by Karen Booth
“I’m so sorry.”
Donovan hated that their conversation had become so heavy, but it did feel good to tell someone what had happened. “Thanks. It’s okay. I know it’s all water under the bridge, but it still bothers me.”
“Can I ask you a question? About when you and Genevieve got married?”
“Sure.”
“Echo told me about the timing. I had no idea Genevieve got pregnant when you were still in school. Why didn’t you tell me?”
Very little of that time was clear. In fact, the whole thing was a blur. But he knew at least some of the answer to the inquiry. “Because I thought you’d be disappointed in me.”
“Why would you think that? Have I ever struck you as a judgmental person? In the slightest?”
Confronted with that question, he had to think even more about why he hadn’t told her what was going on. It tore at his heart and his conscience in ways very few things did. “Truth?”
“Please.”
“I didn’t tell you because getting married to Genevieve was not what I wanted to do.”
“Oh.”
“And I was sure that you would be able to tell that I was just talking myself into doing it.” He turned and looked into her deep blue eyes, which were wide with surprise and at least a sliver of betrayal. “But I had to do it. I had to take responsibility. I wasn’t going to be like my dad.” He hadn’t admitted that aloud to anyone, ever.
“Wow.” She shook her head slowly, seeming stuck in disbelief. “It’s going to take me a while to wrap my head around this. I was sure you were so madly in love with Genevieve that you didn’t care about me anymore.”
So many details of his relationship with Lela broke his heart, but that was especially difficult to hear. “I always cared. Always. Even when I wasn’t around. Even when we didn’t talk. I was just wrapped up in what I felt like I had to do. And my ego wouldn’t allow me to go in a different direction. I know that now. I’m sorry you didn’t know.”
“While we’re dredging up the past, can I ask you one more question?”
He sighed. Whatever was coming, he deserved it. “Of course.”
“Three years ago. Why did you take off before I woke up?”
“I started to feel really anxious…” Donovan hadn’t told a soul about this, either. He knew what Echo would say—that he needed to go to a doctor. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to see a physician. It was that he wasn’t ready to feel like an old man, and there was something about this that made him feel like exactly that. “I started worrying about what you might expect from me, and I started to have chest pains, and I didn’t want to wake you, so I left.”
Her expression turned to pure horror and she reached for his arm. That one touch—there was no way she understood what it did to him. “Donovan. Why didn’t you wake me up? That’s super serious. I could’ve taken you to the doctor. Are you okay?”
He frantically scanned the immediate area. “Will you lower your voice?” He looked back over his shoulder. Luckily, there was no one there. “I don’t want anyone to know about it. Okay?”
“It’s okay to be human. I know you probably very rarely feel like that, but it truly is okay.” She rubbed his elbow with her thumb, stirring up something inside him that he was desperate to tamp down. “What did the doctor say? I’m assuming you went straight to the hospital.”
“I didn’t go to a doctor. I took a cab to my hotel and eventually it went away.”
Lela stood up and planted her hands on her hips. “Donovan James. What in the hell is wrong with you? You can’t mess around with that. You could’ve died.”
He shrugged. “I went eventually. Like a year later…”
She slanted her head to one side and shook it at a speed that suggested he was the dumbest person she’d ever met. “Nobody knows?”
“Nobody.”
She threw up her hands, and took several steps away. When she turned around, she flat-out scolded him. It was super hot. “Give me one reason I shouldn’t tell Echo.”
“It’s a HIPAA violation?”
“I’m not a doctor. I don’t think I’m bound by that.”
“Look. I will tell her. When the time is right. I promise. The important thing is that I’m fine. And we’re supposed to be having fun this weekend, remember?”
She pressed her lips together tightly. “I’m serious about this. You have to tell her.”
“I will. Scout’s honor.”
“I’m going to hold you to that.”
“Got it. What time is it?”
“Nearly two o’clock. I need to start Echo’s makeup in a half hour.”
“And I need to get away from the house for a few minutes.” He stood and threaded his arms into his T-shirt. “Want to go for a quick spin on the Vespa?”
“The Vespa? It’s still alive?”
“Yeah. It’s been in my mom’s garage for years. I worked on it a bit before we went on the hike. Runs like a charm.”
The most stunning smile crossed Lela’s lips. “I’d love to.”
Chapter Nineteen
Lela could hardly believe it as she stood outside the garage, watching Donovan wheel out his dinged up minty green Vespa with the chrome trim, the same one she’d ridden on countless times in college. “I just assumed this thing had died a long time ago.”
He shook his head. “It’ll never die. It just needs some love every now and then. Sort of like me.” He bounced his eyebrows at her as he buckled the chin strap on his shiny black helmet.
Lela smacked his arm with the back of her hand, then put on her own helmet. With a kick of the starter, Donovan got it to putter to life. He revved the engine, then scooted forward on the seat to make room for her. There was no real ladylike way to do this. She was wearing a dress and she was not going to ride side-saddle like in some 1950s movie. She hiked up her skirt and lifted her leg over the seat. As she climbed aboard, she flashed back to the other times she’d done this. She wrapped her arms around Donovan’s waist, pressed her chest against his back, and bracketed his hips with her thighs. Funny, but she’d somehow forgotten how sexual it felt to do this, like she was riding Donovan, and the scooter was just this thing pleasantly vibrating under her ass.
Hello, there.
They raced down the driveway, Lela’s hair flying out behind her when he picked up speed. A hearty laugh erupted from her throat when he swooped around the corner on to the asphalt, tilting them to the left nearly forty-five degrees. Donovan pushed the scooter’s limits, she could hear it in the hesitation of the engine. He was totally showing off, likely for her benefit. She didn’t care. It was too much fun.
She flattened one hand against his stomach, feeling his muscles twitch beneath her palm. Her other hand went to his chest, where the thump thump thump of his heart raced to keep time with the scooter. Pure instinct made her rock her hips into him, the hem of his soft T-shirt caressing her inner thighs while the motor buzzed between her legs. Warmth bloomed in her belly and tension began to coil. Donovan might not have managed to give her an orgasm the first time they’d slept together, but it was sort of a miracle it hadn’t happened on the Vespa.
Meanwhile, she was still trying to make sense of the many revelations of that day and how they pertained to Donovan and her. Even if she’d known the truth at the time, the end result would have still been the same—Donovan and Genevieve would’ve been married. They likely still would’ve ended up divorced. But for Lela, life would’ve been at least somewhat different. She might have been a little less timid. She might have been a bit more bold. At least when it came to men. She’d been afraid to put herself out there for years.
Donovan took a wide curve and the warm summer air fluttered under her dress. She closed her eyes and inhaled Donovan’s scent, cedar and sandalwood, as it mixed with the faint fumes of exhaust and the sweet smell of late June while the breeze flitted through the trees. This felt like a moment to hold on to tightly and keep forever. A chance to revisit her past in a way she
never would’ve dreamed. No matter what happened, this weekend would stay lodged in her memory. Forever.
Donovan slowed down and turned on to a gravel road, checked for cars, then doubled back the way they came. For some reason, the return trip seemed much shorter than the first leg, probably because she knew that the time on their adventure was dwindling. As they approached the house, Lela saw Echo pacing in front of the garage.
“I hope I’m not late,” she shouted into Donovan’s ear.
“We were only gone for a few minutes,” he replied.
The closer they got, it became more apparent that she was upset. Donovan pulled the scooter into the garage and killed the engine. Lela climbed off first, removing her helmet. Donovan quickly followed.
“We aren’t getting married,” Echo announced to them both. She bore the sure sign of misery—smudged mascara.
“Wait. What?” Donovan asked, rushing up to her.
“I got into a huge fight with Mom, and Lucius said this isn’t worth it, and we’re thinking we’ll just go to the airport to get on an earlier flight for our honeymoon. We can get married by a justice of the peace when we get back to the city.”
“Sweetheart, take a deep breath.” Donovan seemed remarkably calm given what was happening. “What was the fight about?”
“I can’t tell you.”
“Why not?”
“Because it will hurt your feelings for no good reason.” Echo crossed her arms over her chest and kicked a rock from the driveway into the grass.
“My feelings? How did I become part of this?” Donovan asked.
“If I answer that, I have to tell you exactly what she said, and trust me, you do not want to know what she said.”
Donovan groaned and shook his head, walking several paces away from them. “I don’t want you to worry about me. We’re all here. You’ve been planning for months. How do we get this resolved?”
“We don’t. Mom is being a bitch and I’m mad.”
“There’s got to be something we can do.” Donovan looked to Lela. He seemed completely at odds with himself. Lela had seen him like this many times, overwhelmed by the darkest forces of his mind—his feelings. “What if you talk to Lela about it?”
Lela bugged her eyes at Donovan, silently reminding him that she was not a parent and not equipped to deal with this. Plus, Genevieve only barely tolerated her.
Echo shook her head. “Lela, I don’t want to bother you with our family bullshit. I like you too much.”
That was all Lela had to hear. She liked Echo too much to not be there for her. “If you want to talk to me, I’m here to listen and offer my two cents.”
“Really?” Echo asked.
“Really. Where do you want to talk?”
Echo looked at the house. “Not inside. Mom and Grams are in there.”
“Down by the pond?”
“Sure. I can throw things.” Echo started off.
Lela was about to follow, but Donovan’s words stopped her. “Lela. Thanks for doing this.”
“I haven’t done anything yet.”
“Something tells me you’ll have no problem sorting this out.”
“No promises, but I’ll try.” Lela turned on her heel and hurried across the grass to catch up to Echo. Echo’s long dark hair was pulled into a side ponytail, and she was wearing a swishy skirt and a T-shirt, adopting a far more casual look here than she did when they were in the city. “One quick question before we launch into any of this, are you wearing Lela B mascara?”
“I am.” She turned to Lela as they walked. Ahead, were the chairs arranged for the ceremony that was now suddenly in question as to whether or not it would happen. “Why?”
“It’s a little smudged, that’s all. I would really worry if that was the waterproof formula.”
Echo shook her head. “It’s the regular one. I love it. It makes my lashes thick, but still soft.”
Lela smiled as they skirted the chairs and approached the water’s edge. “Good. I’m glad to hear it.”
Echo bent over and picked up a fat twig, casting it into the water. “Hopefully we can sell a boatload of it.”
“I hope so, too.” Lela didn’t want to talk about work. Echo was in the middle of a crisis. “Do you want to tell me what your mom said?”
This time, Echo picked up a rock and launched it into the pond. “I was talking about how well things are going at work with dad and she got super mad. She said that I was acting like nothing ever happened. She said that he’s hurt me more than any person in my life and I shouldn’t let him back in so easily.”
Wow. Lela wasn’t really sure what to say to that. She could see it from both sides. “What did you say?”
“That I don’t agree. I love having him around. He gets me, Lela. And he helps without getting in the way. Do you have any idea how hard that is to find? When JTI first acquired Echo Echo, they sent in all of these corporate idiots who were spouting all sorts of business school BS. They didn’t care about what I was trying to do. They were just there to prop up the bottom line. That isn’t what I wanted. At all.”
“Of course. It means more to you than that.”
“I’m not going to be stupid about something, but I do think there’s something to be said for going with your gut.”
“I completely agree.”
“Well, Dad lets me do that. He lets me run with my ideas, but he also has all of this experience that comes in really handy. Like with the initial reaction to the Lela B campaign. It wasn’t at all what I was expecting. Add in the stress about the wedding, and I was at a total loss. But he helped me see a path forward. One that I might not have been willing or ready to take.”
“Time will tell how it will pan out, but I understand what you’re saying.”
Echo shook her head and confronted Lela with her big, brown, mascara-smudged eyes. “Oh, I think he was right. I think it’s going to take off. It might take a month or two, but it will. We will grow your company. The products are too good.”
Lela smiled. “Thank you. I appreciate that. But we aren’t talking about me. We’re talking about you and your mom and your wedding.”
She sighed. “Yeah, back to my dad, the big thing is that I trust him. I know he wouldn’t do anything I didn’t want him to do. And I know he would never intentionally steer me wrong. But I made the mistake of saying something to my mom about that and she blew her top. She completely freaked out.”
“What did she say?”
“That I was wrong. That I was giving him a free pass. That it wasn’t fair because she’d done all of the heavy lifting.”
“Heavy lifting?”
“When I was little. And a teenager. I was a pain in the ass. I fully admit to that. And I get what she’s saying because Dad wasn’t there much when I was young. But she’s also the one who wanted the divorce, and the person who chose to stay in England. Those decisions impacted me and my dad. It definitely hurt our relationship.”
Lela had always wanted to be a mom, but she could see how tangled the whole thing could become, especially if there was a divorce. Genevieve had done the hard work of raising Echo, then Donovan swept in to build a relationship with Echo when she was an adult. That could cause a lot of resentment. On the flip side was Donovan, who would’ve had to move to London if he’d wanted to see Echo in any regular way. “There are valid points on both sides. I can certainly see what your mom is saying about heavy lifting.”
“Was I wrong to get mad at her?”
“No. There’s no right or wrong in this situation. It’s too complicated for that. I totally understand why you want to defend your father. He’s been there for you during what I’m guessing has been the most exciting and stressful part of your life. Of course you appreciate his help. But I also see how that means your mom was there for the unexciting and sometimes grueling parts.”
“I guess.”
“And here’s the rub. Your wedding? It’s one of the exciting parts. So everything she’s done to make today hap
pen has been for you, but it’s also for her. It’s only natural to want to be a big part of the good times when you were also there for the harder ones. She doesn’t want to feel left out. Nobody does.”
Echo took a breath so deep that her shoulders rose to her ears. “Tell me what to do, Lela. Tell me how all of this is supposed to work. I feel like I can trust you. You don’t have a side in this.”
“All I can suggest is to listen to your mom and acknowledge her feelings. It doesn’t make anyone right or wrong. My guess is that she just wants to be heard and appreciated. Like anyone would want to.” Lela reached out and put a hand on Echo’s shoulder. “But I also want you to know that you can ask your mom to not talk about your dad that way. It’s their divorce, not yours.”
Echo turned to her, eyes full of gratitude. “I wish I could just jump ahead in life to have everything figured out like you do.”
Ah, the bloom of youth. “I really don’t have it all figured out. Not even close. That’s one of the cruel tricks of getting older. You think you should have everything figured out, but you don’t.”
“Really?”
“Really. You still make mistakes. All the time. I think the only difference is that you rebound faster. And you might care less about certain people’s opinions.”
“Was my dad a mistake?”
Lela was a little taken aback by this, especially since she didn’t know exactly what Donovan had told her. “In what regard?”
Echo dropped her head to one side. “Lela. He told me.”
That didn’t necessarily illuminate the situation much. She wouldn’t expect Donovan to tell his daughter that he made a habit of leaving in the middle of the night, but anything was possible. “So you mean romantically?”
“If that’s the way you want to put it, sure.”
“I don’t regret anything that happened between your dad and me. It helped me learn a good life lesson.”
“What was that?”
