The Right Bride

Chapter Thirteen


“I DON’T CARE what you say, she is not my mother. She never will be. I hate her.” Emma was not pleased to hear about his impending marriage to Shelly and made sure he knew it, at the top of her lungs.

“I’m sitting right here. You don’t have to yell.”

“Can’t we keep the baby? She can come and see it if she wants.” Emma crossed her arms over her chest and glared across the limo at him.

Interesting the way his daughter had put her statement. She can come see it if she wants. If she wants.

Even Emma didn’t believe Shelly wanted to be a mother.

Marti told him Shelly didn’t want the baby. Was it true? Shelly appeared pleased, even excited when they told Emma after school.

“Emma, I think it’s best if the baby has a mommy and a daddy together.”

“Why? I don’t have a mother. I have you. I don’t need a mother. Not her. She doesn’t like me, not really,” she said sadly.

“She does like you. We’ll spend more time together, the three of us, before the wedding. Tomorrow we’re all going fishing on the boat. It’ll be fun, don’t you think?”

“For you and me. Shelly probably hates to fish. She just wants to be alone with you, so she can touch you and kiss you.”

Cameron stifled a chuckle. He was beginning to think his daughter didn’t want to share him. Not liking Shelly might not be the case. Maybe she didn’t want any woman in Cameron’s life. Two seconds later, she proved him wrong.

“Why can’t you marry Marti? She’s nice—she’s like the other kid’s moms.”

“What do you mean?”

“She hugs me real tight like it matters. The other kid’s moms drop them off at school and hug them goodbye. That’s how Marti hugs. She tells me stories and jokes and tickles me. She tells me I’m smart, and she lets me talk to her. She listens to me. She likes being with me. I can tell she does. Shelly isn’t any of those things.” Emma crossed her arms over her chest, stared at a point across the car, and pouted.

Cameron rubbed at the back of his neck. He tried to be both mom and dad to Emma, but realized he wasn’t enough for her. She might say she doesn’t want a mother, but she’s jealous of those kids at school who have moms who hug them like they mean it. Shelly didn’t even come close to her description, and Cameron feared she never would. Emma wasn’t her daughter, and he didn’t think Shelly would ever see her as one.

He hoped she would. Man, that word was overused in his mind. How many people entered into a marriage with hope being the predominant feeling? Where were the love and devotion and the holding each other like you mean it? They wouldn’t have anything of the sort at his wedding to Shelly. Maybe she was right, and they would grow into more.

“Shelly wants to be those things to you. We want to make a real family for you and the baby.” He didn’t know if he was trying to reassure his daughter or himself. Probably both.

Emma yelled, “I don’t want Shelly to be my mother,” and jumped out of the car and ran up the steps of Knight’s house. She went straight through the front door like she owned the place.

Cameron stepped out, only to be met by Jimmy, his driver, friend, and Emma’s after-school companion.

“She’s right, you know. Shelly is never going to be the mother Emma deserves. No mother is better than Shelly as a mother. I know you don’t want to hear this, especially from me, but you’re making a huge mistake. You’re an admirable man, and I know you want to make things right for the baby Shelly might be carrying. Marrying Shelly isn’t the right thing. Not in this case.”

“Why is everyone ganging up on me not to marry Shelly? She’s pregnant with my baby. In most cases, people would demand I marry her.”

“Maybe because we all see what you don’t. She’s using you. What’s worse is she’s using the baby to get to you.”

Cameron rubbed at the back of his neck and contemplated the pile of shit building at his feet, reaching his knees. His daughter was angry with him, he was marrying a woman he didn’t love, and he was going to be a father again.

He walked into the house without another word. He hoped he’d get to see Marti tonight and get her out of his head. Shelly made things worse today. He knew without question, Marti would make everything better. A sad realization, considering the situation he found himself in.