Foolish Games (25 page)

Her brother was caught off guard also. “Did she, now? I must have missed it with all the hullabaloo in there,” he said, gesturing to the hearing room. He rubbed the back of his neck contemplatively. “Julianne has a lot of wealthy friends whom she could have asked for financing, but she’s careful about combining her business with her friendships. There are only two other people she trusts, who she’d turn to in order to help her out of a jam: Carly or Nicky. Your guess is as good as mine as to which one.”

The senator held out his hand to Will. “I understand if you can’t forgive me, but I do appreciate you listening.”

Will was still for a moment, staring at the outstretched hand of the man who’d tried to ruin not only his career, but his one chance at happiness with the woman he knew he couldn’t live without. He hesitated before finally shaking the senator’s hand. Trust was a perilous thing, Will was learning. Something he needed to give as well as receive.

 • • • 

“Nicky,” Julianne crooned as she buried her face in the priest’s neck. His arms wrapped around her in a familiar embrace she always found to be comforting. She’d been on pins and needles all morning, worried about how the hearing was going for Will. ESPN was televising it live, but she and Carly had decided against watching it. Nicky’s arrival provided a welcome diversion.

And yet things were so different now. For most of her life, she’d had a crush on the man holding her close. But in a moment of absolute clarity, she realized that what she thought had been love was nothing more than genuine affection and admiration. Not the deep soul-wrenching love she felt for Will. No man in Julianne’s life had ever measured up to Nicky. Until Will. In a way, her epiphany was freeing, but it also made her sad. If Nicky were to be suddenly gone from her life, she’d miss him, but she’d survive. Julianne wasn’t sure how she’d survive if Will refused to forgive her.

“I told you that you didn’t have to come,” she said. “You could have just wired the money after you found a buyer.”

“The Vatican has diplomatic business here in Washington. I was able to combine business and pleasure this trip.” He pulled away from her, holding her at arm’s length. “You look marginally better. Still not as happy as I would like to see you.”

Julianne forced a bright smile onto her face. It was the least she could do for her oldest friend. He was doing her a huge favor, after all.

Carly entered the spacious screen porch of the house Sebastian had rented. “Owen is sound asleep.” She placed the monitor on the rattan table and took a seat. “I want to go on the record as saying that I think it’s a terrible idea to sell your mother’s paintings, Julianne. They are all you have left of her. If you don’t want me to invest, than at least let me loan the money to you.”

“Actually, the paintings have already been sold.” Nicky wrung his hands as he looked between both women.

“They have?” Julianne had trouble controlling her emotions. She needed the money their sale would generate, but she thought she’d have a little more time to adjust to the loss of her mother’s heirlooms. Carly was right, the paintings were the last link to her mother, and Julianne suddenly felt a little sick to her stomach at the thought of never admiring them again, and of Owen never seeing them. “Will they go to a private collector?” she managed to choke out.

“Yes, but he’s allowed for them to be displayed indefinitely at a small gallery in Milan.”

Hope burned in her chest once more. “So Owen might be able to see them when he grows up?”

Nicky looked sheepish. “Actually, he’ll be able to do more than that. The paintings now belong to Owen.”

“What?” Julianne leaned forward in her chair. “Owen doesn’t have any money, Nicky. Who bought those paintings?” She glanced sharply at Carly, figuring it would be just like her friend to find a covert way to lend her the money, but Carly’s face showed as much bewilderment as Julianne felt. She shrugged her shoulders at Julianne’s questioning glare.

“They were bought by the person who gifted you the paintings in the first place.” Nicky reached out to take her hands between his. “Your father.”

Shock reverberated through Julianne’s body as Carly released a surprised gasp.

“I don’t understand.” And really, she didn’t. Her father had barely been able to look at her much less speak to her since the accident that took her mother from them so many years ago. He’d washed his hands of any reminders of her mother—both her artwork and Julianne—immediately after the funeral and moved on with his life. The scars left from his rejection still stung. Will’s rebuff had stirred up all the insecurities her father’s banishment had caused, and Nicky’s words weren’t helping. Julianne was suddenly light-headed and unable to manage coherent speech.

Nicky gently squeezed her hands as Carly left her chair to kneel at Julianne’s feet.

“Breathe,” Carly prodded. Julianne’s chest squeezed and tears pooled in her eyes as her body ached for the feel of Will’s big hand comforting her, admonishing her to breathe.
How could this be happening?

“Why? My father doesn’t care about my mother’s paintings,” she managed to sputter out. “Or me.”

“That’s not true,” Nicky said.

Anger pulsed through Julianne, rapid and hot. She yanked her hands out of Nicky’s as if her skin was burned by his betrayal. “Don’t you dare take his side!”

“I’m not taking his side.” Nicky reached for her hands again, but Carly had gathered them up in her own, throwing a menacing glare at the priest. He pressed on anyway. “You know I disagree with how your father treated you. But grief is a weighty emotion. It does things to people. Changes them. Believe me, in my profession you see what type of damage grief can do, how it can destroy a person. Or, worse, a relationship.”

Julianne choked back a sob. Her father had rejected her. Now Will had, too. Was she destined to be rejected by everyone she loved?

“I’m not defending his behavior, Julianne. Just explaining it. He was wrong to push you away. But I refuse to believe he did it out of hatred. At least not hatred toward you.”

“Of course he did,” Julianne cried. “He blames me for the accident and he hates me for it!”

Carly wrapped an arm around Julianne’s shoulder and pulled her into a hug. “Shh, it’s all right.”

“The accident wasn’t your fault, Julianne. If anything, your father blames himself for it, for demanding that your mother return home before she wanted to and for using you to make sure she did.”

Julianne’s head was swimming. Her memories of that night and the days preceding it had always been a jumble. The doctors and counselors told her it was better that way; it was the brain’s way of protecting her. The little snippets she did recall never made sense. But Nicky had been with them. It was time he filled in the blanks.

“Tell me,” she demanded.

Nicky sighed. “There really isn’t much to tell. Nothing sordid or dramatic. Your mother wanted to stay at the villa a few days longer than she’d planned so she could finish a painting. My parents weren’t returning to Rome for another week, so I didn’t mind. Plus, there were some teenagers in the villa next door who’d I’d been hanging out with. You were a little annoyed that I wasn’t paying attention to you and your father used that to his advantage. He never could stand to be apart from Daria for too long. I think he bribed you with a kitten if you’d beg your mother to go back to Rome.”

Julianne almost smiled at the memory. Once, her father had been a doting parent, but he’d slipped away just as quickly as her mother had slid into the Mediterranean Sea.

“Daria finally gave in. Neither of your parents could refuse you anything.” Nicky pierced her with his gaze but Julianne refused to feel guilty for being loved by her parents at one point in her life.

“The weather wasn’t cooperating, though, and I tried to persuade your mom to pull over and wait out the storm, but by that time, she was just as eager to see your father. When she wasn’t wrapped up creating her art, she was just as lovesick as he was.” The corners of his mouth turned up in a slow grin.

Julianne wrapped her arms around herself. She wanted that kind of relationship. And she wanted it with Will.

“The rest of that night was fate, Julianne. It was nobody’s fault. Not yours. Not your mother’s. Not your father’s.” Nicky’s tone was unyielding. “You can’t continue to blame yourself. Your father doesn’t blame you.”

“I still don’t know how you can be so certain. Or why you involved my father in the first place.”

“Because as Carly said, the paintings are all you have left of your mother. They should remain in the family. For you and for Owen.” Nicky’s voice softened. “It’s not that your father doesn’t want them—or you. He just didn’t know how to get past his grief. Perhaps this is his way of making amends.”

A tear slipped from Julianne’s eyes. She didn’t dare hope that her father would ever be a part of her life again. That ship had sailed long ago. But she would do anything for her son’s sake. Hadn’t that had been her mantra since discovering she was pregnant? She could take her father’s guilt money and rebuild her company. Then she would figure out how to get Will back because that was one ship she wasn’t going to let sail away.

“My mother would be delighted that her grandson owned her paintings,” she said through her tears.

“That settles it,” Carly said as she wiped her eyes. “You’re taking your father’s money whether you like it or not. The paintings stay in the family for Owen.”

“What happened to the reserved, well-mannered girl who used to be your best friend?” Nicky asked Julianne, a teasing glint in his eye.

“She married the devil of the NFL and now he’s gotten her with child. You might want to stick around in case we need an exorcism.”

 • • • 

Will sat in his car, his hands firmly gripping the wheel. He was sawing ragged breaths in and out in hopes of getting some control over his bruised heart. The senator said Julianne hadn’t snitched on Will. That she loved him. He’d raced over to the house she was staying in to have the talk they should have had weeks ago. Before the sex messed things up. To work on cultivating that seed of trust before everything was ruined for good. To salvage a marriage that she’d only agreed to for the sake of their son.

When no one had answered the door, he’d walked around the back of the house. Staring into the screened porch, he’d seen her with her friends, locked in an embrace.
There are only two people she trusts
, the senator had said.

These past months, Julianne had been forced down a path not of her own choosing. Starting with the night in Sea Island when he’d taken her to his bed. The consequences of that night were just as much his fault as they were hers. He could no longer blame her for trying to shield him from those consequences by keeping Owen a secret.

Julianne didn’t need a bastard from the Seaside Vista Trailer Park to complete her. She had her talent and her friends—
who she’d turn to in a jam
. Friends she obviously trusted more than him, not that he could blame her. If Will loved her, and he did, he couldn’t stand in her way any longer. She wouldn’t keep Owen from him. And Will wouldn’t trap her in a marriage she never wanted. Sure, she’d said she loved him, but he knew she’d say and do anything to protect her son.

He forced his hand to turn the key in the ignition and drove away.

“Julianne! Julianne!”
Annabeth clamored through the house shouting.

Julianne, Carly, and Nicky rushed into the kitchen to find her gasping, tears running down her face.

“Annabeth, where have you been?” Julianne raced toward her mother-in-law, panicked by her distress. “I’ve been trying to call you since I got here yesterday.”

Carly pulled out a chair and Annabeth sat down, her face a mixture of smiles and tears.

“Well, we’ve been trying to call the two of you for the past hour,” Annabeth said.

Carly grabbed her purse off the table and pulled out her cell phone. “Ohmigosh! She’s right. Shane, too.” She yelped as she read the text message on the screen. “It’s over, Jules. The hearing never took place!”

Julianne looked from her friend to her mother-in-law. “Is this true? Will didn’t have to testify?”

Annabeth shook her head as her smile beamed. “Nope. He wasn’t even named by Coach Zevalos as one of the offenders. Will is totally cleared.”

Shaking with relief and joy, Julianne retrieved her own cell phone, desperately hoping for a message from Will. Her body sagged as she scanned the screen and saw only missed calls from Annabeth.

“Give him time,” Annabeth whispered as she came up beside her, draping an arm over her shoulder. “He needs to process everything first.”

Leaning a head on the older woman’s shoulder, Julianne pushed out a breath. She’d never been a very patient person, and giving Will time was killing her. Hopefully, though, when Will
processed
everything, he’d see she hadn’t meant to hurt him.

“You did something to make this happen, didn’t you?” Julianne asked.

“Nothing that I shouldn’t have done years ago,” Annabeth confessed. “But the less you know the better.”

Julianne smiled at her. “I’m just glad it worked out.”

“The rest of it is going to work out, too,” she reassured Julianne. “You’ll see.”

“You still haven’t answered my question, though. Where have you been?”

Annabeth’s face flushed beneath her broad smile.

Julianne actually laughed. “Never mind. Your face just told me everything I need to know.” She hugged her mother-in-law. “Good for you. At least one of us is happy.”

“Hey!” Carly clicked off her cell phone. “Shane says they’re having a big party at the training facility. Roscoe and Will are supposed to get there soon. Jules, let’s get Owen and bring him.”

A spasm of misery clenched in Julianne’s stomach. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. At least not for me to go.” She turned to Annabeth. “You should take Owen, though. Will would want to show his son off to his teammates.”

“Oh, no you don’t, Julianne.” Annabeth’s hands were on her hips. “There’s no chickening out anymore. You two are going to resolve this if I have to lock you both in a room together.”

“Oooo,” Carly chimed in. “I know the perfect room, too. Shane and I had a nice little talk in there once. It was very productive.” Her grin and rosy cheeks told Julianne that a lot more than talking went on between Carly and Shane in that room.

Annabeth rolled her eyes. “Carly, get the baby.”

Nicky excused himself, saying he had business in Washington. The two women somehow managed to get Owen packed up quickly, bundling him and Julianne into the car before she could protest. When they arrived at the facility, the celebration was in full swing. All that was missing was the guest of honor.

Shane greeted them at the door, hugging both Annabeth and Julianne before wrapping his wife up in his arms. “Hey there, Dorothy,” he murmured, using his favorite pet name for Carly before kissing her soundly. He pulled away a little reluctantly, their gazes still locked in a form of nonverbal communication that hinted of something more to come later.

Julianne bit her lip to keep from weeping out of sheer jealousy. She and Will had briefly had that.

Hank slipped an arm around Annabeth, and Julianne’s anguish gnawed a little harder in her belly. Everywhere she looked she saw happy people, happy couples. Coming here was a ridiculously bad idea. She turned to make her escape, but Brody blocked her way.

“Little dude,” he said, holding his arms out for Owen. “Come to Uncle Brody and I’ll introduce you to the guys.”

He had the baby out of her arms before she could stop him. Owen squealed with delight. Tears stung her eyes as she realized even her infant son was having a better time than she was.

“Julianne.”

She whipped around, and her heart leaped as she once again found herself peering past Roscoe in search of Will. But he was nowhere to be found. She pulled in a deep, calming breath, forcing her gaze back to Will’s agent.

“I owe you an apology,” Roscoe said, sheepishly. “It seems I jumped to some very wrong conclusions about you.”

Julianne was too stunned to reply.

“Your brother set Will straight today, though. And he, in turn, set me straight. The assumptions I made were totally off base. Even under the defense of protecting a client and friend. I sincerely apologize.”

Julianne hadn’t heard a word past the part about Stephen setting Will straight. “Stephen spoke to Will today?” she repeated.

“Thank goodness for miracles,” Annabeth said from somewhere behind Roscoe.

“Yeah.” Roscoe stepped back to include Annabeth, Hank, Carly, and Shane in the conversation. “Right after the hearing was canceled. He explained that you didn’t know anything about the hearing. You were simply defending Will, and your brother took advantage.” He looked around, confused. “Will didn’t tell you your brother spoke to him?”

“I haven’t seen Will.”

Julianne’s heart was pounding as if she’d raced up ten flights of stairs. Will knew the truth. Could this possibly mean they could start again? Her knees began to shake and she reached out a hand to steady herself on something. Brody appeared at her side, propping her up.

“Whoa. Are you okay?” he asked.

She was definitely not okay. Instead, she was a quivering mass of nerves as she searched the crowded room for any sign of her husband.

“Will didn’t bring you here?” Roscoe asked, a touch of concern in his voice.

“No,” Annabeth answered for her. “Carly and I brought her.”

“I don’t understand. I dropped Will off at his car an hour ago. He was on his way to talk to you.”

The bottom fell out of Julianne’s stomach, and she gripped more tightly onto Brody’s arm.

“We just left there,” Annabeth said, reaching for her cell phone. “Maybe we crossed paths.”

“No. Like I said, he would have been there almost an hour ago.” Roscoe pulled out his own phone.

But Will hadn’t come to the house. And suddenly, Julianne saw the situation through his eyes. Will was giving up without a fight, most likely figuring he wasn’t worthy of a relationship. She was familiar with his game plan because it had been her own rationale right up until a few weeks ago. Now, she realized true love was messy and worth fighting for. Fury replaced her anguish and Julianne ripped her arm off Brody’s, her weak legs suddenly strengthened by anger. The idiot Neanderthal was jumping to conclusions—again. This time, though, she wasn’t going to let him get away with it.

Annabeth and Roscoe were dialing their cell phones to no avail. Will was off playing the martyr somewhere. Most likely at his loft.

She turned to Brody. “Take me to him. Now.”

Brody flinched minutely at her words, but then his mouth curled in a devilish smile. “Your wish is my command.”

Julianne stalked out of the room. Brody took a few steps before turning back and grabbing Roscoe and Shane’s cell phones out of their hands. “No way am I gonna let you boys warn him. I’d hate to spoil William the Conqueror’s ass-wuppin’.”

 • • • 

Will tossed the pizza boxes and take-out contain
ers into the large trash bag. His loft was a mess. Thirty years as a neat freak and in one week it had all gone to hell. Time to right the ship. Still dressed in his suit, minus the torturous tie, Will had immediately set out to clean the place up once he arrived home. At the very least, it would keep his mind off Julianne.

As he loaded dishes into the dishwasher, he heard the key turn in the front door lock.
Shit!
He huffed out an exasperated sigh.

“Dammit, Brody, I should have broken every one of your million-dollar fingers last night and taken my key back.”

When Brody didn’t respond with his typical sarcastic retort, Will turned around. His lungs seized. It wasn’t Brody standing on the other side of his kitchen counter, but Julianne. The rest of his body heated up at the sight of her. Wearing a dress that looked like it untied with the pull of a string, she wobbled slightly on her wedge heels before purposely striding toward him. Silently she placed the key on the counter. Then she slid off her wedding band and dropped it down beside the key. The ping of the gold hitting granite reverberated throughout Will’s nerve endings.

He stood frozen as she maneuvered through the living area, littered with Owen’s baby items and a week’s worth of laundry. She glanced at the sofa he’d been using as a bed, piled high with a pillow and blankets. Reaching down, she pulled out the Elmo doll Owen had been gumming the day before.

Owen!

“Where’s Owen?” The words came out raspy because he was still struggling to catch his breath.

She looked over her shoulder at him, and something flared in her amber eyes. He thought it looked a little like seduction, but he figured that was just wishful thinking on his part.

Her full lips curved slightly. “He’s at the party. The one your friends and teammates threw for you.”

Nope, definitely not seduction. Will flinched from the bite of her sarcasm. His teammates would take his absence as another affront, but he hadn’t felt in the mood for a party after realizing he couldn’t hold her in their marriage.

“He was happily ensconced in the heavily tattooed arms of someone named Mongo, who was introducing your son to his first beer.” She tucked the Elmo doll to her breast and moved toward the windows.

She was goading him. Will wasn’t sure if that was good or bad.

He decided to play along. “You shouldn’t have left him with Mongo. He’s an offensive player.”

Julianne tsked. “Just because he has a few tattoos doesn’t make him offensive.”

Will stifled a groan as he rubbed the back of his neck with a hand that was less steady than it had been before she arrived. “I assume my mother was there.”

“Yep.” She kept her back to him. “But she’s too busy playing kissy-face with Hank to watch over Owen. Mongo will have to do.”

Ah hell, he should have gone to the party. But he didn’t want to go because he’d been certain that his mother would ensure Julianne would be there. And he’d made up his mind about giving her her freedom. From now on, the choices would be up to Julianne. Seeing her again would just tempt fate.

Except she’d left the party and was standing in his loft. The wedding band on the counter indicated she’d made a choice. His body ached to take her in his arms and persuade her to change her mind, but that was how this whole mess started. They needed to talk.

“Julianne . . .”

“You said there was a view of the harbor here.” She quickly turned from the window. “I don’t see the harbor.”

He’d misread her eyes. They weren’t seductive, they were anxious and maybe a little angry. Her chest was moving up and down rapidly as she drew in quick short breaths. Elmo was clutched in a death grip to her breast. Will wanted to soothe her, but he didn’t dare touch her.

“Um.” His mind tried to wrap itself around her question. “Upstairs. The view is from the bedroom.”

She pointed to the stairs at the side of the room. “Up there?”

No!
He couldn’t sleep up there as it was. If he let Julianne up into his bedroom, he’d have to freaking move out. Instead he nodded, like an idiot. “Uh-huh.”

His body throbbed as he watched her sashay up the stairs to his bedroom. Clearly still in idiot mode, he followed her. When he got to the landing, she was standing with her back to him, the glory of the Inner Harbor silhouetting her. He leaned a shoulder against one of the pillars supporting the ceiling, shoving his hands into his pockets to keep from hauling her to the bed.

“I’d like you to explain something to me.” She didn’t bother turning to face him. Her ramrod-straight spine and tense shoulders were his only indication that this was difficult for her. “How is it that you can be so fierce on the football field, never stopping until the play is dead, but you run away from a relationship at the first opportunity?”

An abashed sigh escaped his lips. “It’s not like that, Julianne.”

“Really? It seems that way to me. But then this marriage wasn’t exactly a relationship, was it? Just an arrangement to benefit our son.” He watched her struggle to swallow. “So I guess it really doesn’t matter, does it?”

“It may have started out that way, but it quickly changed to something more for me.” His voice was hoarse as he tried to work around the lump in his own throat. “Hell, maybe deep down I always felt that way and that’s why I pushed for the marriage.”

Slowly, she turned from the window, her eyes shimmering. Will wanted to close the distance between them, but he knew that wasn’t the best course of action.

“So,” she hesitated. “It came down to you not trusting me.”

Will rubbed a hand over the back of his neck. He was ashamed to admit he was guilty of that infraction. “I didn’t want to believe you’d sold me out. But I guess I was trying to sabotage the relationship just like you said.”

Julianne nodded resolutely. “And today?”

His gaze connected with hers. Obviously she’d figured out he’d been by her place earlier. Honesty was the cornerstone to trust, so he led with the truth.

“Today I figured I’d let you make your own decisions.”

Her face was baffled as she continued to stare at him.

Will sighed. “It was something your brother said this morning.”

“Stephen?” she choked out. “You’re suddenly listening to my mercenary brother?”

“No! I mean, yes.” He held his hands up. “Let me explain. Your brother’s rationale makes sense. He felt guilty that he’d allowed me to force you into a marriage. So he used the information against me to help get you out of it.”