“Don’t do this,” Robin said as she stroked her sister’s hair. “I’m fine, Nina.”
“But we almost lost you and you didn’t even let us help.”
“Because I knew this was going to be the reaction. I don’t need your tears, sis. Not when you’re this close to your wedding day.” She held her index finger inches from her thumb. “I’m here to celebrate your wedding. Not make you cry.”
Nina leaned her head on Robin’s shoulder. “But I can’t help but wonder how I can make a marriage work if a man like Logan couldn’t be faithful to you and he hurt . . .”
“Stop it. What happened to me has nothing to do with your future.”
“You and Logan were my relationship goals. How could he do this to you?”
Robin shrugged, being that she had struggled with understanding it herself. He promised that she was enough. Promised that he loved her and he broke that vow to her in the worst way.
“I’ll get over it,” she said as she let Nina go. “Now, we need to get some breakfast and put this behind us. We need to get you ready for your wedding.”
Nina’s smile lit her face. “Yes. Clinton is joining us for lunch and he’s cooking.”
“Oh, I didn’t know he could cook. I’m feeling better about your future with him more and more! You guys won’t starve. God knows you can’t cook to save your life.”
Nina sucked her teeth. “Ha, ha. He’s actually helping me with my cooking abilities.”
Robin burst out into laughter. Just thinking about Nina in the kitchen was enough to brighten her spirits. “I hope the first thing you learn is how to make grits that you can eat with a fork.”
Nina rolled her eyes. “Clinton is not marrying me for my grits.”
“Thank God. Because that wedding would never happen. Now get out of my room so I can get dressed.”
“Okay. But, Robin, don’t ever hide something that important from us again.”
“Hopefully, I’ll never have to. Now, go, Nina.” She shooed her sister out of the room.
Robin took a quick shower, then dressed in a pair of knit pants and a ruffle top. After slipping into her leather loafers, she headed into the dining room to meet her family. Robin’s heart nearly stopped when she saw Logan standing there surrounded by her angry sisters.
“You got a fucking nerve!” Yolanda yelled. “Why is your cheating ass here?”
“You really should leave,” Alex chimed in with an angry hiss.
“Guys,” Robin said. “Let me handle this.”
“Oh, hell no,” Nina said. “We’re handling this together and if that means Logan gets the beatdown he deserves, then . . .”
“Y’all!” Robin growled. “I said I got this. Get out.”
Alex nodded toward her sisters. “Come on.”
“We’re going to be right outside the door,” Nina said. “You scream, we are coming in hot.”
Robin hid her smile because her sisters were crazy. Once she and Logan were alone, she gave him a slow once-over and he looked like shit.
His face had stubble and Logan always kept his ebony face clean shaven. His eyes looked tired, red rimmed, and vacant.
“My sisters had the right question—why are you here?”
“Because I want to prove to you that everything you’ve believed over these last six months has been a lie.”
“That DNA test wasn’t a lie. The only lies have been flowing out of your mouth.” She folded her arms across her chest and closed her eyes. Why did she want him to take her into his arms? Why did she want to tell him that this was all a nightmare and he really hadn’t cheated on her?
But she couldn’t. She saw the test results. Science was fact.
“Robin, I swear, I didn’t sleep with Kamrie. That DNA test could’ve been faked, and if you can’t believe that, then what have we been doing all of these years? You are the only woman I’ve ever loved.”
Tears threatened to spill from her eyes, but she’d be damned if she’d let him see her cry. “My sister is getting married tomorrow. You don’t need to be here; you don’t need to show her what happens when a man doesn’t honor his vows.”
“Damn it! I’m not that man, Robin!”
It didn’t take long for her sisters to burst into the dining room. “What’s with the yelling?” Alex demanded as she hopped in Logan’s face. “You did this to our sister and . . .”
Logan held his hands up. “I didn’t come here to start trouble, but I’m here to get my wife back. You all love your sister and I’ve always respected that, but this isn’t your concern.”
Yolanda lunged at Logan and it took all of Nina’s strength to keep her sister from reaching him. “Were you thinking about my sister when you were sticking your dirty dick in that other woman?”
“Yolanda!” Alex and Robin exclaimed.
Nina let her sister go. “She has a point.”
“I’m going to tell y’all the same thing I’ve been telling Robin. I never slept with that woman and her son isn’t mine,” Logan said. “And I’m not leaving until my wife believes me.”
“Logan, just stop it,” Robin said. “Stop it. Sign the fucking divorce papers and end this insanity. Why would anyone go to these lengths to make you believe you’re the father of this child if there wasn’t a chance that it could be?”
He stepped closer to her and though Robin wanted to move, her feet were rooted to the floor. “Do you still love me?” His voice was barely above a whisper. “Do you still believe I’m the man you said ‘I do’ to?”
She blinked rapidly and almost said yes. “Don’t do this, Logan.”
“I’m going to fight for us. And I don’t care how long or how hard I have to carry on this battle. Robin, I’m not letting you go.”
“Boy, you’d better get your black ass off my property,” Sheldon Richardson boomed.
Everything in the room went still.
Logan knew he was in for the fight of his life when he turned around and looked at the people whom he’d once considered family. Hate was etched on every Richardson face that stared back at him. Robin had a wall. He was going to have to break it down piece by piece. But there was something about the way Robin looked at him that made him believe there was a chance for them. He wasn’t going to give up. Not with this lie looming over his head.
“I’ll leave, but I’m not giving up on my wife,” he said as he sidestepped his angry in-laws.
Sheldon gave him a look that he couldn’t read. Was his father-in-law ready to fight him or stand aside and allow him and Robin to work this thing out? Nope, he wasn’t going to worry about what was going on around him. He had one mission and that was getting Robin back into his life.
Chapter 3
Robin’s appetite was gone when she and her sisters finally sat down to eat breakfast. Something about seeing Logan threw her off kilter. It would be so much easier had he just signed the papers and let her move on with her life. Why wouldn’t he? He could be with his child and the woman he’d obviously felt comfortable enough with to have sex without a condom. A woman who he had the nerve to say was simply a friend. Kam.
That’s what he’d called her when he’d told stories about her. At first, Robin thought she was a dude. Then she’d met the buxom nurse. Tall, brown skinned, with long, wavy hair and piercing brown eyes. When she’d jokingly asked Logan if she should be jealous, she’d believed him when he said no.
She snorted as she stabbed her cold eggs. Why was she even pretending to eat eggs? Robin dropped her fork and looked at her sisters, who were looking right back at her.
“So, we’re just going to act like he wasn’t here?” Yolanda asked as she broke a piece of bacon in half.
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
Sheldon cleared his throat. “I believe I told y’all to mind your business and let Robin and Logan handle their marriage problems alone.”
Nina raised her right eyebrow at her dad but didn’t say anything.
Alex expelled a sigh. “We know wh
at you said, Daddy. But Logan being here makes it our business.”
Yolanda and Nina exchanged shocked looks. Alexandria Richardson didn’t talk back to their father. Ever.
“It isn’t a family affair,” Robin said. “Whatever Logan and I decide to do, we’re going to make that decision on our own.”
Alex drummed her fingers on the table as Sheldon nodded. “Excuse me, but that’s bullshit,” Alex said. “Knowing what you’ve been through and the fact . . .”
“Alex, please,” Robin exclaimed. “I don’t need you to act like this is some mess for you to clean up.”
“Robin, you didn’t let us help you when you . . .” Yolanda stopped talking when Robin stood up.
“This is why I don’t like to tell y’all anything. We’re not a gang. I can handle myself and my cheating husband. If I needed all of your posturing and bullshit, I would’ve called a long time ago.” As she stormed out of the room, she heard her father telling her sisters that he told them to mind their business.
Robin needed to clear her head and started walking toward the beach. “Robin.”
Turning around, she wasn’t surprised to see Logan standing there. When they would visit, they walked on the beach after breakfast and before dinner. Back then it had been because they wanted to make out.
“Logan, why are you still here? If you don’t have the signed divorce papers with you, what’s there to talk about?”
“There’s a lot for us to talk about. I can’t understand why you think I would cheat on you.”
“Umm, because of the baby!” She pushed against his chest. “I’m not surprised that you and Kam had this affair.”
“I was never with that woman. You can’t believe that I would want someone else other than you.”
“Again! The baby says it all.”
“That’s not my child. Robin, knowing how much a child meant to you, do you think I’m that much of an asshole? Do you?” He placed his hands on her shoulders and forced her to look into his eyes.
“I don’t . . . . But why would she say this and pass her child off as yours? Did anything ever happen between you and that woman?”
“No, I thought Kam was a friend. We worked together on many surgeries. Why would I have introduced you to her if I was sleeping with her?”
“That’s the million-dollar question. Maybe you thought if I met her that I’d ignore your little affair. Or maybe you thought that I’d join in or sign off on it?” Robin rolled her eyes and started walking toward the water. “Logan, let’s just end this.” The water lapped her loafers and she bounced back, not realizing that Logan was standing so close to her. But she fell into his arms. She missed his arms. Strong. Warm. She leaned her head against his chest and closed her eyes. How could she still love him after he’d . . . Robin pulled away from him and shook her head. This wasn’t the quad at Xavier University and he wasn’t the cocky basketball player who’d stolen her heart.
“Rob, I’m going to prove the truth to you one way or another. But you can best believe that I’m not signing those papers. So, you can tell your attorney to stop calling, texting, and e-mailing me.”
“If it’s that simple to prove this isn’t your child, then why haven’t you gotten another DNA test? Why haven’t you gone to court to prove it?”
Logan nodded. “For one, I don’t want this lie to become public knowledge. If the hospital thinks that I’ve had an inappropriate relationship with her, my career . . .”
“Damn your career, Logan! What’s more important, me or your job?”
“You know you’re the most important part of my life, but do you really want me to give up what I spent years building for a lie?”
“Are you serious right now?” she snapped.
Logan folded his arms across his chest. “Yes, I am. I worked too damned hard to lose everything because she wants to play the victim.”
“Oh, but it’s okay to sacrifice your marriage. Got it.” Robin stomped away from him as tears stung her eyes.
Logan took off after her and grasped her elbow. “Robin, please. You know how much it means for me to be a doctor. Please don’t pretend that I’m choosing anything over you.”
She glared at him, willing her body not to betray her and melt against him. “I can’t tell. Just sign the papers. I don’t want to deal with this and I don’t have to. You made this mess with your wayward dick and I’m not cleaning it up. So, fuck you. Your career and this marriage.”
Robin sprinted away from him and didn’t look back. She had to face the fact that her marriage was over. If only her heart would listen.
* * *
Logan stood in the cold sand watching his wife run away from him. Why did he say that bullshit? He wanted nothing more than to have his wife back, but he had to clear up this lie. The last thing he wanted was to be around Kamrie and try to pry the truth out of her, but what choice did he have?
One thing was for sure, he wasn’t leaving Charleston without knowing that he and Robin had a chance of reconciliation.
“Logan,” he heard Sheldon call out. Looking up at his father-in-law, he wasn’t sure if he should run or stay put to find out what the man wanted.
“Yes, sir?”
“I’m not happy that you’re here, but I have questions and we need to talk, man to man.”
“Pops, I’m a little talked out right now. This all looks really bad, but you have to know that I . . .”
“We’re not doing this out here. Come with me to my office. Got a single malt scotch that we can share. I’ve always thought of you as my son, and I just want to make sure that if I’m writing you out of my life I have all the facts.”
* * *
Robin wanted to be left alone, but as soon as she walked into the bed-and-breakfast, her sisters were right in her face. Instead of asking questions, they offered her food. She knew this trick. Hell, Robin invented it. Two chocolate chip cookies and Nina would spill all the secrets. Yolanda was a cake square snitch, and Alex, well, there had to be a whole meal.
She was not falling for it.
“You sure you don’t want some hot blueberry muffins?” Alex asked as she held one of the oversized muffins out to her. She had to give it to her sister, she played this game well and was holding her kryptonite.
Robin took the muffin from Alex. “I’m going to eat this, but I don’t want to talk about Logan.” She turned to Nina. “Where is Clinton?”
“In his office, why?”
“I’m going to say hello to my future brother-in-law and y’all need to do something with your lives that doesn’t include harassing me.”
“Wait,” Yolanda said as she placed her hand on Robin’s shoulder. “I’m not going to act like I didn’t see y’all outside. Robin, are you sure it’s over?”
No, I don’t know what I’m sure of right now. But instead of answering her sister, Robin nibbled at her muffin.
“Leave her alone,” Nina said. “She told us that this is her business.”
Yolanda shot Nina a cold look. “When has that ever stopped you?”
“Guys,” Alex said. “We should listen to Dad and let Robin and Logan handle their marriage. We’re not giving her peace with the arguing.”
Robin nodded toward Alex. “What’s going on with these two?”
Alex shrugged and shook her head. “We all have dress fittings this afternoon, so I hope we can remember that we’re here for Nina.”
All Robin could think about was how she wanted Christmas to be over sooner, rather than later.
* * *
Sheldon slid another shot of scotch to Logan and he accepted it but didn’t down it right away. After three shots of the scotch, Logan had been at his limit.
“So,” Sheldon said as he leaned back in his seat, breaking the silence they’d been sitting in. “Did you cheat on Robin and break her heart?”
“No. I would never do that to her, not after what we’ve been through. Pops, I love her so much.”
“Then why does this DNA test say you
are the father?”
Logan shook his head. “That’s what I’m trying to figure out. The results are wrong.”
“You work in a hospital. How often are those results wrong?”
He dropped his head. The more he told this story, the more outlandish it seemed. But being that he worked in the hospital, Logan imagined that the results could have been tampered with. Were there people at the hospital who were that unscrupulous? Why would anyone want to do this to him? Had he made himself a target because of his position at the hospital and his disagreement with upper management on some of the drug experiments that he wouldn’t sign off on?
That had to be the case. “Maybe this isn’t even about Rob and me. It could just be a way to come after me by someone higher up the food chain at the hospital.”
Sheldon took a sip of his scotch. “Health care can be a ruthless business; it doesn’t sound too far-fetched. Are you working on something that people want? I know you’d been talking about doing some research and people like big pharma don’t want to see advancements that will hurt their bottom line.”
“No, but I have been getting under the skin of some of the executives who want to turn the hospital into a testing facility for drugs. I’m not trying to have another Tuskegee project going on. We’re a teaching hospital and I don’t like the lessons.”
“And you really think someone would go this far to bring you down?”
Logan shrugged and toyed with his glass of liquor before taking a small sip. “Pops, it has to be something because there is no way I’d betray Robin like this.”
“You need to figure out what’s going on and fast, because I’ve never seen my lady bird this angry. And you’d better be telling the truth.”
Logan downed the strong liquor and nodded. “Wouldn’t lie to Robin or you.”
Richmond, Virginia
Kamrie walked into the doctor’s offices suite of the hospital wondering if Logan had returned yet. She hadn’t seen him in days and they needed to talk. The time for him avoiding her and their son was over. Jean-Louis Baptiste needed to meet his father.
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