by Marian Tee
She gazed at him with hurt incredulity. “I can’t believe what you’re asking of me,” Harry whispered. “They’re your friends.”
“And you think friends never become lovers?”
“No, but…” She wrung her hands, the only way she could cope with her anxiety without exploding. “Devon, surely you know I wouldn’t ever…I wouldn’t ever do what you’re thinking I did.”
“Why not?” he asked coldly. “Ours is not a normal marriage---”
Harry whispered, “But I love you.”
Devon whitened at the words.
She…loved…him?
His heart slammed hard against his chest, which squeezed painfully, but he forced himself to ignore all the havoc his emotions were creating and focused on the facts – blood-stained facts that he had learned from his own parents’ weaknesses.
“Get real, Hilary,” he snapped. “You have only known me for a week, and now you’re telling me you love me?”
The words felt like a slap to her face, and when Devon turned his back on her dismissively, she felt like everything that had just happened between them was between an employer and an employee and not between a husband and a wife.
“I don’t really give a damn what you do during your personal time, but I do mind that you be discreet.”
More cruel words, Harry thought dully. “Why are you like this? You weren’t like this when you wrote those letters---”
“I wasn’t the one who wrote those letters.” Devon knew that by saying those words, he was destroying whatever good opinion Hilary had of him – as well as destroying her, too. “I asked someone else to write whatever you’re likely to want to hear.”
It was better this way, he told himself harshly. He had wanted a mail-order bride to make himself permanently unavailable to the market and protect himself from a nagging future wife. It was time for Hilary to take off her rose-colored glasses and realize the truth of their marriage.
When Hilary still didn’t respond to his words, he looked up grimly, and an acute pang of guilt seized his chest when he saw that she was crying, silently, and so hard that her shoulders shook with it.
Devon’s fists clenched. He wanted to take every word back, wanted to haul her into his arms and beg for her forgiveness, but he couldn’t. He damn well shouldn’t. Because if he did, then he would never find the strength to keep himself away from her again.
It was better this way.
****
Harry woke up the next day to find out that Devon had again flown out to one of his ranches, together with the express orders that Harry was to be driven to San Antonio for a short vacation with her mother-in-law.
Her first instinct was to refuse and pack her bags and leave. But common sense reasserted itself and she knew that would do no one good, least of all herself. She had burned all of her bridges when she left Miami. There was nowhere to go except wherever Devon wanted her to go. And she supposed that with this, Harry thought painfully, it was clear he wanted her elsewhere until she learned to accept that theirs was not a normal marriage.
Life with Mary Beth could have been fun, but Harry could only make herself go through the motions. She did her best to pretend she was happy, but every night she was unable to stop the tears from flowing, crying endlessly until she succumbed to an exhausted sleep.
This did not escape Mary Beth, of course, and after hearing Hilary weep for five nights straight, she knew it was time for her to act.
“Devon, sweetheart, how are you?” Mary Beth cooed the moment her son answered the phone.
“Busy, Mama.” It was partially true. Devon was at the stable, giving his horse a bath even when anyone could have done it for him. He worked almost twenty hours each day now, but even so he still found himself running out of things to do.
When it was clear that was all Devon had to say and would not ask about his wife, Mary Beth asked innocently, “Is that why you sent your bride to me? So she wouldn’t be bored all alone in that huge old ranch of yours?”
“You know me too well.”
Yes, she did, Mary Beth thought. Better than he gave her credit for. “Well, I just called to tell you that I expect to be amply rewarded for entertaining your wife.”
“Of course.”
“It’s not that much of a chore, though.” Mary Beth made her voice sound wary. “She’s very popular with the men here in San Antonio, and I can’t help but notice that she’s a lot more outgoing than she used to be. If I didn’t know her better, I would have said she was flirting.” The opposite was true, but Mary Beth was counting on her son being too proud to keep tabs on his wife. Mary Beth allowed for a small, meaningful pause before asking, “Have you and your wife had a fight, Devon?”
It took Devon a long while to answer, for all he could see in his mind was a red haze of rage. She really was no different from other women, he thought bitterly. He had asked Hilary to lead her own life, and she had. She was leading her own damn life like a merry widow while the past weeks had been hell for him because of his celibacy.
“Yes, Mama,” Devon said finally. “It was over something inconsequential.” He slowly ran a brush through the locks of his stallion’s mane. “I will, however, be there tomorrow night. Will you be attending Nick’s annual charity gala?”
“Oh, yes. Dozens of men have asked your wife for the honor of being her escort while you’re away. I’ve done my best to dissuade them, but if dear Hilary insists on entertaining them…”
“That’s all right, Mama. I’m determined to make things up to her tomorrow night. I’ll be attending, too, but please keep it a secret. I want to surprise her.”
Mary Beth smiled to herself when she ended the call minutes later. She knew it, Mary Beth thought smugly. Every man could be taken to heel with just a little bit of jealousy.
Chapter Ten
“Mama, tell me honestly,” Harry said finally when Mary Beth returned to their table from her fifth visit to the powder room. “Do you have a secret boyfriend that you don’t want me to know about?”
Mary Beth gasped. “Hush, what are you saying?” She tried not to be obvious as she looked around them, checking if any of the other guests at the annual gala hosted by the Nicholas Sutherland Sr. Foundation had heard Hilary’s words. “I may be a big flirt, but that’s all there is to it.”
She looked at her mother-in-law doubtfully. “It’s like you’re having a rendezvous---”
Mary Beth gave Hilary an exasperated look. “I told you, I’m not. I’m just a little bit restless because…” The truth was at the tip of her tongue. She was restless because she had been calling Devon nonstop, and he hadn’t been answering. But of course she couldn’t say that, and so she ended up grumbling, “Oh, fine, you guessed right. I have a secret boyfriend.”
Just saying the words made Mary Beth want to throw up. Boyfriend. How utterly quaint. A woman like her did not have boyfriends. Not counting the fact that she remained loyal to her beloved Desmond, she was a mature and sophisticated woman with unbelievable wealth at her disposal, thanks to Devon’s generosity. Only someone like a prince or a sheikh could have the privilege of even being considered her lover.
Harry grinned at her mother-in-law’s admission. “I knew it!” She patted Mary Beth’s hand comfortingly. Over the days they had been together, she and the older woman had become very close and Harry really did think of Mary Beth as her mother now. “I don’t hold any kind of sway at all over…your son---” Even now, Harry couldn’t make herself say her husband’s name. After what she had learned, she felt like she had no right to say it at all. “---so I can’t do anything that might convince him to accept your decision. But if it’s any consolation, Mama, I think you have the right to love again if you want to. Whatever you do, I will always support you.”
“Oh, Hilary.” Mary Beth hurriedly blinked back tears, not wanting anyone to see her in an emotional state. “You shouldn’t be so sweet. It’s dangerous.” She was about to say something else when she finally caught sight of
Devon making his way towards them---
Mary Beth’s eyes widened. No. How could he?
“Mama, what is it?”
“No, it’s nothing.” Mary Beth tried to keep Hilary from turning around, but it was too late, and she could feel her own heart break as she watched her daughter-in-law’s face drain of color.
Harry couldn’t breathe.
Devon was here.
Her chest squeezed.
Devon, her husband, looking more heartbreakingly handsome than she remembered him –
And he was with someone else.
He was with someone else.
Devon knew the moment his wife had seen him. It was like a bad tingling sensation at the back of his nape, an ominous feeling that he had only experienced one other time. He had been twenty years old, and a deer had come suddenly running in front of his truck. He had thought to swerve, but when he saw that there was a child about to cross the road, he had been forced to run the deer over.
He had never forgotten the sound of its body shattering under the wheels of his truck – and for whatever reason…that sound –
That sound was all he could hear as his gaze collided with his wife’s.
Hilary was a beautiful vision in blue, the sparkling gown showing off her pale shoulders and exposing more than a generous hint of her cleavage. There were no men around her, but he supposed she had sent them away on silly errands, just like what Mary Beth used to do during the times she had wanted other men to prove their love to her.
Devon did not stop walking even as he saw Hilary’s gaze slowly move towards his date. That should teach her, Devon thought savagely. If she thought to make a fool out of him, he could more than easily do the same to her.
Hilary wondered if tonight would be the first time she’d faint in her entire life. Her husband appeared to feel no remorse at all for showing up at what was supposed to be one of San Antonio’s most famous parties with another woman, and the whispers coming from the crowd only made her head feel even fainter.
“Isn’t he SAFE?”
“Safe? I don’t get it.”
“San Antonio’s Finest Eligibles, silly. Four guys make up SAFE and they’re all total hunks. That one’s Devon Montgomery, and he’s married to that girl.”
“Oh my God, he’s married and he’s come here with another woman?”
Her face crumpling, Harry choked out an incoherent excuse and ran towards the exit. She could feel all eyes on her, and shame engulfed her at the thought that they all knew now she and Devon had an unhappy marriage. She just didn’t understand him anymore. And she was so tired of trying to understand him.
Mary Beth was torn between running after Hilary and shouting at her son for being so asinine. The latter won, simply because Devon had reached her, his hussy in tow.
Mary Beth looked at Devon’s companion with dislike. “Mary Abigail Ryans, didn’t your mother teach you not to date a married man? Go away before I have everyone treat you like a pariah!”
Mary Abigail gasped in outrage. She looked at Devon for support, found none, and with a distressed cry, she lifted the skirt of her ball gown up and ran away.
“Good evening, Mama.”
She said feelingly, “You fool.” When he simply raised a brow at her, Mary Beth had a strong desire to slap him. “You’ve always been my smartest child, Devon, but now you have just proven to me you can also be the dumbest.”
Before he could answer, his phone rang, and he answered it right away, knowing that only an emergency would have caused George to call him at this time. “What is it?”
“I’ve got a call from your driver, boss.”
Devon frowned. “And?”
George cleared his throat. “It’s Mrs. Montgomery---”
“Not one word more, George. You damn well know I don’t want to hear a single thing about her.”
George’s voice became desperate. “But---”
“What was it about?” Mary Beth demanded at the way her son seemed to tersely end the call.
“Nothing of import,” he answered brusquely. He looked around them. “Who’s the lucky man who was chosen to be my wife’s date?”
“You.”
He jerked.
“I lied to you, Devon. You’re my son, and whether you like it or not, because I’m your mother and I love you, I know you better than you give me credit for. I knew that you would never have thought of confirming my words – you would have thought it was the truth, and jealousy would have made you come here.”
Mary Beth paused, and this time her guilt made her tone weary. “But I never thought you could be so cruel as to show up in public with another woman. Even I, at my most foolish, had never shamed your father like that.”
Devon could not speak as Mary Beth’s words fell on him like acid.
Hilary had not betrayed him.
And now, he had hurt her for nothing.
His phone beeped, indicating an incoming message. It was again from George, and this time, he read it –
Mary Beth saw her son whiten. “What is it?” she demanded anxiously.
“It’s Hilary,” he whispered.
Mary Beth grew cold. “Devon---”
Her son’s blue eyes were blank with shock. “She was hit by a car.”
****
Larry had been about to park the limo when he saw Mrs. Montgomery running, George had told him. He also saw the van before she did. He tried to warn her, but it was too late.
Devon’s hands kept tightening around the steering wheel until his knuckles turned completely white. His foreman’s words echoed in his brain like a death knell.
It was too late.
Terror consumed him, and he slammed his foot on the gas, uncaring of how many laws he would break as long as he got to her in time.
It was too late.
His heart threatened to stop breathing when he finally made it to the operating room where his wife was fighting for her life.
It was too late.
He watched the E.R. staff frantically work on her unmoving body, and all his fears turned into ashes, the truth breaking free from the barriers of his past –
Oh God.
Once, he had tried to hurt Hilary by making her think theirs was not a normal marriage, and the words in the letters Charlotte wrote for him were not true.
But now Devon knew that he had lied.
He had always been lying.
He loved Hilary.
He had loved Hilary the first time he saw her picture, loved her the first time he read her letter, loved her the first time they met, and she had told him that she would stick by him, with or without air-conditioning.
“We’re losing her,” the doctor inside the emergency room shouted. “Dammit, someone check her pulse!”
Devon whitened at the words. “No.”
Please God, no. Please, don’t take her away from me. Please. Please. I love her. I love her, please, don’t take her away from me.
As the medical team inside the room rushed to save Hilary’s life, the monitor connected to her body let out a warning signal, indicating a huge drop of her vital signs.
Devon fell to his knees. “No. Please. No.”
Chapter Eleven
“That smells so good, Harry.”
“I thought that would wake you up,” Harry said with a grin as she started scraping the bacon strips from the frying pan and onto a serving plate.
Elsie let out a yawn as she took a seat. “You really don’t have to do this, though.”
“It’s the least I can do, and you know it.”
Elsie watched her friend move around her tiny kitchen with graceful efficiency, her movements quick but precise as she retrieved the toast out of the oven and started serving sunny side-ups on their plates. It had been two months since Harry had come knocking her door in the middle of the night with red-rimmed eyes and luggage-less, asking if Elsie would let her crash on her couch for just a night, and in those two months she hadn’t been able to get more than a
few words out of her friend about the time she spent in Texas.
All Harry had said was that she had made a mistake, and Elsie, having seen the pain that haunted Harry’s brown eyes when she spoke of the past, had chosen not to press her further. Then, she had thought that was the right thing to do. But now –
After taking her seat and saying grace, Harry noted uneasily that her friend still kept darting looks at her. “What is it?” she asked finally.
“How honest do you want me to be?” Elsie hedged.
“That bad?” she asked with a grimace.
“It’s just…I’m seriously worried about you, Harry. You’ve lost so much weight since you came here, and you know, the only reason why I never made you talk about what happened was because I thought it would help you get over the past. But that’s not how things are working, so---” She sighed. “Do you want to try talking about it?”
Harry’s face felt stiff as she pasted a smile on her lips. “I’d rather not if that's okay with you.”
“But---”
“It’s still too fresh,” Harry admitted jerkily. She wished it wasn’t so, but it was. She had thought she would be over Devon Montgomery now, but she wasn’t – and she was secretly terrified that she never would. Every night, she still ended up crying herself to sleep like she was no better than a little girl who missed her favorite teddy bear.
I made a really good decision when I asked you to be my bride, Hilary White.
I’m glad you’ll be mine, darling.
You’re adorable.
Oh, how beautiful those words were, and yet they were all lies. He had been lying to her from the very start, so why dear God – why did her stupid heart seem to yearn for him still?
The haunted look on Harry’s face made Elsie regret bringing up the topic. Oh, her and her big mouth! Eager to bring things back to a semblance of normal, she said brightly, “I’ve good news for you, by the way. I saw a couple of vacancy ads on the bulletin board last night. Maybe you’d like to go to work with me today and see if any of them would fit you?”