Last Chance Proposal (3 page)

He pushed the chair back and stood. “We were great friends once, right? You knew me pretty well.”

The look in his bright blue eyes hooked her. He shoved a hand through his hair. Was he nervous? “You were the only one who knew about Dad’s cheating and how much it was destroying our family and you supported me through that.”

There’d been days when Cy wouldn’t say anything, but she knew his father and mother had been fighting. He’d disappear for hours and hours, sometimes having surfed all day; other days he never said where he’d been. He’d just take off.

“Even though things got complicated at the end, for the most part we’ve been able to talk about anything with each other, right?”

She nodded.

He turned and faced her completely. Excitement, fear,
something
, raced through his eyes. “There’s something I need from you, Ellie. Something I can’t get from anyone else.” His head bowed, his hand gripping the wineglass before he lifted his face to her again. “Ellie. I need to marry you.”

Chapter Three

Vertigo rushed at her, and she gripped the side of the table. Surely she’d misheard. “Marry me?”

He leaned in as if every last scrap of energy was going into this proposal. His eyes had darkened and held her still. “Jonty’s mom died a year ago and her parents want their custody arrangement to become permanent. They’ve been his guardians since he was born so they have a very good case.” His tone became more insistent. “I’ve spent six years without my son, and I won’t let another day go by when he’s not with me.”

Before she could reply, he rushed on. “For the best chance to be with him I need you to help me convince the authorities, and Susan’s parents, that Jonty should be with me.”

Ellie wiped her cool palms down her cheeks. That poor little boy had no mother? The thought was unbearable. And why Cy hadn’t been in his son’s life from the beginning. The horror of what he and Jonty were going through bit deep, but after everything that had happened between the two of them, how could Cy possibly expect her to agree to something so outrageous?

Her tongue dried in her mouth, but she had to know more. “What happened? Why hasn’t Jonty been with you?”

He shook his bowed head for a second, then looked back at her with glassy eyes. “Susan died a year ago from a drug overdose.”

“Oh, Cy, I’m so sorry.”

His chest moved as he breathed deep. “We hadn’t lived together for a long time. She had serious postpartum depression after Jonty was born and didn’t want a relationship with me anymore. We were only together a few months before she got pregnant, but I’d always thought we could make a go of it. I hoped if I gave her some space it might help her heal.”

She waited and watched him curl fingers into his palm.

“I backed off when she asked me to, hoping she’d get better and we could work things out, but she didn’t, and in the meantime I missed my son’s early years. Her parents were his guardians and they did their best.” He rested a fist on the table in front of him. “I’ve been traveling for the last six years, Ellie, living out of suitcases, trying to see my son whenever I could. I’m not a social worker’s ideal for a stable father.” His face dropped. “And with all the goodwill in the world, I wasn’t in Jonty’s life when he needed me.” His fist stayed tight. “Susan’s parents were devastated by her death. She’d begged them that if anything happened to her, they’d look after Jonty, and it wasn’t right to talk about taking him so early in their grief.”

“And now you want full custody?”

“The doctor thinks he’s been affected by Susan’s depression all along, by the fact she’d always struggled.” He leaned away, his back pressed into the chair, darkened eyes wide. She knew that ache like it was part of her heart.

He lifted his chin and the determination on his perfect face was electric. “It’s time my son and I were together. I feel for Susan’s parents, of course I do, but Jonty should be with me now, and the only person that can help me with that is you. I need you, Ellie. We need you. We had something once. Maybe we can find that again. I miss you, believe it or not. It’d be good to have you in my life again, if even for a short while.”

Shaken by everything he’d said, she focused on the table and tried to hide the tangle of emotion inside her. “So, let me get this straight. You think that being married will help you win custody of Jonty? You think taking me to the States as your pretend wife will show the courts you’ll be a better father?”

“Yes. No.” He nodded. “I mean, we’d be really married. You’d be my wife.” He touched her shoulder so she was forced to look at him. “I know this is a crazy request, Ellie. It’s selfish and it’s out of the blue. I know you’ve got a full life and things you need to do, but I promise the fake marriage wouldn’t be for long, just until I’m awarded custody and then a decent length of time until everything settles. A year, tops.”

She pulled in a breath and bit her lip, unable to believe he’d really thought this was possible.

He gently squeezed her shoulder. “You asked me to do something once and although it went against everything I believed in, I did it for you, Ellie. I’m asking for the favor to be returned. I’m desperate.”

She laid her palms flat on the table and tried to steady her breathing. “I can’t believe you’d ask me to do this. After the way you left me when I needed you most, the way you just walked…no…
ran
out of my life at a time when we should’ve been there for each other. I can’t believe you’d have the barefaced gall to ask something so outrageous of me now.”

He sat back as if she’d slapped him, a look of confusion rippling across his features. “I know I didn’t handle it well, but I had to leave back then so you could focus on your family’s grief, not me and the secret you were so desperate we keep.”

She softened her voice, trying to imagine how desperate he must be to have to ask her, of all people. “I’m so sorry for the situation you’re in, heartbroken for Jonty, and sad that you feel there’s no other way around this, but you’ve got to see that I can’t do this, Cy. I live and work across the world from you, and I have projects lined up for the next twelve months. And besides all of that, I’m no good with children. The last person you need around Jonty is someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing.”

His Adam’s apple moved as he swallowed and then he shook his head. “Ellie, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I understand this is a shock, but I’ve run out of options and when your letter came and I thought back to how generous you’ve always been, how caring…” His voice ran out to nothing and she had to stop herself from covering his strong hand with hers. “When you asked me to lie about what really happened the day William died, I tried to talk you round. But when I saw how much it meant to you to spare your parents more anguish, I realized that it would hurt you more if I told the truth. You asked me to keep that secret and I did, Ellie. For eight years. Now I’m asking you to do something that will limit the hurt for me and my son. I owed it to myself, and to Jonty, to at least give it a shot by asking you.”

Her heart looped. He was right. He had kept their secret, despite being dead against it. Fleur had a baby at eighteen and her parents had always made Ellie promise to be careful. She’d been anything but and had been desperate not to cause them any more pain. But it was Cy running away that still made her blood run cold. Besides, she didn’t like his assumption that her life was so uneventful that she could simply drop everything and fit into his. Given that she was working for nothing this summer, getting back to earning as soon as possible was vital for her business. “What if I’m already married?”

“Kelly mentioned you weren’t.” He shifted his weight in the chair, at least having the grace to look uncomfortable that he’d checked with his sister.

“I could have a boyfriend. Someone serious.”

He threw her a skin-tingling grin. “You’re right. I’m sorry, I should have asked.
Do
you have a boyfriend?”

“No,” she said, trying to avoid the heated look in his eyes. She chewed her lip and clasped her hands together. “Is the situation really as desperate as you think it is? Courts give custody to sole parents all the time. Why would you need a wife or a partner?”

He nodded. “That’s true, but the court, not to mention Susan’s parents, would look far more favorably on me if I was married and settled than if I’m a single businessman who travels for a living as I have been doing.”

Feeling numb with confusion, each of his words swirled in her head and she let all the thoughts trapped there fall from her mouth. “But a wife, Cy. Shouldn’t that be someone you’ve developed a relationship with, someone who you’re committed to?”
Breathe
. “God, Cy, someone you
love
?”

“Of course,” he said, his face softening with a smile. “In an ideal world I’d love to provide Jonty with those things, but time’s run out. We have no other options.”

“But why
me
? Don’t you know someone in the States who could do this? Why come all the way here and ask me?” Because he thought she owed him?

“Although Susan’s father’s American, her mother’s a New Zealander and they’d planned to move back to Auckland. If I have a New Zealand wife, they’ll be less likely to feel they’ll lose touch with Jonty when they move here. It might make them feel less like they’d be shut out of his life.”

She shook her head and his tone grew more intense. “I’m the best person to parent him, Ellie. I’m his father and I love him more than my own life. It can’t turn out any other way. I’ve got to do whatever I can to have permanent custody of my son. If that means having a sham marriage to get things started, then I’m prepared to do it. A sham marriage with you is more real than a sham marriage with someone I don’t have any history with. Can’t you see that?”

Could she go through with this? No matter how many times she swallowed, the band around her throat wouldn’t release. She had to keep talking, give herself time to make sense of it. “But what if I say yes and come to America and you lose anyway?”

His face slackened. “It wouldn’t happen. If I can prove I have a stable life, that I am a good father, I’ll have my son for good.”

“And what about Jonty?” She focused on his forehead, anywhere but directly in his eyes. Her heart shrank at the thought of that little boy and the enormous changes he’d go through if he were to have a temporary mother.

“What do you mean?”

“Have you told him your plan? Does he know you want to marry me?”

“I haven’t told him yet. I wanted to give him a chance to get to know you first.”

“And that hasn’t exactly gone swimmingly, has it?”

He blew out a breath. “No, but given time…”

“I don’t have time to get to know him, Cy. You’re here for two weeks and then gone again, and you saw what a disaster our first meeting was. I’m not cut out to be responsible for children.”

Cell-deep, her answer was no. No, because it was dishonest to Jonty, no because it went against everything she believed about marriage and commitment, and no because Cy had hurt her once, he’d broken her heart, and she wouldn’t let him do it again.

She opened her mouth to speak, but her shoulders sagged. “I don’t—”

He held his hand in a stop sign and smiled. “Just think about it. Take a couple days if you need to. I know it’s outrageous…completely crazy…but I really believe it’ll work and you’re the only one I can ask. The only person who knows me well enough to pull this off.” He smiled softly. “Who knows? By the time the custody case is over, you and I might have found our way back to what we had before.”

She picked up her briefcase, her heart still beating hollow in her chest.

“I’d like to know your decision soon,” he said. “Before Christmas if possible.” His voice was gentle. “And we’d love to take you up on your offer for Christmas Day.”

She pushed her chair back and stood, her hands still trembling, regretting that she’d asked about Christmas Day, regretting she’d come here tonight at all. “Surely there’s a better solution, Cy. Maybe there’s more you can do to build a good case for custody. Something less…drastic.”

He breathed deep, his mouth set in a line. “If I can’t come up with something bulletproof, I’ll lose my son. We both need you, Ellie.”

She pushed her chair in as her mind jumped ahead and the ramifications of what he’d asked of her snowballed.

He stood too and squared his broad shoulders. “I’ll do whatever it takes, pay whatever is needed for you to keep your business running while you’re with us, help you come home if you need to. That’s something I
can
do, Ellie. But I can’t buy a life with my son. Only you can help me get him back now.”

She ran her tongue across her lips as a cloak of responsibility settled over her, the weight dragging on her body. But what if pretending to be a happily married couple could ensure Jonty’s happiness? “I’ll think about it.”

His mouth slowly kicked up at the corners. “I understand. You know where to find me.”

…

“
Is he
insane
? Are
you
for even giving this a second’s consideration?” Fleur waved a spatula in the air and shook her head. “Has all that planning and number crunching for the renovation emptied your head of the working brain cells? How can you even be giving this head space?”

Ellie sat at the old kitchen table at Starfish Cottage later the next afternoon and continued to deflect her sister’s outrage at what Cy had asked her to do. Fleur was rolling her eyes as she spoke, but Ellie could hear the concern in her voice.

“It’s just plain rude. You can’t be seriously considering it.”

“I’m not going to say yes,” Ellie said as she drew her finger up a line of frosting dribbling from the bowl in front of her. “But talking about it helps quiet that little voice inside that says I should at least think it through.”

Fleur drew her lips together. “Sure you can think about it, and then you can tell him to sod off and not be so selfish.” She placed a completed cupcake on a little plate. Delicate orange swirls danced around its edges. “I get that he’s in a terrible situation, but how can he possibly expect you to give up your life, something you’ve worked so hard for, and to effectively break the law, when he hasn’t seen you in years? And the last time he didn’t even say good-bye.”

Ellie licked her finger and let the sweetness fill her mouth. “Because he’s all out of options, and I’m the only one he can ask to do it, the only one who knows him well enough. Imagine if you were in that situation.”