Proof

"I don't know how the semen got there."

The fourth wave of rage hit, stronger than the three before it. Jared stood rooted to the spot as he struggled for control of himself. He spoke only when he'd achieved it. The white-hot fury had abated, but the cold resentment was stronger than ever. She admitted that it was her underwear, she wasn't denying that she had a lover yet she actually expected him to believe that she had no idea how the cum got there. Hell. But if nothing else, at least it was good to know just how much of a fool she had been taking him for. He'd definitely been her fool. But that was done.

"Could you get up from that chair? I'd like us to go upstairs."

Raquel wiped the tears from her face. "Why?"

"Because before we go any further, I'm going to need you to take a pregnancy test. If you're pregnant, I'm going to ask for a paternity test as soon as you're far along enough. Get up out of that chair."

"If I'm pregnant, there'll be no paternity test needed. You're the father. There's no other possibility than that you're the father."

It didn't sway him. "Get up out of that chair or I'll haul you out of it myself."

Again, her chin squared. There was a return of tartness as she said, "There's no need for that. I can walk." She rose stiffly from the chair.

Jared unlocked the door and held it open for her to pass through. She walked past him without meeting his eyes. He followed her. It was a slow and silent march down the corridor, up the stairs, across the landing and into their bedroom.

She went for the bathroom. When she made to close the door behind her, Jared stopped it with his hand and shoved the door open wider. She looked up at him with surprise.

"The door stays open," he said, the words icy. "I'm going to watch."

Her lips twisted bitterly. "So all your faith in me is dead? Isn't there even a shred left? Can you no longer trust me to pee on a stick without monitoring me?"

"Let's get one thing clear. I'm no longer going to be played. There's a chance that you're pregnant and a chance that it's mine. If that's true, I intend to know about it. This isn't going to be a case of you playing some trick, showing me a fake negative test and then running off with my child without my knowledge."

"You really believe I'd do such a thing?"

"You won't do it because I won't give you the chance. If you're carrying my child, I'm going to fight for it as soon as it comes out of you. I guarantee you that. Now get in there and take the test. I'll stand at the door here and watch you. Once you've peed on the stick, hand it over."

Tears were gathering in her eyes again. "I knew you could be cruel," she whispered. "You're a Kendrick so I knew that you have it in you to be cruel. But I never thought you could turn it on me. How can you claim to love someone and be this cruel to them? You never gave me a chance."

"I gave you multiple chances. On the night of the concert, I asked you about the hotel, but you denied it and refused to talk. I can tell you now that if you'd explained, I'd have believed anything you'd told me. You could have made up some lie and I would have swallowed it. Downstairs tonight, I gave you more chances. I asked you several questions and I was ready to listen to your answers with an open mind. But you ignored the questions and refused to talk. At this point, I'm no longer interested in whatever you have to say. Now quit playing the victim, get the hell in there and take that fucking test."

She wiped the tears away and walked into the bathroom. Jared watched her while she took one pregnancy test out of the box in the medicine cabinet. She was no longer pale. Now her face was flushing red underneath her olive skin. She peed on the stick, dabbed it dry and handed it to him. Her jaw was tight. She didn't look at the test or at him.

Jared took it from her, watching and waiting. Hoping that a double pink line didn't form. Praying with everything in him that she wasn't pregnant. It would complicate things if she were, and if the kid turned out to be his. The paternity test would only be the beginning. The custody battle would be the worst of it. If she went for custody of the kid—and knowing how badly she wanted a child, she would surely go for it—the custody battle was going to be a dirty bareknuckle streetfight.

Jared's eyes were glued to the test, his fingers so tight on it that the plastic was in danger of snapping. The seconds became minutes and there was just a line. One single line. In spite of the fact that his marriage was over, this was still a reason to thank all the saints above. This could end cleanly and quickly. No paternity tests. No extended custody battles.

He breathed out his relief.

Raquel, who'd been standing with her back to him, turned to face him as soon as he breathed. "Well?" she asked, hope in the little word.

"Negative."

Her face crumpled. Her eyes grew shiny again. After a moment she said, "Maybe it's for the best. I know you'd have used the baby to make my life a living hell. Just like you did to Travis's mother." Raquel turned away from him to wipe the tears coursing down her face, but she kept speaking. Words poured out, growing increasingly bitter. "Is that going to be the pattern of your life? Getting women pregnant and then ripping their babies out of their arms? Maybe I should be happy. I've escaped that."

Jared ignored all this. It had been 10 days since he'd last slept with her and she was testing negative now. If she later tested positive, then it most likely wouldn't be his. He went past her into the bathroom corner and threw the test into the trash. That was that.

Raquel caught at his arm, her face stained with tears. "Jared. Jared. Listen to me. Things don't have to be this way. Things shouldn't be this way between us. Jared. We can still have our baby together. There's nobody else but you. I swear that. I only love you. You've got to believe that. You know me. I've never lied to you. Never."

"Then tell me why cum-stained underwear belonging to you was found at the cabin when I haven't been to the cabin in months. Tell me why you kept going there at all hours by yourself. Tell me why you were later seen at the Dragonfly kissing the guy with you. Explain all that away beyond reasonable doubt."

Her eyes filled with despair. "I can't. How am I supposed to? How can anybody?"

"Then there's nothing more to be said." Jared shook her hand off his arm. "I'm assuming that you let my parents know to take Travis to school tomorrow morning."

"Yes," she replied dully. "I told the driver to pick him up and bring him home after school."

"I want you gone by then."

Her head shot up. She turned pale all over again. "What?" Her voice was a ribbon of sound.

"I want you to have left before he returns home tomorrow afternoon. Pack a bag of what you need. You can leave most of your things here for now and then move out as soon as it's convenient for you."

There was a long, horrible silence. She stared at him. Her lips were white. "Even if you're convinced that I slept with another man, you wouldn't even consider forgiveness? You wouldn't give us another chance? This is us. You and me. Us, Jared. You would have us separate instantly? It's over just like that? You would drive me away from my own home?"

"This isn't your home. It's my house and this is the last night you'll sleep in it."

Her lips quivered. "I knew that whatever had taken you to London must have been serious, but I thought we could talk about whatever it was and sort it out. Then we'd make love and everything would be alright."

Jared's eyes automatically went to the transparent nightgown. It revealed a lot more of that delicious body than it concealed. Distracting him with sex had most definitely been her plan. He looked back to her face. "I've said what I said."

"You're angry. You don't mean it. You haven't thought this through."

"I am. I do. I have. And I want you gone by tomorrow afternoon."

Raquel stared at him. Stared and stared as though he were a stranger. "I thought you were a good man. You're a monster."

"And you're a dishonest little bitch."

Rage instantly came alive in her eyes. She raised her arm and swung. The back of her hand landed on his cheek with a resounding ring.

It was not a weak slap. Far from it. Raquel was the same woman who'd measured, cut and installed bird-netting for her little vineyard. The same woman who'd hauled baskets of grapes from the field to the cellar without breaking a sweat. She had put force into the swing of her arm and it stung like a motherfucker when it landed.

But she clearly wasn't satisfied yet. She was raising her arm again.

Jared spoke before she could deliver the second slap. "I'll let you get away with it only once. You'll regret it if you try it a second time. Unless you really want to see me get mean, you'll put that hand down."

There was a silent battle of wills as they glared at each other, then she lowered her hand. "If you can send me away the very first time you feel wronged," she said, her voice tart and unsteady at the same time, "I don't know how much you ever loved me."

"I loved you too much. That's the problem."

"But you're throwing our marriage away as if it means nothing."

"You get the credit for that. You were the one spreading your legs in cabins and at hotels. I want you out of my house by tomorrow afternoon, and then I advise you to get in touch with your lawyer. He'll hear from mine. I'll file for divorce as soon as possible and we'll take things from there."

Raquel stood silent for a long time. She pressed her hands to her face, swaying a little. At last she looked up and asked, "What about Travis?"

"What about him?"

"If I'm going to leave, I need to talk with him first."

"I'll talk to him myself."

"Can't I at least say goodbye to him face-to-face?"

"He's no longer your business."

Her eyes welled again. "I adore that boy. You know I do. He may not be mine but I love him so much and that makes him my business. He's always going to be my business whether you like it or not. All I want is to kiss him goodbye before I leave. Is that so much to ask?"

"Whose needs are you considering? Definitely not his. A long-drawn-out farewell scene might make you feel better, but it would only upset him needlessly. Let it be a clean break. Be gone before he comes back. I'll tell him everything he needs to know."

"Tell him what he needs to know? Poison his mind, you mean. You're going to tell him your side of the story. Tell him all about how I'm a 'dishonest little bitch' and that I betrayed you. You'll turn him against me. You'll make him hate me."

"I wouldn't put that burden on my son just to spite you. I draw the line there. I'll tell him only what's appropriate for him to know." Jared gave her a hard look. "While you're speaking with your lawyer, think critically about the way you want to approach things. I'll be filing on grounds of adultery. There's proof of it. Chances are you'll be granted temporary spousal support with the difference in what we're both worth. We'll see. I'll discharge whatever duty I'm bound to by law, but it'll be nothing more than the bare minimum. If you're smart, you won't make a peep beyond that or try to get more than you deserve. If you're smart, Raquel, you won't try to cross me."

She smiled bitterly. "Thank you very much for the warning, but I promise you I didn't need it. I already knew that. I know who you are. I know who your lawyers are. I wasn't going to fight you. I'll go along with whatever you want, as long as you don't claim anything of mine. I won't try to take anything from you. You might be richer than I am, but I don't want anything. I never did. Your love was all I ever wanted. And as for my being gone by tomorrow afternoon, I'll go the extra mile—I won't wait until then. I'll pack a bag and leave this night."

Raquel straightened her spine. Her eyes were swimming in tears but pride was in every line of her body. "I'm done debasing myself by pleading with you. If this is the way you want to end our marriage, so be it. There isn't very much I can do to stop you. But, Jared, know that I still love you. I love you so much. If at any time you want to stop the divorce proceedings and reconcile, come to me and I'll welcome you with open arms. For now, I'll go. I'll text you with my location and wait for your lawyers to contact mine."

She paused in front of him as she made to walk past with her head high. "If you have any scrap of kindness in you towards me, give Travis a message for me. Tell him I love him and that I'll miss him."

*****

Raquel departed from the house an hour later.

Jared had left the bedroom, waiting downstairs in the family room while she packed the things she wanted. She had come downstairs with two large suitcases, wheeling them with her as she stopped in the doorway. She had dressed herself in a navy suit buttoned up to the neck. Her eyes had been red from crying.

"I have everything I need for now," she had said to him. "In a few weeks, I should be ready to move my things out. Just tell me the times you won't be at home and I'll quietly get it done then. We won't have to see each other if that's the way you want it. Once I've taken all my things away, I'll leave my key in the scarecrow's pocket. At the little vineyard."

Jared had only given one nod.

She had turned and gone.

Neither of them had actually said goodbye. He'd listened to her footsteps echoing in the corridor, then he had heard the slam of the east door. In the distance, there had been the rev of an engine. Her car. Then it, too, had faded.

His wife was gone.

Despite being tired and jet-lagged, Jared sat awake in the family room that entire night. He sat, at times disbelieving, at times sorrowful, and at times simmering with anger.

He wondered what, exactly, he would say to Travis. How much of the truth he would share with the rest of his family. With his friends.

He wondered how long the divorce would take. He wondered how to make all this as easy on Travis as possible. He wondered how things might have been different. He wondered how things could have changed so drastically in a span of 10 days. He wondered why he'd failed at this. He wondered if he simply hadn't been enough for her. He wondered why life liked to kick people in the teeth whenever it got the chance.

He wondered how long it would take him to get over this. How long he would miss her. How long he would expect to come home to her smile. How long he would reach for the phone to call her and remember he couldn't. How long he would look at the vacant side of the bed where she ought to be lying.

Jared wondered about a lot of things. But at times, he simply sat blankly. The house crushing him with its emptiness.

*****

18 months later

*

Raquel de Mosquera Torrejón walked alone in the dawn, looking over the expanse of vines around her. They weren't beautiful in that lush, green way as when the crop was surrendering and harvest was around the corner. It was a different kind of beauty right now. The stark kind. The vines were short, leafless, twisted and dark. The skies were a translucent blue-gray.

Although the landscape appeared bleak, the vines were not dead. They were only sleeping. This was the time of year that they had a well-deserved rest. It was winter. What passed for winter here, anyway. This cool morning dew was nothing compared to the winters of upstate New York, the place that had been her home for the short years she'd been married.

She was no longer married now. She had truly returned home. To the cortijo, her fortress. To the soil and winds that produced the sweetest Palomino grapes in the world.

Raquel twisted the ring on her finger. Her wedding band. She still wore it. She hadn't been able to bring herself to take it off all this time. There was a strange comfort in wearing it, and in taking these long walks through the vines as she thought about Jared.

God, she missed him.

There had been many nights she had cried herself to sleep, but she was done with that. Her eyes had been dry for several months now, but she still missed him. Still loved him. She'd tried to hate him, but that had proved as impossible as taking her ring off.

He hadn't taken her up on her offer to reconcile. She'd hoped he might. That he would soften and come knocking at her door. She had waited for his knock every day. It had never come.

She'd barely moved into her new house in Seneca Falls when she'd been served. All their contact had been through the lawyers. She hadn't contested anything. She'd gotten temporary spousal support but no alimony. He had kept his assets and she had kept hers. She had taken the house in Seneca Falls for a year while things settled. After that year, she had packed up all her belongings and returned home to Spain. She'd been home for 6 months now. And home she would remain.

She had never gotten to see or speak to Travis. Not once. Despite that he'd been her boy. Her baby. That was one of the things that cut her deep. Travis, the young boy who needed a mother but didn't even realize it himself. She hurt for him more than she hurt for herself.

As for Jared, she feared for him more than she could ever fear for herself.

Raquel was afraid for Jared, because he had been so, so, so wrong. He had been played, but not by her. It had been by the one person he trusted absolutely.

Jonathan.

Even thinking about Jonathan Kendrick made anger storm up in Raquel. She shoved her hands in her jacket pockets and quickened her steps, striding through the vines. Jonathan Kendrick. The beast who had ruined her life.

Jonathan with his superficial charm. Jonathan with his silver tongue. Jonathan with his sharp mind. Jonathan with his non-existent heart. Jonathan the goddamn sociopath.

She had been reading a lot about sociopathy in these last 18 months. Everything she had researched had fit Jonathan to a tee. She was convinced that he was a high-functioning sociopath. He had no empathy, no guilt, no remorse, he was manipulative, and he had a limited capacity for love.

Jonathan didn't love Jared the way that Jared loved him. He only pretended to; and he did it masterfully. He was the king of masquerades. Nobody in his family had seen through him yet. Maybe they never would.

She'd met Jared's family soon after they'd begun dating. At first, she too had been taken in by Jonathan's charm. She'd thought he was wonderful. He had been funny, intelligent, kind and pleasantly flirtatious.

Four months later, she'd seen the real him.

At that time, she'd been spending half her time in Spain and the other half in New York; traveling often to be close to Jared since his work didn't often allow him leisure travel. On that afternoon, she had been home alone. Jared had been on a business trip in the City and Jonathan had been holding down the fort in the Upstate office. Raquel had been making herself lunch when there was a knock on her door. She'd gone to answer it and had seen Jonathan there, leaning against her doorpost with a smile.

She'd automatically smiled back. "Well, hello. I didn't know you were coming to visit me. Come on in. Where's Caroline?"

"She's at home with the kids. I was passing by and I thought I'd drop in and check on you since Jared's away."

"How sweet of you. Come on through to the kitchen. Have you eaten? I've just finished making lunch. Do you like pringá?"

"Never tried it, but it sounds delicious."

Raquel had laughed, completely at ease. "Open a bottle of wine and we'll eat. The wine cooler is over there. Your choice."

"You of all people are giving me permission to select the wine? You must really like me."

She had laughed again. Of course she liked him.

The meal had been pleasant, but things changed while they were chatting over second glasses of wine. Jonathan had shifted his chair closer to hers as they talked. He had angled his body towards hers and had begun to touch her arm. Then he'd put his hand on her thigh and left it there, his thumb tracing circles on her skin just underneath the hem of her skirt.