Chapter 18
Something changed between them that night in her house.
Chelsea wasn’t ready to believe Jagger loved her as she loved him, but it didn’t really matter.
She was his. For however long he wanted her.
They had a marriage contract, but she behaved as a real wife in every way.
Not just for show. Not just in the bedroom. But with her whole heart and soul.
Jagger was different too. Not just toward her, but toward life in general.
He was less tense and didn’t brood as much, even when they were taking Kaden for his visits with Tanya.
While Jagger might not love Chelsea, she was sure he felt something more than just lust and appreciation.
Whatever he could give, for however long he could give it, she’d accept it. Honor it.
He wasn’t the only thing that changed when she returned home. While she couldn’t say Grayson and Miss Z were friendly to her, they definitely weren’t mean, abrupt, or rude anymore. Mrs. Stanton was much more open and giving. Chelsea almost felt adopted by her.
So the next few weeks were filled with a bliss Chelsea had only imagined before. So much so, she felt comfortable going to lunch with Lexie and not worrying about revealing the true nature of her marriage.
“Great day, Chelsea. I thought maybe you got lost in that house.” They sat on the outside terrace of the local bistro, despite the oppressive heat.
“No. Life has been busy. You’ve heard about Kaden’s mom, right?”
“I can’t imagine how poor Jagger is taking it. You’re fighting it right?”
“Yes. Mrs. Monroe is his lawyer.” Chelsea sipped her iced tea.
“She helped Michelle Lassiter keep her kids. She must be good.”
“I hope so.”
“Mrs. Talbot.” Chelsea looked over to where a woman had called her name. Immediately she went still.
“We haven’t been formally introduced, but I am—”
“I know who you are.”
“I don’t.” Lexie sized the woman up.
“This is Tanya Gilson, Kaden’s mom.”
“Oh.” Immediately the air chilled. Chelsea appreciated Lexie’s loyalty.
“Look, I know I shouldn’t be talking to you. My lawyer says not to contact Jagger, although he wouldn’t listen to me if I did. I don’t know how else to do this.”
“You can drop your suit.”
Tanya looked down. “If you were a mother, could you drop it?”
“No. But I wouldn’t have left my child.”
Tanya scraped her hands over her face. “I don’t want to fight with Jagger on this.”
“Good, because you’ll lose,” Lexie said.
Chelsea loved how Lexie was right there to stick up for Jagger.
“I know what he’s done for Kaden. What he tried to do for me.
I want Jagger to know I’ve turned my life around.
I’ve been clean for nearly a year. I have a job.
I’m single and not dating, if Jagger is worried about that.
Most importantly, I want Jagger in Kaden’s life.
I just want to be there too. It doesn’t have to be either or. ”
“Then sue for visitation, not custody.” Chelsea wondered if that was even a possibility.
“I’m his mother. I want to make it right. Look, I can see now this was a mistake. Maybe you can tell Jagger what I said. That I don’t want to take Kaden out of his life. I know he loves Kaden and Kaden thinks the world of him.”
Chelsea gave her a curt nod. She was pretty sure Jagger wouldn’t have a good response to Tanya’s message.
“Also, tell him I’m not taking any more of his father’s money.”
“What?” Chelsea sat up.
“Colin said he’d help me get Kaden. I know he doesn’t care about me or Kaden, but I took the money because I needed a good lawyer.”
“You’re fighting for custody of Kaden with money from Jagger’s father?
” Chelsea couldn’t believe her ears. Tanya had to know the kind of man Colin Talbot was and that Jagger would see her actions as the ultimate betrayal of Kaden.
There was no doubt that Colin’s intentions were to get Kaden’s trust.
“I know it wasn’t right. I needed the money to fight, but I knew even if I succeeded, Colin wouldn’t get what he wanted. G.W. and Jagger would have seen to that. Please. Will you tell him? I love Kaden. I don’t want a penny from Jagger or from Kaden’s trust. I just want to be his mom.”
Chelsea nodded, absently because her mind was filled with a ton of questions. Did Jagger know that his father was involved? It seemed the sort of thing that would anger him, but he’d been in good spirits. She watched as Tanya walked away.
“She actually seems kind of okay.” Lexie watched her too. “I mean, she doesn’t look strung out, and she seems sincere about wanting Jagger in Kaden’s life.”
Chelsea thought so too. Except Tanya had gone into league with Jagger’s father.
She couldn’t imagine Jagger ever forgiving something like that.
It made her think of Alexis’s statement the day Chelsea signed the prenup about how Jagger never forgave a betrayal.
Already Tanya was on the never-forgive list for abandoning Kaden.
What would Jagger do with the knowledge Tanya was in cahoots with his father?
Chelsea didn’t bring up seeing Tanya until they were getting ready for bed. Jagger was brushing his teeth when she walked into the bathroom and sat on the vanity.
“Tanya showed up during my lunch with Lexie.” She decided the news was best delivered like removing a Band-Aid: quick.
He stopped mid-brush to look at her.
“She had a message for you.”
He spit out the toothpaste. “I can’t wait to hear this.”
“She says she doesn’t want to take Kaden from you.”
“That’s not what it feels like.” He washed his mouth out with water.
“She wants custody, but also for you to still be in his life. Like an uncle or something.”
“That’s not happening.”
“She seemed sincere about it.” Jagger looked at her, his eyes annoyed, almost like she was betraying him for thinking Tanya might be an okay person.
“Did she tell you she’s using my father’s money to pay for her lawyer?”
“You knew about that?”
He cocked his head to the side.
“You never told me. I learned about it when she asked me to tell you she’s not taking his money anymore.
” She felt the same as when Jagger first got the custody petition and told her she wasn’t a part of it.
His keeping information from her was a reminder that this marriage was fake, no matter how real it felt. Or how much she wished it were real.
“Only because she knows it will look bad in court when it comes out she and my dad are trying to take Kaden’s money.”
Chelsea picked up a towel and wiped toothpaste from the corner of Jagger’s mouth. “Do you think that’s what she really wants?”
He stared at her. “What do you think she wants?”
“I think she wants Kaden.”
“Well, she can’t have him.” He left the bathroom, and she knew she was pushing his buttons.
“What if Kaden wants to keep seeing her when this is over?”
He whirled on her. “What do you want me to say, Chels? I don’t trust her. Especially after taking my father’s money.”
“If his money was the only way for you to keep Kaden, would you take it?”
He shook his head. “Jesus. What’s this all about?”
She shrugged. “Maybe there’s a compromise here. Kaden knows her now. Maybe he’ll want to continue that relationship. You can’t hold it against her that she’s doing anything she can to get him back when you’d do the same. For heaven’s sake, you married me for that purpose.”
He scowled. She thought he was going to say his actions were different, but he only stared at her.
Finally, through gritted teeth he said, “The difference is I’ve never left him. I have nothing to prove, and yet I’m being forced to. Meanwhile, she abandoned him. Now you want me to give her credit for getting her life together. After I’ve already rebuilt a life for Kaden and me?”
She shook her head and stepped to him. “No. I’m asking you to think of Kaden. What does he want? What will he want? Maybe you compromise for him.”
Jagger’s featured softened, but only slightly.
She’d pushed about as far as she could. “Come on. Let’s get some rest.”
In bed, Jagger lay on his back, his hands behind his head, his mind a jumble of thoughts. It was bad enough that Tanya was seeking custody of Kaden, but to have Chelsea suggest he consider some sort of visitation blew his mind.
She rolled to him, resting her hand on his chest.
“I’m not in the mood to talk, Chels.”
“I know. I’m sorry about that. I was just thinking of Kaden.”
He sighed. “You think I don’t?” Kaden was all he thought about except in the few blissful moments when he was lost in Chelsea’s body.
Chelsea laughed softly. “That’s all you do.”
He lifted his head to look at her. “What do you mean?”
“What do you do for you? You’ve built your life around Kaden, and I think that’s wonderful. But you’re more than just what you do for that little boy. Maybe he helped you get perspective and set a new course in your life, but you can’t build your entire life around him.”
“So you think I should give up and arrange visits?” Jagger couldn’t wrap his mind around what Chelsea was trying to say.
She shook her head, and rubbed her hand on his chest. “No. But maybe you can think of something in your life beyond him.”
His head rested back on the pillow and his eyes shut.
After a few moments, he looked at her again.
“I suppose I appear obsessive about Kaden. I probably am being unfair to Tanya. But I don’t want to risk her leaving him again.
” That’s what burned the most. Tanya might be talking a good game, but she’d taken his father’s money, then and now.
What would happen when the money ran out?
Or she relapsed? Jagger couldn’t risk Kaden ever feeling the rejection of a parent.
“I know. I’d hate for him to be hurt too.
” She kissed his chest and rested her head over his heart.
When she was kind and sweet like this, he wanted to run away with her.
The three of them could live their days without the drama of custody cases and difficult servants.
The reality was that life was messy and hard. Chelsea knew that better than most.
“How did you do it?” Jagger stroked her back.
She lifted her head. “Do what?”
“Go on without Brian? Your mom?” He knew if he lost his custody case, it wouldn’t be the same as Chelsea’s loss, but it didn’t change the fact that he wasn’t sure he’d be able manage the grief.
“It was hard. Sometimes it still is. They won’t be at my real wedding or play with my children.”
“Jesus, Chels.” His heart clenched hard in his chest at the anguish she must feel.
“It’s okay Jagger.” She scooted up his body, allowing him to see the dark brown of her eyes.
“Because I have a life. Granted, right now it’s a little off the beaten path, but even that’s okay.
I’ve got the house with all the memories of them, thanks to you.
There’s my teaching, which I love. I’ve got Lexie and Mitch and their families.
I’d like to think that even after this is all done that we can be friends. ”
“Friends?” He hated that word because it had become abundantly clear to him that he wanted more from Chelsea than just friendship. He wanted to say something, but he was too much a coward.
She looked up at him, her brown eyes filled with emotion he wished meant she wanted more than friendship as well. She didn’t say a word. So he did the next best thing, he rolled her under him.
“I wish I’d never listened to Mitch.” Then he kissed her, and did his damnedest to show her how much he wanted her in his life.
Jagger slammed down the phone. He considered throwing it across the room.
Mrs. Monroe had told him he had a good case.
Had said that Tanya taking his father’s money could look bad for her.
So why was she now talking about working out a joint custody and visitation schedule?
Jesus. She sounded like Chelsea the night before, suggesting it would be best for Kaden.
Had the world gone mad? Had it forgotten what Tanya had done?
The worst part of the call was the idea that he might lose the case. Working a compromise now was like taking a plea deal. “It’s the best way to make sure you can stay in his life.”
“Why? I thought we had a good case.”
“Yes, well, we did. But she’s the mother. The visits with Kaden are going well. Apparently she’s stopped taking money from your father.”
“But she originally took it. I know my father; he’ll expect something from her in return.”
“Maybe, but it won’t be Kaden’s money, right? The PI is still looking into it, but I don’t think it’s enough to discredit her in court.”
“So, how is she paying for her attorney?”
“Well, she’s a bit brilliant. She got as much money from your father up front as she could. We could still work to draw out the case until she runs out.”
Good Christ, did his lawyer tell him Tanya was brilliant?
The call had only gone downhill from there.
Jagger didn’t like feeling he was backed into a corner, but that was just how he felt.
What the hell would he do if he lost? He’d built his entire life around raising Kaden.
Chelsea was a part of it too. He’d given Kaden what he’d never had. They were a family.
He sat back in his chair, wracking his brain for an answer.
The only one that came was the one with the biggest risk.
He’d take Kaden and run. He supposed he’d have to thank his lawyer for preventing the court from taking his passport.
Now he was free to put Kaden on a plane and go somewhere where they couldn’t be found. Would Chelsea go too?
Since the day he’d found her in her home after his staff sent her running, things had been nearly perfect between them.
When they made love, he hadn’t used words, but he’d done all he could to let her know she mattered to him.
He no longer thought about when their marriage of convenience would end.
When he thought of the future, she was in it.
That had to mean something. She never said the words either, so maybe it was wishful thinking on his part, but he thought for sure she cared for him.
The way they were with each other now felt real.
Not like an act. She’d promised to support him in his quest to keep Kaden.
Just how far was she willing to go to help him?
Jagger opened his laptop and began to research. He didn’t want to leave. He hoped to hell he didn’t have to. But if it was a matter of handing Kaden to Tanya or running, he’d run.