Bailey frowned. “She didn’t want you to go home to check on your sick mother?” she asked, appalled.
“No, she didn’t. Things got pretty bad between us, although we worked hard to pretend otherwise. In public we were the perfect, happily married Hollywood couple, but behind closed doors it was a different story.”
He stood again to pace and when he came to a stop in front of where she sat, her heart almost stopped. The look on his face was full of hurt and anguish. “Then one day I came home and she dropped a bombshell. She told me that for the past year and a half she’d been having an affair with a married man and he’d finally decided to leave his wife for her.”
He drew in a deep breath and closed his eyes. When he reopened them, he said, “And she also wanted me to know that Connor was not my son.”
“No!”
The pain of his words hit Bailey like a ton of bricks, so she could imagine how Kalyn’s words must have hit him. The son he’d fallen in love with was not his biological son. She couldn’t imagine the pain that must have caused him.
“I told her I didn’t care if Connor was my biological son or not. He was the son of my heart and that’s all that mattered. I loved him. She only laughed and called me a fool for loving a child that wasn’t mine.”
There were a lot of words Bailey could think of to describe Walker’s deceased wife, and none of them were nice. “What happened after that? Did she move out?”
“No. Her lover must have changed his mind about leaving his wife. When I came home one evening after picking up Connor from day care, she ignored both of us and stayed in her room. I knew something was wrong, I just didn’t know what.
“A few days later, on the set, I got a call letting me know there’d been an accident. It seemed Kalyn lost control of the car in the rain. She was killed immediately but Connor fought for his life. I rushed to the hospital in time to give my son blood. He’d lost a lot of it.”
“So he was your biological son!”
“Yes, Connor was my biological son. She had intentionally lied to me, or she might have been sleeping with both me and her lover and honestly didn’t know which one of us was Connor’s father. Connor lasted another day and then I lost him. I lost my son.”
A tear slipped from Bailey’s eye, and when more tears began to fall, she swiped at them. He hadn’t deserved what his wife put him through. No man would have deserved that.
“But that wasn’t the worst of it,” she heard him say as she continued swiping at her tears.
“It wasn’t?” She couldn’t imagine anything worse than that.
“No. After the funeral, I came home and found a letter Kalyn had written to me. She left it in a place where she figured I would find it.”
Bailey’s brows bunched. “A letter.”
He nodded. “Yes. She wanted me to know the car wreck wasn’t an accident. It was intentional.”
Bailey’s heart stopped. “Are you saying that...” She couldn’t finish the question.
“Yes,” he said softly with even deeper pain in his voice. “Kalyn committed suicide. Being rejected by her lover was too much for her and she couldn’t live another day. She wanted to take her lover’s son with her.”
She saw the tears misting his eyes. No wonder his son was buried in his family’s cemetery but his son’s mother was not. The awful things she’d done, and the fact that she’d hated Hemlock Row sight unseen.
“Nobody knows about that letter but Garth. He was with me when I found it. We decided turning it over to the authorities would serve no purpose. It would be better to let everyone continue to believe what happened had been an accident.”
Bailey nodded. “Did you ever find out the identity of Kalyn’s lover?”
“No, although I had my suspicions. I never knew for certain.” He paused. “I told myself that I would never love or trust another woman. And I hadn’t. Until you. I didn’t want to fall in love with you, Bailey. God knows I fought it tooth and nail. But I couldn’t stop what was meant to be. Yes, I said what I said to Garth, but I was in denial, refusing to accept what I knew in my heart was true. I’m sorry for the words I said. But the truth is that I do love you. I love you more than I’ve ever loved any other woman.”
She eased out of the chair and went to him, pulled him to her and held him. He had been through so much. He had lost so much. He had experienced the worst betrayal a man could suffer. Not only had Kalyn intentionally taken her life, she had taken the life of an innocent child.
Walker pulled back and looked at her. “I know there can never be anything between us. You don’t love me and I understand that. You’re in love with your land, and I accept that, too, because I’m in love with mine. I made Dad another promise, this one I intend to keep. I’ll never leave Hemlock Row again.”
She stared deep into the dark eyes that had always mesmerized her. “You just said you loved me, yet you’re willing to let me go back to Westmoreland Country?”
“Yes, because that’s your real love. I know your rules, Bailey.”
A smile touched her lips. “And I’m breaking the one I thought I would never break.”
He looked at her questionably. “What are you saying?”
She wrapped her arms around his neck. “I’m saying that I love you, too. I realized I loved you weeks ago. I think that’s why I came to Kodiak to personally apologize. I missed you, although I would never have admitted that to myself or to you. I do love you, Walker, and more than anything I want to make a home with you at Hemlock Row.”
“B-but what about Westmoreland Country?”
She chuckled. “I love my home, but Gemma and Megan were right. Home is where the heart is, and my heart is with you.”
He studied her features intently. “Are you sure?”
She chuckled again. “I am positive. I’m officially breaking Bailey’s Rules.”
And then she slanted her mouth over his, knowing their lives together were just beginning.
A few days later, Walker eased out of the bed. Bailey grabbed his thigh. “And where do you think you’re going?”
He smiled. “To stoke the fire. I’ll be back.”
“Holding you to it, Alaskan.”
Walker chuckled. He couldn’t believe how great his life was going. Everyone was happy that he’d gotten everything straightened out with Bailey and she had decided to stay. Next week was Thanksgiving and they would leave Kodiak Island to spend the holiday with her family in Westmoreland Country.
After stoking the fire and before he returned to bed, he went to the drawer and retrieved the package he’d put there earlier that day. Grabbing the box, he went back to the bed.
“Bailey?” She opened her eyes to look at him. “Yes?”
“Will you marry me?”
When she saw the box he held she almost knocked him over struggling to sit up. “You’re proposing to me?”
He smiled. “Yes.”
“B-but I’m in bed, naked and—”
“Just made love to me. I can’t think of any other way to complete things. I want you to know it’s never been just sex with us...although I think the sex is off the charts.”
She grinned. “So do I.”
He opened the box and she gasped at the ring shining back at her in the firelight. “It’s beautiful, Walker.”
“As beautiful as my future wife,” he said, sliding the ring on her finger. Halfway there, he stopped and eyed her expectantly. “You didn’t say yes.”
“Yes!”
He slid the ring the rest of the way and then pulled her into his arms. “My parents would have loved you,” he whispered against her ear.
“And I would have loved them, too. And I would have loved Connor.”
He pulled back. “He would have loved you.” Walker held her hand up and looked at it. “I thought the timing was right since I’ll be taking you home next week. I don’t want your family to think I’m taking advantage of you. When they see that ring they will know. I love you and intend to make you my wife. Just set the date. But don’t make me wait too long.”
“I won’t.”
He brushed his thumb across her cheek. “Thanks for believing I was worthy of breaking your rules, Bailey.”
“And thanks for believing I am worthy of your love and trust, Walker.”
Their mouths touched, and she knew tonight was the beginning of how things would be for the rest of their lives.
Epilogue
Thanksgiving Day
Bailey looked around the huge table. This was the first time that every one of her brothers, sisters and cousins—the Denver Westmorelands—had managed to come home for Thanksgiving. Even Bane was here. The family had definitely multiplied with the addition of wives, husbands and children. She and Walker would tie the knot here in Westmoreland Country on Valentine’s Day.
Everyone was glad to see Bane. It had been years since he’d been home for Thanksgiving. In fact, they hadn’t seen him since that time he’d shown up unannounced at Blue Ridge Land Management, surprising Stern and Adrian.
Bailey wondered if she was the only one who noticed he seemed pensive and preoccupied. And not for the first time she wondered if something had happened on his last covert operation that he wasn’t sharing with them.