The Calamity Janes: Cassie & Karen. Sherryl Woods

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      “My mother?” she repeated, needing to understand, praying she was mistaken. “What did she have to do with it?”

      “Who do you think wrote the note that Cole got? And who kept his note from you? No way I could keep Berta Smith from delivering it. She takes her duties at the post office real serious. But your mama got it out of the box and ripped it up.”

      “Oh, my God,” she whispered, brokenhearted at the thought of the betrayal that had changed not just her life and Cole’s but their son’s, as well. Maybe they wouldn’t have married if Cole had known about the pregnancy, but they’d never had a chance to decide things for themselves. Each had been convinced of the other’s betrayal. As a result the choices had been taken out of their hands.

      “Well, the lies are over now,” Frank said, a complacent expression settling on his face. “Cole will know about his son soon enough, and if I know my boy, he’ll be furious that you kept such a secret from him. He’ll fight you for custody.”

      Cassie felt sick to her stomach as she realized that even now the man was scheming against her. “That’s what you’re counting on, isn’t it? That he’ll reject me but claim Jake?”

      His eyes glittered with satisfaction. “That’s exactly right. You won’t stand a chance of keeping the boy, not in this state.”

      If she hadn’t been filled with such white-hot fury, Cassie might have been chilled by his threat or by the triumphant expression on his face. Instead, poking him in the chest, she backed him up against the opposite wall, oblivious to the difference in their sizes, oblivious to anything beyond the outrage that his smug remark had stirred.

      “You will never take my boy from me,” she said in a low tone, praying it wouldn’t carry down the hall. “Never. Not if I have to see you in hell first.”

      She must not have gotten the right note of warning in her voice, because she could still hear Frank’s chuckle echoing after her as she stormed into Cole’s office to claim her son.