Billion Dollar Mistake by K.C. Crowne

Chapter 28

SAWYER

Jolene was laughing like a mad woman, and I had no idea what to make of it.

“You alright over there?” I asked.

“It’s…” she closed her eyes and forced her mouth into a hard line, but a couple more snorts came out. “OK. It’s fine.” As if convincing herself, she gave a quick, sharp nod. Then she opened her eyes.

“Alright,” I said. “What’s the story? I mean, I was being serious about what I said.”

“I know, I know. And I don’t want you to feel bad about it. It’s just that you got so grim, like you were about to admit that you’d killed someone. But then you started talking about my rolling backpack and it was just…I’m sorry.”

“Hey!” I said, giving her a playful shove. “You’re the one who had that ridiculous thing, anyway. And you have to admit it – you looked totally goofy wheeling that around campus.”

Her eyebrows rose. “Oh, now you’re bullying me again about it. So much for having a change of heart.” Jolene’s lips curled into a sly smile.

I chuckled, realizing how silly it all was. “I don’t know what else to say. I feel bad about being a prick to you back then.”

“And I was upset that you didn’t seem to give a damn about or even remember the way you treated me in high school. So, it worked out after all. But seriously, why were you like that to me?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe…maybe it was that I thought you were cute and didn’t know how to deal with it.”

Her eyebrows rose even more, so much that I thought they might fly off her forehead.

“You’re kidding. You’re saying that to be nice.”

“Nope. Even back then with your braces and your oversized clothes, and yeah, your wheely backpack, you were cute. But we ran in such different circles that I knew there was no chance we’d ever get together. Plus, you were always hanging out with those nerdy guys in your group. I figured you had your hands full with them.”

“Not at all!” she said, her eyes flashing once more. “I mean, don’t get me wrong – they were nice guys. But they were friends and that was it.” She shook her head in disbelief once more. “I still can’t believe that the Sawyer Williams did the totally cliché move of being a jerk to me because he secretly had a crush. It’s almost too good to be true.”

I raised my finger. “But don’t get me wrong. The backpack was still ridiculous. Seriously, why did you drag that thing around?”

“Hey!” she said, giving me a playful shove. “I had scoliosis. The doctor said that I needed to ease weight on my back until the brace I had on underneath straightened it out.”

“Oh, so there was a brace, too? Man, you really had it going on in high school.”

“Well, you’re the one who thought I was so cute back then. Maybe I ought to dig it out and put it on for old time’s sake.”

We laughed and kissed, holding one another close.

Then a thought occurred to me, something about the baby.

“What is it?” she asked, sensing that something was wrong.

“The baby. What if…what if he or she inherits my condition?”

Her expression turned grim, as if I’d mentioned something that she hadn’t considered.

“Well, you’ve got a doctor in the house now – one who’s going to make sure you stay on top of taking your medication. And more than that, with a kid depending on you, you’re going to have even more motivation for not being blasé about this. No way this kid’s losing their dad because he got lazy with his pills.”

She was stern with her words and strangely, they were motivating. I wasn’t simply living for myself anymore – I was living for Jolene and the child we were going to have together.

I smiled and kissed her. Together, our bodies intertwined, and we drifted off to a deep sleep before the crackling fire.

* * *

I woke up the next morning with Jolene still lying next to me, her chest rising and falling softly. The gas fireplace still crackled; the apartment filled with the low, purple light of morning.

I realized there was something I’d have to do.

Gently, so not to disturb her, I slid out from behind Jolene and rose from the couch. Once up, I threw on my boxers, then headed up to the bedroom to grab my kimono robe. There was still blood in the bathroom from the other night, now dried and dark.

I needed to clean it up, but at that moment, there was something else I needed to take care of.

After throwing on some jeans and a dark blue, crewneck shirt I went into the kitchen, made myself a cup of coffee, then took it and my phone out onto the patio.

I knew Dad’s schedule. I knew he got up every morning at five-thirty to run, then came home to enjoy his first coffee of the morning in solitude before starting the day. I was about to intrude on his quiet time.

It was surprisingly warm out that morning, the entire eastern sky aflame with wild oranges and reds. I sipped my coffee and pulled up Dad’s number.

It rang once, then twice. My stomach tightened. I was putting it all on the line, but I was doing what needed to be done.

“Sawyer? What’s going on? Is something wrong?”

I couldn’t blame Dad for reacting that way. Not like I’d made a habit of calling him first thing in the morning.

“Hey, Dad. No, nothing’s wrong. Having a good morning, actually.” I glanced back inside, taking a quick look at Jolene as she lay, still sleeping, on the living room couch.

“Oh. I see. Well, is there something you wanted to talk to me about? Not like you to be calling this early in the morning – especially since people your age seem to communicate exclusively in text message format.”

I knew that was my last chance to back off, to ask him some question about work and play it off like that was the reason for my call.

Nope. I had to say what I’d called to say.

“Dad, I wanted to talk about our arrangement. The deal with me getting married.”

“Is that right? God, don’t tell me you’re already thinking about breaking it off. Marriage is hard, son. Give it time, work at it. And don’t throw in the towel when the honeymoon phase is over.”

“It’s not that,” I said. “I’m actually calling to tell you that the marriage was a lie.”

Silence came next – several long moments of it.

“It’s a lie? What do you mean? I was there when you got married.”

I took a deep breath and told him the truth. I told him how I’d enlisted Jolene’s help to pretend to be married to me, how I’d had her sign a contract and NDA that required her to stay married.

When I was finished, I felt…good. I felt like I’d finally done the right thing for once. If Dad wanted to tear into me about it, then that was his right.

“You lied,” he said. “You lied about everything.”

“I did. At first.”

More silence.

“At first?’ What does that mean?”

“It means that I love her. Really, it means that I’ve loved her since she came back into my life, and it’s taken me until now to finally figure it out. It means that I lied to get her married to me, but now it’s the truth that I want to stay married. And it means…we’re going to be starting a family together, Dad. Jolene’s pregnant.”

He didn’t respond, so I went on.

“And that’s it. That’s the truth. If you want to cut me out of your will or sell the company for parts, so be it. But I know what I want, and it’s a life with the woman I love and the child we’re going to have together.”

Even more silence. I’d said it all. I’d told him the truth, told him that I’d looked him right in the eye and lied.

He took in a deep breath, and then he spoke.

“I told you so.”

“What?” I hadn’t been sure of what to expect. Maybe him screaming at me, maybe him disowning me.

I sure as hell hadn’t expected him to say, “I told you so.”

“Son, what did I say to you when I got you to agree to this whole thing? I told you that when you found the right person, you’d knowit. And you’d do whatever it took to start a life with her as soon as possible.”

I was dumbfounded, totally confused.

“Wait, so this was your plan all along?”

“Not exactly. I’d hoped that you’d find the right woman the normal way, no deception involved. But this works too, right? After all, you wouldn’t have picked Jolene if you hadn’t felt something for her deep down, if you couldn’t have imagined her in the role of your wife.”

I hated to admit it, but he had a point. I’d considered other women, sure. But she was the only one who’d made sense.

In that moment, I knew why.

“We’ll talk about this later,” he said. “I’ve got the day ahead of me. But for now, congratulations.”

“Thanks.”

The line went dead, and that was that. Still a bit stupefied, I continued staring off into the distance.

“Hey.”

I spun on my heels. Jolene was there, wrapped in a blanket, a warm smile on her face. My first instinct was to ask her if she’d heard the conversation, but the look on her face said it all.

“I love you,” she said.

“And I love you.”

I stepped closer to her and when I was near, Jolene opened the blanket and invited me inside.

I had a feeling we were both going to be running late for work that morning.

EPILOGUE I

JOLENE

Seven months later…

“You sure you want to do this?”

Sawyer looked over at me with concern in his eyes. It was sweet, sure. But it was also the twentieth time he’d asked me the question that morning.

Then again, as I stood in front of the courthouse, the building seeming to loom larger over me than it ever had before, I found myself questioning it for the first time that day.

The murders had been solved – more or less. After months of stress, Whitepeak straining under the worry of who had committed the four murders that had rocked our sleepy mountain town, the crimes had been revealed to be a drug deal gone wrong. In a matter of speaking, that is.

The four men had been working with the fifth, the murderer, to transport drugs across the country – drugs that they’d stolen from a dealer in California. They’d taken up residence in the woods near Whitepeak, hoping to hide out from anyone who might’ve come looking for them while they went through their supply of ill-gotten drugs, along with few thousand dollars they’d stolen.

That hadn’t been enough for one of the men. He’d wanted all the drugs and money to himself. To that end, he’d procured a weapon and come up with a plan to take out the other men one by one. Once that was done, he’d skip town.

He might’ve gotten away with it too, had it not been for a chance visit to the motel room he’d rented after finishing the last murder. A maintenance employee had come into the room, walking in on the murderer with drugs and money and the weapon spread out all over the bed.

Just like that, he’d been busted, but it wouldn’t be a simple matter of arresting him and ending it then and there. Jimmy and Tiana had needed time to build their case, and with court, well, the wheels of justice were never known to turn quickly.

It’d taken seven months before the trial was ready to start. As part of the case, Jimmy and Tiana would need my expert witness testimony to connect the gunshot wounds of the victims to the gun found at the motel room.

As I stood there, my belly big and round under my dress, extra huge from the twins I was carrying, I was nervous. Maybe it was the fact that I was going to be a mother soon that made me feel like I had to be more careful.

“I’m sure,” I said, watching as Jimmy and Tiana stepped out through the main doors to wave me in. “Let’s go.”

Sawyer led me up the stairs, holding me steady as I waddled my big, pregnant body to the front doors. Once I was in, I was led to the courtroom in time for me to give my testimony.

It all passed in a blur. Once I was in the witness seat, I fell into my professional mode and did my job in the same way I’d done it dozens of times before. The murderer himself wasn’t even worth looking at. He was forty-something, trim, with a head of close-cropped hair and a thin, gaunt face, his eyes vacant and almost bored, even. If there was one thing about people I’d learned in my line of work, it was that evil never looked the way you’d think it would.

My testimony went well. I delivered it professionally and by the numbers. The only issue was the tightening in my stomach that I kept feeling during my time on the stand.

When Sawyer and I stepped outside, I felt good, like I’d helped the world become just a bit safer than it had been before.

“You know what?” he asked as he helped me down the stairs. “I think we deserve a little treat after all that. Maybe some ice cream down at Sugarcream?”

“That sounds really nice. And you’re right –we do deserve it.”

We continued down the stairs, and when we reached the bottom Sawyer slipped his phone out of his pocket.

“Shoot.”

“What’s up?” I asked.

“Might have to take a raincheck on the ice cream. The board called a meeting for this afternoon about the transfer of CEO role from Dad to me.”

“Any problems?”

“Nah. Looking like more legal stuff. But they want us both to be there.”

“Oh, alright. But I’m holding you to that ice cream later to —”

I didn’t get a chance to finish. I felt a strange pressure down below, then a release. Then wetness.

“Uhhh…” Sawyer’s voice trailed off as he looked down at my feet. I looked down too and saw that my flats were covered in water.

It was happening.

“Hon?” I asked, trying to keep my voice as calm as possible. “I think it’s happening.”

“It’s most definitely happening.”

“OK!” he held up his hands, closing his eyes and giving himself a moment to think. “Stay right here – the car’s across the street and the hospital’s ten minutes away.”

“You don’t think we can make it to Denver?” I asked. “Only an hour away and ”

Another sentence that I didn’t get a chance to finish. A rush of pain blasted through my body, forcing me to grab onto Sawyer’s shoulder and dig my nails into his skin. Good sport that he was, he didn’t so much as cry out in surprise.

“Not a chance,” he said. “If your contractions are already this close together then there’s no way in hell we’re going to risk driving all the way to Denver.”

“Then let’s move!”

He didn’t need another word of encouragement. Sawyer ran across the street, nearly getting slammed by a car coming the other way.

“Sorry!” he shouted over the blare of the horn. “But we got babies coming!”

“Hon!” I yelled in his direction. “Please do not get hit by a car on the way to the hospital!”

He flashed a sly smile over his shoulder as he climbed into the driver’s seat of his Porsche. He quickly pulled it around, coming to a stop in front of the courthouse steps.

“Now, let’s move!”

Everything that happened next happened in a total blur. He rushed me to the hospital in his Porsche, the contractions happening faster and faster. Before I knew it, I was in the ER of Whitepeak Hospital being wheeled into a delivery room where a nurse told me that the first baby was already crowning.

I couldn’t believe how quickly it was all taking place. After all the classes and practicing and coming up with the perfect birthing plan, there I was pushing my kids out within an hour of my water breaking.

Sawyer was right there with me, holding my hand and calling out for me to push right along with the nurses. It wasn’t long before the screaming of a baby filled the air.

“A girl!” shouted one of the nurses.

“A girl,” I said, my voice soft.

“No rest for the weary,” one of the nurses said. “The next one’s coming out just as fast!”

“Ready for round two?” Sawyer asked with a smile.

“Ready!”

More pushing followed, more pain, more everything. Within thirty minutes another baby was brought screaming into the world.

“Girl number two!” called one of the nurses.

Cords were snipped, babies were cleaned, and before I knew what hit me, I was a happy, crying mama with two precious little girls in my arms.

“Do we have names?” the attending doctor asked.

“Charlotte,” Sawyer announced.

“And Georgia,” I said.

Sawyer said nothing else, simply looking with wide eyes at the two girls in my arms, our two precious, baby daughters.

“I love you so damn much,” he said. He quickly wiped a tear away from his eye. He was fast, but not so fast I couldn’t see it. “All of you.”

“And I love you, too.”

We kissed. Then he kissed Georgia on the forehead, then Charlotte.

We were a family. It was perfect.

And I couldn’t have imagined being any happier.

EPILOGUE II

SAWYER

Four years later…

By the time we pulled up to Dad and Janice’s place the kids were about out of their mind with excitement.

“Where’s Grandpa?” Charlie asked from the backseat of the Mercedes we’d rented for the weekend. She spoke from underneath a wild head of auburn curls, the same color as her mother’s. Her big blue eyes and pale skin completed the picture of her being one hundred percent her mother’s daughter.

“And Grandma Janice?” Georgie asked. Georgie, on the other hand, was in my own spitting image. Her hair was jet black, her eyes as green as grass. The way she towered over her sister, not to mention every other kid her age, made it clear that she was going to be taking after me in height as well.

“We’re going to their house, you goofballs,” I said. “You’re going to see them soon!”

The two girls regarded each other with an expression of unbridled glee, the kind of joy that only kids seemed to be capable of unabashedly feeling.

Then again, I had plenty to feel joyful about these days.

Jolene and I were happier than ever. She was three years into work with the state medical examiner’s office, while I’d about reached that length of time as CEO of Praetorian. The girls were happy and healthy, and life seemed to get better with each passing day.

We were all thrilled to be in Florida, swinging by Dad and Janice’s place on Jupiter Island to drop the girls off for the weekend while we attended a friend’s wedding in Key West. We were planning on making an adventure out of it, driving down to Miami for an evening of dining and dancing, then finishing the rest of the trip in the morning.

Right now, it was Grandpa and Grandma time. We pulled into the big, half circle driveway in front of their palatial beachfront mansion. Dad stepped out dressed in his new uniform of light linen pants and a flowy shirt with a Cuban collar, a Panama hat on his head. Janice wore a long, dark blue beach dress, a big pair of sunglasses on her face as she smiled broadly at us.

We pulled the rental Mercedes convertible to a stop and the girls were so excited I thought they might spring out of the backseat like a couple of tiny rockets.

“Easy back there, kiddos!” I shared a knowing look with Jolene as I killed the engine.

When I looked over at Dad, it was clear that his enthusiasm was just about as high as the girls.

“Where are my munchkins at?”

The girls fumbled with excited hands to take off the seatbelts of their car seats.

“Alright, alright,” Jolene said as she slipped off her seatbelt and opened the door. “Just a second, girls.”

We both got out, Jolene not wasting a second helping the girls out of their seats. As soon as they were free, they took off, their little legs carrying them as quickly as they could, over to Grandpa and Grandma. There were hugs all around, the sight warming my heart the same way it always did whenever we came to visit.

It would always hurt, just a bit, to know that Mom wasn’t around to hug her grandkids, to lavish them with love in the way I knew she would. At the same time, there was no doubt in my mind that she was up there somewhere looking down on all of us, happy as could be to see that our little family was full of love.

“You know,” I said as I approached the huge front patio. “Every time I come here, I think to myself, man, the retired life doesn’t look so bad.”

Dad chuckled as he held Georgie, her tiny arms around his shoulders. “Can’t complain – waking up with the sunrise, relaxing during the day, evenings out in town. And some cute as hell granddaughters to keep things interesting.”

Janice squatted down to get face-to-face with Charlie. “Alright, I think you girls deserve a little something for being good all through the plane ride. I’ve got some key lime pie inside, how does that sound?”

As excited as the girls had been about Grandma and Grandpa, it was nothing compared to the way their faces lit up at the prospect of some of Janice’s famous key lime pie. We headed inside, getting in some relaxing and chatting over coffee while we prepared for the next leg of the trip.

Dad and Janice filled us in on what they’d been doing up in town since the last time we’d visited, the charities they were a part of and all the friends they’d made. And Jolene and I did the same about our lives in Colorado. In addition to the apartment in Denver, we’d purchased a home in Whitepeak too, so we’d always have some place quiet to go when we needed a break from the big city.

“OK,” Jolene said as we made our way back outside after an hour of catching up. While the girls were excited to stay with Grandpa and Grandma, I could sense they were a little nervous about us leaving them behind.

“We’ll be a Facetime call away,” I said as I squatted down in front of the girls, both regarding me with big, concerned eyes. “And you can call us whenever you want.”

Jolene, however, was a little more forthcoming about how she felt. She swooped in and covered the girls’ precious faces in kiss after kiss.

“We’ll be back soon,” she said. “Be good for Grandpa and Grandma, OK?”

“OK.” They both said the word at the same time.

“Alright, ladies,” Dad said. “I’m thinking it’s a beautiful day out, so why don’t we hit the beach before going into town for some burgers?”

His suggestion wiped away instantly whatever apprehension remained on the girls’ faces. They exploded with enthusiasm, rushing back to the car to get their bags. We helped them in and after some more goodbyes ‒ and a request from Jolene for as many pictures as Dad and Janice could take ‒ we were off.

It was always bittersweet to leave the girls behind, but we knew they were in good hands. The first pictures came about thirty minutes into our drive to Miami, photos and videos of the girls splashing in the surf behind Dad and Janice’s home.

I watched the videos with a warmth in my heart that I’d never known before becoming a dad. Parenting was a wild journey, and it was never easy, but I was grateful for every second of it.

Jolene and I reached Miami as the sun dipped low over the western horizon, the city alive with energy and neon lights. After checking into our room, a five-star high-rise hotel, we hit the town for dinner and drinks and dancing, getting back to the room with enough energy left over for lovemaking.

In the morning we were refreshed and ready to go, eager to drive the last couple of hours to Key West for the wedding. We drove along the coast, the endless ocean a perfect contrast to the mountains of our home. Before too long we reached the highways that connected the keys, both of us soaking up the wind and sun as we made the last bit of the drive.

When we reached Key West, the tiny, beachfront town, the scent of salt water and coconut oil in the air, we were eager for a little rest before the ceremony.

Excitement made my heart begin to beat more quickly – I had a surprise for Jolene, after all.

The accommodations for the wedding were a series of cabins along the water on the northern shore of the island.

Once we were in the cabin, the front door opening right to the beach, I decided that I couldn’t wait any longer to give her the surprise I’d been planning for months.

“Hey, babe?” I asked, reaching into my bag, and taking out a small, black box.

“Yeah?” she turned away from the mirror in the bathroom, curiosity on her beautiful face.

“Come with me onto the porch.”

Not saying a word, she followed me out. When we reached outside, she scrunched her forehead in confusion.

“What’s up?” she asked.

Where to begin? I’d planned a big speech, rehearsing it in my head over and over in the weeks leading up to the trip, a speech about how she’d changed my life in a way I never thought possible, how starting a family with her had been a joy unlike anything I’d ever known, how I couldn’t wait to spend the rest of our lives together.

In the moment, the sea breeze washing over us, the ocean softly crashing the shore only a few dozen feet away, only a few words came to mind.

“I love you like crazy,” I said, opening the box and revealing a shimmering, diamond ring. “And sure, this fake marriage has been great. But what do you say to making it real? A real ceremony, a real wedding, a real honeymoon.”

Her eyes widened in total surprise as she took in the sight of the ring, tears forming.

Then she threw her arms around me and kissed me hard.

“It’s always been real to me,” she said softly.

We kissed, the passion between us making my heart soar. Then, with a sly smile that suggested she wanted more than just kisses, she took my hand and led me back into the cabin.

“I mean it,” she said with a grin as she pulled off her shirt, “but it’s not like I’d say no to a honeymoon in Paris.”

I chuckled, stepping over to Jolene and placing my hands on her hips.

We kissed, we made love, we held one another as we watched the tide lap the sand.

As happy, and as full of joy as I felt in those moments, I knew without a doubt it was only the beginning.

THE END