Linda Warren - The Wrong Woman

“Your sister’s not an easy person to live with.”

“Oh, but she was an easy person to support you while you went to law school. Easy for her to do your cooking and laundry and raise your son.”

“I don’t want to get into it with you, Ethan.”

“Then don’t talk as if Molly’s to blame for all this. You made the choice here.”

“Ethan.” Bruce sighed bleakly. “I can’t lose my son. I can’t.”

The pain in Bruce’s voice touched Ethan, even though he didn’t want it to. He understood a man’s love for his son.

“Cole is seventeen. He’s a kid, yet he’s almost a man. Give him some time and space. Don’t pressure him, Bruce. That’s the only advice I can give you.”

“Ethan—”

Ethan held up a hand when he sensed that Bruce was about to tell him things he didn’t want to hear. “Molly is my sister and I’m on her side. What you did was unconscionable and I can’t condone it. You hurt the two people who loved you the most. Now you have to deal with the consequences.”

Bruce’s eyes darkened, then he glanced toward the corral, where Cole was saddling a horse. As Cole swung into the saddle and set off at a gallop for the woods, Bruce nodded and walked to his car.

ETHAN WENT BACK into the house. Pop was sitting on the sofa with his face in his hands.

“Pop, are you okay?” he asked.

Walt Ramsey raised his head. “Is he gone?”

“Yeah. Where’s Molly?”

“In her room. Every time she sees him, she screams and cries and comes apart at the seams. I don’t know who she is when she acts like that, and I don’t know how to help her.”

At the distress in his father’s voice, Ethan sat beside him. “It’ll get better.”

“I don’t know, son. She’s loved him since she was ten years old. She can’t forget all those years of loving.”

Molly and Bruce had met in fifth grade. When Molly graduated from high school, she was pregnant, and she and Bruce had married soon after. Bruce went to college, then law school, and Molly had worked to support them. She had shouldered the financial responsibility for a lot of years, and now that Bruce was a lawyer and making good money, he’d traded her in for a newer model. At least that was the way Molly put it. She’d never suspected he was sleeping with his new receptionist. The whole sordid mess had devastated Molly…and Cole, too.

“We just have to be here for her.”

“I could kill that bastard with my bare hands.”

That was the sentiment of everyone in the Ramsey family, and Ethan found it difficult at times to control his temper with Bruce, but his ethics prevented him from doing anything stupid. Besides, he knew there was always another side, even if he preferred to ignore it. Family was family, after all, and had to come first. Most importantly, Bruce was Cole’s father, and that one fact kept Ethan grounded enough to have a normal conversation with the man.

“Did you see Travis?”

Ethan looked at his father. “How did you guess I went to see Travis?”

“I know you, son, and you’re doing everything you can for Molly.”

“Yeah, but nothing’s working.”

“So is he still playing in bars and honky-tonks?”

Ethan rubbed his hands together. “He’s still playing in a band, if that’s what you’re asking. He has a steady job with a construction company, but he’s never going to give up his music.”

Pop climbed to his feet. “Got that from your mom’s side of the family. They were always playing and singing somewhere, then the worthless lot wanted me to feed ’em.” He shook his head. “A man should make an honest living for his family. Work hard and forget about havin’ a good time.”

Ethan stood up, too, knowing he had to say something that wasn’t easy. “That’s your way, Pop, but Travis has his own way. That doesn’t mean you’re right and he’s wrong. It just means you’re different, and we have to accept that.”

Pop opened his mouth to object and Ethan stopped him. “Travis is coming home next weekend. For Molly’s sake, I want peace in this house. And a little laughing, playing and singing wouldn’t hurt.”

Pop clamped his lips together, then said, “I’d better check on Cole,” and walked out.

“He’s ridden off into the woods,” Ethan called.

“I’ll find him,” Pop muttered. The back door slammed behind him.

Ethan sighed. Did old wounds ever heal? He could only hope so. Well, next weekend would have to be a start. He headed toward Molly’s room, then spotted her in the kitchen.

There were groceries on the table, and she was putting milk and juice in the refrigerator. He was trying to think of the right words to ease her pain, but when it came to his sister, he was never very successful. These days, Molly was like a keg of dynamite just waiting for someone to light the fuse, so unlike the smiling, easygoing woman she’d once been. He had to be very careful.

With her petite frame, short brown hair and brown eyes, Molly looked much younger than her thirty-five years, and it angered him to think of what Bruce had done to her confidence and self-control.

“How are you, sis?” he murmured as he poured a cup of coffee.

Instead of answering, she asked, “Do you know why he came here?”

“To see Cole.” He sat at the table and wrapped his hands around the mug.

“Yeah, that’s the excuse he used, but he really came to tell Cole he and that teenybopper have set a wedding date. They’re having a big wedding and he wants Cole to be in it. Can you imagine? Now I know he’s lost his mind.”

Ethan didn’t comment or he’d explode with the absurdity of it all. He was worried about Molly. Bruce was all she ever talked about, and Ethan realized she was never going to get over his betrayal without a lot of help.

“Sit down,” he said. “I need to talk to you for a sec.”

“Sure.” She grabbed a diet drink out of the refrigerator and opened it. Sitting down, she asked, “Have you heard something about the wedding?”

“No,” he answered, cradling his cup.

“Good,” Molly replied, tapping her fingers on the table. “He’s got some nerve coming out here. It’s one thing hurting me, but it’s another when he hurts Cole like this. Rumors will be flying all over Junction Flat and San Antonio. We’ll never be able to live this down.”

He reached for her hand. “Molly, you have to stop thinking about Bruce and this girl. He’s made his decision. Now you have to get on with your life.”

She stared down at their hands. “I can’t.”

He knew that. She couldn’t let go of seventeen years of marriage and she couldn’t let go of Bruce. But she had to, and she had to understand what all this was doing to her son.

He cleared his throat. “I want to talk about Cole.”

She glanced up. “What about Cole?”

“Can’t you see how miserable he is?”

“Yes.” She smoothed the Coke can with her thumb. “I don’t know how Bruce can do this to him.”

There was silence for a moment, then Ethan said, “You’re hurting him, too.”

Molly’s head jerked up. “What!”

“Right now Cole’s resentment at his father’s betrayal is feeding off your anger and pain. He can’t move beyond that.”

“That’s Bruce’s fault, not mine,” Molly put in quickly.

“So instead of helping Cole deal with this, you’d rather see him torn apart?”

Molly jumped to her feet. “I don’t want to talk about this,” she said angrily.

Ethan caught her arm before she could walk away. “Molly, Bruce is Cole’s father. You can’t change that, and you have to realize that Cole’s gonna have a part in his life.”

“No!” Molly shook her head wildly. “I don’t want Cole near that…that woman.”