Free Diamonds and Cole by Micheal Maxwell Page A

chose Erin over me and my children. After that, I had no desire for her, no need for her. Frankly, what happens to her now is not my concern. I’ve let her stay on my insurance and haven’t divorced her, just out of pity. If she wants to play the ingrate, I’ll cut her off without a cent. Do you have any idea what it costs to care for her?”
    “And Erin’s inheritance? How do you justify that? It’s from her grandparents, and as you so plainly admit, no relations of yours. You need to give up power of attorney. You are on dangerous ground here.”
    “This is none of your business.”
    “I’ve made it my business. Hear me and hear me well: I am not a sick woman confined to a wheelchair. I have little in life that matters to me more than those I love and who need my help. If you do anything to harm Ellie or make her life unpleasant, you will answer to me. God help you if you put me in that position. Am I clear?”
    “Are you threatening me?” Christopher glared.
    “I am promising you.”
    “You heard that. You’re my witnesses.” Christopher turned toward his children, who sat gazing up at him.
    “A dope addict and a neurotic, overweight, nail-biting daddy’s girl? They’ll look great in court.” Cole almost laughed.
    “Get out of here! Now!” Christopher screamed.
    Chad started to get up. Cole shot him a look, and he sat back down again. Ann was crying and biting her nails. Blood was running down the side of her palm from chewing too deep on her little finger.
    “I’m going. I’ll find Erin. You will give me power of attorney. You had better not go near Ellie. You abandoned her, and you’re going to pay for that.”
    Cole started to leave, then stopped and turned back to face Christopher. “I can almost understand a self-centered pretty boy like you turning his back on a sick wife, I really can. God knows what you have turned these two into. But if you are any kind of a man at all, you’ll get that kid into rehab. And look at her, look at her hands, her weight. They both need help. Don’t you see that? Or are you going to dump them, too?” Cole threw his hands up in a gesture of total exasperation, turned and walked away.
    “He can’t talk to you like that, Dad. I’m going to kick his ass!” Chad jumped to his feet and started toward Cole.
    Christopher blocked Chad’s movement with an arm across his son’s chest, stopping him with little resistance. “Oh, for God’s sake, Chad,” Christopher said in a dismissive sigh, “you’re not going to do anything.”
    Cole got in the car and sat looking out the window. Had he been wrong about Ellie? How could she have chosen to be in the lives of those people? The adrenaline that had been pumping so furiously was starting to subside. He felt a bit shaky as he turned the engine over.
    “What a bunch!” Cole said aloud as he pulled away from the curb.
    The meeting with Christopher had gone badly. He didn’t expect to be welcomed with open arms, but it was worse than he imagined. There were issues far deeper than he thought. Christopher clearly resented whatever Ellie had told him about Cole. The daughter was a basket case and the boy was in a dangerous spiral. Christopher had rationalized what would be considered in any divorce proceeding as improper handling of community assets. It was, in his eyes, the natural course of things.
    Cole realized he had no legal grounds to pursue Christopher or insist that he relinquish power of attorney. He probably had broken a couple of laws in the last few minutes, not the least of which was assault. He didn’t understand the dynamic of their relationship. Ellie still held some regard, misguided as it was, for Christopher’s keeping their marriage contract in her absence. Christopher, on the other hand, saw himself free to do as he pleased. This attitude, Cole was sure, started long before Ellie’s illness.
    There wasn’t much else he could do today, so he decided to have a look around. In a town this size,