“Okay, there’s no blood, so that’s a good sign,” Brett said from the doorway. His fiancée, a woman who had briefly been Spencer’s as well, stood at his side.
“They look calm,” Alisha said as they walked into the room together.
“Brett,” Delinda said with a smile. “What are you doing here?”
“Jordan called and said I needed to get here ASAP.”
“Whatever for?” Delinda asked innocently.
Alisha looked back and forth between Spencer and Delinda. “Are you okay, Spencer?”
You know, my brother chose well. Alisha always felt like a sister, and now she’ll be one. “I am. We’re talking things out.”
“I’m glad,” Alisha said.
“And it’s going well?” Brett’s eyebrows rose to his hairline.
Nicolette and Rachelle burst into the room. Nicolette rushed to Spencer’s side. “Are you okay, Spencer?”
“I’m fine,” Spencer assured her, not completely flattered to see how women seemed more worried about him than the old lady sitting across from him.
Nicolette sat down on the chair beside him. “Jordan said he’s never seen you so angry.”
I’m going to have to speak to Jordan about loose lips. “It’s all good.”
Nicolette glared at Delinda. “Is she making you say that? Does she have Hailey locked in the basement or something?”
Rachelle touched her sister’s shoulder. “So dramatic. Of course she doesn’t. Right, Brett?”
Delinda placed a hand on her chest. “First of all, I’m offended that you’d think me capable of such a thing. Second, if I did have someone locked up somewhere, I wouldn’t require Brett’s permission to do it.”
Brett raised a hand. “She’s joking. Delinda, you know they don’t get your sense of humor.”
For the first time in his life Spencer felt like he was on the right side of that inside comment. He winked at Delinda. “It wouldn’t be the basement. It would be the dungeon. She has to have one. And it wouldn’t be Hailey. We never see Delinda with a man. Maybe that’s where she keeps them.”
Delinda’s cheeks turned red. “I do not have one of those lewd rooms.”
Spencer couldn’t resist. “I wasn’t even thinking that, but now we all know what you’ve been reading.”
Delinda was spared from responding by the arrival of Stephanie and Dereck.
“Don’t tell me,” Spencer said, “Jordan called you.”
His mother avoided looking at Dereck. “Actually, Rachelle told me you were here.”
“Brett called me,” Dereck said gruffly.
The idea of his family gathering to save him from Delinda, or vice versa, was suddenly pathetically amusing. “We’re fine. We’re just talking.”
“You are?” Stephanie asked.
Dereck said, “That’s—”
“Unexpected,” Stephanie supplied the word for him.
“Yes,” Dereck said. “Wonderfully unexpected.”
Brett walked over to stand beside where Spencer was seated. “So everything is fine?”
“Not everything,” Spencer said grudgingly.
Delinda pinched an inch of air. “I might have meddled in Spencer’s private life a little bit.”
“Might have?” Spencer frowned. “Hailey lives with you.”
“Technically, she lives in my guesthouse.”
“What did you do, Mom?” Dereck asked as he took a seat next to her.
Delinda pointed at Spencer. “She’s just as upset with him as she is with me.”
Brett and Alisha stepped closer. Brett asked her, “What did you do?”
“Oh, for goodness’ sake, do we have to rehash everything I did wrong, or could we focus on what I’ve done right? Spencer and Hailey were back together before he started yelling at me in front of her.”
The anger that would normally have surfaced in response to Delinda’s deflection didn’t. She was childlike in some ways, but not malicious. And unfortunately, she had a point. “She’s right. I handled the situation poorly.”
Alisha looked around. “Where is Hailey? Is she okay?”
“She’s back at the guesthouse,” Spencer said.
Brett asked, “Then why are you still here?”
“It’s complicated,” Spencer said, running a hand through his hair in frustration.
Dereck surprised everyone by sitting down across from Spencer and leaning forward, elbows on knees. “Do you love her, Spencer?”
“I do.” It was surreal to be discussing anything of significance with the man he’d once thought was his father.
“Then get your ass over there,” Brett said.
Dereck shook his head. “No, you’re right; it’s not that easy. You need to know that you can make her happy. Sometimes loving a woman means knowing when to let her go.”
Stephanie crossed the room and sat beside her ex-husband. “And moving on the best you can.”
Dereck took her hand in his and gave it a visible squeeze. “And all you can do is hope you made the right choice.”
The mood of the group was quickly taking a downward turn. Alisha dipped under Brett’s arm to hug Spencer. “You are what she needs. I grew up with you. You have a good heart beneath all that anger. Hailey’s been through a rough time. She needs a rock, and you can be that for her. She’s going to want someone who can love her niece as much as she does. You would do that. You know what that looks like. Mark loved all of us that way. He didn’t need a label or a blood test. He was simply there for us, helping us with our homework, making us laugh when we were sad, cheering us on even when we struck out. You could be that to Skye.” She looked over at Dereck and Stephanie, then placed her hand on her small baby bump. “I’m not wasting another moment on the past. From now on, all of my energy is going into making the future everything I know it can be. Ask yourself what kind of life you want—then go out and make it happen.”
Brett kissed Alisha on the temple and hugged her to his side. “What she said.”
Spencer surged to his feet. “You’re right. I know how to do this.”
“You do,” Alisha said with a proud smile.
Spencer stopped in front of Brett. “Is there still an opening for a groomsman in your wedding party?”
“There is,” Brett said before smiling down at Alisha. “I told you I could talk him into attending our wedding.”
“You? I had nothing to do with it?” Alisha swatted his arm playfully.
Spencer watched the two of them and found himself smiling along. Alisha brought out a warmer side of Brett that Spencer hadn’t realized was there. She’d become a bridge between him and his family.
“Alisha,” Spencer said.
“Yes?” she responded, reluctantly pulling her attention away from Brett.
“Thank you. For everything. For saying you’d marry me. For being smart enough not to. For trying to make things better for me by speaking to Delinda. It didn’t work out the way any of us had planned, but I believe it worked out the way it was supposed to. I’ve always considered you a sister. I’m glad my brother is making it legal.”
Alisha wiped the corners of her eyes. “Thank you, Spencer.”
He noticed Delinda watching them. Her face was set in an expression he’d once read as displeasure, but he was beginning to think it was all bravado. “Could we speak privately?”
“Of course.”
Brett raised a hand toward the door. “Let’s give them a moment.”
“The garden is beautiful this time of year,” Stephanie added.
Dereck fell into step with her as they walked out of the solarium. Nicolette and Rachelle left with more reluctance, but followed the rest of them out.
When they were alone, Spencer went to sit beside Delinda. “Why did you bring Hailey here?”
“Stephanie told me about her. I told you, I thought you and Hailey deserved a chance to get it right.”
“You went to great lengths to make it happen. It was more than that.”
/> Delinda didn’t look as if she would answer at first. “What more could there be?”
He leaned forward and looked directly into her eyes. “You tell me. What was your endgame?”
“You wouldn’t forgive me. What was I supposed to do? Sit back and accept never seeing you again?” Delinda folded her hands on her lap and squared her shoulders. “Love is supposed to heal all wounds—”
“Don’t you mean time?”
Her eyes shone with emotion. “I don’t have time. That’s the point. I won’t be here forever, Spencer. I have done many things in my life that I regret, but none more than telling you about Dereck the way I did. I thought you knew, but that’s no excuse. I haven’t slept well since that night. I hoped if you fell in love with the right woman, she might bring you back to us.”
Spencer sat back and folded his arms across his chest. “So you hired Hailey and arranged for us to meet.”
“Yes.”
“That’s—”
“Brilliant,” Delinda cut in.
“Machiavellian. You used her. How do you think she feels about that?”
Delinda deflated a little at his accusation. “Not good, I imagine.”
In the quiet that followed, Spencer weighed the wrong of what she’d done against the outcome. “Hailey said her niece is talking again, and she credits you.”
“Skye is a remarkable little girl. All I did was nudge her.”
“You were lucky it worked out that way. What you did wasn’t right, Delinda.”
Delinda’s chin rose. “It wasn’t all wrong, either.”
He stood. “No, it wasn’t all wrong, but I don’t know what the hell to say to her to make this right. Where do I even begin?”
Delinda pushed out of her chair and stood beside him. “Tell her you love her.”
He nodded and turned to walk away. She halted him with a hand on his arm. “I am sorry, Spencer—more sorry than you’ll ever know. And I do love you.”
Suddenly there was nothing intimidating about Delinda at all. She looked almost frail and sincere in her need to be forgiven. Her fear of being left behind reached past years of anger and questions and touched his heart. He knew exactly how it felt to desperately want to be part of something yet have no idea how to be. He opened his arms to her.
She hesitated, then stepped into his embrace. She was so small he wondered how she could intimidate anyone. When she stepped back, she looked up at him with her usual stern expression, and said, “Quit stalling and go after Hailey. Don’t you dare come back without her. Remember, Westerlys don’t give up.”
“I’m not—” Spencer started to say that he wasn’t a Westerly, but stopped mid-sentence. He saw his family through the solarium window. From his quiet mother to a still-angry Nicolette, from a worried Rachelle to a supportive Brett and Alisha—our family is what we make it. His gaze settled on Dereck, who was standing off to one side of his mother, looking as lost as Brett once had. “I am a Westerly.”
She nodded in approval. “Yes, you are.”
A warmth filled him that he’d waited a lifetime for. Things hadn’t always been bad between them, and the early days were becoming easier to remember. “Hailey isn’t going anywhere.”
“Michael,” Delinda called out, then issued instructions to her butler in a tone too soft for Spencer to hear. Michael returned moments later with a small box that he handed to Delinda before once again leaving.
She opened the box and took out an antique round diamond ring that had to be at least five karats. “You may need this. It was my husband’s grandmother’s ring—your great-great-grandmother’s. Hailey will say the diamond is too big, but tell her this story when she does . . .”
Chapter Sixteen
In the kitchen, with Hope in hand, Hailey froze when she heard Spencer at the door. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to see him. She wanted nothing more than to throw open the door, jump into his arms, and let their passion chase away her doubts.
Life didn’t work that way.
“Hailey?”
She walked over to the door but didn’t open it. “Go away, Spencer.”
“I’m not going anywhere until we talk.”
She put Hope down, then placed a hand against the inside of the door. Opening it would be so easy. Forgetting the scene back at the main house wouldn’t be. We were all wrong. Delinda manipulated me. I wasn’t honest with Spencer, and he wasn’t honest with me. We all thought we knew what was best and look where it brought us—here we are crashing against the shore again.
It was all too good to be real . . .
“The person you should be talking to is Delinda. She’s obviously willing to do anything to get your attention.”
“What she did was wrong, Hailey. I’m not defending her choices, but I understand her motivation now.”
“I don’t. I thought I did, but I don’t know anything anymore.”
“Open the door, Hailey. This is an impossible conversation this way.”
“No. I want to, but I have zero confidence in my judgment right now. I’m not angry with you; I’m angry with myself. I’m too old to be as gullible as I’ve been lately. A part of me knew it was all too easy, but I saw what I wanted to see. I wanted to believe in miracles, I guess.”
Hope peed a little on the floor near her feet, and Hailey shook her head in resignation while cleaning it up. Now there is a sign if there ever was one. Reality always crashes in.
“Open the door, Hailey.”
“Have you heard anything I’ve said?”
“Yes, but I’m not a boy anymore. I know what I want now. And that’s you, Hailey. I lost you once because I wasn’t ready. I’m ready now.”
Hailey opened the door. They stood simply looking at each other for a long time. The attraction between them pulsed through them, complicating her feelings further. “That was an ugly scene.”
“I know,” he said.
“You were cruel to Delinda.”
He rubbed a hand across the back of his neck. “I’m not proud of my behavior, but Delinda and I had to clear the air.”
“And now that you have?”
“Oh, there are still glitches. My whole family is batshit crazy. There’s no denying that.”
Hope whined at Hailey’s feet. “She needs to go out.”
Spencer walked Hailey through the house and out to the backyard where Hope circled a few times before relieving herself. Hailey sat on a step as Hope bounced through the grass. Spencer took a seat beside her. The heat from his body warmed her side, igniting a desire she did her best to deny. He turned his head and looked like he might kiss her.
She raised a hand. “Don’t.”
He stayed where he was, but his eyes burned with a yearning she felt just as strongly. If only this, their hunger for each other, were enough.
She mustered irritation with him. “And don’t look at me that way.”
“Which way?” He leaned closer.
She couldn’t look away, couldn’t stop herself from flicking her tongue over her bottom lip. “Like there is any chance that you and I will—that there’s something you could say that would—you know exactly how you’re looking at me.”
The corner of his mouth curled in a hint of a smile. “Yes, because you’re looking at me the same way.”
She shook her head, but couldn’t tear her eyes from his. Being close to him—knowing that all she’d have to do was stretch ever so slightly to once again feel his lips on hers—made it difficult to remember why she was upset with him. “This isn’t enough,” she said for her own benefit as much as his. “I have responsibilities. I’m still trying to wrap my head around what Delinda did and what that means for me and Skye. If my talk with Delinda doesn’t go well, I’m essentially homeless.”
“That would never happen. You and Skye would come with me.”
“To where?” she asked hoarsely. There was nowhere she could imagine bringing Skye that night.
“My place is big enough—”
“It’s not that easy, Spencer. She doesn’t know you. You haven’t even met her. You may not like her.”
An expression entered his eyes that she’d seen before, but this time it was more intense. “I don’t have to meet her to know that I’ll love her because she’s part of you.” He took out a box and opened it, revealing an enormous sparkling engagement ring. “I’m not asking you to move in with me. I’m asking you to marry me. There has never been anyone else for me. I love you, Hailey Tiverton.”
Hailey blinked back tears, wanting to believe in second chances but afraid to. “This is too fast.”
“Is it? I knew you were the one the first time around; I just wasn’t ready to do anything about it.”
I wasn’t, either.
Don’t—don’t open yourself to hope again. It never ends well. “Did Delinda give you the ring?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
He frowned, hesitating before answering. “Does it matter?”
“Maybe. Have you thought this through? Skye and I are a package deal, and parenting is a full-time gig. Skye takes riding lessons twice a week. Saturday shows. School starts in the fall. That will mean homework. She may take an instrument—maybe an ear-piercing one like violin.”
“You’re not scaring me.”
“No?” Did he understand how big of a commitment it was? “She’s getting to the age when she’ll want friends to sleep over. That means girls giggling all night. I want her to have all of those experiences. She’s not only my responsibility; she’s also a priority. A wonderful, miraculous, sometimes terrifyingly overwhelming priority.”
“Hailey?”
“Yes?”
“I had an amazing father who would have loved every moment of the life you’re describing. I will as well. You think I can’t handle giggling? I was raised with two sisters. In a pinch, I can braid hair and apply nail polish like a pro. It’s not something I normally brag about, but I’ve got skills. I’m up for this. The question is—are you?”
Up for Heir (Westerly Billionaire Series Book 2) Page 21
