Page 44 of This Means War

“Just like you don’t need God,” she mutters.

“Exactly,” I retort. “I can handle this.”

“Fine, you can handle this.” Lydia holds her hands up in defeat, then reaches for her phone.

“What are you doing?” I demand. “You’re not calling my dad, are you?”

“No, Cole, I’m not calling your dad.” She rolls her eyes. “I heard you when you said you had it handled.”

“Then what are you doing?”

“Well, not to show a complete lack of faith in your ability to handle this, but if you must know, I’m researching prison OBGYNs. I want what’s best for our twins, after all.” Her mouth forms a hard line. “Obviously their parents staying out of prison would be ideal, but your pride is clearly more important than our children’s wellbeing.”

I’m silent as I glower back at her, but her defiant expression doesn’t fade. My gaze lowers to her barely-there bump, and I feel something inside me shift. “Fine,” I growl, “I’ll call my dad.” I yank out my phone, but before I dial, I look over at her a question on my lips. “Lydia?”

“Yes?” She’s got her hand on her hip, waiting for me to make the call.

“You seem to know an awful lot about corporate law for someone who didn’t get into law school.”

Lydia immediately looks away. “Yeah, well I’ve got two lawyers for parents.”

“What did you score on the LSATs,” I demand, suspicion rising in me.

“I don’t remember.”

“I don’t believe you. I know you actually did get into law school and you just lied to your parents and told them you didn’t.”

“What?” Her gaze jerks back to mine. “H-how do you know that?”

“I didn’t know,” I smile triumphantly, “until now.”

“You jerk!” she cries.

“Do you want to explain why you lied to your parents?” I hold my phone out. “I think the call to my dad can wait until you do.”

“You’re insufferable,” she scowls.

“And you’re stalling,” I reply.

“I just…I don’t want to be a lawyer, okay?” She tosses her hair. “Is that so hard to believe?”

“No.” I shake my head. “It’s not.”

Her eyes soften. “You don’t think I’m crazy?”

“Of course not. You don’t have to be a lawyer just because your parents want you to be.”

“Try telling them that,” she scoffs, but I see the glimmer of a smile on her face at my words. She’s pleased by what I said. “Now enough about me.”She tries to cover her pleasure. “Call your dad!” And without another word she runs out of the room.

Chapter 30

Cole—three months later

“I can’t believe it’sover,” Lydia slides the newspaper onto the coffee table, then leans back against the sofa. The headline blares at us from the page, “Mayoral Candidate and New Wife Expecting Twins”. Under the headline is a photo of the two of us, my arms wrapped around Lydia, her hand on my chest as we stand in front of the oak tree in the backyard.

It’s been almost three months since my dad arrived on the first flight he could catch after I called to tell him what happened with Tom. He instantly took over, informing me that he’d always known Tom was a shady character, and that he and his team would get this taken care of in no time.

“I’ve got this handled Cole,” he’d said firmly. “You just need to keep your eyes on the prize.” At this point he’d turned his attention to Lydia. “Same goes for you, Lydia. You’ve married into a political family and that comes with certain responsibilities. I expect you to support Cole’s campaign. You needto make a name for yourself in the community. My team has put together a list of events you should attend as well as a list of organizations we’d like you to join. You and Cole will also have to make an effort to be seen together around Holland acting like a loving, married couple. Hold hands, whisper in each other’s ears, smile a lot, that sort of thing.”

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