“Sorry,”Donna said.“Mother can be a bit—”She shrugged.
Ted stood staring after where Patricia had vanished. He finally looked back at them and smiled.“Ah, yes. Patricia is one of a kind.”
Well, that’s one way to describe Grandmother…A rather charitable way at that.
“Come, Cassandra, let’s walk around a bit. I want to head over to the edge of the pavilion and watch the sunset. Delbert, that okay with you?”
“Yes. I’ll grab us some champagne and we’ll watch the sunset.”
Cassandra took Ted’s arm and the three of them headed over to the view at the end of the pavilion.
Heather looked across the crowd and saw Jesse standing with Blake. Her heart did a quick double beat at seeing the two of them standing together. Father and son. A sight she’d never imagined she’d see. And yet… there they were.
“If you’ll excuse me…”She smiled at Donna and Barry and started to thread her way through the crowd toward Jesse and Blake, determination soaring through her.
Jesse watched as Blake headed over to talk with Emily. He was glad Emily was introducing Blake to a bunch of kids his own age. It seemed his son was easily slipping into life here in Moonbeam, and that pleased him. It pleased him a lot. All he wanted was his son to be happy. To have a good life. The best he could give him.
“Hi.”
He whirled around at the sound of Heather’s voice, his fists balling tightly until he forced himself to uncurl his fingers. He hated this automatic reaction he now had to hearing Heather’s voice.
“I see Blake is off with Emily.”Heather nodded in the direction the kids had headed.“Do you think we could talk?”
“Now’s not a good time.”He started to turn away, to avoid her—anything to avoid her—but she caught his arm.
“It’s never a good time, is it?”Her eyes flashed, demanding he stop and listen.“But we need to talk. For Blake’s sake.”
“Don’t even use that line with me. ForBlake’ssake. Right.”His eyes narrowed.
“Yes, for Blake’s sake. I’ve only ever done what I thought was best for him.”
“Like giving him away?”He gritted his teeth, hating the icy-hot rage that swept through him every time he thought of Heather giving Blake up for adoption. Without one word to him. None.
“Like giving him to a woman and a man who could give him a normal, wonderful life. They were so in love. So happy. They had a nice home in a nice neighborhood. Just so…normal. What could I have given him?”
“A chance to grow up with his father?”He tossed the words at her.
She paused and stared at him. Stared at him hard.“Myfather would have made living here in Moonbeam impossible, you know that.”
He frowned—reluctantly. She was right there. Darren Carlson would have never helped his daughter and would have insisted she leave town. He wouldn’t have wanted the embarrassment of an unwed daughter having a child.
“And Mom and I weren’t on good terms then either. What did I know about being a parent? Nothing at all. I just wanted to protect Blake from my father and from a life of people talking about him in a small town like Moonbeam. I wanted him to have a wonderful, normal childhood. Not like mine.”
He raked his fingers through his hair in exasperation.“But…you didn’t tell me, Heather. How could you keep that from me?”
She didn’t back down from his gaze.“Jesse, you were in school and working how many jobs trying to save money? Neither one of us had any way to support him.”She glanced away, out to the harbor, before looking back at him.“And…well, you said it was all a mistake. That night we slept together. Amistake.”
The pain was plainly etched on her face. Seared in the depths of her sapphire blue eyes. And it shocked him to his very core.
“But…I thought that was what you wanted. To be free to go back to your life. Not tied down here in Moonbeam.”And he hadn’t meant it anyway. He hadn’t thought it was a mistake. He’d thought it was the best thing that had ever happened between them. But she’d looked so scared the next morning. Like she wanted to run. So he’d given her that freedom with his words.
She continued to stare directly at him, not letting him turn away from her pain.“I wouldn’t have slept with you if all I wanted was to leave…”she said softly.
That hit him like a punch in the gut. It stung. And now that he was older, he was aware of the truth of her statement. She wouldn’t have just casually slept with him. But back then, when they were young…when he was young and oh so very, very foolish.
Emotions smashed through him. The choices he’d made had led them to this point, too. He was as much to blame as Heather.
Her voice quieted, and her eyes filled with sadness.“I didn’t want you to take on any responsibility or stay with me because of the baby. You made it clear you thought it was a mistake—it waswrong. So I didn’t want to come crawling back asking for help. I wanted you to have your school, and your dreams, and your freedom. And I just felt so alone. Like I had no one to turn to for help. I was so…so scared when I found out I was pregnant.”
