Nickolas-1 (21 page)

It was a round two carat emerald with six quarter cut diamonds surrounding it. The band itself was wide, nearly an inch, and made of twenty-four carat gold.

Each Grant that gave it to his wife added another diamond to the set. Last time it was used, when his father had married his mom, he’d had to have a second band added to hold his diamond. The small band that accompanied it was still nestled in the box. Neither he nor any of his brothers had used the ring because his mother had simply refused to let them, telling them that their choice of women was wrong and she wouldn’t let this ring be lost to some bimbo. Turned out, she was right to refuse. He wondered why she was letting him use it for Morgan.

“I can’t give her this. She and I aren’t marrying for anything other than purely selfish reasons. Giving her something that means so much love to one another would be a travesty. No, I have a ring already for her.” He pulled his own box out of his jacket pocket and handed it to his mom.

This ring was vastly different than the one his mother had given him. It was also different than the one he’d gotten from his friend Thomas the other night.

This one was a simple band of twenty-four carat gold and a single half carat diamond. He wasn’t even sure of her ring size and had gotten the smallest one they had, not even taking the time to have the ring wrapped for her.

“Nicky, don’t do this. Don’t do this to her or yourself. Call this off. Please?” He wondered if Morgan had anything to do with this and decided that she hadn’t. She wouldn’t get her million if they didn’t marry.

“I have to. She’s being well compensated. Don’t worry about little Miss Becky. She’s going to come out smelling like a rose and on her feet for the first time in her life. She’ll have money and lots of it. I’ll have my sons. That’s all that matters.”

It occurred to him then that it did matter. It was beginning to matter a great deal. Pushing that thought away, he picked up his menu to order, trying not to think about the constant pain around his heart.

~~~

Morgan didn’t have any female friends to help her with her dress, so she didn’t dress up. She had purchased her first maternity top yesterday at Wal-Mart and was wearing it with a pair of nice maternity Capri pants she’d purchased at the same time. Her shoes were a pair of sandals that she’d had for some time. She just washed them in the sink and slipped them on. Her ankles hurt too much and she couldn’t bend over to tie her shoes so she was glad for the simplicity of the ones she had on. Besides, it wasn’t as if this was a happy occasion anyway.

Morgan arrived at the courthouse at nine-thirty and sat in the little alcove waiting for this dickship to show up. She smiled at the name she’d dubbed Nick with. She thought it suited him perfectly. She heard them before she saw them, and was standing when his entire family came around the corner. Meggie broke from her father and ran to her, arms wide open and a huge smile on her face.

Morgan went down on one knee to receive Meggie and her hug. It felt so good that Morgan didn’t want to let go. Finally, Meggie pulled back and kissed her cheek. Morgan struggled to stand up and was nearly there when she felt a hand at her elbow. She turned to thank whoever it was, but her throat closed off at the sight of Nick all dressed up.

He’d worn a suit and tie, as had the rest of his brothers. She ducked her head down to hide the sudden tears and pulled away from him. Mrs. Parker hugged her next and told her how lovely she looked with her hair down. The truth was, she didn’t have the energy to braid the long tresses and just left it down most of the time anyway. She didn’t go anywhere, so what was the point?

“Let’s get this over with, shall we?” Nick said gruffly.

As he nodded at Devin, he stepped forward and gave her the final copies of the contracts. She’d had a copy delivered to her yesterday by courier and Libby said it was right. She was to move into the house on Beckon Way right after the ceremony. She’d had her things picked up by a moving company just this morning and they were on their way to her new home. At least for the next few months anyway. There was also a new car in the garage and a live in nurse to care for her. She was going to go by the contract to the letter, nothing more, and nothing less.

As soon as she delivered the twins, the house, the car, and any money in the account was hers. The million dollars would be deposited into the same account within twenty-four hours after he left the hospital with his sons. Nick was taking care of all bills she’d incurred as the result of the pregnancy; everything else was hers.

Morgan signed all the copies and was given one to take home. Another was to be given to her lawyer, Libby. She didn’t know what happened to the other two, but assumed that Nick got one, as had Devin.

The judge that was to marry them was a really nice elderly gentleman with gray hair and twinkling eyes. He asked her if she had any family to stand up for her before they started and she told him no. He nodded and stepped away from her and to the Grants. At five minutes till the hour, two people showed up to stand with her as family. Judge Carlson had called his wife Tess and she’d brought her sister Caroline along too. Morgan was so touched she had to excuse herself to go to the ladies room and compose herself. Tess followed and helped her pin a beautiful rose to her shirt that she’d brought from her own garden.

“Teddy said you didn’t have any flowers either. I was working in the yard and had just cut this when he called. It’ll be just lovely with your red hair and all.”

So Morgan Becky became Morgan Becky Grant fifteen minutes later. The ring that Nick had brought for her didn’t fit, so neither of them exchanged rings.

She was fine by that, less she’d have to return it when this was over. But he assured her he’d get it resized and have it to her soon.

“I don’t want it. Keep it, or take it back. I’m fine without it.” She expected him to make a snide comment, and he probably would have too, but Damon stepped between them at the last moment and kissed her on the cheek, welcoming her to the family. They’d had their “vows” altered to suit their predicament, so the words “love,” “honor,” and “till death we do part” had been omitted.

Mrs. Parker asked her to have an early lunch with them. Thankfully, she’d not said celebrate. Morgan declined. She said she was tired and wanted to take a long nap before going to Columbus later that afternoon.

Morgan was getting into the taxi to go back to the apartment when Byron came out of the courthouse. He hugged her tightly for several seconds. By the time he pulled away, she was crying openly.

“I’m so sorry, baby. Will you ever forgive me?” he said to her. She’d delivered his site to him yesterday morning. She looked at him confused. “For telling Damon you were pregnant. Nick might never have known if I’d of kept my mouth shut.”

“No, he would have anyway. I’m required by law to tell him. You have nothing to be sorry about, Mr. Grant. Things will work out, you’ll see. And they’ll be raised in a good home with opportunities that I never had. You’ll see.

It’ll all be fine.” She hoped so anyway. At least that was what she kept telling herself. With another hug, she was off.

By the end of June, Morgan was miserable. Her ankles were swollen to twice their normal size. Her body ached in places she’d never hurt in before and she was lonely. The only person she’d spoken to verbally was Mrs. Puck, the live in nurse. And Damon once a month. When the phone rang, she didn’t even bother picking it up. She no longer checked the mail, nor did she bother with the door bell. Nothing came for her, no one called for her, and no one came to visit. She did, however, answer her emails.

Byron, true to his word, told everyone about her business, Pink Bag Creations. She had more offers than she had time to do. Of course, she didn’t turn them down, but worked on every one of them, banking the money in a separate account every time someone paid their bill.

It amazed her how much the bank wanted to help her now that her name was Grant. Before, she was ready to beg them to open an account and now she had two checking accounts, one that Devin had set up and one that she used with her own money. And she had a savings account where she was saving money to live on once she left the area after the babies were born, knowing that there wasn’t any way she could stay close and not see them.

“Mrs. Grant, the doctor’s office called. Dr. Grant wants you to come in in the morning and have an ultrasound done. I’m to tell you that your husband will also be there.”
Flipping great
, she thought.

Morgan had asked her not to call her Mrs. Grant several times and had simply given up. Morgan thought she’d been told to do it.

“All right, just please have him make the appointment for as close to noon as possible, please.” She was having horrific morning sickness in her last trimester.

Damon had told her it was normal, but not to let it get too bad. If she threw up more than twice a morning, she was to call him immediately. She hadn’t had to yet.

Morgan went into the big bright kitchen and opened the fridge. She needed to make herself some dinner.

Mrs. Puck had been surprised when Morgan started cooking for herself as soon as she moved in a month ago. Morgan thought about the look of pure horror on the woman’s face when she’d seen what Morgan was going to eat that first day.

It had been late in the afternoon and she was tired from the ride and just wanted to lie down again. She’d pulled a box of cereal out of the cabinet and made herself a large bowl of cornflakes.

“I was to cook you some dinner, Mrs. Grant. I’m sure I can do better than cold cereal. What would you like?” she’d asked her.

“This is fine. And you won’t be cooking for me either. You’re here as a nurse and not a maid. If you want something and I’m cooking, fine, I’ll throw extra in, but in no way are you fixing me a meal. Understand? You are also not to do my laundry, clean this house, or do any outside yard work. This house belongs to me and I’ll be responsible for it,” Morgan told her.

“But Dr. Grant said I was to—”

“Dr. Grant doesn’t live here. I do, and so do you as long as you abide by my rules of the house,” Morgan said firmly.

“I’ll have to clear this with Devin Grant. I’m sure that he is the one who set this up. You can bet he’ll be none too happy about your arrangements.”
Good to
know
, she thought as Mrs. Puck stormed out of the kitchen.

After Morgan was finished eating and washing up the dishes, Mrs. Puck came in to say Devin Grant was on the phone for her.

“Morgan here, may I help you?” She couldn’t bring herself to say her name was Morgan Grant. She wouldn’t be keeping it after the babies anyway, so why get used to it?

“Giving him a run for his money is one thing; being stupid is quite another.” She simply hung up on Devin and walked into the bedroom she was using. Ten minutes, later Mrs. Puck told her Devin was on the phone again.

“Morgan Grant, I am not my brother and won’t—” This time, she was in the bath tub when he called back.

“Okay, let’s start over. I want to know about this arrangement you have with Mrs. Puck, please. She said that you only use her for medical reasons and won’t let her do the things she was hired to do.” His voice was a little hard, but at least he wasn’t yelling at her.

“Was she hired as my maid, or was she hired as a live in nurse? Because, Mr.

Grant, as you are well aware, I didn’t agree to the first part.”

“She was hired as both. She was told that she would do a little light cleaning and cooking in addition to making sure your...that you... She was hired primarily as a nurse.”

She had to smile at his fluster. “You mean she’s here to make sure that I don’t harm the Grant twins? Then that’s all she’ll do. Is there anything else that you’d like to get cleared up while I’m still speaking to you?” He burst out laughing.
Good
, she thought,
keep them guessing.

“No, Morgan, nothing else. If you need anything, please don’t hesitate to call me.”

Mrs. Puck pulled her from her musing when she cleared her throat. She looked at the woman and smiled. Mrs. Puck didn’t approve of her, not her relationship with her “husband,” or the way she ran the house, but she did respect her position. Morgan sat up a little straighter on the sofa and looked at her. Her feet hurt so bad that she didn’t take them off the coffee table just yet.

“He said to tell you the best he could do was nine-thirty and the fridge is dead. It started making the funky noise again this morning, and it stopped. Now, it’s not doing anything. The light won’t even come on.”

“All right, I’ll call and have it replaced. Thanks for telling me. Aren’t you supposed to be off tonight?” She and Morgan had come to an arrangement of sorts. Every other Thursday night, she would go out for the evening and Morgan wouldn’t do anything too stupid.

“Just leaving. Want me to call Mr. Grant for you before I leave?” Yes, she did, but she knew that she should do it on her own.

“I’ll do it, have fun.” Morgan went to the kitchen and called the office of Grant, Attorney at Law while she looked in the fridge.
Yep, dead as dead can be.

“Hi, this is Morgan. Could you please let Mr. Grant know that I’ve replaced the refrigerator and need to know what he wants done with the old one? He can call me back at his convenience.”

“Mrs. Grant, he’s free. Would you like to speak to him directly? If you wouldn’t mind holding for a minute, I’ll put you through.” And before she could tell her no, she was being transferred. She actually thought about hanging up, and just before she did, he came on the line.

“Hello, Morgan? So the refrigerator died, huh? You have an account. Just order it and have the bill sent to the office here,” he said to her in way of greeting.

“No. She didn’t have to put me through. You told me to inform you when an appliance went bad. I have. So, I’ll...good-bye, Mr. Grant.” The phone was nearly to the hook when he yelled at her to stop.

“Morgan. My name is Devin. Please stop calling me Mr. Grant. I’m your brother-in-law, not some stranger.”

Morgan leaned her head against the cabinet above her head. They were all strangers to her. She didn’t want to be their friend, because it would hurt less when she stepped out of their brother’s life.