The Billionaire's Secrets

by Meadow Taylor

  “May,” Chloe whispered.

  “Then that’s a yes?” he persisted.

  “Yes,” she managed before the tears spilled over.

  Kissing her tears, he held her close. “Thank you,” he said.

  They lay there for a while until Chloe’s tears subsided. “Sorry,” she said finally. “I thought it was only in romance novels that people cried when they’re happy.”

  “Don’t apologize. It’s beautiful. Are you sure one month is enough time to get ready for a wedding?”

  “I don’t know. I’ve never been married before.” She tried to think of the women she worked with who had married. They had spent at least a year planning their day. Bridal showers, dresses, seating arrangements, invitations, music, flowers. By the time the actual day arrived, they had been exhausted with all the planning. Chloe knew that was not the kind of wedding she wanted. She wanted something simple but special. Something she would enjoy and remember.

  She explained this as best she could to Gaelan, and he agreed. “Just family and a few close friends. Although I do have some business associates who would probably be offended if I didn’t invite them. I’d like Marcus to be the best man.”

  Chloe responded to the suggestion with silence, not because she objected to Gaelan’s choice but because she could not help but think of Bowen. He, she knew, would not be invited. Suddenly it struck her as sad that he should be so estranged from his only brother, a twin at that.

  “You don’t mind if Marcus is the best man, do you?” he asked.

  “No, of course not. I was just thinking of Bowen.”

  Gaelan’s eyes grew hard at the thought of his brother. “He was the best man at my wedding to Colleen, you know. I did it partly out of obligation, as we had grown distant by that point - who doesn’t have their twin as their best man? But now he’s the last person I want at my wedding.”

  “I know,” Chloe said sympathetically. "I just think it’s sad you have to be such enemies. He is your brother.”

  Gaelan sighed, his eyes softening. “I know. I wish it could be different. We were best friends when we were children, even though we’re so different.” He raised his head and propped himself up on his elbow. “It was when my parents died and Bowen learned I was the sole heir to Widow’s Cliff that all the trouble started. He didn’t think the minutes separating our births were enough to establish me as heir. He felt Widow’s Cliff should be sold and the proceeds equally divided. I promised to compensate him for his share, which I did, many times over. But he was determined that if he couldn’t own Widow’s Cliff, neither could I. I refused to sell. This house is part of my family’s heritage - it’s more important to me than all the money combined. I can’t begin to know how Bowen thinks, but it seems to me he’s been determined to get revenge ever since. I don’t want to be enemies with my only brother, but I don’t think it will ever change. His hatred is not about Widow’s Cliff anymore. It’s irrational and obsessive.” There was a faraway look in his eyes, and Chloe knew if there were any way he could make peace with his brother, he would.

  “It’s too bad,” Chloe whispered.

  Gaelan let his head drop back. “It is,” he said, “but I really don’t want to talk about Bowen right now. I want to talk about our wedding and how we’re going to live happily ever after.”

  “Okay,” she agreed. “Where were we?”

  “We were talking about asking Marcus to be the best man. Aren’t you supposed to have a best girl or something?”

  Chloe laughed and kissed him quickly. “Maid of honour, silly." She thought carefully for a moment. "Does Marcus have a serious girlfriend?" she asked.

  "Kathryn," he said.

  "Let's ask her. As Marcus is your closest friend, I have the feeling we'll be seeing a lot of them."

  “Good idea. Kathryn is great. I'm sure you'll soon be great friends. But don’t you have a friend or cousin back in Massachusetts who you’d like to ask?”

  She thought back to Boston. “All my friends sided with Shawn in the breakup. I was pretty lonely by the time I left. And I don’t have any close female relatives other than a few aunts I don’t know very well, and they all had boys. So Kathryn would be perfect. And Sophia of course will be the flower girl.”

  Gaelan smiled at her suggestion. “Do you want to hire someone to plan the wedding for us?” he asked. “It would make it easier.”

  “Okay,” Chloe said, feeling immediately relieved. “But it has to be simple, and I'd like to have it here at Widow’s Cliff. I mean, if that’s what you want.” She didn’t want to sound like a pushy bride-to-be. It was his day too.

  “Whatever you like, just so long as you’re the bride and I’m the groom.”

  “That's the only thing I really need,” she said.

  “We could elope,” he suggested playfully.

  “My parents would never forgive me,” Chloe said. She wondered how they were going to react to her getting married so soon. Chloe tried to put herself in their position, knowing they would be shocked Chloe was marrying a man she hardly knew. But she also knew in the end her parents would support her decision and be happy for her. And they were going to love Sophia. Chloe knew they would accept her as her own grandchild and probably spoil her terribly. She smiled at the thought.

  “A penny for your thoughts,” Gaelan said, tracing the shape of her smile with the tip of a finger.

  “I was just thinking of my parents and how much they’re going to love Sophia.”

  “How do you think they’d feel about more grandchildren?”

  “Our children?” Chloe asked. Everything was moving so fast. She was still processing the idea of being a wife, let alone a mother.

  “Who else’s, darling?” He took his finger from her lips and kissed her instead. “And after what we just did, who knows? It could happen in about nine months.”

  Chloe blushed, realising that safe sex and birth control had never even entered her mind. It wasn’t like her to be so irresponsible.

  “Don’t worry, I’m completely safe, and unless you don’t want children...”

  “No, of course not. I’d love to have your children,” she said with utter sincerity. Then she laughed. “How many would you like, Mr. Byrne? Six, ten, twelve? You know how much I love children, and there are certainly enough rooms in this place.”

  “How about we start with one?” he said.

  “That’s okay too,” she said. She touched her flat stomach and wondered if at that very moment a child was beginning to form in her womb. She hoped so. She pictured them as a family in a year or so. Lying on the bed, baby or babies – didn’t twins run in families? - at her breast, Gaelan beside her, Sophia playing happily with her cat. She felt so utterly happy and blessed. Never in her wildest fantasies did she imagine her life could have taken such a fairy-tale turn. Schoolteacher from the city meets billionaire in the castle. Not that it mattered to her that Gaelan was rich. She would marry him no matter what he did. Farmer, shopkeeper, shoe salesman. The last one made her smile again. Gaelan as a shoe salesman was pretty absurd. It was like imagining Mr. Rochester in Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre selling shoes.

  “Another smile. What for this time?”

  Chloe didn’t think she could explain what that smile was about. “Just happy,” she said.

  “Me too,” he said as he began to trace a finger along the curve of her cheek, exploring the hollow of her throat. "I was wondering if you’d like to go back to teaching after we’re married. I’m sure you’ll want to be more than just Mrs. Gaelan Byrne.”

  She looked at him, and he hurried on. “You don’t have to teach. You can do whatever you like.”

  “It’s not that,” she said. “I was just wondering how I would teach Sophia too.”

  “Maybe it’s time to send Sophia to a school with other children,” he said thoughtfully.

  Chloe approved. “I think that would make Sophia very happy. You never know, maybe I could get a job at the same school.” She smiled at him misch
ievously. “That is, when the twins are old enough.”

  He laughed. This, Gaelan Byrne, he thought as he kissed her deeply, is all you could ever want.

  Chapter 8

  May brought sunshine. More, Gaelan said, than Newfoundlanders were used to - spring usually took its own sweet time coming to The Rock. Off the headland, icebergs shone in the sunlight, dazzling mountains of icy blue, jutting out of the open water. Gulls dove at the water's surface in search of food, and the air was fresh and salty. The ice pans that had clogged the water only a few weeks before were now a memory, and a boat could be seen chugging through the white-tipped waves.

  "Horses dancing on the bay," Gaelan said seemingly out of the blue.

  "Pardon?" she said, scanning the water and wondering what he could possibly be referring to.

  "Horses dancing on the bay. It's a Newfoundland expression for whitecaps. Windy uses it all the time."

  "I like it," Chloe said as she watched the waves roll in. "Why don't you have a Newfoundland accent like Windy? Even Sophia has a bit of one."

  "Boarding school," he admitted. "Bowen and I spent most of the year at school. First in Montreal, though Bowen went to Toronto. Then I went to university in Boston, and he headed to New York to act. I was only home for the holidays, Bowen even less."

  "I can’t believe we might have been in Boston at the same time! Though I did grow up on Cape Cod. Did you like it? Being away at school so much?"

  He looked at her, and Chloe could see a flash of sadness in his eyes. "It was pretty lonely - I wouldn't send any child of mine to one," he said with conviction.

  Despite the sun, it was still far from warm, and Chloe turned up the collar of her coat against the wind.

  "Getting cold?" Gaelan asked, his voice full of concern. He took off one of his gloves and felt her cheek before unwrapping the wool scarf from his neck and placing it around her own. "Is that better?" he asked, taking her into his arms.

  "Perfect," she answered as she settled into the warm circle of his arms. Her back to him, she rested her head against his chest. "This has to be the most beautiful view in the world."

  "I'm glad you agree," Gaelan said. "There are those who find it too wild for their liking..." His voice trailed off, and Chloe knew he was thinking of Colleen. She reassured him that she was as much in love with Widow's Cliff as he was.

  "Did you know," he said, "that Leif Eiriksson discovered Newfoundland five hundred years before Columbus ever set foot in America? He called it Vineland the Good, and there were Viking settlements here for centuries. There's one near here - it's quite a tourist attraction. If you like, I'll take you there someday."

  "I would like that," she said. She had bought a history of Newfoundland in Puffin's Cove on the day she’d met Bowen. It was fascinating, and she was anxious to see more of the province and the places she had read about with their quaint names like Blow Me Down, Twillingate, and Placentia Bay.

  Beside them on the ground was an empty wire cage. Earlier that morning, they’d gone to the vet in Puffin's Cove and picked up the bald eagle that she and Sophia had rescued on the cliff. The vet had said the bird was finally well enough to be released, and Sophia had insisted on being the one to set it free. Chloe felt it was an important moment, not just for Sophia, but for them all. A shared experience that united them as a family. Gaelan had brought out his camera to record the event and promised to hang one of the photos in his office.

  On the trip from the vet, the bird had sat patiently in its cage and regarded them without fear. Sophia said it was because the bird remembered them and knew they had saved him. She spoke to the bird, advising him in a reassuring and confidential tone to stay away from bad men with guns.

  They opened the cage on the headland between the house and the cliff. The bird did not fly away immediately. Instead, it perched on the edge of the cage unhurriedly, taking in its new surroundings. It looked healthy and strong, its feathers sleek and shiny, the proud black eyes peering out of its hood of white feathers clear and alert. It was hard to imagine this bird had once been on the brink of death. Careful not to make any sudden moves, Gaelan took several pictures. The bird stood so still, Chloe could have sworn it was posing for the camera. Then at last, it spread all five feet of its great wings, hesitantly at first as if testing them, before finally lifting off and flying toward the ocean.

  Sophia waved and called goodbye over and over as the bird circled higher and higher above them. And the bird seemed to say goodbye too, its shrill cry carrying on the wind.

  When the bird was only a black speck against the sky, Gaelan continued to snap pictures, but now it was Sophia he was trying to capture on film. Framed by her wind-tossed blond curls, her expression was one of poignancy. Chloe guessed that while she was delighted to see the eagle healthy again, she felt at the same time a sense of loss as the bird flew away from them. Chloe felt it too and said a silent prayer for the bird's safety.

  Sophia was soon looking for another distraction and inspired by the wind went into the house and came back with materials to make a kite. She tied a string to the handles of a plastic grocery bag, and as she ran along the bag filled with air and billowed out behind her. She was obviously delighted with her creation, and Chloe marvelled how a child with all the toys she could ever want could be happy with something so simple.

  Chloe sighed. If there was any blight on her happiness, it was the secret of Sophia's parentage. She felt so much sadness for Gaelan and understood his struggle to accept the truth. How terrible it must have been to learn the daughter he loved so much was really the product of his wife's infidelity. And with his brother at that!

  "What was that sigh for?" Gaelan asked, planting a kiss on top of her head.

  "I was just thinking how much simpler it would be if Sophia weren’t Bowen's."

  "I've been thinking that for years. Unfortunately, it doesn't change the facts."

  "I know," Chloe said resignedly, turning around in the circle of his arms and looking into his dark eyes. "I've been thinking we should talk to a child psychologist. I'm sure you're not the only father in the world who has this problem."

  He touched the tip of her nose with his finger before planting a light kiss on it. "There you go again."

  "What do you mean?"

  "Being so wise. I knew I'd put myself in good hands."

  She laughed off his compliment but was all the same flattered. She liked that he respected her opinion where Sophia was concerned. And she was pleased she had made such a difference in how he related to Sophia. His love for the child was so evident now, his affections so easily given - a far cry from the days when he couldn't bear to be called Daddy. Chloe couldn't help but be proud to have played a role in this process.

  A shout rang from the house, and they turned to see Windy calling them for lunch. They in turn called to Sophia, and she came running over, colliding into Gaelan as she came to a halt. She was breathless, her cheeks flushed and rosy. Gaelan released Chloe and caught Sophia up in his arms, lifting her laughing into the air.

  Gaelan set her down, and with an arm around Chloe and a hand holding Sophia's, they walked back to the house together where Windy served up some of her famous clam chowder.

  It had been three weeks since Gaelan had asked Chloe to marry him, and the wedding was Sophia's favourite topic of conversation. She’d already picked her flower girl dress with the help of Renée, the wedding planner Gaelan had hired in New York. She’d also chosen the flowers she was to carry, and Chloe was surprised by the girl's good taste. The wedding had become the favourite subject of Sophia's drawings as well. She drew pictures of Chloe in an array of different fairy princess dresses.

  "I've been wondering," Sophia said, stirring her soup thoughtfully. "Now that you and Daddy are getting married, am I supposed to call you Mommy?"