Sandra’s brows lifted. “Did he? I didn’t notice. Maybe my mother was right.”
Eb did not know what she meant. “What was he to you?”
“Eleven years ago, he was my husband.” Sandra patted her stomach. “It was because of him this happened.”
So many emotions swirled through him, from sorrow for her pain to anger at whatever the man had done. For a few seconds, Eb had no words. Until recently, almost nothing ever happened to him to cause an adrenaline rush. But right now…
“What did he do?” he asked, clenching his fists.
Sandra closed her eyes. “Dom drove drunk. See, there are two of us who don’t imbibe. I kept telling him he’d had too much, but he’d graduated from college with a great job offer. He wanted to celebrate. It was a big deal to him. His father hadn’t been supportive, and Dom had done it all himself.
Eb sat still, listening, an odd numbness filling his mind and body as her words washed over him.
“I’d had too much to drink too, idiot that I was, but at least I’d known I shouldn’t drive. Dom had great reflexes and insisted he wasn’t impaired. It wasn’t very far, he said.” The bitterness in her words twisted Eb’s gut.
“He crashed?”
She nodded, her eyes still closed, her cheeks wet. “We’re lucky. He almost hit a car, but he somehow managed to swerve at the last moment. We crashed into the woods on the side of the road. My mom says it was a miracle. See, a tree branch impaled me. If it’d run through me at even a slightly different angle, it would have paralyzed or killed me. But it destroyed my uterus and one of my ovaries.”
Opening her eyes, Sandra met Eb’s gaze. “So, yeah. Now you know.” With a sudden burst of energy, she jumped to her feet and dashed to the closet where her coat hung.
Startled at the change, he struggled to his feet. “Sandra, wait.”
She held up one hand, her jacket in the other. “Can you really tell me that while we were reading to Rue you weren’t thinking about what a sweet family we’d all make and how you’d like to have more children? Withme?”
Eb opened his mouth but then closed it again. Had he been that obvious?
“More than once, you’ve mentioned how you’ve always wanted a large family. And you’re a wonderful father, Eb. But being with me would mean you couldn’t have that. You deserve a woman who can make your dream family with you.”
He stood frozen in place, conflicting dreams struggling for dominance. Sandra turned and hurried out the door.
His thoughts pulled him in so many directions, Eb couldn’t move. But as the door clicked shut, he wondered if he’d just let another woman he loved walk away without a fight.
CHAPTERTWENTY-ONE
Sandra sat up in her bed the next morning, exhausted from an evening of crying, followed by nightmares of how she’d pleaded with Dom. They’d both wanted children; they could adopt. But he didn’t want to raise someone else’s kids.Hischildren needed to have his DNA.
Then her dreams had shifted to Eb and his expression when she’d told him. Had he wished back the words of love he’d expressed? Or had disgust filled him at her brokenness?
Sandra raised her knees and buried her face in them. Ten years ago, when she’d left her old life behind and gone to work for Walt, she’d thought the grieving for her loss was behind her. But now she’d let herself fall in love with another man who wanted kids.
Straightening, she steeled herself to be strong. There was no way she would allow this to destroy her again. Regardless of Walt’s feelings on the issue, she didn’thaveto live across from Eb. If her boss insisted, then she would just quit. The thought brought a stab of pain to Sandra’s chest, but it didn’t soften her resolve. She had options. Over the years, plenty of celebrities had tried to hire her from Walt. All she’d have to do was to put it out that she was looking for a change…
She wouldn’t worry about it. With a full schedule, she didn’t have time to waste on something she had no control over.
But as Sandra opened her laptop, the memory of Eb’s expression flashed through her mind. She clenched her fists. Until she’d seen it for herself, she’d clung to a tiny hope he wouldn’t be like Dom. How often she’d dreamed of telling Eb. In her fantasy, he would take her in his arms and tell her it didn’t matter, that he lovedherand wantedher, not her womb.
But he hadn’t done it. With a single look, he’d thrown her away just like her ex had.
Once she fulfilled her promise to help Eb with the adorable Miss Rue, Sandra wouldn’t have to see her or Eb Grinchly again. And the thought hurt as bad as it had when the doctor had told her he’d had to do a hysterectomy.
Sandra blew her nose and went to work. The first thing she had to do was look for clues about Paige’s motivations for the lawsuit. Sandra, as a part of a broad network of assistants to the famous, had access to inside information. Even though assistants signed nondisclosure agreements about their employers, they still saw and heard interesting tidbits about other well-known people at social activities. And she could read between the lines. And, once people she knew dropped tantalizing clues, Sandra would know where to search next.
It turned out not to be hard to find out lots about the actress. Not long after Rue’s arrival in Wyoming, Paige had begun a whirlwind romance with an up-and-coming California congressman who last month had been elected to the Senate. According to social media and the tabloids—those rags got it right once in a while—things were getting serious between the two. There was talk about marriage. It wouldn’t look good to the public if they found out the senator-elect’s girlfriend had abandoned her child.
Sandra sent up a silent prayer of gratitude for Eb’s proactiveness. Linda had mentioned he’d hired a private investigator in California to see what he could dig up—and there would be plenty of stories. Before the politician, Paige had a reputation as a party girl. While employees of celebrities might not be allowed to disclose things, people attending parties talked all the time about what they observed. Eb’s attorney had gotten statements from the staff who were present the day she’d dumped Rue off.
He hadn’t asked Sandra for one, but she’d remembered the name of his lawyer and contacted the office herself. She would do anything she could to help Miss Rue stay with the parent who had always wanted her.
