As the ceremony progressed, Caleb appeared handsome and confident. Julia’s smile lit the entire cathedral. Her gown’s train flowed behind her as her father escorted her to the front of the church. Claire couldn’t help think about her own wedding. As the memories came, so did the tears. She dabbed her eyes while Tony gently squeezed her hand. Without thinking she leaned against his strong shoulder and accepted his unspoken support.
They sat with Tony’s friends during the reception. Claire was thankful Tony insisted on getting together prior to the wedding festivities. It made the reception much more comfortable. After the meal and cake, the music began. While the new Mr. and Mrs. Simmons danced, Tony and Claire watched from their seats. Again he held her hand. She wondered if he was thinking about their first dance as husband and wife. She remembered feeling like a princess in his arms. After the couple danced with Julia’s parents, Claire watched Caleb dance with Courtney and Julia with Brent. Claire couldn’t imagine being anywhere else. Next the dance floor opened to the guests. When the music slowed Claire accepted Tony’s invitation and joined him under the soft lights. Perhaps it was their afternoon activities, but Claire’s body molded unconsciously to his. He directed their every step gracefully guiding her across the floor.
“I know I fought you about all of this,” she whispered, “but I’m so happy to be here right now.”
His embrace of her slender waist tightened, “I couldn’t be happier myself.” He leaned away to see her face, “And I hope you realize, this isn’t a charade.”
Claire pressed her lips together in a straight line. With all of her might she wanted to argue, but she couldn’t lie. Shaking her head from side to side, she admitted, “Right now, I know that.”
Tony pulled her close as the rest of the guests disappeared. Claire closed her eyes, felt the warmth of his embrace, and allowed her body to go wherever he led.
*****
It wasn’t difficult to access her laptop. A few different tries and her password was easily discovered. The information within was more than he could ever have imagined. Just recently he’d formed his own ideas about Anthony Rawlings being Anton Rawls, but now he had it in black and white. She had so much information about the Rawls family. Years ago he’d tried to do similar research, but everything came up a dead end. Why wouldn’t it? By 1990, the Rawls family ceased to exist.
According to Ms. Nichols fine research, Sharron died first of natural causes. There was very little information about her, especially during the last three years of her life. She didn’t even appear in any family photos. Nathaniel passed away in May of 1989, while incarcerated in a minimum security prison in New York. Next, yes, he liked this part: Samuel and Amanda died in a murder / suicide in Santa Monica, California. Why did Ms. Nichols have a question mark next to the murder / suicide? Obviously she questioned the accuracy of the assessment.
He often wondered how Anton got the police investigators to go along with that conclusion. Perhaps, he made the same bargain with them that he had with him. Ms. Nichols even had copies of police, ballistic, and autopsy reports. The scanned copy of the 911 call caught his attention. Apparently, Anton hadn’t been as thorough as he thought. This must have been how she and Harrison Baldwin found him. His name appeared on the report.
Smirking, Patrick Chester thought it funny; he’d actually thought Ms. Nichols was Anton’s daughter. Seeing her recently all over the internet, she wasn’t Anton’s (aka Anthony Rawlings) daughter; she was his ex-wife. According to the gossip people, they were working on reconciling. Patrick wondered if Mr. Anthony Rawlings had any idea of the wealth of information his ex-wife had accumulated against him.
Patrick considered the possibility of blackmailing Claire Nichols, too. But she wasn’t exactly living in the lap of luxury. Oh, her condominium was nice, in a very high priced part of town. She even kept affluent company. Amber McCoy, CEO of SiJo Gaming, was valued at quite a bit. Her brother, Harrison Baldwin, wasn’t hurting for cash either. Nevertheless, in comparison to Anthony Rawlings, they were paupers.
Why had Patrick accepted such measly annual supplements, when Anthony Rawlings could so easily afford more? Of course, it was because up until Ms. Nichols made an appearance at his home, he never suspected Anton Rawls of being the great Anthony Rawlings. The way Patrick saw it; he was due twenty plus years of back payments.