by Holly Rayner
“Come on,” he said gruffly. “Let’s go sit in the living room.”
She nodded and followed him. He could see that she was looking around the house, taking it in. If they had still been close, he would have explained to her that he had purchased this giant place as an investment, but that he only used a few of the rooms. He would have told her that he was a little embarrassed by how opulent it was, and he imagined the two of them would have shared a laugh about that.
It seemed unlikely that they were going to be laughing about anything today.
“Do you want something to drink?” he asked her as they took seats in the living room.
Rhea shook her head. “I’m okay, thanks.”
“Fine,” Zach said. “So what is it, Rhea? What brings you here today, after all the time you’ve spent ignoring me? How come you’re getting back in touch now?”
Rhea took a shaky breath. “Zach… I’m pregnant.”
Zach felt as if he were floating up away from his body, staring down at himself sitting across from Rhea in his own living room.
“Pregnant?” he repeated.
“And it’s yours,” she added.
He stared at her. Of all the things he had expected from the message she had sent him, this would have been last on the list.
Pregnant.
How could that be?
But he knew Rhea well enough to know that she wouldn’t joke about something like this.
“How long have you known?” he managed.
“Only a day or so,” she said. “I wanted to talk to you about it right away. I… I think it’s your business to know about.”
“Well. That’s generous of you.” Zach knew he was being harsh, but his emotions were a whirlwind. A month of ignoring him, and now this!
“I’m going to keep the baby,” Rhea said. “I didn’t come here to… to ask you for anything. But I thought you should know.”
“Okay. Thank you.”
“Zach, don’t be like that.”
“Don’t be like what? You completely blew me off, Rhea. How do you think that made me feel? And then you pop back up to tell me you’re having my baby, and you expect me to know how to deal with that?”
“Zach, I’m sorry—”
“And I didn’t do anything to you!” he went on, the thoughts that had preoccupied his mind for the past month now suddenly bursting forth. “I didn’t do anything to make you treat me the way you did. You ghosted me out of nowhere, for no reason at all. I didn’t think you were that kind of person.”
“You didn’t think I was that kind of person?” she asked. “Maybe you don’t know anything about the kind of person I am, Zach.”
“Clearly!”
“I didn’t stop talking to you for no reason. I wouldn’t do something like that.”
“Why, then?” Zach demanded, though he had sworn to himself that he wasn’t going to. “You never even told me why. You never told me what I did to offend you so badly.”
“It’s not what you did!” Rhea said. “It’s what your father did.”
Zach felt as if he had been slapped. Though his father’s death was five years in the past, it still felt raw. He still missed the man every day. Now, hearing Rhea say that the way she had treated him was due to something his father had done…
It felt as if she was deliberately trying to hurt him.
She wouldn’t.
Maybe she would, though. Maybe she was right, and he had no idea what kind of person she was.
“What are you talking about?” he managed to ask.
“Your father stole a whiskey formula from my father.” Rhea was watching him in a way that was analytical, almost to the point of being cold. “Did you know?”
“What?”
“Back when we were in college, when your father worked at my father’s whiskey plant,” Rhea said. “He stole the formula for one of my father’s bestselling blends and sold it to a rival company.”
“No, he didn’t,” Zach said.
Rhea shook her head. “You really think that lottery story is true?” she asked. “Your father didn’t win the lottery, Zach. He made his money dishonestly. He stole from my father’s company.”
Zach wanted to argue further. What Rhea was saying couldn’t be true. It just couldn’t.
Could it?
It had always felt awfully convenient that his father had won the lottery just as Zach was graduating from college, setting him up so neatly for the rest of his life. But that had just been a coincidence, hadn’t it? It would feel convenient to win the lottery at any time. That would always be a welcome surprise, no matter what else was going on in a person’s life.
But there was the fact that his father had been fired from his job at Wilson Whiskey. Zach had never known what his father had done to lose that job. He hadn’t questioned it at the time, because his father clearly hadn’t wanted to talk about it, and Zach hadn’t wanted to push the matter or make his father feel uncomfortable. And then they had become wealthy, and there hadn’t seemed to be any reason to revisit the subject. It was best left in the past.
But why had his father been fired?
If the Wilsons suspected him of stealing from them, that could certainly explain it.
Just because they suspected it, though, that doesn’t mean it happened, he told himself firmly.
The Wilsons weren’t like Zach and his father. Even though Zach was wealthy now, he was new enough to his money that he didn’t take it for granted. He remembered having nothing, struggling to get by. He didn’t consider himself to be in a class above anybody else.
But he had met enough old-moneyed people in his life to know that they often saw things differently. It was easy for them to forget that not everyone had the advantages they did, and to begin looking at others as less worthy of respect.
If Rhea’s father’s whiskey formula had gone missing, no doubt he would have begun to look at his employees as possible thieves. And Zach would not have been surprised to see him begin his search among the lowest paid. No doubt he considered them the least worthy of his respect.
“This is why you didn’t call me back after Thanksgiving, isn’t it?” he asked. “Your father told you some story about my father stealing from him, and you believed it.”
“It’s not a story,” Rhea said. “It’s the truth. And it was my brother who told me. My father didn’t tell me anything, because I didn’t tell him about you at all. We agreed not to tell my parents, remember?” She shook her head. “I should have realized something was weird when you pushed so hard to keep it a secret from them.”
“You pushed to keep it a secret,” Zach protested. “I just went along with you.”
It wasn’t strictly true. He had wanted to delay telling Rhea’s parents that the two of them were together—but that was because he had been nervous about how they would react, given the fact that her father had fired his father all those years ago. He hadn’t wanted that to become an issue between him and Rhea so early in their relationship.
But now… he wondered. Why had she been so determined to keep him a secret?
She must have known her father didn’t like me. Even if she never knew the reason why, she must have known there were bad feelings there.
Zach had thought, when he had met Mr. Wilson at dinner that time, that the man seemed nice. He should have known better. Of course Mr. Wilson had been polite, but he had probably been deciding even then that Zach wasn’t good enough for his only daughter.
Maybe he fired my father as a way of keeping me away from Rhea.
Maybe that was the reason for this story about Zach’s father having stolen something. Maybe the whole thing had been concocted to get between Zach and Rhea.
But then again…
Zach couldn’t quite dismiss what Rhea was telling him, as badly as he wanted to. He hated to think that his father could have been capable of such a thing. But that lottery story had never quite sat right with him. There had always been something suspicious about i
t, even though he hadn’t wanted to question it.
Maybe Dad did do something he shouldn’t have.
But he wasn’t just going to take Rhea’s word for it.
“If you expect me to believe this, I’m going to need proof,” he said roughly.
Her eyes widened. “Proof?”
“You’re accusing my father of stealing,” he said. “Obviously there was never a trial. That makes me think you don’t have any evidence.”
“We do have evidence,” Rhea said.
“What evidence? Have you seen it?”
“I mean, not personally—”
“Then how do you know it exists?”
“Because my brother told me it did,” Rhea said. “I trust Stephen, Zach.”
“That’s fine,” Zach said. “But he isn’t my brother. And until I see proof of what you’re saying, I believe in my father’s innocence.”
“Fine,” Rhea stood up. “I guess we’re done here, then.”
“Not quite,” Zach said.
“What else?”
“I need to see proof that that baby is mine, too.”
She stared at him. “Excuse me?”
“I don’t think that’s an unreasonable thing to ask,” he said. “After all, how can I be sure?”
“You can take my word for it,” she snapped. “There hasn’t been anyone else since or before you.”
“I don’t know if I can trust you,” he said.
“Well, I don’t know what you want me to do about that.”
“Get a paternity test,” he suggested.
She gave him such a withering look that he actually shrank back in his chair.
“Go to hell,” she said. Then she turned on her heel and stalked toward the front door.
Zach remained in his seat, listening to her go. The door slammed shut behind her. A moment later, he heard the sound of a car starting up and pulling away.
He slumped backward in his chair, reeling.
She’s pregnant.
Now that she wasn’t sitting in front of him, accusing his deceased father of a serious crime—now that he was beginning to let go of the anger that had been boiling within him—Zach could see that he had spoken to her much too harshly. He had been very unfair.
She didn’t come here asking me for anything. What did I think, that she was after my money? Rhea has her own money. Besides, she’s not that kind of girl.
No, there was no reason for her to lie to him about her pregnancy. He did believe her. There was a baby, and if she said he was the only possible father, then that was the truth.
I’m going to be a father.
It was a difficult thing to process. He wished now that he had gotten himself a drink when he had offered her one. He got up and headed toward the kitchen to see what he could find.
There was a beer in the fridge—the last one in the pack. Zach popped the cap and took a long swallow. When he put the bottle down, his thoughts were just as unsettled as they had been before.
Only one thing was absolutely clear—he had treated Rhea badly.
I’m going to have to make it up to her.
He had no idea how he was going to do that, though, especially when he still couldn’t bring himself to believe what she had told him about his father. It wasn’t as though he could go back to her and apologize for not taking that part of her story seriously.
He didn’t think she was lying to him, exactly. But she was mistaken.
Because it couldn’t be true. It just couldn’t be.
Zach’s father’s money—the money Zach had used to start his business—couldn’t have been stolen from the family of the woman he loved.
It just couldn’t.
Chapter 13
Rhea
Rhea’s doctor’s appointment was early Friday morning. Newly armed with sonogram pictures, she decided to play hooky from work for the day. She texted Tomas and Gregory to let them know she wouldn’t be coming in—though she didn’t tell them why—and drove to her parents’ house instead.
They would be surprised and pleased to see her, she knew, as they always were. Little would they imagine that this wasn’t just a routine visit, that she had something very serious to discuss with them.
I just hope they can manage to take it in stride.
Rhea didn’t think she was up for another chaotic scene like the one she’d experienced when she had tried to tell Zach the truth.
But her parents had always been supportive of her. Surely this would be different.
She pulled into the driveway. Her mother was sitting on the porch with a magazine, and she looked up as Rhea pulled in. Rhea saw a smile spread over her mother’s face.
To her surprise, she felt like crying.
She thinks it’s just an ordinary visit. She has no idea that all of our lives are about to change.
But maybe she would be happy. After all, she was going to be a grandmother.
Rhea got out of the car and went up onto the porch. Her mother stood and embraced her.
“This is a surprise!” she said. “Don’t you have work today?”
“I took the day off,” Rhea said.
“Your bosses are okay with that?”
“I am the boss, Mom.”
“Oh, honey, I know you are,” her mother said. “I only meant—”
“I know what you meant,” Rhea assured her. There was no need to split hairs with her mother over this. “And yes, they’re fine with it. I don’t take very many days off.”
“Well, come in. I know your father will be happy to see you.”
Rhea’s mother led the way into the house, and Rhea followed behind, her heart pounding at the thought of what she had to tell her parents.
Her father was in the living room.
“Rhea!” he said. “What are you doing here?”
“She came for a surprise visit,” Dana said. “Isn’t that nice?”
“But shouldn’t she be at work?”
“I’ve got work handled,” Rhea said, irritation seeping into her tone. “Can we just have a nice day together?”
“Of course,” her mother said. “I’ll go get us some lemonade and we’ll all catch up.”
When the drinks had been poured and everyone was seated, Rhea summoned her courage and told them her news. The reaction was about what she had expected, and far less dramatic than she had feared. After a few cautious questions about her plans and preparations, her parents allowed themselves to become demonstrably excited. They each hugged her and congratulated her, clearly overjoyed at the prospect of becoming grandparents.
“We thought your brother would be first,” Dana said.
Tom Wilson snorted. “Maybe you did. That boy will never settle down to anything.”
“Well, it’s not as if Rhea is settled down.”
“She’s much more levelheaded than Stephen is. Much more capable of making a responsible choice and following through.” He frowned. “Who is the baby’s father, by the way? Do we know him?”
“Well…”
There was no point in keeping it a secret. She was hopeful that Zach would get over his drama and decide to be involved in the baby’s life, and if that happened, there wouldn’t be any way to keep the truth of his identity from her parents.
“It’s Zach Danes. Do you remember him? We went to school together. You met him once, at my birthday dinner junior year of college.”
“Zach Danes?” Dana frowned. “Why is that name so familiar?”
“Hold on,” Tom said. “Not Lincoln Danes’ son?”
Rhea sighed. She had hoped they would have at least a few minutes before her father placed the name.
“Dad.”
“Rhea, didn’t I tell you at the time to have nothing further to do with that boy?”
“I didn’t speak to him for fifteen years after you told me that, Dad. It wasn’t like I ignored you.”
“So how is it that you find yourself in this situation?” her father asked.
“I didn’
t even know you were seeing anyone,” her mother added.
“It was new,” Rhea said. “He’d recently moved back to Baltimore, and he looked me up. We had dinner and caught up on old times, and we started seeing each other, but we weren’t ready to tell anybody about it yet.”
“You knew I didn’t approve of him,” Tom said.
“But that was fifteen years ago,” Rhea protested. “And you never even told me why.”
“His father—”
“You don’t have to tell me now,” she cut in. “Stephen already did.”
“Stephen?” Dana asked. “So Stephen knew about this?”
“I had to talk to someone. And you never exactly made me feel as though I could come to you with this, Dad.”
Her father wasn’t budging. “If Stephen told you what Lincoln Danes did to this family, then you know why I don’t want you involving yourself with his son.”
“Zach isn’t his father,” Rhea said firmly, wondering how this could be so easy to say to her father but so hard to believe in her own heart. She still had doubts. She still wasn’t sure of him. And the way he had reacted when she had visited his house, asking her for a paternity test… that hadn’t helped.
“I don’t want that family in our lives,” Tom said firmly.
Her mother put a hand on her father’s arm. “It’s too late for that, Tom,” she said quietly. “She’s pregnant with his child.”
“That doesn’t mean she has to—”
“It means we need to let her do whatever she feels is best for her child’s sake,” Dana said. “If your parents had told you, when our kids were little, that they didn’t want you to do something you thought was best for them, how would you have reacted?”
“I never would have done anything like this in the first place,” Tom said.
“You got upset when your mother wanted to give Stephen processed sugar before his first birthday.”
“That’s different, Dana. That’s just a difference in parenting styles. This man is bad for our family and you know it! His father—”
“I know what his father did,” Dana said. “Rhea knows what his father did. But Zach Danes didn’t do that. Rhea is right. He’s a different person. It’s going to be difficult for us to accept this, I know,” she added. “It’s going to be hard to see our grandchild and know that he or she is also the grandchild of the man who stole from us. But that’s unavoidable at this point, and every child has a right to a father.”