Trumped Up Charges - By Joanna Wayne Page 0,34
she had to figure out where to start.
“I was four months pregnant when Jim and I married.”
“I didn’t realize that. All I heard was that you were married and expecting.”
“We separated a month before the girls were born.”
“Odd timing.”
“The marriage was a mistake. We knew it from the beginning. I was vulnerable and alone and there were health concerns connected to the pregnancy. Jim’s a caretaker. He fancied himself in love with me and wanted be there for me.”
“Sounds like a great guy.”
“He is, but I wasn’t in love with him. I didn’t want to use him, so I decided it was time to stand on my own two feet—very swollen feet at the time. Besides, he had a job offer in California. I didn’t want to stand in the way.”
“Is he still in California?”
“Yes, and fortunately married to a wonderful woman. They have a new baby boy.”
She slid off the table and moved a few steps away from him, hoping she could think clearer if he wasn’t so near.
“There’s more,” she said. “I suggest you stay seated for this.”
Chapter Eight
Hadley looked anxious and uneasy, as if she were afraid that the next step might send her flying over a cliff. Or like she was about to confess a cardinal sin. All of a sudden, Adam wasn’t sure he wanted to hear more.
“You don’t have to say more.”
“Actually, I do. I should have found a way to get word to you years ago, Adam.” Her voice broke and she turned away from him. “Lila and Lacy are your daughters. I was pregnant before you shipped out.”
Adam heard the words, but it took all his powers of concentration to make them sink in. “Are you sure?”
“I’m positive. They couldn’t be anyone else’s. I hadn’t had sex with anyone but you for over eighteen months before I conceived. I haven’t been with another man since you.”
“But the marriage...”
“Was a sham,” making a statement of his question. “It was never consummated.”
All the months he’d lain in that hospital, agonizing over her making love to another man, all the long nights when he’d survived on bitterness that she could forget him so easily.
Had she been clinging to the love they’d shared, resenting him, feeling betrayed as he had? But he could have never married someone else.
“Why didn’t you tell me I was going to be a father? Why didn’t you give me a chance to do right by you?”
“Don’t turn this all around to me, Adam. I laughed and cried for joy when my pregnancy test came back positive. We were going to be married. We’d have each other and a head start on the big family I’ve always wanted. I couldn’t wait to be a family.”
“But you didn’t even send me an email.”
“No, I wanted to wait until I saw the doctor and was sure. The day he confirmed what I already knew, I got your letter. You’d met someone else.”
Only he hadn’t met another woman. He’d met an ambush. He’d become damaged goods. He couldn’t move his legs and the doctors weren’t sure he would ever walk again. Worse, he was still only half a man. He couldn’t saddle Hadley with that. And he couldn’t abide her staying with him out of pity.
Life was a bitch, especially for an injured warrior.
“I have two daughters,” he said, his mind still struggling with that fact. And now they were missing.
“Suppose I hadn’t shown up at your door yesterday,” he questioned. “Would you have tried to find me and let me know that my daughters were in danger?”
“I don’t know, Adam. I honestly don’t know. I was shocked to see you. I didn’t even know you were back in Dallas.”
“I haven’t been here long.” But he’d been with her for over twenty-four hours. “Why didn’t you tell me this yesterday?”
“I’m not sure.”
“Is it because you don’t trust me?”
“I think it’s more that I didn’t trust myself.”
“And now?”
“I trust you to help find the girls, but that doesn’t bridge the gulf between us. I don’t really know you anymore. You don’t know me. We both have new lives. We’ve moved on.”
Only he hadn’t, or at least his heart hadn’t.
“Are you married?” Hadley asked.
“No. The military lifestyle doesn’t foster long-term commitments.”
“So it appears. But don’t worry. I’m not planning on cramping your style. You can walk away when this is over. I can take care of the girls on my own.”
Which would make him the same kind of father R.J. had been. Throw a little money in