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Oh, there was plenty to say. It just depended on whether he had the guts to declare how he felt about her. “Please don’t leave Charleston.”
“I have to go,” she declared, her urgent need to run coming through loud and clear. “Don’t you understand?”
Paul shook his head. He did, but that didn’t mean he’d stop trying to persuade her to stay. “Promise me you won’t leave town without seeing me first.”
“I’ll only promise I won’t leave today.”
That didn’t leave him much time. “I’ll come by after I see Grady. Where can I find you?”
“I’ll be at my camper.”
Disconnecting the call with things so unresolved between them was one of the hardest things Paul had ever done, but he trusted her when she promised to stick around until he could get there.
When he arrived at the estate, Paul met his brother near the pool and together they found their grandfather in the library on the first floor. The room was at the back of the house with dual access to the outside terraces. White bookshelves, trim and wainscoting offset the red walls, giving the room a lived-in, cozy feel. Little had changed since his grandmother’s death nearly fifty years earlier except for the addition of children’s books and thrillers beside the classic novels Delilah Watts had loved.
As soon as they entered the room, Grady spoke. “You lied to me.”
“It was all my idea,” Ethan explained. “Don’t be mad at Paul or Lia. We just wanted you to get better, and from the moment you believed that Lia was your granddaughter, you did.”
“It wasn’t just Ethan,” Paul chimed in, refusing to let his brother shoulder the full blame. “I went along with the ruse, as well. We really did believe it was for your own good.”
Grady scowled. “I changed my will.”
“We didn’t expect that,” Ethan admitted, speaking before Paul could. “Our plan had been to tell you this week that the testing service had made a mistake.”
“But then you put Lia in your will and everything blew up,” Paul added.
“And just so you know, none of this was her idea,” Ethan said. “I tricked her that day at the hospital.”
“She only went along with it because she wanted to help you.” Awash in misery, Paul willed his grandfather to believe that Lia was genuine. “That’s all she’s ever done.”
“I know,” Grady said, his words coming with slow, deliberate care. “I don’t blame her.”
“Does she know tha
t?” Paul asked. “Because she’s leaving town. Running away from Charleston. From us.” From me.
“I told her.” Grady shook his head. “She’s afraid.”
“Of what?”
“Of you.”
Paul recoiled from Grady’s censure. “I’d never do anything to hurt her.”
“Last night—” Ethan began.
“I screwed up.” Paul interrupted, glaring at his brother. “And then I made it worse because I got mad when you jumped to her rescue.” His irritation faded as he realized how stupid his defense sounded. “I’m an idiot for not believing in her. And she’s leaving town because of it.” Paul dropped into a chair and let his head fall into his hands. “How do I convince her to stay?”
“Have you told her you’re in love with her?” Ethan asked in exasperated tones. “From what I’ve heard women really go for that.”
“I’m not...” he began instinctively, shocked at his brother’s revelation. Paul glanced from him to Grady and saw curiosity rather than surprise on his grandfather’s lean face.
“Not what?” Ethan demanded. “Not in love? Not sure she’d trust you with her heart? I don’t know that I’d blame her.”
Paul struggled to wrap his head around what truth lay in his heart. Is this what love felt like? An obsessive hunger to be around her all the time? To revel in blazing joy and suffer terrifying despair in the space of minutes?
And while Lia’s generous spirit and upbeat sincerity had gotten beneath his skin, Paul didn’t know how to surrender to a relationship that challenged his black-and-white views. Lia’s belief in all things metaphysical, her flighty, impulsive need to live a nomadic existence, her lack of substantial ties to people and place ran contrary to what was important to him.
