Amanda Stevens Bestseller Collection: Stranger In Paradise/A Baby's Cry

by Amanda Stevens

  “Mother—”

  “No, let me say this. You have to know the truth. It’s time for everything to come out.” she drew a deep, shaky breath, as if preparing herself for an ordeal. Then she said, “There’s no easy way to say this, I’m afraid. Taylor, I arranged for Dillon to see you at Brad’s apartment the morning after the Christmas dance. I told him where to find you because I knew, with his temper, he’d jump to the wrong conclusion. And with his fierce sense of pride, I was reasonably certain he wouldn’t confront you. But just to make certain, I…threatened him.”

  Taylor’s heart slammed against her chest. She gazed up at her mother in horror. “What did you do?”

  “I told him that if he didn’t leave town, I would not only make sure he never finished law school, I would see to it that his whole family suffered. I…threatened to withhold a bank loan from his father that would have ruined him.”

  “My God. Mother, why?”

  She bit her lip. Her eyes filled with tears. “He frightened me, Taylor. He had the power to take you away from me.”

  “All these years,” Taylor whispered. “You let me believe that Dillon left me. How could you do it?”

  “I did it for you. At least, that’s what I told myself. I knew you didn’t love Brad. Not the way you loved Dillon. Not the way I loved your father. I thought Brad was safe. He couldn’t come between us, you see. He wouldn’t take you away from me. Oh, Taylor, can you ever forgive me?”

  Taylor didn’t know if that was possible. All the wasted years. The hurt, the anger, the guilt. The lies.

  “Dillon told me everything when he called tonight,” Miranda said. “He even told me about Nicholas.”

  “Dillon called you?”

  Her mother nodded. The tears spilled over and ran down her cheeks. “He’s forgiven me, Taylor. I just hope someday you’ll be able to.”

  WHEN TAYLOR OPENED her eyes, Dillon was sitting beside her. He got up and bent over the bed to brush his lips against her cheek.

  “Can you ever forgive me?” she whispered.

  “For what?”

  “For not trusting you. Not having more faith in you. I should have known you wouldn’t have left town like that. Not without a good reason.”

  “You’ve been talking to Miranda,” he said, running his fingers through his hair.

  “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  He glanced away and shrugged. “You’d lost so much already. Your baby, your husband. I didn’t want to be responsible for taking your mother away from you.”

  “I’ve been so selfish, Dillon. So stupid. I blamed you for leaving me when all along…” She shook her head sadly. “When I think about all those wasted years…”

  “Shush.” He put a finger to her lips. “Don’t think about the past. Think about the future. Our future.”

  “Does this mean you forgive me?”

  “If you can forgive me. We both made a lot of terrible mistakes, and we both paid for them. Maybe it’s time we forgive ourselves.”

  “What did I ever do to deserve a second chance with you?” she said, swallowing past the lump in her throat. “I’ll be a good wife to you, Dillon. I’ll make you happy.”

  He smiled tenderly. “You already have.” He bent down and touched his lips to hers. Taylor thought her heart would burst with joy.

  Then he straightened quickly and gazed down at her in alarm. “I didn’t even ask,” he said contritely. “How are you feeling?”

  “Like I’ve never felt before,” she said, smiling. “It’s certainly been a night of revelations.”

  Dillon grinned. “You have no idea. You had another visitor while you were sleeping.”

  “Who?”

  “Dr. Robinson. He had a few confessions of his own to make, namely that he knew his wife was the one who slashed your tires and tried to run you down that night. That’s why he finally had her admitted to the hospital.”

  “So Deirdre was behind that.”

  “Yeah. And when you reported the incidents to Lamar, he turned it around and used it against you.”

  Taylor shook her head. “I still can’t understand why he went along with Dr. Forster.”

  “He said it himself,” Dillon said. “A woman like that can make you do things you wouldn’t ordinarily do.”

  “He was willing to kill for her. And she was willing to steal my baby for Brad. Is that love, Dillon?”

  “No. That’s a sickness. But what you and I have…” He took her hand and held it in his. “This is love, Taylor.”

  “After everything we’ve been through, to still feel this way…we’re lucky,” she said. “So very lucky.”

  Dillon smiled down at her. “So if you feel up to it,” he said. “How about we go get our son?”

  “I’m a little frightened by how he’ll take the news,” Taylor admitted.

  “So am I.”

  “He’ll be so upset about his grandmother.”

  “We’ll be there for him.”

  “What if he rejects us?”

  “We’ll be patient. Whatever happens we’ll face it together. All three of us.”

  Taylor smiled. “I do love you so much. I always have.”

  “I know,” he said. “And, believe me, the feeling is mutual.”

  Epilogue

  One year later…

  MTaylor gasped in pain. The contractions were coming fast and furious.

  “Not much longer now, Mrs. Reeves,” the nurse said. “Don’t give up. We need you to keep pushing.”

  “No more,” Taylor pleaded. Her tongue flicked out to moisten her dry lips. “Please. I…can’t.”

  “Sure you can,” the nurse soothed. “You’re doing fine.”

  A wave of pain swept over Taylor and she called out Dillon’s name.

  “I’m right here,” he said at her bedside. He grasped her hand in his. “Miranda’s just outside, and so is Nicholas. He told me to tell you to hurry. He has a date tonight.”

  “A date? He’s too young,” Taylor wailed.

  “Tell that to Alisha Westcott. Lorraine’s taking them ice-skating.” Since Lorraine Westcott had left her husband and joined AA, Taylor had never seen such a rapid change in anyone. Both she and her daughter were like new people. Alisha and Nicholas were both back in Claymore and had become quite close in the past few months.

  Before Doris died that terrible night, she’d confessed everything to Dillon. She’d told him how her daughter had died just a few months after Nicholas had been born, and how there had been no one else but Doris to take care of the boy. She could hardly give him back to Taylor without implicating herself in the kidnapping scheme.

  Overcome by guilt for what she’d done, Doris tried to compensate by giving the boy everything he would have had with his real mother. She worked double shifts to save enough money to send Nicholas to Claymore, and Dr. Westcott, her employer and friend for many years, had arranged to get Nicholas into a special program offered by the academy to underprivileged but gifted students.

  But nothing she’d done for the boy had ever taken away her guilt, until she’d confessed to Dillon on her deathbed. He said she’d died peacefully.

  “Hey,” Dillon said gently. “Don’t quit on me now, Mrs. Reeves. Keep breathing.”

  “Easy for you to say,” Taylor panted. “You think you’re so smart now that you’ve finished law school and passed the bar.”

  “And none too soon,” Dillon said. “I’m tired of having my wife support me.”

  “As if you’d ever let me,” Taylor grumbled. They had so much to be thankful for, she thought. So many blessings. It hadn’t always been easy. Nicholas had gone through some rough times. They all had. But everything had been worth it, because now they were really and truly a family. Everything Taylor had dreamed of. She and Dillon were finally together, they had their son, and a daughter on the way.

  “Here she comes,” the doctor announced. “Another push should do it.”

  And then through a haze of pain and joy, laughter
and tears, Taylor heard the precious sound of a baby’s cry.