Perfect Fit - Brenda Jackson [30]
Sage’s gaze locked with her mother’s, not believing what she was hearing. “How could you wonder such a thing? Erol and I have been together a long time. I wouldn’t have stayed with him if I didn’t love him. And as far as me taking a long time to agree to marry him, I didn’t see the need to rush into a marriage like he did.”
“And you didn’t think a long-term commitment, a marriage vow, was important?”
Sage sighed deeply. How could she tell her mother that she always had thought so … until last night? A marriage vow hadn’t kept her father from sleeping with another woman. “Yes, Mom, I think it’s important. I just thought what Erol and I had didn’t necessarily need a piece of paper to be solid.”
“Long marriages run in our family, Sage.”
“Yes, I know that. All I’m saying is that I agreed to marry Erol when I felt I was ready.”
Her mother didn’t say anything for the longest time, and then she asked, “And now, Sage?”
“And now the only thing I’m ready to do is to get on with my life—alone—without him.” Sage heard movement behind her and knew her father was coming down the stairs.
“I’m sure your father has a lot to say to you, young lady.”
Sage nodded and smiled tenderly at her mother, and tried to hide the hurt, anger and disappointment in her voice when she said, “Yes, I’m sure he does.”
And I have a lot to say to him as well, she thought. She felt her throat close tight and could feel the stinging of tears in her eyes as she braced herself to come face-to-face with him.
CHAPTER SEVEN
At a time when she needed her parents more than anything, Sage didn’t want to feel such animosity toward her father. But when she stood and met his gaze, she felt nothing but profound anger and disappointment.
Evidently, something in the way she was looking at him stopped him short when he descended the last stair. “Sage? Are you all right, sweetheart?” he asked slowly as his gaze raked over her.
“Yes, I’m fine.” She knew her tone was just this side of curt, but that couldn’t be helped. She’d already dealt with Erol, and now she had to deal with her father.
“Your mother and I have been worried,” he said, coming into the room to stand in front of her and next to her mother.
Sage wanted so much to fling herself into his arms like she’d always done when she’d been hurt and upset about something, or just plain needed a hug. But not this time.
“Do you want to tell me and your mother what’s going on with you and Erol?”
Sage sighed deeply. She didn’t want to tell him anything, and at the moment she felt that given her present state of mind, being here wasn’t helping at all.
“Sage?”
She sighed again, more irritably this time. “I’ve already told Mom, but just so you’ll know, I discovered Erol is not as trustworthy as I thought,” she said, letting her anger get the better of her. “I came back to town to discover he had cleaned out both my checking and my saving accounts of over fifty thousand dollars, and that amount included the money Gramma Dunbar left for me.”
Charles Dunbar blinked as total disbelief covered his face. “Are you sure?”
Yes, I’m as sure of what he did as much as I’m sure of what you did, she wanted to scream, but instead she said, “Yes. I went to the bank yesterday and saw the documents he signed to get the money out. He even confessed to doing it.”
“But for what reason?”
She was silent for a minute; then she answered, “For an investment scheme that went bad which means we lost every penny.”
Her father shook his head sadly. “I admit Erol acted irresponsibly, but then, that’s how it is with investments. You can make money and you can lose money.”
Sage’s heart pounded painfully in her chest. “Yes, but it wasn’t his money to lose. He had no right investing my money into anything without talking to me about it first.”
“Sage.” She heard her father let out a deep sigh. “His name was on your bank account, wasn’t it?”
Sage frowned, and her lips pursed. “Yes.”
“Then, that means that technically, it was his