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‘They said you took the money. You even just told me you cashed the cheque.’
She took another deep breath, her hair bouncing around her face as she nodded again.
‘When Imogen was born, once I knew she was stable and going to make it, I realised I had to tell you. I wanted to tell you I’d understand if you didn’t want to be a part of her life, but I felt you had a right to make that choice.’
‘So what changed?’
‘Your parents came to me first.’
‘My parents did?’ He could scarcely believe what she was telling him.
‘They’d obviously been monitoring my progress because Imogen was delivered in the afternoon and they got there that night, after visiting hours.’
Max grimaced. He’d always known his parents were emotionally lacking, acting logically and practically, if that seemed somewhat cold to those around them. He could imagine they would have kept an eye on Evie once they’d known about the baby. Not because they were the grandparents—that would have been an emotional connection, which simply wouldn’t have occurred to them—but because they would have seen it as their duty. An unwanted obligation.
‘I was still groggy, and in shock. I wasn’t thinking straight. But then I think a part of me hoped they’d come around, that they’d actually come to see their beautiful granddaughter.’
‘It wouldn’t have made a difference.’ He gritted his teeth.
‘No, it didn’t,’ Evie acknowledged sadly. ‘They told me a family was the last thing you needed. And the last thing the baby and I would ultimately want. That we’d end up making each other feel trapped and miserable and that taking the money for my baby would be best for all of us, in the long term. They sounded so convincing.’
‘Because that’s truly what they would have believed.’ Max knitted his brows together, not sure how to explain it to someone who had grown up in such a loving, close-knit family unit.
‘They were so...calculated.’ She stopped abruptly. ‘Sorry.’
‘I told you, they don’t consult anyone else, they would have simply decided what they felt was in everyone’s best interests and then acted accordingly,’ he said flatly. ‘They will never be able to understand the indescribable pleasure I get from my daughter. Before I met Imogen, even I thought being a surgeon would always be the most important thing in my life but I was owed the right to make my own choices. You owed me that much.’
‘And you blame me for denying you that choice?’
‘Yes,’ he hissed. ‘You kept my daughter from me. You kept your kidney condition from me. You listened to me telling you about my childhood and the way I instigated fights just so that I had a label for the pain I was feeling growing up. And still you never said a word.’
‘Because I was frightened, Max.’
‘That’s it? Fear is your excuse for every decision you made?’
‘Yes, because I was frightened for my own future health and I was frightened for Imogen’s. I was frightened, I was desperate and I was exhausted. The dialysis had taken it out of me and I was staring mortality in the face whilst a tiny, helpless baby was relying on me to get her through her own life. I took the money because I knew it would provide for her if anything happened to me.’
She took a faltering step towards him, her hands outstretched before checking herself. ‘I never touched a penny of it, though. You have to believe that, Max. I set up a proper trust for Imogen. It’s all her money. It always would have been.’
‘I believe you,’ he bit out, the closest he could get to reassuring her.
The fact was, it didn’t even matter any more.
The white-hot anger that had initially coursed through him was already beginning to recede. It wasn’t about the cheque any more. It wasn’t about the money at all. Part of him even felt for Evie, how his parents’ reaction must have looked to her. But he still couldn’t forgive her for the fact that she’d lied to him.
She’d made every decision unilaterally, impacting on him without him even knowing about it, let alone having any say. And then she’d listened to him tell her about his childhood, about his parents, about his difficult relationship with them, and yet she’d never uttered a word. She’d known about them, met them for herself, and yet whilst he’d been confiding the secrets he’d never told another living soul she’d still kept such a huge secret from him.
That was why he couldn’t forgive her.
Max stood, his back to Evie, unable to move a muscle. Even his jaw was locked, preventing him from answering.
For years he’d told himself he would never allow anyone to get close enough to hurt him. The way his parents had.
Never letting himself get close to anyone had been the only way Max had known to protect himself, and to protect others. He’d become used to being alone, felt safe and protected with a buffer between himself and any other person. He’d had no reason to doubt that he’d be as cold a spouse and parent as his own parents had been.
And then Evangeline Parker had come along to sneak under his skin, bringing with her the most precious gift he had never imagined, in Imogen. He’d let her in, trusted her, been prepared to change his life for her. And now he felt more alone than he had in his life.
‘You have to understand why I took the money, Max.’ Evie’s quietly distraught voice dragged him back to the present.
