Rekindle The Flames (The Men of CLE-FD Book 4)

by Toye Lawson Brown

  Suddenly, she felt embarrassed by the way she looked. She wore slim-fitting black slacks and her favorite white button down shirt. Her hair wasn’t as stylish as the night before. Ryan had managed to ruin the style, and she wasn’t wearing much makeup.

  “That was corny, Emin. You’ve seen me look a lot worse. Remember the all-nighters we pulled cramming for finals?”

  “Yes, I remember. I also remember your lab partner that had a huge crush on you. Whatever happened to him?”

  Megan shrugged her shoulders. “I’m sure he’s around, somewhere. Now…”

  “I always thought you would end up with him. I was surprised when you dumped me for Ryan and not him. The guy was a black Adonis. Hell, you tried hard not to show your attraction to him whenever he was around. But, I knew you wanted him more than you ever wanted me.”

  “Crud.” She mumbled. “That is not what I want to talk about, Emin.”

  “I’m sorry; my mind tends to wander to the past at time. Anyhow, I feel odd talking here, Megan. Shouldn’t we go somewhere more private than a library? I mean we have a lot to discuss.”

  Megan held her hand up to stop him. “No, Emin. This is the perfect place for us to be. I know what I’m about to say will seem like deja vu again but this time it’s my mom’s fault and not mine.”

  He placed his hands on his hips. “What are you talking about, Megan? Iona had me believing this was a done deal. My parents are cutting their vacation short to come home to plan a traditional Armenian wedding.”

  If she wore a wig, she would flip it. She took in a few calming breaths and fussed. “Oh, my God. What idiotic crap has my mother filled your head with?”

  Emin rubbed his forehead. The arm of his suit jacket slid back revealing the expensive gold Rolex residing on his wrist. “She asked me to expedite your divorce papers because she said you are eager to end the marriage. She also said you’re interested in us rekindling what we had. Megan, she promised we would get married this time.”

  Megan listened to the hurt laced in his tone. If it weren't a crime to strangle her mother, she would. Emin had a heart of gold and for her to do this to him was wrong on so many levels.

  “I never said anything like that to Mom. She hates Ryan and will do anything to turn people against him.”

  “You must see something in him that no one else does. When I talked to him, I feared for my life. He was rude, abusive and I failed to see that kind, loving person that you want to stay married to.”

  That sweet innocent undertone took a harsh turn. Megan narrowed her eyes but kept her voice low. “You confronted Ryan at work. How did you expect him to react? He doesn’t know you from the man on the moon and you’re talking about me like we have something going on; of course he took the defensive road. Besides, I did not ask you to talk to my husband. In fact, we’re not getting divorced. That’s why I asked you to meet me here.”

  “Megan, most women want me for my money. I know you aren’t interested in my money or my status. I’m going to hold onto the divorce papers not because Iona is on my ass, but because I plan to woo you away from Ryan. You are not happy and it shows, sweetheart. Plus, I’m not the same man I was before. I know what it takes to please a woman and how to fight for what I want. What started out as a strong friendship years ago will turn into the best thing that ever happened to me. You will be the woman to give me beautiful children one day.”

  This asshole is crazy. Did he really believe she would agree to a marriage without love? Dumbass! He caressed the side of her face with the knuckles of his fingers. She cringed moving her head. What came next shocked the hell out of her. He drew her close to him until she smelled the richness of his cologne. Emin kissed her hard crushing her lips against his teeth. He released her and Megan stumbled against the shape edge of the wooden bookshelf. Her back hit it hard. She knew that would leave a bruise. He quietly left the library.

  Megan shook with a revolting anger. She looked up and saw her next door neighbor staring at her from across the room holding her phone in one hand. Lolita shook her head and turned away with a disgusted look. Megan dropped her head saying, “This day can’t get any worse.”

  Megan hurried to her car. She rolled down the windows to let out the heat and to inhale the fresh air. She was running out of options, she would have to tell Ryan about the miscarriage and about what happened with Emin today. If her mother and now Lolita, who was probably at the library with her son, got to him first or she definitely would have a hard time explaining these events.

  Megan parked her car on the apron of the driveway after she saw Ryan playing basketball with Orlando and Jon. The worn hoop hung over the opening of the garage. Ryan would bounce the basketball around with some of the neighborhood boys who thought they were future NBA superstars or play by himself. It was a way for him to relieve his stress and keep in shape when he wasn’t pumping iron.

  “Hi guys,” she greeted with a strained smile. They stopped hustling and turned to greet her. Orlando hugged her first followed by Jon. The smell radiating from their sweaty bodies made her nose crinkle and her eyes water. Ryan stood by the garage with the basketball perched between his arm and hip. He didn’t appear too upset. She looked in the yard next door. Lolita’s car wasn’t in the driveway either.

  Ryan wiped his drenched face with his t-shirt that was lying on the ground. All three firefighters were shirtless, showing off their perfect bodies and giving the teenage girls and women outside heart flutters and hot flashes in the process.

  He bounced the ball on the ground. “I saved you two hamburgers. They’re in the microwave if you’re hungry.”

  “I’m starving. Thank you,” she said feeling the guilt take her over. She went into the house and to the kitchen. Ryan’s cell phone was on the counter ringing. Megan peeked at the phone. “Dammit! It’s Mom calling him.” She swiped her finger across the screen to cancel the call and clear it from the call log. “She wants to play dirty? Two can play that game.” She took out her cell phone and dialed it waiting for her father to pick up. “Dad, I need to talk to you and it can’t wait.”

  “What has your mother done now?”

  “Ryan is home and I don’t want him to overhear our conversation. Are you somewhere I can meet you in like an hour?”

  “I’m at the office. You can come here if you want.”

  “Thanks, Dad. I’ll see you shortly.”

  Megan took the food out the microwave and put it in the fridge. She loaded the dishwasher and cleaned up the mess Ryan had made in the kitchen. His cell phone rang again. Wiping her hands on a dishtowel she picked it up; the number was unknown. Her heart pounded hard against the walls of her chest.

  Ryan walked in the kitchen. “There’s my phone. I wondered what I did with it.”

  Her hand shook as she handed it to him. “Yeah, it was on the counter. Are Orlando and Ryan gone?”

  He looked at her and asked. “Yeah, they’re gone. Megan, what’s wrong? You’re shaking.”

  “Nothing, really. Mom and I got into it again and I can’t shake it off. Ryan, she might try to call you. Just ignore her call, please.”

  “Why would she call me? I’m the last person she wants to talk to.”

  “She’s pissed at me because I told her to stay out of our marriage.”

  “I’m not for her damn drama so it won’t be hard for me to ignore her calls. So, did you find a marriage counselor for us to meet with?”

  “Um, not yet. Hey, you want to go to a movie tonight? This is your last night off before you return to the station tomorrow. I have to run out for a minute. It shouldn’t take me more than a half-hour at most.”

  He filled a glass with tap water and drank it down. “Sounds like fun. I need to take a shower. Lock up when you leave out.”

  “Enjoy your shower.” He started to leave and she called after him. “Ryan, wait. I have to tell you something.”

  He stopped and turned around. “What is it and can it wait until I take my shower?”

&nb
sp; She shook her head. “No, it can’t wait. I have to tell you this before I fall completely apart at the seams.”

  “I knew there was something going on with you. What the hell is going on?”

  The tears started to fall from her eyes before she could tell him the story. “Something happened to me. I never told you because you were under so much stress dealing with the stuff going on at the school and with your trial coming up.”

  The color drained from his face as he stared at her. “What happened to you?”

  “Ryan, I found out I was pregnant shortly after we got married. I was waiting for the right time to tell you. I wanted everything to be perfect but then all hell broke loose with the accusations from that girl and you going to jail for a week.”

  He staggered against the counter. “What? That sonogram I found in the garage was yours? Dammit, Megan, I don’t care what I was going through you should have told me. What happened to the baby? Did you abort it?”

  “No! I would never do that. I had a miscarriage three months into the pregnancy. I couldn’t handle the stress.”

  She pulled a chair away from the table and sat down before she fell. Ryan came over to where she was. He knelt down and held her hands. “God, Megan, it was wrong to keep that from me.”

  “That wasn’t my intention. Everything just blew up at one. I honestly tried to stay calm and be strong for you at the same time while I finished my nursing program. Then you joined the fire department and that put me over the edge.” She stopped to slow her sobs as he wrapped his arms around her bringing her close to him. She continued. “One morning I woke up and there was blood. I didn’t know what was going on so I called my mom. She took me to the doctor where he confirmed I’d miscarried.”

  Suddenly he pulled away from her and walked over to the sink. Megan waited for him for him to yell or throw something. He didn’t. Instead, he braced his frame against the sink with his head hung low. She thought she heard a slight sniffle come from him. Ryan loved kids despite his awful upbringing. He always said he wanted to prove to himself he could be a better parent than his parents were. His kids would never know what it was like not to be hugged or told how much they were loved.

  “Ryan, please says something,” she said in a soft voice.

  “This is my fault. I am the cause of your miscarriage, Megan.”

  “No, you weren’t. I have to believe it wasn’t meant to be, Ryan, and nature took care of it. I’m sorry I didn’t say anything when it happened, I just didn’t want to add to what you were already dealing with.”

  “I put you through hell during that trial and you never questioned if I was guilty or not. Then you go through this all alone because I was too damn involved in myself to give a shit about anything else going on around me.” He turned his head to look at her. “Why do you want to stay with me? You should hate my fucking guts and agree with Iona that I’m a loser.”

  She got up from the chair and went over to him. With a gentle hand she caressed the side of his face. “Ryan, I love you and you are not a loser. Mom thought it would be best not to tell you, so she paid the medical bills and all I had to do was keep my mouth shut.”

  “Megan, this is what you meant when you said you sacrificed a lot for me. I’m not good for you. We were cursed from the start and it will last until you finally see that I’m just not good for you.” He walked away from her.

  Megan dropped to her knees folding her arms across her body as she cried.

  *****

  James looked up from his desk. He stood up and dropped what he was doing. “Megan, sweetheart, what’s wrong?”

  She ran over to him and hugged him around the waist. “Everything is wrong, Dad.”

  “Calm down and tell me what’s going on?”

  “I don’t know where to start because it is all so jacked up.”

  “Well, why don’t you start with the recent incidences first. What has Iona done this time?”

  “Mom is blackmailing me. Well, she was until I came clean with Ryan. I told him about the miscarriage before she could.”

  “That bitch!” James scowled.

  Megan moved away from him startled. She had never heard her father use those words on anyone especially her mother. “Dad?”

  “I’m sorry, Megan. I didn’t mean to say that for you to hear. But maybe it’s about time you heard the truth.”

  “What truth? What is going on that I don’t know about?”

  “Sit down, Megan. What I have to say will clear up a lot of things and it’ll also help you and Ryan in the end.”

  Chapter Nine

  Ryan dressed after his shower. He’d shed all the tears he could for now. He’d lost a child he never got a chance to hear the heartbeat, or even take joy in knowing he had coming. Megan put him first and dealt with the loss of their child. She suffered in silence so he wouldn’t have a mental breakdown.

  He sat on the edge of the bed running his hands through his hair. She wasn’t childish or immature after all. Her fears about his job were valid because she knew they were expecting a baby and she wanted him around. The cell phone on the table rang. He looked at it not wanting to talk to anyone. He needed time to absorb these new developments. It stopped ringing long enough to start again. He picked it up and saw it was Iona. The cat was out of the bag now. If she was calling to tell Megan’s secret, it was too late.

  Ryan let the phone ring two more times before he answered. “What can I do for you, Iona?” His voice was dry and lifeless.

  “Hello to you, Ryan.”

  “You can cut the cheerful banter. What the hell do you want?”

  “That is a terrible way to speak to your mother-in-law but since you insist I get to the reason for the call, I will. I have the divorce papers that I want you to sign. You can read them over, but I think you’ll find everything fair. You get to keep your house and money. Just give Megan her freedom.”

  Ryan put the phone on speaker and hit the record button. He wanted to have this on tape for future references. “Iona, those divorce papers you drafted, can go you know where. Look, I know she told you to butt out our marriage, but you can’t do it. I need you to explain to me why don’t you want Megan happy?”

  “That’s exactly what I’m trying to do for her. I want her to be very happy.”

  “That’s a fucking joke. You want to live your life through your daughter. You’re a bitter ass woman that isn’t happy unless everyone else is miserable.”

  “Ryan, words don’t hurt me. Say what you like about me if that means you’ll get out of my daughter’s life for good. Now back to the divorce.”

  “Shove it up your ass, Iona. I’m not signing any divorce papers you draft or your lapdog Emin drafts. Megan is my wife and my responsibility. We’re not getting divorced and that’s final.”

  “You’re a stupid man. How much do you make a year? 30 to 40 thousand? She has an opportunity to marry a billionaire you’re blocking that.”

  “No, you’re blocking her from happiness. Megan isn’t about wealth. She doesn’t want that asshole and I’m not stepping aside to let him, or anyone else for that matter, have her. Iona, don’t call me again with this shit!” He spat into the phone.

  “This isn’t over, Ryan. I always get what I want and I will get this.”

  “Fucking bitch,” he yelled. Ryan hung up the phone. He needed something to destroy. He threw the alarm clock sitting on the table across the room as hard as he could. It shattered into pieces.

  Ryan’s angry tantrum was interrupted by a knocking on the front door. He left the bedroom. His footsteps were nearly stomps as he walked heavily. Opening the door, his neighbor was standing there with a picnic basket.

  “Lolita, what can I do for you?”

  “Ryan, hi. I made way too much food for just me and thought I’d bring dinner over.”

  He looked at the clock on the wall, it was nearly 8:00 and Megan wasn’t back yet. “Oh, that was nice of you but Megan isn’t here right now.”

  Her
shoulder slumped. “Oh, did she leave again? I saw her earlier at the library with a man. I prayed that wasn’t an attorney. I know what you’re going through, Ryan; divorce is hell. Thank God you don’t have kids to drag through this.”

  Ryan frowned. “What man are you talking about?”

  She switched the handle of the picnic basket to her other arm. Lolita lived next door to Ryan and he knew her before he married Megan. Her son was an infant at the time Mike moved out. Ryan would help her with yard work and would take her garbage cans to the curb on garbage day. But once he married Megan that stopped. Megan felt Lolita was attracted to him and didn’t like him doing stuff for her. It didn’t help that Lolita was an attractive African-American woman around his age, with short stylish hair and a body men craved.

  “Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything. I know Megan isn’t comfortable with our friendship.”

  He braced the top of the door with his hand tightly. “Finish your story, Lolita.”

  “OK. I saw her with some well-dressed man. They talked for a few minutes and before he left, they shared a tender but passionate kiss.”

  He gripped the door harder to control his already raging anger. What meeting with an attorney ended with a kiss unless she was personally involved with that attorney? Was Megan seeing Emin behind his back and covering it with the miscarriage story? There were too many unanswered questions and his wife was nowhere around to answer them. In fact, she hadn’t been around the majority of the day. She was gone before he got up and didn’t return to the house for hours only to drop the story and let a few tears fall before leaving again. He had no idea where she was or who she was with.

  He swallowed to steady his voice. “Why don’t we have that dinner you prepared at your place? Most women don’t like working in another’s woman kitchen.”

  She smiled. “That would be perfect. Tony is spending the nights with a friend and I have the house to myself.”

  “Great. I’m following you,” he said closing the door behind him.