by Amber Lynn
“That doesn’t mean you won’t run into someone and send a telegram or something to let me know it’s over before you hook up with them.”
It was easy to concede Toby was honorable to do that much. Meredith wanted to believe his claims of not going anywhere, but she knew how different things were in the city. Something about the air there made people do stupid things.
“A telegram? I’m pretty sure you didn’t miss that I want you guys to come with me. I have some meetings and such, but I thought we could hit the zoo and some museums. And look,” he said as he climbed on the table next to her and hovered over her so she could see his face. “If you want complete surety that the meetings aren’t some planned rendezvous with the girlfriends you’re worried about, I’m sure I can work something out.”
“Why haven’t you gotten married and settled down? And why in the world would you pick an already-made family to try out?”
She’d wondered about his motives from the very beginning. She stopped short of asking whether he could have his own kids or had some kind of condition that didn’t allow him to have sex. Meredith thought she knew at least part of the latter question. Cuddling on the couch with him had proven a certain appendage between his legs didn’t always slumber.
Toby sighed and moved so he was sitting next to her again, instead of contorting himself to look at her face. They’d had all sorts of serious talks over the last weeks to get to know each other better, but there were still so many things they hadn’t dived into. He probably hadn’t expected that his somewhat simple question about Caleb’s travels would come back to a discussion Meredith had a feeling would reveal everything each of them had been working up the courage to talk about.
She had more than enough skeletons in her closet. If they were going to have any kind of real talk about going to the city, they were going to have to come out. Since she had to share the personal bits of her life, she was digging for something in return.
“I didn’t pick you guys out. I’ve had two serious relationships in my life, and I’m counting this as one of them. I don’t have any great tales of lessons learned or bitterness from things not working out. I’ve just never found myself ready to make any big commitments other than to my job.”
He reached over and grabbed her hand, kissing it gently before wrapping his fingers with hers. Meredith’s only weakness was her kids, but something told her Toby was trying to worm his way into that category. The thought of it scared her to death.
“You know, you talk a lot about how I’m going to hurt you someday. I hope you know that you’re the one with all the power in this relationship. I’ve been crazy about you from the moment we met, as cliché as that sounds. You’re the one who’s made roadblocks and kept me at arm’s reach.”
Meredith still thought that was for a good reason. While she’d been stuck at the doctor’s, she’d done some research, and it wasn’t hard to find pictures of Toby with beautiful women either on his arm or trying to get his attention. The man had his own fan club.
“I’m not sure any of that answered my question. It did make me think of another one, though. Are you only trying to make something work here because your career is over?”
If he was too busy to have a relationship because of hockey, then it made sense that he was just latching on to the first thing he could find. Meredith didn’t want the idea to be true, but she thought Toby had some questions he needed to ask himself.
“Why are you doing this? If I would’ve found someone that I felt even half of what I feel about you back when I could play, I would’ve made an effort. I told you that I tried once, it just didn’t work out. Since then, no one clicked until you. This has nothing to do with my career. It has everything to do with how you make me feel.”
Humming, Meredith thought about ways to segue into what she really wanted to talk about. Hearing him say over and over there was something special about her and skirt around whatever feelings he had was something they did almost every day. He never came out and said he loved her, but she knew those were the words hidden between the lines.
The bad part was, even as she at times tried to sabotage whatever was going on between them, she knew she’d already fallen in love with him. The moment she saw him with Caleb on his hip just after the baby was born was an image engrained in her heart, and she didn’t want it to disappear.
“We still know so little about each other,” she whispered.
She hadn’t meant for him to necessarily hear it, but a squeeze of her hand let her know he did. Meredith sighed as she let her head rest on his shoulder. It was best if she didn’t have to watch his face as she tried to remedy her statement.
“I can’t remember if I ever came right out and said it, but most of my life was spent in that city you want to take me back to.”
“I’m aware of that fact.”
“But something you’re not aware of, in fact no one here has ever been clued in on, not even Lawrence, is that seven years ago, I left a man figuratively standing at the altar and ran as far as I could to get away from him and my family.”
It was a story Meredith never thought she’d share with another person. Just thinking about it brought up so many emotions based in hurt and betrayal that she wanted to take a shovel and bury the story somewhere remote and deep.
Part of her trying to push Toby away was because she didn’t want to tell the story. Unlike Lawrence, if something was going to happen between the pair, Toby deserved to know. He was from New York and had family there, so he needed to know what he was getting into. Meredith didn’t keep track of the news from back home, but she imagined the initial search for her was still a cold case.
Chapter Seventeen
Toby put together based on her pause that he should have some kind of reaction to her leaving a guy at the altar, but he wasn’t sure what she wanted. She didn’t still wear her wedding ring, but she’d been married before, so leaving a guy behind didn’t seem that earth shattering. The part about running from her family was interesting, but didn’t sound out of character.
“Are you worried that you’ll run into them if you come back with me? I know you haven’t been there in years, but you do remember it’s quite a bit bigger than here, right?”
Toby laughed, trying to lighten the mood with his words. It was easy to walk around the city for an hour and never run into someone you knew.
“That’s exactly what I’m afraid of. I ran away from them and the life they wanted me to have. I’ve heard my parents reported that I was kidnapped.”
Meredith scoffed. Toby thought about trying to find something to say, but she was quick to continue. It was good that she was prepared to talk, because he hadn’t expected any of the words coming from her mouth. They didn’t make a bit of difference to him, but they clearly meant something to her if she’d hid the information from even her husband.
“I’ve looked up coverage of their fake sob story, and even if I wanted to go back, I can’t. Between my family and Perry, almost a million dollars has been put up as a reward for information about where I am. Once a year,” Meredith said with a little laughter in her voice, “my mom trots out to the front of her mansion and tells reporters how she hasn’t given up hope. That even though all signs lead to me being dead in a ditch somewhere, she knows I’m still out there and eventually they’ll find me.”
“Perry Wallace?”
Things were lining up in Meredith’s story, helping Toby understand just how crazy the situation was. The man’s name he said had absolutely no emotion behind either word on his part. He shook his head, pretending there had to be something he was missing.
There was no way Meredith could’ve been Perry Wallace’s missing bride. The man owed half of New York, including the team Toby was about to part ways with. It wasn’t that Meredith didn’t deserve all the things that Perry’s money could buy her. The guy was a complete womanizing jackass according to all the tabloids.
“The one and only. When I turned eighteen, my parents
announced I was going to marry Perry. I hadn’t even met him other than at parties. We’d maybe spoken five whole words and I was supposed to leave any dreams I had about going to college and figuring out what I wanted to do with my life so I could marry him.”
The idea made Toby sick. It didn’t surprise him since it was associated with the guy. It just started a battle inside of Toby whether he was going to throw up or punch something.
“I guess you should be lucky they waited until you were eighteen. I’ve heard Perry doesn’t let up when he finds something he wants.”
Toby didn’t remember reading about who Meredith was as far as her family and such, but he assumed they were more than well-off. Perry wouldn’t have wasted time with a wedding if Meredith was just a bombshell from a decent family. He would have charmed her, got what he wanted from her and left her on the side of the road somewhere.
“No, he doesn’t. The way all my friends talked about how envious they were of me, I thought maybe things wouldn’t be so bad. For a few months, I even let myself believe that Perry was a good guy. Maybe he is, but he was so cold to be around. I felt like even in the middle of summer, I needed a parka to keep warm whenever we were together.”
Sighing, Meredith moved to stand up. Toby wasn’t about to let go of her hand, and he didn’t want to keep her in place, so he moved with her. There was part of him that wished he could’ve met the woman who let herself even for a short time think being married to Perry would work out well. As far as he knew, Perry still wasn’t married, but he heard plenty of stories that indicated his life had gone on just fine.
Meredith tried to keep her back to him, but Toby got her to turn around so he could see her face. A trail of tears rolled down her left cheek and solidified the fact that Toby wanted to hit something, preferably Perry Wallace’s pretty boy face.
“You don’t have to say anything else. I get why you can’t go back, and I won’t ask again. I’ll go, get my place on the market, sign whatever paperwork I need to get taken care of and get things wrapped up so I can focus on life here.”
There were a million things that needed to be seen to, all of which seemed a little daunting, but a lot of those things were why Toby kept a lawyer handy. It helped that said lawyer was his brother.
Taking a deep breath, so her cheeks puffed out a little, Meredith shook her head. She did that a lot. Usually, it meant he wasn’t going to like whatever she was about to say.
“What life, Toby? I don’t want to get ahead of myself, but there’s a big difference between me marrying a forty-five-year-old drunk hermit and someone who has a fan club. You have people who care about you and check in on you. Jimmy and Jen are proof to that, and them showing up would’ve probably made me run again if it wasn’t for the fact I had a baby.”
Toby tilted his head slightly and did his own little head shake. There was so much in her statement that needed to be addressed. The fact that he was just finding out she’d married someone over twenty years older than her was interesting, but beside the point.
“If you were scared of my friends, why didn’t you run when I showed up? Why let me keep Caleb while you were stuck at the doctor’s?”
He could have kept on asking the why questions. He understood why she was scared and pushed him away, but there were many instances of contrariness. Not to mention the fact she’d just claimed there was no chance they were getting married. Toby had all sorts of things to say to that, but baby steps were needed.
“I don’t have answers for you. You scare me just as much as anyone else, probably even more. That’s why I’m telling you the truth. I wanted to pretend things could be different, but the more I think about it, the more I realize I have to be alone. They can’t find me.”
“Care to explain? I can understand not wanting to see them, but what does it matter if we decide to get married or something?”
The whole conversation was an enigma, and that was an understatement. The information about her past was a lot to take in at once, but he was confused why it made a difference seven years later.
Rather than answer, Meredith reached up and kissed Toby. She rarely did what he expected, but a kiss in the middle of their conversation took the cake. Actions and words didn’t always go hand and hand for Meredith. Toby wished he could fall into the action and pretend she wasn’t trying to unravel things.
Pushing her away, only a few inches, Toby stared down into her eyes. It was too dark to see them clearly, but the tears hadn’t stopped falling.
“Why are you so afraid of them? It’s been years. I imagine they’d be happy you’re still alive.”
Toby didn’t plan on pushing Meredith to come with him. He trusted that she had good reasons to remain hidden. He just wanted to understand, and potentially help.
“Oh, yeah, they’d be thrilled. I know you’re not his keeper, but I assume you know whether or not Perry’s been married in the last seven years.”
Shaking his head, Toby quickly said he didn’t think so. There was a chance a wedding had been a low-key affair, but that was highly unlikely. The guy was seen with women on his arms, sometimes both arms, but as far as Toby knew, there weren’t any rings involved.
“Nope. Because if he ever gets married, any hope of owning my dad’s company goes up in smoke.”
“Say what?”
Those words had never been uttered by Toby before, but they seemed appropriate. Drama, like the kind he appeared to have just jumped into, wasn’t something Toby dealt with on a daily basis. He had his share of flings that people paid more attention to than he wanted, so he wasn’t a saint, but where the conversation appeared to be heading was straight out of a soap opera or something.
“I haven’t been there to verify, but I’m pretty sure he’s still interested in the contract that was drawn up for our marriage. He’s got to be in his mid-thirties by now, and someone with that much money and power doesn’t stay single unless there’s something keeping them from being married.”
“What in the world does this contract say?”
Toby couldn’t help interrupting. He was sure Meredith would eventually get to that detail, but she’d been married and had a family, so there didn’t seem a reason to still be concerned over an old marriage contract of some sort. What Toby really wanted to do was climb into Meredith’s head so he could figure out what in the world was going on up there.
“It was twelve pages of tiny type, so I didn’t read the whole thing. And of course, I was eighteen, so my knowledge of legal mumbo jumbo was limited. All I know are the parts that say we get married, I provide him with at least one heir and the companies will merge, with him as the majority owner.”
Meredith didn’t exactly smile, but it sort of looked like one that claimed she’d somehow warned him. Toby was more interested in the pages of small print and what loopholes were available. She clearly thought the contract was still intact, even after running away, so focus had to be either on running farther away or finding a way out of the contract. If she was so concerned about being found, staying in the state didn’t make a lot of sense.
Running wasn’t exactly Toby’s style. He wouldn’t mind spending the rest of his life on some tiny island with Meredith and the kids, but he didn’t like the idea of her looking over her shoulder for some demon to pop up.
“Am I reading between the lines right that him marrying someone would break the contract, but you doing so and having kids hasn’t? That makes no sense.”
The quick nod in response wasn’t what Toby wanted to see. He’d hoped that maybe if she was married the contract couldn’t be forced on her. They weren’t exactly ready for that commitment, given that they weren’t even living together, but a quickie marriage to help her out wasn’t the worst thing Toby could think of.
“The contract was written months before the wedding, and as far as I know, my dad was concerned a business trip on Perry’s side to Italy or France or somewhere would end up with someone sweeping him off his feet. So it does stipulate that I have
to be his first wife, just in case Perry got married for a few seconds before realizing he was an idiot. No one really thought I’d run off and get married, but there was a line that said any such union was null and void if the other party pushed the contract.”
“And yet you ran off and got married anyway. Why bother? They could’ve tracked you.”
There was some padding in the timing that Toby didn’t think Meredith found Lawrence and married him the next day, but he’d guess it was well within a year. He had all sorts of questions building about her choice in husband, and he hoped eventually they’d get to a good spot to ask them.
“Spite more than anything. I almost requested an announcement in whatever paper I could find to rub it in, but like you said, that would’ve been basically lighting a fire and telling them where to look. I flubbed a little on the paperwork, so it was hard to make out the exact date of my birthday and my last name had a typo. I figured if anyone started to search, it wouldn’t pop up.”
“You understand how crazy all of this sounds, right?”
If they weren’t in the middle of nowhere with no power unless a noisy generator provided it, Toby would’ve been looking around for hidden cameras. There had to be someone in the woods waiting to jump out and let him know it was all fake.
“And now you understand why I told you from the beginning that this wouldn’t happen. I don’t know how you crept under my skin, but we need to stop. You keep convincing me otherwise with your voodoo magic, and I can’t do it anymore. I care about you almost as much as I do the kids, which means you have to go. If you don’t, they’ll find me, and my life here will be over.”
“That’s a bunch of crap and we both know it. They aren’t going to magically find you if we’re together. And you haven’t convinced me they could do anything about it if they did. I’m going to head back and take care of the business I mentioned, and while I’m at it, I’m going to get a second opinion. There’s no way they can hold you to some marriage contract made when you were still a kid.”