The Millionaire Claims His Wife by Sandra Marton

uncomfortably tight. “She said—she said that she realized, for the first time, that you and I must have felt just the way she and Nick feel. You know, as if we were the only two people on the whole planet who’d ever loved each other so much.”
    â€œLovers always feel that way,” Chase said gruffly.
    â€œShe said that if her mother and father could go from feeling like that to—to feeling the way we do about each other now, then she didn’t want any part of the process that got them—that got us—to this point.”
    Chase stared at his ex-wife. Her eyes were glassy with unshed tears and her mouth was trembling. Was she remembering, as he was, how it had once been between them? The joy? The passion? After a long minute, he cleared his throat again.
    â€œWhat’d you say?”
    â€œWhat could I say?”
    â€œThat our mistakes don’t have to be hers, for starters.”
    Annie waved her hand in a sad little gesture of dismissal.
    â€œDid you tell her that she was probably tired and jittery, and overdramatizing things?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œGood.”
    â€œI thought so, too.” Annie sighed. “But Dawn said she was just being pragmatic. She said she’d rather end things between her and Nick now, while they still cared for each other, than wait until—until they hated each other.”
    â€œGod, Annie. We don’t hate each other. You told her that, didn’t you?”
    Annie nodded.
    â€œAnd?”
    â€œAnd she said I was kidding myself, that love and hate were two sides of the same coin, that there was no middle ground, once people who’d been in love fell out of love.”
    Chase blew out his breath. “My daughter, the philosopher.”
    Annie looked up, her eyes filling again. “What are we going to do?” she whispered.
    â€œI don’t know.”
    â€œDawn’s heart is breaking. There’s got to be something! We can’t just let her walk away from Nick. She loves him, Chase. And he loves her.”
    â€œI know. I know.” Chase shoved his hand through his hair. “Let me think for a minute.”
    â€œOur daughter’s terrified of marriage, and it’s our fault!”
    Chase shot to his feet. “That’s crap.”
    â€œIt’s the truth.”
    â€œIt isn’t. It’s bad enough we couldn’t make our marriage work but I’ll be damned if I’m going to feel guilty for the failure of Dawn’s marriage. You hear me, Annie?”
    â€œThe entire house will hear you,” Annie hissed. “Keep your voice down, before you wake the kids.”
    â€œThey’re not ‘kids.’ Didn’t you just tell me that? Our daughter was old enough to decide she was ready to get married even though, according to you, you tried to talk her out of it.”
    â€œAccording to me?” Annie leaped up, her hands on her hips. “I did try to talk her out of it! But you’d already caved in and given her the ‘follow your heart’ baloney. You told her to do what she wanted!”
    â€œThat’s not true.” Chase strode toward Annie, his eyes blazing. “I begged her to think and think again. I said she was too damned young to take such a serious step—and guess what? I was right.”
    Annie’s shoulders slumped. “Okay, okay. So we both tried to convince her to wait. So maybe she should have listened to us. But she didn’t.”
    â€œNo. She didn’t. She did her own thing. And then she sees us dancing and all of a sudden, she turns into Sigmund Freud and figures out that she’s made a terrible mistake.”
    â€œChase, please! Keep your voice—”
    â€œShe has an epiphany, brought on by seeing us dancing. Why not by a gum wrapper on the floor at the airport, or the electrical energy from an overhead wire?”
    â€œThis is not something to joke about, dammit!”
    â€œMaybe it was