“Can you wait until later to leave so we can talk tonight? I’ll come home early as planned.” Nate never pleaded. Right now his voice bordered on it.
Some of her anger faded. He really didn’t realize he’d been in the wrong. “It’s not about talking.” She let her arms fall by her sides. “It’s about what I need, Nate.”
“Lauren . . . “ His voice trailed off as he nodded and walked into the room. “This is yours.” He dropped the ring on her bureau. “Have a safe trip.” He placed a kiss on her cheek. “I love you.”
Lauren’s heart cracked open, and words failed her as he walked back out of the bedroom. Then she heard the kitchen door open. Alone at last, she sank onto the bed. Dropping her head into her hands, she let the tears come. God, she’d come so close to having her dream come true. Now, thanks to his arrogance, it was in jeopardy. Maybe Kevin and his family had the right idea about marriage after all. Maybe it shouldn’t be about love. A marriage formed like a business kept your heart safe.
“Enough crying for now.” She raised her head and wiped the tears from her face. She had too much to do before she left, including a call to Callie to tell her the wedding was off.
Chapter 14
Cliff House sprawled out before her. Designed to resemble Alexander Palace in Russia during the late 19th century, the mansion amazed her every time she saw it. The amount of time and money that went into constructing and maintaining the building boggled the mind. Just a few years earlier, she and Callie toured mansions like this one, awestruck by their beauty and the people who had once owned them. Now she got to sleep in places like this on a regular basis, and her best friend and her family owned them. How quickly life changed. Too bad it didn’t always change for the better, as it had in Callie’s case. She’d gone from thinking her father was dead, to meeting a family she didn’t know she had, and meeting the love of her life. Now she and Dylan were starting a family of their own.
Lauren parked in front of the mammoth garage, a building bigger than her house. Time to put on a happy face. Tomorrow when Callie arrived, she could spill her heart, but for now she needed to keep it together.
The Sherbrookes’ butler opened the door and, as usual, greeted her in his monotone voice. Someday she’d love to see the guy get angry. He always appeared so calm. Almost to the point of being bored.
“Great. You’re here.” Sara appeared behind the butler. “Charlie and Allison are here, too.”
Sara gave her a welcoming hug. Once again, Lauren thought of how much things had changed. Not that long ago Sara would have said hello and kept on walking. Now, though, she treated Lauren as a friend.
“Allison called me and asked if she could help,” Sara explained, referring to Allison Sherbrooke, her and Callie’s cousin. “They’re outside.”
Sara led her out onto the veranda where Charlie and Allison sat, the remnants of lunch still on the table. Immediately, Lauren took a deep breath and enjoyed the smell of the ocean. Off in the distance she saw the sailboat Jake kept moored at the estate, bobbing up and down as the waves crashed against its side.
“Are you hungry? We just finished lunch, but I can have something prepared for you.” Sara took a seat next to her cousin. The two women looked so much alike they could be sisters.
“I’m good.” Lauren hadn’t eaten since the night before, but even still she had no appetite.
With a nod, Sara pulled the tablet computer from the case by her feet. “Now that Lauren’s here we can start.” Her fingers flew across the screen, causing the light glittering off the large diamond ring to hit Lauren square in the eye.
“Is that what I think it is?” she asked, all thoughts of Callie’s baby shower pushed aside for the moment.
A giddy smile formed, and Sara nodded.
“Why haven’t I read about it?” The media loved the Sherbrooke family. How had they missed that Sara Sherbrooke and Christopher Hall were engaged?
“After our trip to Connecticut, we stopped at Martha’s Vineyard for a few days, and he asked me then. We haven’t told anyone except family yet.”
“Congratulations. Can I see?”
The ring on Sara’s hand was breathtaking. She couldn’t even imagine how many karats the thing was. Actually, in a way it reminded her of the ring Kevin had proposed with, although that one hadn’t been quite as large. Despite the beauty of Sara’s ring and the one Kevin had offered, she preferred Nate’s. She glanced down at her own hand. She hadn’t worn the engagement ring long, but her hand looked strange without it now.
“It’s beautiful. I won’t tell anyone.” She released Sara’s hand.
“I know. I trust you, Lauren. Congrats, yourself. Callie told me about your wedding next month.”
“You and . . .” Charlie paused, her forehead creased as she thought. “Kevin, right? Callie thought you two weren’t that serious.”
“Who’s Kevin? Callie said your fiancé’s name was Nate. Someone you grew up with.”
Obviously Callie talked about her with her family. But then again, Lauren sometimes did the same. Still, this time she wished her friend had kept her mouth closed.
“Kevin asked me, but I said no. And as of right now, I’m not marrying anyone. I canceled the wedding.” Or at least she planned to. She still needed to drop the news on Callie.
Three identical expressions of shock stared back at her.
Sara put down the tablet in her hands, a clear sign that thoughts of the baby shower were gone. “Why? Callie told me the whole story. It sounded as if you were meant for each other.”
“When he asked me to marry him, he left out a few details, including that we’d have to move to Virginia if he makes the FBI’s HRT.”
“What exactly is that?” Allison asked.
“According to Nate, it’s the FBI equivalent to the military’s special forces,” Lauren answered. “Anyway, he made all these decisions before he asked me and now expects me to just go along with them. I can’t be with someone who calls all the shots without considering how it will affect me. He did it once before. I’m not letting him do it again.”
Sara slipped an arm around her shoulders. “Men are idiots sometimes.”
“I heard that.” Jake walked out onto the veranda, followed by his best friend and future brother-in-law Christopher.
“It’s the truth,” Charlie added when Jake placed a kiss on her cheek.
“If women were in charge, the world would run much smoother,” Allison said, adding her two cents to the discussion.
Christopher held up his hands in mock surrender. “Jake, I think that’s our cue to leave.” He leaned toward Sara and kissed her. “Your brother says his golf game has improved. I’ll be back after I prove him wrong.”
Lauren watched with envy. Both couples exhibited utter love and happiness. Sure, they probably had disagreements. What couple didn’t? But they loved each other. Worked together to keep their relationship on track. At least from where she sat, neither Jake nor Christopher called all the shots, and from what she knew of Sara and Charlie, they’d never let their partners make all the decisions. Was it too much to ask for the same thing with Nate?
“Christopher’s in for a big surprise. Jake’s game really has improved,” Charlie said once the two men departed. “He hired some former PGA golfer to coach him.”
“Couldn’t take losing to Christopher anymore?” Sara asked.
“Nope. You know your brother.”
Sara laughed. “At least they’re gone for now.” Her smile faded. “Are you sure about canceling the wedding? Maybe you can work things out. And moving might be fun. I worried about moving to California, but now I love it.”
“Virginia is beautiful, very similar to Massachusetts, and Quantico isn’t that far from us,” Charlie added.
Lauren traced a path through the condensation on her water glass. The other women’s concern touched her, but weren’t they supposed to be planning a baby shower? “It’s not only the move. He never once mentioned his plans to me. He assumed I’d just go along with them. That he knew best.” She took a sip of water, hoping the lump in her throat would disappear. “When we broke up after high school he did the same thing. He assumed life as a military wife would be too hard on me.”
“On that one, I think he was thinking of how hard it would be on him, too. Trust me, I’ve seen it firsthand. It’s just as hard on the husbands and boyfriends when they get deployed as the woman they leave behind,” Charlie said.
As a former doctor in the Navy, Lauren trusted Charlie’s insight, but that didn’t change the past. Before he left for Annapolis all those years ago, they could have discussed it. He could have shared his worries with her.