Legal Heirs - Box Set Edition: Books 5-8 (Surrendering Charlotte Chronicles) (21 page)

Bennet stepped out and he was holding a knife against Atti’s little throat. Atticus’s eyes were huge with fear and duct tape covered his mouth.

“Let him go, Bennet, I’ll go with you.” Bly said trying to sound calm. “I’ll give you anything you want, there’s no need to hurt the boy. Please Bennet, everything I have can be yours, I’m begging you.”

“I know this boy is your son, Alex. I finally have a way to hurt you and take everything you love. Do you know what I went through in prison? No, you probably can’t imagine, but you’ll have a lot to think about when I’m through with your son,” Bennet said, he was shaking uncontrollably and the smile on his face was pure madness. It seemed for a moment that he had forgotten about Atticus as he mumbled about being treated like Bly’s poor relation.

Atticus tried to struggle away from Bennet, his eyes silently calling out to his mother and Charlotte started walking toward him. She wanted to kill Bennet Sommerfeld anyway she could, with her bare hands if that was possible. Her movement caught Bennet’s eye and he held the knife to Atti’s throat and Charlotte screamed when blood ran down his neck. She lunged toward them and heard one loud shot and Bennet crumpled to the ground with a bullet hole centered squarely in his forehead.

Charlotte ripped off her blouse as she ran to Atticus and scooped him up, holding the blouse against the cut on his neck. His eyes were wide and glassy and Bly knelt beside them and carefully peeled the tape from his mouth. “Hold the fabric firmly against his neck Charlotte, an ambulance is on its way. Atticus, can you speak?”

Charlotte began to wail when her son was silent and his eyes closed. Bly took him from her and carried him to the ambulance as soon as it arrived. “Charlotte, there’s not much blood, I think he’s in shock. Calm down or you’ll make it worse for him,” Bly said, settling the boy onto a gurney as the EMS team took over. Bly held Charlotte back while the paramedics pulled the blouse away from Atticus’s neck and assessed the damage.

“The wound isn’t deep, it didn’t hit an artery. He’ll recover but he’s in shock,” a paramedic told Charlotte and Bly.

Bly took off his shirt and slipped Charlotte’s arms into it, then helped her into the ambulance so she could ride with Atticus. She held her son’s hands as sheets of tears washed down her face and Bly had meant to stay and talk to the police but he climbed in beside her.

“Who did it, who shot…?” Charlotte whispered, she was holding Atti’s hands and his eyes were closed, and although he was conscious he still hadn’t spoken.

“Billy,” Bly said. “Don’t worry, everything will be okay. You’re going to be fine, can you hear me, Atti? You’re the bravest boy I know, hang on son.”

*

“Atti, will you talk to me? You’re alright, that was a terrible bad man who hurt you but he can’t hurt you anymore. Do you understand, baby? Please say something my love, Mommy is so sad that this happened. I was going to stop him, you know I wouldn’t have let him take you away, don’t you?” Charlotte whispered in her son’s ear and her voice was a desperate plea.

Atticus lay in the hospital bed and stared into his mother’s eyes with a wild haunted look and a single tear rolled down his face. Tears coursed down Charlotte’s face and she climbed onto the bed and held his little body against hers. Bly walked in quietly and as he looked at the two faces he loved most in the world, he wished he had been the one to kill Bennet. He ran his hand through Atti’s wild black hair and looked at Charlotte but he didn’t want to touch her in front of Atticus. He sat in a chair, his head in his hands and took several deep breathes to stop himself from crying.

“Hand me that book,” Charlotte said and Bly looked up at her with tears in his eyes. “The one on top of the stack.”

He handed her a book from a table in the brightly decorated room and she opened it and began to read to Atticus.

“This is one of your favorites Atti,
The Giving Tree
, can you see this page with the pretty drawing? Remember how Daddy always has you crawl in our big bed when he reads to you? You and Daddy love this part, that’s because what it says is true… “
And she loved a little boy very, very much – even more than she loved herself.
””

“I miss my dad,” Atticus whispered so softly the sound was barely audible.

“Atti?” Charlotte said softly, sitting upright and staring down at him. She was hopeful that he was really going to be okay if he was talking.

“I want my dad, I want my dad, dadddddddy!” he let out a blood curdling scream then he sat up in bed and jerked the IV out of his arm. “Go get my daddy, please Mom, I want him! DAD, DAD, DAD…!” he screamed in a frenzy as Charlotte held and rocked him. Bly grabbed a doctor from the hallway and dragged him into the room to give Atticus a shot of sedative.

When Atticus finally slept, Charlotte walked with Bly into the hall and told him he should leave. Bly was miserable, his child was in pain and traumatized and there was nothing he could do for him.

“I don’t want to leave you or him, Charlotte, but he needs Finn. Can you find him and tell him to come home for Atticus? I’m going on to Paris to get the twins and try to figure out how we can make things work for all of us. It kills me inside to know he’s mine and yet he loves another man as his father,” Bly said and before he got into his car he held Charlotte as if he would never let her go. “Will you please tell me that you love me, Charlotte?”

“I do, Bly, but I’m not sure if it matters anymore. I’m going to try to reach Finn now, then I’ve got to let his mother know what’s happened. No matter what, she’ll want to be with Atticus, they love him, Bly. Finn and Georgina, Jude and Keller, they’re his family. He’s lucky to have so many who care about him, but who knows if he’ll see it that way. Go to your children and let me deal with the consequences here. I’ll let you know how Atticus is doing and after I have time to explain things to Finn, we’ll all talk,” Charlotte said and she brushed her lips lightly across his and walked back into the hospital.

“Of course it matters, Charlotte. It will always matter that we love each other,” Bly called after her, but she didn’t hear him.

*

“Finn, you have to come home, Atticus has been hurt, He’s going to be alright but he’s screaming for you and he won’t stop unless he’s sedated,” Charlotte said. She had gone home and used the satellite phone Finn had given her long ago.

“What’s happened my love? Who hurt him, for fuck’s sake what’s going on Charlotte?” Finn sounded more out of control than she’d ever heard him and even so, his voice caused her heart to swell and tears coursed down her face.

“Bennet Sommerfeld took him from soccer camp, he held a knife to Atti’s throat but Billy Kipling shot and killed him. A lot has happened, Finn, it doesn’t matter right now. Atti needs you so much,” Charlotte said and she couldn’t hold back her sobs.

“Charlotte, listen my love. I’m nearly home, I quit. I left the job undone and made up my mind to come back and make things right. I’ve been traveling for days and I’m nearly home. I can be there by tonight, what hospital is he in, I’ll go straight there?”

After Charlotte hung the phone up she packed a small bag with Atti’s pajamas, his favorite stuffed bunny rabbit and a change of clothes. Then she collapsed into the rocking chair in his room, the one Finn had brought home for the nursery at Dovecote Cottage. How she wished they had never left that charming little house and village. She had built a world of regrets for herself and the weight of those mistakes threatened to crush her. She wanted to keep on crying and never stop, to let her tears wash away the enormity of her ill-considered deeds. Most especially she wanted to undo the time she had just spent with Bly, everything else she could live with. She would never forgive herself for having betrayed Finn by running to Alexander Bly. Yes, Finn had left her to do what he thought was important, the job he swore he had given up. She had hated him for going but she had known all along that she would be waiting for him when he returned. The truth was that she loved him not only in a different way than she loved Bly, she loved him more truly and deeply. He was the love of her life and at last she realized she had chosen him not in haste, but because he was her heart’s only choice. She loved him despite the danger he craved and she couldn’t imagine her life without him. The question was would he forgive her, was his love for her strong enough to withstand what she had done?

Atticus was still sleeping when Charlotte returned to the hospital and Georgina was sitting on the bed, his little hand in hers. Georgina’s eyes were as red as Charlotte’s and she stood up and hugged Charlotte to her.

“The world can be a terrible place Charlotte, thank God our boy is alive and well. Finn called and said he’ll be here in a few hours, of course he’s beside himself,” Georgina said as they walked to the cafeteria for a cup of coffee.

“Georgina,” Charlotte said and her voice threatened to desert her. “I’m the cause of all this. You and Finn should take the children away from me, I can’t atone for all the wrong I’ve done.”

“Nonsense, Finn doesn’t want that, he wants you and your family.”

“He won’t want it. Not now. Do you know about Atticus? Do you have any idea how loathsome I am?” Charlotte asked, her voice was barely a croak as she fought to hold back her tears.

“Charlotte, I know about my grandson, Finn told me after you were in that car wreck. What does it matter? If you and Finn had adopted a baby I wouldn’t love it any less. Atti has been my darling boy from day one, nothing’s going to change that.”

“I love you for that Georgina, but Finn left to do his… other work. I found out and I suppose I wanted to hurt him like he was hurting me. I’ve done something unforgivable and if I could undo it I swear to God I would. I’ve ruined us, Georgina, and you need to hear it from me. I… spent time with another man, the man I was going to marry before Finn came back. How can any of us get past that?” Charlotte asked and at that moment she wanted to flag down a doctor and ask for a shot of morphine or valium or anything to numb her heart and mind.

“Charlotte, we’re human, we’re not perfect. When I see Finn I’m going to slap the living day lights out of him for risking his life. I may slap him several times in fact, he has a family to consider and going off the way he did was an asinine thing to do,” she grasped Charlotte’s hand across the table and held it, “Charlotte, I have no intention of judging you. You love my son more than any woman ever could. I hate that you did this thing, but you’ll judge yourself far more harshly than anyone else will. Keep loving my son and my grandchildren, move forward and let it be a lesson well learned. If this is the worst thing you ever do in your life, then thank your lucky stars. When you were with this man did you tell him you loved him? No, I didn’t think so, be patient with Finn when you tell him. Men are so much more fragile than women, we bend but we rarely break. Give him some time and see if he can adjust, Charlotte, and whatever happens you’re still my daughter. Okay?”

Charlotte loved Georgina, especially her generosity of spirit. She could only hope that Finn would be as compassionate.

*

Charlotte’s heart was in her throat when Finn walked through the door of the hospital room. His right arm was in a cast and there was a bandage across his temple. Atticus was sitting up in bed, he had calmed down after the sedative wore off just knowing that his dad was on his way.

“Dad daddy daddy!” Atticus said, jumping up and down on the bed so that Finn caught him and hugged him with his good arm.

“Hey buddy, what kind of trouble did you get into while I was away? Man I missed you, Atti. Let me see your neck, wow, you’re really tough aren’t you?” Finn said, hugging Atticus so close Charlotte thought neither one of them would ever let go. “I won’t go away again Atti, not ever, I promise.”

“What happened to you Dad? You broke your arm skiing and hurt your head too?  Let’s go home Daddy, I have a bunch of cool stuff to tell you,” Atticus said, he was smiling and happy at last. “Mom, you forgot to give Dad a mushy kiss!”

“Yes she did, didn’t she?” Finn said and let go of his son so he could pull Charlotte against him. His lips met hers in a searing kiss so that Charlotte felt she had found where she belonged, and Atticus laughed and said, “Gross!”

*

Finn lay beside Atticus in his bed at home and Charlotte left them curled together and talking. She filled the bathtub with warm water and bath salts and let herself sink down into it. It felt so good on her shattered nerves and aching neck, and she needed to try and relax before she bared her soul to Finn. He was always fair, that much was on her side. But still, he was a man and he was her husband, and she had given herself over to his adversary in a moment of weakness.
Hell
, she thought, she had wanted it to happen as much as Bly had at first. But her conscience had kicked in and not only that, she had come crashing into the conclusion that Finn was the one she really loved. She climbed out of the bath, dried off and slipped into a nightgown. When she walked into their bedroom Finn was standing in the doorway and she jumped as she looked into his eyes.

“Why so jumpy, my love? Atticus is sleeping, in case you were wondering. He’s had quite a rough time and from what he said he had other adventures before that. He met a nice friend of his mommy’s who let him fly a jet,” he said, moving slowly across the room as she stood frozen to the spot.

“Finn…”

“You seem different, my love. Something’s not right,” Finn said, catching Charlotte’s hand and pulling her close to him.