Witchcraft
divorce for him. I know that's not what you want to hear, but that's the truth."
"Did it ever occur to either one of you that you had no right to arrange his life for him?" Kimberly demanded. "John had certain responsibilities," Anne Marland began firmly. "Or so we convinced ourselves at the time." Kimberly nodded. "I understand completely."
"You do?" Marland looked at her in surprise. "Certainly.
Cavenaugh , here, is a perfect example of how family responsibilities can dictate a man's entire life. I really do understand the kind of pressure my father must have been under." She met Cavenaugh's eyes and the angry aggression in her began to disintegrate. "All of you have been the victims of that inbred sense of responsibility and loyalty. When I was very young I used to feel I had been denied something important because I had been disowned by my grandparents and by my father. Now I realize that I was very, very lucky. I grew up without the kind of pressure all of you must have endured. I grew up to be independent and self-contained. And I don't need my grandparents now. I don't need anyone." What a joke that was. If only she had never met Cavenaugh .
The words might actually have been true before she'd fallen in love with Darius Cavenaugh . Anne Marland leaned forward urgently. "Kim, my dear, you are on the verge of a very good marriage. The Cavenaughs are a solid, respectable, old California family. By acknowledging your grandfather and myself you can bring something important to that family.
You can bring a solid, respectable background of your own. Kimberly set down her glass with fingers that trembled. "Is that what this is all about?" She looked at Cavenaugh . "Were you hoping to establish a proper background for me before bringing me into the family?" Grim fury flared in the emerald ice of his eyes. "You know very well that's not why I did this." And quite suddenly Kim knew she believed him. She believed all of them. Closing her eyes briefly she summoned a small sad smile. "I know," she whispered. "I know. You were only doing what you thought was best for me." "For all of us, Kim," Wesley Marland said quietly. "Please believe me. Anne and I don't want to hurt you any more than we already have. We want to make up for what happened twenty-eight years ago. You were the one innocent victim in the whole mess."
"There was my mother," Kimberly pointed out wearily. Anne flicked a quick glance at her husband and then looked directly at Kimberly. "Darling, your mother was very young and very desperate to hold on to John."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Wesley sighed. "Kim, your mother deliberately got pregnant when the divorce proceedings started. She admitted as much to John. She hoped that a baby would hold the marriage together. We never heard from her after that. In fact, we all assumed ... well, we assumed she'd probably had an abortion when she realized she wasn't going to receive a large settlement." Kimberly shook her head. "I'm not going to argue with you. You may be right for all I know. Women have done less intelligent things when they're in love."
She was aware of Cavenaugh slanting a cool glance at her but she ignored it. "There's really no point in rehashing the past, is there? No good can come of it now. What's done is done." She smiled wryly at the Marlands . "But I'm afraid you really will have to find something else to do with your money. Give it to a worthy charity. How about starting a fund for impoverished, unpublished writers?" Wesley looked directly at Cavenaugh . "Don't let her throw away her inheritance, Mr. Cavenaugh ."
Cavenaugh shrugged. "I don't care what she does with the inheritance.
I only brought her here today to reestablish contact with you. I wanted her to see that her grandparents weren't monsters and that she doesn't have to be afraid of families that are bound by loyalty and responsibility."
"Are we such monsters?" Anne Marland asked sadly. "We did what we thought was best at the time. We were wrong." Kimberly shook her head. Her grandmother had paid a heavy price for interfering in her son's life so many years ago. "Who am I to punish you now?
You've lost everything that really counted, haven't you? Your son and heir, a granddaughter to spoil, the hope of future generations who will acknowledge you on the family tree. No, Mrs. Marland , you're not a monster. I wish you and Mr. Marland all the best. I truly mean that.
I'm not holding a grudge against you any longer. But
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