Jake was furious. So much so that he couldn’t bring himself to look at the woman standing by his side. Aware that his family were watching them in stunned silence, Jake pulled MacKenzie towards a cluster of shrubs. Once he was sure they were far enough away from the gates and sensing when they were finally alone, he looked at her.
“Is there any truth in what that man just said?” Jake asked well aware of the way some members of the press twisted information to their own ends. Therefore he wanted to give MacKenzie the benefit of the doubt.
“It’s not how it sounded!”
“You didn’t answer my question.”
“Yes, there’s some truth in what he said.”
“I asked you, MacKenzie. I asked and asked for an assurance that there was nothing you hadn’t told me. I dislike being made to look a fool. My family and I were prepared to stand by you. We put our name on the line for you, and what do we get in return? I’ll tell you what we got because of your lack of honesty. Humiliation! I’m beginning to think there is something seriously wrong with you, lady!”
Unsure how long he would be able to contain his anger, Jake turned and strode away uncaring of the tears that ran down MacKenzie’s face.
Chapter 24
Having discarded his tie and jacket, Jake stood perfectly still with his hands stuffed into his pockets. This was the place he always came to when he wanted to be alone. The setting was idyllic, but the feeling of calm that usually prevailed when he was near the water eluded him.
Looking out over the body of water, he took deep breaths in an attempt to relax. It didn’t work. Nothing worked, not the sight of the sun sparkling on the surface of the water; nor the willow trees, whose branches swayed back and forth in the gentle breeze. His mind was on MacKenzie and what he had to do to get her to trust him.
He knew when she finally arrived beside him. He had sensed her approach as she made her way down the slight embankment that led to the massive man-made pool.
“Jake?”
Jake didn’t know if his temper was under enough control be around her, so he ignored her.
When she called his name again, he could hear the emotion in her voice. Against his better judgment, he turned and looked at her. The sight she presented caused his heart to thump in his chest. The tip of her nose was red, and her eyes were bloodshot with the tears she had shed. Jake hated seeing her this way, but he hardened himself against the evidence of her tears.
Turning away, he again faced the water before he spoke. “Now is not a good time.”
“May I please explain?” She whispered.
“I said not now, MacKenzie!”
“Jake, please just give me a chance to expl–”
Refusing to wait for her repeated plea, Jake spun around and cut her off. “What do you want to explain, MacKenzie, hmm, what? Do you want to tell me why you’ve been chasing the big bucks since your teenage years? Or do you want to elaborate on why you think I should give a damn about the woman who just humiliated my family and me?!” With each punctuated question, Jake moved closer to her, by the time he was finished speaking, his nose was almost pressed against hers.
To her credit, she held her ground in the face of his fury. Jake was typically slow to anger, but with MacKenzie, his emotions always seemed to be in a state of flux. One minute he wanted to wring her neck and the next he wanted to kiss away the hurt look on her face. Moving backwards, he put some distance between them. “Tell me.”
Wringing her hands, MacKenzie began to speak. “As you now know, Noelle is my second pregnancy. I’d known Simeon for most of my life. He was a couple of years older than me, and I fell in love with him. I thought he was the love of my life. He said all the right things. He behaved exactly how every woman wants her man to behave.
He asked me to marry him, and I said, yes. He asked me to have a baby with him before we were married, and even though I knew it would upset my parents, I agreed without giving it much thought. I acted like the dumb seventeen year old that I was, playing at being a grown up.”
It seemed to Jake that MacKenzie’s legs just gave out from under her. With an automatic reflex, his arm shot out and aided her to the ground. Folding his long legs beneath him, he joined her on the mossy grass. Withdrawing his steadying arm, he waited for her to continue.
“Thank you,” MacKenzie said in reference to his help. Breaking eye contact, she began plucking at the grass as she returned to her story. “I rushed over to his dorm to tell him the good news, we were pregnant. Do you know what he said, Jake?” Without waiting for a response to her rhetorical question, she carried on; a faraway look in her eyes.
“He said he’d changed his mind about having a child. His career was too important; he was going places. Major league football coaches were interested in him. I cried and pleaded with him to reconsider. I diminished my self-worth that day, and I didn’t care. All I cared about was the baby and that he tell me he still loved me. Even though I begged and pleaded with him, the only thing he said was, get rid of it.