Wrong Groom, Right Bride

“You sent her a letter,” Simon repeated flatly.

“Yeah, I, uh, thought it was … the best way.”

“You are even more of a horse’s ass than I thought.”

“That’s not fair, Simon! Christ, you act like I killed somebody. I just broke an engagement.”

“No, you didn’t just break an engagement. You betrayed and humiliated a good person, someone who didn’t deserve to be treated that way. And, as usual, you expect someone else to clean up your mess.”

“What mess? You don’t have to do anything. Stop treating me like I’m a child.”

“Then quit acting like one. When are you coming home? When am I going to get a full report on San Francisco?”

“You’ll have your report tomorrow,” Todd said, his voice filled with resentment. “I’ll fax it to you. And Meredith and I aren’t coming home till next week. Maybe not then, either. We deserve a nice honeymoon.”

This final justification for his bad behavior filled Simon with disgust, but he was sick of talking to his brother, so instead of answering, he simply hung up on him.

“Did Todd call you?” Simon asked his mother. Instead of phoning her after his conversation with Todd, Simon had told Maggie he was leaving for the day and to cancel his production department meeting that afternoon. “Tell them I’ll see them in the morning.” Then he’d driven to the family home in Riverton’s beautiful Maple Hill district.

“Yes, he did,” Larissa Hopewell said. Her pleased expression spoke volumes.

“And you’re not upset?”

“Well, I certainly would have preferred he never got engaged to her in the first place. You know I never approved of his involvement with that woman from the beginning.”

That woman. She can’t even say her name. Simon chose his words carefully. “But his wedding to Chloe was supposed to take place in less than six weeks. The church, the country club, everything is already booked. Don’t you think what he did was not only unkind to her but immature and thoughtless, that it doesn’t reflect well on our family’s name?” The family name you feel is so damned important?

“Honestly, Simon, sometimes I don’t understand you,” his mother retorted, blue eyes glittering with indignation. “Where’s your loyalty? You should be glad he dumped her. She would never have fit into our family, and you know it. Why, she wasn’t worthy of having our family’s name.”

“I know no such thing,” Simon said coldly. “I liked her. I thought she would have been good for Todd.” And a breath of fresh air for us.

“I don’t know how you can say that. She’s common. Simply not in our class. I doubt their marriage would have lasted a year.”

Simon gritted his teeth to keep from saying what he was thinking. What good would it do? His mother would never change. “And you don’t think we owe her something? At the very least I think we should pay whatever out-of-pocket expenses she incurred in the planning of the wedding.”

His mother shrugged her narrow, elegant shoulders. “Fine. Go ahead. Make the offer.”

“So you agree?”

“Whether I agree or not is irrelevant, isn’t it? You always do just as you please, anyway. As do your brothers. Even Todd. But at least he’s finally come to his senses and recognized that when it comes to that woman I was right all along.”

And with that, she turned back to the invitation she’d been answering when he’d interrupted her by his visit.

Simon stared at her blue silk-clad back for one long moment before saying, “Goodbye, Mother.” He lingered a couple of seconds, but she didn’t turn around.

As he walked out to his car, he decided he would not wait another day before calling on Chloe and offering his help.

He only hoped she would see him.

Because, in her shoes, he might slam the door in the face of any Hopewell who dared to cross her doorstep.

Chapter Two

Chloe couldn’t sleep. Finally, at about three o’clock in the morning, she gave up, much to Samson’s consternation. Her cat—who spent his nights at the foot of her bed—wasn’t used to a change in routine. But he rallied and followed her downstairs and into the kitchen, where she put the kettle on. She would have a cup of hot chocolate and try to figure out what she was going to do now that her future had been torpedoed.

Samson figured if she was going to be up and about that it must be time for her to feed him, so he pestered her until she put food in his bowl. She couldn’t help chuckling as she watched him happily chowing down. What would she do without his company? Hopefully, she wouldn’t have to find out.

Carrying her mug and a sleeve of Ritz crackers into the living room, she curled up into her favorite chair. Although she hadn’t turned on a lamp, moonlight streamed through the big window that overlooked the quiet street and illuminated the room. Normally, when she went to bed at night, she pulled the drapes closed, but last night and again tonight—ever since that letter from Todd arrived—she hadn’t been herself.

What am I going to do?

If she wasn’t pregnant, she wouldn’t have a dilemma. She’d still be upset over the way Todd had treated her, yes, and there might have been some embarrassing moments when the two of them ran into each other—as inevitably would have happened in a town the size of Riverton—but she could have handled all that.

Only she was pregnant.

As she’d done so often recently, she touched her stomach.

“I want you,” she whispered. “No matter what, I want you.”

Chloe wondered what her aunt Jane and cousin Molly would think when they found out about the broken engagement and the pregnancy. She had almost called them yesterday but decided she wanted to have a better idea of what she was going to do before she told them what had happened. Not calling the two people who’d been her only family for a long time was one of the hardest things she’d ever had to do, but she wanted to be sure she wouldn’t break down when they talked. She didn’t want them worrying about her. This was her problem, not theirs.

The sky was showing its first blush in the east when she arrived at the reluctant conclusion that she wouldn’t be able to remain in Riverton. Not if she wanted to keep her baby away from the Hopewell family. Riverton was too small a town. If she continued to live there, the Hopewells were bound to find out about the baby, and then who knew what would happen? They might try to discredit her in some way or, worse, try to take the baby away from her.

No. She absolutely couldn’t risk it, no matter how much it hurt to think about leaving her aunt and cousin. There was no alternative but to move. Thank goodness she could work anywhere. As the owner of her own Web design and marketing business, all she required to service her clients was her computer and a telephone.

Sighing, she got up and headed into her office. After settling down at her desk, she pulled out her ledger, logged on to the Internet and accessed her bank account.

For the next hour, she did some calculating. When she was finished, it was clear that if she did what Todd had so coldly suggested and sold her engagement ring she ought to have enough money to cover a move from Riverton, as well as the expenses she’d incur by having the baby on her own. It would be close, but she’d be able to manage without touching her savings. She heaved a sigh. She wished she had the luxury of throwing the ring in Todd’s face. But she had to be practical. Pride was important, yes, but the well-being of her child was even more important. So her pride would suffer a little. So what?

She wondered how long she had before she started showing. So far nothing about her body looked different. Maybe her breasts were slightly swollen but not noticeably. She did some mental calculation. It was the middle of May. She figured for at least another month or so, she would be okay, especially if she wore tops a little roomier than usual. But she imagined by the middle of July or certainly by the first of August, she’d no longer be able to hide her pregnancy. So she would need to move fairly soon—probably by the first of July. Which meant she had about six weeks to make all her arrangements. Since she’d already been planning to move from her townhouse to Todd’s place after the wedding, at least her landlord already had his notice. Now that she’d made some decisions about her future, she felt better.

After taking a quick shower and getting dressed, she figured it was late enough to call at her aunt’s without waking them up.

“‘Morning, Chloe,” her aunt said.

Chloe could hear the smile in her aunt’s voice. “Hi, Aunt Jane. I didn’t wake you, did I?”

“Of course not. I’ve been up since six, and Molly just got out of the shower. Did you want to talk to her?”

“No, actually I thought I might pop over to talk to both of you. That is, if you don’t have plans.”

“No, no plans. I might work in the garden later and, as you know, Molly always has a ton of errands on Saturdays, but both of those things can wait. You’re always welcome. Is … there anything wrong?” Now her voice was laced with concern.

“No, not exactly wrong. I just, um … I’ll tell you when I get there, okay?

“Okay, honey. I’ll put a fresh pot of coffee on. Have you had breakfast yet?”

Chloe smiled. “Do a few crackers in the middle of the night count?”