Their Inherited Triplets, page 16
It was not.
It was their attorneys.
* * *
Lulu knew by what Liz and Travis would not say to them on the phone that their worst fears were being realized, so she went upstairs to hurriedly shower and change into business casual clothes. Then she and Sam drove into town.
Liz and Travis were waiting for them in the conference room. “Why don’t you both have a seat?” Liz said.
Sam held Lulu’s chair for her, then sat down beside her. As usual, he wasted no time cutting to the chase. “You found something problematic, didn’t you?”
Travis grimaced. “Definitely something interesting.”
“The two of you are still married,” Liz said.
“Still?” Lulu croaked.
Sam asked, “What are you talking about?”
“More to the point, how do you know this?” Lulu demanded, the news hitting her like a gut punch.
Travis looked down at the papers in front of him. “Official state records show you eloped in the Double Knot Wedding Chapel in Memphis, Tennessee, on Monday, March 14, over ten years ago. Alongside another couple, Peter and Theresa Thompson, in a double wedding ceremony.”
Lulu gulped. “But our union was never legal,” she pointed out, trying to stay calm while Sam sat beside her in stoic silence.
Liz countered, “Ah, actually, it is legal. In fact, it’s still valid to this day.”
Sam reached over and took her hand in his, much as he had the first time they had been in this room together. “How is that possible?” Lulu asked weakly.
“We never mailed in the certificate of marriage, or the license, to the state of Tennessee,” Sam said.
“And for our union to be recorded and legal, we would have had to have done that,” Lulu reiterated.
“Well, apparently, the owners of the Double Knot Wedding Chapel did, and your marriage was recorded,” Travis said. “And is still valid to this day, near as we can tell. Unless you two got a divorce or an annulment somewhere else? Say, another country?”
“Why would we do that? We didn’t know we were married,” Sam returned.
Lulu noted her “husband” did not appear anywhere near as upset as she was. She forced herself to settle down. With a dismissive wave of her hand, she told everyone in the room, “It doesn’t matter. We’ll just explain we were too young, or at least at nineteen I was too young to know what I was doing,” she amended hastily, “and get an annulment now.”
Again, Liz shook her head. “Sorry. It’s been too long. It would have to be a divorce.”
Lulu groaned. Talk about a day going all wrong! First, Sam had completely knocked her off guard by impulsively asking her out on a date. And now this! She twisted her hands and asked, “Is it possible we could obtain a divorce, without anyone finding out?”
“You mean like social services or the court?” Travis asked. “No.”
Beside her, Sam went into all-business mode. “How does this development affect our proposed petition to adopt?”
Lulu noticed he hadn’t said mistake.
Liz tapped her pen against the table. “It certainly makes it a great deal more complicated.”
Lulu tried to get a grip and adopted Sam’s no-nonsense tone. “In what sense?” she asked.
Travis sat back in his chair. “To become guardians, the bar is not that high, if the parents named you in their will. Mostly because guardianship can be terminated rather easily, for any number of reasons. However, adoption is permanent and cannot easily be undone.” He cleared his throat. “So when it comes to that process of qualifying, social services and the courts want to see a stable, loving environment for the children. Anything that points to the opposite, like your secret elopement, equally impulsive breakup, and the fact you did not properly follow-through with either an annulment or a divorce and had no idea you were still married, can send up a red flag.”
Lulu gulped. “How do we fix this?”
“You could admit you made a mistake, get an amicable divorce and prove you can get along in the aftermath.”
Frowning, Sam asked, “How long would all that take?”
Travis made a seesawing gesture. “Potentially months, if not years, to satisfy the court.”
Sam leaned forward, gaze narrowing. “And if we stay married, then what kind of detrimental impact will it have on our proposal to adopt?”
“Less of one. But,” Liz said firmly, “if you two choose to go that route, you have to show real commitment to each other, as well as the children.”
Lulu’s anxiety rose. More and more this seemed like an impossible predicament. “How do we do that?” she asked.
Their lawyers exchanged telltale glances, then shrugged. “That is up to the two of you.”
* * *
At Sam’s suggestion, he and Lulu picked up some sandwiches and coffees from the bistro in town, and then retreated to Lulu’s ranch to come up with a strategy for dealing with the marital crisis they suddenly found themselves in.
“I can’t believe it,” Lulu said miserably, burying her face in her hands.
Sam could. He’d always felt married to Lulu in his heart, ever since they said their vows. It was what had made it so hard for him to move on. What Lulu was feeling, though, he had no clue.
“Can’t?” he asked before he could stop himself, realizing he had to know where he stood with her. “Or don’t want to believe it?”
She jumped out of her seat and whirled to face him. Hands on her hips. Like him, she’d barely touched her food. “Would you please stop doing that?” she asked with icy disdain.
The resentment he’d stuffed deep inside rose to the surface. “Stop doing what?” Wanting you?
She winced. Looking guilty as all get-out, which of course, she should, since it was her abrupt change of heart, not his, that had ultimately put them in this mess.
She huffed in answer to his question. “Stop bringing up all the angst we felt back then!”
“Can’t help it.” Within him, anger and irritation surged. “It was a lousy thing to do, insist we get married, along with our friends. And then,” he continued, the words coming out along with the hurt, “four days later, tell me the only way we could continue as husband and wife was if we kept it a secret!”
She took another deep breath, suddenly appearing oddly vulnerable. “I wasn’t saying permanently!” She gestured broadly, then started to pivot away from him.
Not about to let her run away from him again, he stopped her with a light hand to her shoulder. Turned her slowly back to face him. And finally asked what he’d wanted to know for years. “Why say it at all?”
An emotional silence stretched between them.
He let his hand fall to his side. “You either loved me or you didn’t, and apparently you didn’t.”
“It’s more complicated than that, and you know it.”
A muscle ticked in his jaw. “Then why, Lulu?” He gritted out. “Why did you run scared?”
Another long, awkward silence fell. “My parents would not have understood.”
Aggravated to find her still using that lame excuse, he gave her a chastising glance. “There’s no way to know that, because we never gave them a chance to support us.”
“It’s not like you told anyone in your family!” Lulu said, just as bitterly. Reminding him she wasn’t the only one who had suffered from a hefty dose of pride. She stepped forward and jabbed an accusing finger at his chest. “Since you said we’d either go public with our marriage immediately, or it was all over. And no one would ever have to know!”
Seeing she was about to bolt again, he let out a rough breath and stepped closer. “Can you blame me?”
She tossed her head, silky hair flying in every direction. “For having a ‘my way or the highway’ approach?” she shot back. “Yes, I can, since marriage is supposed to be a fair and equal partnership.”
Her words hit their target. She had a point. He shouldn’t be lashing out. He shook his head. “I’m sorry,” he said guiltily. “I’m upset.” They had been so close to having everything they wanted. And now...
Lulu released a deep breath and grew quiet once again. “We’re both upset, Sam.” She shoved her hair away from her face. Shook her head in misery. “The big issue is where do we go from here?”
That, at least, was easy, Sam thought. “Isn’t it obvious? We stay married.”
* * *
Lulu’s day went from bad to worse in sixty seconds. She stared at the handsome cowboy opposite her, wondering how she had ever imagined the two of them were living in some sort of fairy tale. “Are you serious?”
Looking more resolute than ever, he replied, “We want to adopt the kids. Our best shot at doing that is by being married. And since we already are, why not just leave it as is and go forward as husband and wife?”
How about because we don’t love each other? Lulu thought. But not about to reveal the direction of her thoughts, she countered sarcastically, “Just like that? Presto, change-o, snap our fingers, and we’re a happily married couple?”
Even though, if she were honest, she would have to admit that lately she had been feeling as if they were on the verge of being just that.
“Why not? We’re already spending time together every day. Sleeping together. Raising three kids together and living under the same roof. Why not just admit that staying married is the best avenue for raising the kids and making them feel safe and secure and loved?”
Because, Lulu thought, if I do that, then I’m one step away from opening up my heart and admitting the real reason why I’ve never really been able to get serious about anyone else but you, Sam. “Because we’d have to tell everyone what we did back then,” she blurted out.
Again, he clearly did not see what the problem was. “So?” His gruff response was a direct hit to her carefully constructed defenses.
“It’s embarrassing,” she whispered, the heat moving from her chest into her face. She threw up her hands and paced. “It makes us look idiotic and reckless.”
Sam crossed his arms. Determined, it seemed, to win this argument. His gaze sifted over her before returning ever so slowly to her eyes. “Or wildly in love. I mean, isn’t that why people usually elope?”
“Except we weren’t wildly in love, Sam.” If they had been, they never would have split up and stayed apart for almost a decade. Would they?
He sobered, looking pensive. “Well, what do you want to do, Lulu?” he asked in exasperation. “Split up again and go through the hell of divorce, because even an uncontested one is just that, and then try to adopt?”
Put that way, it did sound unreasonable.
“And what if getting divorced not only ruins our chances of ever adopting the triplets,” he said, in an increasingly rusty voice, “but also casts a bad light on our character and gets them removed from our guardianship, too?”
Lulu swallowed around the lump in her throat. “I couldn’t bear that.” The thought of losing the triplets was on par with how she had felt losing Sam. Heartbreakingly awful.
Sam compressed his lips. “Well, neither could I.”
A stony silence fell.
Lulu weighed the possibilities. Life with Sam and the kids. Life without. There really was no other choice. Not if they didn’t want to disappoint literally everyone. “So we’re in agreement,” she said, trying not to cry. She swallowed hard, aware she had never felt so trapped or miserable. She lifted her gaze to his. “We bite the bullet and stay married for the sake of the kids.”
Sam locked eyes with her, looking no happier than she felt. He exhaled grimly, ran a hand through his hair. “I really don’t see any other way out of this. Do you?”
Chapter Fifteen
Unfortunately, Lulu did not see any other way out. So they asked Dan and Kelly to keep the kids a little longer and went to see her parents first, figuring they could then leave it to Rachel and Frank to spread the word.
As they sat down together at the kitchen table, Lulu said, “Y’all remember spring break, my sophomore year of college, when I went on a country music tour with some of my best girlfriends?”
Her parents nodded, perplexed, unable to see where this was going.
Hating to disappoint them, Lulu knotted her hands in front of her. “Well, I lied to you,” she admitted shamefully. “I was in Tennessee. But I was staying with Sam that week, not a group of girls.”
Her parents looked at Sam. “I apologize for that,” he said with gruff sincerity. “We should have told you the truth.”
Her parents paused. “I assume there is a reason you’re telling us all this now?” her father said.
Lulu nodded. “There is.” She explained how she and Sam had accompanied their friends Peter and Theresa to Tennessee to be the witnesses for their secret wedding ceremony.
Sam reached over and took her hand. Buoyed by the warmth and security of his touch, she plunged on, “I was so caught up in the romance of it all—” and my incredible, overwhelming feelings for Sam, she added silently “—that I suggested we make it a double wedding.”
Sam lifted a hand. “For the record, I was all too ready to jump in.”
“So we eloped, too,” Lulu confessed. “And for the rest of our spring break,” she admitted wistfully as Sam’s hand tightened over hers, “everything was wonderful.” For a few heady days, she’d felt all her dreams had come true.
“What happened to change all that?” her dad asked. “And make you break up?”
“When it came time to go home, the reality of what we had done set in for me.” Hard.
The memory of that last horrible fight was not a good one. Sam withdrew his hand, sat back.
Tears blurred her vision once again. Embarrassed, she continued, “I knew we’d acted recklessly and I was afraid to tell anyone else what we’d done. And I especially didn’t want to disappoint the two of you.” Unable to look her “husband” in the eye, she related sadly, “Sam refused to live our marriage in the shadows, so we broke up.”
“And got the marriage annulled?” her mother assumed.
“Actually...” Sam went on to explain the confusion over the paperwork that had followed. “We just found out we’re still legally married.”
Her parents took a moment to absorb that information. “Which puts us in a little bit of a quandary,” Lulu said.
“Little?” her father echoed, finally appearing as upset with her as Lulu had initially expected him to be.
“Okay. It’s a pretty big problem,” she conceded, chagrined. “But Sam and I are going to figure this out.”
“Well.” Her mother sighed. “First, I wish you had come to us at the time and told us what was going on, so we could have made sure there were no lingering legal snafus. And supported you. And we would have supported you, Lulu, no matter what you thought then. Or think now...”
Her dad, calming down, nodded.
“Second,” Rachel said, with a gentle firmness, “as for you being fearful of our opinion, when it comes to your life—” she paused to look long and hard at the two of them “—it only matters what you two feel in your hearts, not what anyone else thinks.” She reached across the table to take Lulu’s and Sam’s hands. Squeezed. “Furthermore, your family will defend your right to make those choices for yourself, by yourselves, even when we don’t approve or understand them.”
Her dad covered their enjoined hands with his own. “Your mother and brothers and I want you to be happy, sweetheart. And the same goes for you, Sam.” He regarded them both with respect.
“It’s up to you to figure out what will make you feel that way and then go for it,” Rachel added gently.
Everyone disengaged hands. Another silence fell, even more awkward and fraught with untenable emotions.
“Do you know what you’re going to do?” her mom asked finally.
Lulu and Sam looked at each other. “Stay married,” they answered in unison.
Sam draped his arm across the back of Lulu’s chair and continued with the same steady affability that made him such a good leader. “We think it would provide a more stable environment for the kids.”
Frank pushed back his chair and got up to make coffee. Once again, he seemed loaded for bear. “You really think you can make an arrangement like this work?”
Lulu didn’t see any choice if they wanted to help the kids. But sensing it would be a mistake to tell her parents that, she answered, “Yes.” She hauled in another breath, admitting a little more happily, “Sam and I have recently gotten back together, anyway, so it just makes sense for us to stay married and build on that.”
Beside her, Sam seemed calm and accepting of the predicament they found themselves in. Her parents regarded them with equal parts doubt and consideration. Which amped up her own wariness. But to her surprise, Frank and Rachel didn’t try to talk them out of it.
“Okay, then,” her mom said finally. “But if you’re going to stay married—” her regard was stern, unrelenting “—your dad and I want you to be as serious as the institution of marriage requires this time. And do it right by officially and publicly recommitting to each other and saying your vows before all your family and friends. That way, everyone—including and especially the two of you—will know it is not just a whim that can be easily discarded. But an honorable, heartfelt promise you can both be proud of.”
* * *
“I don’t see why you’re so upset,” Sam said, late into the following week.
Lulu pushed away from her laptop, where she had been dutifully compiling the expected guest lists for her parents. “Because it’s all so unnecessary!” she fumed, stepping out back where the newly installed swings and sandbox sat in the warmth of a perfect summer night.
