Love Letters: A Rose Harbor Novel (26 page)

The woman returned with a paper cup and another woman who worked for the museum.

“Can I get you anything?” the second woman asked.

“Please, I don’t want to be a bother.”

“It’s no bother,” the museum employee insisted. “Shall I call someone for you?”

“No, no, my husband is here and I don’t want to ruin this for him.”

“I understand,” the older woman said. “Henry loves these classic cars. My goodness, he dragged me all the way from Olympia just so we could stop by this car museum.”

“There’s a nice comfortable chair by the entrance, if you feel you need to sit down,” the attendant told her, and seeing that there wasn’t anything more she could do, she left.

The older woman studied Maggie. “I had the same problem when I was pregnant,” she said, lowering her voice. “The first three months were dreadful for me. I couldn’t keep a single thing down.”

Maggie wasn’t about to confirm her condition to this stranger. It would be just her luck to run into the woman later when Roy was close enough to hear and have her spout off something about the pregnancy.

“I think it was something that disagreed with me at lunch,” Maggie offered, hoping to turn the woman’s suspicions elsewhere.

The woman frowned. “My dear, I’ve worked as a nurse for a GYN for nearly thirty years. I know the look, and you’ve got it in spades. If you don’t believe me, make an appointment with your doctor or buy one of those pregnancy tests.”

Maggie pretended surprise. “Maybe I will,” she murmured, not
meeting the other woman’s gaze. “I … I better find my husband,” she said, eager to escape.

It took Maggie only a few minutes to locate Roy, who had his eyes on a classic 1936 Mercedes-Benz 540K. He walked all the way around the vehicle with his hands in his pockets as if he was half afraid he would reach out and touch the car like a priceless piece of artwork.

For a few minutes he didn’t seem to notice Maggie was beside him. “It’s in mint condition,” he said, keeping his voice low and reverent, as though speaking in church.

Maggie followed Roy while he admired a number of other vehicles, but she could feel herself growing tired and weak. “Would you mind if I sat down for a bit?” she asked, hoping to downplay her almost desperate need to rest.

She shouldn’t have asked, because Roy, who’d bent over to inspect the inside of a 1960 bright yellow Chevy Corvette, straightened and then focused his attention on her.

“Maggie, are you feeling all right?”

“Of course,” she said, almost flippantly. “These shoes are a bit tight, and we’ve done a lot of walking today. I thought I’d take a load off my feet.”

“Do you want to go back to the inn?” he asked, as he continued to study her, his eyes filled with concern.

“Not in the least.” So she lied. “I’ll be by the entrance. I saw a chair there earlier.”

Roy hesitated. “I’ll hurry through the rest of the museum.”

“Please don’t. Not on my account. I’m perfectly content to sit for a while. Enjoy yourself and take as much time as you want.”

He studied her as if he wasn’t sure he should believe her. “This isn’t like you.”

“What isn’t?” she asked, and forced a small laugh.

“Being this patient.”

“Roy, that’s completely unfair. Even if it was true, don’t you
think you should take advantage of my generosity and count your blessings?”

“Okay, okay, you’re right. Go make yourself comfortable and I’ll finish going through the museum.”

“Take however long you want.”

Again his look told her he was mildly suspicious.

Grateful to leave her husband, Maggie returned to the spot the museum attendant had mentioned earlier. She sank into the padded chair, leaned her head back, and closed her eyes. It felt incredibly good to be off her feet. Almost right away she felt better than she had all day.

She didn’t know how long she remained in the chair before Roy came to get her.

“This collection is amazing,” he said, and sounded as excited and pleased as their son Jaxon after spending an hour in the park climbing on the playground equipment. “Thanks, honey,” Roy said.

“You’re most welcome.” She was pleased they were able to do something he enjoyed.

“The next time you want to drag me to a chick movie, I promise not to complain.”

“That’s a fair trade,” she said, with a grin, and looped her arm around his.

They started out the exit and were joined by the older woman Maggie had met in the ladies’ restroom. With everything in her she silently pleaded with the other woman not to mention their first meeting or her suspicions.

“Hello again,” the woman said, and either she hadn’t seen or ignored Maggie’s plea.

“Hello,” Maggie said casually, letting it be known with the lack of warmth in her reply that she wasn’t interested in exchanging chitchat.

“Are you feeling better?” the woman asked, hurrying to catch up with Maggie and Roy.

“Much, thank you.” She nearly collapsed with relief when the couple headed in the opposite direction once they left the museum.

“You weren’t feeling well again?” Roy asked.

“I’m feeling great.” Which was a small exaggeration, but Maggie had discovered she was beginning to get better with this subterfuge. “You don’t look it, Maggie. In fact, you look a bit pale.”

They reached their car and Maggie made a show of looking in the sideview mirror once again. “I am?”

“Don’t you see it?”

“Maybe I have a touch of the flu,” she said, hoping Roy would accept the excuse and leave it at that.

“Do you want me to find one of those walk-in medical clinics?”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” she said, and laughed off his suggestion.

“I hate the thought of you being sick.”

“I feel better already.”

He frowned in her direction, and it was apparent he didn’t believe her. “Shall we return to the inn?” he asked.

“I suppose,” she said, as if it was of little difference to her. “Unless there’s some place else you’d like to explore.”

“The Museum of Glass is just down the road,” Roy reminded her.

In other circumstances Maggie would have enjoyed viewing the famous museum and visiting the gift shop, but not now. Her hesitation told Roy all he needed to know.

“You want to go back to the inn.”

She hated to put a damper on their weekend, but she really was sick. “Maybe that would be for the best.”

“Then you aren’t feeling as well as you claim.”

“I’m just a bit under the weather,” she said, once more brushing off his concern.

He started the car and without much of a problem returned to the freeway. “If I didn’t know better I’d think you were pregnant,” he said, and the moment the words were out of his mouth, he went completely still.

For one wild second Maggie was afraid he was about to pull off to the side of the road.

Neither said anything for several heart-stopping moments.

“You’re taking birth-control pills, right?” Roy asked, his words tight and strange. He hardly sounded like himself.

“Of course I am,” she assured him, hoping to sound calm and confident.

“Every single day?” he pressed.

“I might have missed a few times,” she confessed. Actually, Maggie had all but abandoned the pill. It hadn’t been a conscious decision. At first she’d simply forgotten, and really, what was the point? They’d made love only twice in the last month … it’d been his lack of sexual appetite that had alerted Maggie that there was something wrong with their marriage. That
something
turned out to be
someone
, and that someone turned out to be Katherine.

“Maggie.” Roy whispered her name almost as if he had trouble speaking. “I notice you didn’t immediately assure me you aren’t pregnant.”

“I didn’t?” she asked, stalling.

“Are you or aren’t you?” he demanded.

Tension pounded like a gong between them.

“Are you?” he asked again, louder this time.

Hanging her head, Maggie found she couldn’t answer him. It might have gone better if she’d told him as soon as her suspicions were confirmed, but she doubted it.

Roy pressed his foot against the gas pedal and the car jerked forward. “I guess that answers that. I’m also guessing you don’t have a clue who the father of this baby is.”

“I’m sorry, Ellie. None of this worked out the way I thought it would,” Tom said, hurrying after her as she left the deli. Apparently, he refused to accept that she wanted nothing more to do with him. It was hard because she so badly wanted to trust him, but she couldn’t allow herself to give in when it was clear he’d used her for his own purposes. She might be able to look past all that if he’d told her beforehand, if he’d confided in her instead of springing it on her without even a hint of a warning.

The conversation with her father had gone better than she’d expected, although there remained a lot of unanswered questions. She hoped they’d be able to talk more over dinner. It was clear there was no love lost between him and her grandparents, but Ellie didn’t know what role her mother had played in the breakup of the marriage.

“Ellie,” Tom said, keeping his steps in tune with hers. “Say something.”

She glanced at him, hardly knowing how to communicate her feelings, which remained mixed. She was terribly confused.

“What did you expect would happen?” Ellie asked, gesturing with her hands. A lot of her anger remained. She wouldn’t, couldn’t, dismiss his subterfuge lightly. He’d misled her in more ways than the obvious. She’d trusted Tom, and he’d abused that trust.

“I felt terrible after you left the waterfront,” Tom said.

“Not any more than I did,” she returned stiffly. “How could you use me like this, Tom? How could you?”

“I never meant to hurt you.”

“You should have thought of that long before now.” She couldn’t imagine what he’d been thinking. Nor had he considered how she’d react once she discovered what he’d done. Clearly, he hadn’t thought matters through. It seemed to her that after he’d introduced her to Scott he intended to melt into the background. His role was finished, and so he was done with her as well.

“The look in your eyes broke my heart. I can’t leave matters as they are, I just can’t.”

Ellie had nothing to say to that.

“I wanted to tell you before you met Scott,” he continued. “I fully intended to explain everything Friday night, and found I couldn’t, not so soon. You were so beautiful and you’d taken this big leap toward independence and I didn’t have the heart to destroy your faith in me so soon. I was wrong, Ellie. I’m so sorry.”

“You should have told me rather than springing it on me unexpectedly like this.” Ellie wasn’t sure how she would have dealt with the news, but she would have at least had a chance to process it. In some ways it would have been easier to deal with on Friday than it was now. If he’d told her when he’d first come to the inn, it would have been a shock, yes, but she would have known then. But to hit
her with it after their dinner date and sailing, after they’d kissed and looked into each other’s eyes … the wound cut deeper, and made his betrayal feel more intense.

“I couldn’t be more sorry, but we met and it felt so good to be with you and to kiss you,” he whispered. “I was afraid that if you found out what I’d done you wouldn’t want anything more to do with me … I wanted that extra time with you. I hoped that after we were together you’d be willing to … hell, I don’t know what I thought would happen when you met your father. I did this for him, but then later I realized it was for myself. I fell for you, Ellie. I’m not exaggerating or making excuses or anything else. All I want is another chance with you. I’m in love with you. If you believe nothing else, believe that. I love you.”

Ellie shook her head as though to shake off his words. She needed more time. Her emotions felt like golf ball–size bits of hail pounding down on her from all sides. She’d met her father.
Her father
. This was the man she’d never had the chance to know. She’d met Scott through Tom, the man she loved, only to discover that Tom had manipulated her, and now he was saying he loved her. It was too much to absorb all at once. She needed to sort everything out in her head before she could deal with Tom.

He started to speak again, but Ellie raised her hand, stopping him. “Give me time.”

“How long?”

“I don’t know …”

“You’ll talk to me, though, right? Sometime … soon.”

She agreed with a simple nod and then held out her hand silently asking him to back away, letting him know she wanted to continue back to the inn on her own. Tom reluctantly slowed his pace and eventually dropped back, letting her go on without him. When she reached the top of the hill she glanced over her shoulder and found Tom standing on the sidewalk with his shoulders slouched, looking as if the world had come crashing down on him.

Ellie continued on toward the inn, her head and her heart in turmoil.
Her temple pounded with the beginning of a headache. As soon as she was back in her room, she swallowed two aspirin and lay down to close her eyes. Just as the shock and tension were starting to leave her body and she was beginning to relax, her phone rang. Because she had half expected something like this would happen, Ellie had kept her cell on the bed next to her. A quick glance told her it was her mother.