As she talked, Cord’s face hardened into an inscrutable mask. She would have stopped talking, but indescribable pain drove her to get it all said.
“Originally she planned to terminate her pregnancy. That’s why she came to the hospital the other night, to talk to you about taking time off from the company to go into the hospital for the surgery.
“But when she discovered I was carrying your child, she changed her mind since it’s more than probable she’s pregnant with your child, too. Therefore she’s planning to carry it full term. If it turns out that the baby isn’t yours, she’ll give it up. That’s why she came to St. Anne’s today—to discuss future plans for her child with Sister Bernice.”
The dangerous quiet coming from his side of the car terrified her.
“And you bought every word of it…” came the gravelly sound at last. “So— The moment I leave you alone, Sheila plans another encounter and in a few seconds destroys everything you and I have achieved for the last week at the clinic.”
The constricting bands around her chest made it difficult to breathe, yet she found the temerity to look straight into his eyes. “She said you made it up, that you didn’t have a smoking problem.”
His glazed over. “She really did a number on you, didn’t she.”
“She told me to call Greg if I wanted to know the truth. H-he said he’d never actually seen you smoke.”
An oppressive darkness seemed to engulf him. “Under the circumstances, I don’t understand why you left the safety of the orphanage, let alone why you’re sitting here with me.”
No person could fake the kind of desolation she heard in his voice. But at the same time, he wasn’t attempting to defend himself.
“Neither do I,” she blurted because of her pain. “But our child has the right to know his father, and I’m too close to my due date to want to do anything to jeopardize his health or mine. So I’m going to stay with you.
“I’ll even sleep in your bed and let you make love to me if that’s what you want. There’s so much infidelity in the world today, why should I expect anything different.” She made a sound between a laugh and a cry. “At least I know you’ll always be kind to me, and a loving father to our child. What is it they say? It’s better to take the hell you’re sure of. Besides—”
“Don’t say another word!” he cut her off savagely.
“Why not?” She kept it up as if he’d never spoken. “You wanted an explanation for why I’m still sitting here. I’m simply trying to tell you all my reasons, one of them being a promise I made to Sister Bernice.”
“What promise?” His complexion looked ashen.
“To find out for myself whose truth is the truth. A pretty formidable task.”
“Ashley—”
“I only have one more thing to say.” She ignored his tortured imprecation. “Because it will cost quite a bit to redecorate the house to accommodate two new babies, I guess I should deem myself fortunate that you’re such a wealthy man. However, I want to make one thing clear.
“It doesn’t matter to me where you and Sheila shop to outfit the nursery for the child that might be yours. Just remember that the furniture which is going to be delivered from Forsey’s tomorrow is for the baby you fathered with me!”
Fury turned his eyes an inky blue. “Do you really think I would expect you to live in the same house with Sheila after what she’s just said and done?”
Fire scorched Ashley’s cheeks. “After such an elaborate strategy to get me to come back to you, do you really believe I would walk out on our little menage a trois now? Not on your life, Cord Me Knight! If it’s going to go down, we’ll all go together.”
He sat there stone-faced. “No, Ashley. I can’t let you do it.”
“You don’t have a choice,” she lashed out. “Unless of course you know you’re guilty and have decided the risk of exposure might be too great after all.”
“I admit I’m worried,” he muttered darkly. “After what you’ve just told me, I’m convinced Sheila is emotionally disturbed. Possibly dangerous.”
Ashley let out another angry laugh. “That must be the stock excuse every man since Adam has thrown in a woman’s face when he has run out of reasons to explain her.
“Let’s face it, Cord— Sheila is nothing more than a grasping, self-serving female who has always had a thing for you. Maybe you’ve encouraged her. Maybe you haven’t.
“Whatever the true explanation, she’s willing to lie, cheat, distort, manipulate anything and anyone at hand to get what she wants, and she’s terribly good at it. I give her credit. I really do.
“But you don’t have to concern yourself about me. I’ve finally grown up. I confess it took me rather a long time. More than most, in fact. Chalk it up to my obscure beginnings.
“Needless to say, the blinders are off. I’m no longer the naive, insecure, pathetic little creature from the orphanage who can’t fight her own battles. I’m capable of lasting as long as Sheila, if not longer.” She took a deep breath. “May we go home now? I’m hungry, I’m tired and I need to put my feet up.”
The ten-minute ride to Cord’s family home was made in complete silence. Ashley realized she had been talking and acting totally out of character. Clearly Cord didn’t want to take her home, but for the moment his fears for her emotional and physical comfort had overcome his worries about Sheila and any threat she represented.
Though Ashley hadn’t planned to fling any of those words at Cord, evidently they had poured from her soul. In a way, they had laid the groundwork for the days ahead.
The only thing that could make Sheila angrier than to see Ashley walk through the front door of Cord’s home, would be to have to live around his wife who no longer felt intimidated by the other woman’s presence. Sheila wouldn’t know how to handle the new Ashley who was accepting of the status quo. Who even welcomed it.
Her mouth curved at the corners, a reaction Cord noted with an oblique glance.
That would be insupportable to Sheila.
That would be Ashley’s strategy from here on out.
“Hi!” Ashley shouted as they walked through the front door of his house moments later. “We’re home. Sheila!”
As Cord followed her inside, the other woman appeared on the elegant staircase dressed in an apricot brocade robe that molded to her willowy body and brought out the sheen of her blond hair.
“I had no idea you’d be arriving this early.”
That’s right, Sheila. You didn’t know which way the wind was going to blow.
“Cord got back sooner than expected.” Ashley preempted anything her husband might have said. “And I was starving. I thought I’d order pizza with extra cheese and all the toppings. Do you want some with us?”
Ashley wished she had a camera so she could have captured the startled look on Sheila’s face.
“No, thanks,” she said in a tone of distaste. “I don’t intend to put on any weight with this pregnancy that isn’t absolutely necessary.”
“Your morning sickness must be pretty bad to pass up pizza. I’ve got some medicine in one of my bags that will help. As soon as I’ve unpacked, Cord will bring you the bottle.
“All you have to do is take one pill every night and you feel great the next day as long as you eat some crackers and drink some Coke before you lift your head from the pillow. I swear it works like a charm. Darling?” She turned to Cord who was going along with her act, but she didn’t miss the stunned expression coming from his eyes before they narrowed.
“I’m going upstairs and take a nice warm shower. Will you please bring the pizza when it comes? We can eat it in bed. I’ll order Coke in case you want to join us for a little family get-together, Sheila. Our two favorite British sitcoms are going to be on TV in a while. We don’t want to miss them.”
So saying, she hurried up the stairs, chugging past Sheila in the hope of reaching the next floor before she laughed hysterically in the older woman’s shocked face.
But for that
little show of bravado, Ashley ended up in Cord’s bedroom out of breath and moaning over leg cramps that almost incapacitated her. When she finally got her second wind, she phoned for pizza.
With that important detail out of the way, she slipped out of her clothes and went into the ensuite bathroom to relax under the spray. To be able to act any way she wanted around his stepmother and not be nervous was so liberating, she could have squealed for joy. Not even the sight of Sheila’s shampoo in the shower, or one of her see-through peignoirs hanging on the bathroom door hook had the power to shake her.
Ashley knew enough that if Cord were still intimately involved with Sheila—he’d come home earlier today to be with her before showing up at St. Anne’s—he still wouldn’t have allowed Sheila to leave those items around for Ashley to discover.
The more she thought about it, the more Ashley wondered if Cord’s stepmother wasn’t just the slightest bit worried that nothing she’d done so far had driven him and Ashley apart.
“What are you up to now?”
While she’d been in the shower, either Cord’s mood had improved somewhat or else she had imagined the trace of amused irony in his tone as she emerged from the bathroom in her white granny nightgown with the peignoir and shampoo in hand.
“Umm… I smell pizza.” The aroma was coming from the box on the marble-topped double dresser.
Not batting an eye, she handed him the items, then rummaged around in her train case for a certain vial of pills. “Ah, here it is. Will you please see that Sheila gets this medicine along with her other things?” She lifted her gaze to his. “She must have forgotten to take her personal belongings with her.”
A look of pained admiration flared in his eyes. The ache in her heart deepened and she wheeled away from him.
If he truly turned out to be the enemy, then heaven help her because he was loved and beloved, and there didn’t seem to be anything she could do about it.
Refusing to entertain thoughts of Cord and Sheila together, Ashley ignored him by reaching for a large piece of pizza. She sensed rather than saw him finally leave the bedroom. As soon as he’d gone, she turned on the TV and got under the covers.
It felt so good to lie down she couldn’t believe it. Though hunger battled with fatigue, by the time she’d consumed the first slice, she was too tired to get up for a second piece. The last forty-eight hours at the orphanage had taken their toll.
At some point Cord finally came to bed but she was scarcely coherent. She heard him say Dan’s name, but she only caught snatches of random words before she felt his lips brush her cheek and oblivion take over.
“It couldn’t be nine-thirty!” she cried out the next morning when she awoke to an empty king-size bed. No telling how early Cord had gotten up.
He’d said something about Dan last night. Maybe they had agreed to meet early at the office.
She carefully worked herself out of bed, noticing that his green robe had fallen to the floor. Ashley pulled the nightgown over her head and deposited it on top of the robe. In a few minutes, she would gather up everything they’d brought home from the hospital and start a wash.
While she was in the bathroom freshening up and putting on a clean maternity outfit, the phone rang. Assuming she was alone in the house, Ashley moved as fast as she could to the bedside table to get it.
“Hello?”
“Ashley?” Her body always trembled at the sound of Cord’s deep voice. “Did I waken you?”
“No. I was up.” Barely.
“I called the furniture store and they’ll be delivering the baby’s things between twelve and three, so I’m going to come home at noon. Later on in the day we’ll drive over to St. Anne’s and get your car.”
She blinked. “That’s right. I forgot. It’s still in the parking lot.”
“I think we can both agree that last evening we had other things on our minds. In case you haven’t been downstairs yet, I asked Katy to do some grocery shopping. You shouldn’t have any trouble finding something good to eat.”
As usual, Cord was thinking of Ashley’s needs. Talk about killing me with kindness.
Unless his routine had changed, Katy was the cleaning lady who came in once a week and did odd jobs when occasion demanded.
She cleared her throat. “Thank you. I’m sure I’ll be fine.”
“Ashley—” He sounded anxious. “Don’t ever hesitate to call me if you need anything. The entire staff has been alerted. They know to put you through to me no matter where I am or what I’m doing.”
Her index finger curled around the phone line. “I’m not ready to have the baby yet, Cord. But I promise that when I start to experience the signs Dr. Noble told me about, you’ll be the first one to know.”
“I’m going to hold you to that,” he vowed fiercely. “In the meantime, just be careful, darling.” The endearment tugged at her emotions. So did the protective warning.
“I will.”
“Good,” came his response, eloquent with relief. “I’ll see you in a couple of hours.”
The fine went dead.
Bemused by the mixture of gruff tenderness in his tone, she was slow to put the phone back on the hook and didn’t readily respond to the knock on the door.
When it sounded again, she turned. “Is that you, Katy?”
“No. It’s Sheila.”
No wonder Cord was worried. His stepmother hadn’t shown up for work yet. Bracing herself, she told the other woman to come in.
When Ashley saw what Sheila was staring at, she was glad she hadn’t cleaned up the room yet. Cord had eaten the rest of the pizza. The empty carton plus a half-empty bottle of Coke were still on the dresser. The covers and pillows of the bed were in total disarray. To anyone looking, the clothes lying in a heap on the floor were mute evidence of a mutually satisfying night.
Normally Sheila was a cool, collected woman who put every one of her sex at a disadvantage. But this morning, Ashley could see pink blotches on her seemingly flawless skin and her gray eyes looked charged with a strange light.
In as pleasant a voice as she could muster Ashley asked, “Did you take a pill last night? Did it reduce your nausea?”
Sheila’s head reared back. “You think you’re so clever.”
A strange calm had come over Ashley. This moment had been a long time in coming. “I’ve had a good role model in you.”
Sheila’s muffled gasp told Ashley she’d hit a nerve.
“You may be with Cord again, but you’ll never be sure if he and I have been lovers.”
The odd expression on her face, the unattractive twist of her mouth, took Ashley back to those early years at the orphanage when Marsha had baited her mercilessly for the sheer pleasure of watching Ashley suffer.
Marsha had been all bluff, but Ashley had been too naive and vulnerable to see through it. She’d been a child then. Now she was all grown up, and her vision had improved with age.
Pure revelation started flowing through her so hard and fast, she felt giddy. Like a fantastic gift, sure knowledge came to her.
Cord’s truth was the truth!
“Do you know something, Sheila?” Her voice shook with a surfeit of emotion. “Not until this moment did I realize you’re a total fraud. Thank God, Cord never gave up on me or our marriage. His love compelled me to come back here and face you.
“You’ve lost, Sheila. There’s no more damage to be done. Give it up and try to live a decent life for the sake of your baby.”
A mocking laugh flew out of her throat. “I’m not pregnant, you stupid little foundling.”
Ashley shouldn’t have been surprised, but she was… “Then that’s another blessing I’m thankful for.”
“Trust you to believe me,” Sheila derided her. “I never saw anyone as gullible or naive in my life. It’s been like taking candy from a baby.”
Again she reminded Ashley of Marsha who constantly laughed at her own misdeeds—delighted in them even.
Lifting her head Ashley said, “
Cord told me about the night many years ago when he was just a teenager and you invited him inside your apartment. He indicated that he’d left without sleeping with you, but you obviously couldn’t take his rejection. That’s why you’ve been trying to make him pay for it ever since, even to marrying his father and attempting to break up our marriage.
“Why don’t you go someplace else where no one knows you? Cord’s father left you plenty of money. He and I are going to be moving back to the Teton’s after the baby is born. You can have the house. Sell it for a fabulous price. Do yourself a favor, Sheila. Resign from the company and start a different life elsewhere.”
Her gray eyes glittered with an unholy light. “Maybe I will. Since Cord is going to be home at noon, I’ll wait and discuss everything with him.”
Ashley watched her leave the room, realizing that Sheila had listened in on her phone conversation with Cord earlier. It certainly hadn’t been the first time.
Months ago Sheila had overheard Greg and Cord discussing the smokeout clinic. That was how she knew details only Cord would have known.
This is a game to her. All of it has been an elaborate, treacherous game.
Cord’s right.
She’s emotionally disturbed.
Like her husband, Ashley had the strongest premonition Sheila could be dangerous.
Lunchtime was too far away. On impulse she walked over to the phone and punched in Cord’s number at the office. Without preamble she told the receptionist to get her husband immediately.
Seconds later, “Ashley? What’s wrong?”
“I—it’s Sheila. Come home now, Cord!”
She must have communicated her fear.
“I’m on my way.”
Too jittery to stand still, Ashley made the bed and tidied the room. When she thought enough time had passed, she walked over to the window facing the street and watched for Cord’s car.
Baby In A Million Page 14