Free Double Trouble by Deborah Cooke Page B

way—except this time?”
    “This has nothing to do with me!” James was on his feet, chucking aside his glasses and jabbing a finger through the air at me. He was mad and it was quite a sight. “I couldn’t give a shit whether we were married or not!”
    Whoa! The man knows an obscenity.
    I sat up but he was on a roll and not paying much attention to me.
    “Our marriage was a parody of a relationship from the very beginning, but I was prepared to put up with it, for the sake of the boys and only for the sake of the boys.”
    “Then, why...”
    “Marcia broke the covenant she had with our sons , that’s what’s important here. Yes, marriage is important, but we both knew years ago that ours was a sham. We still had a deal, Marcia and I, a deal we reconfirmed when she realized she was carrying Jimmy. We both agreed that children deserve a stable home. We both agreed that we were bringing them into the world and had a responsibility to put our own interests aside for their good.”
    He sat down, hard, and his voice dropped. “We agreed that I would work and she would stay home, that she would raise our children and I would ensure that she had nothing to worry about financially. We made that deal for the boys, for their sense of security, for their self-esteem, for their futures. I kept my part of that deal...”
    “That’s not a whole heck of a lot to expect from a marriage,” I interjected, but he ignored me, rolling full steam ahead.
    “... but she didn’t. She made a selfish choice. She not only abandoned those kids, but she jeopardized everything we intended to give them with her wild spending. She left them, she’s cast their future security into doubt, and you’re damn right that I will hold that against her.”
    “She could hardly have known that you’d be late.”
    “It doesn’t take a psychic to consider that flights coming into Logan might be delayed. She should have made a contingency plan.”
    James sat down, shoved his hands through his hair, and looked older than he was. His voice was thick with emotion. “My God, Maralys, what could have happened to them, alone there at night? A thousand things, none of them good. How could she have done it? I don’t understand.”
    He was incredulous and genuinely upset. I could hardly say anything to defend her.
    Because we agreed.
    I watched him, amazed that Mr. Looking Out For Number One was actually more interested in looking out for his kids. It’s a noble objective, no matter how you slice it. He was really torn up about Marcia’s irresponsibility and I was touched by his concern.
    James shook his head, then took a steadying breath. He stared me right in the eye. “Okay, before you say it, I know that I haven’t been the most dedicated parent and it’s true that I expected her to pick up too much of the slack, but this, but this... I can’t forgive it. I just can’t.”
    “So, you’re saying that I’m a crummy back-up plan?”
    “No. Marcia didn’t call you. It would have been fine if she had, but she didn’t. That’s a critical distinction.” He stared at me, as if he could see right through to my heart, and his words softened. “You talk a lot of garbage, Maralys, but if you had known, you would have been there. Thank God the boys have some initiative. Marcia just trusted their welfare to fate, and that’s not nearly good enough for me.”
    “You’re going for custody.”
    His gaze was withering. “Of course. She’s proven her indifference.”
    I withered back. “What’s the difference between the boys waiting an hour for me one time, and them being alone for eighteen hours every single day of the rest of their lives?”
    “I have to work!”
    “So who’s going to parent?”
    To his credit, James seemed to consider the merit of what I said. It was a fair question and he knew it. He stared around his office, as if looking for a target. “I’d never be sure that they were okay if she had custody.”
    “Well, you won’t