Byron wouldn't take her babies and melt off into the night, only to turn up in some foreign country with byzantine custody laws, leaving her no hope of ever seeing her baby again. Would he?
No. No. Byron loved Percy and he would not treat her like his own mother had been treated-discarded and destroyed. They might not be able to live together, but he wanted what was best for Percy.
She'd fought too hard for her independence to crumple just because Byron didn't want her and her father lied. She was stronger than that, by God.
So she took a deep breath and stood straighter. True, she was holding on tight to the door, but it was the best she could do. "I could invite you in, but I won't. I don't know what game you're playing, but you're forgetting one simple thing. I know you too well to trust a single word that comes out of your mouth."
Her father's face hardened in rage, but she wasn't done with him. With each word she spoke, she pushed back against the terror this man had inspired in her for the past twenty-five years.
"If you ever come near me or my son again, I'll call the cops and file a restraining order against you," she promised. "If you're still on my property within five minutes, I'll make the call now. I left home for a reason, and nothing you can say or do will convince me that I have to come back for your 'protection.' I don't need it. I don't want it. The only person I need protection from is you." She tried to give him a dismissive look. "And I'll protect myself from you, thank you very much."
With that, she slammed the door in his face. Then she realized she was still holding the envelope. She threw the door back open and launched the envelope at his head before slamming the door shut again. Then she threw the bolt and sagged against the wood.
Except the sagging continued until she had to struggle to her feet and rush to the bathroom.
It was only after her system had cleared itself out and she'd brushed her teeth that she realized she didn't know if her father had been to see Byron or not.
Seventeen
The front door banged open so hard that Leona jumped and dropped her phone milliseconds after hitting Send to Byron.
The figure in the door shouted, "Leona?" at the same moment she heard the chime that Byron had picked out for her.
"Byron?" Yes, it looked like him, but at this point in her day, she wasn't sure she could trust her eyes. "Did you call my father?" she demanded angrily. "Did you tell him you were leaving me?"
Byron gaped at her. "God, no. If I never see him again, it'll be too soon." His brow furrowed. "I guess that answers the question of whether or not you've seen him. He must have come straight here." He looked like he wanted to hold her, but didn't. "Are you pregnant?"
Her eyes fluttered shut. "Yes."
"And you didn't tell me."
"I tried. Last night. And you cut me off." She walked to the kitchen island and grabbed the notebook. "So I was writing you a letter. When my father showed up-and cut me off," she said.
Byron grabbed the notebook and read the few lines she'd written down. "How do I know you didn't write this confession after he left? How do I know you didn't call him and tell him you were done with me? How do I know you're not still lying to me?"
Her mouth dropped open. "You don't, Byron. You can't independently verify every single thing I do and say as being one hundred percent truthful at all times. You have to take it on faith when I tell you that I'm sorry for the mistakes I made in the past, that I was in the process of writing you a letter because every time we talk it turns into a fight, that I wanted you to know I was pregnant."
"So who told your father?"
She picked up her phone and dialed May-then she put it on speaker. "Hey, Leona. How's Percy?"
Leona took a deep breath and tried to project calm. "May, did you call our father?"
She could sense May's hesitancy. "Well..."
"Did you tell him I was pregnant?"
There was a long pause on May's end. Finally, she said, "The pregnancy test was right there in the trash." Her voice was accusatory, as if Leona had hidden it there just so May could find it.
The curse was right on Leona's lips. But this was still her little sister. So instead she said, "What did he give you?"
"I got an allowance." May sniffed again. "And a new car."
This time, Leona couldn't keep her anger in. "Damn it, May!"
"But Byron's going to leave you-you know he will!" May all but shouted. "He's going to abandon you again, and I can't stand to see you hurt like that-not a second time. We were happy, weren't we? We didn't need him. We could take care of the new baby like we did Percy! I thought it'd be nice to have some better things, not the junk we've had to make do with."
Byron looked at Leona in surprise, but he didn't say anything.
Leona closed her eyes and took another deep breath. "May, I am a grown woman. I know you meant well, but even if I'm going to screw up, I'll do it on my terms. I'll thank you from now on to stay out of my business."
May was crying now and it made a part of Leona hurt. She'd spent years trying to protect May from her father. She never would have guessed that May wouldn't return the favor.
"Are you mad?" May sniffed.
"You have no idea. I'm going to hang up now and talk with Byron. I'll call you when I'm ready to talk to you."
"But-"
Leona ended the call and stood there. "I have the pregnancy test in my room. I took it three days ago. I didn't tell you immediately because I knew you'd tell me I had to marry you and I wanted to figure out how to have that discussion. I tried last night but we both know how that went."
Byron was staring at her, openmouthed.
"So this is the deal. I'm pregnant. We already have a child together. But I won't marry you just to have you accuse me of lying to you every day. And I won't marry you and live with the fear that, as soon as you don't want me anymore, I'll be put out on the streets without a home, an income or my children. After you left and I got away from my family, I found out I could survive-even more than that, I could thrive. And I'm not going to give up that independence to exist at your whim or my father's."
He still hadn't come up with a response, so she went on. For once, no one was interrupting her. "I should have told you who I really was. I should have told you I was pregnant with Percy. I am sorry I didn't, but I didn't want my father to matter. I wanted to matter and for a long time, you made me feel like I did."
"You were the only thing in the world that mattered to me," he said in a quiet voice.
A thrill of something she only vaguely recognized as hope shot through her. She ignored it. This was not the time for hope. This was the time for the truth. "But you act as if I kept Percy a secret from you when that's not what happened. I had taken a pregnancy test that afternoon and gone to the restaurant. I was going to tell you that night, Byron, right after we got off work. And instead my father showed up-a maid had found the test and given it to my mom, who told my father. And then you were gone. I didn't hide Percy from you, Byron, I just never got the chance to tell you. So I'll say it again. I'm pregnant. You're the father. Now what?"
Byron looked down at the notebook he was still holding. "Is there anything else I need to know? Because if we are going to find a way to make this work, I need complete honesty from you."
She gave him a long look-so long that he lifted his gaze back to her. "I will not marry you for the children."
He nodded slowly. "And?"
Suddenly her heart was pounding faster. "And I love you. I've always loved you. I just didn't allow myself to love you when you were gone because what good would it have done me? And then you came back and I was afraid you'd become the Beaumont my father always warned me about, when all I wanted was Byron. But I will not allow you to use my feelings against me."
He took a step toward her. The air between them seemed to sharpen. "Is that why you've been fighting my apologies this week?"
"Yes. I know we can't go back to where we were before. But I just... I want something better for our family." Her eyes began to water but she blinked the tears away. "For us."
He took another step toward her, close enough that she could feel the warmth of his body. "Tell me what you want."
"You. I want you. I want to spend the rest of my days loving you and I want to know that you will always love me, too. I don't want to live under a cloud of suspicion or worry. And if you can't give me that, then it's better to know now. I'd rather be on my own again than live like my parents or yours."