Henry’s smile was bitter. “Fairfield approached me—came here, in fact—and at first I was confused. I didn’t know much about him, but I knew what Nico said about the guy. I about shut the door in his face, but then he told me he knew about me and Marissa.”
Toni’s heart fell to her stomach. “She told him.”
“She told Fairfield that we’d had an affair. I told him he was full of shit and she was lying, but he said it didn’t matter if she was.” Henry shrugged. “Fairfield said, ‘In a little town like Moonstone Cove, a rumor is all it takes to ruin a life.’” Henry swallowed hard. “I never forgot that. A rumor was all it would take to ruin things. My job. My relationship with my boss. My relationship with you.”
“A year ago. So we’d just started…”
Henry nodded. “The mantel.”
“That damn fireplace mantel.”
Henry hooked a finger through her belt loop and tugged a little. “It’s my favorite part of your house. I’ll always love that mantel.”
“Henry—”
“He threatened to tell Nico that Marissa and I’d had an affair. Said it wouldn’t matter if it was true or not; Nico wouldn’t trust me again because I hadn’t told him in the first place. And if I wanted him to shut up, all I needed to do was give him a little bit of information every now and then.”
Her heart sank. “What did you do?”
“I didn’t say no.” He wouldn’t look at her. “And I will always feel guilty about that. I should have gone to Nico that night. I should have told him the truth. I should have told you—”
“You could have trusted me, Henry.” That was the part that hurt the most. “I understand when things happened with Marissa. You didn’t know us that well. But later? You should have known we would have believed you. Why didn’t you think we’d trust you?”
“I was… so afraid. Everything had been going great. Better than I ever could have expected. And then Fairfield made me feel like I was the guilty one, you know? That it was my fault for not telling Nico about Marissa in the first place.” He shook his head. “I know I should have known—should have trusted both of you—but it’s like that asshole crept into my head and knew everything. He played on every single thing I was most afraid of.”
Toni felt like there was lead in her stomach. “What did you tell Fairfield? Were you the one who was sabotaging—?”
“No!” Henry bent down and took her face in his hands. “Not once. Not ever. I swear on my mother, Toni.” He closed his eyes and breathed out. “And I don’t know who it was. But every time something happened, I felt guiltier. More trapped.” When he opened his eyes, they were distant and angry. “I never even told Fairfield anything valuable. I kept stringing him along. Kept trying to figure out how I could get rid of the guy. Get him off my back.” Henry’s eyes went wide. “I didn’t kill him.”
Toni blinked. “I didn’t think you did.” It honestly hadn’t even occurred to her. She could tell he was being honest with her. All the walls he’d thrown up were completely down. “But you and I are going to go to Nico’s house right now. Tonight. I will go with you. You’re going to tell him everything, and he is going to forgive you.”
Henry stood straight and his face was a mask of pain. “Toni, he’s gonna be furious. You know how he is about people playing straight with him. He’s gonna fire me. He’s gonna make sure no one around here will ever hire me. I’ll have to leave town and—”
“Nope.” She took a deep breath. “He’s not gonna do any of that shit, Henry. I promise you.”
Henry sat down on the couch, and Earl came and sat between his knees. He looked defeated. Resigned. “I know you’re one of his favorite cousins, but I don’t think you realize how furious he’s going to be about this.”
“Oh, he might be furious.” She sat next to him. “He could very well have you cleaning out fermentation tanks for a year, but he’s going to forgive you.”
He reached over and tentatively played with a piece of her hair. “How can you be sure?”
“Because I know my cousin.” She took a deep breath. Henry had been completely honest and vulnerable with her. It was time to return the favor. “And because I am one of his favorite cousins. And because I’m going to have a baby.” She turned to Henry, frozen next to her. “And you’re the dad.”
Chapter 13
“When were you going to tell me?” Henry stared ahead at the twisting road that wound away from the cove and into the hills. “When you started showing?”
“It’s only been like nine weeks, okay? I’ve only been sure of it for a couple, and the chances of miscarriage are still kind of high.” She crossed her arms. “I was kind of shocked, okay? At my age, I didn’t think that was something I needed to worry about.”
“You’re not that old!” He shook his head. “And we only slipped like… once. That I can remember.”
She shrugged. “There were probably a couple of times when we went back for seconds that we didn’t remember to…”
“Okay maybe.” He sighed. “Are you okay? Have you been to the doctor? How are you feeling?”
“Mostly fine. A little sick. And yeah.” She motioned in the vague area of her abdomen. “I went today actually. It was an experience. Everything looked normal.”
“Good. I’m coming with you next time.”
“That’s not actually up to you.”
He jerked the car to the side of the road and stopped. “Listen. I want to be very clear, just in case you’re wondering how I am dealing with this because I’m kind of all over the place right now.”
She’d never seen him so thrown. “Yeah. I’m getting that.”
“I am… ecstatic about you having my baby. I am obviously nuts about you, and I didn’t think you wanted kids and that would never be a deal breaker for me, but I’m not gonna lie, I fucking love the idea of us having a kid together.”
Now he was using his rare curse words to express his excitement about fatherhood.
Damn her ovaries!
He continued, “I also don’t know what you want from me, and I’m more than a little worried that you’re going to try to cut me out of this entire thing because… that’s kind of something you would do, Toni.”
She muttered, “It’s irritating how well you know me.”
“I have spent two years studying you in an ‘I’m trying to not be a stalker’ sort of way. I’m probably a little ahead of the curve on this.”
Why was he so damn attractive? He wasn’t just sweet and concerned Henry anymore, he was exhibiting a kind of aggression and protectiveness that she found damn near irresistible.
Ugh! She hated being a stereotype.
Toni turned to him. “I’m not going to cut you out, but don’t try to dictate my life. I’m not some wilting flower, okay? I may be older, but it’s not like I was looking to trap some younger guy into fathering my baby so I could satisfy a biological—”
“How fucking young do you think I am?” He glared at her. “I swear to God, you act like I’m a teenager sometimes.”
“I don’t know…” Her cheeks burned. “Thi-irty?” Please God, let him be thirty. He had to be at least thirty.
Henry threw his head back and laughed. “I don’t know whether to be insulted or flattered.”
“What does that mean?”
He leaned across the cab of the pickup truck, hooked his hand around the back of her neck, and pulled her into a mind-melting kiss. Toni completely forgot where she was and where they were going. She nearly threw her leg around him and humped him in the car, she was feeling so horny.
Hormones.
“Thirty.” He pulled away and tasted his lips. “You’re what? Forty-one?”
“Yes.” She glared at him as he put the truck back in gear.
“You’re such a cougar.” He wiggled his eyebrows. “A sexy cougar luring a younger man into your clutches.”
“How old are you, Henry?”
He turned to her with wide eyes. “So young. So innocent. Please don’t t
ell my parents I got you pregnant, Toni. They might ground me.”
“As soon as we get finished at Nico’s, I’m going to beat you up. I’m going to tell him he has to forgive the father of my future child; then I’m going to hurt you.”
He reached over and rubbed her thigh. “Just don’t strain yourself, okay? At your advanced age— Ow!” He burst out laughing. “Let go of my ear.”
“Nope.” She twisted his ear in a proven grip she’d used to torment all her boy cousins the moment they got taller than her. “I’m sorry, but you are going to have to die.”
“Stop.” He batted her hand away, grabbed it, and brought her knuckles to his lips to kiss them. He kept her fingers clutched in his and rested their joined hands on his thigh. “You’re so cute when you’re mean. Your freckles stand out more, and I want to kiss your nose.”
She refused to stop glaring. “How old are you, Henry?”
“I’m thirty-four.” He glanced at her from the corner of his eye. “Cougar.”
“Oh.” Toni blinked. “That’s only seven years younger than me.”
“Uh-huh.”
“I guess that’s not that much.”
“I guess not.”
* * *
Nico sat on the couch in his office, looking like he’d just been smacked in the face with a two-by-four. “Okay. Let me get this straight…”
Toni was perched on the corner of Nico’s desk, and Henry was sitting in an office chair next to her. “We kind of threw a lot at you,” she said. “Take your time.”
Nico blinked. “You’re pregnant?”
Toni and Henry exchanged a look.
Toni said, “That’s the part that’s throwing you off?”
Nico spread his hands. “I didn’t think you wanted kids.”
“I didn’t not want them, it just didn’t happen. I’m not anti-kids. I love kids.”
“You love being an aunt. Being an aunt is not being a parent.”
“You think I don’t know that, dipshit?” Toni rolled her eyes. “Was it a surprise? Yes. Am I happy about it?” She took a deep breath. “I think so? I’m getting used to the idea. I feel better about it now that I know Henry’s not freaked out.”
“Well that doesn’t surprise me,” Nico said. “But you…”
“What about me?” Toni narrowed her eyes. “You think Henry will be a better parent than I will, don’t you?”
Henry finally spoke up. “Nico, I know I should probably shut up right now, but I would not answer that if I were you.”
Nico leaned back and stretched his arms over the back of the couch. He scratched the stubble on his chin. His eyes returned to Henry. “So Marissa sexually harassed you, and you didn’t feel comfortable reporting her?”
Henry froze. “I didn’t think of it that way.”
“Well, you should have. She harassed you and threatened your employment if you told anyone. That’s sexual fucking harassment, and you could have sued the winery for it. So… thanks, I guess.”
“You’re welcome?” Henry looked really confused. “You’re not angry?”
“I’m very fucking angry, Henry. I’m pissed that you didn’t report her at the time, but I’m not going to say I don’t get it. You’d just started out, and I always come off as kind of a hard-ass to new employees.”
Henry leaned forward in his chair. “Nico, I am so sorry.”
“I’m angry about Fairfield though. I understand we have a little of the snowball-rolling-down-a-hillside thing going on here—”
“Exactly,” Toni said. “Henry didn’t want to tell you about your ex-wife, so then he didn’t think he could tell you about Fairfield—”
“—but you should have told me.” Nico stared straight at Henry and ignored Toni. “If for no other reason than what he was trying to do was blackmail you. And that’s probably illegal, and we could have called the cops on him. Which would have been awesome.” Nico shook his head and stared out the window, probably still trying to sort through the deluge of information that Toni had hit him with.
Was it part of a strategy? Yes. She knew her cousin, and she knew he could be kind of a hothead. If she’d hit him with any single piece of Henry’s revelations, he might have flipped out. Hitting him with everything—including the pregnancy—had short-circuited the mad.
“So Marissa told Whit Fairfield the two of you had an affair and you’d give him insider info on me to keep it quiet.” Nico frowned. “What kind of trade secrets does he think we have around here? It’s not like we have a secret fucking ingredient. He would have had better luck messing up the winery if he’d just hired you away from me.”
“I would never work for that man.”
Nico cut his eyes to Henry. “You swear none of the sabotage was you?”
“I swear it wasn’t, Nico. And I don’t know who it was either. I would tell you if I did.”
“Hmm.” Nico was starting to brood. “If Fairfield blackmailed you, he probably has someone else on our crew on his payroll. Or he did. Dammit.” He huffed a breath. “I hate thinking anyone who works for me is a rat.”
“I can ask everyone on the staff if they’ve taken money from him,” Toni said. “I’ll know if they’re lying.”
“Yeah, you were always good at that,” Nico muttered. “I don’t think it matters now. Maybe a more important question is: Does Henry have an alibi for the night Fairfield was killed? Because you’re telling the police all this shit. I don’t think we should hide anything at this point. It’ll come out eventually—hell, Marissa might have already spilled it—and if you try to cover it up, you’ll just look guilty.”
Henry frowned. “Okay. Uh… He was killed on Friday or Saturday?”
“Saturday night is the one they keep asking me about. The week before the finger thing.”
“Oh.” He glanced at Toni. “Well, Toni and I were kind of hanging out.”
Nico raised a hand. “Never mind. I don’t want to know.”
“Not that, idiot,” Toni said. “I was watching a movie and then Henry called and he turned it on too, and we were kind of watching together. But we hung up around ten or so. We were probably both sleeping when Fairfield was killed.”
“Oh, probably.” Henry sighed. “Then I don’t have an alibi either.”
Nico waved a finger between the two of them. “Why were you guys sneaking around in the first place? You’re dating, for fuck’s sake. You’re both adults. Why make it some big secret?”
Toni scoffed. “We aren’t dating. Not really.”
“Toni, you were watching a movie together over the phone. The man helps you with household projects and yard work. He’s your boyfriend.”
“I’m here.” Henry raised his hand. “Just reminding you.”
“Exactly.” Toni pointed at Henry. “Who says Henry wants to be a boyfriend, Nico? He’s a grown man, not a boy.”
Henry frowned. “Toni, I’ve been trying to be your boyfriend for like a year now.”
Damn it. She knew she should have brought Katherine and Megan for backup. Toni didn’t want a boyfriend. That sounded juvenile. Boyfriends took you to the movies and the high school dance. Boyfriends got caught making out with a cheerleader at the kegger at Sammy Delgado’s parents’ house when they were on vacation and then you broke up dramatically during lunch break the following Monday.
Not that she was speaking from experience or anything.
Toni was an adult. What was the adult word for the man you liked spending time with who helped fix up your house, did your yard work, and got you pregnant?
Toni could practically hear her mother’s voice shouting in her ear: that’s called a husband, Antonia!
Not helpful.
“Can we just table the boyfriend discussion for another time when Nico—and now you—aren’t murder suspects?” Toni asked. “It’s really not any of Nico’s business anyway.”
“Have you told your parents yet?” Nico asked.
“Do I look insane?” Maybe don’t answer that.
&
nbsp; Henry frowned. “You told me first, right?”
“I maybe… told Katherine and Megan.” She cleared her throat. “For advice.”
Nico grinned. “Wait, you told me before you told Luna and Jackie?” He hooted a laugh. “Oh, you are in so much trouble.”
“No.” She hopped off the table. “No, I’m not, because you’re not gonna tell a soul, Niccolo Anthony Dusi. Do you understand me?”
“I’m the first one you told in the family.” He couldn’t wipe the smile from his face. “I am so this kid’s godfather.” He clapped his hands together. “That’s the price. I stay quiet? I’m the godfather.”
Toni nearly tore her hair out. “Please, God, shut up, Nico. I swear on Grandma Dusi’s lasagna, if you tell anyone about this before we’re ready—”
“‘I’d love for you to be the godfather of my love child, Nico.’ That’s all I need you to say, Toni. Say that and my lips are sealed.”
Henry was watching all this with obvious confusion. “Wait, is this some kind of competition? I’m confused.”
Poor man. You have no idea what you’ve landed in.
“Everything is a competition with my male cousins,” Toni said. “Literally everything. Ask Nico how many godchildren he has.”
“Thirteen now!” He crowed. “Lucky thirteen. You’re welcome, and I’m officially in the lead.”
“You only have that many because everyone wants to have the baptism party here at the winery and you practically make it a condition.”
Henry shook his head. “I am so confused right now. Is Nico still mad at me?”
“Fuck no,” Nico said. “After all, you didn’t tell Fairfield anything important. He’s dead anyway. And you’re gonna end up marrying my favorite cousin. Of course I’m not mad at you.”
“No one said we’re getting married!” Toni said. “That hasn’t even been part of the conversation, okay? Just everyone slow the hell down.”
“Sure.” Nico literally walked over and patted her head. “Whatever you say, shorty.” He held out his hand to Henry. “Either way, welcome to the family, Henry. Hope you’re prepared.”
Fate Actually: Moonstone Cove Book Two Page 11
