Rush to the Altar (27 page)

 After a couple of minutes she blurted out, “Are you okay?”

“I should be asking you that.”

“I’m okay now. When I’m with you.”

He looked at her and smiled, but it felt strained.

Maddie turned back toward the car ahead and said in a small voice, “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t say that.”

“You shouldn’t have to be dealing with all of this.”

“We’ll get through it.”

Maddie sighed. “I hope so.”

At the restaurant they ordered, the four of them laughing and small-talking. Jake noticed that Sasha was very comfortable with Marcus and Marcus had an openness about him that Jake hadn’t seen with just anyone. He laughed at Sasha’s humor, he responded to her thoughts on a matter, he looked at her, really looked at her, and once Jake saw something in his eyes, something admiring and he thought, maybe Sasha was the one for him. Maybe they’d both found love through a radio show contest.

The main course was cleared away and Jake excused himself to go into the men’s room. As he was washing his hands, a young man came up to him, grinning from ear to ear.

“Are you Jake Hart?”

Jake nodded. “Yeah.”

“Wow. This is my lucky night.”

Thinking the man wanted an autograph, Jake said, “Sorry, man, I don’t have a pen on me.”

“Oh, I don’t want your autograph. I’m a reporter for
Current Stars
magazine.” He gave Jake a sly look. “How would you like to get your side of the story into print?”

Jake shook his head. “No thanks.”

The man looked suddenly angry. “Come on. I’ll print whatever you want. For instance, did you really get married in Vegas? And then those photos, wow. Those were something.”

Jake felt the blood rush to head and stared in unbelief at the man. “You’ve seen photos?”

“They’re online. Listen, they are insinuating that your wife is an embezzler and a gold digger and that she has you duped. If you want a rebuttal…well, this is your chance.”

Jake took a long breath. He shook the water off his hands, grabbed the paper towel and wiped his hands, trying to control to urge to slug the man’s overeager, smug face. He didn’t know how to reply—no glib, funny comeback, he only heard himself state, “Madeline Goode is none of those things.” He turned and strode from the room, the man’s voice following him down the hall. “Are you saying she isn’t your wife? Are you getting the marriage annulled or something?”

Jake made his way to the table, breaking into a sweat, wondering what had just happened. She was Madeline Hart now, legally, and he hadn’t meant to insinuate anything different. “Did you pay, Marcus? Let’s get out of here.”

Maddie looked up at him in concern and he felt his gut twist. What had he just done?

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“Reporter hounding me in the bathroom. We need to get out of here.”

Marcus took some hundred-dollar bills from his wallet and tossed them on the table while motioning to the waiter that they were leaving.

“I’ll get it next time,” Jake commented as they walked out.

“Whatever, man,” Marcus replied with a huff. “You can’t even go to the men’s room. This is getting ridiculous. Let’s go to my place.”

“Good idea.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

I
t was Friday. The Friday of the trial. Christmas had come and gone in a short-lived bright spot within the stretch before the trial began. Max had been so cute this year, old enough to really tear into his gifts and shout with glee over a new truck or talking Muppet. His little face was the only thing helping her keep her sanity. Him and Jake’s daily call.

Maddie drove to the courthouse and concentrated on thinking about Christmas. Christmas had always been a magical time in her childhood. Her dad had decorated the outside of the house with a plethora of lights—from Santa and his reindeer on the glittering, light-edged roof to yard decorations that had changed throughout the years with the comings and goings of fads. Blow-up Frosty, make-believe igloos with gleeful penguins, dancing ice-skaters on a fake pond, robotic deer that Simon had placed under their apple tree just like the occasional real deer they saw and Maddie’s favorite, a life-sized nativity, all in lights, Mary with her blue gown, the shepherds and animals with their heads bowed, the elegant wise men bearing their gifts and Joseph. For some reason she had always loved Joseph best, his lighted face staring down at the Christ child in seeming awe. Had he been frightened of the call on his life? Had he wondered how in the world he had ended up the adoptive father of God’s only son?

The courthouse was crowded. She wished Jake could have been there, but the team was keeping him very busy this week in an effort to keep them apart. It seemed every eye turned on her as she walked in. She was wearing an ivory suit with tiny black pin stripes, black pumps and a simple black clutch beneath her right arm. Her hair was long and loose, her head held high.

She had nothing to hide.

She found a seat behind the prosecutor. She really didn’t care which side she was assigned to or which side thought she could help their case. She was there for one reason. To tell the truth. The truth as she knew it when she was married and the truth as she knew it today.

The trial dragged on. Maddie waited in the hall outside the courtroom for them to call her, trying not to think about how it would go, trying to keep her heart from pounding so hard. Her head snapped up when her attorney came out and motioned her toward him. It was time to take the witness stand.

Maddie placed her hand on the Bible. She looked into the man’s eyes and pledged to tell the truth, the whole truth. Yes, it was time for the truth.

“Mrs. Goode,” began the prosecuting attorney. “Have you ever seen that woman sitting there?” He pointed at Sabrina.

“Yes, she called me a few weeks ago and asked that I meet with her.”

“And what did she want with you, Mrs. Goode?”

Maddie took a breath. “She told me that she had been having an affair with my husband. She also told me about the embezzlement and that the bank suspected Brandon had stolen over a half a million dollars.”

“What was your reaction to this?”

“I was shocked. I didn’t believe her at first. I thought she must be crazy, but I couldn’t understand why she would tell me such a thing if it weren’t true.”

“Mrs. Goode, do you now believe her?”

Maddie nodded, looking at the jury. “Imagine learning your significant other had another life that you knew nothing about. At first I flatly denied it. Then, as the evidence came out, as I learned more details from other sources, I was forced to believe that Brandon had, indeed, led this other life. I can’t fathom it. I can’t reconcile it to the man I
knew as my husband. He seemed so normal, a good husband and partner with me working toward the goals that we had, a father that loved his child, that…pretended, I guess now, to miss me when he had to be away on business. But everyone is telling me that they have this evidence. That it’s true. So,” she shrugged sadly, “what am I left to think? What am I left to tell his son?”

“So your husband gave you no cause to believe he had another, secret life?”

“I had no idea,” Maddie said simply. She looked at Sabrina and repeated. “I had no idea until she told me.”

“That will be all.”

She stepped down from the stand.

“Congratulations, Maddie. It’s definitive. It’s over.”

“It is?” She looked up at her attorney standing in the hall outside the courtroom.

He nodded, pale blue eyes pleased. “The bank was still considering prosecuting you, depending on this trial, but you were believable and they have no evidence they can pin on you. Now that Miss Bridgestone has been found guilty and they have someone to blame this on, they are satisfied. It helped that you were so credible on the witness stand. Excellent job today.”

Maddie took a deep breath. “I’m relieved to hear it. Will Sabrina go to prison?” She couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for her. They had loved the same man, a man neither of them had really understood.

“They gave her a three-year prison sentence, but suspended it. She’ll serve about 180 days in jail, be placed on probation and have to repay some of the bank’s remaining losses.”

“That sounds terrible, but she probably got off pretty light, didn’t she?”

He nodded. “She could have been sentenced to ten years in prison. I would say she is relieved.”

“I would like to talk to her. Is there any way I can see her?”

Her attorney looked at her for a moment and then nodded. “I’ll see what I can do. Wait right here.”

He was back within ten minutes. “She’s in a holding cell. They’ve given you a couple of minutes before transporting her. Be careful what you say, they may be recording it.”

Maddie nodded and followed her attorney down a long hall, up an elevator to a floor with cells. She shivered walking by them. It wasn’t the same as in the movies. There were no scantily dressed, lounging prostitutes, no catcalls or whistles—there was little sound at all. Instead Maddie felt despair seeping into her with each click of her shoes across the shiny tiled floors.

Her gaze met a woman’s and she found helpless fury there. Another sneered at Maddie, but as Maddie gave her a small smile filled with all the compassion that she felt for her the woman’s face changed to hopelessness and she turned away. They finally came to Sabrina’s cell.

She had changed and was wearing a white t-shirt tucked into the elastic waistband of plain gray cotton pants and black tennis shoes. Her hair had been pulled back into a ponytail, revealing the sharp lines of her face. Her head jerked up, her gaze haunted as she stared at Maddie.

“You’ve lost weight,” Maddie said her thoughts aloud.

“Here to gloat?” Sabrina said in a dead voice.

“No,” Maddie said softly. “I wouldn’t wish this on anyone.”

“Yes, well, you got lucky. I’m taking the heat for both of us.”

“I guess you could look at it that way. But the truth is, I’m not guilty of anything.” Maddie stopped, stared at the gorgeous woman in front of her. “What happened? I just don’t understand. You’re beautiful. You had a successful career. You could have probably had any number of men. Why would you settle for a married man?”

Sabrina shrugged. “He was a challenge…and I wanted him.”

Maddie felt the anger rise within her, white and hot. “You just took what you wanted then, never thinking about the consequences, about me or Max.”

“I’ll have plenty of time to think about it now, won’t I? What do you want, Maddie? I thought you would be off somewhere celebrating. Why are you here?”

Maddie looked down at the shiny squares of marble. “I want to forgive you. I’m trying to forgive you and I thought it would help if I could understand why you did it.” She looked back up at Sabrina. “Are you at all sorry?”

Sabrina stood up and walked over to the bars. “What do you think? Of course I’m sorry.” She clutched two bars with either hand.

“Only because of this? Because you’re being punished?”

Sabrina laughed. “I know what you want to hear. You want me to say that I’ve changed, that I’ve learned my lesson and wish I had never looked twice at Brandon. You want me to be good…like you. Well that’s not going to happen, sweetheart. I don’t regret going after Brandon. I don’t regret falling in love with him. I do regret letting him talk me into signing my name to some papers and turning away and ignoring the signs when I suspected he was up to something. I do regret being a typical weak woman who protected him when I should have blown the whistle on the no-good weasel. I wouldn’t be behind bars. A woman doesn’t get punished for stealing a husband.”

Maddie’s breath stopped at the speech. She backed away from the angry woman, her knees feeling suddenly weak and wobbly. “Yes, they do. There are many levels of pain in such a relationship. You settled. I’m sorry you can’t see your mistake,” she said with sadness, “and I’m sorry for the next wife it happens to once you get out.” Maddie turned and walked away, hoping never to see Sabrina Bridgestone again.

More news reporters were outside the courthouse, but Maddie refused to notice them. Head held high, she blocked out their questions and made her way to her car. Getting inside, one question penetrated her stoic wall.

“Maddie, have you heard that there is talk of Jake Hart being traded and it’s because of you? Do you realize the impact you’ve had on Jake’s career?”

Maddie turned to stare at the woman while a camera blinked at her. Quickly coming back to reality, she shut the car door and jammed in the key as fast as she could. She started the engine and hit the accelerator with her elegant shoe as hard as she dared. Her tires screeched as she pulled out of the parking lot and speed down the street toward Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

Maddie burst through the doors of the practice court, immediately able to pick Jake from the other players. As the doors closed behind her, a couple of the players saw her and stopped, causing the coach to look her way. She saw something on the man’s face that made her heart sink—a mixture of revulsion and pity. Didn’t he know she was innocent? Why did these men hate her now?

Everyone stopped playing as she walked over to the coach. “I need to speak to Jake, please.”

Jake jogged over to her, looking grim. “Jake is practicing. Can’t it wait until after?”

A couple of the men snickered. Maddie stared at them and they quickly looked at anything but her. “Please. It will only take a few minutes.”

“Come on, coach. I have to tell her.”

“All right, hurry up.”

Jake walked with Maddie out the double doors, down the hall to the media room and shut the door behind them.

Maddie walked into the center of the room. “Is it true? Are they trying to trade you because of me?” Tears gathered in her eyes.

Jake tilted his head to one side, hesitating. “I think so. They are talking about a trade.”

“You love this team. They can’t make you leave just because of a trial that doesn’t have anything to do with you, can they?”

“I had hoped it would have blown over by now, but it’s gotten even worse.” He lifted his hand to his head and leaned on it for a minute.