He lunged out of the chair and loomed over her. “You’re a fine one to ask! What happened to the promises you made to me on our wedding day?”
“To love and honor, you mean? We opted for a very brief ceremony so they never arose and for that, at least, I’m deeply grateful. It spares me having to break my word. As for the ‘obey’ part, it went by the wayside years ago when more enlightened men than you’ve turned out to be recognized that women and children weren’t chattels.”
“What about the other promises, those we exchanged in private, when you purported to assist me every way you could in my efforts to win the custody suit?”
She hauled herself out of her chair also, and gave him back glare for glare. “Those I made in ignorance of the true state of affairs. Consequently, I no longer feel bound by them.”
“I’m holding you to them, anyway, Jenna. I won’t allow you to walk away from them.”
Won’t allow…how often had she heard him use those words? Almost as often as he referred to Molly as his daughter, as if she were a possession to which only he had entitlement.
Edmund collects people the way others collect china, one piece at a time, Adrienne had said. I’m warning you, Jenna…he’s a control freak, pure and simple….
And she was a fool not to have recognized sooner that in marrying him she had merely exchanged one set of problems for another, much more serious predicament.
Still, she made one last effort to put right what had gone so dreadfully wrong. “Edmund,” she said, appealing to him with outstretched hands, “please, I’m begging you! Drop the idea of taking Molly away from Adrienne. She’s a good mother. She doesn’t deserve this. You and I have so much—a beautiful home which can be a haven of warmth and welcome for Molly any time she wants to come here, a baby on the way, a future which, if we work together, could be better than either of us ever envisaged when we first decided to get married. Please, let it be enough!”
For a moment, she thought she’d reached him. His eyes were tortured, his mouth clamped tight in misery. But in the end, he shook his head and turned away from her. “I can’t,” he said.
Jenna slept in one of the spare rooms that night. She didn’t trust herself to lie beside him and not succumb to the raging need to find comfort in his arms. He didn’t try to dissuade her. Without either of them coming out and saying so, they both knew they’d passed a point of no return and that making love wouldn’t fix what was broken between them.
Some time around three in the morning, she was awoken by a thin cry coming from Molly’s room. The poor little thing was probably dreaming, she thought, hurrying next door to comfort her.
But Molly was wide-awake and standing on the floor. “I went wee-wee in the bed,” she wailed, shrinking away when Jenna tried to pick her up. “I’m all wet.”
“Oh, darling, don’t cry. It’s okay! We’ll get you cleaned up and dry in no time.” Gently, she took the child’s hand and led her to the bathroom across the hall. “Let me sponge you off, then we’ll put on clean pajamas.”
“But my bed’s wet as well.”
“Never mind about that old bed. I’ll take care of it in the morning, and you can sleep with me for the rest of the night.”
She’d hoped they wouldn’t disturb Edmund but he must have been sleeping as poorly as she because he came staggering out of his room just as she was carrying Molly to hers. “What’s going on? Is Molly sick?”
“No,” she said. “Just a little nighttime accident, that’s all.”
“She wet the bed?” He sounded amazed; insulted even.
“It happens,” Jenna told him. “It’s no big deal.”
“I guess not.” But he wasn’t convinced, as his next question proved. “Isn’t she a bit old to be doing that, though?”
“No,” she said again and gave him a level look. “Nor do I think we need to belabor the subject now. She’s embarrassed enough as it is.”
“So where are you taking her?” he said, when he saw that she wasn’t going back to Molly’s room.
“To sleep with me.”
“There’s no need for that. Give her to me. She can spend the rest of the night in our bed. God knows, there’s enough room in it tonight.”
But Molly, who’d been drooping sleepily on Jenna’s shoulder, buried her face more tightly against her neck. “No,” she mumbled. “I don’t want to be with Daddy.”
He deserved it, and more. Yet the desolation on his face spurred Jenna to dangerous pity. He did love his daughter, she knew. The trouble was, he couldn’t bear to share her with others who also loved her.
“Give her to me, Jenna,” he repeated, his voice raw with hurt.
“No,” she said softly. “Not this time, Edmund. I won’t let you upset her any more than she already is. Good night.”
He was still standing where she’d left him when she turned into her own room. His hands hung helplessly at his sides, his hair was all rumpled from sleep, and he wore a look of stunned disbelief. Not only had his daughter rejected him, his wife had dared to defy him, too. And he obviously hadn’t the foggiest idea why they’d resort to such extreme measures when, in his view, all he was trying to do was be a good father.
After a strained breakfast the next morning, Edmund put Molly through her paces in the pool while Jenna took a shower. The light on the answering machine was blinking when she came out of the bathroom, and a man identifying himself as Jason Phillips had left a message.
“I’ve managed to get us a court hearing for the end of the week, which doesn’t leave us much time to fine-tune our strategy, Edmund,” he said, “so we need to get together, this morning if possible, to go over the final details. I want your wife here, too, because she’s crucial to the whole undertaking, and since you’ve got the child staying with you, I’d like to talk to her as well. Might as well line up as much ammunition as we can, so get back to me, and we’ll set up an appointment.”
Although he didn’t say so, it was clear enough that Mr. Phillips was a lawyer. And equally clear that, without ever mentioning it to her, Edmund had already set in motion the legal process by which he hoped to win custody of Molly, even to the point of manipulating events so that she was in town just when it would help him the most.
“What did you think I was going to do?” he asked scornfully, when she challenged him on Mr. Phillips’ role in the whole messy affair. “Hire a plumber?”
“I’d hoped you’d be more open about what you were up to. Silly me, right?”
He rolled his eyes. “Don’t go making a big deal about nothing, for crying out loud! I was obeying doctor’s orders, that’s all, and saw no point in involving you when you already had enough on your mind with the baby.”
“How convenient!”
“If you were that anxious to know what was going on, all you had to do was ask. Not, I might add, that I feel under any obligation to give you an accounting of every minute of my working day.”
“I did ask,” she reminded him. “All those times I couldn’t reach you, when you had your phone turned off—those special meetings you were so vague about—you were consulting with your lawyer, weren’t you?”
“Yes. And I’ll be consulting him again today. And so will you.”
“No,” she said. “I absolutely will not! You’re on your own, Edmund, and you can glower until you turn blue in the face, but I’m not going to change my mind. You might not have any conscience, but I like to be able to look myself in the mirror and not cringe at what I see. And I will not be party to going behind Adrienne’s back. Regardless of what you think of her as a mother, or of her choice of husband, she deserves better than to be ambushed like this.”
“What’s gotten into you, Jenna?” he roared, his face flushing with anger. “To hear you talk, anyone would think you’d found yourself married to a kingpin of the underworld bent on unspeakable crime. I’m going after what’s mine. Why is that so terrible?”
“Oh, Edmund!” She buried her face in her hands, despair an
d frustration overwhelming her. “What’s terrible is that you even have to ask! You can’t own people!”
“I don’t mean it like that. Stop twisting my words.”
“Yes, you do mean it like that,” she said hopelessly. “You just don’t understand—”
“No, I don’t,” he said, his voice tight with fury. “So explain it to me. After everything I’ve heard you say about deadbeat dads who walk away from their kids and never look back, tell me why you refuse to support your own husband when all I’m doing is trying my best to take care of my daughter.”
“You’re going about it the wrong way. She’s not a corporate asset and this isn’t—or shouldn’t be—a hostile takeover. But I’m afraid that’s what it’s turned into, and I refuse to have any part of it.”
They had been lovers and she thought they’d been friends, but at that moment, as they stood facing each other, they were nothing but adversaries, unalterably opposed. One of them had to back down. But he would not, and she could not.
And so the silence spun out between them, each passing second filled with a rancor and resentment that sounded a death knell to any hope she’d had that their marriage would turn into something lasting or sublime.
At last, he said heavily, “Fine. I’ll do it without you.”
Bleakly, she watched as, his face set in lines of misery, he reached for the phone and arranged the requested appointment. Helpless to stop the process he’d begun, she stood by as he loaded Molly into the car. “Don’t hold lunch for us,” was all he said by way of goodbye. “I’m taking her shopping this afternoon and don’t know when we’ll be back.”
The day dragged by. Too restless to settle, Jenna cleaned the house from one end to the other, all the while praying that Edmund would call to say he’d had a change of heart. When two o’clock came and went with still no word, she gave up waiting for miracles and went outside to do some gardening.
She was deadheading geraniums in the flower bed next to the front door when a vehicle turned into the driveway. It was not Edmund who rolled to a stop in front of the garage doors, but Bud behind the wheel of his pickup, with Adrienne seated next to him.
“We’ve come to take Molly home,” she said, climbing down from the cab with obvious difficulty. “I don’t know what Edmund’s up to and I’m not waiting any longer to find out. I want my daughter. Now.”
“I’m afraid,” Jenna said, hating to find herself in the middle of the mess for all that she’d done her best to stay out of it, “she’s out with her father.”
“Out where?”
She couldn’t meet the other woman’s forthright gaze. “They went…shopping.”
“Fine. We’ll wait. And while we do, perhaps you’d be good enough to get her stuff together.”
“I…”
“You have a problem doing that, Jenna?”
“No, of course not.”
“Good. We’ll be waiting in the truck.”
Noticing the pinched look about Adrienne’s mouth, and the way she squinted with pain as she massaged the small of her back, Jenna gestured toward the house. “At least come in and make yourselves comfortable while I pack her suitcase.”
She tried to sound casual, but Adrienne wasn’t fooled for a minute. “We both know this isn’t a social call, Jenna, so never mind being the perfect hostess. You don’t want us in your home any more than I want my daughter in it.”
“Easy, hon. No point in taking it out on Jenna,” Bud said, putting a restraining hand on her arm, then turned to Jenna apologetically. “She’s not feeling too swift,” he explained. “Back’s still troubling her some.”
“I understand,” Jenna said, feeling dreadfully sorry for the woman. “Adrienne, if you’re not comfortable about coming into the house, at least have a seat in the back garden. You’ll cook sitting in the truck in this weather.”
“I don’t want to put you out.”
“You’re not. I was about to take a break anyway, and make some iced tea. I wish you’d both join me.”
Adrienne bit her lip. “Well, since you’re so determined to be gracious, do you happen to have any aspirin? My back really is killing me. Our old truck’s no Cadillac, I’m afraid.”
Oh, my dear! Jenna thought, shepherding them both through the side gate and into the shade of the umbrella table on the patio, before going inside to make the tea, it’s going to take a lot more than a couple of aspirin to ease the pain you’re about to have inflicted on you!
When she came back out with glasses, a frosty pitcher of tea, and a bottle of aspirin, she found Adrienne lying back in a chaise, and Bud hovering attentively at her side. “This is real nice of you, Mrs. Delaney,” he said. “The doc gave Adrienne some pills, but she’s been in such a state ever since last night’s phone call that she clean forgot to bring ’em with her when we set out this morning.”
“Yes,” Adrienne put in. “I don’t think either of us got a wink of sleep. But Bud’s right—I shouldn’t take it out on you. Molly told me you’ve been wonderful with her, and she’s so excited about the new baby, she can hardly wait for him to be born. We’ve been working on a gift for him—nothing much, just pasta shells glued to an old picture frame, but she’s thrilled to bits with it.”
Jenna’s throat closed with shame and a haze of embarrassing tears filmed her eyes. To be faced with this woman’s generosity of spirit toward her ex-husband’s new family, and know that he was bent only on misplaced vengeance, grieved her beyond words.
Fortunately, she was spared having to reply by Edmund and Molly’s return. The child gave a squeal of delight when she saw her mother and stepfather and letting go of her balloon, flung herself at them.
Excusing herself, Jenna muttered something about collecting the trowel she’d left in the front flower bed, but once through the side gate she kept going, up the drive and out to where a path cut down to the beach. Not only did she need time in which to compose herself, she had no wish to be part of the scene about to unfold. What Edmund was doing was wrong, but he was still her husband and she would not willingly condemn him in front of others.
The truck was gone when she came back an hour later, and so was Molly. Only Edmund remained, and he was primed for battle. “I’m surprised you’ve got the guts to show your face around here after the stunt you just pulled,” he greeted her.
“What have I done or said now to displease you?” she asked wearily. “Allowed Adrienne and Bud to set foot on your property? Let them sit in your chairs, drink from your glasses?”
“How about blatantly taking their side against mine, even to the point of having Molly’s bag packed and ready to go, the minute I brought her home? Tell me, sweet pea, what other nasty little surprises are you waiting to spring on me when I’m least expecting them?”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
HOW well she’d perfected the art of injured innocence! Big gray eyes glistening, sweet mouth quivering slightly, she hovered in the doorway and looked at him as if he’d gone mad.
“I’m not the one hatching plots, Edmund,” she said, her voice so full of sorrowful regret that he was glad she hadn’t gone with him to speak to Jason Phillips. Even a lawyer as experienced as he would have been hard-pressed to see past the theatrics. As for how a judge might be taken in…!
“Can the performance, Jenna!” he rapped out. “This is me, remember? The man you married under false pretenses.”
“If I did,” she said, twisting her wedding ring agitatedly, “the falsehood was all yours. You misrepresented the true state of affairs with Adrienne.”
“And you, being so much wiser than the rest of us poor mortals, took it upon yourself to rectify my mistake by betraying me, is that it?”
“No. I have not once betrayed you. As for mistakes, they have been all mine.”
“Oh, gee,” he sneered, resentment overwhelming him to the point that it practically seeped out of his pores, “you actually admit to being fallible? I’d never have guessed.”
“I should have listened
to my instincts, and not to you. Instead, I followed my heart.”
He let out a bark of laughter. “What heart? The one which prompted you to race to the phone as soon as my back was turned, and tell Adrienne to get down here quick so that she could put a stop to what was taking place?”
“Is that what she told you?”
“She didn’t mince words stating the obvious. She had too many other things to get off her chest. I’m sure you’ll be happy to know that she plans to fight me every inch of the way.”
“I can’t believe that comes as any surprise to you, Edmund. What did you think she’d do? Hand over Molly without a word? She’s a mother, for pity’s sake, not a hired nanny who looked after your child until it was convenient for you to take over the job!” She cupped her hands over her swollen belly possessively. “I can understand that, even if you can’t!”
“No doubt,” he said bitterly, “you’ll make an excellent witness for the defense.”
She flinched, as if he’d hit her. And damn her, but he felt the pain as if it had been directed at him. “I was of the impression that a wife can’t be forced to testify against her husband.”
“Not even if she’s convinced he’s an unmitigated bastard?”
He heard her sudden intake of breath, saw the rush of tears in her eyes, and steeled himself to resist both. “I think you’re a fine man in every other respect, Edmund. From the day we met, I’ve admired you. These months we’ve been married have been a gift I’d never expected, and one I’d hoped would prove durable enough to last a lifetime.”
She was trying hard, but the tears got the better of her and her voice broke. “God help me, I’ve fallen in love with you.”
“Then I shudder to think how you’d behave if you hated me!”
She crumpled against the door frame, and wiped the back of her hand over her face. “This isn’t about you and me,” she sobbed. “It’s about a mother’s right to her child, and a little girl’s right to live where she’s happiest.”
The Pregnant Bride Page 16
