My stomach turned over. I could only imagine what he thought of my mother, and what he thought of me now.
The fresh air suddenly seemed heavy with doubt.
“I’m sorry about my mother. Thank you for sending her back to Nashville,” I said.
“It’s not like I had much of a choice.” Rhodes stole a glance at me. “Are you okay, Rory? That must’ve been hard.”
I shrugged. “I’m used to it.” It was sad, but it was also true.
We wandered down a path to a garden I’d never seen before. It was shaded by trees, private and peaceful. But there was nopeace within me. I had to tell him the truth about Miranda. It would be a double-whammy of doom after the visit from my mother, but I had little choice.
We found a bench canopied by shade. Rhodes sat down, slouched over, but I paced the path.Tell him!
I took a deep breath, fearing that Rhodes would never look at me the same way again.
“There’s something I need to tell you,” I said, my voice halting. “Miranda found me in the library yesterday and said she knew I wasn’t really your fiancée. She said she was going to have me investigated, find out everything about me, and then tell the board.”
Rhodes looked thoughtful as I swallowed over the lump in my throat. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner, but I didn’t want to upset you before the meeting. And then my mother showed up! She said a detective offered her money—it must be whoever Miranda hired, I’m so sorry?—”
“Rory—”
“But I offered her more, so we might be okay.”
Rhodes blinked at me. “You did?”
I nodded. “I didn’t know what else to do. I’msosorry she came here. I hope it doesn’t get out. I never meant to ruin things for you.”
“You didn’t. And… This is my fault, not yours.” His shoulders sagged.
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
Silence stretched out between us for a moment. “It wasn’t Miranda’s detective that offered your mother money,” he said, his voice low.
I stopped pacing. “What?”
Rhodes’s brows were furrowed, a dark slash. “I knew she might erupt when she got served the guardianship papers. I washaving her followed. I had my team offer her money to settle out of court in order to diffuse things.”
He scowled. “It obviously backfired.”
“You were having my mother followed?” I felt like he’d slapped me. “And you offered hermoneywithout even coming to me to discuss it?”
I stared at him. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t have a chance.” He met my gaze, then looked away.
“You should’ve come to me first—at least talked to me!”
“I have my business to protect, Rory. The stakes are very high. You know that,” Rhodes said.
Silence stretched out between us. I’d been so worried about the secretI’dbeen keeping. But his disclosure knocked me completely off balance.
It hit me then. I had been keeping a secret from him, and it had been eating me up. Buthehad been keeping a secret from me, too—and the secrets did not feel equal. I hadn’t told him because I cared about him. I didn’t want to upset him or ruin his meeting, and honestly, I was petrified he would send me away. But he hadn’t toldmeabout my mother because he was trying to protect his business.
“I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want you to worry. I wanted to protect you,” he said, and I softened a little.
“And I wanted everything to move forward without disruption,” he added.
“Well, I wanted everything to go smoothly, too. Which is why I didn’t blurt out Miranda’s threats five minutes before the board meeting,” I explained. “But I had every intention of telling you as soon as we were done.”
