And David, he acknowledged as Lydia turned to include him in their circle, the four of them now hugging each other so tightly there was no room for anyone or anything else.
‘It’s going to be so different now. I’m going to be so different. If you will let me…?’ Lydia looked at them all uncertainly.
‘Well, of course we’ll let you,’ Meg assured her with a shaky laugh. ‘You’re our mother, for goodness’ sake.’
‘Of course you are.’ Sonia hugged Lydia before sitting back. ‘But as this is a time for sharing secrets—’
‘Sonia.’ Meg cut her off sharply as she looked across at her sister.
‘It’s okay, Meg,’ Sonia assured huskily. ‘I’ve spoken to Jeremy, and—’
‘It is not okay,’ Meg rasped angrily as she stood up abruptly, her eyes deeply green in the paleness of her face.
Sonia sighed. ‘Meg, I have to.’
‘No, you don’t.’ Meg glared down at her twin, her hands tightly clenched at her sides. ‘We made a pact, you and I, a pact I’ve kept, and I will not let you do this.’
Jed stared at the two women, as Lydia and David were now doing too, wondering what pact they could possibly be talking about. Whatever it was, Meg looked ready to do physical damage to keep it.
Sonia reached out an appealing hand. ‘Meg, darling.’
‘No.’ Meg stepped away from that hand, breathing hard in her agitation. ‘If you do this, Sonia, I swear I will never, ever forgive you.’
Sonia was as pale as her twin now, her hand dropping limply back to her side. ‘I don’t want to hurt you, Meg.’
‘Don’t you?’ Meg scorned. ‘Then you have a very strange way of showing it.’
‘But it’s all right, Meg,’ Sonia insisted firmly. ‘I’ve explained to Jeremy, and he understands.’
‘I don’t care whether he understands or not.’ Meg was shaking with angry emotion. ‘I don’t understand. Do you hear me? I will never forgive you for this. Never.’ She turned and almost ran from the room.
Leaving a stunned silence in her wake.
Jed was the first to move, getting abruptly to his feet, his expression grim as he quickly followed Meg from the room, having no idea what was going on, only knowing that Meg was in pain and he needed to go to her.
Chapter 11
Meg was quickly throwing her things into a bag when she sensed Jed had entered the bedroom, not bothering to turn and look at him, only knowing she had to get away from here. Had to call a taxi, wake Scott up, and get as far away from here as she possibly could.
Never to return.
Her hands clenched on the jumper she had been about to throw into her bag, her pain a physical thing.
To have finally made her peace with her mother, to understand her at last, had been something she had thought would never happen.
But what Sonia was about to do made any thought of a family reconciliation impossible.
‘Meg, what’s going on?’ Jed queried softly from behind her.
What was going on? Sonia was about to shatter Meg’s life into a thousand pieces, that was what was going on.
‘Meg?’
‘Will you just leave me alone?’ She turned on him fiercely, two bright wings of angry colour in her cheeks.
He frowned darkly. ‘I’m trying to understand.’
‘Why?’ she challenged scathingly. ‘You’re leaving in the morning, Jed, so why do you need to understand anything about this dysfunctional family?’
He flinched as she threw his own phrase back in his face. ‘I asked you this once before: what secret do you and Sonia share that is so big it pushes the two of you apart, and you have chosen to estrange yourself from your own family because of it?’
She glared at him. ‘I don’t believe that is any of your business.’
‘I’m making it my business,’ he came back tautly.
‘And I’m refusing to answer you.’ she came back challengingly.
Jed became suddenly still. ‘Why?’ he looked at her searchingly.
‘It has something to do with Scott, doesn’t it?’ he added with soft shrewdness.
Meg felt her face go paler even as she refused to drop her gaze from his. She had seen that speculation in his gaze earlier today as he’d looked at Scott, had managed to divert his attention then, and had no intention of satisfying his curiosity now, either.
‘Did you and Sonia argue about Scott’s father—is that it?’ He frowned.
Meg gave him a confused look. ‘What?’
Jed frowned. ‘Were you involved with him and then found out that Sonia had been involved with him too—?’ He broke off as Meg began to laugh. ‘I’m trying to make sense of this; what the hell is so funny?’ His frown deepened darkly.
Nothing. There was absolutely nothing about this situation that was in the least funny. But Jed was so far off the mark with his speculation that it seemed funny.
Her laughter was hysteria rather than amusement, tears falling down her cheeks at the same time as she laughed.
‘Let’s go through to the other bedroom,’ Jed muttered as Scott moved restlessly in his sleep, taking hold of Meg’s arm before she had time to protest and pulling her into the adjoining bedroom, closing the door softly behind him.
Meg’s tears were falling in earnest now, hot, scalding tears that burned her cheeks, her anger turning to despair.
How could Sonia do this to her? How could she just think she could tell Jeremy the truth and everything would be all right?
Because it wouldn’t. There was no way Meg would give up without a fight. And it would be a fight that would rip this family apart like never before.
‘Tell me, Meg,’ Jed urged forcefully as he shook her slightly. ‘For God’s sake, tell me.’
She shook her head. ‘I can’t,’ she choked. ‘I promised that I wouldn’t.’
‘A promise Sonia is no longer going to keep,’ he reminded softly.
Meg looked up at him, pain blinding her. ‘How could she do this?’ She shook her head dazedly. ‘How can she even think about…about…’ She sat down heavily on the bed, her face buried in her hands as the sobs racked her body.
‘Meg, if you don’t tell me what’s going on—’ Jed sat down beside her, his hands on her shoulders ‘—if you don’t tell me then I swear I will go back downstairs and demand the truth from Sonia.’
She shook her head as she looked up at him, emotional exhaustion etched on her face.
‘Meg, please.’ Jed’s hands fell from her shoulders. ‘How can I help you if I don’t know what’s going on?’
‘You can’t help me.’ She shook her head. ‘No one can,’ she added dully. ‘And why would you even want to?’ She gave a humourless smile. ‘We mean nothing to you.’
‘You mean something to me,’ he cut in harshly. ‘You and Scott both mean something to me. And if someone is trying to hurt you, then I—’
‘You, what?’ Meg cut in dismissively. ‘You may be the rich and famous Jerrod Cole, but no amount of money can make this right.’
He stood up abruptly, looking down at her with narrowed eyes. ‘That’s it, I’ve had it,’ he rasped. ‘I’m going downstairs to talk to Sonia. I somehow don’t think she will be as reluctant as you are to tell me the truth,’ he added scathingly.
Meg watched him as he strode angrily to the door, her heart constricting as she realized she didn’t want him to go, that she couldn’t bear it if he left her now.
‘Scott isn’t my son,’ she burst out emotionally, icily still as Jed slowly turned to face her. ‘Scott isn’t my son,’ she repeated brokenly.
Jed stared across at her, unspeaking, unmoving, his expression unreadable, too.
Giving her no indication as to how he had reacted to her stark announcement.
Meg stood up restlessly, no longer looking at Jed as she began to speak again. ‘Sonia had just attained her certificate to practise law, became involved with one of the junior partners in the law firm who had taken her on. A married junior partner,
his wife the daughter of the senior partner,’ she added dully. ‘I’m sure you can guess what happened next.’
‘Sonia found out she was pregnant,’ Jed rasped.
‘Yes,’ Meg sighed. ‘The two of us were sharing a flat in London at the time, sharing expenses, and when Sonia told me about the baby, that she didn’t intend having it, I was horrified.’ She swallowed hard. ‘I persuaded her to keep the baby, told her that I would help her, that she wouldn’t be alone, was convinced that once it was born she would love the baby and want to keep it.’
‘But she didn’t,’ he murmured softly.
Meg turned away, vividly remembering the night at the hospital when Scott had been born, the way her sister had turned away from him, refusing even to hold him, Meg the one to take the newborn baby into her arms, a feeling of absolute love overwhelming her as she’d looked down at him.
But still she had been convinced that Sonia would change her mind, that it had been just a question of getting over the shock of Scott’s birth, that in time her sister would grow to love her beautiful son, as Meg already had.
It hadn’t happened. Scott had been given in to Meg’s care when the two had been discharged from hospital, her sister resuming her job, with another law firm, and her social life, as if Scott hadn’t existed. Within six months she had announced that she had met Jeremy and intended marrying him.
Leaving the question of Scott’s future in the balance.
Meg hadn’t carried Scott inside her, hadn’t given birth to him, but in every other way there was she had been his mother, loved him and cherished him, cared for him, played with him, laughed with him. And there had been a lot of laughter, her love for him absolute.
Sonia’s announcement that she intended getting married had thrown Meg into a complete panic at the thought of losing this beautiful child.
But she needn’t have worried, because Sonia had assured her she wouldn’t be taking Scott with her, that Meg could keep him if she wanted to. But only if she promised never to tell anyone Scott wasn’t her own.
And she never had. Had chosen to distance herself from her parents because she didn’t want to lie to them, her relationship with Sonia these last three years strained at best, neither of them ever wanting anyone else to know who Scott’s mother really was. Sonia because she was afraid she might lose Jeremy if he knew the truth, and Meg because she might lose Scott.
But Meg hadn’t cared about any of the sacrifices she had made. Because Scott was her son. In every way that mattered, he was hers.
And she wasn’t about to give him up now just because Sonia had had a belated attack of conscience.
‘No, she didn’t,’ Meg confirmed woodenly. ‘And she isn’t going to take him away from me now.’
Jed’s eyes narrowed. ‘You think that’s what she wants to do?’
Her brows rose. ‘Don’t you?’
‘No, I don’t,’ he said after a brief moment of thought.
Meg gave a pained frown. ‘But you heard her, she’s discussed it with Jeremy.’
‘She said she had told Jeremy about Scott,’ Jed corrected firmly. ‘Not that she wanted to take him away from you. Besides, do you really think your parents would just stand idly by while she did that to you and Scott?’ he reasoned.
‘But…’ He was right. Jed was right, Sonia hadn’t said anything about wanting Scott, only that she had told Jeremy the truth about him.
As she had just told Jed. Although it was difficult to gauge his reaction.
If he had one. After all, he would be leaving himself soon, much relieved to get away from this complicated family, she suspected.
And who could blame him?
But could he possibly be right about Sonia not wanting to take Scott away from her…?
There was only one way to find out. Jed watched the emotions flickering across Meg’s face before she rose and left the bedroom. Jed remained unmoving for several long seconds, still slightly dazed himself by what she had just told him.
What sort of woman was she, that she could take her sister’s unwanted newborn son as her own?
She was the woman he loved, he acknowledged achingly. More than ever, now that he knew what she had done, the sacrifices she had made to keep Scott for her own. And the fact was, he knew that she didn’t regret any of it, that if the circumstances were presented to her she would do it all over again.
She was an amazing woman.
Totally unselfish.
Totally adorable.
And he wanted to gather her up in his arms, to love, cherish and protect her, and never let her go, ever again.
Weren’t they the words to the marriage ceremony?
Close enough, he realized, slightly stunned. Because that was what he wanted with Meg. Marriage. Nothing less would do.
And now was not the time to tell her that.
In fact, it couldn’t have been a worse time, he acknowledged. That was him, Jed Cole, the master of bad timing.
He wanted to go downstairs right now, gather her up in his arms, and make everything right for her. But he stopped himself from doing that, knew that he didn’t have the right to do that, that Meg hadn’t given him that right.
That maybe she never would.
‘Jed?’
He turned to see David Hamilton standing in the bedroom doorway, his handsome face lined with strain. ‘Meg?’ he questioned gruffly.
David gave a rueful smile. ‘Jeremy and I left Meg, Sonia and their mother discussing the plans for Meg to formally adopt Scott.’
Jed raised his eyes briefly heavenwards, breathing a heavy sigh of relief as he turned back to the older man. ‘Your youngest daughter is an amazing woman.’
‘Isn’t she?’ David nodded emotionally. ‘But in her own way, Sonia is just as amazing,’ he said quietly. ‘To know, to accept, that you can’t be the mother that is needed, necessary, and to give that child up to someone who is, is very brave indeed.’
Was it? Perhaps, Jed allowed. Sonia had been twenty-three when Scott was born, abandoned in her relationship, possibly frightened of what the future might hold for her as a single mother.
Although that didn’t change the fact that Meg hadn’t hesitated to go through that herself for a child who wasn’t actually her own.
‘Yes.’ David seemed to read some of his thoughts. ‘But twins are a strange entity, are joined in a way that other siblings are not,’ he continued frowningly. ‘In some ways, Scott was always Meg’s as much as he was Sonia’s. Do you understand what I’m saying or does it all sound like nonsense?’ He frowned at Jed.
Yes, he did understand what David was saying, and in some way that might be true. It was a little too deep for Jed to think about right now, Meg his only concern. ‘Is she going to be all right, do you think?’
‘Oh, yes,’ the older man assured him confidently. ‘Lydia and I will make sure of that. Scott has become very precious to all of us, and he will remain with his mother.’
Jed didn’t doubt that the older man would keep his word, or that Lydia would ensure that he did. She surely knew better than anyone what it was like to lose a child you loved.
But that didn’t stop Jed from pacing the bedroom restlessly as he waited for Meg to come back upstairs, needing to talk to her again, if only to hear from her own lips that she was going to be okay.
As it was she was the one to knock on his bedroom door, her expression somewhat shamefaced when he opened the door to her.
She grimaced. ‘I believe I owe you an apology for some of the things I said to you earlier.’ She sighed. ‘They were unnecessary, and my only excuse—’
‘Meg, I don’t give a damn about any of the things you said to me earlier. And will you stop talking to me like a polite stranger?’ he added impatiently, pulling her into his bedroom and firmly closing the door behind her. ‘We may once have been strangers, although I don’t believe that is any longer true, but we have certainly never been polite to each other,’ he added ruefully.
‘Oh, now I’m
sure that isn’t true,’ Meg came back. ‘We must have been polite to each other when we first met. No, perhaps not,’ she added teasingly as she obviously remembered the circumstances of that first meeting.
Jed lightly cupped the sides of her face with his hands, looking down at her intently. ‘Your father said…is everything all right now?’ he probed huskily.
‘Yes.’ Her face lit up with joy. ‘I’m going to adopt Scott and then he can never be taken away from me.’
Jed shook his head as he looked down at her. ‘Do you know—do you have any idea—? My God, Meg.’ His arms moved about her as he pulled her tightly against him. ‘You are the most amazing woman I have ever met,’ he told her forcefully as he buried his face in the perfumed darkness of her hair. ‘I can’t think of another woman I know who would have done what you did.’ He groaned. ‘And I want…I want…’
‘Yes?’ she prompted huskily as he seemed lost for words.
Because he was lost for words, had no idea how to tell this beautiful and wonderful woman, when they had only known each other three days, that he loved her, wanted to marry her, wanted her and Scott with him for all time.
Chapter 12
Never in their acquaintance had Meg ever known Jed at a loss for words.
As he still seemed lost.
But she was already so happy, felt as if a great weight had been lifted from her shoulders now that the truth about Scott had finally been told and Sonia had agreed to Meg formally adopting him as her own.
It was like a dream come true for her, after years of worrying that Sonia might change her mind at any moment and decide she wanted Scott back after all. Now, that fear taken away, she felt as if she might conquer the world, or, at least, get Jed to talk to her.
‘Tell me, what is it you want, Jed?’ she questioned confidently.
‘You,’ he told her purposefully. ‘I want you, Meg Hamilton.’
She wanted him too, even more than she had this afternoon, if that were possible, the truth seeming to have liberated her in more ways than one.
Okay, so he was a world-famous author, had homes all over the globe, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t…
The Christmas Night Miracle Page 14