A Sweet Deal (Crimson Romance) (19 page)

His father slid into the passenger seat, and Richard made his way around the car. Outside the hospital, the sun struggled to shine through heavy, dark clouds. Traffic sped past on the nearby street. Life went on, it seemed. Heart attacks, broken hearts, none of it mattered. He put the car in gear with a quick glance at his father, and navigated out of the parking lot.

“Do you want to talk about it?” His father watched him as he drove.

Richard couldn’t make himself look at his father, and kept his eyes trained on the road instead. “Talk about what?”

“You know about what. Yvette. Robert told me what happened, and I’m so sorry. I thought things were going well between you two.” From the corner of his eye, he could see his father angle his body towards him, but he kept his eyes on the road.

Richard gripped the steering wheel tighter. “Well, it seems that things are over between us. She told me she wants to work out a custody and visitation agreement.”

“Robert said that she left you that first night at the hospital, and that you think it had something to do with her not being able to negotiate with me anymore. You know, that doesn’t sound right to me. Yvette’s ambitious, but she’s not ruthless.”

“You’re right, and I wish I had talked to you about it before I talked with her. Might have saved myself a lot of heartache.” It was tough to admit that he’d doubted her so seriously, but perhaps his father could help him figure out how to make things right.

“So, what happened?” His tone was gentle, encouraging him to continue.

“She overheard the conversation you and I had in the hospital, and she knows that you offered me the company if I got married. That’s why she left, because she thought I used her to get what I wanted. I finally came to my senses and figured out that I wanted to be with her regardless of what she’d done, so I confronted her, thinking we’d work it out. Things blew up, and I had to rush her to the doctor. God, Dad, I was scared she was going to lose the baby. It turned out that she was fine, just stressed and probably overworked. She only came back home with me because her doctor told her that she needed to take it easy or she’d have to go on bed rest. She wanted to go back to her own house, but her sister was out of town and she was the only one who could have stayed with her to help.”

“Wait, what? You confronted her?” Michael scoffed. “How can you be so stupid about women?”

“In my defense, I didn’t know that she knew about the offer. I was sick of the silent treatment, and I still thought that she was the one in the wrong. She wouldn’t speak to me, and I was dying from the suspense.” Remembering the confrontation turned his stomach.

“I’ll assume that as soon as you figured it out, you got on your hands and knees and begged for forgiveness, right? So, how could it be over between you two?”

“She said that I treated her and the baby like a business transaction, that I hadn’t changed, and that our relationship is too broken to go back. I’m at the end of my rope. I don’t know what to do. We’ll be in each other’s lives because of the baby, but I don’t know how it’s going to work from here on out. I don’t want to just share custody with her. I want a family. But, it’s like now that the secret is out, it’s going to be hanging between us forever. It could be forgiven, but not forgotten, you know? Even if she would forgive me, I still go to work every day. The buyout, your offer, all the problems, they’re going to be like an elephant in the room.”

“Sounds like you need to come up with a way to eliminate work being an obstacle.”

“I know, but it’s been such a huge sticking point for us the whole time.” He pulled into his father’s driveway and parked.

His unbuckled his seatbelt and slid to the edge of his seat, facing Richard. “Then obviously what you’ve been doing isn’t working. Listen, you have to decide for yourself what you want. If you think you’ll be content sharing custody with Yvette as you build your little empire, then by all means, carry on. If you want her, though, and a life with your family, you’ll have to make that happen. If it’s what you really want, you’ll never forgive yourself for letting her go.”

He frowned, contemplating a grim Yvette-less future. He couldn’t bear it. He wouldn’t. If she needed to see that he didn’t view her or their baby as business, then he’d show her that.

“I think I know what I have to do.” His father practically spelled it out for him, but Richard appreciated that he allowed him to reach the conclusion on his own. He could handle this, could make the grand gesture that Yvette would need to see how serious he was.

Richard helped his father into the house and left him in the hands of his capable and caring housekeeper before making a quick stop at his own house.

• • •

Soft music played from the speakers, rain pelted the windows as the sky darkened, and heavenly aromas wafted through the kitchen. The pouring rain outside gave the warm kitchen a cozy feeling, and for the first time in days, Yvette started to feel like herself again. Like everything would work out somehow, and she and the baby would be okay on their own. She stirred the sauce bubbling on the stove and smiled as the familiar scent of home drifted up from the pot. She brought a spoonful of sauce to her lips and blew across the top before taking a tiny taste.

“Perfect.” She turned to her sister. “This tastes just like Mom’s.”

“Thanks. I’ve been working on it.” Veronica peeked out the window through slats in the blinds and narrowed her eyes. “It’s really coming down out there. Yikes.”

Yvette glanced out the window and shrugged. “I like it. It’s perfect weather for my life right now.”

Veronica grinned. “Dramatic, much?” As she bustled around the kitchen, plating food, she shook her head in amusement.

“Don’t make fun of me. You don’t know what it’s like.” She kept her tone light, careful not to bring down the good mood they’d been sharing. It was too easy to slip into self-pity, to think about all that she’d lost. Richard’s words stayed with her, how he’d begged her to stay, to reconsider. Not for the first time, she wondered if she’d been too quick to dismiss Richard’s apologies, their relationship. She believed in forgiveness, in second chances, and she hadn’t even considered it when he asked. She filled two glasses with ice water and followed Veronica to the kitchen table.

After setting the glasses at their seats, Yvette glanced out the picture window overlooking her backyard at the pouring rain. “Let me just grab a couple of candles in case the power goes out.”

Stretching on her tiptoes, she reached for the carton of emergency candles on the top shelf of her pantry and patted her hand along the surface for the box of matches that was pushed back out of her view. The doorbell rang, and the box of matches fell from her tenuous grasp and bounced off her forehead and onto the floor.

“Can you see who that is?” She shouted to Veronica as she bent over to pick up the matches. She heard the front door open but couldn’t hear who was there.

“Yvette?” Veronica called from the foyer.

“Coming!” She tucked the box of matches into the carton of candles and set them on the kitchen table.

The sound of heavy rain grew louder as Yvette rounded the corner to the foyer. Before she had time to wonder why Veronica had left the door open, she saw why. Richard stood in the doorway, his suit dotted with dark raindrops despite the umbrella dripping at his side.

“What are you doing here?” She wasn’t prepared for the way her heart raced at the sight of him, or how tight her throat felt as she pushed the words out. For a moment, the rain, the music in the kitchen, everything faded away and Richard was the only thing she could see. Time stretched out, as though the space between them was thicker than the surrounding air.

“Can I come in? I need to talk to you.” With his words, she snapped out of her daze and realized that he was standing inches away from the downpour.

“Of course. Come on in. I’ll get you a towel.” How long would it be before she could be herself, normal and composed, around him? Surely there would come a time when she wouldn’t be so dumbstruck simply by sharing the same air. She had to believe that if they were to move forward, if they were going to parent a child together.

“I’ve got it. You two go ahead and talk. I’ll make myself scarce.” Veronica produced a towel for Richard and hurried off towards the back bedrooms of the house. Yvette had been so distracted by seeing him again that she didn’t even notice her sister leaving in the first place. Whatever he was there to talk about, she needed to recover her wits. After everything they’d been through, all that he’d done, she still felt that magnetic pull towards Richard. How long would it be before she could see him without wanting to escape to his arms?

He dried himself off with the towel, and Yvette closed the door behind him. Drops of rain clung to his dark hair, dampening his neck and shirt collar. She stopped herself from reaching out and running her hand across the wet skin. “We can go to my library.”

She led him through the house to the room where he’d proposed for the second time, the room where they shared the moment that she thought would change her life. Rain pelted the glass, and the clouds darkened the room, but her lavender stained glass lamps bathed the space in a soft light. The cozy atmosphere and the memories that surrounded them made her wish she’d chosen her home office for their meeting. But she was through with games, with jockeying for position, with treating her interactions with Richard like business transactions. All the careful planning that went into establishing a relationship with Morgan Confectioners is what got her involved with him in the first place. Letting her heart lead is what pushed her over the edge. He’d taken her through the gamut of emotions, had given her the best and worst moments of her life. Whatever he had to say tonight would be met without orchestrations or maneuvering. It was over, and she was tired. Tired and sad.

They settled onto the plush wingback chairs next to her bookshelves, and she pushed back the memory of the way her heart swelled the afternoon he’d proposed and she’d accepted. That afternoon seemed far away. The person she was that day seemed far away.

Richard ran his hands over his thighs and shifted in the chair. “So, I want you to know that I really listened to what you said the other night, and I understand where you’re coming from. I really do, and I’m not just saying that.” He cleared his throat. “Throughout our relationship, I’ve misunderstood you, I’ve jumped to conclusions, and I’ve projected my own problems onto you. I know that I’ve let my past influence me, and part of the reason I’ve been so quick to believe the worst is because it’s safer than taking a risk on trusting something that’s real, on losing something special. That’s on me, though, and you shouldn’t have to suffer because I didn’t know a good thing when I had it.”

“Thank you for that. I’m sure this isn’t easy for you to say.”

“It’s nothing compared to the thought of losing you. I’ve been wracking my brain to come up with a way to make you see how much you mean to me, how little anything else means when you’re not in my life. Without you, it’s like I can’t even breathe.” He ran his fingers through his hair, and despite herself, she remembered how it felt beneath her own hands. “You felt like I treated the baby and our engagement like a business arrangement, that I used the situation to my advantage. As much as I’d like to deny it outright, it’s at least partially true. I didn’t mean for it to happen that way, but when I’m honest, I can see how I should have done things.”

Being reminded of all the valid reasons they weren’t a good match helped her shield herself from the growing warmth she was feeling for Richard. He was more vulnerable than before, more broken, even. She’d opened her heart to him, though, had sacrificed everything for their relationship, and he’d benefited from her loss. No apology, no matter how heartfelt, could remedy that without time. They couldn’t be together unless he made some serious changes.

“I knew after you left that nothing I could say would convince you that I care for you more than anything else. There would always be part of you that doubted me, that still wondered whether or not I used you to get what I want. Yvette, there’s a hole in my life now that you’re gone, and nothing could replace you. Nothing. I don’t want Morgan Confectioners if it costs me the love of my life. I don’t want anything if I can’t have you.”

The love of his life? “What exactly are you saying?”

“I’m saying you can have it. You can have everything. If you want Morgan Confectioners for Saffron, take it. We’ll get the paperwork started tomorrow morning. If you want to come and work with me in a true merger, let’s do that. We’d love to have you join the family business, and just thinking about how far the two of us could go together blows my mind. But if you want to buy me out and give Saffron total control … or even if you just want me to shut the whole thing down, say the word. I’ll do anything.”

“I don’t know what to say. Are you serious?”

“I’ve never been more serious in my life. My father and I agree on this, and he’s on board … ” He paused. “Although I hope you won’t shut the whole thing down. No need to put all those good people out of work simply to prove a point.” His mouth curved into a tentative smile. “But you don’t have to decide right now—whatever you want.” He stepped a little closer. “All I care about is you. All I want is you.”

“You went to your dad?”

“Of course.” His eyes glinted in the room’s soft light. “I don’t know anyone who’s better at convincing beautiful women to marry him, do you?”

She laughed, and a single tear slid down her cheek. “No, I guess I don’t.”

“Without you, the house is so empty. I’m so empty. Nothing is the same without you there, and it’s killing me. I don’t want to go another moment without knowing that we will be a family. Tell me, please, that it’s not too late for us.”

“It’s not too late,” she whispered, her voice thick with emotion.

Richard eased off his chair and kneeled before her on one knee. “Third time’s the charm, right?” His smile was boyish and hopeful, and her heart caught in her throat as he took a deep breath. He’d proposed to her twice already, but this time was different. This time, it meant something. He’d changed since they met, had become more humble, more open and real. “Sweetheart, when you first came into my life, I wanted you gone. I am so thankful that you stuck around to convince me that I was wrong. When you left me, my world stopped turning, and nothing was right with you gone. I can’t imagine growing old without you, and I’ll spend the rest of my life showing you how much I love you.”