A Wife by Accident (19 page)

Hayely
had sat silent long enough while everyone around her talked about her as if she didn’t exist. They were trying to make her decisions for her again and finally the anger welled up in her. She stood up straight, nearly sloshing the coffee over the rim of her cup.

“You won’t object? Ha! I’m not going back with you,” she declared, “partly because I’m sick of everyone trying to protect me to death. I’m staying in Nevada. And it was my decision.”

Gary gave a little wink. “I might have a little something to do with it, too.”

Hayely’s
father walked over to her and caught her up in his pudgy arms. He was more than sure of Gary’s intentions by now. Anyone could see how much he treasured
Hayely
.

“You mother always tells me I’m too abrupt, too brusque. I don’t mean to be.”

“You don’t?”
Hayely
asked her father. She felt dazed, unsure she’d even spoken.

“No. There’s a chance I went overboard trying to make sure you were happy,” her father added. “I shouldn’t have worried.”

Gary reached out, took her by the hand and gently pulled her down to rest of the arm of his chair. “Don’t be too angry with them. It’s just that they love you as much as I do.”

Hayely
breathed in and out quickly while her head still tried to wrap itself around what Gary had said. He loved her? She loved him! She’d danced around the word for weeks and pressed it from her mind whenever it had threatened to surface there. She felt shivers through her body whenever he looked her way. With a touch he could soothe or ignite her. She loved his family values, loved his gruffness,
loved
the construction dust on his clothes …

Gary took her by the hands and looked into her eyes. “Well? What do you say we forget about the deal and the divorce we’d have to get?”

She nodded. “Say it again.”

“I fell in love with you and you’re not leaving me.”

“I love you, too,” she whispered.

Mrs. Black broke down fully into tears as she fully absorbed the truth. “You know what this means, don’t you? I’ve missed my only daughter’s wedding.” Big wet tears rolled down cheekbones that called
Hayely’s
own to mind.

Hayely
turned to Gary. “Then we’ll have to create memories they haven’t missed.
Babies.
Celebrations of anniversaries and old photo albums filled with our life together.”

Gary placed his hands on her arms. “Look at me,
Hayely
. Look up at me. Let’s start now.”

They all followed Gary as he went straight to the den, ran over to his desk, flung open the middle drawer and dug furiously through the mass of papers stuffed inside. As last he grabbed the document he’d been looking for and held it up high in triumph.

“Do you recognize this?”

Hayely
looked at the six-month contract she’d signed in the parking lot so many weeks ago. The bright blue ink scrawled along the bottom was unmistakable.

“It’s our agreement. I didn’t let the lawyer hold the original. I plan on keeping the marriage certificate intact and legal if you’ll let me?”

Hayely
nodded as if in a trance.

Gary caught the pages by their corners and pulled. When the thick cotton paper tore diagonally in half, he picked up those pieces and shredded them again and again. Soon all that remained was a pile of large confetti, which he swept with a great show of determination into the wastebasket.

“And me without my camera,”
Hayely
said with a laugh that abruptly faded. She looked up at Gary and an expression of sudden knowing came upon her. She hopped up and down once as her elegant fingers flew to her mouth.

“I know what I’m going to do,” she breathed out. “I’ve decided—for a career, I mean.” She tucked her chocolate-brown hair back behind her ears in excitement.

Her mother waved a narrow hand in the air. “
It’s
interior design, isn’t it? You’ve always had such good taste.”

Gary struck out his chest and that confidently arrogant expression that drove
Hayely
crazy showed on his face. “No. She’s going to be a chef. Run her own gourmet dessert shop.
Cheesecakes and cream puffs.”

“She can cook?”
Hayely’s
father asked in wonder. “When did that happen?”

It was
Hayely’s
turn to be smug. “I’m not doing either of those things. But I’m not going to tell any of you busybodies just yet. I’ve got a few details to work out in my head first.” She smiled so that it shined all the way into her eyes. Finally, finally she knew what she wanted to do and she would have Gary at her side through every step.

Gary slid his arm around her waist and whispered, “You’ll tell me later, right?” All he got was a gentle elbow to the ribs in response.

The clattering noise of shoes in the marble foyer stopped their conversation. “Charlie has a key,” Gary explained. “We’re in the den,” he yelled out.

Charlie nearly sprinted across the floor, out of breath and visibly agitated as he held on to Carla’s hand. She’d smoothed down her spiky black hair into a slick, short bob and it suited her. With an awkward smile and seriousness in her eyes, she gave an ill-at-ease wave to
Hayely
. Judging from the atmosphere of the room she’d just walked into, they’d stepped into the middle of something important and interrupted it but good. In fact everyone, even Gary, looked as if they had either just finished crying or were about to start.

“You’re never going to believe what Carla just heard,” Charlie announced, and then noticed Mr. and Mrs. Black in the room.

“These are my parents,”
Hayely
introduced and wiped a remaining tear away. “And this is Charlie, and his girlfriend, Carla.”

Gary spoke directly to his friend, “Say whatever it is. They know everything now. We all finally do.”

“That Mark woman has a copy of your agreement,” Charlie announced with a high level of stress in his voice.

Gary took the wrinkled papers from Mr. Black’s hand and held them up. “You mean these?”

Carla nodded. “It looked the same. She has a copy just like that.”

Charlie stood behind his new girlfriend and rubbed her shoulders nervously. “Tell them how you saw it. They won’t believe it.”

Carla moved into the den to sit down and everyone gathered into a circle, standing or sitting closely around her to catch every word.

“Well, I walked over to the mall to get one of those fruit smoothies for lunch. I was sitting at one of those little tables in the food court when I heard somebody behind me say the name Tarleton. Pretty much caught my attention.”

“Could you see who it was?”
Hayely
asked.

“Oh, sure.
From a foot or two away.
When they were getting ready to leave, I stood up and walked past them to get a good look.”

“Go on, Carla,” Gary urged. “What else did they say?”

Carla flushed red for a moment. She could hardly believe she was seeing the inside of Gary Tarleton’s house, much less sitting on some plush furniture in the middle of his den.

She blinked widely a couple times to collect herself. It was almost comical thinking back at how she and her friends had discussed Gary Tarleton all these years. They hadn’t known what they were talking about.

Carla said at length, “It was a woman and some guy talking together. She looked totally out of place dressed up the way she was in the mall.
To the hilt.
She was telling the guy that she could give him the biggest scoop of his career. Then he said something that gave me the idea he was from that trashy TV show, you know, the one that gossip program?”

Gary nodded, “I know the one.”

“That’s when I really started to pay attention to him. Then the woman said that you and
Hayely
hadn’t really been married at all—not for real anyway. She said if he put a story about it on television tomorrow evening, she could back it up for him. You know, she would actually prove it when he tries to go for a follow-up story the next day.

“Of course, she’d be an anonymous source. She told him that since nobody wanted you, you’d gone out and bought yourself a bride. She said something about you coming on to her daughter or something and being refused. Then she talked about how
Hayely
was an incompetent secretary who was going to be fired, so she basically sold her body to pay the bills.”

Mr. Black’s face had resumed its former shade of scarlet. “Tell me who this devil woman is.”

Carla continued, “I’m pretty sure her name is Kathy Mark. She’s been in the store a few times since the Chamber of Commerce Banquet. None of us likes her, so we don’t say anything, but she’s always trying to steer the conversation around to
Hayely
. Never buys anything either. I saw her clear as day when I got up and walked out of the food court. She stayed for a little while after the reporter left and was reading a document. It looked just like that one.” She pointed to the papers Gary had held up. “I could even see your names on it and the lawyer’s letterhead.”

“Which reporter was it, do you know?” Gary asked.

“Sure. I’d know that guy’s voice anywhere. Mel Reilly. His show comes on at eight.”

“Do you think she ever showed him the document or gave him a copy?”

Carla shook her head. “I don’t think so. I mean, not from their conversation and she only took out the papers and started reading them after he’d gotten up and walked away.”

“You’re wonderful, Carla. We owe you one.” Gary squeezed
Hayely’s
hand. “I’m heading down to the TV station.”

“How do you plan on stopping them from airing such garbage?” So much had happened in the span of fifteen minutes that she was still trying to wrap her mind around it all.

Gary gave a crooked grin. “If you had to choose between an exclusive interview with a man who never gives interviews, or a shaky story that will promise him a multi-million-dollar defamation of character suit, which would you choose?”

Charlie nodded enthusiastically. “Good thinking. I think I’ll pay a visit to Ms. Mark. Hey, did she ever send your final paycheck? I shouldn’t have made that comment to her at the banquet.
Probably made her dig in her heels.”

Hayely
shook her head. “No, there’s been nothing in the mail. I called and asked the payroll department where it was, but didn’t get anywhere. They were really uncomfortable.”

“That’s completely illegal.” Mr. Black drew himself up to full stature. “I’ll go along with this young man and we’ll deal with that foul woman once and for all.”

Hayely
looked around the room and found that all the bravado tickled her. A few months ago, she was sure she would have been frustrated and not just a little angry with all these men jumping to her rescue.

The less mature, less secure
Hayely
would have assumed they were trying to control her and didn’t trust in her own strength.
Sometimes I think you mistake acts of caring for disrespect.
She sensed nothing but caring around her, and she also sensed Gary waiting to see if she’d give her usual prickly reaction or not.

“No,” she said with a great deal of calm firmness. “I’m going down to K. L. Mark Enterprises and handling this myself.
All of it.
I won’t get personal. I won’t tell her off. I’ll just get my paycheck and let her know we’re aware she has our stolen agreement.”

“You sure you don’t need backup?” Charlie asked.

“Thanks, but no. I need to do this. I’m closing one chapter and opening up a new one.” She caught Gary’s gaze and held it after he gave her a quick kiss. “I’m going to change clothes and head over there right now. I’ll meet you all at eight o’clock in front of the TV.”

Charlie smiled broadly as he took in all the kissing and hand holding. “So you two finally admitted you’re in love?”

Hayely’s
dad answered, “You bet your bottom they have.”

In spite of disastrous story that threatened them,
Hayely
had never been happier. She could hardly stand herself she was so filled with joy.

Chapter Ten

Hayely
sped down the highway with the top of her shiny silver car down to let the golden rays of sunlight in. With her smooth grey slacks, lightly woven springtime sweater the same shade of red as the leather interior and her sunglasses with red lenses, it almost looked as if she’d dressed to match the car.

She tied a long light grey scarf around her neck and laughed as the wind twirled it back across the seat. Those times when she had felt so miserable? They hardly seemed worth remembering now that she had grown so far past that emotion. She would have a real husband in Gary and an amazing career plan in mind. She smiled to herself and wondered when she might decide to let everyone else in on her ideas.

For months, whenever she’d gone shopping, she’d ended up designing outfits of her own, giving her sketches to Carla, and then having the boutique’s tailor actually sew the clothing for her. What she’d learned was not only that she enjoyed the creative process, but she was good at it!