by Terri Osburn
No. Snow would never be Vivien. She’d never be a petty, materialistic manipulator who endured her bitter existence with the aid of vodka and tonic.
“Did I miss something?” Caleb asked.
“No,” Snow said, rising to her feet and sliding her arm through his. “I was telling the girls a little about your background.” She loved Caleb and would not be embarrassed or intimidated by who and what he was. Not anymore. “I mentioned you’ll someday run your father’s company.”
As if talking about the weather, Caleb said, “I might own it someday, but that doesn’t mean I’ll have to run it. I’m sure Jackson McGraw will groom someone else for that job, since I’ve refused to do it.”
“What kind of company are we talking about?” Spencer asked.
“McGraw Media,” Caleb said. “Newspapers, TV stations, and a few radio stations around the Southeast.”
“Your family owns all that,” Carrie asked, “and you’re selling ads for the Advocate?”
“My father owns it,” Caleb corrected. “And yeah, I’m selling ads for the local paper. There’s something rewarding about making a living that has nothing to do with who my parents are.”
Relief washed over Snow as she watched their friends process Caleb’s explanation. She wouldn’t be throwing dinner parties for elites wearing suits that cost more than her car, but now she had a new fear. Would these people see Caleb as the same person? As the man who’d joined their community and instantly gave back? If the truth of his background changed that vision, they could always start their life over somewhere else.
The thought took Snow by surprise. In order for Caleb to be happy, she would give up everything she’d built in Ardent Springs. Sell the store, withdraw the offer on the house, and return to Baton Rouge if that’s what it took. Something she should have been willing to do before now.
“I get that,” Spencer said, snapping the line of tension that tightened Snow’s shoulders. “So when our preservation society goes looking for donations, we come to you first?” His brown eyes showed total acceptance, and Snow audibly exhaled.
“I’ll have to ask my wife,” Caleb said, “but if she agrees, then sure.”
“Did you say wife?” Rosie Pratchett asked as she stepped up behind the couch. “Did you two run off and get married without telling the rest of us?”
Lorelei stared at Snow, her blue eyes wide and questioning. Caleb hadn’t said anything to Snow about revealing their state of matrimony. It was one thing to tell the others that he had money, since he’d already shared as much with Miss Hattie, but he should have talked to her first before letting everyone know that they’d been lying to them for weeks.
Before anyone said another word, Snow’s reality shifted into slow motion.
Ignoring Rosie’s question, Caleb dropped to one knee.
“Jumpin’ Jehoshaphat,” Carrie said.
Snow’s left hand shook in Caleb’s warm grasp. He pulled something from his back pocket, never breaking eye contact.
“Snow Cameron,” he said, love clear in his eyes, “will you make me the luckiest man in the world and be my wife?”
She didn’t know how to respond. Though they were already married, Snow had never been proposed to before, especially not in front of an audience. Did she remind him that they were already hitched? Did she say yes and keep up the act? Did it really matter if everyone knew the truth?
No. No it didn’t.
“Yes,” Snow said, the tears falling freely. “Yes-yes-yes!”
Chapter 24
Black Friday wasn’t limited to big cities. No sales calls could be conducted the day after Thanksgiving with most businesses opening early, keeping their doors open late, and dealing with three times their usual volume, freeing Caleb up to help out at Snow’s shop. Which was good, since this was an all-hands-on-deck situation.
“Excuse me, young man,” said a frail voice from his left. “Could you come get something down for me?”
“Of course,” Caleb said. He’d been helping little old ladies all day. On several occasions, the women could have reached whatever bit or bauble they wanted to see, but he never called them on it. Lorelei found this endlessly entertaining, claiming they all wanted to talk to the pretty man.
Caleb had ignored her until a particularly feisty customer waited until his arm was above his head to pinch his ass.
This new one looked tame enough, with her cane and grandmotherly smile. She led him to a display near the back and pointed to a blue vase he was sure had been a shelf lower the last time he saw it. “Here you go,” Caleb said, keeping a grip on the heavy piece so the woman could examine it.
“That’s nice,” she said, touching his arm instead of the merchandise. “You’re such a sweet boy to help me with this.”
If she wanted the vase, she gave no indication.
“Should I set it behind the counter while you look around?” he asked, following Snow’s instructions to encourage as much browsing as possible.
“Nah,” she said, waving the suggestion away with one gnarled hand. “But maybe you should stay with me in case I see something else.”
“Happy to,” he said, searching for Snow in the crowd. At least all the older ladies were short, meaning he could pretty much see over everyone. But before he could spot her, Snow came up behind him.
“Hello, Mrs. Leibowitz. How are you today?” she asked the customer.
“I was having this nice young man help me do some shopping,” the older woman said, holding tight to Caleb’s wrist. “My grandson is in here somewhere, but that boy is useless.”
Caleb gave Snow a pleading look, but she’d already planned to rescue him. “Yes, my fiancé is very nice,” she said, putting emphasis on the fiancé part. “But I’m afraid I need his assistance with something else right now.” She waved to someone to their right, saying, “And here’s Jacob now.” A guy who looked slightly younger than Caleb joined them.
“I’ve been looking all over for you,” Jacob said. Noticing the vase in Caleb’s hand, he added, “You looked at that vase a little while ago and had me put it back on the top shelf. Why didn’t you tell me you wanted it then?”
If Lorelei learned about this one, Caleb would never hear the end of it.
“I’m old,” Mrs. Leibowitz said. “I’m entitled to change my mind.”
“You certainly are,” Snow said, her voice never losing its helpful tone. “You and Jacob keep looking around until you find something you absolutely love. And don’t forget, nearly every item in the store is on sale for fifty percent off, with everything along the back wall discounted even more.”
The older woman walked away with a grumble, leaving her grandson to trail behind.
“Why do I feel like I should have a price tag on my forehead?” Caleb asked.
Snow laughed. “You might as well put it a little lower, since that’s where you’re getting the most attention.” He tugged on a curl in retaliation, and she added, “I really do need you. Mrs. Handleman bought the dresser-turned-vanity for her B&B, and her husband needs your help to get it in his truck.”
“I can do that.” In truth, Caleb was happy to finally be useful. “Is he taking it out the front door?”
“I’ve asked him to pull around to the alley so we can load it out the back. Less shuffling of customers that way.”
After planting a hard kiss on her mouth, Caleb said, “I’m on it,” and charged off toward the back room, taking care not to cross Mrs. Leibowitz’s path.
Snow watched her husband squeeze past a shabby chic display and cut around a Pfaltzgraff china collection on his way to the back room. She couldn’t blame the little old ladies for wanting the hunky guy with the nice butt to give them some attention. So long as the young ladies didn’t get the same idea. Looking down at the beautiful ring on her left hand, she knew she was wearing a silly grin, but Snow didn’t car
e.
“Where is my son?” came a voice from behind her. A voice that could cut glass. Or Snow’s heart out.
Spinning, Snow stood face-to-face with Vivien McGraw, who was looking as brittle and cold as ever.
“What are you doing here?” she asked. Not in her wildest nightmares did Snow expect her mother-in-law to set foot in Ardent Springs, let alone her store.
“My son didn’t even call me yesterday, and I know that’s your doing.” Holding her Kate Spade purse tight against her side as if some small-town mugger might steal it at any moment, she said, “I told you not to do anything stupid. Now where’s my son?”
Determined not to let this woman make a scene and ruin her biggest selling day of the year, Snow kept her voice low. “It’s not as if I kidnapped him. Your son is here of his own free will.”
Vivien raised a brow. “Does he know?”
Three words that hit like a punch to the chest. “No,” Snow answered.
“Get him here,” she demanded. “Now.”
She was not going to do this. Not before Snow had a chance to explain.
“I’m running a business here,” Snow said, bolting for the front of the store. “You can see Caleb this evening.”
“You will not walk away from me, missy,” Vivien said, following Snow and grabbing her by the arm.
“Don’t ever touch me,” she said, anger bubbling to the surface. “This is my store, and you are in my territory now. You have no say here. I told you, this is not a good time and you can see Caleb tonight.”
With a look of derision, the older woman all but snarled, “If you think claiming some kind of home field advantage puts you in charge, you’re sadly mistaken. Now I didn’t come all the way up here to wait around. Where is Caleb?”
“He isn’t here,” Snow said between clenched teeth.
But before Vivien could make another demand, they were interrupted.
“Mother?” Caleb said. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m here to put an end to this,” his mother said, with the same voice she’d used when he was ten and she’d caught him making cookies with the new cook. Whom she proceeded to fire immediately.
“Have you lost your mind?” he asked. A question to which the answer seemed blatantly obvious. “And keep your voice down before you cause a scene.”
“This piece of trash has manipulated you long enough,” Vivien said.
“I’m the manipulator here?” Snow said.
Caleb stepped close enough to his mother to see the red lines in the whites of her eyes. In a deadly voice, he said, “Snow is my wife, and if you ever call her a piece of trash again, you can forget you have a son.”
Eyes a shade lighter than his own flared wide. “Your wife used me and made a fool out of you at the same time. When are you going to wake up and see the truth?”
“That’s enough,” Snow said. “If you’re going to insist on having this out right now, we’ll do it in the back room.” She motioned for Caleb to lead the way, with his mother between them. As soon as they were out of sight of the customers, Snow took his hands. “Caleb, I promise, I can explain everything.”
“Give it up,” Vivien said, pulling her expensive coat tight across her chest. “You can’t lie your way out of the mess you’ve made anymore.” Turning to Caleb, she said, “I’ve known where your wife was the entire time she’s been gone. She made me swear not to tell you and threatened to drag us through an endless divorce.”
“That’s not true!” Snow said. “You kept the secret because you wanted to.”
Caleb didn’t know whom to respond to first. His mother had known?
“I would never lie to my son about something so important,” his mother defended. “You used your threats to get what you wanted. You made me pass those messages to your mother to save her from having to lie, but you had no hesitation in making me betray my son.”
“You can’t believe her, Caleb. It wasn’t like that.”
He wanted to believe Snow, but how could he not believe his own mother? “Did she send messages to your parents?”
A cry escaped Snow’s lips. “Yes, she did. But not because I threatened or forced her.”
Staring at the floor, Caleb struggled to process what was happening. His mother had known where his wife was. All the phone calls home with updates on where he’d looked. Leads he’d gotten. All the times she’d encouraged him to file for divorce on the grounds of abandonment, and she’d known.
“How could you do it?” he asked the woman who’d given him life. “How could you lie to me all that time?”
“I didn’t have a choice,” she answered. “She threatened to take everything.”
No threat would have frightened Vivien McGraw. “As you’ve said yourself. We keep the best lawyers on retainer to handle these kinds of situations. She never would have gotten a penny, and you know it.” Stepping closer, he demanded, “So why did you lie?”
His mother stuttered. “I . . . I was protecting you.”
“From what?” he asked. “From finding the woman that you didn’t want me to marry? From being happy?”
“From being hurt,” she said. “From finding out that there was another man.”
“How dare you?” Snow wanted to lash out at this hateful woman who would do anything to get her way. “That’s a lie and you know it.”
“I saw him,” she said, cutting her eyes to Snow. The loathing in their blue depths made the younger woman step back. “He was waiting outside that night.”
“You’re out of your mind.” That had to be the answer. What kind of a person would tear her own son apart like this? “There was no one outside that night. Tell him you’re lying.”
She had yet to learn the source of Caleb’s strong feelings about cheating, but Snow understood what Vivien’s accusation meant. Infidelity was the one thing that could take Caleb away from her. The one thing Snow never feared because she knew she had never and would never cheat on her husband.
With a steady gaze, Vivien continued to lie. “Someone must have dropped him off. She ran to him the moment she was out of the house, and then they drove off together in her car.”
Caleb’s eyes were on her face, but it was as if he were looking through her. “You have to listen to me,” Snow pleaded. “There was no one else. There’s never been anyone else.”
“I can’t do this,” he said, pulling away from her.
Vivien went in for the kill. “I saw him with my own two eyes. She left you for another man and forced me to betray you. She tried to turn your own mother against you, and now she’s taking you away from your family. Staying here means falling for her endless manipulations. What’s going to happen when she finds another man? Do you really think she won’t leave you again?”
Snow ignored her mother-in-law, keeping her focus on Caleb. The more he backed away, the more she followed. When he reached the wall, she took his face in her hands and made him look at her. “I love you, Caleb. I always loved you. There’s no one else and there never was. You know I’m telling the truth. Look in my eyes. You have to see that I’m telling the truth.”
He wanted to believe her. She could feel it in his grip on her arms. See it in his eyes. But Vivien had planted doubts. She was making him choose between them, and knew she had the upper hand. As if determined to fire the final shot, his mother played her last card.
“You’ve watched me be made a fool of, Caleb. Don’t let her do to you what your father has done to me. Come home and we’ll put an end to this entire episode.”
Episode. As if Snow was nothing more than a bad plot twist in Caleb’s life.
“Please,” Snow begged. “Don’t let her destroy what we have. This is real, Caleb. I love you.”
Seconds passed, and Snow clung to hope. The hope that he would see his mother for the liar that she was. But then he pushed her a
way.
“I need to think,” Caleb said, and disappeared out the back door.
Once the shock of Caleb leaving wore off, Snow turned on Vivien. “How could you do that to him? He’s your son!”
“And that’s why I have to protect him from women like you,” she said, looking for all the world as if she’d just purchased a toaster and not destroyed her own offspring.
“Caleb is out there hurting, trying to decide which of the women in his life is lying to him,” Snow said.
Vivien didn’t look the least bit concerned. “I’m his mother. He’s never going to doubt me.”
“Wake up, Vivien. This isn’t your stupid country club.” As her mother-in-law turned to leave the storeroom, Snow cut her off. “This is the real world, where money doesn’t always win. You think you’re so damn important because you can buy whatever you want, but you can’t buy yourself a soul. Or a heart. Or your son once he figures out that I’m the one telling the truth.”
With a tilt of her head, Vivien said, “It’s cute that you think my son will choose you over me, but that’s never going to happen.”
“He’ll choose a bitter, cold woman with nothing to cling to but her fancy purse and a bottle of gin? Not likely. This world will continue to spin whether you’re here or not. And Caleb and I will be happy long after you’re gone.” Snow stepped aside to clear the path. “What you did was guarantee that your son will never speak to you again. And though I’m sure you’ll blame me for that, rest assured, we both know that was all you. Now get the hell out of my store.”
Though the armor was still up, Snow had landed a shot hard enough to make the woman waver on her feet. Her mouth pinched into a tight knot, Vivien McGraw kept her head up as she marched through Snow’s Curiosity Shop. If she had any heart at all, she might regret what she’d done. She might even find Caleb and confess her lies.