Cameron has no idea who you are?” Elizabeth thought it amazing Cameron could be involved with Marti all this time and never discover who she really is.
“He thinks I’m Marti. Killer of his baby, jealous of his fiancé, a great mother figure for Emma, lover, liar, and all kinds of things he thinks he knows. The hardest part about all this isn’t that he doesn’t know my last name, or even what I do for a living. He doesn’t even believe the things he’s seen me do, or the things I’ve said to him. I painted Emma’s room. He knows George asked me to do it, he thought it was spectacular, but he didn’t even assume I’d done it personally. He thinks I stayed up for two days straight watching someone else work.
“He doesn’t see what is right in front of him. I told him I was pregnant, and he called me a liar. She tells him and he believes her without a doubt. I just can’t get over that.
“I don’t know what else I can do to make him see me for who I am. I guess he’ll find out on Friday at the benefit. I’m afraid when he finds out I’m a Fairchild, only then will he change his opinion about me because of my name and wealth.”
“You think he’ll only listen to you because you’re a Fairchild.” Jenna knew just how Marti felt. Sometimes she couldn’t get people to listen to her, but when they found out she was the CEO of Merrick, they all of a sudden wanted her opinion.
“I think it will make a difference and it shouldn’t. I’d rather he love me and believes me because I’m Marti, not because I’m Martina Fairchild and all it implies.”
Chapter Forty-Four
* * *
CAMERON SPENT THREE days brooding since leaving the hospital with a sore gut and a bruised jaw. He’d locked himself in his office and worked like a demon, ignoring all the problems in his personal life. In the quiet evening alone in his office, he gave in to the grief eating at him and mourned his lost baby with Marti.
Emma refused to talk to him. She was quiet and stayed close to Jimmy.
Shelly continued to rest and claim the trauma of being attacked was too much to bear. She stayed in her room and ordered the staff around like she was queen of the manor.
He let her. He didn’t want to deal with her, or Emma, or anything besides the pounding in his head and heart, telling him he’d lost his baby and Marti.
He’d never recover from losing the baby he wanted more than life itself and the woman and the life they might have had.
He hadn’t gone back to the hospital to see her. He couldn’t. When he finally called to check on her, he didn’t know her last name and he’d forgotten the room number. He had no idea if she was okay, or where she was now. It was like she’d dropped off the face of the earth, or had simply been a dream.
He was the most concerned about Emma. She wasn’t eating well, never smiled anymore, and every time he asked if she was okay, she ran to her room and slammed the door.
He and Shelly were just arriving at the hotel for the benefit when he saw Elizabeth, Sam, and Emma get out of their own limo and walk into the hotel lobby. Emma looked beautiful in a gold gown. He wondered if Elizabeth bought her a new dress, because it wasn’t the dress he’d left for her to wear. She wore her necklace on her head. He thought of George and his wish for Emma to always feel like a princess. Cameron hadn’t made her feel that way in too long and he regretted it.
“What’s the matter?”
Shelly avoided being alone with Cameron. She was afraid he’d ask her about the incident with Marti again, or he’d ask her to prove she was pregnant. She’d made it this far and the wedding was tomorrow.
Marti hadn’t come home and she had no idea what happened to her since going down the stairs. She didn’t care, so long as she was gone.
Cameron worried her. He seemed sad and lonely and something else she couldn’t really pin down. He worked till all hours in the library and barely ate a thing. Probably missing Marti. She’d help him get over it, once they were married and she had him all to herself.