The minute the flight attendant announced that the passengers could begin to disembark, Natalie had her cell phone out and on. The flight out of LaGuardia had begun at the crack of dawn; it was now past noon in Salt Lake City. There were only two messages, both from Wade. The first one was a terse question asking when her flight was scheduled to arrive. Since she had already given him that information—she knew she had—it meant he’d been so upset he hadn’t paid attention. That wasn’t unusual, and since Natalie herself was upset, it was a sure bet that Wade’s emotions were off the charts. The second message was from a slightly calmer Wade, telling her that he had Emmaline, that they were at his home, and she was to go directly there when she arrived in Salt Lake City.
There was not a message from Ross. And that summed up her worst expectations.
She’d been so upset about Emma when she’d spoken to Wade, so focused on arranging for a flight home, that she’d had to compartmentalize the fact that Ross was still in the hotel picking up where he’d left off eleven years ago with his perfect woman. She hoped she’d appeared calm and gracious when she’d left the ballroom; the situation had jarred her, leaving her more numb than anything.
She’d dealt with it by concentrating on the task at hand: booking the flight, packing, arranging for transportation to the airport. She’d called Ross’s cell phone, but it had gone straight to voice mail, so she’d actually spent a few minutes looking around the ballroom for him. When she hadn’t been able to locate him, she’d written a note and given it to the concierge. He’d promised to locate Mr. McConnell when he had an opportunity, and Natalie had been resigned to leave it at that.
During the ride to LaGuardia, she’d decided to try calling Ross again. She wouldn’t have phone service until she arrived in Salt Lake, and although she’d been certain he was preoccupied with matters other than her, she owed him for the few days of heaven she’d had with him in New York City. She owed him for showing her there were men of honor in the world and that she deserved not to settle for less than she was.
And he deserved not to settle for less than he was. He deserved someone as accomplished as he, and she hoped he would be happy in his life with Liz. She hoped her own heart stopped bleeding at some point.
Dashing away tears, she’d tried his number again during the cab ride to the airport—and had been relieved when he hadn’t picked up so she could leave a voice mail this time. She’d thought out in her mind exactly what she needed to say; she’d written basically the same thing in the note. She’d had to choose the words carefully so he wouldn’t be alarmed or offended at her hurried departure. An urgent family matter had arisen, and she’d had to leave abruptly. She’d had a wonderful time in New York—every minute with you, she’d wanted to say—and thank you. She would remember these days with fondness.
She’d been afraid she would say too much, pour out too many of her feelings to him, which wouldn’t have been fair to either Ross or Liz. Natalie hoped she’d struck a delicate balance between saying too little and too much.
Now she needed to put her heartbreak away and focus on the crisis ahead. She didn’t know why Emma had been taken to police headquarters. She wasn’t sure what Wade’s emotional state was going to be, but she was confident that, somehow, she would be to blame. She had too many years of experience with him to think otherwise.
Wade answered the door, looking both smug and grim, if that were possible. Sandy sat primly in the living room, her two young children from her first marriage on the floor at her feet working on a puzzle. Callie and Emma sat on the sofa, side by side, stricken, Callie’s face swollen and tear blotched, Emma’s ghost white. The pulsing knot in Natalie’s stomach turned to lead. Wordlessly, Wade pointed to a vacant chair, inviting Natalie to sit. She did and waited for him to take the lead. She didn’t have to wait long.
“It seems your daughter keeps regular company with drug users. Were you aware of this?” he asked accusingly.
Natalie looked at Emma with shock. “Who—” she started to ask.
“Mom, I can explain! It isn’t what you think—”
“Shut up!” Wade snapped, then turned his attention back to Natalie. “She deliberately lied, snuck out of the condo, and joined these so-called ‘friends’ at a party where illegal drugs and alcohol and who knows what else were in abundance. The neighbors were so tired of the continual nuisance, they called the police.”
“Oh, Emma,” Natalie moaned in dismay. “Who?”
“It’s Kate’s boyfriend, Mom. I just went there to talk her into leaving with me. I swear.”
“So you say.” Wade dragged both hands through his hair and stood so his full authority could be felt. Natalie took a deep breath and straightened as if bracing for a blow. “The bottom line, Natalie, is this: it’s obvious that the time spent in her mother’s care has not been beneficial to Emma. I intend to remedy that. In addition, the police released Emmaline into her father’s custody. My custody. I plan to make sure nothing like this ever happens again. Therefore, until you are officially notified by my attorney, I am keeping both girls with me. Our current custody arrangement is void.”
Natalie reeled from his words. Both girls were sobbing. She rose to her feet, shaking with anger and dread. “She was in your care when she slipped out, not mine, Wade.”
“She’s done it before. She admitted it to me when I picked her up at the station.”
“What?” Natalie swung around to stare at Emma. Her pinched face grew even paler, if that was possible.
“Mom! It isn’t what you think—”
“I will be following you with the girls to your house, Natalie. They are to pack their clothes quickly. We’re taking care of the essentials right now. We’ll deal with the rest of their belongings later.”
“No!” Natalie almost yelled it. Realizing nearly too late that the only way to deal with Wade was to remain rational, she took a deep breath. “Wade. Listen. I haven’t even heard a complete explanation. I am not simply going to give up my legal custody without knowing why. I want to speak with Emma. Alone. You owe me that much.”
Wade stared at her for a long, agonizing moment. “Sandy, get the kids out of here. Callie, out.” He stalked out of the room, the others following in his wake.
Natalie sat down by Emma and took her hand in both of her own. “Em, what’s going on? What happened?”
“It was New Year’s Eve, and Callie and I were stuck babysitting so Dad and Sandy could go out. It was totally unfair, but whatever. And then Kate called and said she had a New Year’s resolution she was going to make, but she was scared. And that made me scared, Bob. I was afraid her creep boyfriend Jeremy was going to make her do something stupid.”
Natalie knew only too well that stupid teenage mistakes could follow a person for a lifetime. “Wait. Her boyfriend’s name is Jeremy, right?” It couldn’t be. It had to be a coincidence. “It isn’t Jeremy Lisle, is it?” Please, please say no.
“Yeah, Jeremy Lisle, and he has an even creepier twin brother.”
Natalie’s squeezed her eyes shut.
“I didn’t dare let Kate go to the party at his house by herself. He’d told Kate it was a party for adults and she was a baby and a waste of his time. I was afraid of what she’d do to convince him she wasn’t. So I asked Callie to cover for me.”
“And then what happened?” Natalie asked, even though she was afraid to hear the answer.
“Kate snuck me out of the condo, and we drove to Jeremy’s house. And when we went in”—she blushed—“well, it was, you know, bad. People were drinking and smoking pot, and doing . . . other stuff. But Kate didn’t want to leave until she’d at least talked to Jeremy. I called Tess, but she didn’t answer, so then I called Brett.”
Ross’s nephew. Well, if things weren’t already over with Ross, that little piece of news would certainly be the final nail in the coffin.
Emma’s mascara was running all over her cheeks. Natalie searched through her purse for a Kleenex and handed it to her. “And what did Brett do?” she asked.
“He told me to get out of the house as fast as I could. He said his Uncle Ross was a lawyer and he’d warned him that cops would assume everyone was involved in whatever illegal stuff was happening at a party like that. And that he’d come and get me. But Kate wouldn’t leave, and before I could get out, the cops showed up.”
“Well,” Natalie started, “sneaking out of the condo wasn’t the right thing to do, obviously. Neither was going to the party with Kate. But I’m glad you were only trying to protect your friend.”
“Of course that’s what you’d say,” Wade interrupted, coming back into the room. Sandy and Callie stood in the doorway and watched.
“You had no right to eavesdrop,” Natalie said.
“I had every right to eavesdrop. It’s my house. You’re so pathetic; you’d find any excuse for Emma, no matter what she’s done.” In his most patronizing tone, Wade added, “It should be very simple to understand, even for you, Natalie. Emma lied, she snuck out, she was at a party where everyone in attendance knew there were illegal substances, and she was picked up along with everyone else by the cops. Considering who her main example and disciplinarian has been the last few years, I think it’s obvious she needs a change of friends, a change of rules, and therefore, a change of address.”
“Wade, it happened on your watch. You can’t—”
“I can, and for the girls’ sake, I intend to. And don’t forget, it was you yourself just last night who said I was a good father. Remember?”
“You were upset. I was being supportive. I can’t believe you’re using my own words against me like this.” Natalie paused, trying to take a deep breath. “I would never, never consider taking the girls from you like you are doing to me, and I will do everything in my power to get them back.”
“Yes, well, we all know how pointless that effort will be.”
“This isn’t over by half, Wade.” She looked wildly about the room. “Sandy, you’re a mother. Say something! Make him see—” Sandy’s gaze dropped to the floor.
Wade stood. “Enough. Grab your coats, girls. I want to get this over with.”
Natalie rose numbly and opened her arms. Both girls rushed to her embrace, crying and holding on tightly. Natalie simply stood and looked over their heads, seeing nothing now. Everything she’d ever done, everything she ever did, was for her children. And now she’d lost them. She had no fight left, at least for today. She was exhausted from her ordeal in New York, from a long, sleepless night of worry, and she had no more defenses against Wade. She was beyond fatigue.
Maybe with a good night’s rest she’d see things in a more optimistic light. Maybe she’d see a way of getting Wade to see reason. Maybe her heart wouldn’t feel like a dead weight.
But she doubted it.
* * *
Ross had turned his cell phone off before the party, and he’d forgotten to turn it back on until he’d discovered Natalie had gone. He’d noticed there were a number of missed calls and a couple of voice mails. Now, after a long, restless night without sleep, he decided to listen to them. It had taken him some time to even be willing to do that. Ultimately, though, he had to know if she’d bothered to tell him she was leaving.
The first was from Natalie.
“Ross,” her voice sounded subdued, “something urgent has come up, and I’m afraid I have to leave on the next available flight. Thank you so much for the wonderful time. I enjoyed every minute—I will think back on everything fondly. I know you’ll be happy . . .” He heard her pause. “Good-bye, Ross.” There was a sense of finality in that good-bye. Ross clenched his jaw. Well, he’d received a message, after all. And he’d gotten the message, all right.
The next one was from Brett. His nephew simply said, “Uncle Ross, I hope this isn’t a bad time, but I need to ask you a question. What do you do if a person gets picked up by the cops, but you know the person is innocent? Do they still need a lawyer? It’s not me, I have this friend . . . I just want to help her if I can.”
It was an odd phone message, but since Brett had left it on New Year’s Eve, Ross figured one of Brett’s high school friends had gotten caught in a little bit of underage activity and the crisis had probably passed, especially now that it had been a couple of days since Brett had left the message. Brett was a decent kid to worry about his friends that way. Ross would check on it later, when he could stand the idea of talking to anybody in his family. He remembered that Brett and Natalie’s daughter Emma had become friends. Chances were that Brett wouldn’t ask him anything about Natalie, but if Jackie knew they’d spoken, she’d be on the phone to Ross and pestering him for information. He knew his sisters. They were relentless when it came to this sort of thing.
The idea of talking to anybody about Natalie right now made him physically ill. He had to get the gnawing cold in his gut controlled first. He looked at his watch, judged it to still be business hours in Salt Lake, and called the firm there. He told them that unforeseen circumstances made it impossible for him to return to Salt Lake for a few days. He’d be in touch.
New York City and some physical distance from Natalie Forrester suited him just fine for the time being.