I hadn’t lost them per se, but I had lost the closeness and I’d definitely lost their respect. Then after Paul’s death, I’d lost them all in a new way. They avoided me the best they could, only coming around to fulfill what they considered their duty to Paul’s child and widow. Those interactions hurt so badly; I’d put a stop to them all together, insisting I didn’t need their help. Which was a big, fat lie. I needed the support. I missed their friendship. I just plain missed them.
I was happy they’d all found women who complemented them. Especially Nix. He’d been the one to harbor the most guilt about Paul’s death. It wasn’t his fault, but he’d never seen it that way. McKenna was perfect for Nixon.
I’d barely gotten them back and I was going to give them all up again.
“I’ll explain in a minute,” I told her and turned to Faith.
And like always, my daughter was on high alert.
“Mommy—”
“Everything’s fine,” I lied. “I need to make a phone call, then we’ll make another batch of cookies.”
“And finish decorating the Christmas tree?” Faith asked.
“Yes, we’ll finish the tree,” I promised.
A tree that Faith and I had picked out alone. I’d strapped it to the roof of my car, then dragged it up the stairs all by myself and set it on the stand. Same thing we did every year. Just me and Faith.
I jogged up the stairs to the third floor wondering what it would’ve been like if Paul hadn’t died. Would we still be together for Faith’s well-being? Or, would Paul have finally called off the farce of a marriage and divorced me? Would I have been able to continue to live a total lie? By the time I made it to my room, I had no answers to the questions that had plagued my mind for years. But there was one thing I knew for certain—had Paul been alive, his horrendous mother and sister wouldn’t be an issue.
Paul despised them. He would never have allowed them around Faith.
But Paul wasn’t around to shield his daughter from their malice. And each year, the Towler family became more vindictive. More hateful.
Now they wanted to take Faith from me.
Over. My. Dead. Body.
I swiped the screen of my cell and knew I should take a minute to calm down. My mom called me a reactor, meaning I reacted before I thought. My best course of action was to have my attorney answer this latest court filing and not allow myself to get sucked back into their sick game.
But that wasn’t the type of person I was. I thought the Towlers had learned their lesson the first two times they dragged me into court. Both cases they’d lost.
Total waste of time and money.
I pushed on the Devil Bitch’s contact and waited.
“What?” Patricia answered.
“Unfit? That’s your new play, really?”
“Totally. First, you keep my niece from her family, then you move her to Maryland so you can chase after the man you cheated on my brother with—”
“I never cheated on your brother,” I cut her off.
“We have witnesses, Charlotte,” she sneered.
“Well, they’re lying.”
“We’re gonna get Faith, and when we do, you’re never gonna see her again. We’ll make sure she knows you never loved Paul. He was a meal ticket. After that other one dumped you, you needed another free ride. That money was supposed to be ours. Not yours.”
Right. The money. Paul’s death benefits. It always came down to the money.
“Paul’s life insurance isn’t yours and it’s not mine. It’s Faith’s.”
Guilt ate at my heart. Was it really Faith’s?
“It should’ve gone to my mother. She earned it.”
“You’re disgusting.”
Who thought like that? Who actually wanted their child’s death benefits? What kind of mother behaved like a vulture waiting to collect money that meant her son was dead?
Beatrice Towler, that was who.
She was horrendous and she’d taught her daughter to be a greedy, money-grabbing cow, too. It was a miracle Paul had turned out the way he did. Just because it wasn’t a love match between the two of us, didn’t mean he hadn’t been a good person. He was. When I’d found out I was pregnant, he insisted on marrying me. He’d loved Faith from the very first moment I’d told him.
He would’ve been an excellent father.
“And you’re a whore who got knocked-up on purpose to trap my brother. And once you had his ring on your finger, you lied and cheated on him. I wouldn’t be surprised if Faith wasn’t even his.”
That was so far from the truth it was laughable. Though I wasn’t laughing, I was feeling homicidal.
Hindsight being what it was, the very first time they’d called me a whore and denied Faith was Paul’s daughter, I should’ve told them they were right. Maybe that would’ve been the time to come clean. But there’d been a reason Paul was so eager to marry me and claim Faith even though he knew the truth. I should’ve signed over Paul’s life insurance and walked away, keeping my daughter protected from Paul’s family.
But I couldn’t do it.
Paul hated his family with a passion. He never wanted them to have a penny of his money. Before he’d married me, all of his money was to be donated to the Navy SEAL foundation. Maybe that’s what I needed to do. That would be the right thing to do. I hadn’t touched any of it. I couldn’t, not when I still had secrets that could ruin everything.
“This is a waste of time. You’re not getting near Faith.”
“We’ll see,” Patricia said in a know-it-all tone. “She’s as good as ours. We have pictures of you cheating on Paul.”
Pictures?
That was impossible. I never cheated on my husband and I never lied to him. Paul was very aware I was in love with Holden even though I was married to him. As I said, we were not a love match; Paul and I were friends
