Not Quite Over You
Page 35

“Do you want to?”
“Yes. Maybe. I think so.” Drew still couldn’t grasp the truth of it. “She’s my daughter and I know nothing about her.” Meet Autumn? Could he? Another question was why was Silver telling him this now? Why after all these years did she suddenly feel the need to share the news?
“When I moved back to Happily Inc, I knew I wanted to take over the ranch,” Cade said unexpectedly. “I worked out a deal with Grandpa Frank where I would buy him out over time.”
“Makes sense.” All Grandpa Frank’s grandchildren would be left money, but the ranch was a much-bigger prize. No way Cade could simply have it.
“I had a plan, a good one. Being able to buy an El Baharian stallion made that plan possible.” He smiled. “But I didn’t just get the horse—I got the girl, too.”
Drew remembered how Bethany had come with Rida as a lowly stable hand. It wasn’t until she and Cade had already fallen in love that she’d admitted to being a royal princess.
“Loving her was easy,” Cade said. “As for the rest of it, let’s just say it took me a while to figure out what was important to me. I had to give up my ideas about doing everything myself. Bethany wanted to be an equal partner. I had to be open to that, and to being a prince. But it’s worth it. She’s worth anything.”
Drew shook his head. “I’m not in love with Silver.” That he knew for sure.
“Not now, but you were. Both of you. Silver loved you and had the smarts to know what was going to happen. Loving you, she let you go. Then she turned up pregnant and when she could have trapped you into marriage, she didn’t. She gave you an out and you took it.” He held up a hand. “I’m not saying you were wrong, but look at it from her point of view. The guy she loved more than anyone ever had gone off to college and when she found out she was pregnant, he basically signed a couple of papers and told her to have a good life. He got off with nothing while she had to deal with finding people to adopt their baby, go through the pregnancy, recover, and then go on with her life as if nothing had happened. For you, it was out of sight, out of mind. Sorry, Drew. You’re not the victim here.”
His cousin’s words were blunt. The emotions that had been battling for dominance suddenly retreated, leaving only shame as the winner.
He stood and looked at his friend. “I was a total shit.”
“Yup.”
“I should probably go hear her side of the story.”
“It wouldn’t be the worst decision in the world.”
* * *
SILVER HAD CHOSEN that particular afternoon to tell Drew about his daughter for a couple of reasons—first, because time was running out and second, because she’d had a feeling it might not go well and she didn’t have any other appointments to worry about. Watching a vendor break down emotionally never made a bride feel good about her upcoming wedding.
After Drew walked out, Silver decided that rather than have a mini breakdown she would get busy. She cleaned her entire loft, then signed for a delivery. The large, flat box turned out to be the perfect distraction—it was her dress for Leigh’s wedding.
As promised, it was perfect for The Great Gatsby theme. The silky, pale pink dress was sleeveless with a V neckline, but what made the dress was the beading. From the shoulder to midthigh, the dress was beaded in a swirling, elegant art deco style. She could practically hear ragtime music playing in the background.
She hurried up to her loft and got out of her clothes. She pulled on the dress and headed for the full-length mirror in her bathroom.
The fit was perfect. The material hugged her body, and then fell to the floor. It was a little too long, but she knew all the best alterations experts in town. Once she decided on her shoes, she would get the gown hemmed.
Her hair was a problem. The long, straight style wouldn’t work at all. Neither would any kind of a braid. She twisted her hair, then pulled it up. That was better, she thought and walked out in the living room area to get her phone. She was going to need a hair appointment the morning of the wedding so she could have her hair done. All she generally went in for was a trim and a little color. Her stylist would be thrilled.
She took a couple of selfies to text to Leigh and was just about to change back into her jeans when she heard someone knocking on the door to her loft. She opened it and saw Drew standing there.
In her excitement over the dress, she’d momentarily forgotten about their earlier discussion. Seeing him brought all her feelings back at once. She went from happy to defensive and unsure in less than a second. Emotional whiplash, she thought, feeling more than a little sick to her stomach.
She stepped back to let him in, then closed the door behind him.
“Obviously we have to talk,” he said, then frowned. “What are you wearing?”
She glanced down at the dress, then back at him. “Give me a second to get changed. I’ll be right back.”
She hurried to her bedroom area, grateful for the screens that gave her privacy. It only took her a second to slip off the dress and hang it, then pull on jeans and her T-shirt. She returned to the living room. Drew stood by a window, facing her.
“You first,” he said.
With the light behind him, she couldn’t see his face and she had no idea what he was thinking. Not that it mattered, she told herself. He could be as angry as he wanted. She’d done the best she could at the time. She’d been dealing with a lot and she’d been on her own. Whatever complaints he had now were his own fault.
“I didn’t tell you about Autumn for a lot of reasons,” she began. “I stayed in LA with Leigh for almost two years. I helped her with the baby and went to school and worked and tried to figure out what I wanted with my life. When I came back, you were still in college, then you took that bank job back East for a couple of years and when you returned to Happily Inc, you were engaged. Why on earth would I say anything about our daughter?”
Before he could say anything, she continued. “I’ve continued to stay in touch with Leigh. She and her first husband got a divorce and that was hard, but he’s still close to Autumn and Leigh’s amazing. I talk to them on the phone or do FaceTime or Skype regularly. I see Autumn a couple of times a year. She knows she’s adopted, she knows I’m her birth mother, but it’s no big deal. It’s all she’s ever known. She calls me Silver because Leigh is her real mom. I’m just a really good friend of the family who happened to give birth to her.”
“Does she know about me?” he asked.
“She knows she has a biological father, yes.”
“Why now? Why did you want to tell me now? You could have done it two years ago or in five more years. Why now?”
And there it was—the real complication in an already-difficult situation.
“Leigh’s getting married. Denton is a great guy and he’s going to make them both so happy.” She cleared her throat. “The thing is Leigh has heard me talk about Happily Inc for years, but she’s never been here. I’ve always gone to LA. So when she was thinking about where to have the wedding, she thought about it being here. She talked to Pallas and found out there was a cancellation.”
Silver squared her shoulders. “That’s, um, why I was wearing that dress before. I’m going to be a bridesmaid in Leigh’s wedding. She’s coming here to get married and she’s bringing Autumn with her. Then, while Leigh and Denton are on their honeymoon, I’ll be keeping Autumn. Here. For a week.”