Page 67 of Winning Back His Wife
Sarah slowly removed the wedding band. The ring slipped off her finger as easily as it had gone on. She placed the gold band with the note and the white envelope. And her heart wept.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
HOME.
Anticipation pulsed through Cullen’s veins. He dumped his backpack in the garage. He would unpack his gear later. All he wanted was to see Sarah.
He entered the house. “Sarah.”
She didn’t answer.
He searched for her, trying to ignore a sense of foreboding.
She wasn’t there.
Shoulders hunched, Cullen walked back to the living room. He understood Sarah’s need to return to Bellingham, to her job at the institute. Reporters had been abuzz with news of more steam blasts and earthquakes from Baker. Granted he’d been stuck in a snow cave overnight, but to take off without so much as a goodbye...
A white envelope on the breakfast bar caught his attention.
A two-ton weight pressed down on him. He trudged to the kitchen, feeling as if he were wading through quicksand. He saw a note and a gold wedding band sitting on top of the envelope. With unsteady hands he unfolded the piece of paper and read.
Dear Cullen,
I appreciate all you’ve done for me these past weeks. Hood Hamlet has been the perfect place to recover. Thank you for opening your home to me and introducing me to your friends.
I know you wanted to drive me home to Bellingham, but after being stuck overnight in a snow cave the last thing you need is to be stuck in a car making the long drive there and back.
The dissolution of marriage petition was served yesterday. I do still want a divorce. I agree with everything in the paperwork and will not be filing a response. Very soon there will be nothing stopping you from getting your life back on track.
I wish you the best. Heaven knows you deserve better than someone like me. I’m sure you’ll find her and she’ll be exactly what you want in a wife!
Sarah
No! Cullen crinkled the page into a tight ball. He wanted to scream, shout, hit something. He threw the note. It bounced off the wall and fell to the floor.
Familiar anger and resentment exploded. Hands shaking, Cullen picked up her wedding ring. He ran his fingers around the smooth gold band. Sarah hadn’t seemed like the sentimental type, yet she’d kept hers. As he’d kept his. He set the ring on the bar.
The silence and emptiness of the cabin matched the way he felt inside.
Was this how Sarah had felt when she’d arrived home from doing research on Mount Baker and discovered he’d moved out while she was away? Cullen didn’t want to know the answer. She didn’t deserve any sympathy.
Damn her. Couldn’t Sarah see they had something special? Why would she walk away like this?
He stiffened.
Walk away like he had when she’d brought up a divorce.
Cullen retrieved the wadded-up note, smoothed the wrinkles from the page, then reread it. Again and again. Her words sank in. Something clicked.
Sarah wasn’t leaving him for something better. She wanted him to find something—someone—better than her. This wasn’t about him or them, but her. For some reason she didn’t think she was good enough.
Just like the last time. But he’d been too hurt, too full of pride to realize it.
Snippets of conversations rushed to the surface.
I’ve never felt so inadequate in my life.
I wasn’t anything special. I would have held him back. I don’t blame him for not wanting to marry me.
They didn’t care about me. They never wanted me around. After the divorce, they shuttled me back and forth.
All the pieces had been there, but Cullen hadn’t put them together. Until now.
He needed to go after her and show her how special she was, how much he needed her. Something her mom and dad had never done, or her idiotic fiancé or...
Him.
His chest tightened, squeezing the air out of his lungs. He’d let Sarah down a year ago. No, he’d let her down from the time they’d returned to Seattle from Las Vegas and he’d tried to remain in control after she had rocked his neat and tidy little world. He’d kept parts of his life separate from her. He’d been afraid of losing control, of following in Blaine’s footsteps and losing himself to something that would be bad for him, so Cullen had held on tight to what he could and kept her out. What had the family counselor called it? Compartmentalizing. He’d taken it a step further. He’d built walls, remained silent and run away.
When Sarah had mentioned divorce, he’d jumped at the chance to make a clean break, then retreated like a turtle into its shell to lick his wounds. What he’d failed to see was how good Sarah was for him. Damn good.
He wasn’t going to make the same mistake again. He would go to Bellingham and convince her they belonged together. Do whatever it took. Fight for her if he had to.
