Our Now and Forever(83)

Three words that hit like a punch to the chest. “No,” Snow answered.

“Get him here,” she demanded. “Now.”

She was not going to do this. Not before Snow had a chance to explain.

“I’m running a business here,” Snow said, bolting for the front of the store. “You can see Caleb this evening.”

“You will not walk away from me, missy,” Vivien said, following Snow and grabbing her by the arm.

“Don’t ever touch me,” she said, anger bubbling to the surface. “This is my store, and you are in my territory now. You have no say here. I told you, this is not a good time and you can see Caleb tonight.”

With a look of derision, the older woman all but snarled, “If you think claiming some kind of home field advantage puts you in charge, you’re sadly mistaken. Now I didn’t come all the way up here to wait around. Where is Caleb?”

“He isn’t here,” Snow said between clenched teeth.

But before Vivien could make another demand, they were interrupted.

“Mother?” Caleb said. “What are you doing here?”



“I’m here to put an end to this,” his mother said, with the same voice she’d used when he was ten and she’d caught him making cookies with the new cook. Whom she proceeded to fire immediately.

“Have you lost your mind?” he asked. A question to which the answer seemed blatantly obvious. “And keep your voice down before you cause a scene.”

“This piece of trash has manipulated you long enough,” Vivien said.

“I’m the manipulator here?” Snow said.

Caleb stepped close enough to his mother to see the red lines in the whites of her eyes. In a deadly voice, he said, “Snow is my wife, and if you ever call her a piece of trash again, you can forget you have a son.”

Eyes a shade lighter than his own flared wide. “Your wife used me and made a fool out of you at the same time. When are you going to wake up and see the truth?”

“That’s enough,” Snow said. “If you’re going to insist on having this out right now, we’ll do it in the back room.” She motioned for Caleb to lead the way, with his mother between them. As soon as they were out of sight of the customers, Snow took his hands. “Caleb, I promise, I can explain everything.”

“Give it up,” Vivien said, pulling her expensive coat tight across her chest. “You can’t lie your way out of the mess you’ve made anymore.” Turning to Caleb, she said, “I’ve known where your wife was the entire time she’s been gone. She made me swear not to tell you and threatened to drag us through an endless divorce.”

“That’s not true!” Snow said. “You kept the secret because you wanted to.”

Caleb didn’t know whom to respond to first. His mother had known?

“I would never lie to my son about something so important,” his mother defended. “You used your threats to get what you wanted. You made me pass those messages to your mother to save her from having to lie, but you had no hesitation in making me betray my son.”

“You can’t believe her, Caleb. It wasn’t like that.”

He wanted to believe Snow, but how could he not believe his own mother? “Did she send messages to your parents?”

A cry escaped Snow’s lips. “Yes, she did. But not because I threatened or forced her.”

Staring at the floor, Caleb struggled to process what was happening. His mother had known where his wife was. All the phone calls home with updates on where he’d looked. Leads he’d gotten. All the times she’d encouraged him to file for divorce on the grounds of abandonment, and she’d known.

“How could you do it?” he asked the woman who’d given him life. “How could you lie to me all that time?”

“I didn’t have a choice,” she answered. “She threatened to take everything.”

No threat would have frightened Vivien McGraw. “As you’ve said yourself. We keep the best lawyers on retainer to handle these kinds of situations. She never would have gotten a penny, and you know it.” Stepping closer, he demanded, “So why did you lie?”

His mother stuttered. “I . . . I was protecting you.”

“From what?” he asked. “From finding the woman that you didn’t want me to marry? From being happy?”

“From being hurt,” she said. “From finding out that there was another man.”



“How dare you?” Snow wanted to lash out at this hateful woman who would do anything to get her way. “That’s a lie and you know it.”