Page 77 of Forever Endeavor

“As you recall, I was avoiding my engagement party. My parents sent my brothers out in that terrible storm to search for me, and one of them spotted us through the window. While you were away from the table, he demanded that I immediately leave with him and refrain from bringing further shame to our family. I’d barely had a moment’s notice to put on my coat before he whisked me out the door and into a cab. I cried all the way to the party, begging the driver to turn around and take me back.”

“No wonder you looked so sad in the photo we saw,” Sonny said.

“That’s because I was,” Liona continued. “It was far from a happy occasion for me.”

“Did you end up marrying the man you had such nagging doubts about?” Cal asked.

Liona sighed. “There was a wedding, but I wouldn’t call it a marriage. The union lasted only nineteen days.”

Billie hadn’t imagined this unexpected turn in the story. “May I ask what happened?”

“We had an extravagant ceremony, only the best show for his family. But during our honeymoon I began to suspect that I was not the only woman in his life. I was so angry at myself for not heeding my instinct about his true character. Once we returned home, my suspicions were confirmed. I found a carelessly discarded note from one of his mistresses and confronted him. He flew into a rage, slapping me across the face for invading his privacy, and threatening to ruin my family if I breathed a word to anyone. I threw back his ring and told him he could make up any story he wanted to as long as I could be free to forget I’d ever known him. The marriage was quickly annulled.” Liona closed her eyes as she bowed her head. “I received nothing from him, not a penny, not an apology, not even a ride to my parents’ home.”

Her story sounded eerily like what Billie had experienced in her own marriage, minus the wealth and the threats and the golf ball-sized diamond. She felt an immediate kinship with Liona. “So, the wealthy man who betrayed you was not the wealthy man you settled down with?”

“No, thankfully. But I credit the night Calvin and I met with giving me the fortitude not to give up on finding a kind, honest gentleman. Thanks to him, I knew good ones existed,” she said, affectionately patting Cal’s arm. “Two years later, I met and married a fellow who treated me with love and respect. He considered me his partner as well as his wife. We had two sons and worked hard to turn his enterprise into the empire it became.”

“Your son told us you had a very impressive role in the company’s success.”

“Perhaps at one time, long ago, but Roydon has done a commendable job as head of the corporation. He inherited both his father’s business acumen and his tendency to be bullheaded, as you unfortunately witnessed today,” she said with an awkward smile. “But enough about me, Calvin. I want to hear about everything in your life since the night we met.”

Sonny

Cal talked about moving from Chicago back to Janus Lake, his recovery from depression, and marrying Aunt Meg, honoring the love he had for one woman while rekindling the flame with another. He was so lit up inside he was beaming, while Liona sweetly listened, stroking his arm as if she couldn’t keep from touching him.

Sonny’s eyes swept over Billie’s face as she gazed adoringly at the couple, hanging on their every word. It was now plain to see that she had done a wonderful thing by reuniting these two. It wasn’t lost on him that although Cal and Liona had only spent only hours together a lifetime ago, they forged a bond that held strong even four decades later. Maybe having only a short time together would be enough for him and Billie to stand the test of time too. Maybe someday, they’d be the pair sitting on the porch recounting the story of how they met.

He shook off the warm, fuzzy daydream and reset his mind back on reality. Billie Mustard was beautiful, inside and out, funny, smart, sexy and all-around amazing. She was also leaving. In a matter of weeks, she’d become a huge part of his world and now he couldn’t imagine it without her being part of it. While everything inside him was screaming and pushing to get it all out and justtell her, dammit, tell her how he really felt before it was too late, he knew it was already too late. Tomorrow, she’d be steering toward the happiness she was meant to find, while he would always be the lucky bastard who got to be a pit stop on her road to bigger and better things.

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