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He nods his head. “Yeah, she did.”
“What did she say? Did she blame me?”
He frowns. “No. Why on earth would she blame you? I didn’t tell her exactly what I’d done – unlike Drew, and Ella, and Doreen – but I told her I’d screwed up.”
“Wait a second… did you say Doreen?”
“Yeah.” He looks down for a moment before raising his eyes to mine again. “Don’t be mad at me, but I called her. I needed to understand what had gone on between my father and yours.”
“Between your father and Ken Bevan, you mean. He’s not my father, Hunter.” He nods. “What did she say?”
“All kinds of things. She explained what happened, and how Ken used your mom to manipulate the inquiry into his own fraud, and how my father had been ruthless in his pursuit of what he perceived as justice.”
“Against my mom, you mean?”
“Yeah. She also told me about her affair with my father.”
I put my arms around his waist, hugging him tight. “Was that hard to hear?”
“Not as hard as you might think. I already knew some of it, and it was good to hear the truth behind some of the rumors.”
“Was that it?”
“No. She told me you were good for me… and I should do whatever it took to make it right between us again.”
“She said that?”
“Yeah, she did.”
“Is that why you came to see me?”
“The first time? Maybe… a little.”
“And the second time?”
He shakes his head. “If anyone had any influence over that decision, it would have been Pat. She told me not to make you do the running. You’d asked for time, but Pat said I shouldn’t let you forget I was here… waiting.”
I bring my hands around, resting them on his chest. “I wasn’t likely to forget that.”
“Maybe not, but…” He sighs. “I’d hurt you, Livia. I…”
I place my fingers across his lips, his eyes widening slightly. “Enough, Hunter. I don’t wanna keep talking about what happened. We both made mistakes.” He opens his mouth, and although I let my hand drop, I narrow my eyes at him until he closes it again. “I screwed up, too… maybe not so spectacularly as you, but I forgot to make allowances… to be kind.”
He shakes his head. “Oh, God… Livia.”
“When I was staying with Mom and Dad, I was talking to them about trust, and love, and us, and my dad said we needed to be sure we could put our differences behind us… so we could move forward together. So, can we do that, Hunter? Can we just accept what happened, and leave it in the past? We both know we’re not gonna do anything like that again, so we don’t need to keep talking about it, or thinking about it anymore.”
“After tonight, there’s nothing I’d like more.”
“Why after tonight?”
He smiles. “Because I think my brother will want to score a few points. It’s in his nature, and he won’t be able to resist telling me how close I came to losing you, through my own stupidity.”
I lean against him, looking up into his eyes. “Then he’d be wrong.”
“He would?”
“Yeah. You were never gonna lose me.”
