Chapter Nine
Lesley closed her eyes as the hurt and disappointment for Cole curled around her, cutting off her voice for a stunned moment.
“Oh, Cole,” she whispered, “I’m so sorry. Is there anything that can be done?”
He raised his head and looked straight ahead. “Not now, not legally anyway.”
Just the way he said it shot a shiver of cold fear up Lesley’s back. “Cole, what are you going to do?”
“Ruin Jennings,” he replied without the least hesitation.
“And yourself in the process.” Her voice was high-pitched, with a sharp edge of fear.
“Listen, Lesley, let’s get one thing straight right now. My business life is my own. I do what I want, when I want. If you’re
going to be my wife, that’s something you’ll have to accept here and now.”
“I don’t understand.” Her fingers were laced together until she was sure the fierce grip had cut off the flow of blood to
her hands.
“Understand?” he repeated angrily. “What’s so difficult about it?”
“Okay,” Lesley murmured in a trembling breath, “maybe you’d better define what it is you want from a wife.”
“A home.” He sounded determined.
“Wouldn’t a housekeeper serve as well?” How could she argue with Cole. He’d just heard the most devastating news of his life
and she was fighting with him over a definition. “Cole.” She said his name softly, not revealing any of her own anger and
disappointment. “I’m sorry. These are the kinds of questions we can discuss later. For now we’ve got to trust God to see that
justice is done.”
“Trust God?” Cole spat the words back with bitter rejection. “God is righteous and just? Then I would have been awarded the
patent.”
Lesley placed her hands over her ears, unable to bear hearing his hostility. “Cole, please, don’t say that. I know you’re
angry. You have every right to be. But there’s a reason for this. God wouldn’t have allowed it to happen otherwise.”
“I’m being cheated out of millions of dollars. Doesn’t that mean anything to you? We could have been set for life—no problems,
no worries.”
“Of course it matters. Not the money so much as the fact you deserve to have been awarded the patent.”
“I might have won if they—Jennings’ men—hadn’t found the car.”
“The car?”
“I had a prototype of the air bag installed in a sports car. I gave it to Lansky because he felt it was the evidence we needed
to prove my case. But Jennings’ men destroyed it. Apparently inside they found my road map and evidence that I stopped in
Coeur d’Alene.”
Lesley had wondered about the red car he had driven when he first arrived. Now she knew.
“Cole,” she murmured and laid her hand over his. “Let’s sleep on this. It’s been a blow, a terrible blow. You have every right to be angry and disappointed. I’ll go back to Terry’s and spend the night there. But tomorrow I’ll be home and we can discuss things then.”
He nodded, but Lesley wasn’t sure he’d even heard what she’d said.
He walked her to the door. Lesley turned and wrapped her arms around him, allowing her love to flow from her as she murmured
a silent prayer on his behalf. Cole crushed her to him and buried his face in her neck while he drew in deep, shuddering breaths.
“Do you want me to stay?” she asked in a low, gentle voice when he didn’t release her.
He raised his face until their gazes met. The dark, haunted look in his eyes pulled at her heart. “No, I think I’d rather
be alone, at least for a little while. There are some things I need to sort out within myself.”
“Tomorrow’s Thanksgiving. I’ll be here early.”
“Okay.” His look was as absent as his word.
Lesley didn’t sleep, knowing Cole probably couldn’t either. Now she regretted having stayed the night with Terry. Cole might
need her. But he hadn’t encouraged her to stay; he wanted privacy until he had worked things out in his own mind. It was well
after two o’clock when Lesley fell into a deep slumber, her mind filled with troubled prayers for Cole.
“Morning, sleepyhead,” Terry greeted cheerfully as Lesley stumbled into the kitchen, arms stretched high above her head as
she yawned.
“My goodness, what time is it?”
“After nine.”
Wiping the sleep from her eyes, Lesley walked across the small room and poured herself a cup of coffee. “I don’t suppose that was Cole on the phone?” The ring had wakened her.
“No, one of Robert’s cousins. They’re coming for dinner.”
“I hope you won’t be offended if I spend the day with Cole.” Lesley had been too exhausted and mentally drained to tell her
sister Lansky’s news when she returned the night before.
“Why not bring him along? There’s always room for one more.”
“I . . . I don’t think so. Not this time. Cole got word yesterday that he lost the patent, so he’s not in any mood to socialize.”
“Oh, Lesley,” Terry groaned. “How awful for him.”
“He’s not taking it well.”
“Who can blame him? He’s being cheated out of years of work. Isn’t there anything anyone can do?”
“Apparently not, but I don’t think that’s going to stop Cole from trying.” Lesley pulled out the kitchen chair and sat, her
hands supporting her head. Already a faint throbbing ache had begun. “It sounds crazy, but you know what Bible story kept
running through my mind last night?”
Terry looked up expectantly. “No?”
“About Joseph. Remember how his brothers sold him into slavery and then he became Potiphar’s trusted servant in Egypt.”
“Until Potiphar’s wife wanted to seduce him.”
“But when Joseph refused, Potiphar’s wife went running to her husband with terrible lies about Joseph, and Joseph was sent
to prison.”
“Unjustly,” Terry added with a curt nod.
“Yes, but even in those horrible conditions Joseph cared about others; his spirit was never broken.”
Terry pulled up a chair and sat across from Lesley. “What are you saying?”
Lesley wasn’t sure herself, or even why the story had stuck so prominently in her mind.
She saw Cole at a crossroads of his life.
This whole thing with Jennings would make him either bitter or better, make or break him.
But unlike Joseph, Cole didn’t have a strong faith.
Lesley’s greatest fear was that Cole’s spirit would be broken.
“I love Cole.” Her smile was wan as she lowered her gaze to the steaming coffee.
“I guessed as much. Is the feeling mutual?”
Lesley’s hand tightened around the mug handle. “Cole asked me to marry him yesterday, and I agreed.”
“That’s wonderful news.” Terry’s voice seemed to contain the same reservations Lesley was feeling.
“It should be, but Cole asked me before he received word from his attorney. He was so different afterward. I don’t know how
he feels now, and I’m almost afraid to ask.”
“If he honestly loves you, then it won’t make any difference. Give him time,” Terry advised. “He’s only just heard the news.
And give yourself time. Marriage is a serious commitment.”
“I realize that,” Lesley admitted, biting into the corner of her bottom lip. “I’m not so concerned for myself as for Cole.
I’m afraid he’s going to do something stupid.”
“You’re not going to feel right until you see and talk to him. So get dressed and get moving. And for goodness’ sake, don’t
tell him the story of Joseph and Potiphar’s wife. He won’t be in any mood to hear it.”
Lesley laughed lightly, but recognized the wisdom of her sister’s words.
Cole opened the front door and greeted her with a fierce hug.
“How’d you sleep?” she asked. The question was silly. He wore the same clothes as yesterday and looked as if he hadn’t gone
to bed. Shadows darkened his cheeks, and the frown that drove deep grooves into his forehead appeared to be permanent.
“I didn’t. What about you?”
Lesley shook her head, silently confirming she had slept no better.
“I talked to Lansky again after you left. There’s a chance.”
“But you said . . .”
“I haven’t got time to explain. I’m catching the first plane out of Spokane.”
Lesley felt her heart drop to her knees. For the first time she noticed the packed suitcases standing in the living room.
Had he even planned to tell her he was leaving? Her gaze narrowed on the bags, and she must have looked as shocked as she
felt.
“Honey, I was sincere about everything I said yesterday. You and I were meant to be together. You’re the only good thing that’s
ever happened to me. I’m going after Jennings for us.”
“But I don’t want our marriage to start like this.”
“Don’t you understand?” Cole returned, and rubbed a weary hand over his tired face. “I’m doing this for our future.”
“The only future I want is with you, but I don’t need the fancy house on the lake and the huge trust funds for our children.”
Cole knotted his hands at his side, his temper obviously on a short string. “But I need the house, the trust funds, the money. I earned them and I’m going to have them.”
Lesley couldn’t argue. He had done exactly as he said, and by all rights the money should be his.
“I’ll drive you to the airport,” she offered in a low, defeated voice. “How long do you think you’ll be gone?”
Lovingly Cole gripped her shoulders and kissed her forehead. “I’ll be back as soon as possible. Believe me, I don’t want to
stay away any longer than necessary. I want to see us married, settled and starting a family.”
His words of promise rang in her ears as she stood in the Spokane airport and waved to his departing plane, a smile frozen
on her lips. Tears filled her eyes and flowed heedlessly down pale cheeks as his plane ascended into the clear November sky.
The sights and sounds of Christmas filled the air. Lesley and Terry had volunteered to be in charge of the church Christmas
program and worked long hours on the planned pageant. Although Lesley found it difficult to maintain her usual Christmas spirit,
working with the children helped fill her time and keep her from worrying about Cole.
Although he phoned daily, Lesley hadn’t seen him since Thanksgiving and her watery farewell in Spokane.
Following his attorney’s advice, Cole had appealed the patent decision and was struggling to come up with the necessary evidence