The Millionaire Claims His Wife

by Sandra Marton

  “Of course, you knew. Lipstick on his collar, receipts from motels you’d never been to in his pockets, charge account statements for flowers and candy and perfume...”

  “No.”

  “No?”

  Annie shook her head. “Well, bills for flowers and candy and perfume, yes. For my birthday, or Christmas, or sometimes just for no reason at all.”

  “Really,” Deb said, arching an eyebrow.

  “I’d never have known, except I just—I showed up at his office when he didn’t expect me and there she was, wound around him like—like a morning glory vine on a fence post.”

  “And Chase said he was just taking a speck of dust out of her eye,” Deb said, shaking her head.

  Annie looked up, her mouth trembling. “Chase said it wasn’t what it looked like. His secretary said it, too. She cried and begged me to believe her, she said Chase had never even looked at her cross-eyed but I—”

  “But you?”

  “But I knew. That he—that she... Because, you know, I’d stopped turning to him in bed, when he reached for me. I couldn’t help it.” A sob ripped from Annie’s throat. “I loved him so much, Deb. So terribly much!”

  “Oh, Annie, you poor soul,” Deb said, “you still do.”

  “I don’t,” Annie said, and she began to weep uncontrollably.

  Deb stood up, went to Annie’s side and put her arm around her.

  “Oh, honey, I never realized. You’re crazy about the man.”

  “No,” Annie said in a choked whisper, and then she pulled out of her friend’s embrace and threw her arms into the air. “Yes,” she said, “and isn’t that pathetic? It’s true. I am crazy about him. I love him with all my heart. I’d even forgive him that fling with his secretary.”

  “If there was a fling.” Annie shot her a look, and Deb shrugged. “Well, it’s a possibility, isn’t it? I mean, all those stories about bosses and their secretaries...if half of ’em were true, the American economy would grind to a halt. Anyway, why would she have put up such a denial?”

  “I don’t know. I don’t know anything, anymore, only that somewhere along the line, Chase and I lost each other. And I know now that it wasn’t all his fault. We were so young when we got married, Deb. I thought marriage was just a fairy tale, you know, the prince rides off with the maiden and they live happily ever after. But it isn’t like that. You have to work at a marriage, talk about your goals and your problems.”

  “And you guys didn’t.”

  Annie shook her head. “No,” she said, her voice muffled as she wiped her nose again.

  “Well, it’s never too late.”

  “It is.” Annie dumped the wet paper towel into the trash and peeled another one off the roll. “It’s way too late.”

  “What about the reconciliation attempt?”

  “I told you. It wasn’t for real. We just went through the motions, for Dawn.”

  “But you made love.”

  “I made love. Chase—Chase just figures we slept together.” Annie flashed Deb a fierce look. “And don’t you dare tell me it’s the same thing.”

  Deb smiled sadly. “Trust me, Annie. Even I know that it isn’t. Well, what happened when the weekend was over? Didn’t he suggest seeing each other again?”

  “He did.” Annie’s expression hardened. “He phoned a dozen times. Sure, he wants to see me. For sex. Not for anything else.”

  “You don’t think it would help to see him? Tell him how you feel?”

  “No! God, no! It’s bad enough I showed him how I feel. In bed, I mean. I...” Annie shook her head. “I don’t want to talk about it anymore. There’s no point. Tallcing’s not going to change—”

  The telephone rang. Deb waited for Annie to reach for it.

  “Do you want me to take that?” she said, after the phone had rung three times

  Annie shook her head. “Let the machine pick up. I’m not fit to talk to anybody.”

  The answering machine clicked on.

  “Hi,” Annie’s disembodied voice said. “It’s me, but I can’t take your call right now. Leave a message and your number, and I’ll give you a ring soon as I can.”

  “Very onginal,” Deb said with a smile.

  Annie smiled back at her, but her smile disappeared at the sound of Chase’s voice.

  “Annie? Annie, it’s me. Please, babe, pick up if you’re there.”

  “Speak of the devil,” Deb whispered.

  “Okay,” Chase said, and sighed. “But I’ve got to tell you, it’s a problem. How does a guy find out why his ex-wife won’t talk to him, if she won’t talk to him?” Annie folded her arms. “He knows why,” she hissed to Deb.

  “Here’s the deal,” Chase said, and cleared his throat. “I’m in Puerto Rico. I’ve got this new client... Hell, Annie, you don’t want to hear the whole story. The thing is, I’m flying back to New York tonight. Matter of fact, I’m at the airport down here, right now.”

  “Fascinating,” Annie muttered. “Now he’s going to give me his itinerary.”

  “I’ll only be in New York for a couple of days before I head back down to San Juan, and then I’m liable to be gone for a while. And I figured, if there was any last chance you’d see me again...”

  “Sleep with him, he means,” Annie said, glowering at the telephone.

  “I know I’ve said some of this before, babe, maybe a hundred times to that damn machine of yours, but I guess one last try can’t hurt, so here goes. Annie, I know we didn’t intend to get involved again. I know we went away together because I dug us into a hole with Dawn. But I thought—I really thought that night we spent together was incredible. And—”

  “And we ought to try it again,” Annie said coldly. She tried smiling brightly at Deb but it didn’t work. Her smile trembled and tears glittered in her eyes.

  “And I knew I didn’t have any right to ask you to take me back, Annie. That’s what I kept thinking, all the way back to Seattle. You’ve made a new life for yourself, and you’ve found a new guy, and I could tell you regretted what had happened, the minute you woke up that morning. You were so quiet, with that same shuttered look you had the last few years we were married.”

  “Annie?” Deb said uncertainly. “Are you hearing this?”

  “Annie,” Chase said, his voice roughening, “dammit, babe, I love you! If you really want the pansy poet instead of me, you’re gonna have to look me in the eye and tell me so. You’re gonna have to say, ‘Chase, I don’t love you anymore. What happened in that cabin was all pretense. I don’t want to marry you again and live with you forever...”’ Chase drew a ragged breath. “Dammit,” he said, “I’m no good at this! You want sensitive, stick with the poet. You want a guy who’s never stopped loving you, who’ll love you until the day he dies, you don’t have to look any further than me.”

  “Chase,” Annie whispered, “oh, Chase...”

  “The only lie I told you that entire weekend was when I said I was engaged to Janet Pendleton. Janet’s a nice woman. I like her. But I don’t love her. I told her that, a few days ago. I could never love anyone, except you.”

  “Annie,” Deb said desperately, “pick up the phone!”

  “They’re calling my flight, babe, but hell, I’m not getting on! I changed my plans. I’m gonna fly to Boston instead. I’ll be at your door in a few hours and I’m warning you, if you don’t open it when I ring that bell, so help me, I’ll bust it dow—”

  Annie made a dive for the phone, but it was too late. All she heard when she picked it up was a dial tone.

  “Annie,” Deb said, “what are you going to do?” Annie’s smile glittered. “Boston,” she said, “here I come.”

  * * *

  It was raining in Boston, too.

  All flights, departing and arriving, were delayed, the soothing voice over the public address system kept repeating.

  The terminal was jammed with weary travelers. Bodies were draped everywhere as people tried to snatch some sleep. There were lines at the ladies�
�� rooms, at the snack counters, at the newsstands. Babies screamed, irate passengers argued with overworked ticket agents and Annie noticed absolutely none of it.

  She kept up her vigil at Gate Nine, her eyes glued to the arrivals board, waiting. And waiting.

  She wasn’t even sure she was waiting in the right place and if she wasn’t—if she wasn’t, she’d just about run out of options.

  It had seemed such a wonderful idea, to go to Boston and meet Chase as he arrived. She’d pictured his face, when he saw her waiting for him; she’d imagined running to him and having his arms close around her.

  Halfway to Logan Airport, it had occurred to her that she had no idea what airline Chase was flaying.

  Her foot had eased off the accelerator. Maybe she should go back.

  Back? To pace from one room to another? To go crazy as she waited? No. She couldn’t do that. That was why she’d thrown on jeans, sneakers and a T-shirt in the first place, and dashed to her car. She needed to be doing something, or she’d go crazy.

  She had to see Chase the minute he stepped off the plane, had to fly into his arms and tell him she had never stopped loving him.

  So she’d stepped down, hard, on the pedal again.

  By the time she’d reached the airport, she’d had a plan. Well, a plan of sorts.

  She’d gone to the first information desk she saw.

  “Excuse me,” she’d said politely, “but could you tell me what flights are coming in this evening from Puerto Rico?”

  “What airline?” the clerk had asked, and Annie had smiled and said, unfortunately, she really didn’t know what airline. Was that a problem?

  It was, but not an insurmountable one. Annie knew the time Chase’s New York-bound flight had boarded. If he’d managed to get himself ticketed on a flight to Boston instead, it would have to have gone out sometime after that.

  That narrowed things down a bit. the clerk said.

  There were only three possible flights Chase could have taken. They were on three different airlines, and they came in minutes apart. Annie’s plan, therefore was simple. She’d wait for the first flight and if Chase wasn’t one of the deplaning passengers, she’d rush to the next gate and wait again. If necessary, she’d do the same thing a third time.

  “Good luck,” the clerk had called, as Annie had hurried away.

  The plan had seemed logical.

  Now, she was beginning to wonder.

  Flight one had arrived and disgorged what had looked like a full load of passengers.

  Chase had not been among them.

  Annie had hurried to the next gate. She’d gotten there out of breath, but with two minutes to spare before the door had opened and the arriving passengers had started streaming into the terminal.

  She’d watched faces, standing on tiptoe, keeping her fingers crossed and silently chanting Chase’s name like a mantra, but it hadn’t helped. The last travelers walked into the terminal but he wasn’t among them, either. Now she was at the final gate, waiting for the third and last plane.

  What if Chase wasn’t on it?

  Annie’s hands began to tremble. She thrust them deep into the pockets of her jacket.

  Maybe he hadn’t been able to change his flight plans. Planes could be sold out. You couldn’t just change your plans at the last minute and assume you could get a ticket.

  For all she knew, Chase might be landing in New York at this very minute. He might be phoning her, and reaching her answering machine again. It was late; he’d know she’d be home at this hour of the night.

  When she didn’t take the call, would he assume she’d gotten his message and wasn’t interested?

  Annie chewed on her lip.

  There was another possibility she hadn’t even considered until now. Chase could have hung up the phone and suddenly realized that it would be easier if he flew to Bradley Airport, in Hartford. He might be on his way to her house right now. What if he got there and banged on the door? What if she wasn’t there to answer?

  Would he think she was out, with Milton Hoffman? Would he think she’d gotten his message and didn’t want to see him?

  “Oh God,” she whispered, “please, please, please...”

  God didn’t seem to be listening. The last few stragglers had emerged from the ramp that led to the plane.

  Chase wasn’t one of them.

  Tears spilled down Annie’s cheeks.

  Maybe the simple truth was that he’d changed his mind.

  A sob burst from her throat. A couple standing nearby looked at her curiously. She knew how she must look, in her ratty outfit, with her hair all curly and wild from the rain and now with tears coursing down her face, but she didn’t care.

  Nothing mattered, now that she’d lost Chase a second time.

  She turned, jammed her hands into her pockets and started walking.

  “Annie?”

  What fools they’d been, the two of them. So in love, and so unable to connect about the things that really mattered.

  “Annie?”

  There would never be another love in her life. Chase would stay in her heart, forever.

  “Annie!”

  Hands closed around her shoulders, hands that were familiar and dear.

  “Chase?” Annie whispered, and she spun around and saw her husband.

  They stared at each other wordlessly, and then Chase opened his arms and gathered her in. She threw her arms around his neck and they clung to each other, oblivious to the people watching and smiling, to the noise and the announcements.

  A long minute later, Chase led Annie off into a corner.

  “Annie, darling.” He took her face between his hands. She was so beautiful. So perfect His eyes blurred as he bent and brushed his lips against hers. “I’m sorry sweetheart,” he whispered. “I never meant to hurt you. I always loved you, Annie. Everything I did, babe—the long hours, the networking, the meetings—it was all for you. I wanted you to have everything. I wanted you to be proud of me, to be glad you were my wife.”

  Annie put her hands over his and smiled through her tears.

  “I was always proud of you. Don’t you know that? I wouldn’t care if you dug ditches, just as long as you loved me.”

  Chase gathered her close and kissed her. “Annie Bennett Cooper,” he whispered against her mouth, “will you marry me?”

  “oh, yes,” Annie said, “oh, yes, Chase, oh, yes.”

  “Tonight, babe. We can get right on a plane, fly to the Caribbean and get married on Saint John Island.”

  “That’s a wonderful idea,” she said, and kissed him.

  Chase looped his arm around her shoulders. “Come on. Let’s find the ticket counter.”

  Halfway to the escalator, he came to a stop.

  “Wait here a minute,” he said. He brushed a kiss over her mouth, and hurried into one of the shops that dotted the terminal.

  Annie looked in the window. A huge vase stood behind the glass, filled with red roses. As she watched, Chase pulled out his wallet and spoke to the clerk. Seconds later, he stood before Annie again, holding one perfect red rose in his hand.

  “Do you remember that night, years ago?” he asked. “I’d gotten my first big break, and I brought you one rose...”

  Did she remember? Annie’s smile trembled. “Yes.”

  “I love you as much now as I did then, babe.” His voice turned husky. “If it’s possible, I love you even more.”

  Annie took the rose from him.

  “I’ll never stop loving you, Chase,” she whispered, and she went into her husband’s arms.

  EPILOGUE

  IT WAS THE DAY AFTER Christmas, and the Cooper clan was gathered in Annie and Chase’s living room.

  “There’s no way your father and I can eat all these leftovers by ourselves,” Annie had said, when she’d phoned Dawn and asked if she and Nick would come by for dinner.

  “You don’t have to convince me, Mom.” Dawn had replied, with a smile in her voice. “If there’s one thing I s
till don’t love about being a wife. it’s cooking.”

  Now, as Annie sat on the sofa beside her husband, with his arm curled tightly around her shoulders, she looked around her at her family and knew that she had never been happier.

  Dawn and Nick were sitting cross-legged beside the big spruce tree Chase had wrestled through the door last week.

  “It’ll never fit,” he’d groaned, as he’d lugged the tree toward the living room.

  “Of course it’ll fit,” Annie had insisted, and it had—after Chase had lopped off two feet with a saw.

  Annie’s sister, Laurel, was there, too, standing under the sprig of mistletoe Chase had hung in the living room entryway. Annie smiled. Laurel and her gorgeous husband, Damian, were kissing each other as if nobody else existed. As Annie watched, Damian drew back a little, smiled at Laurel and lay his hand gently on her huge belly. He said something that brought a rosy flush to Laurel’s cheeks.

  Annie smiled and looked away, toward her friend, Deb, who was sitting before the fireplace, deep in conversation with a man—a very nice man—whom she’d met a couple of months ago.

  “In the supermarket?” Annie had asked teasingly.

  Deb had blushed. “In the library, but if you tell that to anybody, I’ll deny everything.”

  Annie sighed and put her head on Chase’s shoulder. What a difference a few months could make. She’d been so unhappy this past summer, and now—and now, her heart was almost unbearably filled with joy.

  “Babe?”

  She looked up. Chase smiled at her.

  “You think it’s time to tell them our plans?”

  Annie smiled back at her husband. They’d been married for months now, and every day still felt like part of their honeymoon.

  “Yes,” she said. “Let’s.”

  Chase grinned and kissed her. Then, holding her hand and drawing her up with him, he rose to his feet.

  “Okay, everybody,” he said, “listen up.”

  Everyone turned and looked at Chase and Annie. Chase cleared his throat.

  “Annie and I had a problem...”

  Long, deep groans echoed around the room.

  Chase laughed and drew Annie closer.

  “The problem was, where were we going to live? Annie had this old house that she loved. And I had a condo that I was pretty happy with, in New York.”