"The woman who..." Faith stared at him. "The woman who...?" A bubble of laughter burst from her throat.
"I'm glad you think this is funny," Cole growled. "You won't be laughing when you find yourself out on your butt, with my lawyers suing you for custody of my brother's son. I'm not going to dissolve this marriage, baby. You are." He looked at her in disgust, reached for the intercom on his desk and pressed a button. "I don't know why I'm wasting my time talking to you. I'll wake Dobbs. He'll take you to the airport. I want you out of my sight, out of my home... out of Peter's life."
Faith stared at him, terrified of what she heard in his voice. "You can't. The attorney said so. He said no court would-
"If he's right, I'll find another way." Cole's eyes narrowed. "The bottom line is that you're not going to raise my brother's son."
"Sir?" Dobbs said, over the intercom.
"Take Mrs. Cameron to the airport," Cole said brusquely. "Now, sir?"
"Now.
He swung away and began stuffing Ted's papers back into the briefcase. When he looked up again, Faith was gone.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
FAITH glanced at her watch as she stood in the tiny kitchen of her Atlanta apartment and gulped down the last of her morning coffee.
It was almost nine o'clock. If she didn't hurry, she'd be late. This was her fourth interview of the week but she had a good feeling about it. She might not have the credentials the store wanted-she'd never sold anything in her life-but at least she knew something about children's clothing.
How quickly they grew out of it, for instance.
She sighed as she plucked Peter's shirt from the back of a chair. He was shooting up like a weed. By the time school started next month, he'd need new pants and new shoes. She just had to find work before then. So far, she'd charged everything on her credit card, and the fifteen hundred dollars she'd needed to pay the first two months rent on this apartment had wiped out her checking account.
She was flat broke. If she didn't get a job soon...
There was no point in thinking about `soon,' she told herself firmly. One day at a time. That was all she could handle without panicking. As it was, she'd been lucky to find this place. It was only two furnished room with a small kitchen and an even smaller bathroom, but it was clean and the neighborhood was worn-looking but safe. Peter had made friends with the twins who lived down the hall. He seemed happy enough she suspected he saw their new life as an adventure-though he kept asking when he was going to see Cole again.
Faith had tried to be as honest as she could.
She'd driven to the Scout camp as soon as she'd returned from New York. Peter had fussed a little when she told him she was taking him home.
"I'm having a good time, Mom," he'd said. "Do I have to leave?"
"Yes," she'd said firmly.
He'd been even more puzzled when they reached Cameron House and he saw the cartons she'd picked up at the supermarket.
"Here," she'd said, with a smile she hoped might fool him.
"Take a box, Peter, and start packing your toys."
"Why?" her son had asked. "Where are we going?" "Peter. We don't have much time. Take a box upstairs and-
"Where's Cole? Isn't he going with us? He said he was gonna be my new father."
Faith had spewed out a string of platitudes and feel-good white lies. Peter hadn't believed any of them. Eventually, she'd taken him on her lap and told him that things didn't always work out the way grown-ups expected.
Her son's face had fallen. "You mean, we're gonna get a divorce, like Scott's parents did?"
How could you divorce a man when you were going in hiding from him? she'd thought, but she'd hugged her little boy and said that the only thing she was absolutely sure of was that she loved him more than anything in the whole, wide world-and that they were going to move to Atlanta and have fun.
Faith sighed as she slipped into her suit jacket.
They'd moved, at least. The fun part was yet to come, though Peter was content enough. He liked his new friends and the twins' mother, Anne, was great about watching him when Faith needed to go on an interview. Faith reciprocated by watching the twins on the evenings their baby-sitter didn't show up in time for Anne to get to her job as a night cashier at the convenience store up the block.
All in all, things weren't so bad. Faith sighed and ran a comb through her hair. If she only had a job. If she only had some money.
If she only weren't so afraid Cole would find Peter.
He never made threats, he'd said, he only made promises.
And he'd promised to take Peter from her. She didn't doubt that he'd do it, that he was already looking for them. The boy she'd known had grown into a ruthless man who would stop at nothing to get what he wanted.