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Steven leaned against the doorframe and crossed his arms. “Okay,” he said. “What is it?”
“It’s... It’s complicated,” Josh stammered.
Steven regarded him quietly for a moment. “I need to drive to the grocery store. Why don’t you come along? I’m sure there are things you need to buy for Chloe.”
“Yes sir,” he replied, surrendering to the inevitable. Oh well... Maybe it would feel good to finally tell someone the truth. The whole truth.
CHARLIE MADE IT TO the relative safety of her room. Her heart was racing as she paced the floor, trying to calm herself. She wanted to go to sleep and wake up in the morning to ski. She checked the time, but it was only eight-fifteen, way too early to fall asleep. She quickly changed into flannel pajamas and brushed her teeth and washed her face. Then she downed two Benadryl. With any luck she would be asleep by the time Olivia came up to go to bed.
As Charlie climbed into her bed with a book, she heard a tentative knock at her door. Her heart began to pound. Who could it be? What if it was Josh?
She tip-toed to the door and opened it a crack to peek through.
“Hi, Aunt Charlie.” Jace peered up with huge rounded green eyes, carbon-copies of Josh’s. “I wondered if you wanted to come see my pictures. You said today you wanted to see my pictures of my mom and dad.” His voice trailed off, and he let his eyes drop away.
“Of course I do. I want to see your pictures. I’ll come right now.”
She took his hand and let him lead her to his room. They crawled onto his twin bed and sat cross-legged while Jace pulled out his phone.
“I don’t have a whole lot on my phone,” he said. “I’ve got more on my computer at home.” He searched through his photos and opened the first one. “This is my Mom. She was cooking, and she was mad I took this picture because she said her hair was messy. But I like it because she was singing. She used to sing all the time.”
Charlie gazed at the image, and her breath caught in her throat. The girl looked so much like a female version of Josh. “She’s beautiful,” said Charlie. “And I don’t think her hair looks messy at all. Did you take this picture?”
“Yes,” he said, proudly. “Mom said I was good at taking pictures. Here, look at this one.”
Jace showed her a picture of his parents posing together in front of a Christmas tree. “This was last Christmas,” he said. “That’s my dad. He’s really tall like Uncle Josh. He gave me a football last Christmas.”
“He’s very handsome,” said Charlie. She couldn’t help the tears that sprang to her eyes. The couple looked so happy together. They would never have dreamed they wouldn’t have another Christmas together.
“And here’s Chloe on her birthday. But Mom is in the picture, too.” The image showed Chloe standing on a chair at the table with her mother steadying her so she could blow on the candles on her birthday cake.
“And this one is Momma and me. She held the phone out and took the picture. That’s why we’re not in the middle.”
Charlie noticed Jace had a few tears now, and she wrapped her arms around him and pulled him into her lap. “I like this, Jace. Can you tell me about her? And your dad, too?”
Ja
ce proceeded to tell her all about his family, including his grandparents. His stories made Charlie laugh, but her heart bled for the hurting little boy. She let herself concentrate on encouraging him, forgetting all about her earlier troubles. In the light of everything Jace was dealing with, her problems seemed insignificant, anyway.
“JOSH, I CAN’T CONDONE your actions,” Steven said as the car idled in the grocery store parking lot. “I understand how much you want custody of those children, but you can’t enter into a marriage for that reason alone. Even though you may justify it because you both understand it would be a marriage in name only, I’ll guarantee someone will end up getting hurt. If not you or Olivia, Jace would be hurt for sure. He’s already lost his mother and father. If you marry Olivia and then divorce in a year, he’ll have to go through that loss again.”
“But I’m planning to do all the parenting.”
“Surely you realize it won’t work that way. And it would still hurt him for Olivia to leave.” He speared him with an intense gaze. “Are you absolutely certain you and Olivia could never love each other? I understand you feel more of a brother-sister kind of love right now, but couldn’t that grow into something more if you gave it a chance.”
“I’m willing to work at it. And I tried to tell Olivia that, but she refuses to try.”
Steven rubbed his forehead as if he had a pounding headache. “And now explain what happened with Charlie.”
“It was nothing, really. I was kind of staring at her when she was wearing her bikini in the hot tub. I’d have to be dead not to notice her!” He cleared his throat. “But she was embarrassed and said I shouldn’t be looking because I’m marrying Olivia.”
“She’s right,” Steven said. His voice was flat and a furrow formed between his brows. “But that’s not really all, is it? Your little exchange felt a lot more emotionally charged than the explanation you just gave me.”
“Will you keep this between us?” Josh asked. When Steven nodded his assent, Josh let the truth spill out. “I’m still in love with her. I’ve been trying to get over her for so long, but it hasn’t worked. And it’s worse since she’s back in New York.” He let out a long, slow breath. “There... I said it. I’ve hardly even admitted it to myself, and it sounds even worse when I say it out loud.”
Steven groaned and beat on his head with his palm. “Josh! What a mess! Why didn’t you ask Charlie to marry you instead of Olivia?”
“I actually considered it,” he hastened to explain. “But Steven, she’s blown me off for two years, and now I’m in a hurry. She would’ve turned me down, and then I would’ve had to ask Olivia with her knowing she was my second choice. The chance of Olivia accepting would have gone from small to nothing.”
