"I figured you would be, but why so secretive? And why on earth did you pull that stunt earlier in front of Mom? You deliberately gave her the wrong impression. Now she thinks something is developing between us."

"April will explain everything."

Moments later when they were seated in his car, he glanced over at her. "Promise me you'll keep an open mind."

"About what?"

"About anything and everything."

The look she gave him told him that she was more confused than ever. A half hour later he could tell her confusion increased when he took a turnoff for the interstate and headed for the lake house his parents had once owned but sold to him a few years back. But she didn't ask any questions and he was glad of that.

He was also glad to see April standing outside when they pulled into the lake house drive. Erica, he noticed, had seen April, too, and a huge smile spread across her lips.

Griffin thought it was actually kind of strange the way things had started out between them all those years ago. There had always been a closeness between April and Erica, a deep friendship that even Karen Sanders hadn't been able to destroy. And the sad thing about it was that the older woman truly thought she had destroyed it.

Karen's visit to April should have accomplished that. It was sad, Griffin thought, that she didn't know anything about love-the kind between true friends as well as the undying love between a man and a woman. That had been Karen Sanders's downfall.

Erica had opened the car door to get out before he brought the vehicle to a complete stop. And as he unhooked his seat belt he saw the two women run toward each other and embrace.

"Girl, where have you been? Don't you dare let me worry about you like that again. No matter what is happening with you, I should have been there for you," Erica said, looking her friend over to make sure she was okay.

"I know. It was something I couldn't share with you at the time but now I can," April said, smiling.

"And this had better be a good reason for shutting me out."

"I think it will be. And I understand you've been going through your own h.e.l.l without me," April said.

The smile left Erica lips when she was reminded why she cried herself to sleep every night and had lost weight. Heartbreak could do that to you.

She tried not thinking about Brian but would find herself doing so anyway, anytime and anyplace. All the time. Whenever she thought about her love for him and the pain caused by his betrayal, her heart would start breaking all over again.

Beside her, April ushered her up the steps. "Come on inside so we can talk."

Erica sensed something was going on the moment her feet touched the porch and she glanced over at April, who gave her a funny look. Griffin had a similar look on his face. "Okay, you guys, what's going on?"

Instead of responding, Griffin opened the door and then they stepped aside to let her enter first. She frowned as she walked over the threshold. She was vaguely aware of someone closing the door behind her when she caught a movement across the room out of her peripheral vision.

She knew even before turning who was in the room with her; she picked up his warm, subtle scent. And when he moved out of the shadows her breath caught in her throat. She looked into his face and her heart jumped at the sight of him. His features taut, serious and as handsome as she remembered, Brian stood there looking so overwhelmingly s.e.xy. It had been almost four weeks since she'd seen him, but she had thought of him every day.

"h.e.l.lo, Erica. It's good seeing you again," he said, his gaze focused on her shocked face.

From the first time they'd met his voice had been what had captured her. It was a deep, rich timbre that had made blood rush all the way to her head, as it was doing now. She came close to running over to him, throwing herself in his arms, when she remembered the pain he'd caused her. Then she took a step back before swinging around to face Griffin and April.

"Why did you bring me here? Why is he here?"

April reached out and captured her hand. "Because it's time you heard the truth, Erica."

She pulled her hand away. "What are you talking about? I know the truth, April," she said, fighting back tears. "I haven't had a chance to tell you what happened, what I found when I arrived in Dallas."

"You don't have to," April said softly. "Both you and Brian were played just like Griffin and I were played, and I think it's time for us to compare notes."

Erica frowned. "What are you talking about?"

April crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm talking about the fact that your mother lied to you, Erica. That day you told her you were going to visit me in L.A., she knew you were lying and had every intention of going to see Brian."

"No, there was no way she could have known."

"Yes, she figured just where you would go the first chance you got and it wouldn't be to spend time with me. She knew you were going to Dallas, just like she'd never planned to go to Wyoming to visit that friend."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that I know for a fact that your mother never went to Wyoming because she came to see me in Los Angeles."

Erica shook her head, confused. "That's not possible."

"It is possible. She did."

"But why would Mom come to see you?"

April leaned against Griffin as if she needed him for support. She glanced up at him before looking back at Erica. "The reason she came to see me was to make sure I ended things between me and Griffin. She threatened me with dire consequences if I didn't."

"She did what!"

"She said she had proof I was fathered by Herbert Hayes and she would tell everyone that Griffin and I were involved in an incestuous relationship if I didn't end things with him, as well as walk away from my friendship with you. That's why I didn't call you. I was too afraid to. And that's why I ended things with Griffin."

Erica placed her hand to her mouth in disbelief. "No."

"Yes. Thankfully you told Griffin where I was and he a.s.sured me Herbert Hayes was not my father and we aren't related. Your mother had lied. And she mentioned while she was in L.A. that she was also making sure you ended your relationship with Brian, as well. That way you and Griffin could be free for each other. She figured heartbreak would bring the two of you together, if nothing else would."

Erica's head began spinning and she closed her eyes. "No, no. None of that can be true."

"It is true, Erica. Everything you saw at Brian's house that day was exactly what she wanted you to see. What she paid someone to do to make it seem like he had betrayed you. She planned it all. She knew you were on your way to Dallas and made sure things were ready when you got there. She hired Jaye Pittman to help her get what she wanted."

"Jaye?"

"Yes, your good old cousin Jaye. He did whatever your mother paid him to do. But that's not all. We have proof she is the one who texted those pictures of your father's affair and then pretended she was so torn up about it. I'm sure if you searched her room you'll find the prepaid phone she used, if she hasn't thrown it away yet. Even if she did, we got the receipt showing Jaye purchased it for her. She used your father's affair with Brian's mother to her advantage, playing on your sympathy, getting your support and turning you against Brian. In her mind she had everything to gain by doing so.

"Think about how perfect the timing was," April continued. "And those prescriptions she'd been taking for a heart problem are nothing more than sugar pills. I had Margie Graham who works for Dr. Cobb check for me. Margie owed me a favor from years ago when I loaned her money for her divorce. I figured someone who was doing as much devilment as your mother didn't necessarily have a bad heart...just an evil one."

Erica took it all in, and only one thought was able to form in her brain. She swung around to gaze at Brian. Looked into the depths of his dark eyes, saw the pain and hurt she'd caused by not believing in him and not trusting him. He had tried telling her he was innocent but she hadn't believed him. She had seen the worst and she had believed it.

"Brian-"

She took a step toward him and he took a step back. Then he turned and walked off toward the kitchen. She flinched when she heard the kitchen door slam shut behind him.

A flood of remorse tore into her and she felt the weight of everything April had told her on her shoulders. Tears she couldn't stop racked her body and she began shaking.

"It's okay, Erica." She heard April's voice and knew as always her friend was there.

Somehow April helped her over to the sofa and she dropped down on it and hid her face in her hands as her tears continued to fall. Ashamed. She was so ashamed for everything her mother had done. Everything she had believed because of her mother. She dropped her hands down in her lap. "How could she do this to me, April? To Brian? How could she do what she did to anyone? To you and Griffin. How could any one person be so evil, so vindictive and so manipulating."

"That's the one thing we can't figure out," April said softly. "Why she did it."

Erica turned to her, filled with anger. "I know why she did it. It has everything to do with that d.a.m.n curse. She's always been obsessed with it."

"Then we need to know why." April shifted in her seat. "There are two other things I need to tell you about."

Erica shook her head. "I don't think I can handle any more." She looked toward the door through which Brian had left. "He hates me. I should have believed in him, April. I should not have thought the worst."

"Yes, but from what I heard the evidence against him was pretty damaging. I think even he understands that. However, he can't help but feel a little down right now. I think he needs a little time to himself."

"How did you get him to come?" Erica asked, staring at April through her tears.

"He asked to come. To be here for you, Erica. He had hired a private investigator to prove his innocence. They had already figured out your mother's duplicity by the time Griffin flew to Dallas to pay Brian a visit."

Erica drew in a deep breath. "And I thought he was having an affair with that attorney at his firm. Donna Hardy."

"Evidently, Jaye was able to get something on Hardy to make her do whatever he wanted. He told her to set up the scene and make it seem like Brian was unfaithful to you."

Erica threw her head back and inhaled deeply. "It worked. I didn't want to hear anything he said. Our love was based on trust and I let him down."

She then glanced around. "Where is Griffin?"

"He went outside. He's still shaken by what your mother tried doing, as well. He and Brian were determined to get to the truth. They loved us that much."

Erica shook her head. "Griffin might love you, but I've lost Brian's love and I doubt that I'll ever be able to get it back."

"Don't do this to yourself, Erica. Brian still loves you or else he wouldn't be here for you now."

Erica wiped her eyes. "You think so?"

"Yes. Go to him. Talk to him. Tell him how you feel. Everyone is ent.i.tled to at least one mistake."

Erica stood slowly on wobbly knees as she drew in a calming breath. She did owe him an apology, but she wouldn't blame him if he didn't accept it. She'd started to walk away when she thought of something. "What are the two other things that I need to know?"

A small smile touched April's lips as she waved her hand. "Go on. It can wait. Just go to your man."

Erica ran to the kitchen to go out the same door where Brian had exited earlier.

Chapter Thirty-Eight.

Brian heard the sound of the screen door closing but didn't need to turn around to see who it was. He hadn't figured seeing Erica again would have such an effect on him, but it had.

"I owe you an apology, Brian."

He was tempted to turn around but didn't. He would let her have her say and then he would have his.

"I said mean and hateful things to you that day and I doubted you when I should have believed in you. Our love, our trust was put to the test for the first time and I failed. I am so sorry."

He heard the choke in her voice and couldn't help but turn around. But he wasn't ready to give up his anger and pain yet. He had gone without her for four weeks. For four weeks he had walked around like a dead man, a man emotionally crippled in just about every way. But now seeing her again brought it all home to him. He loved her and nothing would ever change that. While love filled his heart, the hurt still lingered there.

Before he could tell her, she said, "I wish I could take back all the cruel things I said to you that day, but I can't. Things seemed so black-and-white and it nearly destroyed me to think that I wasn't enough for you.

"And to think my mother was behind it. That she is capable of doing such evil things, that she put her own selfish wants and needs above my happiness, hurts deeply."

He gazed intensely into her eyes and saw the pain there, the hurt, the shame and the regrets. He hadn't been looking for love that day in Myrtle Beach, but it had found him anyway and more than once over the past four weeks a part of him had regretted ever meeting her, had resented falling in love so boundlessly. But now as he looked at her he knew it couldn't be helped. He was made to love her, which was the main reason he was here. He had wanted to be here when she heard the truth. Not to gloat or shove it in her face that she was wrong and should have been more trusting of him, but to be here to shoulder her pain, help her through this. Help them through this. And to be the man he would always be. The man who loved her.

"Now you know the truth," he said. "She can't hurt us anymore."

She wiped a tear away from her eye. "Us?"

He smiled softly. "Yes, us. There will always be an us, Erica. We just finished traveling a pretty rocky road. There were times it appeared we wouldn't make it, but we did. Nothing has changed. I love you. You love me. Besides," he said with a little catch in his voice, "do you honestly think I'd give you up that easily?"

Erica began nibbling on her bottom lip, too afraid to hope. "Are you saying, considering everything, including what an evil mother I have, you still want me?"

"I'll always want you and I'm marrying you and not your mother."

Their gazes held and then Erica rushed toward him and threw herself into his arms. He held her tight and whispered how much he loved her. In turn she told him how much she loved him and apologized again for not trusting him, for almost throwing away the best thing to ever come into her life.

"I've missed you so much, baby," he whispered against her hair. "I've been like a dying man and every day I was afraid I was about to take my last breath without you in my life."

"And I've missed you, as well," Erica said, tilting her head back and looking up into his eyes while keeping her arms wrapped tightly around him. "And to think of how much I almost lost because of my mother. I can't-"

He placed a finger to her lips. "Shh. I don't want to talk about your mother now. We can do that again later. This is what I want. What I need."

And then he captured her lips. The moment contact was made, every bone in his body seemed to pulverize. Blood rushed through his veins and he felt more love for her at that moment than ever before. He wanted to do more than just kiss her and knew that would all come later. They still had a lot to discuss regarding her mother, but for now he was happy to have her in his arms and kiss her like there were no tomorrows.

Long moments later their mouths separated but he still had his arms wrapped around her, as though fearful if he removed them she would vanish into thin air. He smiled down at her. "As much as I'd like to finish this-and I truly do intend to do so later-there are still more things we need to discuss and additional plans we need to make. Come on."

He then placed her hand in his and led her into the house.

Erica, sitting in Brian's lap on the sofa, glanced across the room at April, who likewise was sitting on the love seat in Griffin's lap. She could tell from the look on her friend's face she was happy and the thought that her mother almost ruined that happiness was unforgivable. She couldn't wait to confront her mother about this. No wonder her father had been so eager to grab love when he'd gotten the chance to do so.

She cleared her throat, deciding if she didn't get April and Griffin's attention they would be headed back to the bedroom. She smiled when she thought of how when she and Brian had come back inside the house, April and Griffin had been behind closed doors. It hadn't taken much to figure out what was going on so they had gone back outside to take a walk and to talk some more. They had stayed away from the topic of her mother. The conversation had been about them and how they intended to reschedule their wedding as soon as possible.

"Okay, April," she said, deciding now was the time. "You indicated earlier that you had two additional things to cover. Tell me now because I intend to head back home." And Brian would be coming with her. They had decided to confront her mother together.

She noticed the room suddenly got quiet, too quiet, and she studied April, who looked down as if she was nervous about what she had to say.