Читать книгу Demanding His Brother's Heirs - Michelle Celmer - Страница 9
ОглавлениеIf Jason hadn’t already been sitting, the news would have knocked him off his feet. As it was, he felt as if someone had stolen the breath from his lungs.
He’d come here hoping to find a personal memento that would remind him of his brother. An article of clothing, maybe a photograph or two.
Never in his wildest dreams had he expected to find offspring. “My brother had children?”
“Twins.”
“How old?”
“Nearly three months.”
Oh, Jeremy, what have you done? “I’m sorry. I had no idea.”
“So the boys have a real family? Aunts and uncles and cousins?”
She looked so hopeful he hated to burst her bubble. From the shadows under her eyes, and her painfully thin appearance, he was guessing life hadn’t been kind to her lately. “We have distant relatives in the UK, but I’m the only one of our immediate family left.”
“Oh. I don’t have family, either, so I thought...” Her obvious disappointment tugged his heartstrings. But then she took a deep breath and forced a smile. Maybe she wasn’t as fragile as she appeared. “But they do have you to tell them about their father. You probably knew Jeremy better than anyone.”
Most of the time he felt as if he hadn’t known Jeremy at all. Not since they’d been kids at least. “What exactly did he tell you about our family?”
“He told me that he had no family. He said he was orphaned as a toddler and grew up in the foster system.”
Foster system? Nothing could have been further from the truth. But that was typical for Jeremy.
Jason tamped down the anger building inside him. “What else did he tell you?”
“That he was sick as a child, and because of his illness no one wanted him.”
Jason’s hackles stood at attention. “Did he say what sort of illness he had?”
“Cancer. He always feared it would come back.”
Jason ground his teeth and tried to keep his cool.
“Jeremy did not have cancer. Nor did he grow up in foster care.”
They had been raised by their biological parents in a penthouse apartment in Manhattan. There was little he and his brother wanted that they hadn’t received. Maybe that had been part of the problem. Jeremy had never had to work for anything.
“He lied to me?” she asked, looking so pale and dumbfounded he worried she might pass out again. “Why?”
“Because that’s what Jeremy does.” He paused and corrected himself. “Or did.”
A flash of pain crossed her face, and he felt like a jerk for being so insensitive. She obviously had cared deeply for his brother. But if their marriage was anything like his brother’s past romantic relationships, this poor woman didn’t know the real Jeremy. “They determined that it was an accidental overdose?”
Teeth wedged into her plump lower lip, she nodded. Her voice was unsteady when she said, “It was a lethal mix of prescription medication.”
Jeremy would ingest just about anything that gave him a buzz, but prescription meds had always been his drugs of choice.
“You don’t look surprised,” she said.
“His addiction was the reason our father cut him off. The arrests, the months he spent in rehab... Nothing helped. He didn’t know what else to do.” Their father had exhausted every connection he had to keep Jeremy out of jail, when incarceration might have been the best thing for him.
“Why didn’t I see it?” she asked, and in her eyes Jason saw a pain, a confusion, that he knew all too well.
“He was good at hiding it.”
“At first I thought he was sleeping.” Her eyes welled and she inhaled sharply, blinking back the tears. “They tried to revive him, but it was too late.”
“There was nothing you could have done. I know it’s difficult, but please don’t blame yourself.”
“That’s easy for you to say.”
“No, it’s not.” The way Jeremy behaved was in fact partly due to Jason, and he would never let himself forget that. Although, parallel with the pain of Jeremy’s death flowed the relief that he would never hurt anyone again. He wouldn’t be around to break his wife’s heart. His children would be spared the pain of watching their father self-destruct. His wife was young and pretty, so it was unlikely she would stay single for long. Though the idea of another man raising his brother’s children burned like a knife in his side. If anyone was going to take on the responsibility of raising Jeremy’s kids, it would be Jason.
He opened his mouth to address her and realized he didn’t even know her name. Nor had he told her his. “In all the excitement we weren’t properly introduced,” he said.
That earned him a cautious smile. “I guess we weren’t. I’m Holly Shay.”
“Jason Cavanaugh.”
He offered his hand and she shook it, hitting him with another confused look. “Cavanaugh? But Jeremy said his last name—” She caught herself, shaking her head in disbelief. “But it wasn’t Shay, was it? That was a lie, too.”
“You’re not the first woman with whom Jeremy—” He hesitated, searching for the least painful explanation “—misrepresented himself.”
“So our relationship, our marriage, it was all one big lie?”
Now she was getting the idea. “Have there been financial repercussions?”
She hesitated, but the brief flash of fear and desperation in her eyes was all the answer he needed. Cheating strangers was one thing, but to con his own wife, the mother of his children? “How much did he take you for?”
She lowered her eyes, and when she didn’t answer he asked, “Did he leave you in debt?”
With her lip wedged firmly between her teeth, she nodded.
“Considerable debt?”
Again, no answer.
“You can tell me the truth. It isn’t going to upset me or hurt my feelings. I accepted a long time ago the sort of man my brother had become. Nothing you can say will shock me.” Sadly, that was the honest truth.
She finally looked him in the eye, chin held high, and said, “I’m devastated financially. The only thing of value that I have left is my wedding ring. If it’s even a real diamond.”
At the mention of a ring Jason sat up straighter. Could it be possible? “Can I see it?”
“I have it right here actually.” She reached into the front pocket of her jeans and pulled out the ring. Jason’s heart skipped a beat. And here he’d thought that was gone forever, too. Traded for cash or drugs or God knew what else. He’d be damned if Jeremy had had a conscience after all.
“It’s definitely real,” he told her.
“How can you tell?”
“Because this ring belonged to my mother.”
* * *
Holly was so screwed.
That ring had been her only hope to claw her way out of this financial abyss, but knowing that it had belonged to Jason’s deceased mother she couldn’t sell it now. She wouldn’t be able to live with herself.
“Jeremy was the oldest by seven minutes, so when our mother died it went to him,” Jason said. “It’s been in our family for generations.”
And that’s where it should stay.
With a heavy heart, she held out the ring to Jason. “You should have this back.”
“You’re Jeremy’s wife,” he said. “The mother of his children. It belongs to you now.”
If only that were true. She may have been his wife, but she obviously hadn’t had a clue who he was. “Please, just take it.”
Looking uncertain, Jason took the ring. “Are you sure?”
“Absolutely.”
The thick platinum band and enormous stones looked so small in his big hand. “Honestly, I figured Jeremy had probably sold it years ago. I never thought I would see it again.”
He slipped it into the inside pocket of his suit jacket. With it went all of her hopes and dreams of a decent start for her and her boys. What would she do now? File bankruptcy? Go on public assistance? Live in a shelter? Or on the street in a cardboard box?
Jason must have sensed her distress. His brow furrowed with concern, he asked, “Are you okay?”
“Fine,” she said, pasting on a good face, the way she had for Jeremy, who’d never questioned the sincerity of her words. He’d believed anything she’d told him if it meant keeping the peace. Especially near the end.
Jason was clearly not at all like his brother.
“You don’t look fine,” he said, studying her, his eyes and his face, even his expression, so much like Jeremy’s, but different somehow. “If it’s money you’re worried about, don’t.”
Someone had to. And talk of her dismal finances was making her uncomfortable.
“My money issues are really not your problem,” she said, letting him off the hook, thinking that would end the conversation.
“I’m making them my problem,” he said firmly.
Whoa. His look said he wasn’t playing around, but neither was she. “That’s not necessary, but I appreciate the offer.”
It was as if he hadn’t even heard her. “I’ll take care of your debt and give you whatever you need to get back on your feet.”
Nope, not gonna happen. From the time she’d left her foster home until she’d married Jeremy, she’d survived completely on her own. It hadn’t always been easy, but she’d managed. It was clear now that trusting Jeremy with their finances had been a terrible mistake. One she wouldn’t be making again with anyone else. For all she knew Jason could be like his brother. He seemed genuine, but so had Jeremy. “I can’t let you do that.”
He watched her intently for several seconds, as if he were trying to decide if he could change her mind. Apparently he didn’t think so. “If that’s what you want.”
“It is.” She would get by somehow. She always had. Of course, back then, she hadn’t had twin infants to consider.
“At least allow me to cover the funeral costs,” he said. “I owe Jeremy that much. And his children.”
If she let him it would shave off a fair chunk of her current financial responsibility. And maybe it would bring Jason closure. Everyone deserved that, right?
She shoved her pride aside long enough to say, “That would be okay.”
He looked both sad and relieved. He was extremely attractive, but of course she would think that since he looked just like her husband, whose chiseled features and long lean physique had caught her eye the instant he’d walked into the party where they’d met. She’d never slept with a man on the first date, but she had gone home with him that night.
The sex itself hadn’t been mind-blowing, but it had been nice. What she’d really liked, even more than the physical part, was just being near him. She’d liked the way his lips moved when he spoke, the inquisitive arch of his right brow. She’d loved the feel of her hand in his. He’d made her feel safe.
At first.
Unfortunately, as her pregnancy had progressed and her condition had become more fragile, he hadn’t been able to cope. Instead of taking care of her, assuring her that everything would be okay, she had been the one constantly soothing his anxieties and fears.
She’d convinced herself that once the boys were born, things would go back to normal. But even after the twins were home from the hospital and out of danger, Jeremy’s temperament had continued to deteriorate until she’d felt as if she had three children and no husband. Some days he hadn’t even gotten out of bed, and he’d begun to resent the twins for taking up all of her time. He’d even accused her of loving the children more than she loved him.
She’d kept waiting for things to change, for him to go back to being the sweet, sensitive and attentive man she’d married. How could she have known that that man had never existed?
“If you hadn’t talked to Jeremy in so long, how did you know he’d died?” she asked Jason.
“I got a call from my attorney. For the first time in five years his allowance went untouched for over a month. I knew something had to be wrong.”
Holly’s jaw fell and her heart broke all over again. “He had an allowance?”
“You didn’t know,” he said, and she shook her head, feeling sick all the way to her soul.
She was beginning to wonder if Jeremy had told her the truth about anything.
“I apologize if I’m getting too personal,” Jason said. “But where did you think the money was coming from? Did he have a job?”
“He told me that he had been in a terrible car accident when he was a teenager that permanently damaged his back. He claimed the money was from a lawsuit settlement. But there was no accident, was there? And no settlement.”
Jason actually cringed, as if it pained him to admit the truth. “Not that I know of.”
Had any of it been real? Had Jeremy honestly loved her and the boys? Had he even been capable of that kind of love?
“Will you be staying here, in the city?” Jason asked.
The idea of how and where she would find an affordable apartment without a job or money filled her heart with dread. “I—I don’t know. Yet.”
“I’d like the chance to get to know my nephews. They are the only family I have left.”
“Of course. I would love that. I’m just... Suffice it to say that things are a little up in the air right now. But as soon as we’re settled I’ll let you know.”
Though she tried to put on a good face, Jason’s look of skepticism said he wasn’t buying it. He studied her with the same stormy blue eyes as his brother. So alike, yet not. “You have nowhere to go, do you?”
She squared her shoulders and lifted her chin, saying with a confidence she was nowhere close to feeling, “I’ll find something.”
“You mentioned selling the ring. Do you have any other resources? Was there life insurance?”
If only. But that wasn’t his problem. “We’ll get by.”
“I’ll take that as a no.” He sighed and shook his head, mumbling under his breath. “He left you with nothing, didn’t he?”
No, he’d left her with something. A big old pile of debt and two very hungry mouths to feed. She lowered her gaze, clasping her hands in her lap so he wouldn’t see that they were trembling. “We’ll manage.”
“How?”
She blinked. “Excuse me?”
“How will you manage? What’s your plan?”
Good question. “Well... I haven’t figured everything out yet, but I will.”
When she’d met Jeremy she had just moved to New York and had been staying with the brother of a friend back home in Florida, where she’d been raised. At the time, meeting Jeremy had felt like destiny. But now, with her life in shambles, if it wasn’t for her precious boys, she might have wished she’d never met him.
* * *
Though her tone conveyed the utmost confidence, Holly’s eyes told an entirely different tale. Jason could see that deep down she was scared—terrified even—at the prospect of supporting herself and his nephews. But she was clearly in no position to support herself, much less twin infants. And he was in the perfect position to help her. If she would only let him.
His biggest hurdle would be her pride, which she seemed to possess in excess. But he had learned long ago that there was a very fine line between pride and irresponsibility.
He heard the wail of an infant and realized it was coming from the baby monitor on the coffee table. Then a pair of wails, like baby stereo.
Holly sighed, looking exhausted and overwhelmed, and Jason wondered how long it had been since she’d had a decent night’s sleep. He could only imagine how difficult life had been for her lately, being a recent widow with twins. And then along he’d come to tell her that everything she knew about her husband was a lie.
Talk about rubbing salt in the wound.
“Would you like to meet your nephews?” she asked.
His heart jumped in his chest at the prospect of meeting twins who were now his only family. “Of course I would.”
She pushed herself up from the couch, wobbling slightly before she caught her balance. She flashed him a weak smile and said, “Still a little woozy, I guess.”
And who could blame her? He rose, prepared to catch her if she fell over or, God forbid, lost consciousness again, as he didn’t have the first clue what to do with a screaming infant. Let alone two screaming infants. He followed closely behind her, and as she opened the bedroom door, it was obvious that both his nephews had healthy lungs. He never would have imagined that anything so small could make such a racket.
She switched on the light and Jason held his breath as he peeked over her shoulder into the cribs at his nephews. There was no doubt they took after his side of the family. It was like looking at photos of himself and his brother at that age.
Holly lifted one wailing infant and then turned to Jason and held the little boy out to him. “Jason, meet Devon,” she said.
Jason just stood there, unsure of what to do.
“He won’t bite,” Holly said.
Jason took the infant under the arms and he quieted instantly. He looked so tiny and fragile wrapped in Jason’s big hands, his blue eyes wide. And he hardly weighed anything.
“This little complainer is Marshall,” she said, lifting him from the other crib. She propped him on her shoulder and patted his back, which did nothing to stop his wailing. He must have been the feistier of the two.
“Marshall was our grandfather’s name,” Jason told her.
Holly turned to him, saw the way he was holding her son and smiled. “You know, he won’t break.”
“I’ve never held a child this small,” Jason admitted, feeling completely out of his element. In business he’d dealt with some of the most powerful people in the country, yet he had no idea what to do with this tiny, harmless human being. “He looks so fragile. What if I drop him?”
“You won’t,” she said, and he hoped her confidence wasn’t misplaced.
Noting the way Holly held Marshall over her shoulder, he set Devon against his chest, placing one hand under his diapered behind and the other on his back to steady him. But he realized as Devon lifted his little head off Jason’s shoulder to stare at him, blue eyes wide and inquisitive, he wasn’t as fragile as he looked.
Jason watched Holly as she laid Marshall, who was still howling, on the changing table and deftly changed his diaper, cooing and talking to him in a quiet, soothing voice, her smile so full of love and affection Jason kind of wished she would smile at him that way.
She’s your sister-in-law, he reminded himself. But damn, she was pretty. In an unspoiled, wholesome way.
Women, as he saw it, were split between two categories. There were the ones who wanted the traditional life of marriage and babies, and those who balked at the mention of commitment. He preferred the latter. For some people, marriage and family just weren’t in the cards.
Holly turned to Jason, held out her son and said, “Switch.”
It was an awkward handover, and Marshall hollered the entire time Jason held him. It was hard not to take it personally.
“Would you like to help me feed them?”
“I don’t know how.”
“There’s nothing to it,” she assured him with a smile. After all she had been through, the fact that she still could smile was remarkable.
Feeling completely out of his element, Jason sat on the couch while his nephew sucked hungrily on a bottle and stared up at him.
Although not by choice, children had never been a part of his life plan, so he usually did what he could to avoid them. But if he was going to be a good uncle, he supposed he should at least try to learn to care for them. If, God forbid, something were to happen to Holly, they would be his sole responsibility. And then, if something were to happen to him, if his illness were to return, who would take them?
The idea was both humbling and terrifying.
This was the absolute last place he had expected to end up when he’d left home today.
Their bottoms dry and their bellies full, the boys fell sound sleep, and Jason helped her put them in their cribs.
“How often do you have to do that?” he asked Holly as she stood at the sink rinsing the empty bottles.
“Every three hours. Sometimes more, sometimes less. They’ve never slept more than a four-hour stretch.”
That would be an average of eight times a day. Two babies, all by herself.
He had a sudden newfound respect for single mothers.
“How do you manage it alone?”
Her tone nonchalant, she said, “I’ve learned to multitask.”
He had the feeling it was a bit more complicated than that. How was she supposed to get a job with the boys to care for? Day care, he supposed. Call him old-fashioned, but he wanted to see his nephews raised by their mother, the way he and his brother had been raised by theirs. He had nothing but fond memories of his early childhood. Life had been close to perfect back then.
Until it hadn’t been anymore.
She finished the bottles and wiped her hands on a dish towel. “Thanks for the help.”
“Anytime,” he said, and he meant it. “In fact, I’ll be back in the city next week and I was hoping I could spend some time with the boys.”
“You don’t live in New York?”
“After our father died I moved upstate.” The lake house had been in their family for generations and had been his favorite retreat as a child.
“Jeremy used to talk about us moving upstate, getting a house in a small town. A fixer-upper that we could make ours. With a big yard and a swing set for the boys. I can’t help thinking that was probably a lie, too.”
Sadly, it probably was. Jeremy had preferred the anonymity of living in a big city. Not to mention the ease with which he could support his drug habit. Something told Jason that wouldn’t have changed.
Jason always had been the one who’d strived for a slower-paced lifestyle. Ten years of working for his father had landed him on the business fast track, but his heart had never really been in it. Only after his father’s death had he started living the life he’d wanted.
“You and the boys should come and visit me,” he told her, surprised and hopeful when her eyes lit.
“I’d like that. But are you sure you have the space? I don’t want to put you out.”
At first he thought she was joking, and then he remembered that she knew virtually nothing about their family. Or their finances. Maybe for right now it would be better if he didn’t bring up the fact that her sons stood to inherit millions someday. It might be too much to take all in one night. And though Jeremy had been disinherited years ago, he would see that Holly and the boys were well cared for.
“I have space,” he assured her. Maybe once he got her there, once she saw how much room he had and how good life would be there for them, he could convince her to stay, giving him the chance to right the last wrong his brother would ever commit. He owed it to his nephews.
And to himself.
