Matt picked up the phone and of course, it just had to be Elizabeth. He glanced over at C.J. and just wanted to hang up on his ex-fiancée.
"What is it Elizabeth?"
She sighed deeply.
"I have to talk to you Matlock, it's important."
He paused.
"I'm busy right now…and I'm done talking to you."
She sounded exasperated.
"I know you're with her. But there's some things I have to tell you and I can't do it over the phone."
"I'm not going to meet with you," he said, "You've got my company, you're running it into the ground and I've moved on."
"I know that but it's about Delilah. She was talking crazy earlier and I know she's upset, genuinely concerned about the wrongs done to me…"
"Wrongs done to you? Elizabeth I'm losing you here."
"Yes Matlock, the wrongs done to me," she said, "but we won't go into that. The point is that Delilah's determined to do an expose on C.J.'s pregnancy."
"I know that…and C.J. will sue her for libel if she publishes anything that's untrue."
"Oh that…well Delilah claims that she knows the truth. She found the father of C.J.'s baby."
Matt wrinkled his forehead.
"She claimed that it was Robert Tyler. We had that discussion and if she publishes that story, she's going to get sued."
Elizabeth softened her voice.
"Well Matlock she wanted to do DNA testing first," she said, "to get a definitive answer."
"It's not even her business…she doesn't have that right to do that," he said, "and Robert Tyler is not the father."
"How do you know that? She visited him in prison. It is possible…there was some type of interaction."
Matt sighed.
"She'd never do that. He'd never do that either. He's never forgiven her for betraying him."
"Matlock I'm only trying to help you no matter what you think," she said, "I still care about you."
He had a hard time believing that after everything she'd done. He was beginning to think her brand of caring wasn't much different from that of Nurse Erin. But that ex-lover had insanity in her favor, he didn't know what drove Elizabeth to act this way.
"Elizabeth I don't need your help," he said, "You might need help running your new company but then it doesn't seem like your silent partner's done much for you."
She gritted her teeth.
"My silent partner is just that and I know this is yet another attempt by you to find out the identity."
Matt already had a few ideas brewing inside his head. He believed one of them would pan out, it was just a matter of figuring which.
"You won't you know so you might as well stop trying."
"Okay but my former company dropped six share points this morning which means you're not doing too well."
She bristled.
"It's a temporary setback," she said, "This company will become more successful than when you owned it."
"That's a pretty tall order Elizabeth."
She didn't respond to that.
"Elizabeth…I'm hanging up now."
"No wait Matlock…I have to tell you about Delilah. She's called the prison and is asking for an exclusive interview with Robert Tyler."
"So…?"
"She's going to ask him questions about whether or not he sired C.J.'s baby while in custody."
"He's not going to give her the answers she wants," Matt said, "so it's going to be a very short interview."
"We shall see…but you can't underestimate Delilah."
"She's your best friend…"
Elizabeth paused.
"Yes she is but I think she might be going a bit too far."
He didn't know what she was getting at, given that Delilah was doing all of this for her.
"She went too far when she decided to go after C.J."
Elizabeth chuckled.
"My how noble of you," she said, "But she secretly didn't want us to get married. You do know that."
Matt sighed.
"She had nothing to do with us not getting married," he said, "You're the one who decided you couldn't handle my lifestyle…that it brought too much danger into your life."
"It's true though isn't it? Our messed up wedding is proof of that."
He couldn't deny that it showed that marrying him carried a degree of risk, both in terms of danger and in terms of the media showing up and covering every detail of his life…including his wedding. He was just a wealthy businessman and multi-millionaire that some thought eccentric when he decided to give it all up to focus on being a private investigator.
"Elizabeth we made the right choice not to go through with it," he said, "I think it's just time for you to accept that and move on with your life."
She paused and he hoped she did just that. He did hope she'd find happiness as long as it wasn't in close proximity to him.
"No Matlock…I'm going to make a success of your company…my company and make it an even bigger success. I will show you and the rest of the world I'm not to be belittled or overlooked by anyone."
Matt listened and knew she still bore scars from her unconventional upbringing but he didn't care much for serving as her therapy couch.
"Good bye Elizabeth…"
He clicked off the phone and turned to see C.J. walking back into the bedroom bringing back some ice cream and hot fudge she'd made for herself while he'd been on the phone.
"You finished?"
He nodded and put the phone away.
"Good because I'm going to eat this and try not to spill it…but my condition has made me a bit clumsy so if I do spill some…"
He smiled.
"Don't you worry about a thing darling…I'll make sure to clean it up."
She sat cross legged on the bed eating her sundae, feeding him occasional bites.
"I know what Delilah's up to Houston," she said, "but I don't care what everyone thinks or speculates. Besides Robert won't take credit for it. He still hates me for what I did."
Matt smoothed the hair off of her face, knowing that she still didn't like to remember what had happened the last time she'd seen Robert outside a prison cell. Sometimes the truth being difficult to accept, didn't even begin to describe how she felt when she'd been inside that motel room dressed as someone else.
"I love you and our baby…and it's time for me to announce that to the world."
"Houston…"
He touched her lips with his finger looking at her.
"That's what I'm going to do."