"You did the right thing," I said. "Though you could have let me know what was going on."
"I was concerned that you wouldn't come if you knew it was about Tyler."
A reasonable guess but–"Mom, I'm always going to look out for you, I just don't like being in the dark. And what papers?"
"You're already a trustee on several trusts your father left behind. I'm adding you to the rest. You're also my sole heir, aside from Parker. I created a provision to cover her in case her inheritance from her father turns out to be nothing." Shaking her head, she added, "Your father never trusted that man."
"Mom, I don't know what to say." I didn't. I'd expected none of this. "I don't want the money."
"I know you don't, darling," she said, patting my cheek affectionately. "That's why you're getting it all."
"And what about Tyler?"
Claudia sighed, then straightened as her housekeeper came in with a fresh tea tray. Setting the tray on the table beside the first one, she cleared the used tray and left as quietly as she'd entered. I snagged a tiny, crustless sandwich, wondering briefly if this was going to be lunch. I'd missed breakfast in my mad rush to catch a flight home.
"I think you should leave New York," I said. "Travel for a while. I know you just got home from Paris, but is there somewhere else you can go? Friends to visit?"
"You're worried about Tyler," she guessed.
"He's unstable, Mom. Until he figures out what he's going to do next, I don't want you anywhere he can get to you. If you're staying here, I'm going to get you a bodyguard."
Claudia shook her head in disdain. "Not a bodyguard, Nash. It's so crass. I'm not in entertainment."
"Mom," I protested, but she held up her hand.
"I agree. Your brother is unstable. Maybe it took Parker leaving, but–"
"I think he's been unstable for a long time."
She ignored my comment. "But I think you're correct. It will be better if I'm out of his reach as he comes to terms with these changes. Patricia–you remember my friend Patricia?"
"The senator's wife? That Patricia?" I vaguely knew who she was talking about. I didn't keep track of my mother's friends any more than she kept track of mine.
"Yes, exactly. She's leaving on a month long safari in Botswana. Her daughter was supposed to join her, but had to cancel at the last minute and Patricia asked me to take her place. I accepted. As soon as you sign these papers and we have them couriered to my attorney, you can deliver me to the plane Patricia has waiting for me. My suitcases are in the hall by the door."
I sat back, amazed at her organization and planning. I was used to thinking of my mother as flighty and spontaneous. Clearly, she'd planned this maneuver down to the minute. I flipped through the stack of papers she'd set on the tea tray beside my cooling cup of tea. Ignoring the tea and the rest of the sandwiches, I scanned the papers more thoroughly.
Everything looked in order. The papers were exactly what she'd said they were–documents naming me her co-trustee. I signed where indicated, eager to finish this, get my mother to the airport, and head back to Parker and Sawyers Bend.
I should have known, given the way the day had unfolded so far, that nothing would go as planned. By the time I got back to Parker and Sawyers Bend, I was too late.
ChapterTwenty-Three
PARKER
Iscrubbed at the tile in the first floor bathroom of the cottage, working furiously, my muscles aching, knees bruised despite the towel protecting them from the hard floor–though not as bruised as my heart.Nash. I couldn't even think his name without drowning under a wave of grief.
How could I have been so foolish?
Because I was a fool.
I'd married Tyler, hadn't I? And I'd stayed with him after he cheated, stayed after he hit me. I was a fool, and I deserved this. It's just that Nash had been so believable. His sincerity, his tenderness. It turned out his passion had been the only thing that was real.
After the most amazing night of my life, I'd woken alone. I was so naïve, at first I hadn't realized what had happened. I thought I'd overslept, that he was down at breakfast or in a meeting with Griffen. After a quick shower, I went down for my own breakfast and discovered Nash was nowhere to be found.
I couldn't bring myself to ask where he was. All it took was imagining the pitying look I'd get from my brother, or Hope–from anyone who figured out that I'd slept with my brother-in-law and he'd left me without bothering to tell me where he was.
I'd given into my foolish heart and called Nash after I realized he hadn't been to breakfast and wasn't in the house. The call went straight to voicemail. I tried again an hour later and got the same. Enough. There was no note that had fallen off my pillow. No text, no message explaining his absence. Nash was simply gone.
