Garrett could feel the heat burn in his cheeks. Had his feelings for Mimi been that obvious? “What the hell do you want me to do? Beg her to come back to me?”
“How about just telling Mimi you love her?”
He raked one hand through his hair. “But I’m not the man she wants. I’m not a graduate of some fancy Ivy League university. I drive cattle instead of a Jaguar. I’m more familiar with manure than caviar.” He emitted a mirthless laugh. “I’d no more fit into her world than she’d fit into mine.”
“So you’re just going to let her go?”
“She’s the one who left.” He bit the words out more sharply than he’d intended.
Lana didn’t say anything for a moment. Then she reached out and gently touched his arm. “Sometimes people leave because they feel they don’t have any other choice. I truly believe that’s why our birth mother left us on that doorstep. The point is, you’re not a helpless two-year-old anymore. You don’t have to just watch Mimi walk away.”
“It’s not that simple,” he said softly.
“Only because you’re too stubborn and proud to make it simple.” Lana sighed, then she reached up to kiss his cheek. “I need to go. Just please think about what I said.”
Garrett didn’t say anything. Instead he gave her a warm hug, then walked her to her car. But when he returned to the house, he couldn’t keep from picking up the news clipping once more. Mimi looked different to him somehow. Remote. A world away.
Too far away to find her way back to him again.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
MIMI STOOD ALONE in the anteroom of the chapel, watching the old wall clock silently tick down the last precious seconds of her freedom.
She wore a simple ivory dress with matching pumps, and no veil or jewelry. This wedding might be a sham, but she refused to masquerade as a blushing bride.
Thankfully, she’d convinced her father to invite only immediate family the second time around. He’d insisted on a small reception at the house, though, so she’d have to keep up the pretense for at least an hour after the ceremony.
She closed her eyes, reminiscing about how she’d spent another Saturday night. Garrett had cooked a spaghetti dinner, then they’d taken a moonlit ride to the south pasture to check the cattle. She remembered the way the breeze had ruffled his hair, and how straight and tall he’d sat in the saddle.
“Don’t do this,” Mimi ordered herself, then opened her eyes. Dreaming about Garrett Lord wouldn’t make this any easier. Just the opposite. It almost made her forget the reason, the very important reason, for going through with this wedding. Almost made her give in to the overwhelming temptation to kick off her high-heeled shoes and make a run for it.
A knock at the door put an end to her escape fantasy. Rupert stuck his head inside. “It’s almost time.”
She took a deep breath. “I’m ready.”
She joined her father in the hallway, took his arm, and they walked silently toward the sanctuary. Sunlight streamed from the double glass doors of the chapel, and she could see Paul inside, waiting for her at the end of the long aisle. A middle-aged woman sat by the door, strumming softly on a harp.
Rupert gently squeezed her forearm. “This is it.”
Panic seized her, and she fought the urge to scream.
Her father took one step down the aisle, but Mimi couldn’t move. She let go of his arm, then grabbed the door frame to steady herself.
“Wait,” she gasped, trying desperately to regain her equilibrium. “Just give me a moment.”
Rupert frowned, then whispered, “Don’t you think Paul has waited long enough?”
“No,” said a deep voice behind them. “Not nearly long enough.”
Mimi whirled. “Garrett!”
Garrett nodded toward her father. “Will you excuse us?” Then he turned to Mimi and swept her up in his arms. “We need to talk.”
“No, Garrett,” she cried as he carried her toward the door. “I have to marry him.”
“Hey,” Paul shouted from inside the chapel, “what the hell is going on here?”
But Garrett didn’t stick around long enough to give him an answer. With Rupert still sputtering behind them, he walked briskly out of the chapel and down the long row of steps.
Mimi blinked when she saw his horse tethered to the handrail. “You rode Brutus all the way into Austin?”
“I thought we might need a quick getaway.” Garrett lifted her into the saddle, then loosened the reins.
The chapel door slammed open, and Paul strode down the steps two at a time, her father close behind him. But they were too late. Garrett swung up behind her and spurred the horse into a gallop. He held the reins in one hand. His other hand was firmly around her waist, keeping her safe.
Tears stung her eyes as they raced away from the chapel. She’d dreamed of some type of rescue every night for the past week. But this was only a short reprieve. She couldn’t afford to run away again.
Not at the expense of her child.
“I have to go back,” she shouted, but either the wind or the noise of the traffic or his own stubbornness prevented him from hearing her.
They were several blocks from the chapel when Garrett finally slowed his horse. A pristine brick building stood before them, surrounded by a lush blanket of green grass and several trees.
Garrett helped Mimi off the horse, then jumped down, loosely wrapping the horse’s reins around a low branch of a nearby pecan tree.
Mimi read the sign at the front of the building, then turned to Garrett. “The Maitland Maternity Clinic?”
“That’s right.” He grabbed her hand and led her to the front step. “This is where Megan Maitland found me and my brother and sisters, with nothing but our first names and a note from our mother asking her to find us a good home.”
She looked at him. “Why did you bring me here?”
“Twenty-five years ago the most important woman in my life abandoned me. I didn’t know why then, and I may never know. But I refuse to let it happen twice in one lifetime.” He moved closer to her, grabbing both her hands in his own. “I love you, Mimi Casville. I can’t offer you a fancy house or a ritzy lifestyle, but I’ll give you everything I have. Except my heart. That you already own.”
Tears spilled over her cheeks as she slowly shook her head. “I don’t want to love you, Garrett, but I do. More than you’ll ever know. I wish I didn’t love you. I wish I’d never met you!”
Garrett tenderly brushed a stray curl off her cheek. “I don’t think it was an accident that you showed up in my hayloft. I think it was fate. Now you just need to follow your heart.”
“Like Katherine MacGuire?” Mimi took a deep, shuddering breath. “She followed her heart, and looked what happened. She never came back.”
“A good thing, too.”
Mimi blanched. “What?”
“I discovered the rest of her story. Katherine MacGuire ran away from home, planning to marry Boyd Harrison. But she never found him. Instead, she fell in love with another man on the long journey to San Antonio. A man named Wilhelm Larrimore.”
Her eyes widened. “You mean…”
He nodded. “Katherine ‘Kate’ MacGuire Larrimore was my great-grandmother. The woman in the picture with the freckles and the six children.”
“I don’t believe it,” she breathed.
“I found their marriage certificate among all those documents you brought me, then did a little research of my own. Katherine never came back for her journal because her parents were evicted from the property shortly after she ran away. They ended up settling somewhere near Laredo.”
He took a step closer to her. “Don’t you see, Mimi? Katherine was never meant to marry Boyd. But if she hadn’t met him, she and Wilhelm probably never would have found each other.”
“Just like if I’d never met Paul, I wouldn’t have found you.” Mimi leaned against the brick building, her eyes hot and tired. She wondered briefly if it was already too late. Had Paul sold his secre
t? “I have to go back.”
“I know you love me.” A muscle flexed in Garrett’s jaw. “So tell me why you insist on marrying Renquist.”
She looked into his eyes. “Because my child’s life depends on it.”
The door to Maitland Maternity opened, and a very pregnant woman waddled out, one hand pressed against the small of her back. She stared for a moment at the two of them, then at Brutus grazing on the front lawn.
“Come with me,” he said, pulling Mimi away from the entrance of the clinic. He stopped under a shady willow tree that concealed them from prying eyes.
“Tell me everything,” Garrett said, not touching her, but standing close enough that she could see the faint sun lines at the corners of his eyes and the shadow of beard on his jawline.
“I became pregnant when I was eighteen years old and a freshman in college,” she began, finally releasing the secret she’d kept buried inside of her for all these years. “The first time my boyfriend and I were together, we didn’t use birth control. We were too caught up in the romance of the moment. But I soon found out that once is all it takes. Unfortunately, we were both too young and naive to realize that sometimes the consequences of our actions can last a lifetime.”
She looked at him, unable to read his implacable expression. “Anyway, by the time I was sure I was pregnant, my boyfriend was in Europe for the semester as part of a student exchange program. I thought he loved me, but all my letters and telephone calls to him went unanswered.”
“He didn’t want the baby?” Garrett asked.
“He didn’t even know about it. He was killed in an automobile accident in London before I ever got a chance to tell him. By then I was four months pregnant and definitely starting to panic. I decided to tell my father, since it would be impossible to hide my pregnancy from him much longer.”
Mimi closed her eyes, remembering that warm day in March. They’d gone together to the cemetery to put daffodils on her mother’s grave. “I told him everything. Then I cried on his shoulder and told him I didn’t know what to do. He insisted I get an abortion.”
Her throat grew tight at the memory. “I knew that wasn’t the choice for me, but when I suggested adoption, my father exploded. He told me he’d never let some stranger raise a Casville. He vowed to raise the baby himself before he ever let that happen. Back then I believed my father had the power to do anything he wanted. Sometimes I still do.”
Something flashed in Garrett’s eyes, and it spurred her onward. “Yes, my baby could have had the Casville money. The Casville name. The Casville heritage. But at what cost?”
She sucked in a huge breath. “I grew up in a forty-room mansion, but most of the time I was alone. The cook fed me and the housekeeper baby-sat me while my father worked late at the office. Even before my mother died, their social calendar kept them too busy to spend much time with me.”
She repeated the phrase she’d heard her father utter so often while she was growing up. “‘When you’re a Casville, you have an image to maintain.’”
She smiled through her tears. “You know how little girls sometimes dream they’re really a princess and someone switched them at birth?” She didn’t wait for him to reply. “Well, I used to dream I was really the cook’s daughter and that someone had switched me at birth. That’s when I first became interested in genealogy. I wanted to research the Casville family tree, because I was certain I’d find a mistake somewhere in there.”
Her legs gave way, and she slid onto the grass. Garrett took off his cowboy hat and sat beside her, his back against the tree.
“I wanted a different life for my baby,” she said softly. “I was only eighteen and knew nothing about children. Even worse, I knew my father would take over. Raise the baby in his own image. He’d probably start by sending my child away to some fancy private boarding school.”
She swallowed hard. “I didn’t want that. I wanted him to have two parents who would love him more than life itself. A father to take him camping and teach him baseball. A mother to read him bedtime stories and kiss all his worries away. A normal family. A happy childhood.”
She hesitated, but Garrett didn’t say anything. The first frissons of apprehension skittered up her spine. “One of my favorite college professors had been desperately trying to have a baby with her husband for several years. It was common knowledge around campus. So I asked her if she wanted mine. We arranged a private adoption.”
She turned toward him. “Even now, I don’t regret my decision. Joshua was born on August 26, 1991. I had to have a Cesarean section, but he was perfect.” She closed her eyes, the image of her baby so clear in her mind. “Beautiful.”
She took a deep breath. “I spent the summer in France with my college professor and her husband during the last trimester of my pregnancy. Bill and Dena are wonderful people. They were at the hospital in Paris when Joshua was born. Dena held him before I did.” Her throat tightened. “But I kissed him goodbye. And I told him that I loved him.”
Garrett reached out and brushed the wetness off her cheek. “What does all this have to do with your marrying Renquist?”
“I showed up in your hayloft after I found out that Paul was being paid to marry me.” She looked at Garrett. “Now he knows about Joshua, and he’s threatened to tell my father. Threatened to turn my son’s happy life upside down unless I go through with the wedding.”
Garrett’s brow furled. “Your father still doesn’t know about the baby?”
She shook her head. “I told him I’d had the abortion in France. It’s the only time in my life I’ve ever lied to him.” She looked into Garrett’s eyes. “He never knew the truth. But after he was diagnosed with cancer two years ago, he began to talk about the baby. Wishing he’d encouraged me to keep it. He’s become obsessed with having grandchildren. Especially a male heir to carry on the Casville legacy. If he knew about Joshua…” Her voice trailed off.
“Are you saying he’d really try to take him away from his adoptive parents?”
“I don’t know,” she replied honestly. “But can I take that chance? And what if it comes down to me choosing sides? Would my son understand why I believe he should stay with his adopted parents? Or would he think I was just rejecting him? Again.”
“Does he think that now?” Garrett asked softly.
“I hope not. His parents planned to tell him the truth about his adoption from the beginning, even before he was old enough to fully understand.” She wiped away the last of her tears. “They’ve got pictures of me, and I gave them a complete family history. Probably much more than the poor kid will want to know.”
Garrett smiled at that.
“They’ll tell him anything he wants to know as soon as he wants to know it. If he wants to know it. And in his own good time. Not mine. Not my father’s.”
“So you were willing to marry a man you didn’t love to protect your son?”
“Yes.” She tipped up her chin. “I still am.”
He scowled. “Like hell.”
She turned toward him, resisting the urge to wrap her arms around him. If she didn’t stay strong now, she’d crumble completely later. “Don’t you understand, Garrett? I love my son too much to let him get hurt.”
“And I love you too much to let you go.”
A spark of hope flared inside her. “Can you possibly wait for me? My marriage to Paul will be in name only. He’s even hinted that he might be willing to get a divorce after a year or two. Especially with no prenuptial agreement.”
“And you believe him?”
He’d raised her unvoiced fears. The ones that had kept her awake at night. What if Paul decided he didn’t want a divorce? What if this nightmare went on and on? “What else can I do?”
Garrett reached for her hand.
“Believe in us.”
PAUL MADE UP his mind by the time he reached the Casville estate. He sat in the driver’s seat of his Jaguar, impatiently waiting for Rupert’s black Lexus to clear the gate. Then he pulled
in behind him, mentally composing his best sales speech. The information he had to sell should be worth a least a million dollars. But first, he’d have to entice the old tightwad to choke up that much money.
Especially since Rupert was convinced his daughter had just been kidnapped by some crazed cowboy. Paul emitted a derisive snort as he pulled into the circular drive, then cut the engine. Hadn’t Rupert noticed that Mimi wasn’t fighting her abductor? Hadn’t he seen the relief in her eyes?
“To hell with her,” Paul muttered, climbing out of his car and slamming the door behind him. She could ride off into the sunset with Howdy Doody for all he cared. Paul Renquist was still going to come out a winner.
He walked into the house and almost bumped into Rupert, who stood frozen in the doorway of his study. One glimpse at Rupert’s stunned expression told him the game might not be over, after all.
Mimi sat behind Rupert’s desk.
“Thank God,” Rupert exclaimed, walking into the study. “I thought you’d been kidnapped. I was just about to call the police.”
“That still might be a good idea,” she said, her gaze fixed on Paul.
He walked through the open door, ignoring her threat. For the past week, he’d seen the fear reflected in her eyes. Fear he’d put there. And he’d relished the power it gave him. Now he wanted to see it there again. To wipe that confident expression off her beautiful face.
“I don’t think we’ll need the police,” Paul said as he ambled into the study, “but your father might want to consult a good lawyer. One who specializes in child custody cases.”
Rupert looked between the two of them. “What the hell is going on here?”
Paul smiled. “More than you know at the moment, Rupert.”
Mimi folded her hands together. “Go ahead, Paul. Tell him.”
“Tell me what?” Rupert demanded.
Paul met her gaze. He knew she was bluffing. She had to be bluffing. “Your daughter’s been keeping a secret from you, Rupert.”
He waited for the fear to flash in her blue eyes. But she just stared at him, her expression as serene as it had been the moment he’d walked into the study.
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