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"No. Everything is not okay. You'd better close the door, Brandon,” Cole said to his brother. Brandon left and closed the doors to the study.
"You better call the police now or I will," Julius Morgan said again. “Is my daughter even alive?”
"I need to hear from Hope’s mouth first, about what happened,” Cole said.
"There's nothing to hear from this liar, this cheap imposter. She's clearly impersonated my daughter, don't you see?"
"I see," Cole’s voice trailed off.
It tore Hope apart inside to see Cole in so much pain and also Mr. Morgan. She really didn’t want to hurt either of them. But she just couldn’t tell them what happened to the real Hope Morgan.
She took out her cell phone and quickly sent a text to her friend Jewel.
She sent a few words to let Jewel know that she was busted and that Julius Morgan was at the Belmont Palace. She also told Jewel to stay away and let her deal with the situation. She wouldn't breathe a word. She promised Jewel in college and she was going to keep her word. She was going to go down alone. At the very least Hope knew that her daughter Mia had a good family, a good home and a wonderful father who could care for her. Hope was willing to go to prison for what she’d done.
“Who the hell are you texting?" Cole lashed out. She couldn’t blame him for being furious with her after she’d deceived him big time. After all, she was the mother of his child yet an imposter.
"I just sent a text to my friend Jewel. You can call the police. I have nothing more to say." Her eyes were solemn and tears were stinging the inside of her eyelids. She could feel the hurt in her face and her throat felt as if it was going to close up. But she could not afford to be dishonorable now. She loved Cole. She loved her daughter. But she had to do the right thing.
"You really want me to call the police, Hope?" Cole said, not only anxious but very disappointed.
Hope nodded her head slowly, heaviness centering in her chest. She'd messed up her life when she was in college. It was no use dragging anybody else down.
"No!” Cole said defiantly. “I won't do that," he asserted firmly. "Dammit, Hope. I love you. And no matter what you've done or think you've done, we’re going to work this out together."
"Are you out of your mind?" Julius said, furiously.
"I've never been more in my right mind and in love than I am now!" Cole looked into Hope's eyes, in front of everyone in the room.
He then asked her pointedly, "Do you love me?" His words were soft and tender, his energy warm and direct on her body.
Cole’s words were unwavering and silky and sent shivers up and down Hope’s spine. He was going to give her a second chance? After all he’d just found out? He really cared about her, didn’t he? Then the memory of what he did with the bouquet of a dozen roses came whirling back to her mind. Until the last rose in that bouquet died, that was how long he’d love her—and he meant it. Her heart was overcome with emotion.
"It seems that you've lied about a lot of things,” he continued in her lingering silence. “I know you're hiding a lot. I also know that whatever it is, you’re hurting a lot—from your past. If you’ve done anything wrong then we’ll have to do the right thing and get the law involved. I just want to know, need to know one thing. Do you love me as you said you did?"
Hope was in shock. She could not speak for being overcome with so much passion she felt for him. "Cole…I… I don't know what to say I but of course I love you. I love you more than anything in this world. I love you and Mia more than anything in this world. You’re all I’ve got." Tears streamed down her face. Cole grabbed tissues from a dispenser nearby and dabbed her cheeks.
“I know you do,” he said softly. “If you've done what I think you've done, I'm disappointed in you. And you know we’ll have to do the right thing. But sometimes love’s crazy like that. Love forgives. You can dislike what a person has done but you can still love her for who she is. I know you to be a caring person. The way you are with our daughter isn’t a lie. The love you’ve shown her and me and everyone at the office…it couldn’t have been an act. I know that. But what happened to the girl whose ID you took? Just who are you protecting?" Cole asked.
"Me," a small voice sounded from behind them as she opened the door to the study. It was Jewel. "Faith had already contacted me and she told me to come into the study," Jewel continued with Faith by her side.
Hope looked around at Jewel stunned. "What are you doing here, Jewel? You shouldn't be here."
Julius's mouth was wide open. "Hope! What the hell are you doing?" Julius demanded of Jewel. "Why have you dyed your hair blonde? Why are you answering to the name Jewel?"
"Oh hell,” Brandon said with a deep sigh. "I knew there was a connection between them but had no idea this was going to be happening. I had no idea Faith was going to come up with this when we tracked down Jewel."
Cole was stunned beyond belief. He had an unreadable expression on his face as he looked from Jewel to Hope and then to Julius.
Faith walked farther inside the study with Jewel and closed the door behind them. It was a good thing Brandon and his new wife Faith had worked hard to get on the case to find out what the connection was between Hope and what she was hiding, Cole thought to himself.
"Okay," Cole said in a reassuring voice trying to take full control of the bizarre situation unfolding. "Okay, we’d better start from the very beginning." He eyes remained fixed on his beautiful fiancée Hope the whole time.
Hope’s mind was dazed, her body felt numb but her belly felt light inside. She just couldn't believe that after all this Cole was willing to give her a second chance. But this was turning into a disaster. She hoped Jewel wouldn't say anything incriminating.
"Well?" Cole encouraged Hope to speak.
Hope sighed heavily. "Well, the truth is, I don't really want to say too much."
"You are a very good friend, Hope," Jewel said to her friend, in her defense. "I know you're willing to take the fall for me but you don't have to. You've been a trusted and good person."
"But she impersonated you," Julius said to Jewel.
"Because I paid her to impersonate me," Jewel said to the amazement of everyone in the room.
"What? You paid her to impersonate you? So you gave her your ID and told her to pretend to be you?" Julius exclaimed.
"This makes no sense," Cole said to Jewel. "Why would you pay Hope to impersonate you?"
Jewel looked at her father, sadness in her eyes. "It's a long story but I feared for what my father would do to me."
Julius looked down and couldn't meet Jewel's eyes for a moment.
"You see," Jewel continued. "My father shipped me off to Canada, so to speak, a few years ago. Well, six years ago to be exact, to try to get me away from my boyfriend, Giles. He threatened to punish me for dishonoring the family by wanting to marry the enemy. Giles had already traveled to Canada as we had planned to meet there. But then I couldn't go through with college. I was fearful to tell you that I was pregnant.”
"Pregnant?" Julius said, fury in his tone.
"Yes, father, pregnant. When you sent me to college I didn't want to stay there and wanted to have the baby and to spend time with Giles and to get married to him. But when I met Drew,” Jewel said, pointing to Hope, “she was going through a lot of trouble herself with her own family. It was the week before classes started so neither of us had actually met our professors or the dean, so it was a perfect cover. So it was then I asked her if she would like to switch identities with me. When she told me what her last name was I realized that it would not be a good thing to do. So then I took on the name of Jewel. I gave her all of my IDs and told her to go to my classes and to show up and be me, that way you wouldn't know if I had fulfilled your wishes here or not. The dean would just figure it’s really me since Drew and I look alike."
Julius looked as if he was going to be sick. His skin color started to turn slightly. His eyes were glazed with shock.
"But what about Drew or Hope?" Cole said.
"Well, you see, I dropped out as myself and I took on Hope’s identity as she had wanted,” Hope said, “And it was a good thing, a lucky break that we happen to look so much alike. We both had dark hair, dark features, and dark eyes. I knew that even if the real Hope’s father hired detectives to watch her, they wouldn’t really know the difference once I impersonated her. Hope told me that not many people knew what she looked like. Back in her country, women weren’t really seen much out in public, especially those related to prominent business people. Anyway, I took on her identity, which I realize now was wrong."
"But why would you do this, Hope? Why would you do that?" Cole delved.
"Because I was stupid. I was young. I was eighteen-years-old and I was being bullied. I was going through hell and in a deep depression. It was a foolish decision in the heat of frustration."
"Depression? Bullied?”
"Yes," she answered, pain filled her voice and her throat.
"Why?" Cole asked, his voice almost a whisper.
