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“I know.”
“That doesn’t make any difference. I’m not going to marry you, Sandor. You may have decided you can trust me, but Iknow I can’t trust you now. That’s not going to change.”
He did not agree. “Because of the business merger?”
“Yes.”
“We will overcome that.”
“No, we won’t.”
They arrived at the hospital and he accepted now was not the time for this conversation. He had lost ground with Ellie, but she had come home willing to marry him. He would bring her to that place again. “We will discuss this later.”
“There’s no point.”
Instead of arguing, he parked the car and went around to help her out of her seat. Her face was pale, her eyes were still red and once again filled with moisture.
He leaned down and kissed her temple. “He will be all right,pethi mou. He is a tough man.”
“I know.” But, once again, she had to blink away tears.
He clasped her elbow and took it as a good sign that she did not pull away. It also disturbed him. George was not the only tough Wentworth. For Ellie to be willing to lean on Sandor feeling toward him the way that she did, she had to be feeling incredibly vulnerable.
He slid his arm around her waist and kept her close as they entered the private hospital.
Ellie walked into the hospital room, a cauldron of emotions swirling through her. She was still angry with her father, but she felt guilt, too. There was pain there as well, both at his and Sandor’s betrayals. And fear. Horrible, mind-numbing fear. She didn’t want her father to die. He was all she had, even if they weren’t as close as she would like.
He was awake, his light blue eyes fixed on her as she approached the bed. He didn’t smile. He didn’t speak.
She stopped about three feet from the bed, not knowing what to do. Wishing he, or Sandor, would say something. Her throat was too clogged.
Then George Wentworth did something he hadn’t since she was very little and then so infrequently, her memories of it often felt like dreams. He put his arms out. “Come here, sweetheart. Please.”
And she ran to him.
He pulled her into his embrace and held her tight against his chest and she started to cry. “I’m s-sorry, D-daddy. I d-didn’t mean f-for this to h-happen.”
“I know, baby, I know.” He rubbed her back, his hold warm and strong. “You didn’t do anything wrong. I’m here because of my own mistakes, not yours.”
She lifted her head, trying to hard to control her tears, but they just would not stop. “But I s-said…”
“The truth.” He cupped her cheek. “Listen to me, Eleanor. I’ve made a lot of mistakes with you. I’ve made a lot of mistakes period, but I’ll never regret the words you said this afternoon. They woke me up. You gave me hope for the first time in over twenty years that I would see my other little girl again. And as angry as you were, you made me realize that I had a daughter who needed me now, if I never find your sister.”
“How could you not know I needed you?”
Agony darkened his eyes. “For more than two decades, I’ve practiced at ignoring your needs because I could not deal with feelings at all. Not yours. Not mine. I was a lousy father and I wish I could go back and change the past, but I can’t. When your mother died, I shut myself off. It happened so fast, by the time your sister’s disappearance came to light, I was already closed off from my babies. I didn’t try hard enough to find her. I accepted without question…” His voice broke and it was a second before he could continue. “When the investigators told me there were no more leads to follow, I didn’t argue. A year after her disappearance from the hospital, the police put her case on indefinite hold due to lack of new information. I closed the case with the investigative agency I’d hired as well.”
Unbelievably he started to cry, turning his head away from her. “I have no excuse. When I look at your childhood, I feel as if I shut you out as completely as I did her. I failed you both on so many levels.”
The monitor beside his bed began to beep and a nurse came rushing in, followed closely by a doctor. Ellie tried to get up and out of their way, but her dad wouldn’t let her go.
“No. It’s just my heart. It will get better. It’s not used to feeling and it’s having a hard time with the new experience.” His attempt at a laugh ended in a pain-filled wheeze, but he wouldn’t let her go.
“Please, Daddy, let them take care of you. Please. I don’t want to lose you again.”
