Everyone had gathered in the family room. So, we were doing this first thing. Nerves tumbled through me. My father stood, his arms crossed, my mother next to Cash and Brandi on the couch. I looked around for the kids, not wanting Reid to witness this.
“They’re upstairs with Cindy. In your old room,” my father said.
“Cindy came? I thought she couldn’t make it.”
“She flew in this morning,” Cash said. “Start talking.”
Glancing at Gabe, I saw the determination there. His strength calmed the colliding nerves that were pulverizing me. His eyes met mine.
“Everything,” I told him.
His brows creased. “I can’t do that, Tori.”
“You will if you really love me.” Hurt flashed in those rich orbs, but I could do nothing to soothe it. He needed to do this on his own. I tore my eyes from him and looked at my family. “There are things he’s about to tell you that could do damageto his family and business. Nothing goes beyond this room. Understood?”
“Fine,” Cash grumbled as the others nodded.
My mother gestured to the loveseat. “Sit, both of you.”
I pulled Gabe to it, sitting next to him. Leaning forward, I picked up the glass of scotch that sat on the coffee table and handed it to him. It had been my only ask of them aside from having them listen. He looked at it, then at me, a sad smile forming. He had told me how he’d turned to it when he’d left me, using it as his crutch to get by, and something told me he would need it today.
He took a swig, then leaned forward, elbows on his knees, looking down at the scotch as it swirled in his glass.
“Everything?” he asked again, peeking back at me. And I saw something in him he never showed. Fear. He didn’t want to go back to the memories, but they were the foundation of everything that had touched my life.
“The truth,” my father said. “And then I’ll decide if I want you anywhere near my daughter and my grandson.”
Anguish slashed Gabe’s face, and my heart ached at the same time it danced in the knowledge that his love for me and Reid was real. Strong enough to crush him if he had to leave us.
He dragged his hand through his hair and talked. Starting from the beginning, the abuse, the devastating suicide, the pact with Liv, her insistence that he block me and erase his ties to me the day she had answered the phone, all the way to the day in the lobby. The same day he’d taken down his father, and I had stepped back into his life.
By the time he finished, his glass was empty, my cheeks were wet, and silence hung over the room. His story was a powerful one, and my family needed to hear it if this was ever going to work.
Cash leaned forward, rubbing his hand down his face. I knew he’d expected excuses and nothing like what Gabe had just given him.
“I remember when your father checked in that week,” my father said, finally breaking the silence. “And you.”
Gabe’s sight slipped to my father.
“You went into the sitting room where Tori was coloring.” I couldn’t stop my gasp. “He was pissed when he realized you had moved. It’s his reaction that always stuck with me. I had known the name the minute I saw it and figured he was checking us out to propose a buyout.”
“I remember that day,” my mother agreed, taking his hand. “We were nervous for months because he had a reputation for being hostile when he wanted a property.”
“My mother loved it there, but he would never let her come back.” He rubbed his neck, and I rested my hand on his forearm.
“He dragged you out of that room where you were with Tori and smacked you so hard as he walked you down that hall that I said something to him.” My father’s eyes grew sad. “I’d forgotten all about it until just now. I’d never seen a father treat his child like that. You hear stories and see the news but…to see it.” He wiped his eyes. “I told him if I saw him do it again, he could find someplace else to stay. Your mother was with him. I knew it wasn’t my business, but you were so young, and Tori was so upset by it. She cried all night.”
My head was spinning. Gabe and I had met when we were children, and I’d never known, the memory lost like a melting snowflake.
“No wonder your father didn’t want you marrying me,” I mumbled.
Cash sat back, his focus intent on Gabe, as Brandi rubbed his shoulder.
“So,” Cash said, “you left to protect my sister and my family. And if you hadn’t…”
“He would have had the excuse to take the resort that he’d been waiting for. A reason to break his promise to my mother.”
“A promise she had him make because she knew he would turn his anger on me for standing up for you,” my father added.
