“Tell Julie I need to speak with her, please. I’ll come back.” Trevor snagged Marsha by the sleeve and tugged her toward the beach path to his house. They reached the tunnels, and he swore he heard Houdini skittering through them, but he never saw any fur or a twitching nose poke out.
Marsha managed to get ahead of Trevor when they reached the back deck of his home. “Wait, listen to me.” She held her palms to his chest to stop him. “You have to understand. I can’t do this alone. When I found out about the baby, I was frightened. Oh, Trev, I didn’t know what to do. I freaked out and did stupid things. My shrink says that I self-sabotage because I’m scared of being rejected. I thought you’d reject me when you found out, so I ended it with you. And when you didn’t fight to keep me, I thought you didn’t care about me anymore and that you wouldn’t want the baby.” She turned on the tears and stuck out her bottom lip. “Don’t you see, I loved you so much, I let you go.”
For the slightest second, Trevor almost fell for her explanation, but he’d heard it too many times. “You left me, not the other way around. You cheated on me and didn’t have the decency to allow me to divorce you without a show. You manipulated the situation in the media until I gave you everything and left.”
“You were never there,” she accused. “Not really. I always felt like you’d rather be somewhere else than with me.” She moved in closer, caressing his cheek and pushing her chest against him. “Oh darling, don’t you see? I only did those things because I wanted you to fight for me. I wanted to know you could love me, too.” Her warm breath caressed his ear. “I’ve always wanted you.”
The soft touch and sexual energy didn’t cause his body or his heart to respond the way it did at one glance of Julie across the room. Trevor grabbed hold of Marsha’s arms, pushed her two steps from him, and simply said, “No.”
She burst into tears and howled like a baby. “You can’t do this. You can’t abandon me and the baby.”
He knew in that moment that Dustin was right. Marsha would never tell him the truth about the baby. If there was a way to end this here and now, he had to try. “Go back to your fiancé and beg him to take you back. Don’t waste your tears on me.”
Her soft, pouty-lipped expression morphed into brow-crunched anger. “What? You don’t believe the baby’s yours? I dare you to even say such a thing.”
The thought of ending this now and not having to wait on tests results and doctors and to fix things with Julie made him pull a Hail Mary. He could let her believe he knew for sure already that he couldn’t have children. “The truth, you mean? I can’t have children.”
She gasped. “What?” Her gaze danced around the yard, the ocean, him until she settled into her pouty lip routine again. “But I thought…”
“That you could use me once again? Sorry, no. I’m done being manipulated.” Trevor stood tall, waiting for her response and praying he was right and that he could end this here and now.
She burst into tears and threw herself into Trevor’s arms. “Oh please, Trev. We can raise this baby together. You can still be the father.”
All the anxiety that had been knotting his muscles released at her words.
“If you ever loved me, don’t abandon me now. I know I’ve been impossible, but when Rett left me, I realized what a mistake I’d made. It’s you. It’s always been you, Trev. I love you. We can work through this.”
“No, we can’t, and I won’t. And you’re going to fix this, or I will.” Trevor waited for her to stop the sobbing and catch on to his meaning. “If you don’t set the record straight, I’ll tell the press that I can’t have children and that you slept with too many men so you don’t know who the father is.”
“No, you wouldn’t.” She shriveled away from him.
“Let me be clear with you for the first and last time, Marsha Thompson. I will end your social climbing with one phone call if you don’t fix the mess you’ve created.”
She crumpled in front of him. The façade of Marsha Thompson and her attitude wiped away with the ocean breeze. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I never meant to hurt you. Our marriage was good at first, wasn’t it?”
“It was, but it hasn’t been for a long time. The games were exhausting, and I’m tired.” He watched her wipe her eyes and look toward the sky as if there were answers.
“I played games because it was the only way to get your attention. When we first met, you couldn’t keep your hands off me, but then things changed.”
“You left for a modeling career. Each time you returned, it was all about your other life, never about us.” He rubbed his forehead. “Listen, we can talk about all our mistakes and rehash everything, but it won’t do any good. We both know our relationship ended a long time ago. If it’s any consolation, I’m sorry you’re facing having a child on your own.”
She shrugged. “I deserve it.”
He kissed her cheek. “No, you don’t. Talk to the real father. If he won’t man up, let me know. I’ll come have a chat with him.”
“You’d do that for me?” she asked, her eyes wide.
“Of course I would. Just no more games,” he warned, feeling like a weight had been lifted from him. Not only about the baby but for finally feeling like the door to his former life with Marsha was closing with the anger and resentment on the other side.
She smiled, and with a nod, she wiped her eyes and sauntered to her car with a back wave. “Still getting alimony.”
He
