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‘No, Mom, don’t worry about it. I’ll talk to you later.’ Emma hung up before her mother could say anything more. ‘Well, Lucky,’ she said, turning over to face her cat. ‘Looks like it’s just you and I.’
The black cat chirped and continued licking his paws while Emma watched. At least she had one love that would never leave her...
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
WHENALEXSAWhis father’s name flash on his phone, he was instantly filled with guilt. He hadn’t called to make sure his father was okay for two days. Hadn’t checked on his progress.
‘What’s happened, son?’ his father asked.
‘Nothing. I’m sorry I haven’t called.’ He looked at the time and realised how late it was in the UK. ‘You should be asleep, Dad. You know what the cardiologist said.’
‘Alex, I feel fine. My recovery is going well, and it was just a minor heart attack. Now, tell me what’s happened, so your old man doesn’t stress.’
Alex sighed and looked away, debating what he should tell his father. When he was growing up, it had seemed as if the man had always known when he was hiding something. Alex had quickly learned to tell the whole truth and own up to his actions. If he didn’t tell his father what was wrong, he had no doubt he would figure it out anyway.
So he told him everything. Even what he’d left out with Matt.
He didn’t know why he was letting everything out like this—he never shared emotional stuff with anyone. He was stronger than that. But it all poured out of him and he knew he couldn’t stop it if he tried.
‘Son, you are not me, and Emma is not Catherine,’ his father told him when Alex stopped talking. ‘You love each other in a way we never did. At times I was a little too domineering, but that isn’t who you are. Emma isn’t going to leave you a broken man, like I was when your mother left. You’re broken because you left her.’
‘Dad—’ Alex started, but a look from his father made him stop.
‘That’s what you are afraid of and that’s what’s made you run now. She’s the only person you’ve dated that you’ve brought home.’
‘She’s the only person I’ve actually dated, Dad.’ He had had encounters in the past. Purely physical releases. Emma had been different from the very beginning.
His father shut his eyes tightly. ‘That’s my fault,’ he said sadly.
‘What do you mean?’ Alex frowned. He’d never blamed his father. He was his hero. Just as much a victim of his mother as he had been until he’d decided he wouldn’t be.
‘Over the years, every time you asked about your mother and didn’t get the answers you wanted, you retreated into yourself a little more. I didn’t know how to handle it. I was so caught up in my own loss. I really did love your mother, but I didn’t show it. And then it was too late.’
‘It was too late because you wanted an heir,’ Alex said simply.
‘No, Alex, I wanted a child. I didn’t care about the title; my brother could have had it. Maybe then you would have had cousins. It doesn’t change the fact that I should have been there for you. You would have been so much happier. But I wasn’t, and I’m sorry.’
Alex’s lips pressed into a thin line. ‘Dad, you were there. You were the only one who was.’
Robert shook his head. ‘Not enough. But I will tell you now what I should have then. Your mother leaving was not your fault, son. And it wasn’t mine either. It was her own decision. She wasn’t capable of giving you the love you needed.’
Alex felt something inside him crumble. ‘Dad...’ He barely got the word out.
‘I’m proud of the man you’ve become, Alex, and that man doesn’t run when it gets tough.’
‘But I did.’ Alex dropped his gaze and said softly, ‘I miss her.’
‘Then get her back. She makes you happy, son, and that’s all a parent ever wants for their child.’
Alex pinched the bridge of his nose. As usual, his father was right. But he was scared. And that was hard to admit to himself.
‘Go, son. Don’t waste any more time.’
Alex listened. He hung up and shoved his phone in his pocket, then slipped on the jacket of his blue three-piece suit. Picking up his keys, he hurried to his car and rushed over to Brown Hughs. When he arrived at her office with a racing heart he found it empty. There was no sign of her. Not even her degree on the wall.
He went to the office of her manager, who was walking around his desk, going back to his chair.
‘Where’s Emma?’ Alex asked.
