The shuffling of feet overtakes my shrilling pulse before he says, “Don’t make me get my gun, boy. We’re not in Washington anymore.”
After a few more words, the sound of a truck door slamming shut booms into my ears. An engine’s loud rumble replaces its crack a short time later. I wait until Weston’s noisy engine becomes a buzz in the distance before dropping my face into my hands. There is so much adrenaline coursing through my veins, my entire body is shaking.
That was worse than anything I imagined when I daydreamed about Alex and me crossing paths. I knew from the way things ended that hostility would play a major role in our reunion, I just had no clue he’d be so mad. What does he have to be angry about? I didn’t hurt him like he did me. . .
My inner monologue trails off when a segment of our fight replays through my mind: “That was my baby, Rae! You killed my baby!”
Oh Jesus. He has it all wrong.I didn’t go to Westminster as a patient. I went there to support my baby sister, Raquel. That was one of the secrets I mentioned to Alex months ago, the one Raquel promised me not to share with anyone. That’s why Ayden’s betrayal hit me so hard. I had only found out a week earlier that Raquel was pregnant. She had just started her final year of medical school and was panicked out of her mind. She made me promise not to tell anyone. Although it was another secret added to a list of many, I kept my promise.
The hits keep coming when reality breaks through the angry cloud in my head. Alex screamed those words in front of my father—my dad—the man who hasn’t looked me in the eyes since his impromptu getaway two months ago.
Oh my god.He believes what Alex believes. He thinks I had an abortion.
“Dad, you don’t understand. This wasn’t—” I stop myself. This isn’t my confession to make. When Raquel wants him to know what happened that day, she’ll tell him. “I. . .”
Some of the fury in my chest dulls to an ache when my dad twists around to face me. His cheeks are lined with vibrant red streams, his fists firmly balled, but the moisture in his eyes is stabbing my chest with pain. He looks heartbroken, as if the idea of me aborting his grandchild is too much for him to bear.
“Why, Regan?” he asks, stepping closer to me.
I shake my head, denying the hurt in his voice without words.
“I understand you were mad, that he did you wrong, but that baby didn’t know any of that. It was never given a chance.”
A part inside of me dies when a tear pops out of his eye and rolls down his cheek. I want to hug him and tell him everything will be okay. I want to promise him I would never hurt him this way, but the love I have for my sister stops me. I’d rather him be angry at me than Raquel. She’s handling more than her fair share of heartache right now, so anything I can do to lessen it, I will.
I stop twisting my skirt around my fingers when my dad discloses, “That could have been you, Regan. If your mother went through with her parents’ wishes, that baby could have been you.”
I take in a sharp breath. Now his heartache makes sense. He’s not seeing Raquel’s baby as a defenseless fetus or his grandchild; past memories have him seeing it as me. I’m one of those statistics parents use to scare their teens into not losing their virginity at prom, but instead of being conceived at the prom, I was born the week following it.
When my dad kneels down to clasp my hands in his, I wipe away the tears sitting high on my cheeks. “I’ll never once regret fighting for you as I did, Regan, but you willalwaysregret this. You had options. Even if Alex wasn’t there for you, your momma and me would have had your back.”
He stops talking as the pain in his eyes morphs into disappointment. That hurts even more than his tears. “If I had done my job as a parent, you would have known that.”
My lips quiver as I begin to talk. “This isn’t your fault, Dad.”
He attempts to shake his head, but a little voice stops him. “She’s right, Dad. None of this is your fault.”
The smell of freshly cut flowers lingers in the air when Raquel steps into my cabin. The wetness on her cheeks reveals she may have overheard our conversation, but the pride on her face confirms it. She’s grateful I kept her secret even with it breaking my heart in the process.
While adding to her thanks with a smile, she dumps a bag full of clothes on the floor before undoing the three buttons of her coat. Dad and I gasp in sync when her five months-pregnant belly pops out from beneath her massive trench coat. My gasp is in admiration for how beautiful she looks. Dad’s is in utter shock.
“You’re. . . uh. . . He . . . Ah.” His eyes jump between Raquel and me as the confusion on his face triples. “What the hell did I miss?”
I laugh at his stumbled question. Raquel settles it. “It wasn’t Regan who had an appointment at Westminster. It was me.” She locks her glistening eyes with mine, the admiration in them quickly drying her tears. “I thought I was doing the right thing, that my studies were more important than this little guy.” She exhales loudly before pushing out, “I was wrong. Everything you said that day was true. I can have both my career and my baby, and I don’t need a man to do either of those things.”
When I nod, she swivels on the spot like she always does when she’s in trouble. “Except perhaps one man.” Her eyes lower to our dad, who is still kneeling at my side. “What do you say, Dad? Are you up to the task?”
Time stands still as we wait for him to reply. I swear none of us are breathing. I expect him to lecture Raquel on how he raised us not to depend on anyone, or at the very least leave her hanging for a few seconds longer. He does neither of those things. Instead, he stands to his feet, hollers at the top of his lungs, then twirls his youngest daughter around my cabin as if her feet aren’t knocking my knees with every spin.
“I knew I raised you girls right,” he squeals, enlarging both my heart and the droplets of moisture in my eyes.
Six
Alex
“How did it go?”
I hand my suit jacket to the stewardess grinning brightly at me before slipping into the plush leather chair next to Grayson.
