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Despite being an overall charming man, Quint sometimes had an awkward side to him that she found infinitely endearing. His enthusiasm was always genuine, as were his smiles. Even going through as much as he had, he still smiled at her from across the table.
Nothing she’d feared had come to pass — there was no power play, no pressure, no force. He only wanted to see his son, and even to the point of practically proposing a marriage of convenience for exactly that purpose.
Marrying Quint Forbes. Now there was a thought. A thought that didn’t bear thinking about.
She shook it from her mind and downed the contents of the glass, savoring the wine’s sweet smoothness. In retrospect, it seemed a waste to have put it all down in one gulp, especially considering how much it probably cost.
Quint only smiled more widely as he saw the enjoyment on her face, and he raised the bottle and offered a refill.
She declined with regret, but she was a lightweight drinker and she couldn’t afford to get tipsy.
The waiter arrived at the table and asked if they were ready to see the dessert menu.
Quint raised an eyebrow, silently asking what she wanted to do. She shook her head slightly.
“Not right now,” Quint said to the waiter, who bowed and then rapidly padded away.
“They have exquisite desserts here,” Quint said. “You hardly ate anything. We can order something for you to take home, if you’d like.” He hadn’t eaten much himself, but she suspected that was due to his recent convalescence.
“No, thank you. The meal has been wonderful. I’m just not … not hungry. There’s too much hanging out there right now.”
“I agree,” he said. “Let’s cut to the chase. There’s no reason to delay that I can see. I’d dearly like to see my son. Tonight.”
Amara took a deep breath. “Like I said, he’s at my mother’s. She still believes that Hampton’s father is out of the picture.”
“Why not just tell her the truth?”
Chapter Seventeen
“BECAUSE I’M A COWARD,” AMARA admitted.
“I find that hard to believe.”
“It’s true,” she said. “I can’t tell my mother I’ve been lying to her all these months. I didn’t think it would matter because … well, because —”
“Because I was assumed dead,” Quint said levelly.
“That sounds terrible. But yes. That. And since you were found I’ve been struggling to come up with a way to tell her the truth, a way where she won’t think I’m a bad person.”
“Why would she think you’re bad?”
“Because I traded my baby for funding.”
“That’s not true,” Quint said. “It wasn’t that cut and dried, or that simple.”
“It is, though, when you get down to it.”
“So are all surrogates bad in your opinion?”
“No, of course not,” she said.
“Then why are you judging yourself differently?”
“I’m not, not in that way.” Amara sighed. “The problem comes from how I lied to my mother. I never lie to her, Quint. We’ve always been close, and this lie is between us now.”
“Your mother loves you. You’ll apologize, and she’ll forgive you. Isn’t that what mothers do?”
“I suppose. But, she’ll really be disappointed in me.”
