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Alec touches my arm, and it takes everything in me to stay still and not push him away from me. I want to blurt out that I know he has no feelings for me. My gaze lands on my parents, and I know it is not the right time. If I make a scene and wild accusations, I’ll just embarrass them, and they don’t deserve it.
I plaster a smile on my face. “I’m fine. Just a little tired of standing.”
“I’ll get you a chair,” he says, a look of concern on his face.
Is it all fake? Does he feel anything for me at all? A conversation we had regarding the clinic comes to mind. Alec had said he would do anything for the clinic? Does that include marrying me?
38
Alec
I look at my phone for the tenth time in an hour. I’ve texted Ivy seven times today, and she hasn’t responded to any of my messages. I glance at my watch. Noon. Next, I check my diary. My next appointment is at two o’clock. Decision made. I’m going to her place and make her tell me what’s going on.
I’m worried as I drive to Ivy’s house. My stomach is in knots, and I feel as though my life and happiness are hanging in the balance. At the back of my mind is the real fear that Ivy is finished with me. That she doesn’t want to marry me anymore. She has never expressed her feelings for me, if she has any. I try to remember if she said anything when I told her that I had deep feelings for her. Had she said something significant, I would have remembered.
I’m in love with a woman who does not reciprocate my feelings. That’s the only rational explanation for her behavior. But why not tell me? Why shut me out? Did the barbecue with our families frighten her?
I get to Ivy’s house, sweat dampening my back. This is the moment of truth. She has to tell me the truth because I don’t have the stomach for games. Not when it comes to Ivy.
I knock on the door with more force than I meant to. The door swings open, and Peter appears, startling me. Ivy had told me that he had moved out, and now he was answering the door? What the fuck was going on?
“I’m looking for Ivy.” There’s no love lost between Peter and me, and when Ivy is not there, we don’t bother to hide it.
“She’s not here.” He gives me a superior look that makes me want to bury my fist in his face.
Except that I’m a doctor. I treat, not maim.
He leans on the doorframe. “Ivy doesn’t want to see you again. She saw through you, dude. She knows that you and your family were using her.”
My muscles tense. “What are you talking about?”
“You were using her to save the clinic. You would do anything to make sure that your mess doesn’t get out. Thank God Ivy knows that now.”
My mouth is dry, and I’m unable to speak for a few seconds. Ivy knows about the threat to the clinic? Fuck! I mutter a string of curses under my breath. Why didn’t she ask me instead of going quiet on me?
“She and I are going to make a life together. An honest life. She’s going to be my wife.”
I snap back to attention. Wife? I see red. My hand curls into a fist, and I inhale deeply. Punching Peter is not going to solve anything. I need to get to the bottom of this.
My skin tightens around my face. “Ivy is carrying my child.”
“Which she conceived accidentally. She’s going to marry me. You’ve lost, dude. Get the fuck out of our lives,” he says, spewing foam from the sides of his mouth.
Something strikes me as odd. Why so much hatred for my family and me? True, Peter and I never hit it off from the beginning, but this hatred?
“If you don’t leave now,” he says, “I’ll scream the story of the mess-up at the clinic from the rooftops.”
It all makes sense now. “So, you are the one who went to the TV station?”
“Yes. I’m not frightened of you or your family.”
“It’s not us you should be frightened of,” I tell him. “It’s the law.”
The smug look leaves his face. He looks uncomfortable. “Just leave us alone, okay?”
How did Ivy get mixed up with someone like this? I can’t believe she wants to marry such a horrible, bitter man. “Does Ivy know about this?” I hold my breath as I wait for his answer.
“Yeah. She does. She knew about the TV station.”
