Chapter 18 Cameron
Cameron
“Well, Cameron. It would appear the ball is rolling,” James says as he sinks a ball into the hole on the green. We are coming to the end of a morning round of golf while casually discussing the new status of my father’s will.
“That was the intention,” I say before immediately eating my words. “To find love I mean.”
“And who knew you’d find it so fast?” he says, picking the ball out of the hole with half a grin.
“Yeah, well, I think that’s the thing about love. You never know when it’s going to find you,” I say. I feel like I am reciting the inside of a greeting card but my lawyer seems to be buying it. At least I hope.
“Well, once those papers are signed we can update everything,” he says.
“That shouldn’t take long. Riley doesn’t want a big, flashy wedding. Actually, it was her idea to elope,” I do my best to laugh.
“I’m sure it was,” he says dryly. Then he looks at me, though it’s through a pair of Oakleys. “I am going to advise something, Cameron.”
“Alright, shoot.”
“Make sure you’re not being sloppy. I don’t know much about your personal life outside of the pressing financial situation.
Your love life is your own business. But that said…
marriage is very binding. Even with a prenup, which would look very suspicious considering the circumstances, you run the risk of getting railroaded by the woman you marry considering what’s at stake.
Just…consider the seriousness of the entire situation before you make any moves.
And don’t cut your brother all the way out.
He may be a dick sometimes but he knows money.
“I understand,” I nod, gathering my things. I have a lunch date with my sister Stacey in about half an hour and I’m feeling like this game, discussion included, is about wrapped up.
I do understand what he’s saying. It’s a warning because if they find anything fraudulent in my marriage, I risk losing everything.
But they aren’t going to find anything. Because Riley and I are getting married.
No questions asked. We’ve come this far and I’m pretty sure it’s too late to turn back now.
Maybe in more ways than one.
“Wait so, back up…” My sister shakes her head. We are at a cafe with a grassy area out on the back patio where kids are running around including my nephew Ian. He’s about the same age as Noah and it makes me smile. “You’re…seeing someone?”
“I am,” I nod, picking up my french dip and taking a generous bite.
“When did this happen??”
“Recently. Also…we are engaged.”
“What?!” she blurts out. My sister is anything but subtle. She's strong, loud, forward and knows what she thinks about everything. Actually, we are a lot alike. Way more alike than Josh and I who is the ill tempered middle child. Right now, I’m thinking she’s thinking I’m nuts.
“You’re nuts. You can’t just marry someone you hardly know,” she says, dipping one of her fries in my au jus.
“How do you know I don’t know her?” I ask.
“Do you?”
“Sort of,” I admit around a full mouth of sandwich.
She laughs but it’s not an amused laugh. “Cameron! What the fuck?”
“Okay I can explain,” I say, setting my elbows on the table and talking with my hands to better paint the picture of my crazy life.
“Please do. Because right now, I’m thinking you need your brain scanned.”
“Do you remember…a certain little clause in dad’s will about the trust money?”
She takes a bite of her blt. “Yeah. It’s like half-a-bill that for whatever reason they can’t release until you are–” she stops chewing. “Holy shit. Cameron?! Holy shit!”
“Holy shit!” Ian echos from a couple feet away.
“Great parenting,” I jab.
My sister gives me a death glare. “Fuck you. Cam. I get that you want that money but–”
“Need. Stace, I need that money. The hospital is drowning.”
“I know. Josh has vented about it.”
“Of course he has. So you know that they only want to save the free-clinic and the insurance bubbles we offer is to have access that money. And this is the only way.”
“The only way is for you to marry a complete stranger?” she blurts out, reaching for her iced tea. “No way. I refuse to believe that. Not after your last marriage. Not after what you’ve been through.”
“One, we aren’t talking about that. At all. And two, Riley isn’t a complete stranger. Her son is one of my patients. Also, she needs services that are about to get doused by Doucheface McPennypincher.”
“Very mature. But circle back. You’re dating–”
“Marrying–”
“Marrying one of your patient’s mothers? That sounds like you could get fucked in the ass pretty hard, Cam.”
“She won’t have access to the money. I’m throwing it into the hospital and divvying out your shares as soon as it hits the account. But also, she’s not like that.”
My sister raises a skeptical brow. God she is so much like me. It’s annoying as hell. “You sure?”
“Yes. We have an arrangement. We get married. I get the money. I revive the hospital, namely the services she needs because her insurance and job as shit. And her kid gets a new set of lungs.”
Stacey’s lips tip down. “Her son needs lungs?
“CF. Advanced.”
“Shit,” she shakes her head. “You really know how to get yourself in a jam, brother.”
“I know,” I nod. And I do. “But unless you have a better idea, I don’t really see what my options are.”
She thinks about that for a moment watching Ian as her brain churns. After a few minutes, she looks back at me. “Let me guess. Josh is not on board?”
“Hell, no. You know he wants to shut down the clinic.”
“Yeah.”
“And you also know what it meant to dad,” I go on.
“I do. Dad had a vision.
“A vision he carried out. He made it work.”
She levels with me. “Until it didn’t.” Stacey draws in a deep sigh and lets it out. “You are him, you know that? You are so him that it hurts sometimes. Your heart. Your drive. Your stubbornness. But Cam…marrying someone you don’t know? Someone you don’t love?”
“It’s not permanent. We can get divorced any time we want after the money is dispersed. And you can’t tell me that you and Jeremey don’t need that money.”
“You’re talking over a million dollars? Yeah we could use that money. But what happens if the lawyer figures out what your plan is? Because obviously you have no plan of staying with Riley.”
“We just have to make it convincing enough that he doesn’t figure it out,” I answer, stealing one of her fries.
She studies me for a moment and I know there’s more coming.
“And what if…you end up having feelings for her?”
My jaw clenches and unclenches. It’s also a no trespassing zone.
“How old is she, Cam?” she presses.
“Younger than me,” I answer curtly. I know where this is going. “But it’s not going to happen.”
“Are you using protection?” she asks.
“What makes you think we are sleeping together?” I snap and my sister just gives me one of her looks. Goddamn her for being a mind reader. Like seriously. Where do sisters get off? “We don’t need to use protection. You know that.”
“Does she know that?” she asks.
“What are you getting at?”
“I’m just saying. If she hasn’t made a point of it…and if there is even a slight possibility of feelings developing. I don’t know. She might care to know that–”
“That what, Stace? That I can’t get her pregnant? She’s a single mother. Abandoned by the father of her sick kid. I doubt she wants more. And even if she did, it wouldn't be with me. Because the relationship isn’t real.”
She nods and takes another sip of her tea. “Okay,” she says after a moment.
“Okay what? I hear that tone.”
Stacey sighs. “I’m just…have you ever considered, I don’t know…adopting?”
“No.”
“There are a lot of kids in the foster–”
“No. You know how I feel, sis. You know I want my own. But it’s never going to happen. It can’t. It’s biologically impossible for me. Or as you would say it…it’s not in the stars.”
Ian runs back over and we flip the mood of the conversation for his sake. Then my sister looks back over at me with a small smile. “Funny thing about stars, sometimes they’re hard to read.”