My mom laughed and wrapped her arm gently around mine as we followed her, Laney, and Sadie to a living area with delicate tea cups waiting on trays. Splitting off from the men meant I’d lost Callum again, but those words he’d murmured were still haunting me.
Sadie settled in next to me on the couch, her eyes knowing as they scanned my face. “Are you okay?”
Her voice was soft, but I knew why. I knew what she was asking, and the truth was that I was far from okay, but I forced a smile anyway. “I’m fine. I’m just tired. It’s been a really long day.”
“Maisie—” she started, but I couldn’t do this. Not right now.
“I think I’ll go rest,” I cut in, my palms damp and my throat tight. I couldn’t breathe in this room, not with the weight of what was waiting pressing on me. “Good night, everyone. Thank you for a lovely dinner. I’m beat, but I’ll see you all in the morning.”
CC and Laney said good night, but worry shimmered in my mom’s eyes as she gave me a slight nod. She knew what was coming, too. I’d promised her I’d talk to him the first chance I got, after all, and she gave me an encouraging smile.
I nodded in return and quickly stepped out into the hall. My footsteps echoed against the stone floor. My pulse was hammering in my ears as I started up the grand staircase to my room.
Halfway up, I saw him. Callum must’ve excused himself from the men around the same time I’d left the women. But as soon as he looked at me over his shoulder, obviously having heard my footsteps on the floor, I saw that his jaw was set, his expression grim.
His eyes found mine instantly and they were still dark, but his gaze was steady. My breath caught in my lungs. In that moment, I knew immediately that this was it. No matter what happened next, there would be no more running.
Callum and I were about to have the conversation I’d been dreading. It was long overdue, but I still wasn’t ready. As I held his gaze, I wondered ifhewas, and then I realized that neither of us probably ever could be.
CHAPTER 41
CALLUM
Ididn’t give her time to run or myself time to think. I just wrapped my fingers in a gentle grip around her wrist and pulled Maisie down the hall into the bedroom I had been assigned. Immediately shutting the door behind us, I leaned back against it, desperately needing something solid to hold me up for just a minute.
Getting through the afternoon and then the flight had been hell, but seeing her once we’d gotten here, the guardedness in her eyes combined with the genuine joy at having been reunited with both Brody and me, it wrecked me.
She spun to face me, those green eyes wide as she hugged her arms around herself. Her hair was pulled into a sleek, dark ponytail, and ironically, she was wearing an old Cal Poly hoodie. So many emotions ran through me at once that I felt like someone had chucked my heart into a washing machine and put it on the spin cycle.
Maisie didn’t seem to be faring much better. Her narrow shoulders were shaking. Her mouth opened and closed a few times before just one word came out. “Callum.”
“I think I might be Brody’s father.” Over the last few hours, I’d thought about so many different ways to say those words, but in the end, they’d just come out blunt and straightforward.
Maisie froze so completely, I didn’t even think she was breathing anymore, but then I saw her swallow. She blinked hard a few times in quick succession, and though her mouth opened and closed again, she didn’t say a word.
I dragged a hand through my hair, pacing before I stopped in front of her. My heart was doing things any cardiologist would probably pay to study given how crazy it was going in my chest, but despite the blood roaring in my ears, I had to get it all out.
“Today, at the barber’s, I noticed that he has a cowlick. In the same damn spot I do. He grins the same way Sterling used to when we were kids, with his nose wrinkling just a little bit.”
Her lips parted, but I pushed on, desperate to lay out all the facts to her. “Just a few seconds later, I saw it. His birthmark. I have the same one. Also in the exact same spot, and here’s the kicker, my father and Sterling have it too.”
Her hands trembled as she clasped them together. Black spots were popping up in front of my eyes. I took a deep breath, uncertain if I’d done that at all since I’d started, but I carried on anyway. “And the timing. God, it lines up, doesn’t it? That night was just about eight years ago now.”
A bark of bitter laughter shot out of me completely of its own accord, so much guilt and shame flooding my senses that I turned my back on her and scrubbed my hands over my face. “I’m so sorry, Maisie. I should’ve seen it earlier. I know it was a one-night stand and that there’s probably another guy who could be his dad, but I’m sure of this. I’ll do a DNA test. I’m so, so sorry you had to go through all this alone.”
“You don’t need a DNA test,” she said quietly, her hand landing on my shoulder and giving it a gentle squeeze. “You alsodon’t need to apologize. Brody is yours, Callum. I’ve known it his entire life. Since before he was even born.”
The floor tilted under me. I shook my head, trying to catch up. My eyelids screwed shut, but I leaned into her touch. Just for a moment. Letting her ground me as much as anything could right then. “What?”
“There was no one else, Callum.” Her voice cracked on my name, her hand slipping away. “It was only you.”
All I could do was stare at the ancient stone wall I was facing. The truth wrapped around my chest like a vise, sharp and suffocating.
Brody was my son. Mine.
And she’d known?
The words looped in my head. Incredulity and disbelief swirled through me so intensely that I couldn’t even feel my fucking legs. When I finally managed to turn around, I just stared at her, waiting for the ground to stop shifting under me or for my lungs to fill with air.
