Matter of Choice (20 page)

Chapter Twenty Eight

Triston stooped in front of Shannon, his jaw clenched, a fist balled tightly against a leg while the other hand tenderly held the towel of ice over the bruised eye.

“I could kill him. You’re going to press charges. We need to call the police.”

Shannon interrupted him, the good eye soft with love. “Triston, he’s gone. All the police are going to do is suggest a restraining order, which is what I’m going to file in the morning.”

He leaned forward to kiss her nose. “You are too good of a person, Shy. Let me guess, you waited to call me until he was out of the building.”

She shrugged. “I wasn’t sure he was, but I guessed. Seeing you go to jail doesn’t push any buttons for me. I’m not the first woman to be given a black eye by her …” she paused. The word ‘husband’ refused to be articulated. “Whatever you want to call him.”

He stood up as she took the towel from him. “Then why not come up to my room, Shy, instead of hiding in your office?”

She leaned against the backrest. “I’m not going to answer that for fear it might incriminate me.” She smiled. “Thank you, Triston. I felt awful before you came down. You make me feel better.”

Triston leaned down, running fingers over her hair. “You can’t believe how wonderful that is to hear, but don’t think it takes you off the hook.” He rested against the desk. “We’ll fight him on the hotel. You don’t have to worry about that.”

She moaned as she lowered the towel, and tried to ignore the wince crossing his face as her eye came into view. It continued to throb, and she could barely open the eyelids to a narrow slit. It would take days, even a week or two, to heal.

“Triston, I don’t know if we can fight him. Greg’s got most of the money, between he and I, and his family is very powerful. They will back him, I can guarantee you, and I don’t have the means to hire a big enough attorney to battle them effectively.”

He took the towel from her, laying it across the desk pad beside him. “I have a hard time believing that, Shy. You have to be bringing in a small fortune with this place.”

“I do okay, more than okay.” She nodded. “But his parents invested their money to purchase the hotel. It was a gift to me. I’m sure they could make a good enough case to, at the very least, sell the property and assets or sell to a third party who would have say on what I do here. Either way, I could stand to lose everything.”

Triston leaned down and wrapped his hands around her shoulders. “We’ll find a way to fight this. I’m not going to allow you to lose this hotel you love so much.”

Shannon shook her head. “We may not have a choice. The attorney was clear, there may not be anything that can be done.”

*

Shannon moved forward in her seat as Mr. Collins handed her an envelope. The middle-aged man sat back, glasses slipping down his thin nose. Folded hands rested in his
lap as she opened the envelope.

Tears filled her eyes before she finished reading the letter, and she lifted her head to meet his expectant gaze. “How can we fight this?”

“You are going to need to prove he was faking the amnesia. We’ll need to demonstrate the anguish he’s put you through for the last two years. If there is another man in your life, it would be wise for you both to keep a low profile. That eye might help, if you filed a complaint with the police.”

She dropped her eyes to paperwork. He was coming after everything. Her jaw tightened, the veins in her neck bulging. Emotional distress. He was claiming emotional distress because of her relationship with Triston. She shook her head. “I didn’t. But why should that matter? This is ridiculous. He’s been running around on me for two years, pretending not to remember me, and he’s claiming emotional distress?”

“I understand your frustration, but he does have medical professionals diagnosing his condition. Their opinions will stand up in a court of law, and his admission to you will look like a he said, she said. I don’t have to tell you which the judge will find more credible.”

She walked over to the window. “But he doesn’t just want to split everything in half, he’s trying to take it all. Even the hotel. It’s preposterous.”

“That’s why we’re going to fight it. But you have to give me something to work with. I’ll need a complete financial report for the hotel, your bank accounts, any assets you carry. And you have to give me something, Ms. Winters,
anything
backing up your claim of deceit on his part. He’s making himself look like the victim here, and he’ll win sympathy because of the diagnosis. We need to turn it around.” Mr. Collins tapped a pen against the desk. “And if he attacks you again, you
have
to file a report. Without a report, he can claim you walked into a corner, and there would be no way to prove otherwise.”

Shannon turned to face him. “So I could lose the hotel?” Never mind the eye, it was slowly beginning to feel better, but the Grande Marquis … “That’s a very real possibility at this point?”

He shook his head and stood. “Not if you do what I’m telling you to do. We can fight this, Ms. Winters. That’s why you hired me. But I need to provide compelling evidence.”

She reached out her hand. “Thank you, Mr. Collins. I’ll be in touch in a day or
two with everything you need.”

They shook and he gathered his overcoat. “We’ll be fine. We’ll fight, and we’ll win.”

She nodded as he walked out of her office, and returned to the window. If only she could be so sure. What proof did she have he was faking the amnesia? He’d admitted the lie to her, but she doubted he confessed to anyone else. The little clues along the way, even she hadn’t been sure, and they certainly weren’t the proof needed to build a strong case.

Fingers covered her face. Greg promised to destroy her, but she didn’t really think he’d go that far. She’d fought all this time for the marriage, now she was going to have to fight to get out of it. She wondered, as she peered between the blinds of her fingers out the window and to the lake below, ho
w much more fight she had left.

Back at the desk, she picked up the paper and read through it again, dropped the petition. Maybe she should just go back to Wisconsin with Triston, start a life there, do something, everything different. He had his company, and if there was going to be a future between them, one of them would have to walk away from the business they created. Why should it be him? She smiled. That would throw a real kink in Greg’s plans to destroy her, if she walked away and let him have it all. She’d love to be a fly on the wall when
that
news reached him.

Picking up the phone, she dialed Triston’s room number, the grin widening as he voice melted in her ear. “Can you meet me in the lounge in ten minutes? I want to talk to you about something.”

“With bells on. We ready to go public? Don’t you have a loudspeaker or something?”

Shannon shook her head, chin dropped down, eyes rolling and winced as the motion reminded her of Greg’s newfound violence. “Triston, this is serious. A thought is rolling around, and I want to bounce it off you.”

“Can’t wait to hear it. See ya soon.”

Shannon cradled the phone and looked around the office with its rich woods, her favorite colors of blues and purples, the books, the awards won for excellence of service. A hard swallow moved down her throat. The blood, sweat and tears wouldn’t be easy to turn her back on, the lifeline she’d clung to for so long. But maybe that was a good reason to give it up. Maybe her love for the hotel wasn’t enough to wash away the torturous memories. She could start over somewhere else with business loans and an ex
perience that spoke for itself.

There was Door County, or nort
hern Wisconsin, even the Dells.

Most importan
tly, the fight would be over.

Chapter Twenty Nine

Shannon’s footsteps slowed as she neared Triston and the woman standing just a little too close. Dropping her head to a shoulder, she strained to get a better view of the woman, past the mane of coffee hair and shapely legs, wondering why a spark of recognition tightened her shoulders. As she drew closer, she attempted to hear what they were saying in hushed voices, but stopped instantly as the woman turned to face her. Her eyes darted between the woman and Triston, begging for an explanation, a contradiction to what her mind was screaming.

The woman giggled, and turned to Triston. “No wonder you’re acting so secretive. It’s like a high school reunion, isn’t it?” She faced Shannon. “Shannon Jardine.” She reached out a hand. “I’m sure you remember me, Veronica Hemrick.”

Shannon didn’t outstretch her hand. “Winters now.”

Veronica dropped the hand, but amusement danced across her lips and shone in her beaded almond eyes. “Married. Well, then I guess you can’t be the reason Triston’s here, can you? Just a coincidence bringing us all together
then? That’s really something."

“Veronica, I don’t know what you’re doing here, but none of this –"

Shannon glared at Triston, chest feeling like it was splintering in two. She’d been deluded again. “That’s okay. You two go ahead with whatever you were doing, it looks like I interrupted something. I’ve got work to do.”

“You work here?” Veronica chuffed, dramatically spinning, assessed the Grande Marquise. Shannon’s blood boiled. “Interesting career choice.”

“Which she’s very good at,” Triston growled.

Veronica giggled. “Oh, I’m sure she is. Nothing like running a multi-dollar empire, of course, but, quaint.” She stepped next to Triston. “I was just inviting Triston to dinner. We didn’t have nearly enough time to catch up when we met a couple days ago.”

A hand motioned towards Shannon’s face. “Nice shiner, by the way. Catfight?”

Triston’s face contorted as he stepped between the two women. “That’s none of your business, and I’m not joining –"

Shannon shot a stabbing glare at Triston, the tension swelling veins in her neck with deafening pounding pressure. “I’m sure you’ll enjoy your evening together.” She whirled around and trotted away from them both.

“Good seeing you again, Shannon,” Veronica called out, the insincerity in her
voice dripping from each word.

She didn’t turn around. She couldn’t. How she’d ever accepted Triston, believed Greg, trusted her heart to lead her in the right direction … never again. They could have it all. Her heart, her hotel, her everything. Leave her a shell of the woman she’d been. That’s
what they wanted, they got it.

*

Triston’s heart pounded frantic in his chest as he watched Shannon trot away. Any other woman and he knew she wouldn’t have reacted that way. But Veronica, of course she’d jump to conclusions. He glowered at the woman before him. “What are you doing here?”

The mock innocence sweeping across her face turned his stomach. “I called your office and learned you were still here in New York. Your employee were very helpful, and gave me the name of the hotel where I could contact you. Of course, finding out you were that close, it seemed silly not to just drive up here and talk to you face to face.”

He licked his lips and wondered if counting to ten worked. Maybe if he went all the way to one hundred. “Who does that, Veronica? We’re business associates, nothing else. Why would you think it was okay to come here and bother me on my vacation?” Triston knew the answer, didn’t have to ask the question. Fingers pressed against the corner of an eye. Unbelievable.

She shrugged with a coy smile. “Business and pleasure, they do mix well. And sin
ce you’re not seeing Shannon …”

He nar
rowed his eyes and she laughed.

“So you are seeing her again? Even though she’s married. You are a bad boy, aren’t you, Triston?”

He drew in a deep breath and let it go with a careful, even tone. “Veronica, I’m going to say this once, and once only. There is no mixing business and pleasure between us. I am not interested, and I will never be, in rekindling whatever that was in high school. It was a mistake then, it’d be a bigger one now.”

“Because of Shannon?” She wrinkled her nose.

“Because I don’t want a relationship with you outside of business.”

She snorted and backed up, the amusement given way to spite. “I could always withdraw the contract.”

“You could, but you’re not the big shot there. And I’m thinking he’d be impressed with Keyes Associates enough to reoffer the contract, then question your judgment in attempting in backing out of it.” The solution materialized, the thought confirmed before he spit the words. “In fact, I imagine Mr. Berks would be quite amused to learn you stalked me.”

“So you save your contract.” Veronica huffed.  “I bet seeing me doesn’t do anything to improve your relationship with your dream girl. I never did understand what you saw in her.”

“No, I guess you wouldn’t.”

She sighed and pulled her purse higher against a shoulder. “I guess there’s nothing else to talk about right now, then.”

He shook his head.

She turned with a shrug, and crossed the lobby, flirtatiously tossing her hair over an shoulder at passing men. Veronica exited the hotel, and Triston hurried down the hall to Shannon’s office. Ignoring calls from hotel staff that guests weren’t allowed through the employee entrance, he rushed to the office door and pounded against the wood. “Shannon? Open up, Shannon. It’s not what you’re thinking.”

There was no answer. He pounded again, and pushed the door open to find the space empty. He rubbed a finger against parted lips and closed the door, hand lingering on the knob. “The garden.”

Heads turned and more than one guest jumped out Triston’s way as he raced down the corridor and out the door into the gardens he knew Shannon adored. He dodged a couple, pressing a shoulder back as he barely brushed past them. Jogging the pathway winding through flowers, birdhouses and water features, and staggered to a standstill at the dead end of manicured growth, wrought iron benches and goldfish pond. Circled the space, mind racing. If she wasn’t here, and not in her office, where would she be? She wouldn’t hide in her room, if she had one there, that wasn’t like her. She’d find her way to her view of the river, e
scape in her natural sanctuary.

Triston stopped as he faced the direction of the Hudson, barely visible from where he stood. “No, she wouldn’t come out here, she’d go down to the river’s edge. That’s gotta be where she is.”

The width of the Grande made his jog to the south of the building a long one, but he didn’t have time to feel winded or stop. It’d be easy to miss her, for her to slip back inside, or leave. He shook his head, he couldn’t risk it. He couldn’t hurt her like that again, with Veronica of all people.

He nearly ran over the man Shannon called Senator Johnson, and stopped long enough to apologize. The senator merely smiled and nodded, and Triston took off again. Feet slipped against the mulch as he wound through the trees, and he struggled to regain balance. He was close now. The fresh water smell of the Hudson, still unpolluted by big city stew, filled the air and congealed with pines and mulch, the horns of the cargo ships and yacht
s clearer across the landscape.

He turned the final curved landscape and Shannon came into full view, sunken on her knees, face buried deep in cupped hands, shoulders rocking. He stopped, his heart a boulder, sinking into the pits of the stomach. With eyebrows drawing together, he crept forward. He’d been wrong. She didn’t look broken at the elevator or in the lounge with the employee. That had been nothing co
mpared to the image before him.

He stepped towards her, jaw tight, feet heavy. He’d promised himself never to hurt her again, and broke that promise. Triston drew in a deep breath and knelt beside her, wrapping an a
rm around her quaking shoulder.

The gentle touch could only be Triston, and Shannon wanted to push him away, but couldn’t. Her muscles wouldn’t obey her mind, her limbs numb. Words of venom tried to form on her lips, but dissolved before they could spit their toxin in his direction. Instead, she remained a blubbering mess, nose running, tears falling, body hover
ing on the brink of exhaustion.

His hand glided down the length of her hair, and then, slowly and gently, pulled her head into his chest. “Shh … don’t cry honey. It’s not what you think it is. I would never hurt you like that again. I was an idiot then, I’m not now.”

She sniffled, the words coming out broken between sobs. “Then why is she here? You’ve been together all along? Started seeing her again?”

He massaged the silken strands. “No, not either. I don’t want anything to do with Veronica. I only saw her for the first time a couple days ago. The company she works for hired mine.”

“Convenient …”

“No, not convenient. Anything but convenient. I could have lived with never seeing her again, Shannon.”  Triston’s palms cupped both cheeks, looking into her swollen eyes. “Haven’t I shown you’re my heart? That I’d do anything to bring a smile to that beautiful face?”

She scrubbed the good eye with a fist, and tried to pull away, but his grip was too sure, his eyes too pleading. “But it was Veronica, Triston. I want to be understanding, I want to brush it off, but she was leaning into you. That was too personal to be business.”

“No.” He shook his head. “That was Veronica. That’s her playing her little games, or at least trying to. I don’t want her.”

Shannon closed her eyes, no longer able to stare into the green pools of his eyes. “Maybe not, Triston. Maybe not. But right now, that’s not something I can deal with.” She lifted her lids. “Do you understand that? I can’t take the chance you’re telling me a lie. I’ve heard it from you before, remember? And then I saw her coming out of your parents’ house, that look on her face so obvious.”

His hands dropped to the ground beneath him. “That’s it? No trust in me? No faith in what you feel?”

A hand ran through her hair, lips sucked in. Then she laughed. “Yea, look where trust and faith and love and promises have taken me so far.” She shrugged. “I can’t do it again right now.”

“So what do I do? Just let you walk right out of my life and not do anything about it? I can’t do that, Shannon. I fight for what I want. And I know you do too. So I guess what it comes down to is, do you want me like I want you?”

Her head bobbed back and forth as her chest rose and fell, fingers curling up against her lips. “This is all wrong.”

“Then make it right. Face how you feel and don’t walk away.”

“Why wouldn’t I walk away? You’re a playboy, Triston; you’ve been a playboy since high school. I don’t need to jump into another fire. I’ve been burned enough.”

He stepped backwards, pain flashing so fast and furious across his face Shannon fought the urge go to him, wrap her arms around his neck and apologize with hugs and kisses. That would get her no where, and she couldn’t han
dle being another afterthought.

“How would you know what I am now? What?  Because I haven’t settled down with just anyone?”

She wanted to slap him, certain, somehow, the comment was directed at her. But she never settled for just anyone. Greg was never the consolation prize. She shook her head, what in the world was she thinking?

“Seriously, Triston, don’t play me. You came here with one woman, ended up romancing me, and then began talking to Veronica. How does that look? What more proof do I need?”

He turned to look over the landscape, smiled, and shook his head.

“Are you laughing at me?” She felt like a cartoon character with
smoke streaming from her ears.

“Shy, I’ve told you before, I never settled down because I couldn’t find anyone good enough to replace you. These aren’t just words to me. And I know it’s only been a couple of weeks since we’ve met again, and you’ve been going through a hard place, so we’ve got a rough road ahead of us. I don’t deny that. But I’m not going to put any other woman in front of, on the side of, or in the back of, you. You are it for me. And it doesn’t matter how many times Veronica prances herself around me, or any other woman, or none at all.”

Shannon closed her eyes and shook her head, fighting a fluttering heart. “Okay, look. I don’t want to go through this all over again. Certainly not with Greg, you, not anyone. If that means I have to be alone, I’d rather be alone than watch the man I love chase another woman. I won’t go through the abuse again.”

Triston’s arms shot out wide around him. “Do you really think I’d be dealing with all this husband crap, Shy, if I wanted to run around on you? Why would I be putting up with the aggravation or pain?” He rushed forward, hand pointed in her direction. “You think I’d ever abuse you? Hurt you that way?” He shrugged. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe we shouldn’t be together, not if that’s what you think of me. If comparing me to Greg is where your mind goes when you consider us, I don’t want this.”

Triston stormed off into the woods, leaving Shannon behind with mouth hanging open. When he was out of sight, Shannon turned to face the river. He was right, she was almost sure of it. But,
Veronica
. “Nothing like pouring salt on an open wound, even if it should have been cauterized years ago,” she whispered.