His Son, Her Secret(16)

"Have fun," Leona called after her as May grabbed her jacket and her purse.

That only got her a dirty look. Then May was gone.

Byron sighed. "I actually asked the Realtor if she could find us a  place with a nice one-bedroom close by. I get the feeling May might not  want to look at me every day."

"I'm not sure if she's going to move or not," Leona told him. If she  didn't, Leona would have to keep paying rent on the apartment. Which  might not be a bad plan-if it didn't work out with Byron, she could come  back. "Here, hold Percy. I've got to change."

Byron sat down on the couch again and took the baby. Today, he looked  slightly more confident. Or, at the very least, he looked less panicked.  "How's my boy today?"

Percy made a face at him.

Leona hurried back to her room and changed into one of her prettier  casual tops and a pair of jeans. She was not dressing for Byron's  approval, not really. She was just being...comfortable.

Yeah, right.

When she got back to the living room, she found Byron and Percy  stretched out on the floor together, both on their tummies. Byron was  smiling at Percy, encouraging him. Leona wanted to stand there and watch  them. This was what she'd dreamed of before Byron left her-having him  all to herself, with no Beaumonts and no Harpers around to complicate  things. They were going to have a family one day-they'd talked about it.

And then he'd gone and proved himself to be a Beaumont just like all  the rest. He'd left her, like her father had always warned her Beaumonts  did. And now he was back, issuing orders and expecting them to be  followed to the letter.

She couldn't trust him. All this stuff he was doing-the ring, the  apartment, talking about being a family-all of it was because he thought  he wanted it. It had nothing to do with what she wanted. And the moment  he changed his mind, it could all be taken away from her again.                       
       
           



       

She wanted to tie herself to a man she could count on, a man who would  not treat her as if she were a ball and chain around his neck like her  father treated her mother, and yet would also not treat her as if she  were disposable and forgettable like all Beaumonts treated women.

She wanted stability and happiness and safety for herself, her son and her sister.

There'd been a time when she'd thought Byron was all of that and more.

She could not make that mistake a second time.

She focused on the safety and happiness of her son because right now,  that was the thing that drove every other action. She would sacrifice  her own heart to save his. "Having fun?"

"I was curious to see if he'd roll over," Byron replied, propping himself up on his elbow.

"He hasn't gotten that far yet." She sat down on the floor on the other side of Percy. "How are your ears, baby?"

Percy made a grunting noise as he tried to push himself up. "I know,"  she told the baby. "It's so hard to look around when you're on your  tummy."

She rubbed his back and looked at Byron. He was staring at her as if he'd never seen her before. "What?"

"You haven't answered my questions-any of them."

"Ask me again," she told him, steeling herself to making it official.

"Will you move in with me?"

Letting Percy have this-a loving relationship with his father? Even if  it meant torturing herself with her greatest love and her greatest  mistake every single day for the rest of her life?

It was no contest.

"Yes."

"Will you come with me tomorrow to look at places? You can bring Percy,  too, since he's going to be living there. He might have an opinion."

She couldn't help but grin. It was a thoughtful thing to say. If only everything he said and did was that thoughtful. "Yes."

He stared at her for a moment longer. There was something in his eyes, something deep and serious. "Will you marry me?"

She needed to say yes. For Percy. But... "I need to know what this marriage will actually be before I agree to it."

He raised an eyebrow. "Like what?"

"Will you see other women?"

"No." He didn't hesitate at all, which was good, she guessed. There was a pause. "You?"

"No. I have too much on my plate to even think about dating."

That got her a nice smile. "So we're agreed. No seeing other people. What else?"

Just the small matter of the facts. And the fact was that Beaumonts  always cheated. Hardwick Beaumont always took the kids. Beaumonts were  not to be trusted, no matter what.

"If it doesn't work out," she asked in a quiet voice as she picked up  Percy and held him to her chest, "you won't take him away from me, will  you?"

Byron sat up, as well. He leaned forward and kissed the top of Percy's head and said, "I am not my father, Leona."

She didn't reply. The silence seemed to stretch, pushing him away from her.

"And what about you?" His voice had turned colder. "If it doesn't work  out, you won't take him and disappear? I will not stand for another lie,  Leona. Because if you betray me again..." The words trailed off, but  there was no give in his voice.

A cold chill ran up her spine. The threat was implicit. If she did something he didn't like, he would make her suffer for it.

"I never lied." It sounded weak to her own ears. "I told you my last name."

"Is that what you tell yourself? It wasn't a bald-faced lie, therefore  you're completely innocent? How touching." He held out his arms for  Percy.

She held her baby so tightly that he started to fuss. Byron sighed, the  only acknowledgment of her feelings. "I want things to be different,  you know. I don't want to be my parents." He came and sat beside her.  Percy squirmed in her arms and she had no choice but to hand him over to  Byron. "I know exactly what my father did to my mother," he went on in a  quiet voice. "I would never, ever do that to you or to Percy."

She shouldn't believe him, shouldn't trust him. But he said it with  such conviction that she couldn't help it. She looked down at her son,  who was happily trying to suck on all his fingers at once. "I need help  with him. If May doesn't move down with us, we'll have to find a day  care for him and that's not cheap. The drops for his ears aren't cheap,  and I didn't know how I was going to pay for Percy's surgery to get  tubes, either. For the ear infections."

"I'll take care of it. All of it." He said it in an almost dismissive way, as if he'd never had to worry about money.                       
       
           



       

Well, maybe he hadn't. After all, she hadn't, either-not until she'd  walked away from her father and his fortune. There'd been a very real  price for her independence, but it'd been one she was willing to pay to  keep Percy happy and safe.

Would she really give up that hard-fought independence and let Byron  call the shots just because it was best for her son-even if it wasn't  anywhere close to what was best for her?

No, she would not panic. She forced herself to breath and keep her head on her shoulders. "What about your family?"

"What about them?"

She gave him a hard look. "You saw how Frances reacted to me. If we get married, are they going to be...difficult about it?"

He grimaced. "Things have changed. It's almost like we all finally  figured out that Hardwick is really and truly dead and we don't have to  be what he thought we were anymore. Even Chadwick is different now. He  smiles and everything."

"I wish my father realized that, too," she said wistfully. If only they  could all just go on with their lives without a decades-old feud to  haunt them.

Percy made the high whining noise that signaled he was getting hungry. "Oh, I should be making dinner."

She started to get up, but Byron was quicker. "Let me. What else does he eat?"

"He liked the applesauce," she called after him as he headed for the  kitchen. "And yogurt and cereal. But it's still mostly baby food at this  point."

Byron ducked his head around the kitchen door, a jar of what looked  like green beans and mashed potatoes in his hand. "This stuff?" He made a  face.

"Yes, that stuff," she replied, trying not to be defensive about it. "That's a good brand-all organic, no added anything."

After giving her a dismissive look, Byron disappeared back into the  kitchen. Leona stood and checked Percy's diaper. "I have a feeling," she  told the baby as she carried him back to the changing table, "that he's  going to start from scratch."

She wasn't wrong about that. By the time she got Percy changed, Byron  had peeled potatoes boiling and a can of green beans heating. "I don't  like using the canned stuff," he told her in his chef voice. "I'll pick  up some fresh or frozen ones for him."