Sinful Intentions

by Crystal Rhodes

  Colin took a seat in a chair as far across the room from his father as possible, trying not to look too obvious or too anxious. The telephone stopped ringing as his mother answered it. There would be no reprieve.

  Sin studied the man-child sitting before him. The boy was now as tall as Nedra and growing more with each passing day. He worked out regularly in the gym downstairs, and his boyish physique was rapidly filling out. Sin could even see signs of his eldest trying to sprout a beard. Colin was turning into a man, but he wasn’t one yet, and it was his job to help guide the process. The behavior he had demonstrated in the foyer wasn’t part of the lesson.

  Walking away from the escalating confrontation had given him time to calm down and think rationally. He was certain that something had happened between home and school that had upset Colin. There was no other explanation for his behavior, unless it was hormones. He preferred to believe the former.

  Sin had just opened his mouth to speak when Nedra entered the room with the cordless telephone. He looked at her expectantly.

  “You need to talk to Dono…” She glanced at Colin, then back at Sin. He got the message quickly.

  “Go to your room, son,” he instructed. “I’ll be up to talk to you shortly.”

  Colin had understood the silent exchange. The call was about Trevor, and they wanted to talk without him in the room. He started to protest his dismissal, but knew that this was not the time to do so. Getting up, he left the room.

  “It’s Donovan,” Nedra continued. She stood gripping Sin’s arm while the two men spoke. The news was grim, and he took it as she expected him to.

  “What do you mean we’ll have to give him to Jamison within the next two weeks? Are you insane? We haven’t even been before the judge yet for the custody hearing!”

  Hovering as close to the family room as possible, Colin could hear his father’s angry declaration. His heart jumped to his throat. They were talking about Trevor. That man was coming to get his brother!

  Angry tears filled his eyes as he hurried from the room undetected. He bounded up the stairs, once again taking two at a time. Nobody was taking his brother. It wasn’t going to happen! It was time for him to take action.

  Nedra squeezed Sin’s arm in silent support as he spoke to Donovan. Every muscle in his body was tight. She was trying to contain her feelings of outrage, but Sin expressed his freely as he spoke to their attorney.

  Donovan was informing them that Jamison’s attorney had petitioned the court for temporary custody of Trevor. He based his request on his assertion that the altercation between Jamison and Sin had demonstrated that her husband was violent and might be a danger to the child. He also claimed that because of the animosity that the parents harbored against him, they might try and turn Trevor against him, interfering with his ability to establish a parental relationship with the boy when custody was established.

  Donovan’s assertion that Jamison’s character was in question because of his effort to extort “favors” from Nedra had been rejected. She had no proof of the accusation and Jamison claimed that their meeting had been his attempt to come to some compromise about his child without legal interference. He further claimed that Nedra had completely rejected his attempt and displayed hostility in doing so. He felt he had no choice but to ask for temporary custody.

  “So he’s calling my wife a liar!” Sin exploded into a string of profanity. Nedra could hear Donovan on the other end imploring him to calm down.

  “That’s not going to help the situation,” Nedra reminded him. She walked to the sofa and took a seat. Her silent prayers escalated. This couldn’t be happening, not like this and not this soon. She took a shaky breath, ingesting all of the faith that she had while Sin continued his conversation.

  “Donovan, you know with our son’s background the snobs in the circles Jamison runs in would eat our child alive, and what’s Jamison going to do, give up the swinging bachelor life to play the doting dad? I don’t think so. There’s something else behind this. I can smell it, and Samuel Jamison is involved. He’s the one with the money and the power to get this thing pushed through the system so quickly, but I can’t understand why. I would think that he’d be running for the hills on this sort of thing.”

  “You’re right,” Donovan agreed. “Like I told your wife, we’re going to fight this temporary custody decree with everything we have.”

  “And what do we have?” Sin questioned. “Your man can’t find anything but school boy antics on him. Brandon couldn’t find anything that can help. I even have someone I know from the streets investigating the man…”

  Nedra’s head snapped up. He hadn’t shared that information with her, and she could only guess who it could be. Her husband’s activities prior to their marriage had provided him with an array of unsavory contacts.

  “And believe me, he has resources your man can only dream of. Yet, he’s having a hard time coming up with something on Royce Jamison. It’s as if his life has been wiped out of the system and rewritten.” These last words were said with contempt.

  Donovan sighed. “Something is going to break. Until then, I’d like to suggest that we offer him liberal, supervised visitation rights, in exchange for your retaining custody.”

  “I don’t want him visiting our son, with or without supervision and certainly not liberally!” Sin’s stance was absolute.

  Nedra got up and wandered into the kitchen. She didn’t want to hear anymore. Filling the teapot with water, she went about the mundane task of boiling water for tea. She didn’t want to think about the news that Donovan delivered. Going to the cabinet, she withdrew a package of chocolate chip cookies and took a few. She rarely indulged in sweets, but right now who cared about a few extra pounds.

  Sin found her standing in the kitchen by the closed French doors. Her back was to him. The sound of the teapot singing on the stove echoed throughout the room, but she didn’t respond. He went to the stove and turned it off. She didn’t move a muscle. Silently, he approached her. It was then that he realized that she was praying. He stood observing her, marveling at the serenity that her faith seemed to give her. He was grateful that she appeared to have a direct pipeline to the Almighty. They would need all of the help that they could get with this one.

  As Nedra opened her eyes, she felt her husband’s presence and turned. They studied each other intently across the space between them. She walked over to him with uncertainty in her steps. Things had been strained between them since her meeting with Royce. There had been a subtle change in Sin’s demeanor. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but she still knew that it existed. It felt strange not to be certain when it came to him. He was her rock.

  Sin noted her hesitancy in coming to him, and his heart nearly broke. Had he let his resentment of her meeting with Jaimson put such distance between them? He would cut out his heart before he would hurt her. Reaching out, he gently drew her to him.

  Nedra draped her arms loosely around his waist, and lay her head on his chest. “This can’t be happening to us.”

  “It won’t happen.” Sin hugged her. “I promise that it won’t.”

  Nedra sighed. “Don’t make promises that you might not be able to keep.”

  “I don’t.” Sin gave her an extra squeeze and set her away from him. Slowly, he ran a finger down her cheek. She was so beautiful, but there was so much sadness in her eyes. He couldn’t bear to see it.

  “Why don’t you call Carla and cancel the boys’ trip to their house in Berkeley this weekend.” The children had a three-day school break and had been looking forward to spending part of the time with Carla and Jacob. Much to Gillian’s consternation, her punishment for wandering off had been a cancellation of the trip for her.

  Nedra looked confused at Sin’s request. “Why? It’s only until Sunday. They need to get away.” Implied in his request was that their own time with Trevor might be shortened by the trip, and she refused to accept that. “I think that we should continue our lives as usual.”r />
  “Our lives may not be as usual much longer, and it’s time that we faced that.”

  “That’s a defeatist attitude, Sinclair.”

  “I prefer to think of it as realistic. The fact of the matter is that Royce Jamison hates me…”

  “That’s the same thing he said about you,” Nedra recalled. “But I hope that you’ll be above such a feeling.”

  Sin stiffened noticeably. “I don’t know about all of that, but I don’t like him, that’s for sure.”

  “I can’t say that’s not understandable. He had you arrested, and he wants our son. But I know that Donovan told you what the minimum is that we might have to settle for if we want to keep Trevor until the custody hearing.”

  “Yeah, I heard, andas I’ve said before, forget it.” Sin moved to the island in the center of the kitchen and sat down on a teakwood stool. Nedra persisted.

  “We might not have a choice, and if we want to make this thing work…”

  Sin banged his fist down on the countertop angrily. “We’re not sharing custody of our child with that man! He’s not visiting him. He’s not putting a hand on him. It won’t happen!” His eyes were blazing with anger.

  Nedra went to stand in front of him. Taking his dimpled chin between her fingers, she made sure that she had his full attention. “Baby, we may not have a choice but to make some kind of temporary compromise. That’s just how it is.”

  Sin took both of her hands in his. “Look deep into my eyes, Nedra, and tell me that in your heart you really think that Royce Jamison is the type of man who should raise a child. You’ve met him…spoken to him on a level that I haven’t done. Tell me that there’s not something wrong with that man.” He paused letting his gaze bore into her, past her conscious thoughts, deep into her subconscious where the kernel of doubt about Royce Jamison had begun to germinate. He felt her doubts and he knew that they were the same ones that he harbored. Nedra dropped her eyes, breaking contact.

  “I thought so.” Sin felt reassured. “The man I’ve met isn’t capable of raising a child like Trevor, or any other child for that matter. Our son’s sweet, creative, generous nature couldn’t survive under someone like that. I won’t let it happen!”

  Nedra gave a deep sigh. “And how can we stop it?” She walked away. Since her meeting with Royce, she had asked herself that same question a thousand times. It kept her awake at night and was her constant companion during the day, until she put the answer to the question into hands greater than her own. No, she had no answer.

  “We’re leaving,” he said with finality. “We’re taking our kids and we’re leaving the country.”

  Chapter 25

  At first she didn’t think that she heard him correctly. “We’re doing what?”

  “We’re taking the kids, and we’re leaving this country.”

  Nedra chuckled. “What kind of joke is that?” She shook her head at the absurdity of his words.

  “It’s no joke. I’ve already begun to make the plans.”

  Nedra searched her husband’s face. He looked her in the eye, and there lay the truth that she was seeking.

  “You’re serious.”

  “As a heart attack.”

  “And where are we supposed to be going?” She still couldn’t believe that they were having this conversation.

  “You’ll know when we get there. I don’t want any slipups.”

  She took offense. “And my knowing where you plan on taking me and our children would be a slipup?”

  Sin went to her, but she stepped away. Folding her arms across her chest, she glared at him. He had some explaining to do.

  “No, I didn’t mean it that way.” He tried to make amends. “I just don’t want you to accidentally tell Carla or Sharon when and where we’re going. After all, we would be—”

  “Kidnapping a child and running from the law,” Nedra cut in.

  “Would you rather our son be in Royce Jamison’s hands?”

  “No, I wouldn’t, but I’d also prefer not becoming a wanted criminal.” What was this man thinking?

  “If we don’t win full custody of Trevor, I’m telling you we’ll never see him again.”

  “You can’t be serious about this.” Nedra sat down. This was too much.

  Hands in pocket, Sin stood looking down at her. He knew that she might resist his plan, but surely she would relent, even if it were reluctantly. “Like I said, I am serious about this, Nedra. I’ve got a chartered plane on standby if we have to leave in a hurry.”

  “What about passports? If we travel outside the country we’ll need them.”

  “We’ll have those in a few days.”

  Nedra was dumbfounded. “How? We haven’t filled out any forms, taken any pictures…” Suddenly the answer dawned on her. She sprang from her seat to face him. “Phony passports! You’re getting us phony passports! I guess we’ll have phony names, too?” She turned from him and rested her head in her hands. “I don’t believe this!”

  “Baby, there’s no other way.”

  “Oh, yes there is. We can stand firm and have faith. I can’t think of a better way.”

  Sin walked away. His body language told her that he didn’t want to hear it. Nedra followed him.

  “I can’t believe that you’re willing to drag our children to God-knows-where, change their identities and turn our lives upside down.”

  He whirled on her. “Would you rather lose Trevor? What will that do to their lives? Trevor’s life? Our lives?”

  “And how are we supposed to live?”

  Sin gave her a level look. “You know me well and you know what I’ve been about in my life. We’ll never want for money.”

  It was obvious that Sin was totally committed to his plan. He was a thorough man with lots of connections. She didn’t know how long he had worked on this scheme of his, but she knew that whenever it was executed, the chances of its success were high. Sinclair left no room for mistakes, and when he made up his mind to do something, there was little that she could do to stop him. She knew of only one way to do so.

  “I’m not running away, Sinclair. I’m not going.”

  Sin’s eyes slid closed for a moment, and he inhaled. He had been expecting this and had tried to steel himself for the moment. Yet, the words still hurt. Opening his eyes, he looked at her hard.

  “Don’t use that against me, Nedra.”

  He didn’t have to explain. She knew what he meant. The strongest weapon she possessed was his absolute devotion to her.

  “It’s the only thing that I have.”

  Sin’s jaws tightened. Too angry to continue their conversation, he abruptly turned and walked away. Leaving the room, he headed downstairs to the exercise room to work off his frustration.

  Nedra stood rooted, looking after him. She wondered at the conflict of emotions that had brought him to this. It was the act of a desperate man. Their entire family was desperate, but no matter what, she was digging in her heels. Like she told him, she was going to have faith that everything would turn out fine. She was standing firm.

  * * *

  Winston didn’t know what to do about Sharon. She was upset, and he was at a loss as to how he could help her. After their early morning trip back to her office to find whatever it was she had lost, they had driven to a nearby restaurant for breakfast before he went back to San Jose—without her. Not that he wanted it that way, but he had not been able to convince her to come home with him, which had been his intention when he made his surprise appearance. After they ate, her plan was to go home to the cottage where she was staying, change her clothing and go back to the office to begin the day’s work. He didn’t like that plan, but he accepted it.

  They each had driven their cars to the eating establishment and parked in the lot next to each other. He got out of his car and walked over to her driver side only to find her sitting behind the steering wheel with tears streaming down her face. Concerned, he had coaxed her out of the car and into his arms. At first she didn’t answer hi
s inquiry about the cause of her distress, but when she did it was a hodgepodge of confusing rhetoric about how she was always the one who messed up.

  He took her to his car and held her while between heart-wrenching sobs she told him about how among her two best friends she was the one whose life always seemed to have drama. She was the least stable of her friends, the one who they constantly rescued from one dilemma or the other. Finally, she had been presented with the opportunity to come to the rescue for Nedra’s family, and she had botched that. Once again, she dissolved into tears.

  She called into work and gave some excuse for not coming. He called his office to tell them not to expect him either, then he followed her back to the cottage where she was staying, and where they had remained the rest of the day. The sun was close to setting, and she was still dragging around the place in a state of depression, until he had enough.

  “Sharon, all day I’ve heard nothing but what a miserable person you are. According to you, you’re an awful friend, a gigantic klutz, and totally irresponsible. You can’t seem to find anything good to say about yourself. Well, the woman you keep describing I don’t know. Perhaps you can enlighten me as to why I was so stupid as to be dazzled by an intelligent, beautiful, spirited woman with a heart as big as the Grand Canyon and have her become the mother of my child? And maybe you can tell me why your friends, despite all of the flaws that you claim you possess, seem to love you and your godchildren adore you? How can all of us be such fools?”

  Sharon looked at Winston, who sat on the sofa with his ankles crossed looking up at her. Dressed in a robe, her hair piled haphazardly on top of her head and her eyes swollen with tears, she had been pacing from one end of the room to the other, silently lamenting her carelessness at having lost the information from Rhonda. She had tried to contact her, but her cell phone was off. Nobody knew where she was. How could she face Nedra knowing that she could have helped her family and didn’t. Now here her husband was berating her for caring so much about the mistake she had made. Of course he didn’t know exactly the extent of the problem. If he did, what would he think of her then?