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Could she really blame him when even now she was fighting the fear that he might be calling Sheila?
Why did you leave me just now, Cord? Why are you so silent?
When she thought about it, he’d cared enough to make the initial call to her last Friday. Though their conversation had degenerated before she’d found out the exact favor he’d wanted from her, through further illumination from Greg, she was here now.
All day she and Cord had been communicating the way they once did when they’d been happily married. They’d made a lot of progress today. To have come this far, only for him to go all quiet and retreat within himself where she couldn’t reach him, made her want to weep from frustration. It didn’t make sense!
It was like déjà vu.
Only this time it was Cord who was running away instead of Ashley. Before this night ended, she planned to confront him, otherwise the whole purpose of this program was wasted on them.
Forgetting her pregnancy, she shot up in bed. The constricting muscles beneath her stomach made her cry out in pain. When they subsided, she removed the covers and carefully got down from the mattress.
A trip to the bathroom to run a brush through her hair and put on some lipstick, and she was ready. The hospital provided slippers which she put on her feet before leaving the room.
With her heart pounding too fast, she padded down to the lounge and opened the door. Several couples were still in there talking, but there was no sign of Cord. They invited her to join them. She thanked them, but declined, using the excuse that she was too tired to stay up any longer.
“Have you seen my husband anywhere?”
Jerry nodded. “He came for a cup of coffee and said he needed to make a phone call, but didn’t want to disturb you. I told him to go ahead and use the phone in our room. We’re in 506.”
“You’ll find him in there, honey,” his wife concurred.
Her heart plummeted to her feet. “Thank you.” Determined as she’d never been in her life, Ashley wheeled out of the lounge and went in search of Cord. Without knocking on the door which had been left ajar, she simply walked in.
Cord stood at the bedside table, the phone to his ear. When he saw who had entered the room, he looked stunned. His dark brows furrowed before he muttered something unintelligible into the receiver, then covered the mouthpiece.
“Ashley? What’s wrong?” There was alarm in his voice.
She sucked in her breath. “That's what I came to ask you. Who are you talking to?”
“Greg. I was thanking him.”
“For what?”
“For not letting me give up on you. I wanted him to know that the counseling is working.”
Her body went rigid. “Aren’t you being a little premature? Tonight you closed up on me. After you asked me questions, you didn’t let me know what you were thinking. Instead you left the room without saying anything. It’s a pattern of yours that helped drive us apart a long time ago.
“I’ve been as guilty as you in that regard, but I thought the purpose of this program was to change that pattern. Today I answered all your questions as honestly as I could and told you my feelings. I thought we’d achieved a breakthrough of sorts.”
Even though she knew Greg was still on the phone—or maybe it was Sheila. Would she ever really know? Now that she’d gotten started, she couldn’t seem to stop.
“Just tell me I was wrong, Cord, and we’ll end this farce before we waste any more of Dr. Drake’s time.”
Without as much as a twitch of an eyelid, he raised the receiver to his ear. “Greg— I’ll have to call you back.”
Somehow she hadn’t expected him to act so fast. When he started toward her with purpose in every stride, a frisson of fear attacked her body.
Not wanting an audience, she turned and hurried to their room ahead of him, surprised that she’d had the temerity to approach him while he was still on the phone.
The second he shut the door behind them, he asked in an amazingly calm voice, “How exactly did I shut you out?”
She stood in the center of the room, breathless. “Today you said you would fight me for a divorce. Tonight, you asked me my future plans but made no comment one way or the other. One moment we were going to play a game, the next moment, you disappeared on me.
“What’s going on inside you, Cord? If we can’t talk about it, then there’s no point in our being here.”
He folded his arms. “I agree we covered a lot of territory today. Maybe too much for a woman as close to her due date as you. Early this morning Vince warned me to go easy.”
