Four Weddings and a Fiasco 4 The Wedding Dress Lucy Kevin

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Gareth s arms around her instead.
Chapter Seventeen
Gareth s Jaguar left skid marks on the pavement outside Anne s house the following morning as
he slammed on the brakes and leapt from the car. He d driven for hours with no sleep, but the
envelope in his jacket pocket and his love for Anne made the all-nighter worth it.
That was, as long as he could get it into her hands in time.
He knocked, and when there was no answer, he said, Anne, are you in there? It s me.
Knowing the odds were extremely high that she didn t want to see him, he called out again, Please,
Anne, just open the door.
Was she sitting in her house, so wrapped up in the misery he d helped to bring into her life that
she couldn t even come to the door?
Just the thought of that made something tighten painfully in Gareth s chest. He couldn t take that
chance, and after all the rules he d broken for her already, what was one more?
He rammed his shoulder against the front door, and the lock gave on the first attempt. There
were still shreds of wedding dress on the living room floor, but there was no sign of her. After a
quick check of the upstairs, he tried calling her, but it went straight to voice mail.
He quickly dialed the number for the courthouse. I need to know the time of the Farleigh
versus Turner mediation, he said to the harassed-sounding man who answered. It was supposed to
be scheduled for three p.m. today.
I m afraid I can t divulge that information, sir.
Fortunately, Gareth thought he recognized the man s gravelly voice. Jerry? It s Gareth. How
have you been? I haven t seen you in quite a while.
Gareth, it s good to hear from you! I was out in New York visiting my grandkids for a while.
There was a pause while the man on the other end of the line checked the schedule. Actually, the
schedule has changed. It s just about to begin.
After Gareth promised to come by to look at pictures of Jerry s grandkids, he ran back out to
his car. He sped toward the courthouse, praying he could get there in time, not caring even the
slightest bit about rules and laws as he nearly ran two red lights and swerved between lanes.
The only thing that mattered was Anne.
Five minutes later a record time, considering Anne lived ten minutes away Gareth jumped
out of his car and rushed inside the building.
Relief swept over him when he saw Richard Wells s new investigator standing by the door of
the conference room the previous mediation had been held in.
Terrence stepped out into Gareth s path as he got close, holding up a hand. Where do you think
you re going?
Into the mediation.
All those years of chasing the bad guys down had made him pretty darn quick on his feet, and it
wasn t hard for him to get past Terrence and into the room.
Richard was there with Jasmine, and the mediator from before, Ms. Williams, was there too,
but Gareth barely spared them a second glance. He only had eyes for Anne.
She looked& well, frankly, she looked more than a little hungover. Worse than that, she looked
so serious, wearing a plain dark suit.
Yet despite all that, she was still the most beautiful woman he d ever seen.
Still his angel.
And also clearly shocked to see him.
Gareth? What are you doing here?
Richard butted in before he could reply. You have zero business being in this room. I fired
you, remember?
Gareth ignored the lawyer and said, Anne, I have something I need you to see. It s urgent.
He can t just come in here like this, can he? Jasmine asked. We were just getting to the
results of the DNA test.
Gareth ignored Jasmine too as he took the envelope out of his pocket. Please, Anne.
She looked at the envelope and then back at him before saying, The way I remember it, the last
time you came to me with an envelope, it wasn t such good news.
This one& Gareth paused. I don t know if it s better, but I think it will help.
Help? Richard Wells s face reddened with anger. Ms. Williams, this is going too far. He
can t just introduce new evidence like this. He shouldn t even be in here. He has no legal right
Anne stood up and asked the mediator, Could we please have a recess?
We re just about to get to the important part, Jasmine insisted. She can t just walk out
because this isn t going well for her. Richard, I demand that you stop them!
But Ms. Williams had clearly had enough. Everybody be quiet right now! She glared at
Gareth. You ve barged into the middle of my mediation session, you re in some kind of complex
relationship with the parties involved, and you seem to be determined to introduce some kind of new
evidence into the proceedings. Can I ask why you re doing all this, when you know it might lead to
you being thrown out of here by security?
There was only one answer to that. An answer that he would happily tell the world.
Because I love Anne Farleigh.
Oh, very nice, Richard sneered. Very sweet. We re in the middle of a serious legal process,
and you come barging in to declare your undying love. Honestly, what kind of
Mr. Wells, Ms. Williams said, her expression much softer now, I don t think it would hurt to
have a short break at this point. Not when I think we could all do with some time to calm down. I ll
see you all back here in fifteen minutes.
Thank you, Gareth said as he reached for Anne s hand and pulled her out of the room and into
a quiet corner.
I& Anne shook her head. I want to believe what you just said in front of everyone, Gareth. I
want to believe you so much, but people lie. They cheat. Things go so wrong.
They go right, too, Gareth assured her. He gently cupped her chin with his hands so he could
look directly into her eyes. Can you honestly tell me that you don t feel the same way? [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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