She stepped toward Amanda and reached for her arm, but Amanda jerked away as if she'd been burned. "Amanda, we have to talk, but now is not the time or place. Let's go home."
"Is that where Sarah is?"
"Cassie's right, Amanda, you need to go. Go home with Cassie." Lissa was at her side, taking Amanda firmly by the arm. When had she come up to them? How many people had noticed what was going on? Cassie shot her a worried look. What if she spilled the beans now? This was not the way things were supposed to happen. She had to talk her sister down now and get her out of there without Jack following along.
Lissa gently guided Amanda back away from the crowd, and she went without an argument. The fight must have gone out of her. She had always been dramatic, but must have had second thoughts about causing such a scene in public. Cassie turned to Jack, who took her face in his hands and searched her eyes. "Are you okay?"
"I am. Just stunned. I've never seen her be so cruel like that. Not ever. It's been years since I've really been around her, though. Her decisions were her choice so I don't understand why she's so angry."
He shook his head slowly. "I don't either. Cassie, you don't need to go home alone. You don't know what she'll do. And she doesn't need to be around Sarah."
"Don't worry about Sarah. She's not at home." Her heart warmed at his concern for her daughter. "And I can handle Amanda. I've dealt with her antics all my life and I know how to calm her down. She's not dangerous. Just stay here and keep an eye on things. We can't all just abandon the party. Besides having you there may only make her more on edge. I'll call you when things have calmed down."
Jack didn't seem to like the idea of her going alone, but thankfully he agreed to stay for now.
She caught up with Lissa halfway down the drive. "Where is she?"
"I tried to stop her, but she left. She said she was going home and for you to meet her there. Cassie, what's going on with her? Do you have any idea why she's here?"
"I don't know. It doesn't make sense to me. She hasn't shown interest in anybody but herself for a long time, so as much as I hate to say it, I'm sure it has everything to do with her and nothing to do with me."
Lissa reached out and hugged her. "Be careful."
"I'm fine, I promise."
Cassie hurried to her car and cranked the engine. She had to figure out what her sister was up to before she ruined everything.
* * *
Jack watched from a distance as Cassie left. He had a nagging feeling again that something wasn't right. Amanda had acted so bizarrely just now. In all the time he'd known her, she had never been so flat out cruel to her sister. Even though it was obvious that he and Cassie were together, she shouldn't have cared. She had left him and never looked back.
He looked around the field and saw that most of the crowd that had gathered near them had dissipated and people were going on about their business. That was good. Just as the judges were taking the stage for the awards ceremony, Jack saw something out of the corner of his eye. A flash of blond hair disappearing inside his guest house. Had Cassie forgotten something?
He made his way over and let himself in. It was dark inside, but he was certain he had seen something.
"Cassie? Are you in here?"
He heard a low, sultry laugh from the corner, and his stomach tensed. Amanda.
Making his way across the room by what little moonlight filtered in, he flicked the light switch when he reached the wall. She was sitting in the overstuffed chair in the living room, waiting. It was as if she'd known he would come in here at some point tonight. How long had she been lurking around to know that?
"Why are you here?" he demanded.
"That's no way to greet your long lost love," she said with a pout. In the past, he would have fallen for that look and given her anything she wanted, but at last her spell over him was broken. Now he wondered how he had been under it for so long. He'd known her to be wild and carefree, but never uncaring and harsh. Especially with her sister. What had dissolved in their relationship that she could be so unfeeling toward her own blood?
"You left me, remember?"
"But now I'm back. I had hoped we could pick up the pieces, but I see that you've replaced me. There really must be something wrong with you to go after my sister. Or maybe you were just so desperate to have me that you'd take the next best thing."
He couldn't believe what he was hearing. How had he ever thought that he loved this woman?
Amanda stood up and walked toward him, the light illuminating her face clearly. The last few years had not been good to her. She looked worn out and used up. If she weren't such a bitch, he might have felt sorry for her.
"Have you been playing house with my sister? Is that what this is for?" She gestured around the guest house. "What about Sarah? Are you enjoying the family you've always wanted?"
"Just stop. I don't need to hear this garbage. What Cassie and I have has nothing to do with you, or with Sarah."
"I wouldn't be so sure of that. You think I don't know you? I know you better than you think. Little Jack Martin, deprived of a mother all his life. All he wants is a family of his own to make up for his own lacking childhood." Her voice taunted him, daring him to respond.
Who was this woman? How had she become so vengeful and bitter in a few short years? Had she always been like this, and he'd never seen it?
"I'm sorry if you don't like it, but I'm in love with Cassie, and I'm pretty sure she loves me too. Not because she has a ready-made family. Sarah is amazing, but I'd love Cassie regardless."
Amanda laughed then and stared at him wide-eyed. "You really have no idea do you?"
He didn't respond because he didn't know what she meant.
"Surely you aren't blind enough to not see that Cassie didn't just adopt some random baby."
"We have things to work through and discuss, but that's really none of your business."
"That's where you're wrong. It has everything to do with me." She took a step closer and looked him dead in the eye and suddenly he didn't want to hear whatever she had to say next. But there was no stopping it now. "Like I said, Cassie didn't just adopt a random baby. She adopted my baby, Jack. Sarah is my baby."
He felt as if he'd been hit over the head with a hammer. His ears were ringing and Amanda's voice was drowned out. All the missing pieces that had been nagging at his brain suddenly shifted and snapped into place. Their breakup, her disappearance, Sarah.
He whipped his eyes up to hers in time to see her smile faintly at his recognition.
"Our baby. Sarah belongs to you."
* * *
Cassie arrived home but found the house dark and the doors locked. Amanda's car wasn't there. Lissa had said she was going home, so why wasn't she there? She wanted to run next door to Mrs. Pettigrew's and check on Sarah but stopped herself. If Amanda showed up, she didn't want Sarah in the middle of it.
Cassie let herself in the back door and went from room to room, turning on lights and making sure Amanda wasn't there. After twenty more minutes had passed, she started to worry. What if Amanda had gotten into a wreck? What if she was lying in a ditch somewhere?
Even though her sister had treated her terribly over the years, she didn't wish anything bad on her. She was still family, after all.
Just as she was about to pick up the phone and call Lissa, headlights flashed through the window as someone pulled into the drive. She ran out the front door in time to see Amanda climb from her car and saunter up the steps.
She pushed past Cassie wordlessly and walked in the front door as if she owned the place. They had grown up here, but this was Cassie's home now. Amanda didn't have any right to behave this way. She trailed behind her sister into the kitchen, wondering what to say next. The whole evening had her off her game and she was scrambling.
"You got anything good to drink in this place?" Amanda asked, rifling through Cassie's refrigerator.
"Even if I did, you don't need anything to drink, except maybe some water."
Without waiting for a response, she filled a glass at the sink and set it on the kitchen table. "What's going on with you, Amanda? Why are you here? And why are you attacking me in public?"
"I need money."
"You need money." That's all Cassie could think to say. Of course. Why else would she be back? It certainly wouldn't be to see her child. She had made it clear when she signed the adoption papers that she wanted nothing to do with Sarah. Still, after all this time, it somehow broke Cassie's heart all over again that a mother could be so disinterested in her own child.
"Yeah I'm in between jobs and I knew you'd help me out."
The rage that had been building in Cassie since she'd first seen her sister exploded out of her. "Will you never stop? All you do is take and take from me. It never ends." All the anger from the past few years began pouring forth and Cassie was powerless to stop it. "You didn't care that I gave up my dream to take care of mom, you've never once offered to do anything for her, and I've sacrificed more than you'll ever know to keep your secret safe. Do you have any idea what you've cost me over the years?"
"Oh, about that. The cat's out of the bag now, so that's one less thing I'm costing you."
Cassie stepped back, stunned. She couldn't have heard her correctly. After all the insistence that she never let a soul know the truth about Sarah, just like that Amanda told her own secret? And she was so nonchalant, as if it were never that important to begin with. Did she really not care? Cassie had gone to such great lengths over this secret, and for what? She hadn't been doing Amanda any favors after all.
The next thought had her trembling. "Who did you tell?"
Amanda rolled her eyes as if she thought Cassie were an idiot. "Jack, of course. Who else cares?"
Cassie was reeling. She really didn't care how much Cassie had given up to keep her precious little secret. To Amanda, it appeared as if it were nothing, but to Cassie it was her whole world, blown to pieces in a matter of moments.
Amanda continued. "You should have seen his face. I thought when I first saw you together tonight that he must know. I mean, really, I can't believe you never told anybody. Of course, I didn't want him to know at first because I thought he'd hound me to settle down when all I really want is my freedom. But now it's been so long and Sarah has nothing to do with me anymore."
Cassie couldn't believe what she was hearing. Amanda was so wrapped up in herself that she didn't care one bit about anyone, not even her sister or her daughter. She wasn't sure why she was still surprised anymore.
"He may not be so ready to play house now that he knows you've been lying all this time," Amanda prattled on.
Her eyes hardened and she glared at the woman she felt as if she hardly knew. Raising her arm and pointing to the door, she said the only words she could think of.
"Get out."
"But I need money. I got kicked out of my apartment and I need a new one. I can't believe you'd let your sister be homeless."
"Amanda, you have done nothing for me. Ever. You only take and hurt people, and cause destruction. You have no idea what damage you've caused. Do you even plan to go see Mom?" Her silence was answer enough for Cassie. "I've had it with you. Go. Now."
Amanda thankfully left without another word and Cassie sunk down on the floor and let her tears loose as a barrage of emotions overtook her. She was in shock, unable to process all that had just happened in the past hour. There was no way Jack was going to be able to forgive her for this. Had she told him herself, it may have been a different story, but now any hope of that was gone. She had lost him, of that she was certain.
After a few moments, she knew she had to pull herself together. She had to face the situation, and she had to be strong for Sarah, first and foremost. She splashed water on her face, then making sure Amanda was in fact gone, she headed next door to collect her daughter. She was already asleep, fortunately, so with a quickly whispered thanks to Mrs. Pettigrew, she carried her home and placed her in bed, then went to sit outside on the swing.
She wasn't sure how long she sat there, her mind numbly going over the scene with Amanda, but she was startled by another flash of headlights. Please don't let her be back for more. I can't take anymore tonight.
She peered out into the dark street and just made out a truck in the shadows of the streetlights, and a man with broad shoulders advancing on her.
Jack.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Jack was halfway up the walk to Cassie's house when he stopped, realizing she was sitting on the porch swing, legs pulled up tight against her chest, head resting on her knees. She looked so vulnerable in that position that his emotions became muddled and he was momentarily unsure of himself. This was the woman he loved, the woman he wanted to spend his life with.
But now everything he thought he knew had changed. He was angry and confused. Amanda had waltzed out of his house as if she hadn't just dropped a bomb on him that sent the pieces of his life and heart scattered around broken. He didn't know how long it had taken him to gather his thoughts enough to figure out his next step.
Hell, he still didn't know what he was doing. All he know was that he needed answers, and the only place he knew to find them was right here with the one woman he thought he could trust above all others. The woman who had just taken that trust and crushed it into the ground.
Attempting to shake off any lingering doubt about her motivation, he marched up the steps and stopped in front of her.
"We need to talk." The coldness of his voice surprised even him.
She lifted her eyes to his, and the fear and shock in her wide-eyed gaze told him everything he needed to know. It was true. He hadn't realized until that instant that he'd been unsure. He'd held out hope that Cassie wouldn't betray him, but now he saw himself for the fool that he was.
"Amanda came to see me."
Cassie nodded almost imperceptibly. "She was here too." Her voice was weak and tired, and he had to fight the urge to take her in his arms. The impulse came too naturally.
"What the hell, Cass? Were you ever planning on telling me?"
"Tonight," she whispered. "I was going to tell you tonight."
He recalled their conversation in the guest house earlier that day. She had said she had something to talk to him about. God, was that just this afternoon? It felt like a lifetime ago. "Where is she? I want to see her."
"She's asleep, inside."
He reached for the door and was pulling it open when Cassie jumped up from the swing, showing the first real signs of life since he'd walked up. "You can't wake her up. She'd be upset, confused. She's really still just a baby."
He turned on her, angry. "You think I'd do that? I'm not going to wake her. I just," he stopped. He just what? He'd not formed any type of plan or thought about anything past the shock of the revelation. "I just need to see for myself."
Cassie searched his face for a moment, then nodded stiffly and walked around him to go in first. She wordlessly led the way to Sarah's room and pushed open the door, going straight to the bed and checking on her first. Then she stepped back, but still hovered at the head of the bed. What was she afraid of? That he was going to throw her over his shoulder and dart out the door? From the look on her face, he thought she just might be.
Jack stepped into the room, holding his breath, and slowly made his way over. Quietly getting down on one knee, he stared at Sarah. He didn't know what he expected to feel, but the wave of tenderness at the sight of her tiny features sleeping blissfully brought a smile to his face. He searched her face for similarities that he may have missed before, but all he saw was a tiny little Cassie.
Sarah shifted in her sleep and he jumped back, afraid he'd disturbed her, but she settled back in and her breathing became slow and steady again. He got slowly to his feet and exited the room, casting another glance over his shoulder. He was in awe that such a perfect little angel was his very own child.
Cassie dropped a soft kiss on her forehead and followed him out of the room, shutting the d
oor behind her. He was so conflicted. Part of him wanted to marvel with her over his newfound discovery of his daughter while the other part wanted to rail at her in anger for keeping her from him all these years.
The anger won out. He stormed off to the kitchen and paced back and forth until she joined him. Whirling on her, he pointed a finger in her face. "How could you do this? How could you keep my child from me?"
She opened her mouth to answer him, but he cut her off before she could give him an excuse. He found he didn't really want to hear one. The fact of the matter was that she had known from the beginning that Sarah was his daughter and she had never made a move to tell him. "You know that family is everything to me. I grew up without a mother, you didn't have your father. You of all people should know what having a child means to me. And you've deprived me of the first two years of her life. I'll never get that back. Do you understand that, Cassie? Never."
Her eyes welled up with tears and overflowed. "I wanted to tell you, but I couldn't. I promised. I've been dealing with so much turmoil ever since you came back."
"Since I came back. A month ago? How about two years ago? How about you never should have kept it a secret in the first place. What did you think, that I would come take her away from you?"
"You don't understand, Jack, that's not the reason. It's a complicated situation. The things Amanda said when she turned up pregnant were... Well, you weren't in my place so you can't know what choices I was given."
"No, I wasn't in your place. Because I wasn't given the opportunity to be." He turned from her, throwing his hands up in disgust. "Even since I've been back, you've done everything you could to keep her away from me. Now it all makes sense. Why you were so uneasy every time I came near her. You were afraid I'd see the truth."
Cassie didn't say anything. She didn't deny any of it.
"You won't keep her away from me anymore, Cassie. I want my daughter."
Return to Love (Willow Valley Book 1) Page 13