A Trusting Heart (16 page)

Megan smiled across the table at her sister.

“You are somebody, Linette. I’m just glad you’re realizing that, too.”

Linette left ten minutes later, leaving Megan alone with her house, her dog, and her thoughts. She really had nothing to do until lunchtime when she was supposed to meet Dylan. She didn’t have any floor time at the office until the next day and she didn’t have any clients to call and check up on. Cora seemed to be happy right now just looking through books of house plans. They hadn’t even decided on a builder yet. As far as selling her house, the appraisal had come back and they were expecting the signs to go up in the next couple days. She had already scheduled the man from the magazine to take the picture of Cora’s house to put into the next issue, so she was set. All caught up and nothing to do but . . . look at her brand new credit card just lying on the counter, practically calling her name.

Megan shook her head and walked into her bedroom to look through her closet. She had to pick the perfect outfit for her lunch with Dylan. She couldn’t help smiling though as she thought about how happy her sister was. Blaine was turning out to be a really neat guy. Best kisser though? She sincerely doubted it. She already knew who held that title.

Twenty-Two

MEGAN LOOKED DOWN AT the clothes she had chosen for her lunch appointment. Faded, junky jeans and her oldest and dearest BYU sweatshirt. She checked out her reflection in the window of the restaurant and smiled. Ugh! She wasn’t even wearing foundation and her hair was pulled back in a tight pony tail. She looked like she was getting ready to clean house. Perfect. Dylan would take one look at her and run screaming back to his wife. Megan walked confidently through the doors and didn’t even care as the hostess sneered at her while escorting her to the table where Dylan was already seated.

“Hi, Dylan. Hope you haven’t been waiting long.”

Dylan did a double take of Megan and then smiled slowly. “You’re worth the wait, Megan. I keep telling you that.” Megan frowned as she sat down opposite Dylan. This wasn’t exactly the reaction she had been hoping for. She picked up the menu uncertainly and looked at Dylan over the top. He was still staring at her with that dopey smile on his face. Megan put the menu down, folding her hands on top of the table. Enough was enough.

“Dylan, I will never marry you.”

Dylan’s smile slipped a fraction. “Don’t say that, Megan. If you want, we can discuss marriage after the divorce is final, if you’re uncomfortable doing it now. There’s no reason to make up your mind this minute. Don’t think of yourself as starting a relationship with a married man. Think of it as starting over again with the only man you were meant to be with. Me.”

Megan closed her eyes wondering how she could convince him that this just wasn’t going to happen. Ever.

“I’m planning on marrying someone else, Dylan,” she said surprised by her own statement. “I don’t know what else to say to convince you. I really think you need to focus on keeping your marriage to Taffie together. A temple covenant isn’t something anyone should take lightly.”

Dylan’s eyes lost some of their luster as he put his menu down next to hers.

“I never married Taffie in the temple, Megan. I always knew it wouldn’t be that kind of marriage. You’re the only woman I want to go through eternity with.”

Megan felt the sweat pop out on her forehead. He wasn’t comprehending the situation at all. He obviously didn’t want to.

“I’m so sorry. That must have broken Taffie’s heart.”

Dylan laughed harshly and signaled the waiter. “Bring us salads and breadsticks, now.”

The waiter left promptly after taking their drink orders, leaving them facing each other once again.

“Stop feeling sorry for her, Megan. It was because of her that we’re not together right now. She’s the one who has kept us apart all these years.”

Megan smoothed the napkin in her lap, not wanting to look Dylan in the eyes anymore. She hated hurting people, but he was insisting.

“Dylan, Taffie is not the reason we’re not married today. I’m the one to blame for that. Don’t you see, Dylan? If I had trusted you at all, we would have three kids and a house out in the country by now. But I didn’t. And what’s more, even if you had really done all those things, someone who sincerely loved you would have stuck by you and forgiven you. I’ll be honest with you, I had been praying my heart out to get an answer from Heavenly Father that you were the right one for me. But I never got any answer. So when Taffie told me all of those lies that morning, I was more than willing to believe her, because I saw that as an answer to my prayers. It never felt right to me. Remember after you got back from your mission and I insisted on being engaged for an entire year? There was a reason for that. Yes, I wanted to graduate from BYU, but there was more to it. We weren’t meant to be together, Dylan. Not for a minute and definitely not for an eternity.”

Dylan looked away from her and out the window at the passing people. He was quiet for so long, Megan didn’t know what to do. Was he ill?

“What do you say to a man who has wasted the past eight years of his life wishing for someone he can never have?”

Megan reached across the table and grasped Dylan’s hand in hers and smiled.

“I say, better eight than a lifetime.”

Dylan tried to smile, but failed, and grimaced instead. He squeezed Megan’s hand one last time then let go.

“I guess I have a lot of thinking to do. I hope you don’t mind, but I think I’ll just forego lunch. I’m just not very hungry anymore. Please stay and eat though. I would be upset if you felt you had to leave.”

Megan remembered why she agreed to meet Dylan in the first place and had to jump up and grab the sleeve of his suit coat as he began to walk away.

“Please, don’t go yet. I have some questions for you that I need answers to.”

Dylan looked curiously at her, then sat down, crossing his arms.

“Taffie said some things last night that I would like you to clarify for me. She said that information about my father was going to come to light that would humble my whole family. Do you know what she meant by that?”

Dylan’s mouth tightened into a hard line, transforming his face. He now looked like the man she was more familiar with. “You weren’t the only one looking for a quick escape, Megan. Your dad’s side of the business had started to pick up in the last month before the wedding. He started having second thoughts about the merger. Of course, he didn’t bother telling my dad that when he took two hundred thousand dollars of good faith money. He never did give it back, Megan. Your dad is a thief. A thief who’s going to jail if we have anything to say about it. And we’re not the only one’s he’s swindled. We’re going to testify against him in court. Don’t take it personally, Megan. This has nothing to do with you.”

Megan raised shaky hands to her cheeks as she tried to take in everything Dylan had just dumped on her. Her own father? How could he do something like that?

“But he said the merger didn’t happen because of me. He said that I’m the one who caused the disintegration of his business relationship with your father. He’s blamed me for everything for the last eight years. He can barely even look me in the eye when he sees me, and when he does, he looks nauseated. He can’t stand to be in the same room with me.”

Dylan smiled sadly at Megan and got up from the table once again.

“You’re just a reminder of his guilt. Nothing more.”

Dylan turned and walked out of the restaurant and back to his life.

Twenty-Three

AS MEGAN WATCHED DYLAN disappear from sight, she realized she wasn’t very hungry either. She wasn’t sure what to do or what to think, but when she ended up in front of her mom and dad’s house fifteen minutes later, she knew what needed to happen. She had to hear the truth from her father. Megan rang the doorbell five times before her mother finally answered the door.

“Megan, what on earth are you doing here? And why do you look like some kind of refugee?”

Megan ignored her mother’s automatic verbal slap and walked in without an invitation.

“Is Dad here? I really need to talk to him.”

Trisha shut the door and walked around Megan as if she smelled like something vile.

“He should be home anytime for lunch. We’re playing tennis with the Wendells. I’m afraid he won’t have time to talk to you today. Why don’t you go home and get cleaned up and call him later tonight? We don’t have any plans later, so he should be around.”

Megan walked into the living room and sat down on one of the three black leather sofas arranged in a triangle.

“I’m not leaving until I talk to him, Mother. Do you think the Wendells would mind if I came along? I haven’t played in years, but I used to be pretty good. Remember all of those lessons you made Linette and I take?”

Trisha looked alarmed at her daughter’s determination to stay put. Megan always put her husband in a bad mood and she just couldn’t handle his vicious temper today. Just the thought of another blow-up had her feeling frantic. She had to do something, so she went on the offensive. She couldn’t push Megan out the door physically, but when it came to verbal pushing she was a heavy-weight champion.

“Speaking of Linette, when you’re through brainwashing her, please feel free to send her home where she belongs. I think you two have had your fun long enough.”

Megan felt her already strained stomach tighten further. Her mom had pulled out her claws and she knew how to draw blood. Megan had the scars to prove it.

“What exactly do you mean by brainwashing?” Megan asked softly.

Trisha smiled and knew automatically she had scored. “You’re a complete fanatic, Megan, admit it. Ever since you started going to church every Sunday, you’ve become some pathetic, pale excuse for a person. You haven’t seriously dated since Dylan and we know how wonderful that turned out. All you do is stay home, read your scriptures, and listen to your dog bark. For heaven’s sakes, just look at you! You don’t even wear makeup anymore. You are a lifeless little robot and you’re determined to make your sister into an exact replica of yourself. Trust me, one boring Molly Mormon is enough for this family.”

Megan felt her chest constrict as pain filled her whole soul.

How could a mother feel this way about her own daughter? Megan tried to remind herself that it was her mother who had the problem, but the pain clouded out her reasoning. It was just too much.

“Do you even have a heart beating in your chest, Mother? Did you ever love me?”

Trisha frowned as she walked over to her grand piano and whisked her fingers across the keys carelessly. “Don’t be tedious, Megan. Just tell Linette that I’m giving her two more days to get this out of her system, and then I’m cutting her completely off. No more money. Ever.”

Megan leaned her pounding head back against the soft leather of the sofa and buried her dreams of a reconciliation with her parents for good.

“Why do you want her back so badly? Oh, I get it. It’s just you and Dad now. The pressure gets to you after a while, huh? Let’s see, who’s left to make Dad proud? You? It’s almost like your life is one big beauty pageant, isn’t it? I finally walked off the stage and Linette practically killed herself to get off. Did you even care that your daughter was anorexic? She could have died.”

Trisha turned around to face her daughter, caught off guard by someone fighting back. She wasn’t used to defending herself against her daughters. She’d never had to.

“She’s naturally slender. She isn’t anorexic. This is just another example of your deranged mind. Do you just sit around all day and make these fairy tales up? You really need to get a life before it’s too late. I would hate to have you committed, although the idea is starting to grow on me.”

Megan got to her feet slowly and walked over to the wall by the front window. The family portrait they’d had taken right before she had left for college hung in a prominent position, as if to show all of her parents’ guests that they were a normal happy family. What a joke.

“I admit I do like fairy tales. I’ve always been fond of happy endings. Are you planning on a happy ending, Mom? How happy are you going to be when Dad’s in jail for embezzlement or whatever they’re charging him with, and you’re stuck in this huge house all by yourself? No husband to pay your bills and no daughters to demean. That sounds like a tragedy to me.”

Trisha sat down on the piano bench shakily. “What are you blabbering about, Megan? I want you to leave now. And don’t come back. After I tell your father what you just said, I’m sure he’ll disown you.”

Megan heard her father’s car drive up into the driveway and straightened her shoulders. After getting the truth from her father, there would be no reason to ever return. She was amazed at the feeling of relief that realization gave her.

“You better go get changed for tennis, Mom. You don’t want to keep the Wendells waiting.”

Trisha’s eyes widened as she glanced at her watch. She wanted to impress the Wendells and being late wasn’t good for her image.

“You know where the door is. Use it,” Trisha said.

Megan kept her back to her mom as Trisha practically ran from the room and up the stairs. She would have at least ten minutes alone with her dad. That’s all it should take. She winced as the front door swung open.

“Trish, get a move on! I’ll change at the club.”

Megan walked into the entryway and leaned up against the wall with her arms crossed.

“She’ll be about ten minutes, Dad. So, while you’re waiting, do you mind telling me why you stole two hundred thousand dollars from the Carlisles?”

Lane Garrett turned his head quickly to face his eldest daughter. His face looked haggard and strained as if he had been under a lot of pressure lately. He didn’t look healthy at all.

“Why shouldn’t I take the money? They owed me. What’s it to you anyway? I’d think you’d be thrilled to see me stick it to the Carlisles after what Dylan pulled on you.”

Megan flinched at the bitterness and ugliness emanating from her father. When had he become so twisted and mean? Growing up, she remembered him being distant and critical, but this was different. This was wrong.