You Were Meant For Me

by Kait Nolan

  “I won’t settle for less.” It seemed she was an all or nothing sort of woman.

  “That’s your decision. And I support you in it, whatever you choose. But be clear on this: My relationship with your mother failed because my heart wasn’t in it a hundred percent. It had nothing to do with us suddenly becoming parents before we were ready, before we’d figured things out. This baby—your baby—is not an automatic death sentence to whatever is between you and Mitch. It’s not a guarantee that you two will turn out like your mother and I did.”

  Tess clung to the pillow, as if that was somehow going to stop the dizzy spin of her world realigning. With this one detail, he’d just rewritten the story of her life. She couldn’t get her head around it.

  Was he right? Was there still some kind of a chance for the two of them to salvage their relationship? Tess wanted to believe him. Was desperate to cling to any shred of possibility that things weren’t destroyed. But she was so very afraid.

  Shifting, she crawled into his lap, curling up as she hadn’t since she was a little girl, so her head was tucked against his shoulder. “I hope you’re right.”

  Her father held her for a long time, stroking her back. “I do have one thing to ask of you in all this.”

  Tess tensed. Please don’t ask for more details about how we got together. “What?”

  “Can we come up with some other name for me than Grandpa? I just don’t feel that old.”

  And though her heart was broken, she managed to find a laugh.

  She was gone.

  Mitch had known that when he saw her car wasn’t in the garage, but he’d torn through the house anyway, hoping to find something—anything—to prove him wrong. He dropped down onto the bed in the suite down the hall from their room, staring into the closet. Some of her things were still there, but the suitcase and most of the clothes weren’t. Several hangers lay strewn on the floor, as if she hadn’t been able to get out fast enough to take care in packing. He shouldn’t have been surprised that she hadn’t stuck around to work through all of this. Bolting was a thing she did. He knew that from first-hand experience. She’d been scared of what she felt in Scotland. It had been far more than fear he’d seen in her face today. It had been utter devastation.

  He could relate. The foundation of his world felt cracked, and he was terrified it couldn’t be mended. But all of his own agony and frustration was secondary for the moment. Because Tess was out there, scared and upset and behind the wheel. It wasn’t safe. And beyond the worry that she’d get into an accident, he had no way of knowing whether she was, even now, on the way to the airport to meet the company’s private jet to walk out of his life forever.

  She’d told him she wasn’t going to do anything to keep him from their baby. But she’d also said she wanted to stay and keep exploring things between them and here she was gone, without a word, without a note. Again. So, no, he wouldn’t put it past her to run far and fast because apparently her fear was bigger than anything she felt for him.

  You don’t love me.

  The look on her face…the utter heartbreak. Mitch still couldn’t get over the fact that she truly didn’t believe him. He’d spelled it out, and she’d heard none of it. How the hell was he supposed to combat that?

  Where the hell was she so he could try?

  The doorbell rang. Mitch bolted down the stairs. But, of course, it wasn’t Tess. Aunt Sandy stood on his front stoop. Maybe she was here to browbeat him over his involvement with Tess in the first place. Taking over that duty for her husband? Or maybe for his own parents because they were too ashamed of him they couldn’t even ream him in person. He didn’t really want to open the door to any of that. But maybe she had news about Tess. He needed that more than he needed to protect himself from recriminations.

  “She’s at The Babylon.”

  Mitch’s hand flexed on the open door. So she wasn’t driving and she hadn’t left town. Yet. But was it only a matter of time? Until she could make the necessary arrangements?

  He’d worry about that later. For now, he let go of the fear and worry over her safety and let all his own hurt and frustration come to a boil. How the hell had his life gotten to be such a damned mess?

  “Thanks for letting me know.” He started to shut the door, but his aunt blocked it.

  “I’m not finished.”

  “Are you here to lecture me for daring to put my hands on her? For making the family awkward? Because I swear to God, I had no idea who she was when we met, and it wasn’t my idea to keep us a secret.”

  “No. I’m here to give you some perspective.”

  Well, that was just fucking peachy.

  But he backed up to let her in. Figuring he’d need it for whatever was coming, Mitch headed to the sideboard in the dining room and poured himself a generous glass of bourbon.

  “Sit.” The single word held all the authority she’d once wielded as the high school principal.

  Mitch found himself sitting, though more from dread than intimidation.

  “What has Tess told you about her parents?”

  “Not a lot. We talked about Trey some. A little about her mom. It wasn’t something we discussed really.”

  “You know they’re divorced. Have been for years.”

  “Sure. But I don’t know why she thinks that’s the automatic outcome here.”

  “Probably because there are a lot of similarities between your situation and that of her parents.”

  “What? They had a vacation fling and got pregnant?” He said it with sarcasm, but stopped with the glass halfway to his mouth when he caught her level stare.

  “Not vacation fling, no. Trey and Maura dated for more than a year. But yes, she got pregnant, and they got married.”

  Mitch sipped his bourbon and let that sink in. So when she’d said she wouldn’t be here if not for this exact situation, she’d meant she literally wouldn’t exist. That hadn’t been a slap at him, but at her father. Who had instantly asked if they were getting married.

  I’m saving us both from the prison of your convictions.

  “They only got married because of her,” he realized.

  “Not entirely, but mostly. Chances are, the relationship would have fizzled out if left to run its course.”

  But it hadn’t been left to run its course. They’d gone with convention, gotten married, and as the child of that union, Tess had been a first-hand witness to the fallout.

  Eventually the heat that brought us together in the first place will burn out. Until there’s nothing left but ash and a resentment that will block out everything but the dimmest memories of anything that was ever good between us.

  Jesus. Was that what her parents had been like growing up? The aftermath of some kind of cold war? It was so far from his own experience, with that multi-generational family and the sloppy dog, Mitch couldn’t even wrap his head around it. But he was beginning to understand what vastly different backgrounds they came from.

  “I thought she was worried the baby would change things because she didn’t think I was okay with being a father. I was trying to make her see that I’m totally on board with the whole package, and instead I made her think the package was the only thing I cared about.” Because saying marriage was the right thing put him in the same boat as her father and made everything about the baby. Exactly what he’d wanted to avoid.

  “Probably. Their divorce was extremely hard on her, obviously harder even than Trey realized. And she saw more than they meant for her to. That’s what she comes from. She doesn’t have all the examples of solid relationships you have, so she doesn’t know how to trust you when you say that everything will turn out all right in the end. For her family, it didn’t.”

  Mitch tossed back the rest of the bourbon, feeling a little clarity come with the burn of the alcohol. “I think she’s afraid of us. Our whole family and way of life. I’d thought it was just her being weirded out and not knowing how to act around you as his second wife, but she’s outright terrified
of what we represent.”

  “Maybe. For someone like her, our family is a bit like a fairy tale.”

  “She deserves the fairy tale.”

  “Can you give it to her?”

  He wanted to do that more than anything. Because she was his fairy tale, too. “I’m sure as hell trying. But she thinks my loving her is only because of the baby.”

  “Is it?”

  “No. Maybe my feelings got deeper, faster because of the baby, but I loved her before I ever knew what we’d made.”

  “Then find a way to make her see she’s enough.”

  Chapter 16

  Tess’s whole body ached. Probably because she’d cried out every remaining ounce of fluid after her father left. Then she’d forced herself to guzzle more water, thinking dehydration was probably bad for the baby. She’d caught only snatches of sleep, and those had been full of Mitch and his agonized expression as she’d run from him.

  Coward.

  The echo of the accusation was still with her as she crawled out of bed just after the sun. And why shouldn’t it be? She was a coward, too terrified to face him and lay her heart bare, lest it not be enough.

  Uncomfortable with the truth of it, Tess forced herself straight into work. The job had always been her salvation, the place she was in control. After the past few weeks, she needed to be in control of something. But after following up on the Picadilly project with her crew in London, she couldn’t seem to find enough focus for anything else. The incubator was on hold until Brody called to schedule the walk-through, and she wasn’t in any shape to get involved in anything else.

  Mitch hadn’t called or come by. And what did she expect? She’d run. How many times could she leave this man behind and expect him to still want to follow? She’d wanted—needed—space after the debacle of that family dinner. But distance hadn’t made her feel any better and sure as hell hadn’t brought any clarity.

  Because she had no idea what else to do, Tess upended the suitcase on her bed and began to methodically smooth and fold, repacking the stuff she’d just thrown into the bag last night. She recognized it for the false sense of order it was but continued the familiar ritual because she needed to control something, anything, no matter how small.

  At the knock on the penthouse door, she dropped the blouse she was folding.

  Mitch.

  Her heart leapt, even as her feet closed the distance and her hand closed over the knob.

  It wasn’t Mitch.

  It was an army of Campbell women. Sandy, Norah, Cecily, Miranda, Grammy, Anita, and even Mitch’s mother were all crowded in the hall. What the hell were they all doing here?

  Only a lifetime of etiquette lessons kept her from simply shutting the door in their faces and hiding.

  “We’re sorry to disturb you,” Norah began.

  “No we’re not,” Miranda said. “We need to talk to you.” She didn’t wait for an invitation before edging her way into the penthouse.

  “Please, come in,” Tess muttered.

  Liz heaved a sigh as she followed. “I swear she wasn’t raised in a barn.”

  Knowing there’d be no getting rid of them until they’d said whatever it was they came here to say, Tess stepped back to open the door fully. Once they’d all filed inside, she shut it and fell into hostess mode. “Can I offer you coffee or tea?”

  What am I doing? I don’t want them to stay.

  “There’s no need to go to any trouble,” Sandy said.

  An awkward silence draped over the room. Tess couldn’t resist the compulsion to fill it. “I’m sorry for the…scene…yesterday.”

  Grammy waved that off. “Oh honey, if we didn’t have a spectacle once a month, something would be wrong.”

  What the hell was she supposed to say to that? Tess dug deep, trying to find some kind of normal something she could fall back on, but it was simply beyond her just now. “If you’re here to plead Mitch’s case—”

  “No. We’re here to support you,” Sandy said.

  “I—what?”

  “Let me start, because if this kumbaya session runs long, I’ve got to get to the clinic to open.” Miranda crossed her arms. “Yesterday was incredibly difficult for you, and we want to apologize collectively if we made it worse.”

  “I’m reasonably sure I did that all by myself.”

  Miranda’s face softened with sympathy. “My bone-headed brother helped.”

  “He’s not bone-headed,” Tess snapped. “He’s kind and honorable and loyal to a fault.”

  Her lips twitched. “So you are in love with him.”

  “Miranda,” Norah warned.

  “She doesn’t have to answer. It’s written all over her face.”

  Liz reached out, as if she wanted to touch Tess, but folded her hands instead. “You’re right. My son is all of those things, but he’s also old-fashioned, chivalrous, and very thick-headed. He has in his head that there is one right way to do things and he didn’t listen to you like he should have.”

  “The fact of the matter is, marriage isn’t always the right thing in these situations. That you’re willing to stand up to that says a great deal about your character,” Sandy said. “I wasn’t that strong when I found out I was pregnant the same day I was planning to leave my first husband for Trey. I opted to stay, because I was afraid of the alternative. I lost a lot of years with your father. I can’t say it was the wrong choice because if I’d gone to him like we’d planned, there’d be no you. But I absolutely agree with you that a baby is not a good basis for a marriage. It didn’t save mine.”

  It looked like they were reconciling, like she’d chosen him. So I left, without a word.

  Her father’s words echoed in her head. This was what he hadn’t known. Sandy hadn’t chosen her husband, she’d chosen her son. Tess thought about what her dad had said about Sandy’s first husband—Immature. Selfish. An ass—and she felt a pang for what Sandy had no doubt endured because of that choice. Mitch was none of those things. They didn’t need saving from being a poor match in the first place. And he wasn’t like her father, either. There was no other woman with a claim on his affections. So maybe they had a stronger foundation than she’d given them credit for.

  Tess studied this woman who’d held her father’s heart for decades. “With respect, Dad’s told me some about your ex-husband. If you’re comparing Mitch to him on any level, I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”

  “Oh, she’ll fit into the family just fine,” Grammy crowed in satisfaction.

  “She hasn’t agreed to marry him,” Anita pointed out.

  “And she doesn’t have to,” Norah added. “That baby is a Campbell either way, and that makes Tess family.”

  This time Liz did reach out, stroking a hand down Tess’s arm. “Whatever you choose, he’ll be a good father.”

  “I know he will. That’s never been a question.” This child was already loved. By its father and the rest of his insanely tight-knit family. And Tess understood, as they all pulled her in for hugs, that they’d be there for her and this baby, no matter what happened with her and Mitch. That kind of love was more than a little heartbreaking because she wanted it so much for herself.

  When they’d gone, she sank down on the sofa, wondering for the first time if maybe she wasn’t being fair to Mitch. From her front-row seat to the failing of her parents’ marriage, she’d learned to expect the worst out of this situation. And yet, at every turn, his upbringing had prepared him to expect the opposite. They couldn’t both be right.

  Never in her life had Tess wanted so desperately to be wrong.

  I’ll never know if I don’t try.

  Her purse and keys were already in her hands when the phone rang. She fished it out, seeing Brody’s name flashing on the screen.

  “This is Tess.”

  “Hey, my client meeting got cancelled this morning, so I find myself with time to go over the site plans. Are you free?”

  She wanted to say no. She wanted to get in her car and go
straight over to the house to see if she could fix what was broken between them. But Brody’s call reminded her that it was, in fact, a work day, and she had a job to do.

  “I can meet you over there in fifteen minutes.”

  She headed to her car on autopilot, sifting through the everyday details she’d put out of her mind when everything had blown up yesterday. Mitch had a meeting in Lawley this morning, so he probably wasn’t even home. Even as disappointment flared, she squashed it. The extra time was okay. Maybe by the time he got back, she’d have figured out what she needed to say.

  I love you.

  That needed to be right at the top. She’d been so worried about whether he did or could love her, she hadn’t ever told him how she felt. What if he felt as lost and rejected as she did? The idea that she could’ve hurt him like that made her ill. Or more ill than she already was. By the time she’d fought off the fresh wave of nausea, she’d overshot her turn. Pulling into a rutted track past the chainlink fence, she opened the door and vomited. Again.

  Dear Lord, would this baby ever let her keep food down?

  Weak and shaky, she shut the door and leaned her head back against the seat. She’d just sit here for a few minutes with her eyes closed until it passed.

  Something struck the car. Her body whipped with the impact of the crash. Before she could even scream, before the airbag deployed and the seatbelt dug deep, driving the air from her lungs, Tess’s head cracked against the window and she slid into blackness.

  Heart in his throat, Mitch bolted toward the ER from the hospital parking lot. He hadn’t been able to breathe since he got the call that Tess had been in an accident. That had been forty-five minutes ago, and he still knew nothing other than the ambulance had rushed her to the hospital. He’d floored his gas pedal as he raced back from Lawley, sending disjointed prayers up to the Almighty that she just be okay.

  He burst through the automatic doors into the ER, practically crashing into the reception desk. “Tess Peyton. Where is she? What’s going on?”