“Right away,” Bridgette echoed.
They rushed from the office, and Daniella retook her seat, overwhelmed by what she had learned. She stared down at the rings on her finger. Her heart was heavy.
What was Cyrus doing now? Did he think about her as much as she thought about him? Did he still want to make her happy, or had she killed all of the affection he’d held for her? What else had he done that went unnoticed and unappreciated? Yet he kept on working, kept on doing—unselfishly, expecting nothing in return, and all without a word of thanks.
****
With loan documents in hand, Daniella exited the bank. She should have been ecstatic, but her mood was tempered by what she’d come to accept about her husband. She was so distracted by her thoughts that she didn’t see Roland on the sidewalk.
“Hey.” He put up his hands and stopped her. “How are you? Are you okay?”
The last time they’d spoken was when she’d called to tell him Cyrus would give him his job back. To be honest, she wasn’t in the mood to talk to him now. “I’m fine. I have a lot on my mind.”
“I know we haven’t talked, but um…after Cyrus gave me my job back, he sold his interest in BoldMine to a group of investors specializing in technology companies.”
“Congratulations. I should probably go…”
His hand on her arm detained her. “Would you like to grab a coffee or something?”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Daniella said with a shake of her head. “You know how Cyrus feels about you and me being together.”
“So you’re going to do whatever your husband says?” Roland laughed.
“I don’t do whatever he says, but—”
“Not you, too, Daniella. You used to have your own mind. Tell me you’re not like everybody else, falling all over yourself and drinking the Johnson Kool-Aid.”
His comments stung. “I’m a Johnson.” She may not have been born into the family, but she was part of them now. After they’d separated she dropped that part of her name, but now she finally accepted it, and she wouldn’t tolerate Roland or anyone else making disparaging remarks about them.
Roland looked taken aback, his eyebrows elevating over his eyes. “What’s happened to you? You’re still trying to get a divorce, aren’t you? You know Cyrus is a control freak who uses questionable methods to get what he wants. Look at what he did to me.”
“What he did to you? You took the money he offered and then ratted him out. So what does that say about you?” Roland had clearly forgotten his role in the matter.
“I was desperate, but I think I proved how much I cared about you when I tracked you down and apologized.”
“That had nothing to do with caring about me,” Daniella said. She’d thought long and hard about his reappearance in her life and recognized the truth. “You thought your company was about to take off, and you wanted to get back at Cyrus through me. He forced you to see your true self—someone who would do anything for money. You hated him for it, and maybe you even hated me a little bit because I married him after you and I broke up.”
“That’s a ridiculous theory.”
“Is it?”
His eyes hardened. “You’re not going to leave him, are you? Being married to him has finally turned you into a Johnson clone.”
Daniella’s patience snapped in half. “No, being married to him has made me realize what a good man he is. He has more integrity in his little finger than you have in your entire body. He may not be perfect, but he protects the people he loves and he’s a man of his word. And that, Roland, is more than I can say about you.”
She left him standing on the corner, a look of bewilderment on his face.
She hurried to her car in the parking lot and hopped in. She tossed the bank paperwork on the passenger seat and took a breath to calm down.