Jilted (18 page)

Priscilla plopped down on the floor next to Skylar. “When Ashley showed up, I figured now would be a good time to make a batch.”

Skylar took a sip of the sweet concoction and moaned with pleasure. Her mother mixed her own homemade blend of hot chocolate made from cocoa powder, evaporated and sweetened condensed milk, and just a touch of cinnamon. Skylar had followed the recipe on several occasions but no matter how many times she tried to duplicate the beverage, it never quite tasted like her mom’s. As long as Skylar could remember, whenever she and Izzy were having a tough time with something, their mother would make them this treat with a side of motherly advice. Though Skylar probably needed the advice right now more than anything, this drink was pure heaven. It hit the spot in any weather. It could have been a heat wave in the middle of August and Skylar still would have welcomed this hot drink. She took a few more sips before she felt like she was in a place where she could properly articulate her feelings.

“I didn’t invite him here if you’re wondering,” Skylar began.

“I know you didn’t. I could tell from the look on your face.”

“He must have hired someone to find my personal information. It was probably easy enough to find out where I worked through the bar association but—”

“He came to your job?”

Skylar took another sip of her hot chocolate before answering. “Yes. I didn’t tell you because I was hoping he’d get the hint and leave me alone. Seeing him at the banquet was shocking enough.”

“So did he get around to telling you what it was that was so important for him to come to our house ringing our bell and knocking on the door like he’d lost his fool mind?”

“He was wanted to warn me off Jeremy. He was about to make some threat when Tristan interrupted him.”

“The nerve of that man. The way he carried on, one would think he still has feelings for you.”

“Ha! Mom that is the craziest thing I’ve ever heard. If he ever had feelings for me, he wouldn’t have dumped me the way he did in the first place. For some reason he wants me to be miserable and if that’s the case, then that’s his cross to bear, but I’ve spent the past five years trying to get over him and I’m finally at a place where I can breathe again. I refuse to let him take that away from me.”

Priscilla patted her daughter’s knee. “I know you won’t, sweetie, I’m just worried about how he’ll be with the children. I mean if he’s genuine about wanting to be in their lives that’s one thing, but will he protect them from his nasty family?” She shuddered. “I don’t want the triplets anywhere near that she-beast he calls a mother, and those twins aren’t much better. What a mess that family is. I had always wondered how someone who was as relatively normal as Ashley could come from that brood, but after what he did, he’s just as screwed up as the rest of them.”

“Right. Before tonight, I didn’t realize the children were sensitive to the fact that they didn’t have a father in their lives, but I’d hate for him to get their hopes up, come around a few times and then decide he doesn’t want anything to do with them, either. Sure I could go to the courts and try to fight to keep him away from my babies, but more than likely I’d lose. And in the end the ones who get hurt are the kids. So basically I’m damned if I do and damned if I don’t.”

“So what do you do now?”

“I guess wait for him to make the next move. He might have had the upper hand five years ago, but if he does anything to hurt my children, I’ll make sure he lives to regret it.”

<><><><><>

Ashley drove for at least an hour, trying to process what had happened at Skylar’s house. Seeing his son was the last thing he’d expected and finding out that Tristan was a triplet had knocked him for a loop. He wanted to blame Skylar because after all, had it not been for her cheating he would have been there every step of his way for his children. But that was the irrational part of his mind speaking. He could never think rationally where Skylar was concerned.

After all these years he could no longer deny it: Skylar could still make him feel emotions he couldn’t quite handle. That’s why he’d tried his hardest to erase her from his life. He didn’t care how big the city was, he’d wanted her to move far away so he wouldn’t have to breathe the same air as her. But despite not seeing her, she had always remained in the back of his mind. Ashley had subconsciously shaped most of his life decisions because of her. He stayed away from places he used to go with her, avoided the foods he knew she liked, even refused a client before they wore a similar scent to what Skylar had worn.

Every woman he’d dated had to be her exact opposite so there were no reminders of Skylar, but as it had turned out they’d all ended up reminding him of Skylar because they weren’t her. He’d even avoided his family because Ashley didn’t want to hear them say they told him so. He’d held on to this anger for so long that he’d grown used to it. The tight fist that clenched his heart, which had been painful at first, had not exactly become bearable, he’d just forgotten how to live any other way. He could indirectly blame this on Skylar, but when it came down to it, this was his fault.

He should have at least waited around long enough to find out if there was an actual pregnancy and then had a paternity test. But the level of his her betrayal had clouded his judgement. Even his short-lived marriage to Tiffany had been his way of trying to obliterate Skylar’s memory. But that had blown up in his face.

Ashley had never been particularly interested in children until he met Skylar. She was the first and only woman who’d made him believe in forever. He used to imagine her belly growing big and round from carrying his child to them growing old together. And then that dream was destroyed by her faithlessness. He’d allowed himself to be ruled by the hurt and anger, and at the end of the day it had cost him his children.

Ashley didn’t have a particular destination in mind when he’d starting driving but he found himself pulling up in front of his mother’s house. There was a car in the driveway he didn’t recognize but it didn’t matter. He had to speak to his mother.

After parking, he let himself in the house using his spare key. It might have been the home where his mother and siblings lived, but he paid for the upkeep. It might as well have been his which is why he saw no need to knock.

To Ashley’s surprise, the lighting in the house was dim and soft classical music played in the surround sound speakers. With a frown, Ashley headed further into the house and toward the living room where he heard his mother’s trill giggles. He found her on the couch, wine glass in hand, nuzzled up to one of his father’s old golf buddies who Ashley knew for a fact was still very married.

“Mother,” he announced to the two were too wrapped up in each other to notice that he’d entered the room.

“Ashley!” Katherine jumped in surprise. Red wine flew out of her glass, spilling over her very low cut cream blouse. “Now look at what you’ve made me do.” She put the wine glass down and began to swipe the beads of moisture from her top.

His mother’s companion jumped up as well, and he was beet red. He must have realized he was caught but Ashley didn’t give a damn about him, he was focused on his mother. “Uh, Ashley, good to see you, son.” Dave Collins strode across the room with his hand extended.

Ashley looked pointedly at the hand and barely managed not to sneer at the older man. “Dave.” He finally nodded his head in acknowledgement.

Visibly embarrassed, Dave dropped his hand and then fiddled with his tie. “Well, it’s always nice to see you. I guess I should be going.” He turned to Ashley’s mother. “Er, Katherine, I’ll be happy to give you more financial advice you need it.”

Ashley smirked at Dave’s lousy attempt to cover up his inappropriate relationship with his mother. “Give my regards to Helen and the kids. Your oldest is in college, right? And Helen is on your clubs committee, isn’t she Mother?”

Dave began to fiddle with his tie again, his face turning a deeper red. “Yes, uh Roger is in his third year and our second youngest is going to college next year. I’ll be sure to give them your regards.”

“You do that,” Ashley murmured.

Dave shot an apologetic look toward Katherine before scurrying off like a scared squirrel.

Katherine pursed her lips, not bothering to hide her displeasure. “Don’t you believe in knocking? Since you seem to have forgotten your father left this house to me.” She raised her chin defiantly. There was absolutely no shame in her eyes.

“I’ll keep that in mind the next time you come looking for money for the next project you want to do on the house.”

She glared at him. “After all I’ve done for you it’s ridiculous how you treat me.”

“What you’ve done for me?” he asked incredulously. “Let’s talk about what you’ve done for me. Why did you lie about that so-called report you had done on Skylar?”

She narrowed her eyes. “What are you talking about? And why are you bringing up that distasteful woman’s name?”

“Because you told me that you paid someone to get access to her medical records that stated Skylar wasn’t pregnant.”

Except for the bright red dots that suddenly colored her cheeks, her expression gave nothing away. “Well that’s what the report said.”

“Well, the report was wrong or you’re a liar. Which one is it?”

Chapter Fifteen

Katherine Hollingsworth gave him her signature icy stare. It was her go-to move whenever she knew she was in the wrong but refused to admit it. “You came to my house to accuse me of nonsense? Who cares if that woman was pregnant or not? She was trash, and frankly you should be glad to have her out of your life.”

“Who cares?” Ashley flared his nostrils as he returned his mother’s glare. “I care! Did you purposely mislead me into thinking that Skylar wasn’t pregnant?”

“I don’t think I should dignify that with a response.”

“Why? Because you didn’t think it was important that I know about my children?”

“Children? What are you talking about?” She rolled her eyes. “Please don’t tell me that woman has come back into your life trying to pawn some brats off on you. And did you mention children in the plural? Did she have twins?”

“Triplets.”

“This is absolutely absurd. Even if she did manage to squeeze out some children it doesn’t mean they’re yours. Let them be someone else’s problem. I’m sure we’re already taking care of them anyway with the taxes we pay.”

A vein throbbed in Ashley’s head. He’d always known his mother was small-minded but this garbage spewing from her mouth was low even for her. He pulled the picture from his pocket and held it in front of her. “Look at it.”

She crinkled her nose. “Why are you holding that in my face?”

“Look at the goddamn picture!” he roared, causing Katherine to jump.

When she stared at the picture, her eyes widened. There wasn’t a DNA test in the world that would be more proof than what he’d seen with his own eyes. The boys looked exactly like him and even though his daughter favored Skylar, he could see some of his family’s traits in her face. “W-well…this doesn’t mean anything,” she blustered. “I mean did she harass you with this? Does she want money? Why not just pay her off so she can go back where she came from?”

Ashley slowly lowered the picture and placed it back into his pocket. She didn’t deserve to look at his beautiful children. “So you mean to tell me, you’d rather I give her money so she can disappear and I never see my children again?”

“Unless there’s been a DNA test, I don’t know why you keep referring to them as yours. I mean, you know what kind of woman she was, what she did. How can you be sure? She could have screwed any number of men who look like you.”

He wasn’t about to argue with someone so blind they refused to see. Ashley knew those were his children. When he’d seen Tristan, there was a connection he immediately felt that couldn’t be explained. That was his flesh and blood and he wouldn’t allow anyone to repudiate that.

“Are you that much of a hypocritical bitch?”

Katherine’s blue eyes went stormy. “How dare you!”

Ashley felt the sting of her slap before he saw his mother actually move. He touched his cheek that was now warm from her palm. “That all you got?”

She raised her hand again, but this time he caught her wrist and squeezed it. “Let me go this instant. You’re hurting me.”

“Trust me, it’s not nearly as much as I would like to. Five years ago, you came to me to offer your sympathy and support and because I was at a low moment in my life. I let you manipulate me into believing that Skylar wasn’t pregnant. You claimed that you’d had a detective gain access to her medical records, but either you lied about hiring someone or you lied about what you found on the report. Whichever it was it doesn’t matter because the end result was the same. You allowed my children to be raised without me. I missed out on the first years of their lives because of your hatred for Skylar. But yet, I remember clearly you telling me that I had to do the right thing with Tiffany. You told me that’s what my father would have wanted me to do. You played your one ace in the hole knowing that I’d capitulate.” Disgusted, he tossed her arm away. This woman might have given birth to him, but he couldn’t look her in the face now.

Ashley knew if he didn’t leave within the next few seconds he’d end up committing matricide. He turned away from her and stalked toward the door, but apparently his mother wasn’t ready to let things go. She caught up to him and grabbed his arm. “You’re not going to walk out of here after that. You owe me an apology. I did what I had to do to protect you from that low-bred gold digger. You should be thanking me instead of acting like I did something horrible.”

He yanked away from her hold and kept walking, trying to keep his temper in check just enough where he didn’t cause her physical harm although he was getting very close to doing just that.