She pressed her fingertips to her mouth to hold back the sob, bit her lip, and tasted him. “I’ve made some promises to Emma. I’ll keep them. I won’t go back on my word to her. As for you, don’t call and ask me to do things for you because you want to see me. It ends now. You’ll see me when I come to fulfill my promises to Emma, but I want you to keep your distance. Be with Shelly if she’s your choice. Maybe you can train her how to be a good mother to Emma.”
“Marti, please, don’t leave like this.”
“You’ve left me no choice. I have no pieces left. You’ve taken them all.”
She’d asked him before to leave her a few of the broken pieces of her heart. A heart he’d broken by not choosing her time and time again. This was the final piece. He’d made love to her, admitted to her how much he needed and wanted her, and he’d still chosen Shelly.
She turned to the bed and ran her hand over the covers, still rumpled and pushed down by their lovemaking. She took a moment and closed her eyes and remembered how they were in bed together. She remembered how she’d felt close to him, connected, whole. They’d become one in that bed. Now an ocean stood between them. An ocean named Shelly.
She turned from the bed with tears rolling down her cheeks. She headed out of the bedroom door wiping her tears away and left Cameron at her back.
He walked down the hall and winced when he heard Shelly and Marti’s final exchange.
“All done with Cameron?” Shelly asked with a frown and her arms crossed under her breasts.
“He’s all yours,” Marti shot back and slammed the front door behind her.
He pushed back the pain and felt his heart turn to ice. He’d never love anyone the way he loved her.
Shelly smiled with what could only be described as triumph. A switch happened inside him and he faced his future with all the resignation of facing a firing squad. Everything in him wanted to go after Marti.
Shelly dropped her arms and smoothed her blouse over her flat stomach. A gesture Caroline made often when her belly was round with their child. He reminded himself that his children needed him. They deserved a family and he’d do everything in his power to give them the family he always wanted for himself and them.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
* * *
MARTI SPENT THE next ten days with George. His health deteriorated and his personal physician visited the house more and more often.
She spent every possible moment with him. He liked sitting in the private garden and telling her stories. The tumor was robbing him of his memory. He often repeated himself and forgot things he’d told her. Some of his stories seemed to meld together.
She didn’t mind. She enjoyed his company. Being with him distracted her from thinking about Cameron. The pain and hurt lived inside of her, but she tried to hide it so George’s final days were happy and unspoiled.
They were having breakfast on the back patio when his son arrived with the family lawyer. She didn’t like the looks of this, but George was having a good day so far and she hoped he was up to the meeting. He’d had several meetings with the lawyer the first days she’d lived in the house. She hoped nothing was wrong.
“Father, Mr. Spencer and I have come to speak with you about the changes you made to your will several weeks ago.”
“There’s nothing to discuss. I’m sure Mr. Spencer has set up everything I asked him to do. The will is finished and to my exact specification. Is that not the case, Mr. Spencer?”
“It is, sir. Your son contacted me last night with concerns about your new will and has asked to see a copy. I’ve told him you wish for the contents to remain sealed until the time of your passing, sir.”
“Those are my instructions. Walter, there is nothing you need to be aware of prior to my death. What’s mine is mine. I can do with it as I please.”
“No, Father. You have a brain tumor, and I believe you’ve been unduly influenced by your mistress whore.”
George’s face turned a dark red. Marti feared the stress might trigger a stroke or heart attack.
Without a word, she pushed her chair back and rose to leave. George grabbed her hand and held it. A light tug