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He sighed again. “Tess and I knew each other before college,” he began. “She was a year behind me in school. Our parents had been friends for as long as I can remember. She was in college over here while I was at Oxford. Tess’s passion, like yours, was horses. She was studying to be a trainer. I'd finished undergrad at Oxford and was to start law school at Harvard in the fall. Tess was getting ready for her senior year at Virginia Intermont, your school,” he noted. “I bought Derringer in the U.K. as an early graduation gift for her. His bloodline traces back to Conversano, a black Neapolitan stallion foaled in 1767. She was thrilled when he arrived. The Andrews don’t stable horses, so he was kept here. Tess’s plan was to train and compete over the summer and into the early fall, and then start classes in the fall. I proposed in June after I returned from Oxford. I'd already sent Derringer on ahead, and my father had hired a guy by the name of Zach Flannery to show Derringer in dressage, they did incredibly well. Zach and Tess worked all summer together. I barely saw her apart from the competitions. Zach lived on site here as well.” Trey paused momentarily collecting his thoughts. His voice was pained when he continued with the story.
“There was a high-level riding school competition the week after Labor Day. It was one level below Grand Prix. Tess had been working Derringer hard in training for it. In truth, she'd been working him too hard. He'd an aggravated muscle in his rear flank. I saw him at practice right before I left for Harvard, noticed the injury, and I asked her to stop with his training until the muscle healed. She and Zach ignored my warning. Tess argued that it was her horse when I found out about it during a phone call back here. During practice a few days before the event, Zach was riding Derringer and Tess was observing from the middle of the arena. Zach was attempting the levade, that’s an air move where the horse—”
“I know what the levade is, Trey,” I reminded him.
“Sorry,” he smiled, “at any rate, due to Derringer’s muscle problem, he did not land properly; somehow Zach was thrown. Tess ran over to them and grabbed Derringer’s bridle, trying to calm him, but his front leg came down on her, pinning her to the ground.”
My eyes widened in horror, picturing this scene. Trey struggled to get the rest of the story out. “Tess was careflighted to a hospital in Nashville. I flew in from Cambridge. Her pelvis was shattered. Zach was at her side when I arrived.” I could see Trey’s composure waver as he recalled this part of the story.
“Trey, you don’t have to continue if you don’t want to.”
“No,” he said, his eyes dark with anger or sorrow, I couldn’t tell which. “You need to know this part too. Tess was pregnant; the accident, of course, caused her to miscarry. Her pelvis was so shattered that it couldn't be repaired enough to enable her to bear children in the future. I loved her. I mourned the loss of our child, although I didn’t know until then that she'd been pregnant. It didn’t matter to me if we couldn’t have children in the future; all that mattered to me was her.”
I gasped, horrified at the awful circumstance.
Trey continued, “Tess was angry with the situation. She ordered me to destroy Derringer. I refused to destroy a perfectly fine horse over something that could have been avoided. I knew in time she would come to understand that, being the person that she was.” He rubbed his eyes and inhaled a deep breath. Seeing his pain tore my heart in two. “As it turned out, I guess I neverreallyknewthe person that she was. The baby she miscarried wasn’t mine, it was Zach’s.”
“Oh Trey!” I exclaimed, reaching over to him.
“She told me that she was in love with Zach, that they wanted to be together. She said she never really loved me.”
“Why did Landon say that earlier, about our baby having the chance his sister’s didn’t?”
“Because, I've never told anyone the truth, apart from you just now. Until now, only Tess, Zach, and I knew the truth. I felt like she'd been through enough. I didn’t want her reputation crushed as well. It caused a rift between my family and me for several years, and only recently have the Andrews come around again. Tess let everyone believe that she broke the engagement because I wouldn’t put Derringer down. I never told them any different.”
“But Trey, that’s not fair to you,” I said, sitting up. “Why would you let people believe things about you that aren’t true? She would’ve ended the engagement anyway.”
He smiled sadly, pulling me down to him. “Because it wouldn’t change anything, I needed to let her walk away with something. Tess was and still is a fragile person.”
Just then, there was a light knock on the bedroom door. Trey jumped up and opened it, stepping aside to allow his parents in. Oh crap, I thought. I bet Trey and I had some ’splaining to do. Susan was at my side immediately. “How are you feeling, darling,” she asked in her sweet southern accent, “you gave us a bit of a scare down there.” She put her hand on my forehead as if checking to see if I had a fever.
“I’m feeling much better, Mrs. Sinclair, thank you,” I replied warmly.
“Now, there is none of this ‘Mrs. Sinclair’ do you hear? You call me Susan like everyone else does.”
I nodded, smiling back at her. I noticed Clive talking to Trey in hushed tones. Trey was leaning against the door, one leg propped back against it. He ran a hand through his hair. I flushed when I realized that Susan was watching me watch her son.
“Can I get you anything, darling?” she asked, sweetly.
“No, I’m fine for now, really.”
“Ok then,” she said, patting my leg. “We want you to get some rest and take care of that baby!”
Oh thank goodness; she's happy about this.
Clive looked over, having finished his conversation with Trey, and bid me a good night, telling me to let the staff know if I needed anything. I wished him a good night as well.
Trey sat back down on the bed with a sheepish look on his face.
“What?” I asked, “Are you grounded?”
He chuckled, giving me a glimpse of that sexy dimple.
“Your dad looked kind of serious just now.”
“He says that I should move to another room to ensure you get restful sleep,” he said, mimicking his father’s British accent.
My hormones screamed ‘hell no, you don’t go’ in unison. He saw the alarm on my face and gave me a dimpled grin.
