stephen looked about as close to the verge of tears as any of them could get.
“When you handed me those papers my heart broke. I can’t imagine my life without you. It’s your choice, Cassie. From here on out, you make the decisions. But I hope you chose me.”
With that, he turned and walked toward the door.
Cassie looked at Charles. He waved his hand toward Stephen. “You’ll regret it if you don’t.”
She turned and followed. “Stephen, wait.”
He stopped.
She walked up to where he stood and made him face her. “I love you, Stephen Sands. I love you and don’t want to think that you can just push me around whenever you want.”
He shook his head.
“And I want you to tell me what’s going on. I would never have left if you’d just told me the truth about Tatiana.”
“I thought I was protecting you.”
She held her hands up. “I don’t need protecting.”
She met his smile. “So what does this mean?”
Charles piped up from behind them, “It means he kisses the girl and you live happily ever after as man and wife.”
Grinning, Stephen said, “What do you think?”
“I think that sounds perfect.”
With that, he leaned down and drew her into a kiss. Their lips met and he pulled her into a tight embrace. Letting go, he said, “So do we tell him about the baby now, or make him wait?”
Cassie smiled into his shoulder. “Let’s make him wait.”
Epilogue
With only about a month to go in her pregnancy, Cassie couldn’t get the babies’ room together fast enough. Babies. Two. She patted her belly as one of them kicked and hung a name placard above where one of the cribs would go. Christopher and Cara. She smiled as she stroked a finger over the names.
It had taken her a while to get to it, but she’d finally told her sister the truth about everything. It felt cathartic, like for the first time since their parents died, they actually got to be sisters. And Liz took it all well, at least after she finally stopped wanting to hurt Stephen.
“Mrs. Sands, they’re here.”
Cassie turned to Abigail and waddled toward the nursery door. “How do the names look?”
“Perfect,” the housekeeper said.
Taking her hand, they walked down the stairs together. Already Cassie could hear the house groan under the weight of running toddlers and their overworked mommies. “Thanks for setting this up, Stephen,” she said as he took her hand at the base of the stairs.
“You know how much I like this.”
She grinned. He did, too. He and Handley had a special bond that made Cassie proud. Of course, he hadn’t had to agree to the second part of today, but he’d stood beside her all the same. “Are they here yet?” she asked.
