Moving through the doorway separating the bedroom and living area, I looked towards the work space to the left but didn't find Ethan there. Scanning the room, my gaze finally landed on him when I hit the windows. He was standing with his back towards me, staring out, but I had a feeling he wasn't taking in any of the amazing city view we had since he seemed pensive once again.
"Ethan?" I asked softly, half hoping he wouldn't hear me because I was afraid I wouldn't like what he had to say. But I forged ahead anyway, needing to know if I was going to move halfway across the country with him. So I cleared my throat and raised my voice. "We have to talk."
"About what, baby girl?" he murmured distractedly, turning towards me and opening his arms wide.
I ran into them, feeling safer in his embrace.
"Something's bothering you," I mumbled against his shirt. "Don't even try to deny it."
I felt him sigh deeply, his chest expanding against me, and his breath ruffling my hair.
"Whatever it is, you can tell me. Please."
His arms tightened around me. "Remember when I asked you about your dad on our first date?"
I had no idea where he was going with this, but my nose wrinkled at the reminder of a man I never wanted to think about again. "Yeah."
"I know him."
"You know who?"
"Your father," he replied, confirming that I'd actually heard what I thought I'd heard the first time around.
I tried pulling out of his embrace, but he didn't let me go far. I was only able to back away enough so I could look up into his face. "What do you mean, you know my father?"
"We're friends," he bit out. "Close friends."
"What? How? But-"
Apparently my propensity to blurt things out couldn't withstand the shock of his announcement. I had no idea what to say.
"He hired me ten years ago to locate your mother. And you."
"Ten years ago? What, did he suddenly grow a conscience and wonder what happened to his daughter and the woman whose heart he broke?"
"I don't know what your mother told you-"
"Don't!" I cut him off. "My mother let me keep my rose colored glasses about the man who fathered me, right up until she was on her death bed. She never, not once, said anything bad about him while I was growing up. Even though she had every reason to, considering he'd planned to trick her into signing a prenuptial agreement that would allow him to take me away from her when he divorced her."
"Fuck," he hissed. "I don't know what to tell you, baby girl, except that the Samuel I know would never do that. Especially not to your mother. From everything he's told me, and all of the information I've managed to dig up about their relationship on my own in the course of my investigation, he was madly in love with her. So much so that it took him seventeen years to get serious with anyone else."
"Oh, yeah? Then why did it take him eight years to start his search? If he loved her so much back then, he wouldn't have wasted so much time."
"He didn't waste any time, Lilah. He had the security team at his investment firm begin the search the moment he realized she was gone. It just took him eight years to figure out how they were bungling the job, fire them all, and hire me to take over."
I shook my head, refusing to believe what he was telling me. He had to be mistaken. It wasn't possible. "Maybe they messed up because he didn't really care. Or because they knew he was a bad guy and they were secretly rooting for my mother to have enough time to get away."
He led me over to the couch and settled me on the cushions, sitting beside me with one arm stretched over my shoulders and the other stretched out so he could hold my hand.
"I don't know what happened back then to make your mom think what she did, but I promise I'll get to the bottom of it. For you." He lifted my hand and placed a kiss on the palm. "And for Samuel because he deserves answers too."
"Why do you care about what he deserves?"
"Because he's my best friend, baby girl."
I recoiled away from him as it dawned on me. "At my mom's funeral, you told me you were there to pay respects for a friend because you happened to be in town. But that wasn't true, was it? You were in town because of the funeral. Because of your search for my mom and me. Because of my stupid decision to include her real name on the obituary so she could have some peace as she left this world."
"Yes," he answered, and tears filled my eyes. "I came because of Samuel, but that's not why I stayed. That was all you-the beautiful girl who took my breath away from the moment I first saw her. I planned on getting a DNA sample to confirm you were Samuel's little girl and then staying away until the results came in, but I couldn't do it. It was impossible to stay away from you because you're mine."
I thought back to the day of my mom's funeral. "My hair. It tangled in your watch, giving you the sample you needed."
"Yes."
"When will you get the results?"
"I've had them since the day after our date. There's no doubt about it. You're Samuel Wentworth's daughter."
I jumped up and paced back and forth. "Why didn't you tell me sooner? How could you sleep with me, let me fall for you, agree to move to Texas with you-all while you were keeping this secret from me?"
Ethan stood, but didn't approach me. Instead, he moved to stand between me and the door, as though he was blocking my exit. "I tried, Lilah. Many, many times. But I couldn't bring myself to do it. One day turned into two. Two days into a week. Before I knew it, we were only days away from me taking you home and I didn't know how to get the words out without hurting you."
"I don't know what to do," I cried. "What to think. Who to believe."
"Me," he rasped. "Believe me when I tell you I'll do everything in my power to make you happy. Come to Texas with me. Be mine, like you already are."
"It's not that simple." It couldn't be, could it?
"When it comes to you and me, it's exactly that simple, Lilah. We're a team, you and I. Maybe even a team of three if you're already carrying my baby."
"You really expect me to follow you to Texas? To live with you. To meet the man who knocked my mom up and scared her off... while I may very well be pregnant with your child? With his best friend's child? Sure. Why not? I'm sure nothing can go wrong with that plan." Sarcasm was thick in my tone, but Ethan didn't seem to care. He rushed towards me and wrapped me up in his arms.
"Samuel's not like that. Once he gets used to the idea of the two of us being together, he'll be happy for us." He paused to kiss my forehead and drop a hand to my belly. "After he tries to kick my ass, of course."
"Oh, no," I gasped. "No way. You want me to meet my father? The only way that's going to happen is if we keep our relationship a secret for a while. I'm not ready to face two battles at once. Not yet."
"Fuck no," he growled. "I refuse to hide what you are to me. Mine."
"Well, then. I guess you should have told me all of this sooner. Maybe I would have had time to come to terms with it. But you didn't, so you're going to have to suck it up and do this my way, ‘cause it's the only way it'll happen at all."
Chapter 7
Ethan
I glanced over at Lilah as we waited for a car to pick us up at the Dallas airport. She'd been quiet since our talk the other night. Too quiet. I missed her chatter and the cute way she blurted out all of her thoughts.
I was grateful that she hadn't pulled away from me, but I wanted her smile back, the spark of life inside that I fell for the first time I met her. There was a lot to process and she was nervous. I'd called Samuel the day before we left and finally given him the news that Bonnie had passed away and I was returning with the daughter he'd always wanted but never had the chance to know.
It took great restraint on my part not to let any of my feelings for Lilah bleed through my words. Keeping our relationship from him was not going to be easy, especially when I wanted to let the whole world know she was mine. I would have fought Lilah harder about it, but ultimately decided to go along for a little while. Samuel deserved some time with her, and I wasn't anxious to test our friendship.
I was fucking his little girl, doing my best to put my baby in her, and would be taking her away from him when I put my ring on her finger. It was not a conversation I was looking forward to.
A black Escalade pulled up to the curb in front of us and parked. The driver alighted from the car and came around to greet us. He started loading our bags as I opened the door and helped Lilah climb into the back seat before following behind her. She scooted to the far side and stared out the window, her fingers twisting together in her lap.