Demanding His Brother's Heirs

by Michelle Celmer

  “He lied to me,” she said, still shaking her head in disbelief. She looked up at Jason, and in her eyes he could see anger and hurt and a whole lot of confusion. “Why would he do that?”

  Jason had asked himself that same question a million times. His brother was dead, and Jason was still cleaning up his messes. He would make amends on Jeremy’s behalf. As he had done so many times in the past.

  “Maybe I could come in and we could talk,” he said, as it was a little awkward crouched down, half in, half out of the apartment. They clearly needed to get a dialogue going so he could assess the damage. However Jeremy had wronged this woman, Jason would fix it.

  “Yes, of course,” she said.

  He rose to his feet and held out a hand to help her. “Need a boost?”

  She nodded and, clinging firmly to his hand, slowly rose. She was taller than he’d expected. Maybe five-seven or -eight, putting her at his chin level. She was also excessively thin to the point of looking gaunt, with dark hollows under her eyes.

  Jason felt a twinge of reservation. Was she strung out and in need of a fix? Had she supplied drugs to his brother, or had it been the other way around?

  Whoa. Wait a minute.

  He took a mental step back. He didn’t know anything about this woman. It wasn’t fair to assume she was into drugs just because his brother had been. That would be guilt by association, of which he himself had been a victim.

  She wobbled slightly and he gripped her forearm with his other hand to steady her. “Take it slow.”

  Still dazed and looking pale, she said, “Maybe I should sit down.”

  “That’s probably not a bad idea.” She teetered on long slender legs encased in distressed, figure-hugging denim as he helped her to the sofa several feet away. That was when he saw the mostly empty baby bottles on the coffee table.

  Jesus. His brother had sunk low enough to prey on a single mother? She wasn’t wearing a wedding ring.

  The idea made Jason sick to his stomach.

  He sat on the edge of the coffee table across from her, close enough to catch her if she passed out again. “Have you known Jeremy long?”

  “A little over a year.”

  “And you two were...involved?”

  She frowned. “He didn’t tell you that he was married?”

  Married? Jeremy? That was truly a shock. “No, he didn’t. I haven’t talked to my brother in more than five years. Since our father cut him off.”

  “Then you don’t know about the boys.”

  “Boys?”

  “Our sons. Devon and Marshall.”

  Two

  If Jason hadn’t already been sitting, the news would have knocked him off his feet. As it was, he felt as if someone had stolen the breath from his lungs.

  He’d come here hoping to find a personal memento that would remind him of his brother. An article of clothing, maybe a photograph or two.

  Never in his wildest dreams had he expected to find offspring. “My brother had children?”

  “Twins.”

  “How old?”

  “Nearly three months.”

  Oh, Jeremy, what have you done? “I’m sorry. I had no idea.”

  “So the boys have a real family? Aunts and uncles and cousins?”

  She looked so hopeful he hated to burst her bubble. From the shadows under her eyes, and her painfully thin appearance, he was guessing life hadn’t been kind to her lately. “We have distant relatives in the UK, but I’m the only one of our immediate family left.”

  “Oh. I don’t have family, either, so I thought...” Her obvious disappointment tugged his heartstrings. But then she took a deep breath and forced a smile. Maybe she wasn’t as fragile as she appeared. “But they do have you to tell them about their father. You probably knew Jeremy better than anyone.”

  Most of the time he felt as if he hadn’t known Jeremy at all. Not since they’d been kids at least. “What exactly did he tell you about our family?”

  “He told me that he had no family. He said he was orphaned as a toddler and grew up in the foster system.”

  Foster system? Nothing could have been further from the truth. But that was typical for Jeremy.

  Jason tamped down the anger building inside him. “What else did he tell you?”

  “That he was sick as a child, and because of his illness no one wanted him.”

  Jason’s hackles stood at attention. “Did he say what sort of illness he had?”

  “Cancer. He always feared it would come back.”

  Jason ground his teeth and tried to keep his cool.

  “Jeremy did not have cancer. Nor did he grow up in foster care.”

  They had been raised by their biological parents in a penthouse apartment in Manhattan. There was little he and his brother wanted that they hadn’t received. Maybe that had been part of the problem. Jeremy had never had to work for anything.

  “He lied to me?” she asked, looking so pale and dumbfounded he worried she might pass out again. “Why?”

  “Because that’s what Jeremy does.” He paused and corrected himself. “Or did.”

  A flash of pain crossed her face, and he felt like a jerk for being so insensitive. She obviously had cared deeply for his brother. But if their marriage was anything like his brother’s past romantic relationships, this poor woman didn’t know the real Jeremy. “They determined that it was an accidental overdose?”

  Teeth wedged into her plump lower lip, she nodded. Her voice was unsteady when she said, “It was a lethal mix of prescription medication.”

  Jeremy would ingest just about anything that gave him a buzz, but prescription meds had always been his drugs of choice.

  “You don’t look surprised,” she said.

  “His addiction was the reason our father cut him off. The arrests, the months he spent in rehab... Nothing helped. He didn’t know what else to do.” Their father had exhausted every connection he had to keep Jeremy out of jail, when incarceration might have been the best thing for him.

  “Why didn’t I see it?” she asked, and in her eyes Jason saw a pain, a confusion, that he knew all too well.

  “He was good at hiding it.”

  “At first I thought he was sleeping.” Her eyes welled and she inhaled sharply, blinking back the tears. “They tried to revive him, but it was too late.”

  “There was nothing you could have done. I know it’s difficult, but please don’t blame yourself.”

  “That’s easy for you to say.”

  “No, it’s not.” The way Jeremy behaved was in fact partly due to Jason, and he would never let himself forget that. Although, parallel with the pain of Jeremy’s death flowed the relief that he would never hurt anyone again. He wouldn’t be around to break his wife’s heart. His children would be spared the pain of watching their father self-destruct. His wife was young and pretty, so it was unlikely she would stay single for long. Though the idea of another man raising his brother’s children burned like a knife in his side. If anyone was going to take on the responsibility of raising Jeremy’s kids, it would be Jason.

  He opened his mouth to address her and realized he didn’t even know her name. Nor had he told her his. “In all the excitement we weren’t properly introduced,” he said.

  That earned him a cautious smile. “I guess we weren’t. I’m Holly Shay.”

  “Jason Cavanaugh.”

  He offered his hand and she shook it, hitting him with another confused look. “Cavanaugh? But Jeremy said his last name—” She caught herself, shaking her head in disbelief. “But it wasn’t Shay, was it? That was a lie, too.”

  “You’re not the first woman with whom Jeremy—” He hesitated, searching for the least painful explanation “—misrepresented himself.”

  “So ou
r relationship, our marriage, it was all one big lie?”

  Now she was getting the idea. “Have there been financial repercussions?”

  She hesitated, but the brief flash of fear and desperation in her eyes was all the answer he needed. Cheating strangers was one thing, but to con his own wife, the mother of his children? “How much did he take you for?”

  She lowered her eyes, and when she didn’t answer he asked, “Did he leave you in debt?”

  With her lip wedged firmly between her teeth, she nodded.

  “Considerable debt?”

  Again, no answer.

  “You can tell me the truth. It isn’t going to upset me or hurt my feelings. I accepted a long time ago the sort of man my brother had become. Nothing you can say will shock me.” Sadly, that was the honest truth.

  She finally looked him in the eye, chin held high, and said, “I’m devastated financially. The only thing of value that I have left is my wedding ring. If it’s even a real diamond.”

  At the mention of a ring Jason sat up straighter. Could it be possible? “Can I see it?”

  “I have it right here actually.” She reached into the front pocket of her jeans and pulled out the ring. Jason’s heart skipped a beat. And here he’d thought that was gone forever, too. Traded for cash or drugs or God knew what else. He’d be damned if Jeremy had had a conscience after all.

  “It’s definitely real,” he told her.

  “How can you tell?”

  “Because this ring belonged to my mother.”

  * * *

  Holly was so screwed.

  That ring had been her only hope to claw her way out of this financial abyss, but knowing that it had belonged to Jason’s deceased mother she couldn’t sell it now. She wouldn’t be able to live with herself.

  “Jeremy was the oldest by seven minutes, so when our mother died it went to him,” Jason said. “It’s been in our family for generations.”

  And that’s where it should stay.

  With a heavy heart, she held out the ring to Jason. “You should have this back.”

  “You’re Jeremy’s wife,” he said. “The mother of his children. It belongs to you now.”

  If only that were true. She may have been his wife, but she obviously hadn’t had a clue who he was. “Please, just take it.”

  Looking uncertain, Jason took the ring. “Are you sure?”

  “Absolutely.”

  The thick platinum band and enormous stones looked so small in his big hand. “Honestly, I figured Jeremy had probably sold it years ago. I never thought I would see it again.”

  He slipped it into the inside pocket of his suit jacket. With it went all of her hopes and dreams of a decent start for her and her boys. What would she do now? File bankruptcy? Go on public assistance? Live in a shelter? Or on the street in a cardboard box?

  Jason must have sensed her distress. His brow furrowed with concern, he asked, “Are you okay?”

  “Fine,” she said, pasting on a good face, the way she had for Jeremy, who’d never questioned the sincerity of her words. He’d believed anything she’d told him if it meant keeping the peace. Especially near the end.

  Jason was clearly not at all like his brother.

  “You don’t look fine,” he said, studying her, his eyes and his face, even his expression, so much like Jeremy’s, but different somehow. “If it’s money you’re worried about, don’t.”

  Someone had to. And talk of her dismal finances was making her uncomfortable.

  “My money issues are really not your problem,” she said, letting him off the hook, thinking that would end the conversation.

  “I’m making them my problem,” he said firmly.

  Whoa. His look said he wasn’t playing around, but neither was she. “That’s not necessary, but I appreciate the offer.”

  It was as if he hadn’t even heard her. “I’ll take care of your debt and give you whatever you need to get back on your feet.”

  Nope, not gonna happen. From the time she’d left her foster home until she’d married Jeremy, she’d survived completely on her own. It hadn’t always been easy, but she’d managed. It was clear now that trusting Jeremy with their finances had been a terrible mistake. One she wouldn’t be making again with anyone else. For all she knew Jason could be like his brother. He seemed genuine, but so had Jeremy. “I can’t let you do that.”

  He watched her intently for several seconds, as if he were trying to decide if he could change her mind. Apparently he didn’t think so. “If that’s what you want.”

  “It is.” She would get by somehow. She always had. Of course, back then, she hadn’t had twin infants to consider.

  “At least allow me to cover the funeral costs,” he said. “I owe Jeremy that much. And his children.”

  If she let him it would shave off a fair chunk of her current financial responsibility. And maybe it would bring Jason closure. Everyone deserved that, right?

  She shoved her pride aside long enough to say, “That would be okay.”

  He looked both sad and relieved. He was extremely attractive, but of course she would think that since he looked just like her husband, whose chiseled features and long lean physique had caught her eye the instant he’d walked into the party where they’d met. She’d never slept with a man on the first date, but she had gone home with him that night.

  The sex itself hadn’t been mind-blowing, but it had been nice. What she’d really liked, even more than the physical part, was just being near him. She’d liked the way his lips moved when he spoke, the inquisitive arch of his right brow. She’d loved the feel of her hand in his. He’d made her feel safe.

  At first.

  Unfortunately, as her pregnancy had progressed and her condition had become more fragile, he hadn’t been able to cope. Instead of taking care of her, assuring her that everything would be okay, she had been the one constantly soothing his anxieties and fears.

  She’d convinced herself that once the boys were born, things would go back to normal. But even after the twins were home from the hospital and out of danger, Jeremy’s temperament had continued to deteriorate until she’d felt as if she had three children and no husband. Some days he hadn’t even gotten out of bed, and he’d begun to resent the twins for taking up all of her time. He’d even accused her of loving the children more than she loved him.

  She’d kept waiting for things to change, for him to go back to being the sweet, sensitive and attentive man she’d married. How could she have known that that man had never existed?

  “If you hadn’t talked to Jeremy in so long, how did you know he’d died?” she asked Jason.

  “I got a call from my attorney. For the first time in five years his allowance went untouched for over a month. I knew something had to be wrong.”

  Holly’s jaw fell and her heart broke all over again. “He had an allowance?”

  “You didn’t know,” he said, and she shook her head, feeling sick all the way to her soul.

  She was beginning to wonder if Jeremy had told her the truth about anything.

  “I apologize if I’m getting too personal,” Jason said. “But where did you think the money was coming from? Did he have a job?”

  “He told me that he had been in a terrible car accident when he was a teenager that permanently damaged his back. He claimed the money was from a lawsuit settlement. But there was no accident, was there? And no settlement.”

  Jason actually cringed, as if it pained him to admit the truth. “Not that I know of.”

  Had any of it been real? Had Jeremy honestly loved her and the boys? Had he even been capable of that kind of love?

  “Will you be staying here, in the city?” Jason asked.

  The idea of how and where she would find an affordable apartment without a job
or money filled her heart with dread. “I—I don’t know. Yet.”

  “I’d like the chance to get to know my nephews. They are the only family I have left.”

  “Of course. I would love that. I’m just... Suffice it to say that things are a little up in the air right now. But as soon as we’re settled I’ll let you know.”

  Though she tried to put on a good face, Jason’s look of skepticism said he wasn’t buying it. He studied her with the same stormy blue eyes as his brother. So alike, yet not. “You have nowhere to go, do you?”

  She squared her shoulders and lifted her chin, saying with a confidence she was nowhere close to feeling, “I’ll find something.”

  “You mentioned selling the ring. Do you have any other resources? Was there life insurance?”

  If only. But that wasn’t his problem. “We’ll get by.”

  “I’ll take that as a no.” He sighed and shook his head, mumbling under his breath. “He left you with nothing, didn’t he?”

  No, he’d left her with something. A big old pile of debt and two very hungry mouths to feed. She lowered her gaze, clasping her hands in her lap so he wouldn’t see that they were trembling. “We’ll manage.”

  “How?”

  She blinked. “Excuse me?”

  “How will you manage? What’s your plan?”

  Good question. “Well... I haven’t figured everything out yet, but I will.”

  When she’d met Jeremy she had just moved to New York and had been staying with the brother of a friend back home in Florida, where she’d been raised. At the time, meeting Jeremy had felt like destiny. But now, with her life in shambles, if it wasn’t for her precious boys, she might have wished she’d never met him.

  * * *

  Though her tone conveyed the utmost confidence, Holly’s eyes told an entirely different tale. Jason could see that deep down she was scared—terrified even—at the prospect of supporting herself and his nephews. But she was clearly in no position to support herself, much less twin infants. And he was in the perfect position to help her. If she would only let him.

  His biggest hurdle would be her pride, which she seemed to possess in excess. But he had learned long ago that there was a very fine line between pride and irresponsibility.