by HELEN HARDT
“I said, ‘How can you be sure Wendy won’t bother us?’”
“She’s going out of town.”
Not exactly a lie. The Madigans and the psychiatrist had arranged for Wendy to be hospitalized in Grand Junction so they could visit her easily. So yeah, she was out of town.
I didn’t like lying to Daphne. It left an acidic taste in my mouth—a taste I’d never grow used to, which meant I needed to keep lies to a minimum.
But how could I keep lies to a minimum? Already I was lying by omission on the daily because of what Jonathan had told me. I had to compartmentalize—had to—because just thinking about what Daphne went through sent me into a tense rage.
Yes, compartmentalize. It was the only way. I had to grow accustomed to the lies.
Besides, it was better Daphne didn’t know where Wendy was or why. Otherwise, I’d have to explain what Wendy was capable of, and that might scare Daphne.
Hell, it scared me.
“Oh. Where’s she going?”
“I’m not sure.” God, I hated lying. “I don’t really care, as long as she stays away from us, and she’ll be away from us.”
Daphne nodded. “Yeah. That’s good.”
I pulled up to Daphne’s dorm. “You want me to go in with you?”
She smiled. “You don’t have to.”
“Maybe I want to.”
“Okay.”
I opened the door of the truck for her, and we walked into the dormitory.
“Hey there, you two.” Daphne’s friend Ennis Ainsley, a British exchange student, stood at the reception desk.
“Hi, Ennis,” Daphne said.
“You’ve been scarce.”
“I took Brad home to meet my parents for the weekend.”
“Sounds fun.”
Ennis and I didn’t exactly see eye to eye. That was mostly my fault. I’d punched him the night I met him because I thought he’d gotten Daphne drunk. In reality, he was a nice guy and I’d been a jerk.
But he also had the hots for Daphne, which I didn’t like.
Of course, most guys who met Daphne got the hots for her. She was the most beautiful woman on campus.
And she was mine. Especially now.
“Want to grab a bite later?” Ennis asked.
“I don’t know…”
“I meant both of you,” he said.
“Yeah, sure,” I said. “Okay with you, baby?”
Daphne’s face split into a wide grin. “Yeah. I’d like that.”
“Have you been off campus yet?” I asked Ennis.
“Not really.”
“We’ll go for pizza. Ask Patty if she wants to go along. I’ll be by around six to pick you up.”
“Sounds great,” she said.
“I’ll be here,” Ennis agreed.
Good. I didn’t much like the guy, but Daphne did. He was important to her, so I’d get to know him. Even if he did look and talk like Prince Charles.
Chapter Fourteen
Daphne
Brad took us to the same place we’d eaten the first day we’d met. The second-best pizza in Colorado. I’d called Brad earlier and told him I wanted to tell Patty and Ennis about our situation at dinner. They were my two closest friends here at school—other than Brad himself—and I didn’t want to hide this from them, especially since things would be moving quickly. I told him not to mention my mother’s suicide attempt, though. I couldn’t go there yet, even with friends.
We ordered our drinks and pizza, and then the table got quiet.
Which was unusual, since Patty was there.
Did they know something was up?
“How’s Sean?” Patty finally asked Brad.
“He’s good. Likes his new place,” Brad replied.
“I hardly see him around anymore,” Patty said. “He’s always with that new girlfriend of his.”
“Lorraine? Yeah. But Murph isn’t serious about her. She’s just his flavor of the week.”
I winced. Patty had been Sean’s flavor of the week, except only for two days. Patty stayed her bubbly self, though, and didn’t seem to mind talking about Sean. “Tell him I said hi if you see him.”
“Will do,” Brad said.
He didn’t say much more. He was giving me time to bring up our news. I loved him for it, but I wished he’d talk. The silence was deafening, and it made my mind wander to my mom. I had to call Dad later.
“How did you like Daph’s parents?” Patty finally asked.
“I like them a lot. They’re both very nice.”
“Were they surprised that you guys got together so soon?” Patty asked again.
Brad looked at me.
Now or never.
“They were surprised about that, yeah,” I said. “They were surprised about a lot of things.”
So surprised my mother had a mental breakdown, but no…not going there.
I cleared my throat. “So…Brad and I… We have some news.”
“What’s that?” Ennis asked.
Brad picked up the pitcher of cola the server set down and poured us each a glass. I took a long drink, letting the sweetness flow over my tongue and down my throat. I was suddenly parched. I took another drink.
“We… Well… We’re going to get married.”
Patty, in the middle of bringing her glass to her mouth, stopped it in midair. Ennis’s eyebrows nearly flew off his forehead.
“Big surprise, huh?” Brad said.
I got the impression he was trying to sound jovial, but instead he sounded a little nuts.
“We know it’s really soon, but the thing is…” I took another drink of Coke. “I’m pregnant.”
This time Patty’s glass had made it to her mouth, and she spat soda all over Ennis. “Oh, God,” she said, grabbing a napkin. “I’m so sorry.”
“No problem,” Ennis said. “I’m used to beautiful women ruining my shirts.”
He was alluding to the first night in the dorm, when I’d gotten sick all over him. My cheeks warmed.
“Obviously, we didn’t plan this,” Brad continued. “We used protection, but sometimes it doesn’t work.”
“So when you went to the health center last week…” Patty said.
“Yeah. That’s when I found out.”
“Do you feel okay?” she asked.
“So far, but the nurse practitioner said I’m too early for morning sickness yet.”
“Maybe you won’t get it,” she said. “My mom says she didn’t have it for my brother at all. With me only a little.”
“My mum said she was sick the whole nine months,” Ennis said. “But maybe it’s a British thing.”
I adored Ennis, but I wished he’d kept that to himself. I didn’t want to think about nine months of nausea.
Patty swatted Ennis on the arm. “What a thing to say! That won’t happen to you, Daph.”
“I sure hope not.”
“You’re really getting hitched, huh?” Patty said. “So you’ve discussed all the…you know…options?”
I nodded. “We have. This is what we both want. Right, Brad?”
Brad had been so quiet, letting me take the lead. “Yeah. We’re going to the ranch next weekend to tell my parents.”
“What kind of wedding are you going to have?”
“We haven’t discussed it,” I said. “I can’t think about that until we tell Brad’s folks. But there isn’t a lot of time for a wedding anyway. Plus, my parents can’t afford anything big.”
“Mine can,” Brad said. “If you want a big wedding, you’ll have it.”
I shook my head. “I don’t.”
“Sure you do,” Patty said. “I’ll help you. This should be your day to shine.”
“I try to shine every day,” I said. No truer words. I was determined to get the most out of life. “I don’t need a big wedding for that.”
“Come on,” she urged. “I want to see you get married.”
“Well, you can come, then. You and Ennis. And Sean. Our parents. And whoever e
lse you want, Brad. But it doesn’t have to be anything big.”
“I’ll help you plan it,” Patty said. “We’ll have— Oh, no!”
“What?” I asked.
“You won’t be living in our room anymore, will you?”
“No,” Brad said. “After we’re married, she’ll move into the townhome with me, and we’ll finish the school year. Then we’ll move to the ranch.”
“I’ll miss you,” Patty said.
“I’ll miss you too, but you’ll probably get your own room, at least for the rest of this semester.”
Her green eyes gleamed. “That could be fun.”
Ennis turned and met Patty’s gaze.
Was that a spark that just shot between them? Ennis wasn’t dating anyone that I knew of. He’d made out with a blonde during orientation week, but other than that, I hadn’t seen him with a woman.
Patty and Ennis…
I liked the idea.
I hoped they would too.
Quiet descended on the table again when the server delivered our pizza. Now that our news was out in the open, I was happy not to talk.
I bit into a slice of Colorado’s second-best pizza with mushrooms and peppers. No pepperoni unless I knew it had come from humanely raised animals.
My mother never left my mind.
I couldn’t help thinking I was the cause of her suicide attempt. I wanted to press “pause” on this whole thing and wait until my mother recuperated.
But I couldn’t.
My little dove wouldn’t stop growing just because my mother had done the unthinkable.
Thank God she hadn’t succeeded.
I needed my mother, now more than ever.
Chapter Fifteen
Brad
The week went by without incident. Knowing Wendy couldn’t show up at my place unannounced put my mind at ease. Daphne had made arrangements with the school to live off campus, but she didn’t want to move in until we told my parents.
Which we would do shortly.
I drove up the long driveway to the ranch house. My home.
I’d called earlier to tell my mother we were coming. She was excited to meet Daphne. I hoped she’d continue her excitement after we told her our news.
Daphne was biting her lower lip, and her rosy cheeks were paler than normal.
“Nervous?” I asked.
She nodded. “Aren’t you?”
“No. Not really. We’re both over eighteen. What can they do?”
“Cut you off?”
I laughed. “Is that what you’re worried about? Listen, I’m their only child plus the only person who knows how to run this operation as well as my father does. But even if they did cut us off, I’d find a way to support you and our baby.”
She smiled. “I know you would.”
“So no worries, okay?”
She nodded again.
“Come on.” I got out of the truck and opened the passenger door for her. Then I pulled our bags out and carried them to the door.
Ebony and Brandy jumped on me when I entered.
“Hey, girls.” I petted them both.
Daphne dropped to her knees, letting both of them pepper her with licks and kisses. The smile on her face as she hugged my dogs was worth every dollar of the Steel fortune.
To me, at least.
Belinda, our housekeeper and cook, walked out from the country kitchen. “Mr. Brad! Your mother’s in the greenhouse and your father’s at the office. They’ll both be here in about a half hour for dinner. That gives you and Miss Daphne time to settle in.”
“Thanks, Belinda.” I led Daphne to the room she used a few weeks ago. “Do you need to…I don’t know. Change or anything?”
“I’ll just run a brush through my hair.”
“Okay. I’ll come get you when it’s time for dinner.”
“Brad?”
“Yeah?”
“Could you stay with me for a few minutes?”
“Sure.” I sat down on the bed and patted the spot next to me. “Everything okay?”
She nodded. “My mother… What should we tell your parents?”
“Whatever you want to tell them.”
“I’m not sure it’s a good idea to get into all that. Not yet, anyway. I don’t want to talk about it. I want to be happy about our news, and talking about what’s going on with my mother isn’t going to make me happy.”
I touched her soft cheek. “I want you to be happy, Daphne.”
“I know. I want you to be happy too.”
“You make me happy.”
She smiled, turned into my hand, and kissed my palm. The warmth of her kiss surged through me. Yeah, it turned me on, but more than that, it made me feel loved—more loved than I’d ever felt in my life.
This woman loved me. She’d love our baby with the same feverish intensity.
When Daphne Wade loved, she loved with everything she had.
That was how I’d love her and our child.
With everything I was and with everything I had.
“Your mother will be okay,” I said. “She’ll get through this. Your father loves her very much.”
“I know he does.”
“He’ll make sure she gets everything she needs.”
“But—”
I placed two fingers over her lips. “If you’re worried about money, you don’t have to be.”
“My father’s not a rich man.”
“Your husband-to-be is.”
“No.” She shook her head. “I can’t let you—”
“Baby, listen to me. Your father will take care of her. He has health insurance. And if he needs a little help along the way, we—you and I—will be here for him.”
“You’re very sweet, but the money isn’t yours, Brad. It’s your parents’.”
“The majority of the fortune is, but I have a trust fund. I took control of it when I turned twenty-one. I can take care of whatever your mother needs.”
“Still, I don’t want—”
“Shh. We’ll do what we have to do to get your mother well. If we need to contribute, I’m happy to do it.”
She choked back a sob. “I didn’t want our life together to begin like this. I never expected my mother…”
“I know.”
“She was always so strong for me.”
“She’s still strong. Look at you. You’re one of the strongest people I know, and you’ve been through a lot of mental and emotional turmoil.” More than she even knew. My heart hurt just thinking about it, and I absently clenched my hands into fists, aching to pummel the men who’d violated her.
“I never tried to take my own life,” she said.
True. She’d told me that the last time we were at the ranch. Thank God. I couldn’t bear to think of my beautiful Daphne in that much pain.
“Your mother will get the help she needs.”
“I feel like we should postpone everything until she’s better.” She touched her abdomen. “But we can’t. We need to get everything settled.”
“We can wait a few weeks if you’d like. Technically we don’t need to get married until right before the baby’s born for me to be considered the father.”
“You are the father.”
“I mean legally. To keep the child from being illegitimate.”
She clasped her hand over her mouth. “My baby isn’t going to be a bastard.”
“Of course not. He’s mine, and I want him. I want you both.”
She nodded. “Thanks.”
“For what?”
“For talking. Let’s not say anything to your parents about my mother.”
“Okay. I’ll just say I met them last weekend and they’re okay with the situation.”
“They are. I think.”
“Your father is. He and I talked quite a lot.”
“True. What all did you talk about, Brad?”
Brick in gut. I didn’t want to lie to Daphne, but I couldn’t go into any detail about what her dad and I talked abou
t.
My poor baby.
Every time I looked at her now, I imagined what those three degenerates had done to her and her friend.
Keeping secrets, though, always took a toll on everyone involved. Again, my hands clenched into fists, and every muscle in my body tensed.
How? How could anyone harm this beautiful and innocent woman? This woman I loved so damned much?
Daphne’s body had healed, but her mind… Her mind didn’t know anything had happened.
Best to keep it that way, as Jonathan said.
I had a feeling that toll was going to be steep.
Daphne’s mother’s suicide attempt was only the beginning.
Chapter Sixteen
Daphne
Brad’s mother was one of the most beautiful women I’d ever seen. She was striking, with dark hair and eyes much like her son’s. Her hair was cut short in a new-fashioned pixie style, and it worked on her because her facial features were so soft and feminine. From her straight nose and high cheekbones to her full lips and only slightly prominent chin, Mazie Steel was nearly perfect to look at.
She wore bell-bottom jeans and a peasant blouse, and silver hoops dangled from her ears. When she shook my hand, I noticed dirt beneath her unpolished fingernails. The only part of her that wasn’t perfect.
Of course. She’d been working in the greenhouse.
She gave me a hug. “It’s so nice to meet you, Daphne. I’m sorry I missed your last visit.” She let go of me. “Let me look at you. My, but you’re a beautiful thing. So tall, too.”
I warmed with embarrassment. “Thank you.”
Then she grabbed Brad in a hug as well. “I’ve missed you.”
“I’ve missed you too, Mom. Where’s Dad?”
“I have no idea,” Mazie said. “He’ll be here in a few. He’s never late for dinner, as you know.”
Brad and I had decided to wait until after dinner to share our news, as we had with my parents.
I suppressed a shiver as I regarded Mazie Steel. She’d been hospitalized before. What if the news drove her over the edge as it had my mother?
No.
No, no, no.
I would not go there.
Brad had told me she’d found solace in her greenhouse and other activities. She looked and acted fine.
