Chapter 37
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Avery
Black clouds threatened overhead. The weather had turned quickly, but it seemed fitting and matched my mood perfectly.
I’d only been awake a few hours, but it had been a rollercoaster already. The moment of hope, when I saw the carving on the swing, seemed like it happened a million years ago.
Before I could go to Reid, my phone rang with a call from my lawyer, William, alerting me to an emergency meeting that Judge Baker had called regarding his final decision on the will. It seemed that he wasn’t a fan of public spectacles in his town, and wanted the matter settled once and for all.
“Good morning, Avery.” William appeared next to me, his briefcase in hand. He patted my arm and gave me a friendly smile. “Are you ready for this?”
I shrugged before making myself offer up a smile I didn’t feel. “I guess so. We knew it was coming sooner or later, right? It’ll be nice to have it resolved.”
William gave me a kind smile that didn’t give away anything. I knew he’d tried his best for me. He’d argued my case and presented all the proof of our marriage. But ultimately, if the judge decided our union wasn’t legitimate, there was nothing he could do. There was also a chance that the judge could press charges or hold me in contempt if he decided we’d lied and committed fraud.
I couldn’t think about that possibility. Not yet. One thing at a time.
A cool breeze washed over me.
“Did you hear from Reid yet?”
I shook my head before pulling my phone from my purse again. Three unanswered calls and two unanswered texts. Why wasn’t he answering me?
He couldn’t be angry with me? It didn’t make any sense. Not after the gift of the swing. I wouldn’t let myself think anything bad. There had to be an easy explanation for where Reid was and why he was ignoring me.
I didn’t have time to find him, so I’d called Grayson and he’d promised to take care of it. But the meeting was supposed to start right away and there still wasn’t any word from him.
My gaze kept scanning the plaza for some sign of him. I expected him to pop around the corner at any moment, ready to stand by my side for the judgment. After all, he was my husband.
But he wasn’t there.
And I needed him. More than I realized.
“Are you ready to do this?”
No. I wanted to scream. Instead, I sucked in a breath and as bravely as I could, nodded.
William waved me in the direction of the judge’s private office, where my fate would be decided. But before I could move, I heard footsteps approaching from behind.
I turned and my stomach immediately clenched in a mixture of disappointment and disgust to see my cousin approach. I know it was wrong, but I took a measure of satisfaction to see the blue and purple bruise under his eye.
“You’re late, Jacob.”
“I didn’t come here to play nice, Avery.”
“Yeah.” I crossed my arms over my chest. “I got that. Where’s your lawyer? Or are you self-represented?” I knew he wasn’t. He’d hired a shark of an attorney from the city.
“He’ll join us remotely.” He raised one eyebrow. “Where’s your husband ?”
I didn’t miss the sneer in his voice. He made a show of looking up and down the plaza for Reid, who still hadn’t appeared. I was beginning to think he wasn’t going to. Maybe I’d read the entire situation wrong.
The ache in my chest was only dulled by the anxiety that crashed through every nerve in my body. I worked hard to keep my breathing level and my heart rate steady. I refused to let Jacob see how he’d gotten to me. I wouldn’t give him that satisfaction.
When I didn’t answer, Jacob chuckled. “Shocking.” He rolled his eyes dramatically. “He disappeared as soon as the money dried up, huh?”
I hugged my arms around my waist to keep my hands from shaking.
“I guess I should give him some credit though,” Jacob continued. “He’s smart enough to know when to quit. The jig’s up, Avery. You should take a note from your partner in crime and hand it over. You lost. You’ve been exposed for the fraud that you are. And Reid’s absence today proves?—”
“It proves nothing, you jackass.”
My heart leapt in my throat at the familiar voice. Before I could turn to confirm it with my own eyes, Reid’s arm slipped around my waist and pulled me close. The heat from his body warmed me. Instinctively, I leaned in closer.
“Sorry I’m late,” he whispered as he kissed me on the cheek. “I came as soon as I heard what was happening.”
I looked up into his eyes, searching for the answers to every single unasked question I had. And I had many. But now wasn’t the time. “Thank you for coming,” I said instead. “I can’t tell you what it?—”
“Avery.” Reid turned me and cupped my cheek. “I need you to?—”
“Give it up already.” Jacob stepped forward, his sharp voice slicing between us. “We all know the two of you are full of shit. You’re just making fools of yourself now.”
Reid sucked in a breath and squeezed his eyes shut. I could see the effort he was putting in to keep his anger in check.
“Why don’t we just wait until we hear from Judge Baker.” William stepped forward and put a hand on Jacob’s shoulder but my cousin shook him off.
“We don’t need to wait,” he sneered. “We already know. This is fake.” He waved toward Reid and me. “And I can prove it.”
He couldn’t. No one could. Not really.
“I have witnesses that can verify you hired Reid to do the renovations on the inn, mere days before you got married.”
“That doesn’t prove anything, you asshat.” Reid had turned to face Jacob head-on. He’d released his hold on me to stand with his arms crossed over his broad chest. He looked formidable. “Except that you are grasping at straws.”
“I don’t think I am, hotshot.” Jacob’s smug expression soured my stomach. “I have proof that the day after your wedding also happened to be the day that you put the down payment down on your fancy new wood shop. Which leads me, and anyone else with half a working brain, to believe that my pretty little cousin here paid you to be her husband so that she could meet the terms of our grandfather’s will that required her to have a husband.”
Somewhere, someone behind me let out a gasp. It was only then that I realized we’d once again managed to draw an audience to our family drama. An audience that was very quickly learning the truth of our deception. Even if Jacob didn’t have any actual proof, I had to admit that hearing it from his lips, it all sounded pretty damming.
I took a step back, away from Reid. If I was going down—and it seemed that I was—I wasn’t going to let him go down with me.
“Without that husband,” Jacob continued his rant, “not only would the inn not go to Avery, but she’d also lose the cash inheritance that goes with it.”
“That money is for fixing up the inn, Jacob. It’s not for?—”
“It doesn’t matter, does it, cuz?” His voice dripped with poison.
When had he started hating me so much?
This wasn’t what our grandparents would have wanted. Everything was such a mess.
I shook my head and instinctively looked for an escape route.
There wasn’t one.
The crowd had only grown around us.
My stomach sank. I looked to William for guidance, but he was staring at his phone, typing quickly to someone on the other end.
I couldn’t bring myself to look at Reid.
It was over.
I shook my head, focused on my cousin, and took a step toward him. “You’re right, Jacob.”