He turned to Kathryn. "Can you please help Renée on this?"
Kathryn nodded earnestly.
"Sophia is with Windy," Gaelan continued. “She'll need to be told something. Keep it simple. Then get Windy to call her nephew. He has a puppy for Sophia at his house. Have him bring it over now. That should keep her distracted."
He stopped pacing for a moment. "Renée, you're going to have to make some sort of announcement to the guests."
"What do you want me to tell them?" Renée said desperately. "This is a little out of my league."
"Tell them there's a delay because of the weather. We're waiting for someone - they don't need to know it's the bride. Get the orchestra to play. Get the caterers to bring out food and set up the bar. That should keep everyone happy until I know one way or another whether I'm getting married today."
He turned to Marcus, knowing he was really in debt to his partner and friend for this one. "Marcus, get my lawyers on the phone. Ask them if I can go ahead with the wedding, then deal with Colleen. I imagine you'll find her in Chloe's room. She didn't show up just to ruin my wedding - she showed up because she thinks she can get more money out of me. A second divorce settlement or something."
"Maybe I'm stupid, but I don't understand this," Kathryn interrupted. "You gave Colleen the money for the divorce settlement before the divorce was final?"
"No, it was I who was stupid. The money was in trust with my lawyer. He gave her the money before she finalised the divorce. I discovered she was sleeping with my lawyer too." Gaelan sighed and shook his head. "Needless to say, he isn't my lawyer anymore."
"So you're still married to her?” Kathryn asked.
"Exactly."
"Oh no," she said quietly.
"Just imagine how Chloe must feel right now," Gaelan said. He did up the buttons on his coat. "I've got to find her. He opened the door, and they could hear the guests in the hall laughing and talking, oblivious to the fact that the bride had run away. "One last thing," Gaelan said to the room in general. "Say a prayer that she'll forgive me."
* * *
Crying, Chloe walked down the bluff, following the fence that guarded the edge of the cliff. Around her the snow swirled, but she barely noticed. She could only just remember how she came to be out here, conscious only of wanting to put distance between herself and Widow's Cliff.
She did remember getting dressed. Under Colleen's scornful gaze, she had thrown on her jeans and a sweater, barely taking the time to grab her coat before fleeing down the back stairs of the house and slipping out the side door. She needed to get away from Colleen, from the house full of guests, and to make sense out the terrible mess that had become her life. First the whole fiasco in Boston with Shawn when she lost her job. And now this. Her fairy-tale ending was turning into the ultimate horror story.
She tried to focus on the facts. Everything Colleen had said contradicted Gaelan's version of events. But they matched what Bowen had told her. According to Bowen and Colleen, Gaelan had stolen Colleen from Bowen. According to Gaelan, Colleen and Bowen had plotted together to get his money.
She had believed Gaelan at the time, accepting that everything Bowen had told her was a lie. But now? What was she supposed to believe now that Gaelan had lied about Colleen's death? All along he had made love to her knowing that Colleen was alive. Here she was marrying a man who already had a wife he was hiding in Italy!
She stumbled over a rock hidden in the snow, falling to her knees. In the distant reaches of her brain, she acknowledged the pain and stood up again. She wiped the snow absentmindedly from her jeans with her bare red hands, then put them back in her pockets.
She kept walking, her head bent into the snow and wind. No. It didn't make any sense. There was something she didn't know, some piece of the puzzle that was missing. What did Gaelan gain from hiding his wife from her? Not only did it not make sense, it just didn't fit with the Gaelan she had come to know these past months.
Gaelan was not a man who was comfortable with secrets. She had seen how he had struggled with the secret of Sophia's parentage. How it had torn him apart to withhold from Sophia the truth. She had seen him come to peace with it too and how he was able to show his love for Sophia now as much as if she were his own.
Chloe also knew how much he had tried to resist her, afraid that she was like Colleen, after his money, not his love. He could have had her as his lover that very first night, but he didn't.
A gust of wind whipped the snow into a frenzy, and she raised an arm to protect herself from the stinging precipitation as she tried to make sense of everything.
More than anything else, Chloe was sure of one thing. Gaelan loved her. She felt his love to the very centre of her being. The way he looked at her, the way he treated her, the way he made love to her, the way he wanted to share the rest of his life with her. And then there was this baby, conceived in love. She knew how happy he would be when he found out.
If he loved her enough to entrust her with the secret of Sophia's parentage, he would also have trusted her with the secret of his wife. If Gaelan had known Colleen was alive, he would have told her. She remembered what she said to him when he found out she had been fired from her job. She told him he shouldn't be so suspicious. Now it was time she took her own advice. She would trust the man she loved. Really, the only thing that made sense was that Gaelan would be as shocked as she was when he learned Colleen was still alive. She would go back. He would explain everything, and then she would marry him.
She wiped away her tears. Her decision made, she finally looked around her for the first time since leaving the house. It was hard to see. The wind drove the snow into her face, blinding her as she tried to penetrate the wall of white swirling around her. For the first time, she noticed she was cold, very cold. But that was okay, she was going home now, soon she would be back in front of her fireplace where it was warm. She would put on her dress, and she and Gaelan would be married.
She turned around and reached out for the fence that would guide her back, but her hand found only air. She edged over, sure that the fence could only be steps away but still there was only the snow-filled emptiness. How long had she been wandering around out here? She looked down and realised she was standing in her own snowed-in footsteps. Circles! She was going in circles!
* * *
Back at the house, Gaelan checked the garage for the Jeep first and was relieved to see it still there. He didn't like the idea of Chloe driving in the storm. But then he didn't like the idea of her being on foot either. He looked at his watch. She had been gone for an hour, and the temperature was dropping. He hoped she had the presence of mind to put on a warm coat.
Head bent into the wind, he walked around the house and across the headland to the fence. He looked over the edge of the cliff but could not see the ocean below, only a bottomless pit of churning snow. He was glad the fence was there - in this weather, it would be only too easy to step over the edge into nothingness. He shuddered at the thought.
The storm was getting worse. Up until now he had been mainly concerned about her mental state, but now he was more worried about her physical safety. He knew only too well how dangerous storms could be. They were disorienting, and it was absolutely true that people could walk around in circles for hours. But hypothermia was the real problem. Once the body temperature started to drop, sleep became only too tempting. To sleep was to die. He had heard of people freezing to death only yards from their front door.
His heart clenched with fear. He needed more help.
He pulled his cell out of his pocket and called the police station in Puffin's Cove. He asked for the chief, David Carpenter, a man he had known since childhood. During the investigation into Colleen's "death," David had been steadfast in his conviction that Gaelan was innocent of any wrongdoing. Gaelan didn't explain to him that Colleen was back from the dead, only that his girlfriend was upset and had gone out into the storm. "I’m getting worried. I'm searching the grounds of Widow's Cliff righ
t now, but I'm wondering if she might have taken the road in the hopes of getting a ride. Can you radio the snow plows to be on the lookout for her?"
"Sure, Gaelan. I'll send out a patrol car to check the road between Puffin's Cove and Widow's Cliff too."
Gaelan thanked him and put his cell back into his pocket. He looked behind him. Already his footsteps were filled with snow. There was no hope that Chloe's tracks would still be visible. He walked along the fence, calling her name every couple of minutes. They had often taken walks along here, and Gaelan hoped she had chosen this direction again.
* * *
Chloe looked down again at her tracks in the snow. She was lost. She panicked and spun around, seeing nothing but swirling snow in every direction. Which direction was home? And how far was she? A mile? Two miles? She listened for the sound of the ocean. If she kept the ocean on her left, she would find her way home, she reasoned. But all she could hear was the wind and her own frightened breathing. She was lost!
She started to run, stumbling forward in the snow, running until she was out of breath, only to see her own snowed-in footprints. Three sets of footprints - all her own! Blankly, she looked down at her coat. It was covered with snow, and she had the terrible feeling she was disappearing into the landscape. Her and the baby. She staggered on, shivering uncontrollably now. Out of fear. Out of cold. Going on blindly in any direction - to keep moving was her only goal. How long had she been walking?
The longer she walked, the more unreal everything became. Just like a snowstorm in May, everything that had happened today did not seem possible. It was like a dream. A horrific dream. Colleen. This snowstorm. This cold. Yes, that’s it, she thought, becoming slowly calmer. A dream. She would wake up soon, Gaelan would be there, and she would put on her wedding dress, and they would get married.
She saw him like a mirage or a vision, herself and the swirling snow reflected in his dark eyes. She walked toward him. She wouldn't wait for the wedding, she would tell him about the baby now. She didn't want to forget. It was, after all, her wedding present to him.
She opened her mouth to speak to him, but suddenly the vision was gone. She looked around for him, but there was only snow. Suddenly, she stumbled against a boulder. She reached out, and her hands touched the sharp branches of a tree. She realised she had wandered into a small copse.
For a moment she thought she heard her name being called. She stopped and listened, but it was only the wind playing tricks on her. "Gaelan?" she said. She tried to shout, but the name was all but lost on the wind.
She crouched down between some boulders. It wasn't as windy here. And she wasn't cold anymore. She was just sleepy. She would just close her eyes, and when she woke up, she would be next to Gaelan in their bed, and she would tell him about their baby….
* * *
Gaelan had been walking for almost an hour when his cell rang. He reached for it, praying it was Marcus saying Chloe had returned to the house unharmed.
"Gaelan, David here."
"Yes," Gaelan said anxiously.
"Sorry, Gaelan. No news, I'm afraid." The connection crackled, and Gaelan lost the sound of the chief's voice for a moment. "Are you still there, Gaelan? I can't do much before this storm lets up. But if she's not back by then, we'll see if we can't get a search party organised."
"I hope that won't be necessary," Gaelan said, fearing if he didn't find her before then, it might be too late. Already there was more than six inches on the ground, and the storm showed no indication of letting up before nightfall. Chloe had already been out here for two hours. In this cold and wind, hypothermia was a real possibility. He put the phone back in his pocket and continued to follow the fence away from the ocean, calling her name in between praying for her safety.
Suddenly, he remembered that near here was a small copse of trees surrounded by large rocks. On this windswept headland, it was the only place that could be considered shelter. The snow was blinding, and as he could see no further than a couple of feet, he relied on his sense of direction and intuition to guide him. Again he called her name and again heard only the wind in reply. He pressed on in the direction of the copse, head bent into the wind and snow, knowing that he could pass within feet of the trees and never see them.
More and more he feared she was hurt. Surely if she were out here she would be returning his calls. And if she wasn't here, where was she? He prayed she did not go beyond the fence. Outside the grounds of Widow's Cliff, the edge was not protected by a fence, and in this weather, it would be only too easy to step off... He shuddered and tried to block the horrifying image from his mind. But there was a terrible irony to the scenario - to find out that his first wife did not die from a fall from the cliff, only to have Chloe… He could not even finish the thought.
What would he do if he lost her? He could not imagine his life without her. Only a couple of months ago, he had been determined never to fall in love with another woman. Now here he was, more in love than he ever thought possible, his life changed forever. Never could he have imagined such happiness with another woman. No god could be so cruel as to snatch her away from him. He saw his life stretched out before him, an eternity of missing her, an eternity of wishing for her.
He stopped suddenly, sure he heard the faintest of sounds on the swirling snow. He raised his head and listened again. Only the wind. But instinct told him to follow the sound, and he turned only to find that he had been about to overshoot the copse by just six feet.
He walked between the trees and boulders, his heart nearly stopping when he glimpsed the dark fabric of her coat beneath a dusting of snow. Oh God, he breathed, let her be alive! She was curled up in the fetal position, one arm tucked under her head. Her eyes were closed, the snow white against her lashes.
Galean didn't breathe. He pulled off his glove and touched her cheek. She stirred, and her eyes opened.
"Gaelan," she whispered.
Gaelan felt relief flood over him. She was alive! She was probably suffering from minor hypothermia, but she would be okay. "You're safe now," he said, his voice catching, tears of relief filling his eyes.
He took off his coat and wrapped it around her. He knew he was risking exposure himself, out in this wind and snow in only his wedding suit, but he knew Chloe needed the extra warmth of his long coat. They were possibly two miles from the house, a distance too great for him to carry her. Both of them needed warmth quickly.
He took out his cell once again. "Marcus. I found her. I'm close to the road here, where the fence meets the road. Get out the Jeep and meet us. Fast."
* * *
Stripped of her frozen clothes and wrapped in blankets, a roaring fire blazing in the fireplace, Chloe lay on the bed in the master bedroom suite. Gaelan's doctor, a guest at the wedding, had already been in to see her. She had asked to speak to him alone, and he reassured her there was no reason to fear for the safety of the baby. And it was with tears of relief as much as pain that she had cried as the circulation returned to her frozen feet and hands. Chloe felt she could bear almost anything so long as the baby was safe. Gaelan held her in his arms, giving her sips of warm tea, stroking her hair, talking to her gently until the tears subsided and the shaking stopped.
She took a long hot shower, and after a meal of toast and tea, she felt almost normal again, at least physically.
"I've ruined our wedding," she said apologetically to him at last.
"No," he said. "It was me who was at fault. I should have told you I suspected Colleen really didn't die in that fall. You see, my lawyer had given her a great deal of money. But after her so-called death, there was absolutely no trace of the money. I was suspicious and hired private investigators to search for her. I only recently decided I was being paranoid and called off the detectives. I didn't tell you about it because I didn't think it was an issue anymore." Gaelan stopped and looked thoughtful for a moment. "That lawyer must have helped her hide the money and change her identity."
"No. It's my fault," Chloe insi
sted. "I should have just trusted you. If I had done that, I would have just told you she was here and trusted that you knew as little about it as I did." The tears welled up in her eyes once more. "Gaelan, I love you so much. I'll never mistrust you again. No matter what anyone says."
The Billionaire's Secrets Page 16