You're Gone (Finding Solid Ground) (13 page)

             
It was the most unexpected thing. Claudia called Charleigh at the feed store.
Odd!
What’s more, she was speaking nicely to her. As if she had never insulted Charleigh at the restaurant on Jamie’s birthday, or ever said a bad word about her. If Charleigh hadn’t known any better, she would’ve thought Claudia was her friend.

That was the tip-off. There had never been a single time that that woman had spoken civilly to her, and she presumed there never would be.
Unless
, she wanted something from her.

They made insignificant chitchat for a short time, only about five minutes. Claudia asked about the weather.
It’s hot and humid.
Charleigh asked the same about New York and got the same answer. Claudia asked how the wedding planning was going. Charleigh told her that it was coming along but didn’t give any specifics. Claudia asked how Jamie liked his job. Charleigh said that Jamie like it a lot and he got along just fine with Daniel Crane and Fred Macmillan, and she asked about Jenna and Kevin.

Finally, when she’d had
enough, Charleigh wanted to get straight to the point.

             
“Why are you calling me, Claudia?”

After a moment of silence, Claudia answered in her snooty voice, “Can’t I call my son’s fiancée just to see how you are? Is there something wrong with that?”

“There is when you have treated me like a leper ever since the first time we met. It seems odd that with only a little more than two weeks before the big day you decide to make nice. What gives?”

“It was wrong of me. I realize this now.”

Oh, whatever!
Charleigh wanted to scream. Instead, she asked, “So, what kind of epiphany did you have? I know that you don’t like me because you’ve had something against my mother for a long time— Greg explained it to me— and that kind of hatred just doesn’t change overnight.”

The woman on the other end of the line scoffed. She knew Charleigh had gotten right to the core of the matter. And it didn’t take a genius to know that Greg had informed the little twit of his undying affections for her late mother.

To this day, Greg carried a picture of Amanda Douglas in his wallet. If he could, Claudia expected that he’d buy a cemetery plot and ask to be buried right next to her. It didn’t make a bit of difference to him that the woman’s husband— Greg’s own best friend— was buried on the other side. Or that his own wife and children were living and breathing
in New York.

The thoughts caused bile to rise in Claudia’s throat. She
wouldn’t tolerate to have
that
woman’s child married to one of her own. It just wasn’t going to happen. She wouldn’t allow it,
absolutely not
!

“Fine. I’ll be direct,” she said. “I’ll give you five million dollars to break your engagement to my son.”

Charleigh laughed. She didn’t think the woman could stoop any lower, but she had “You want to buy me off? That’s not going to happen.”

Very well. She’d just up the price. “Six and a half million.”

“No.”

“Eight.”

Charleigh could hear the venom in the other woman’s voice. “I’m sorry.”

“Twelve million dollars and you’ll never see or speak to Jamie again.” 

The nerve of that woman!
“Absolutely not, Missus Matthews! I can’t believe you’re asking me anything of the sort.”

“Twenty million dollars is my last offer. You’ll never want for anything ever again.”

Tears welled in her eyes. Charleigh sighed, “I don’t want your money, because you can’t buy love. If
you
loved your son half as much as I do then you’d understand that money isn’t everything.”

“Come on, Charleigh. Everyone has a price.”

“Not me.” 

Claudia was really beginning to get angry. She’d never met anyone like Charleigh Randall. Everybody has a price.
Everybody
! Some people are just more greedy than others, and this one was the most covetous of all who she’d ever met— whether she wanted to admit it or not— because Claudia had met a lot of materialistic people over the years. She didn’t have a single friend that couldn’t be bought for a Cartier diamond bracelet. The difference was all in the number of carats

“You strike a hard bargain.”

“I’m not trying to make any kind of bargain, Claudia. I don’t want your money. I don’t need it.” Charleigh tried to make it as clear as she could. “So, I’m going to make
you
a deal. If you leave Jamie and me alone and let us be happy, then I’ll never have to tell him about this. He seems to have a few issues with you already; wouldn’t that beat everything if he broke off connection with you all together?”

“You wouldn’t dare!” Claudia warned. “You don’t have the guts.”

“Wouldn’t I?” Charleigh asked. “Are you sure, because Jamie’s happiness matters a lot to me, which you can’t seem to say the same.”

“You are spiteful
,” Claudia screamed into the phone before hanging up.

***

For a long time after she got home, Charleigh sat out in the den— they’d converted the sunroom that she’d used to paint in into an extra office and television room. The television was on but she stared past it, out through the glass panels at the setting sun in the distance. The sky was painted a multitude of pastel oranges and pinks and purples.

She felt… drained. It was the best description Charleigh could come up with. Weary of everything Claudia Matthews did and said. Every little stunt she tried. None of them worked; her relationship with Jamie was unbreakable. That just made his mother try a little harder each subsequent time.

Twenty million dollars.
‘You’ll never want for anything ever again.’
Charleigh didn’t want for anything as it was. Twenty million dollars. Her life was full now that Jamie was a part of it. Twenty million dollars. Why did Claudia think that everyone could be bought? Did the woman ever want anything in her life that money couldn’t buy? Did she ever love anyone in her life? It was a fact that she hadn’t loved her children?
Twenty million dollars.

So why was it so important that Claudia keep
them separated? There had to be more to the story than just a grudge against Amanda. It didn’t make enough sense to Charleigh.

“Charleigh? Where are you, babe?”

Jamie.

“I’m back here,” Charleigh called back, sitting up straight on the wicker loveseat. She shook away the dark rain cloud hanging over her psyche.

A few moments later he appeared in the doorway. “Hey.” Jamie smiled, hands on his hips.

“Hi.” She looked up to find that his jacket and tie were gone. The top button of his shirt was undone. His hair was tousled, probably because he had the top off the Jeep. Charleigh
smiled back.  

But there was a heaviness on her heart, and she hoped it didn’t show on her face. Charleigh wasn’t going to tell Jamie about her conversation with his mother.
She wasn’t.

Jamie came over to sit beside Charleigh. He cupped both sides of her face, tilted it gently to the side as he looked deep into her eyes. There was something there, or rather
not
there. The light in her eyes looked dimmed. The bright green of her irises looked faded.

             
“What’s wrong?” He asked, pressing a kiss to Charleigh’s forehead.

“Nothing,” she lied. “Just tired.”

Jamie gave her a once-over. It was Wednesday evening and she wasn’t ready for church. “Long day at work, huh?”

“Yeah. What about you?”

“It was good. The plans for the Thailand project are coming along well. We’ll be ready to break ground by the middle of next year, at the very latest.”

“Really? That’s great,” Charleigh replied. “You’ve never told me what they do, though.”

“Manufacturing.”

“Manufacturing what?”

“Stuff.” Jamie shrugged. He wasn’t really sure. “So, what do you want to do tonight? Since you’re not going to church.”

“Oh. Uh…” Charleigh looked down at her clothes. She was still dressed in her scrubs from the clinic. After the phone call from Claudia, she hadn’t even bothered to change before heading out to Madie’s ranch. And when she got home, Charleigh sank into her seat and stayed there. “I don’t know. What do you have in mind?”

“Pizza and a couple of videos on the couch sounds just fine to me.”

“I was hoping you’d say pizza. I’ve had a hankering for a large Supreme and some chunky chocolate fudge ice cream all day.”

Jamie eyed her suspiciously. Charleigh saw it, and she instantly knew what he was thinking. She waved the thought away. There was no possible way that she was pregnant. Not again. It was too soon. They weren’t ready for it. Besides, ever since the miscarriage, she’d been diligent about taking her birth-control every day.

It wasn’t possible. She was just hungry and tired, and in need of a nice, long soak in the tub. There were other symptoms of being pregnant besides tiredness and hunger cravings. There was morning sickness. Heavy, tender breasts. Neither of which she had.

After the wicked witch called with her outrageous antics, Charleigh had been so twisted in knots that she’d skipped lunch. That had to be the explanation, the
only
explanation. For crying out loud, she’d just had her period!

“I’m tired. That’s all, Jamie.” Charleigh scrubbed the heels of her hands over her face and stood up. “
And
I’m hungry!”

“What did I say?” Jamie threw his hands up defensively.

“Nothing. It was that look. That look that asked, ‘Do you know something I don’t?’” She ran her fingers through his hair. With a handful of thick brown hair, Charleigh gently tugged Jamie’s head back so she could look him in the eye. “Believe me, if I knew anything— and I do mean
anything—
I’d let you know in one way or another.”

“Well then, okay.” He put an arm around her middle, drawing her close.

  “Okay, then. I’m hungry.” Charleigh smiled, wriggling her eyebrows. “Race me to the truck?”

She was already gone by the time Jamie got to his feet.

“Cheater,” he laughed, heading toward the door.

“I am not. Stop saying that,” Charleigh screamed between intervals of retching. She sat on the floor in her bathroom. Her head leaned against the cool porcelain of the toilet.

“Are you sure?” Jamie knelt down beside her, holding a wet wash cloth to the back of her neck. He was still a little anxious that they might be hearing the pitter-patter of little feet in the near future.

“Of course, I’m sure. The test was negative, wasn’t it?” She pushed him away when another wave of nausea swept over her.

Charleigh gagged, but nothing came up. Her stomach was empty only her brain was saying otherwise. Gripping the edges of the bowl, she could feel the veins on her neck bulging out. Beads of sweat dotted her forehead.

It was the worst feeling in the world. She hated being sick, and she hated Jamie seeing her that way.

When the dry-heaves finally subsided, Charleigh closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

“Water, please,” she whispered. Her throat was dry and her voice was raspy.

“Here.” Jamie held the glass up to her lips. He pushed sweaty curls away from Charleigh’s face while she sipped.

She took a drink, swished the cool liquid around in her mouth for a while before spitting it out in the toilet. Taking another, she swallowed slowly because it burned her throat. Some of the water dribbled down her chin, and Charleigh used the hem of her nightgown to wipe it away.

It was like there was a lump, blocking her from swallowing or breathing, and it took Charleigh a few tries to clear it.

“Feel better?” Jamie asked, holding the wash cloth to her forehead.

She could only nod. He pressed a kiss to Charleigh’s ear. He picked her up, as if she weighed nothing at all, and carried her back in to the bedroom.

When she was lying on the bed again, Charleigh reached over on her bedside table for a spoon and a bottle of nasty, pink stomach reliever. Because she was still weak and trembling, Jamie took the two from her.

“Open up,” he said, holding out a spoonful of the pink goop. Charleigh complied before lying back on her pillow and closing her eyes. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“I’m fine,” she tried to reassure him. “It’s just a stomach thing. Or nerves, that’s all.”

“Did you get this way when you married Gavin?” Charleigh shook her head. “Why not?”

“His mother doesn’t hate me. Linda didn’t want to sabotage the wedding.” She cleared her throat.

Jamie sighed. He’d finally been able to pry out of Charleigh what was wrong, but barely. Although he shouldn’t have been surprised about his mother trying to pay her off, he had to admit that he was.

Now,
Claudia decided that she
was
going to come to the wedding, mostly because she wanted to cause a scene. Jamie was certain that she wasn’t coming just to see her oldest son marry the love of his life.

And then, there was a problem with the place where they were renting the tables and chairs for the reception. They had called the day before to inform them that there might not have enough round tables.

“Well, can’t we have square tables, or even rectangular ones?” Charleigh had asked.

“That’s not what you ordered,” they told her.

“Can’t you change the order, then?”

“Um, no. There’s a four-week minimum pre-order date.”

Oh, no! They couldn’t have people sitting on the ground.

As if they didn’t have enough to worry about
, Charleigh was sick. In Jamie’s book, that trumped everything. Anything else was moot until she was well again.

“
Are you sure?” He lay down on the bed beside her.

“
Yes, I’m fine. No, I’m not pregnant.”

“
It would be nice, though, don’t you think?”

Charleigh opened her eyes to see Jamie smiling at her. Nice to have a miniature version of Jamie, with the same cocoa-brown eyes, running around and driving her just as insane? Yeah, she had to admit it sounded wonderful, but there were still a lot of things she wanted to do before having a family.

There were still a lot of things, she was sure, that Jamie wanted to do in life before settling into the monotony that came along with raising children. The 2:00 a.m. feedings. The endless diaper changes. The constant crying, and uncertainy of not knowing what was wrong.

The horrible, rotten smell of spit-up formula. The mere thought of that made Charleigh gag.

“Are you okay?” Jamie asked, already headed into the bathroom for the wastebasket before he’d finished the question.

“
I’m fine. I’m fine,” Charleigh called after him, but he still came back with it.

Those were all the bad points, and of course Charleigh knew there was an upside. The lullabies that went along with those 2:00 feedings, and whenever the baby cried. The bedtime stories. The giggles. The first words and the first steps and all those other cute firsts.

“You don’t think it’s a little soon to be starting a family?”

Jamie shrugged.
“I can’t say that I’d mind. Having a little baby around that I could teach stuff to, it would be pretty cool.”

“
Pretty cool,” Charleigh echoed. “There are still a lot of concerns, though, that go along with having a baby so soon after marriage. They say that first year is a doozey. With the added stress of a baby…”

“
But we don’t have anything to worry about, right?” He cut her off.  “Because we’re not pregnant.”

She liked the way Jamie said
‘we,’ but now, with all the talk about babies, it made her wonder if she wasn’t in fact pregnant. Pregnancy tests could be faulty. They might’ve done something wrong. What if, by some strange twist of fate, she really was pregnant?