His smile was uneven. She could see that he had lost some muscle control in his face, and when he spoke, she was glad that Miles had prepared her for the slur in his speech. “So, you’re the young woman my son has fallen in love with.”
It was a good thing Chelsea was a teacher. Dealing with children — and their parents — had taught her the skill of smiling convincingly when she didn’t necessarily feel like it. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Aspin,” she said, intentionally not addressing the question of who was in love with whom. “I was so sorry to hear about your illness.”
“I’ll be out of here in no time,” Silas waved his hand dismissively. “That pretty nurse was by again about an hour ago, Miles, and she said they’ll be ready to spring me within a couple of days.”
Miles frowned. “Are you sure, Dad? You could have died, you know. You shouldn’t try to hurry home. I know you don’t love it here, but we need to make sure you’re all right before we rush anything.”
“My son worries too much,” Silas said to Chelsea. “But I’m sure you know that about him already, don’t you?”
Chelsea couldn’t honestly say she had ever experienced anything of the kind. “He cares for you a great deal,” she said. That was afact she felt confident was true. “He wants you to take good care of yourself.”
“Well, he’s a good son,” Silas said with a smile. Despite the lop-sided twist of his mouth, it was heartfelt and genuine. “I’m sure he’ll raise your son or daughter to be the same sort of person. Have you talked much about that yet? How you’ll raise the baby together?” His eyes cut to her stomach.
Guilt swarmed Chelsea. She had thought of Silas Aspin as a famous figurehead, not as a person. But he was just a man, a frail man who loved his son and clearly felt joy at the prospect of his family getting bigger. And she was lying to him.
I have to do it. It’s the only way to move forward with our plan. He needs to think that Miles and I are in love so I can be confident Miles will commit to doing this with me. And if all goes well and we all play our parts the way we should, everyone will be happy in the end. I’ll have the child I want, and Silas will have his grandchild. It won’t really matter that we were dishonest about the details.
“We haven’t had a chance to discuss it much,” Miles said. “There’s a lot to talk about. But the baby was a surprise to us, as you know, Dad. We’re excited, but we haven’t made many plans.”
“Make sure you do that soon,” Silas looked intently at Miles. “This time passes before you know it, Miles. That baby will be here so soon, even though right now it might feel a long way off… I hope you two have started thinking of names.”
“We aren’t going to name the baby Silas Jr.,” Miles said, a broad smile crossing his face.
“But it’s such a fine name,” his father laughed. “Chelsea, you’d consider it, wouldn’t you?”
“I would, actually,” Chelsea chuckled. She was telling the truth. Silaswasa nice name, and she had no objection to recognizing the baby’s grandfather. Besides, there would be no grandfather on her side thanks to her father’s lack of involvement in her life. All of the baby’s male role models would have to come from the father’s side of the family. It was as good a reason as any to pay tribute to Silas when choosing a name.
“I knew I liked her,” Silas grinned. “I can tell very quickly about people, Chelsea. That’s a skill you need in the business world. I knew I liked you the moment you walked in here. You’re a good, wholesome, honest young woman. Perfect for my son, I think.”
She could see Miles watching her out of the corner of his eye. What did he make of his father’s assessment?
I’m not exactly being honest right now.
But thatwasa pretty fair assessment of her character generally. Maybe he had seen something in her, despite the fact that she was lying to him at the moment. Maybe he could see the fact that she was here for a good reason.
At any rate, Silas’s affection for her could only be a good thing. She glanced at Miles, “I hopehefeels the same way.” That was certainly true. The more Miles liked her, the better her situation would be.
“We can’t stay long, Dad,” Miles said. “Visiting hours are almost over for the day, and you know how your nurse gets about it.”
“She thinks I’m going to break hospital policy because of who I am,” Silas said, winking at Chelsea with his good eye. “But Ithink I should be allowed to break hospital policy anyway. Not because I’m the founder of Gold Standard, but because I’m an old man. Everyone my age should have their own special rules. Don’t you agree?”
Chelsea decided she liked Silas. “I do agree,” she said, smiling at him.
“Ah Chelsea, you’re a winner.” Silas closed his eyes and tipped his head back. She could tell he was exhausted. “Will I see you again soon?”
“I’ll bring her, Dad,” Miles said. “I know you’re going to want to get to know her better over the coming months.”
“Well, hopefully the next time we see one another I’ll be back at home,” Silas said. “I do look forward to meeting you properly, Chelsea. When I’m not in my pajamas, I mean.”
Chelsea let out a laugh. “I’ll look forward to that too. I hope you feel better soon, Mr. Aspin.”
“No, no, call me Silas,” he said. “We’re family now, after all.” His eyes twinkled at her.
She had been calling him Silas in her thoughts already, so it was good to have permission to say it out loud. “Goodbye, Silas.”
She followed Miles out into the hall. He pressed the button to call the elevator. Once they were on board and gliding back down toward the ground floor, he looked over at her. “So, that wasn’t that bad, right?”
“Not bad at all,” she agreed. “He’s a very kind person. He isn’t what I expected, though.”
