Legal Legacy (Surrendering Charlotte Chronicles) (11 page)

“Maybe both,” Lucy said, she didn’t care what the Petty Officer thought, she wielded a hell of a lot more power than her lackluster tour-guide.

“Rumor has it that he’s in lov
e with a model and he would never leave the teams without his brother.”

“Well, the art of persuasion has helped me rise quickly in the CIA, it’s my specialty,” Lucy smiled a small wicked smile. “Is his brother as enticing as he is? If so, things could get very interesting.”

An intel-secure conference room had been made available for Lucy to interview potential recruits into the CIA’s elite Special Activities Division. Lucy waited for Atticus Hale and when he walked in and shook her hand her tough-as-nails bravado deserted her. He had an undeniable presence for such a young man, incredibly tall with bulging muscles that were incredibly chiseled from months of intensive SEAL training. His face was beautiful, there was no other way to describe it, square jaw, wide sensual mouth, an enticing dimple in his chin that made her sweat. But it was his eyes that held her and made it impossible to look away. They were large and sincere and the most heart-stopping shade of deep sapphire-blue that she’d ever seen. Looking into them she felt as if the wind had been knocked out of her and she had the distinct feeling that she might never recover. 

“Atticus Hale,” he said taking her hand in a firm grip
, so that she felt as if an electrical current had passed between them. “What do you and the CIA want from me, Ms. Archer? If it’s dangerous, I’m interested.”

*

The party for Atticus was a huge success although Skyler hadn’t attended and Bly was certain that her absence caused Atticus pain. And trouble seemed to be brewing between Holden and Hadley, she thought perhaps Holden should be done being his brother’s keeper but Holden had fallen in love with the challenging rigors of military life. He and Atticus and Jack were heading to Virginia for advanced warfare and foreign language immersion. They had earned the coveted SEAL Trident but training was an ongoing process and although they weren’t allowed to say which, each of them had been assigned to a specific SEAL Team.

Charlie liked his uncle Jude just fine but he loved and trusted Bly just as his dad had predicted he would. Finn and Charlie had talked things over man to man when they kicked the soccer ball for hours on end. Finn had said that it was an excellent thing to love Alex Bly, he was a part of Atticus and that made him part of Charlie as well. He told Charlie to be happy for the time spent with Bly, it was a bonus to have two loving fathers,
he only had to ask Atticus about that. Finn had also said he wanted Charlie and Charlotte to let Bly be a part of their lives if it felt right, if they could make an extended family with him, they should take the leap and live happily. Charlie missed his dad and there was a dull ache with every beat of his heart. It felt like someone was pressing on a bruise when he remembered Finn’s voice and his laugh and his clean familiar smell. He kept a picture of his dad with him all the time and he studied it, his small fingers tracing over the tattoos, recalling what each one stood for. His dad was younger in the photograph, standing on a beach wearing only baggy swim trunks. Charlotte stood beside him in a bikini with a huge smile on her face and Finn had one arm around her pulling her close. He held a trophy in the air that he’d won in a surf tournament, and on his face and in his eyes, was a look of victory so complete it was dazzling to behold.

Life moved forward and for better or worse traditions were set aside and family gatherings were postponed and then forgotten. There hadn’t been another Thanksgiving in Surrey or Christmas on the ski slopes. June passed with only Amanda and Christopher spend
ing time in Pass Christian. Jude had moved permanently to his house in San Clemente and Charlotte spent evenings and most weekends with him while Charlie opted to spend his free time with Bly.

When the anniversary of Finn’s death had passed Jude felt it was time to ask Charlotte for a commitment. They’d been
dating so to speak but she they hadn’t been intimate and Charlotte turned away each time he made a move to kiss her. She had made up her mind to try and love Jude, but her heart wasn’t cooperating. She felt him growing impatient, he hadn’t pushed for more than she could give but now he was ready, it was just so obvious.

He asked her to meet him at their favorite restaurant
for brunch on a busy Friday and when she arrived it was closed but the maitre’d escorted her to a table where Jude waited. The table flickered with candlelight, two glasses and a bottle of champagne sat amidst an array of vases spilling over with white roses. She opened her mouth to speak but he covered her lips with his and kissed her long and hard then he stepped back and slipped a ring on her finger. She was stunned by the look of triumph on his face and the kiss left her cold and uncomfortable.

“Marry me, Charlotte,
I can make you happy and I love you. Maybe not like Finn did, but truly and in my own way. It’s always been you for me from the first moment we met,” Jude said. “Who else is there going to be? Bly? Won’t that be a bit like cheating on Finn with his rival?”

Charlotte looked around at the perfect setting
, the white roses were exactly like those that Bly had given to her in the very beginning. Bly had loved her with an unwavering passion from the first moment they met. He had forgiven her for every scar she left on his heart, he had shared her and their child with Finn, and still his love continued, solid and unbreakable.

S
he twisted the ring from her finger and laid it on the table, then she plucked a rose from its stem and breathed in the heady fragrance. She began to laugh at the simple truth of it all. All the years, and love and tears, the happy times and the low times that she and Finn and Bly had in their own unique way, shared.

“Finn and Bly
weren’t rivals, Jude, they were soldiers in the war of love, and I was the country they were fighting for. Not fighting each other at all, just fighting to insure that I was happy and our children were safe and well loved. I’ve never betrayed either of them, just as they never betrayed me by loving any other woman. We were three people where there should have been two, but that wasn’t the hand we were dealt.”

“Charlotte, my love…” he started and before h
e could say another word she slapped his face not once but twice.

“I’m not sure what Finn was trying to tell me at the end, and I think that wherever he is now the petty happenings of our lives don’t concern him. He sees the big picture, he knows we’ll all join him eventually and it will be all about love in its purest form. I do know this for sure, Alexander Bly
waited patiently and valiantly for me. Loving him for the rest of my life is his reward. Not so much a reward but it’s the way it should be, and not because it’s the logical choice or because Finn would want it that way. I’m sure Finn realized that Bly’s love was the same as his, pure and untainted. They each loved one woman and I loved them, and I’ve wasted too much time now, here’s the truest truth I know… I chose Bly because I love him.
I love him,
and it’s bigger and grander than anything I will ever feel for the rest of my days,” she took a deep breath and said “Wish me luck!” and then she left him there speechless and went to do what she had to do.

*

She drove to Bly’s estate and she couldn’t believe what she was seeing. The ornate security gates stood open and three huge moving vans were being loaded with furniture from the house. She parked her car and wandered through the empty rooms, the tip-tap of her heels echoed around her and a harsh shock of emptiness filled her with dread.

“Charlotte, I’m surprised to see you, Alex thought you might have left for Vegas by now,” Billy Kipling said, and then he yell
ed at the movers to be more careful with the grand piano.

“No, why would
I go back to Las Vegas? Maybe to try and lose the money Finn won? Money that I just recently found in my savings account? I live an insane life, Billy, I called Bly a few days ago to ask him why he had made a deposit of thirty-two million dollars and my banker backed him up when he said Finn won that money the night we were in Vegas. Yes, my life is definitely fucking bizarre and out of control. But I’ve made up my mind to put things in order. So what’s all this, is Bly redecorating?”

“He sold the estate, he’s already gone, everything in the house other than the
art and family portraits are going on the auction block.”

“You have got to be kidding, why would he sell the house, where is going, why didn’t he mention this to me?” Charlotte asked and she could feel panic
coiling in her stomach, tightening its powerful grip.

“That estate with the vineyard in Santa Barbara where you had the graduation party for Atticus, he bought it. He’s in some big private me
eting at his office now with wine growers from around the world. As soon as he’s finished working out the details for some monumental summit on advanced wine production he’s going to Tuscany. He’ll stay there for a few months to examine the best wineries.” Billy checked his watch, “He may have left by now, he was anxious to go, Charlotte. Charlie told him that he and his uncle Jude had picked out a wedding ring for you. Bly said that was it, he’d had it and he was outta here for good.”

“FUCK!” Charlotte shouted and Billy and several of the moving men jumped. “Billy
Billy Billy! Help me, I turned Jude down, I need to talk to Bly now, right now, ASAP! Call him, don’t let him leave the country, please, please!” She thrust her phone toward Billy but he waved it away and made the call to Bly but his cell went straight to voice mail. He called the office but there was no answer, it was the day before Thanksgiving and Bly had given his entire staff the next few days off.

Billy drove like a bat out of hell with Charlotte fidgeting and cursing and losing her mind in the passenger’s seat. He’d called the staff at Bly’s hangar and the copilot said there had been no word that Bly was on his way to the airport. They made it to headquarters of Bly International in record time a
nd Billy left the car in a no-parking zone as he and Charlotte raced toward the bank of elevators.

“Come on dammit, lets freaking go you piece of shit!” Charlotte growled as
they got into the elevator and she pushed the button for the top floor about fifty times.

Billy covered his mouth with his hand to hide his smirk and he could barely keep from laughing at Charlotte’s dilemma.

“Oh, this is just funny, is it? You’re right it is ironic as hell, I’ve had the entire last year to give Bly a clue that my heart belongs to him. But I’ve waited too long and now it’s a mad dash to see if I’ve ruined what might have been,” Charlotte said and as soon as the elevator stopped on the top floor she was racing toward his office doors.

A burly security guard sat reading a newspaper and he stood up and placed himself firmly in front of the massive wooden doors.
“Mr. Bly is in conference and he was adamant that there should be no interruptions, and no exceptions,” he said crossing his arms in front of his chest so that the steroid enhanced muscles bulged menacingly.

“Oh, well you can kiss my ass and not like it,”
Charlotte said and she dashed around him, pushed the doors open and crossed the expansive room to Bly’s desk with long, purposeful strides.

“I’m sorry Mr. Bly, I t
ried to stop her,” the guard said, but Bly could only see Charlotte and it seemed as if she were moving in slow motion.

“Charlotte,” he said
and it was practically a plea full of love and hope and uncertainty. He stood up and waited to for her with all of his business colleagues silently watching and wondering. Every man and woman in the room knew that Alexander Bly had only loved one woman in his life, he had waited year after year without ever losing hope that she would come to him someday. Now here she was, tall, thin and elegantly beautiful, and when they looked closely it was clear to see that she was a woman on a mission.

“Charlotte?” He whispered
again as her hands went behind his neck in a smooth, fluid motion and she pulled his lips down to meet hers. His hands tangled in the loose waves of her hair and the kiss lasted forever as his hands moved over her back and came to rest on her waist.

“I came to tell you something, Bly,” she said when they paused for a moment, both gasping for breath. She smiled up into his beautiful face, looking into the sea-glass eyes that had held her captive no matter how hard she had tried to free herself from his love. “I came here to tell you that I’m ending our friendship… and I’m starting a love affair for the rest of our lives. So I need to know, do you still want me?”

“I’ve never wanted anything more,” he said,
closing his eyes and resting his forehead against hers, knowing that they had found their way back to each other at last. “Ah, Charlotte, we’ll always be best friends and you have to marry me
soon
.”

He didn’t give her a chance to answer, his
lips covered hers once more and they were both laughing and kissing and they couldn’t stop. His fingers tenderly grazed her cheeks, her neck, and then he held her firmly against him so that there was no possibility of ever losing her again. As they kissed she whispered, “
I love you I love you!
” with her hands clutching his broad shoulders and finally coming to rest against the solid wall of his chest. He was her safe place in the world and she was his. Bly placed her hand over his thundering heart and Charlotte surrendered to an astonishing love that had survived and flourished and grown stronger against all odds.