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I nodded.
"Is this a fucking joke, Thea?" Mark demanded, his voice rising slightly, drawing the attention of a couple of the other diners around us. I gestured for him to lower it, but he shook his head.
"I can’t believe this," he growled. "You’ve just tied our family to him for life."
"I know," I replied, taking Scott’s hand beneath the table. "And that’s...that’s the way I want it, Mark."
"You can’t be serious," he muttered. He sounded as though he was in shock, as though he couldn’t even begin to wrap his head around this. I didn’t blame him, couldn’t, but still—he was my brother. Couldn’t he at least pretend to be happy for me?
"You know what you’re bringing this child into, don’t you?" He continued, gesturing to Scott. "You know what kind of person he is? What kind of business he’s in?"
"Not anymore," Scott replied quietly, but Mark didn’t even seem to hear him.
"You’re crazy if you think he’s going to put a child over that," he continued. "Crazy. I thought you were smarter than that, Thea. I really did."
"It’s not like that anymore, Mark," Scott told him, more firmly than before. Mark stopped dead in his tracks.
"What do you mean?”
"I’m not in that line of work anymore," Scott explained. "I decided I wanted to go legit. I’m still going to be supporting the casino, don’t worry, but just as an investment. Not as a...not as we had planned it before."
Mark paused for a beat, taking it in. I could tell he was still trying to find ways to contradict him, trying to find the holes in Scott’s story.
"Yeah, sure, that’s what you told her," he continued, waving his hand. "But when it comes down to it, he’s just saying that because it’s what you want to hear. Thea, there’s still time to get out of this. You don’t have to go through with it."
"I did it before I found out about the pregnancy," Scott told him calmly.
I didn’t know how he was able to meet this kind of anger with such coolness, but it affirmed how sure I was about wanting to have this baby with him—if he could keep his cool in the face of my brother talking this kind of shit to him, he could handle anything.
"I started the process before Thea even told me anything about what was going on with her," Scott continued. "I didn’t want to be part of that world anymore. I thought I did—hell, I thought I didn’t have a choice, not with my father being who he was. But your sister...Mark, your sister coming into my life has changed everything for me. She’s made me re-evaluate everything in my life. I know I couldn’t have done this without her, and I don’t want her to do this next part without me, either. I’m in this. For the long haul. And I hope you’ll be part of it, too."
He spoke so eloquently and easily, with such confidence as though it had all been on the tip of his tongue all along. And hearing how much I had changed things for him, and how happy I made him enabled me to grip his hand tight, silently conveying that no matter how the rest of this conversation went, I appreciated everything he had to say. Every time he stood up for me and put me first, it made my heart sing, and my chest tighten with joy. I had picked the perfect man to do this all with, even if my brother might have wished it would be anyone else in the world.
Mark swung his gaze around to me. There was still doubt in his eyes, but it wasn’t as all-consuming as before.
"And you believe this, Thea?"
"I believe him," I told him, and I looked over at Scott and smiled. "He wants to help us, Mark. Help us keep the hotel open, and help me carry on mom’s legacy."
"What do you mean?" Mark asked, brow furrowed.
"I’m the new head of his charity division," I explained, biting my lip excitedly. I was still getting used to saying that out loud. It was a huge responsibility, but after everything I’d learned, I knew I could handle it. I wanted to jump into it. I wanted to step up and do what I could to make sure I could help out with this city. My mother had done so much to make this world a better place for people to live in, and the best way I could keep her memory alive would be to do the same thing to the best of my ability.
"You didn’t mention a charity division before," Mark remarked, and Scott shook his head.
"We just started it," he replied. "I wanted Thea to run it for me. I know she understands what she’s doing and how important it was to your mom, too. I want to help her keep her work going in any way I can."
I could see Mark’s eyes glistening with tears. He didn’t like to show his emotions much, preferring to push them down and play at being this big, tough guy after our parent’s death, but it had hurt him, badly. Even bringing up my mom was enough to stir up the feelings he had tried to ignore.
"I don’t want to forget her," Mark murmured, shaking his head. "All of this—it's just—she would be so happy, having a grandchild..."
He trailed off and glanced away from the two of us, gathering himself before he continued. I could tell he was struggling but didn’t want to let us see it. I reached across the table and took his hand.
"I know, Mark," I told him softly. "I know how hard it is for you. I feel it, too. I do. You have to understand that. But we’re the only family we have left, and I don’t want to go into motherhood without you there by my side, you hear me?”
I meant it. Every word that came out of my mouth, I meant it. I wanted to carry on my mother’s legacy, of course, I did, but what good would it be if I wasn’t doing everything I could to maintain my relationship with the family I still had in my life? The last thing our parents would have wanted was for us to be pulled apart over something like this, and I could see from the look in his eyes he got that, too.
"I know we’re asking a lot for you to put aside everything you know about me, but I promise you I’ll do everything I can to make sure you don’t doubt my faith," Scott added.
