CHAPTER 14
	
	Cole pulled his car up in front of the house and grabbed the shopping bag off the
passenger seat.  Humming to himself — a tune that he seemed completely unashamed
to admit was a children’s lullaby — he took the front steps two at a time and let himself
into the house. 
	“Hannah!” he called, tossing his keys on the table beside the door. “Hannah?   Is
Morgan awake?” he repeated, as he walked towards the living room, peeking through
the doorway.  No one was there, so he circled back around and went into the kitchen,
setting the bag down on the bottom of the steps as he walked past.  The kitchen was
empty as well, so he returned and started up the stairs to the second floor.
	“Hannah?”
	“She’s not here.”
	The voice stung his ears, and he stopped with one foot on the steps and turned
around slowly.  The woman was standing just inside the door, lounging against the wall,
looking smug.
	“Veronica,” he acknowledged, his jaw clenched in an attempt to hold back his
temper. “How did you get in?  What are you doing here?”
	She straightened, and sauntered into the living room with an air of familiarity. 
“Why, Cole! I came in right behind you.  Is that any way to greet me?”
	Cole followed her, his eyes narrowed. “How do you know Hannah isn’t here?”
	“I presume you are referring to the little brunette that was hanging around here
earlier?” Veronica said, waving her hand in the air.  “She was here when I dropped by
before.  She tried to make me believe she was living here with you!”  A cold laughter
rang through the air as she turned to face him.
	Cole stared her down.  “She is living here with me, Veronica.”
	Veronica looked at him, like a cat considering her next strike, then she grunted
and lifted her chin slightly.  “You know, she has absolutely no fashion sense, Darling.” 
She clicked her tongue and turned away again, as if the subject did not demand much
of her attention. “My Dear Cole, she is not your type at all, completely wrong for you. 
You will be much better off without her!”
	“Veronica!” Cole bit out the words. “What do you mean, without her? Where is
Hannah?”
	The woman tossed a glance over her shoulder in feigned surprise. “Why she’s
gone, of course!  You didn’t think she would stay around here forever did you? Any fool
can see the two of you couldn’t possibly have anything in common.”  She turned and
looked down at the picture of Cole and Morgan, picking it up absently.  “She took that
little waif with her.”
	Veronica dropped the picture unceremoniously onto the table and turned her
back on it, looking around the room again with more interest this time.  “You haven’t
changed much, have you Cole?”
	He stared at her.  Nothing she could say would make as much impact on him as
those two words, she’s gone!  Hannah was gone?  He had seen her at breakfast, before
he had gone to pick up Ty for their appointment with the lawyer, and she’d known he
wouldn’t be gone more than a few hours. She had been smiling like she always did, that
same smile that made the sun shine in the daytime and the stars sparkle at night.  Why
would she leave?  Cole fumed as he watched Veronica wander around the room,
picking up things and setting them down again without really looking at them.  
	“What do you mean, Hannah’s gone?” he demanded, ignoring Veronica’s
question. 
	Veronica looked at him as if the subject was boring her. “Just what I said,
Darling.  Picked up the squirming little urchin, and left. She seemed like she was in a
hurry, someone was picking her up.”  She waved her hand towards the door, then
walked directly up to him and laced her fingers around his neck, looking up into his eyes
with a seductive smile.  “Now Darling, please, can we move on to more important
matters?”
	More important matters? There was nothing more important to him than Hannah
and Morgan!  His heart was beating out of control, and his mind was spinning through all
the possible explanations as to why Hannah would have left. One word kept playing itself
over and over in his head, and it made him sick to think it.
	Gone!
	What would he do with Hannah gone? She and Morgan had become so much a
part of his life that he could not even imagine the world without them in it!
	“Tell me what you want, Veronica, then get out,”  he barked at her, reaching
around to pry her hands from around his neck and backing away.
	Veronica looked at him with her manicured eyebrow raised.  “Why, Cole! How
could you talk to me like that!” she said, trying to look stricken. 
	He squinted more. “If you’re not out of here in five minutes, I will have you
removed.”
	She sighed, then straightened.  Her expression changed from one of feigned hurt
to one of attack, and her voice turned cold. “Very well, Cole, I’ve come for my money. 
Surely you remember the investment you took out in my name as my wedding gift?”  Her
eyes held a challenge now, and it was all Cole could do to keep from losing his temper. 
How could he forget?  She had practically brainwashed him into setting aside a fairly
sizeable sum for her as a wedding gift.  It was neatly locked into an investment that was
to have remained untouchable until a date which had been selected to coincide with
three months after their wedding day.  Cole groaned to himself.  Veronica never missed
a beat.  Their wedding was to have taken place three months ago, to the day!  He
should have known she would show up expecting to collect it on the exact day it became
available.
	“I might remind you that no wedding actually occurred,” he said, sarcastically.
	She shrugged. “A mere technicality, Darling.  The fact remains that the certificate
is in my name, and I intend to collect what is rightfully mine.”
	Indeed, the certificate was in her name, but it was uncashable without his
signature next to hers.  Not only that, but it was still securely tucked away in his safe. He
contemplated the idea of refusing to give it to her.  Afterall, they had never married.  He
wished now that he had written in a clause to protect him against that fact, but he’d been
rather blinded against the possibility of the wedding never materializing.  However, he
thought it unlikely that any court in the country would disagree that the investment was in
her name and she was entitled to it.  Besides, he didn’t feel like dragging the issue
through the mud, and if he didn’t give it to her, it was of no use to him.  He couldn’t cash
it without her signature either.
	“What’s the matter, Veronica?  None of your string of men rich enough to keep
you living up to your standards? Haven’t been able to sucker in another sugardaddy?”
	Her eyes turned to ice and she glared at him.  “Cole! How dare you talk to me
like that!”  she exclaimed.
	He shrugged.  “Does the truth sting, Veronica?”
	“Oh!” she gasped, eyes wide, but speechless. 
	Without another word, he turned and walked out of the room and retrieved the
investment certificate from his safe. When he returned, he noticed the look in her eyes
as she zeroed in on the paper in his hand.  He had seen that look in her eyes many
times, and wondered why he had never recognized it before.  There was no mistaking it.
	Greed!	
	He walked past her without speaking to her and placed the paper on the table
next to Morgan’s picture.  His heart tightened as he looked at the tiny face behind the
glass, and with all the composure he could muster, he scrawled his signature across the
back of the certificate.  Perhaps now a chapter of his life he would rather forget would be
closed forever, he thought.
	“This is what you came for, now leave!” he demanded, handing the paper out to
her. 
	She smiled, and spoke in a syrupy voice.  “Why, Cole, you have become so
inhospitable!  I thought we could share a drink and reminisce about old times, and — “
	“I said leave!”  Cole repeated, his voice strained.
	Veronica lifted her chin, and took the paper from his hand, carefully stuffed it in
her purse, and swung around on her heel. He watched as she marched out of the room,
those heels making clack clack sounds on the floor that hadn’t been heard since the day
she had left.  When she reached the door, he held his breath as he watched her open it,
half expecting her to turn with a parting retort of some kind.   When she did not, and the
door closed behind her, he sank into the nearest chair and buried his face in his hands. 
One thing was ripping his heart right out of his chest, making it almost impossible for him
to breathe, and it wasn’t the fact that a great sum of money had just walked out the front
door. 
	Hannah and Morgan were gone!  
	
	Cole raked his fingers through his hair as he paced back and forth in the living
room.   Veronica had been gone for hours, and still there was no sign of Hannah and the
baby.  He went up to her room for what felt like the hundredth time.  All of her things
were still there, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t planning to send for them later.  On her
dresser, her hairbrush sat where she had left it that morning, and he picked it up and
held it in his hand for a moment, imagining her brushing her long dark hair.  
	What had he ever seen in Veronica!  Seeing her today, he had felt shocked that
he had actually been engaged to be married to her.  A socialite, whose only interests
were popularity and money!  People had said they looked good together, but looking at
her now he wondered what was so appealing about a woman who looked  like a page
out of a fashion magazine?  She was nothing but a painted facade over a fake interior. 
Hannah was fresh, natural, and vibrant.  She made him smile, and she made him laugh. 
As he set her brush back down on her dresser, he was hard pressed to remember a
time when Veronica had made him laugh.
	 He left the room and went to the nursery.   Everything looked just as he had left
it that morning when he had gone to get Morgan while Hannah was in the shower.  He
stood looking down at the crib, and ran his hand over the mattress where the baby had
been laying when he had picked her up.   He glanced around the room, then picked up
the baby powder off the change table and sniffed it.  Morgan smelled just like that, and at
times when she had just been holding the baby, so did Hannah.  It was a scent he
loved, more than any of the expensive French perfumes Veronica wore.  It was the
scent of his family!
	Family.
	That was a word he’d never thought would apply to him.  Family had always
meant Ty and his parents, and generations past.  He had never thought about family in
terms of his children.  Now, he’d had a taste of that.  He’d held it, right at the tips of his
fingers.  Had he lost it forever?  He picked up a Teddy bear from the crib and squeezed
it a few times. 
	“If she ever comes back, I swear I’m going to tell her exactly how I feel!” he said
to the bear.   
	Exactly how do you feel? 
	“What kind of question is that,” he grumbled, as he set the bear back into the crib
in annoyance.  But he knew it wasn’t the bear asking the question, and he frowned to
himself.  How did he feel about her?  “Morgan is the most important thing in my life right
now!”  he said, looking down at the bear, which just sat there staring at him with its
unblinking eyes as if it were demanding answers to more questions.
	And what about Hannah? 
	“What about Hannah?” he asked it, “That’s none of your business anyway, I
know how I feel about Hannah and that’s all that matters!”
	Oh really? And exactly how is that?
	The bear sat there expecting an answer and Cole grumbled and turned away 
before it had a chance to ask him any more difficult questions.  Just then he heard a
noise downstairs and swung around heading for the nursery door. 
	 “Hannah!”  he called, but as he reached the top of the stairs his heart sank.
	“What’s up Bro.’?” Ty said, looking up the stairs at him.  “You look terrible.”
	Cole grunted, and slowly made his way down the stairs, as if each step took
great effort. “Thanks for the compliment,” he said.
	“I’m serious, man.  You look awful. What’s up?”
	Cole let out a heavy sigh. “Hannah and Morgan are gone.”
	Ty looked at him in disbelief. “Gone? What do you mean gone?”
	Cole shrugged.  “I came home from the lawyers and Veronica was here.”
	“Veronica! What the hell?” 
	“Yeah, my thoughts exactly.” Cole waved his hand in the air as if trying to brush
the woman out of his thoughts.  “She came for something she left behind.  I’ll be happy if
I never see that woman again, Ty!”
	Ty grinned. “Well that’s good to hear, Bro.’. I was worried for a while last year that
you wouldn’t be able to get her out of your system.  But what does this have to do with
Hannah?”
	Cole sighed. “She wasn’t here when I came home. Veronica said she had seen
her and talked to her earlier in the day.  She told me Hannah was gone — took the baby
and left.”
	“That’s ridiculous! Why would she leave? Where would she go?” Ty narrowed his
eyes and looked at his brother closely. “Have you done something to make her want to
leave?”
	“I’ve been asking myself those same questions for the past four hours!”  Cole
grunted.  He had wandered into the living room, and now slumped down on the couch.
He picked up the framed picture of Morgan and sat staring at it.  
	Ty looked at his brother, thoughtfully.  “Can I get you anything?  I could do with a
beer, do you want one?”
	Cole grumbled. “Is that why you came over here? For free beer?”
	“Well, to be brutally honest with you, Bro.’ — yeah!”  Ty grinned, and Cole shot
him a cold stare.
	“I’m not in the mood for your jokes, Ty.”
	Ty looked at his brother and shook his head.   Then when nothing else was said,
he shrugged and headed into the kitchen.  Reaching the fridge, he was about to open
the door when he spotted a piece of paper held to the door with a magnet.  Lifting it off
the fridge, he looked at it, then smirked and looked towards the door where he had
come from.  Grabbing his beer, he headed back to the living room where his brother sat
suffering.
	“Hey, Bro.’,” Ty said, leaning against the doorjamb, beer in hand.  “So, where do
you suppose Hannah went anyway?”
	Cole scowled at his brother.  “I don’t know!” he barked, and Ty casually lifted his
beer to take a sip.
	“Do you suppose she’ll send someone over to get her things?  It took us a few
trips to bring her over here.  Let’s see, what will she need the most? There’s her clothes,
and the baby’s things, and the crib, of course, and — “
	“Ty, put a cork in it!” Cole exclaimed, setting down the picture and grabbing a
cushion off the couch and tossing it at his brother.  “Damnit, Ty, this is serious! She’s
gone! They’re gone!”	
	Ty eyed him with a half smirk on his face and kicked at the cushion where it had
landed after bouncing off his arm.  “Yeah, Bro.’, just how serious is it anyway?”
	Cole glared at him, and said nothing.  It’s none of your business!  He formulated
the reply in his head, but did not voice it, because chasing close after that thought was
another one. One that nagged at him, repeating the word serious over and over.  
	“Where can she be?” he groaned, ignoring Ty’s question as he picked up the
picture of Morgan off the table a second time and raked his fingers through his hair once
again. 
	Ty casually took another sip, as if nothing had phased him. “You really do look a
mess, Bro.’. Maybe you should get some rest or something?”
	“Damnit Ty!” Cole practically screamed at him.  “I’ve had just about enough of
your — your — 
	“Cole?”
	Cole spun around towards the sound of the voice, and Ty straightened up and
took a long swill from his bottle of beer.  Hannah set down the diaper bag cautiously and
looked from one brother to the other.
	“Ty? What’s going on here?” 
	Ty shrugged, and barely kept from laughing. “Darned if I know.  I just came over
for a beer. He’s been like this ever since I got here.  I figured it was some throw-back to
insanity way back in our family or something, but then again — “  He slowly emptied his
bottle of beer and set the empty on the nearest flat surface, straightened himself, and
took a step toward the door.  “ — it might have something to do with the fact that he
didn’t see this on the fridge.” 
	Again, he shrugged, and handed Hannah the paper he had lifted off the fridge
door earlier.  With one last pitiful glance over his shoulder at his brother and a shake of
his head, he walked away, and Cole found himself staring blankly at Hannah as they
listened to the front door close.
	“Hannah?”  Cole said, his voice a mere breath.
	“Cole? What on earth happened to you?”
	Feeling like a total heel, he swallowed hard.  “I thought you were gone.”
	“Gone?” She looked at him in disbelief. What startled her most about his
comment was the despair in his voice when he had spoken.  She had spent the day
wondering if he was going to want her to leave, and here he was acting like he was glad
to see her.  He looked a total mess too, like he’d been tearing himself apart for hours. 
	He threw his hands in the air, and raked a hand through his already messy hair.
“I thought you had taken the baby and left.  I thought I would never see you and Morgan
again.”
	Hannah sighed. Sure, she knew he had wanted to talk to her today, and of
course, it was no surprise that he would miss Morgan if they really did leave his house,
but she had never expected that her being gone for a few hours would cause him such
despair!  But, he had thought they were gone forever?  He had missed her? What had
Ty said? He hadn’t seen this — she looked down at the paper Ty had handed to her.  It
was the note she had left for him before Veronica had arrived at the house that morning.
	“What on earth made you think that I had gone for good?”
	“Veronica said —” Cole started, and Hannah tensed.  	
	“Oh,” Hannah said flatly, on the defensive now.  “So she came back did she?
Look, Cole, if you want me to leave, I will.  I understand, really.  Afterall, the two of you
were engaged to be married. Love runs deep.  Morgan and I would just be in the way
here, we can find ourselves a little two bedroom apartment somewhere and you can visit
Morgan any time you want.  But I won’t come between you and Veronica.” Without
thinking, she tossed the piece of paper on the table beside the door and turned to leave
the room. 
	Cole stood staring at her wide eyed. “Hannah, what are you talking about?  What
do you mean come between me and Veronica?”
	Hannah struggled to talk around the lump in her throat. She had practised this
speech all day.  Sure, Jennifer had told her to fight for him, but she had never been a
fighter.  Cole and Veronica had been in love. If they wanted to rekindle what they had
once had, Hannah knew she had no place in his life. She was no match for the likes of
Veronica Spencer. Why, the woman would chew her up and spit her out, and laugh
doing it.  Hannah stopped in the doorway and took a deep breath.
	“Veronica said she had come back to claim what was hers. If you love her, and
she wants you back, I won’t hang around here and be in the way.”  Quickly she turned
and headed for the stairs. She had said her piece and had to get out of there before he
noticed she was crying!  In the fog of her mind she heard him calling her name, but she
didn’t let herself stop moving.  She had to make it to the sanctuary of the nursery so she
could breathe.
	“Hannah!”  
	As he followed her out of the room, Cole noticed the paper Ty had handed to
Hannah, laying where she had tossed it on the table.  Slowly he picked it up, and
suddenly felt like a complete fool as he read the words written across it.  
	Forgot I was going to spend the day with Jennifer, shopping and lunch. See you
when we get back.  
	All his self lectures about not doing anything to drive Hannah and the baby away,
and here he might have done just that, he thought. Why had he acted so rashly! Why
had he assumed she had left for good? It was Veronica, of course, who had made him
unable to think straight. Her and her words about Hannah having taken Morgan and left. 
He should have known the woman was nothing more than a manipulative witch!  Had
anything that had ever come out of Veronica’s mouth ever been spoken without some
hope for personal gain?  Veronica didn’t want him back, and he was glad of that
because he never wanted to see the woman’s face again,  but it was obvious she
wanted to sabotage his chances for anything with Hannah.
	“Hannah, wait!” He was racing up the stairs after her, and this time he wasn’t
going to stop at the top and just let her go!  
	By the time Hannah reached the nursery the tears were flowing freely, and she
hid her face as she set the baby into the crib.  She was bent over the crib when he
appeared in the doorway, and she caught her breath, trying to hide the tears. She kept
her back toward him, hoping she could circle around facing the walls and leave the room
without having to face him.  She wasn’t quite out of his reach, however, as she tried to
head towards the door.  He gripped her by the shoulders and turned her to face him.
	“Hannah, look at me!”  She faced him, but couldn’t lift her eyes to his, and
instead stood with her gaze fixed on the fourth button on his shirt. He saw the tear
streaks on he face and caught his breath. “Look at me, Hannah. Do I look like a man
who wants you to leave?  Damnit, I’ve been a total wreck all day because I didn’t see
this!”  He held up the note she had left him and shook it between them.  
	“And because Veronica told me you were gone,” he added, frowning down at
her.  “She told me I was a fool to think you would stay here with me.  I’ve been beating
myself up ever since, because I believed her.  Can’t you see? I don’t want you to leave!
I want you here with me.  I want us to be a family, Hannah, I couldn’t stand to lose you!”
	Hannah lifted wet eyes to look at him, then quickly looked away.  She was
shaking as he held her.  “But — but what about Veronica?”
	“What about Veronica?”  he asked, holding her tightly.
	“She said she had come back for what was rightly hers. She said she was talking
about you.”  Hannah said, shakily.
	“Veronica didn’t want me,” he said, shaking his head.  “She just wanted what she
always wanted — my money.  I couldn’t care less if I never see her again.”
	“Your money?” Hannah looked completely confused as she lifted her damp eyes
to meet his once again. 
	He nodded. “An investment I had put away for her, intended as a wedding gift. 
Even though we never got married, it was in her name, and she wanted it.  It became
accessible today, hence her visit. Typically, she didn’t even let one day go by before
showing up to claim it. I could have fought the matter I suppose, but I wanted her out of
my life forever so I just let her have it.  It was a small price to pay to get rid of her.”
	Hannah sniffled, a shocked look on her face.  “You — you don’t still love her?”
	“Love Veronica?” Cole almost laughed. “God help me! No! Anything I felt for
Veronica died a long time ago.  I could never love her again, if I ever really did.  More
likely, I was just under her spell!  She’s nothing but a shallow golddigger.  I could never
trust her again!  No, Hannah,  there is only one person I could ever love.”
	“Morgan,” Hannah said softly, nodding, turning to look at the baby sleeping in the
crib.  “You are a wonderful father, Cole.”
	He reached for her chin and turned her back to face him, a hint of laughter in his
voice. “No, silly!  Of course I love Morgan, that goes without saying, but I meant you!  I
love you!”  There was a pause while Hannah felt her ears ringing and her head spinning,
then he went on, more tenderly.  “Last night made me realize that, and that’s what I
wanted to talk to you about today.  When I thought you had left, I thought I had lost
everything that had ever mattered to me. I felt like my heart had been ripped out of my
chest.  It was almost as bad as when my parents died. Hannah, if you can still stay here
with me, maybe some day you might love me back and we can get married and be a
real family, just the way I want things to be.”
	His eyes searched hers, as she stared up at him looking stunned.  Suddenly
tears began to roll down her face again, and Cole’s expression turned worried.
	“Hannah? Hannah, I’m so sorry! I’m such a fool.  I shouldn’t have — “
	“Shhhh!”  She lifted onto her tiptoes and silenced him with a kiss, slipping her
arms around his neck and drawing him close to her.  “I do love you, Cole!” she
whispered, as she lifted her lips from his.
	“You do?” he asked, as if he couldn’t believe his ears. 	
	She smiled and nodded. “Yes, I do,” she said, then rested her face against his
chest. 
	“Will you marry me, Hannah?” he whispered, as if he were afraid she would
change her mind if he spoke too loudly, and she looked up into his eyes and nodded
breathlessly.
	“Yes Cole, of course I’ll marry you!”  
	He wrapped his arms around her and held her close, not wanting to let her go,
and she sighed.  This was more than she had ever hoped for!