by Kristi Gold
Another sad subject he didn’t want to address. “My father talks about my mother all the time, even after eighteen years, and look where he is now. Living alone and unable to work because he’s drinking himself into an early grave.”
“Lately all signs point to you heading right down the same path, Matt.”
Overcome with searing anger, he snatched his shirt from the floor and yanked it over his head. “I don’t have to listen to this.”
He headed out of the bedroom and opened the French doors with so much force, he rattled the glass. After he stepped onto the deck, the porch light came on and he glanced behind him to find Rachel standing in the doorway, looking as frustrated as he felt. He stopped and turned to present his ultimatum. “The ball’s in your court now. As soon as you decide what you want, give me a call. Until that time comes, I won’t bother you again.”
With that, he strode back down the path leading to the gate, only managing a few steps before Rachel called his name. He almost kept going, but die-hard habits brought him around to face her again. “What?”
She lowered her eyes. “I already know what I want.”
Her somber tone told him he might not want to hear it. “Then tell me, Rachel, because I swear to God, I don’t know anymore.”
Finally she brought her attention back to him, her dark eyes again filled with tears. “I want a divorce.”
Those were fightin’ words, and he wasn’t ready to wave that white flag just yet. “Well, princess, here’s a first. You just might not get what you want.”
CHAPTER THREE
“ARE YOU ABSOLUTELY SURE you want to do this?”
Rachel regarded Savannah from across the mahogany desk, on the verge of saying no and leaving the law office immediately. But her inability to resolve her marital problems kept her planted in the chair. “I’m not sure about much of anything these days. I only know I have to do something.”
Savannah leaned forward, her hands laced together atop the desk, looking every inch the serious, successful attorney. “Does Matt even know you’re contemplating a divorce?”
“I told him I wanted a divorce two weeks ago,” she said. “He came by the night we all got together at the pond, shortly after you and Jess dropped me off.”
“And his response was?”
“He said that I might not get what I want. But I haven’t heard a word from him since, so maybe he’s accepted it.” And that made her incredibly sad. She’d expected an ongoing battle, more effort to win her over. Perhaps he didn’t see any reason to fight. Perhaps he was right.
Savannah straightened a few files and set them aside. “First of all, I can’t represent you in a divorce.”
Not the news Rachel wanted to hear. “I thought you decided to practice general law, not just corporate law, when you moved here from Chicago.”
“I did, and I am, and that unfortunately includes the occasional divorce. But you and Matt are my friends, and if I represented you, I’d be taking sides. I won’t do that.”
Savannah’s loyalty didn’t exactly surprise Rachel. It did disappoint her. “What if Matt agrees to the divorce and it’s only a matter of filing the appropriate paperwork?”
“That would depend on whether you and Matt can equitably divide your assets on your own. That’s going to be impossible if he isn’t on board with it.”
The assets wouldn’t be a problem, at least as far as she was concerned. “I don’t plan to ask him for much of anything. He can have the house and the clinic. I have my own money.”
“Have you thought about calling him and discussing this?” Savannah asked. “Better still, you should consider meeting with him face-to-face.”
The last time they were face-to-face, they’d ended up body-to-body. She couldn’t let Matt sweep her off her feet and back into bed again. “The thought of seeing him is too painful. We keep going around and around and we never seem to get anywhere.”
“Do you still love him, Rachel?”
“Yes,” she answered without hesitating. “But that can’t be all there is to it. I wish it could be.”
Savannah sighed. “I’m getting married in less than a month and I’m watching the most solid couple I know fall apart. If your marriage isn’t going to last, I wonder if the rest of us stand a chance.”
She reached across the desk and patted Savannah’s hand. “If you and Sam didn’t fall out of love after being apart well over a decade, then you’re meant to be together.”
“I hope you’re right.”
So did Rachel. “And I hope you’ll agree to my next request.”
Savannah narrowed her eyes. “Something tells me I might not care for it.”
Probably not, but she had to ask. “Would you at least file the papers and have Matt served? Maybe then he’ll realize I’m serious.”
Savannah frowned. “Are you using this as some sort of a wake-up call?”
“I suppose you could say that. If he’s not willing to work on our marriage after he has the proof in hand, then I’ll go ahead with the divorce.”
“Let me just caution you, Rachel. When you bandy about the word divorce, it’s always going to be hanging out there. You can’t take it back, even if you and Matt decide to reconcile.”
A chance she would have to take. Matt might be too stubborn and had too much pride to agree to her terms for reconciliation. He didn’t believe he had a drinking problem, nixed counseling altogether and he couldn’t commit to having another child. “I realize this is extreme, but he hasn’t given me much choice.”
“I still can’t represent you,” Savannah said after a brief pause. “But I will agree to file the preliminary documents, as long as you are absolutely positive this is the right thing to do.”
Right, maybe not. Necessary, definitely. “I’m as sure as I can be. It’s do-or-die time for Matt.”
Savannah removed her glasses and pinched the bridge of her nose. “All right. As soon as I have the paperwork finished, I’ll call you in to sign the forms. I should have everything completed by this afternoon, and I’ll have them served to Matt on Friday.”
Only two days away. She hadn’t expected it to be so quick. “There’s no waiting period in terms of how long we’ve been separated?”
“There’s no statutory requirement in this state that requires you to be separated at all prior to filing for divorce. And since you have been apart for a few weeks, I’m going to assume you haven’t done the deed. And if you haven’t done the deed, then there’s no reason to believe you’ll be involving a child.”
Rachel couldn’t issue a denial, nor could she look at her friend.
“Rachel? Is there something you’re not telling me?”
She shrugged. “Matt and I did have a little post-separation sex, so I suppose it’s possible I could be pregnant, but not very likely.”
Savannah’s mouth momentarily dropped open. “When did this happen?”
She felt like an errant teenage girl who’d gotten caught parking with her boyfriend. “The night I asked him for the divorce.”
“And if you are pregnant, when do you plan to tell him?” When Rachel again failed to respond, Savannah added, “You would tell him, right?”
“I don’t know what I would do.” And she truly didn’t. “But I don’t see any reason to borrow trouble right now. There probably won’t be anything to tell.”
“I have something else I want to ask you.” Savannah tapped a pen on the desk in rapid succession before putting it down. “Do you remember that night we got together at Rudy’s, not long after I came back to town?”
How could she forget? That was the night she’d made the pregnancy announcement to her friends. “I remember it well.”
“You said something that’s been bugging me for almost a year. You said you decided to get pregnant, not we decided. I’ve wondered if you took matters into your own hands.”
That secret had been a burden she’d carried for months. One burden she’d like to ease among all the others. “I mi
ght have forgotten to take a pill or two.”
“Forgotten?”
“Okay, I intentionally forgot to take them. I thought that if I let nature take its course and I got pregnant, he’d get used to the idea. I even hoped he’d be happy about it.” And she had been so very, very wrong.
“But Matt still doesn’t know it wasn’t an accident?”
“What would be the point, Savannah? It’s done. I got pregnant and I lost my baby.” Logical or not, she’d worried that losing Caleb was some sort of karmic punishment for deceiving her baby’s father.
“But Matt knows you aren’t on the Pill this time,” Savannah said.
“Yes, he knows.” His reaction was still fresh on her mind. “And that’s part of the problem when it comes to our marriage. I want another baby, and he doesn’t. In fact, I’ll never know if he really wanted Caleb.”
“Of course he wanted him, Rachel. Matt’s a good man.”
A good man who had no desire to be a father. “None of that matters now. I have to focus on the future, with or without him.”
“And you’re prepared for a future without him?”
She might never be prepared for that, even if she was capable of making it on her own. “Let’s just take it one step at a time and file the papers. I’ll decide what I’m going to do after that.”
Yet her biggest concern involved Matt and his reaction when he learned what she had done. She would simply hope for the best—and expect the very worst.
* * *
“HEY, MATT, ARE YOU in here?”
The question echoed down the barn aisle at the same time he slid the needle into the mare’s neck. Startled more by the voice than the injection, she tossed her head and sidestepped to the left, nearly throwing Matt off balance. Only years of experience and well-honed skill saved him from going down and being trampled by a skittish horse. A pregnant skittish horse. Being put out of commission was the last thing he needed. Right now, his job happened to be the only thing keeping his mind off his problems.
He managed to calm the mare enough to withdraw the needle, keeping a firm grip on the halter with his free hand in case she decided to bolt again. Fortunately the hay bag gained her attention just as his friend showed up outside the stall.
“Got a minute?” Chase asked.
The question irritated Matt to no end. Then again, everything irritated him these days. He capped the needle, opened the stall door and set the syringe down on the supply cart until he could properly dispose of it. “A minute’s about all I have. I’ve got to get out to the Bailey farm and vaccinate some heifers.”
Chase peered into the stall at the mare. “Nice little bay. Who does she belong to?”
“Sam. She’s bred to his stud and due to foal in the next few weeks.”
“I thought Sam stopped breeding that old stud a few years ago.”
He really didn’t care to get into this right now. “This one’s going to be the last in the line, and Rachel’s birthday present. If my wife ever comes home. I’m not sure that’s going to happen.”
“You could be right about that.”
The comment threw Matt, considering his friend’s “fight for your wife” speech delivered only days ago. “Thanks for the vote of confidence. Did you come all the way out here to chastise me about that little scene me and Rachel made at the pond?”
Chase suddenly became preoccupied with the ground. “Actually, I’m here on official business.”
That explained why his friend was dressed in his uniform, but it didn’t explain what that official business entailed. He’d bet the ranch that it involved his dad. “Let me guess. My father’s back in jail and you’re looking for someone to bail him out.”
“This isn’t about Ben.” Chase offered him a tan legal-size envelope. “Savannah asked me to give you this. Right now I’m supposed to say, ‘You’ve been served,’ but I’m going to make an exception and just say I’m sorry.”
Matt stared at the envelope a few seconds before taking it. Maybe some disgruntled animal owner had decided to sue him for no good reason, but he couldn’t think of one person in Placid who had ever threatened him with legal action. He could think of someone who had threatened him, but not over his practice. The possibility that this could be Rachel’s doing made him sweat.
He undid the clasp and opened the envelope to end the suspense, only to discover his worst fears had been confirmed. Divorce papers—signed by his wife.
The anger began to build, coming from a deep, dark place that made Matt want to put his fist through the stall door. Instead, he held the documents up and turned his fury on his friend. “Did you say Savannah had something to do with this?”
He hated the sympathy in Chase’s expression, in his tone when he said, “She decided to bypass the usual process server and let me do the honors. She was worried about how you might react, and she figured I could keep you calm.”
A fifth of whiskey couldn’t calm him, although he wouldn’t mind trying it. But first things first.
Matt took off down the aisle and headed straight out the barn door, not even bothering to stop when Chase called, “Don’t do anything stupid, Matt.”
Stupid would be to do nothing. Stupid would mean lying down and letting Rachel run over him. The least she could’ve done was to inform him before she dropped the divorce bomb. He deserved that much. But she had told him that night at the guesthouse that this was what she wanted. And like a fool, he’d chosen not to believe her. He’d also decided to give her some space for the past two weeks. Enough time to realize what they’d been missing since they’d been apart. Obviously she didn’t give a damn about the lovemaking. Well, all of it mattered to him, and he planned to tell her that immediately.
He jumped into the truck, tossed the papers onto the passenger seat and tore down the drive past Chase’s cruiser, spewing dust and gravel in his wake. When he reached the highway, he planned to turn left and head to the Wainwright estate to confront her. Instead, he took a right toward town when he realized she wouldn’t let him into the guesthouse, provided she even answered the door. Or she could have her daddy standing guard at the gate. A confrontation with his father-in-law would definitely send him over the edge. He decided having a sit-down with the architect of this whole mess might be a good place to start.
He made it onto Main Street in record time, whipping into the parking space in front of what once was the old five-and-dime store, which now served as Savannah Greer’s law office. After grabbing the papers, he left the truck and pushed through the wooden door, expecting to find a receptionist waiting to receive him. Instead, he discovered Savannah leaning against the reception desk, not looking at all surprised to see him. Apparently the deputy had called ahead and given her fair warning. Traitor.
Matt held up the papers now fisted in his hand. “Want to explain this?”
She glanced to her left where Ike Wilkins was kicked back in a chair in the corner, hands folded on his big belly. “Mr. Wilkins, I’ll be right with you. Matt, you come with me.”
“Not a problem, Savannah,” Ike said. “Looks like the doc’s got bigger fish to fry than me.”
Great. Now the whole town would know about the vet’s legal issues and start speculating. But they’d never guess in a million years that a divorce was in the works. A divorce he didn’t want and planned to fight.
He followed Savannah into a small corridor, where she showed him into a room containing a conference table lined with four chairs. As soon as she closed the door and faced him, he made her the target of his wrath. “How in the hell could you let Rachel do this?”
“First of all,” she began, “Rachel has a mind of her own. Secondly, I tried to discourage her from proceeding without discussing this further with you. And you and I both know that if you push too hard, she’ll only dig her heels in and push back even harder.”
How well he knew that. He began to pace with restlessness, helplessness, and paused to stare out the window onto the street. “This still isn�
��t fair, blindsiding me like this.”
“I know. I’m sorry, Matt. I wish there was something I could do to make this process easier on you.”
He turned back to Savannah. “There is something. Call Rachel and tell her to come here and tell me to my face why she’s so damned set on throwing away a thirteen-year marriage. She owes me that much.”
Savannah planted both palms on the table and leaned into them. “It’s probably a good idea you calm down before you talk to her. You should go home and give her a call tomorrow.”
He pulled back a chair, sat and folded his arms. “I’m calm enough. Since she probably won’t take my calls, and my father-in-law wouldn’t take too kindly to me camping on the doorstep, I’ll just wait here until you call and get her down here. You don’t even have to tell her I’m here.”
She looked away. “She knows you’re here, because she’s in my office.”
That just made him mad all over again. “And you didn’t say anything?”
“She asked me not to unless absolutely necessary.”
He released a cynical laugh. “Is she hanging around, expecting a show?”
“As a matter of fact, yes. She assumed you’d probably come here first and she’s worried you might react badly. She insisted on running interference if you gave me a hard time.”
He wanted to give only one person a hard time, and she was in the next room. “Let her know that I’m not leaving until she sees me.”
Savannah sighed. “I’ll ask if she’ll see you, but I can’t guarantee she will. And if she does decide to meet with you, you have to promise not to go ballistic. I’d hate to have to call Chase to haul you out of here.”
Since he could dig in his heels just like his wife, it would probably take Chase and half the sheriff’s department to remove him. “I’m not going to cause a scene. I only want a few minutes of her precious time.”
“Okay,” she said. “I’ll be back, either with or without her.”
After Savannah left the room, Matt got up and paced some more. He didn’t have a clue what he would do other than demand an explanation. But he didn’t require one. He already knew what she would say, because she’d already said it. And as Savannah said, she wasn’t going to give in, especially if he pressed too hard.