“I married Kevin. But, it didn’t work out.”
“Kevin Lockwood? The Administrator of Marymount’s son?” Cole put her flowers down on the bed next to her.
“Yes. He had his own place and took me in. Otherwise, I would have literally been on the streets.”
Cole was slow to respond because Kevin had answered the door the night he’d come to get Jade. Using a bullshit excuse, Kevin would not let him inside the house. He’d also told him that Jade wasn’t there. She had been there all along. The bastard always had a thing for her and held a grudge. Cole had beat the crap out of Kevin once after he made Jade cry, and promised to really hurt him if he even looked at her again. So, he married her? None of this made any sense. Cole switched gears. “What did you do with the money I sent you?”
“What money?”
“Every payday, I sent you a note and money.”
Jade shook her head. “I didn’t get any money from you. You left and the next time I saw you again was on the news.”
The anger that was building inside of him was turning into a slow burning rage. “I sent money Jade. Had you got the money you wouldn’t have been on the streets even if we didn’t hook up that night.”
“No. If it weren’t for Kevin, I would have been out in the cold.”
Incredulous he responded. “So you married him out of gratitude?”
“Don’t you judge me! I was a young girl, with no job, no money, no education, and nowhere to go. He took me in. One thing led to another, and when he asked me to marry him, I said yes. So I became Jade Lockwood.”
Jade was angry with herself for allowing herself to shed tears over Cole’s abandonment and her poor decisions. My goodness, it was something that happened so long ago. “It doesn’t matter at this point why you never came. Life goes on, and that happened years ago.”
Slowly, Cole sat down next to her. One thing he could never deal with was her tears. He hated to see her cry and used his thumb to gently wipe them away. She flinched, and it broke something within him. Cole quickly put two and two together. He didn’t know if she would believe him if he told her that Kevin lied to them both that night. But he knew one thing for sure, before he could tell her the truth, he needed to regain her trust. “It matters Jade. I. Was. There. It’s also just as important to me that you know there wasn’t a day that went by that I didn’t think about you. The first thing I did when I got my first real paycheck was hire a private investigator to see if they could find you. But, I was looking for Jade Anderson, not Jade Lockwood. I still have the receipts to prove it. Seems like they could have at least found a marriage certificate.”
“I moved around a lot and changed my name a few times.” Big watery eyes gazed up into his. There was so much hurt in them, but there was also a small spark of hope. It was evident that Jade’s life had been hard, and Cole just wanted to make it all better. He wanted his Cricket back. It was silly, but she had always felt like home and Cole had felt adrift for far too long. He paused for a minute. “Look Jade. I know you may not believe my side of things right now, but my only motive for being here is because I’ve never connected to another living soul in the same way that we connected. I know you understand what it’s like to know that your bloodline begins and ends with you. Sometimes, it’s an overwhelming pill to swallow. You and I, we are kindred spirits. We’ve lost so much time over what I know has to be a huge misunderstanding, and I don’t want to waste another minute. Whether you feel the same or not, you’re my family in every way that matters. I wasn’t able to be there for you over these last few years, but you’re not alone. Honestly, just being around you, I feel like I’m not alone anymore either.”
Jade swallowed down the knot in her throat as she clasped her fingers together. It was official. She was crazy. There was no doubt about it because she felt the same way. He’d lied to her, abandoned her, and betrayed her trust. Yet, just being in his presence stopped her feeling of free falling. There had to be a clinical name for her brand of crazy. Jade also had to admit that she was tired of carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders all by herself. Not that she was ready to let Cole anywhere near a place where he could hurt her again.
Cole could only hope that he was getting through to her. He tried to approach the next subject delicately, but there was no other way to say it but to say it. “Also…I couldn’t help but overhear your phone call earlier.”
Her spine stiffened. Jade had some pride. “You were eavesdropping?”
“No. Well, not on purpose. But, if you need a place to stay for a little while, why don’t you come stay with me until you can get back on your feet?”
She stuck her chin out. “Oh no. I’m not accepting charity from you or anybody else. I don’t even really know you. People can change a lot in ten years. You could be a serial killer. For all you know I could be a serial killer.”
Cole smiled because it wasn’t often he came across people who pushed him away. He was wealthy and powerful. Somebody always wanted something from him. Yet, Jade didn’t seem to notice or care about that. “First of all, it’s been nine years and a few months so not exactly ten years.” He
