to keep secret?”
She took a breath and blew it out. “Remember how I told you my grandmother raised me?”
“Yeah?” He led her back to the bench and sat down beside her.
“I didn’t tell you why.” She shook her head and a sad smile curved her mouth for a split second before disappearing again. “When I was five, my father robbed a grocery store.”
Vance hadn’t expected that. Her features were a mask of shame and humiliation, but he didn’t say anything because he was pretty sure there was more coming.
“He died in a chase with the police. Drove his car into a tree.”
“Charlie …”
“My mother left soon after that. I never saw her again.” She tore at the label on the water bottle, ripping one long strip off carefully, as if it were the most important thing in the world. “After that, my mother’s mom took me in and raised me.”
She lifted her gaze to stare out over the park again, deliberately keeping her gaze from his. “You know the old saying about ‘the wrong side of the tracks’? Well, that was us. Me. When Gran died, I left and came here and never told anyone where I was from.”
Vance felt for her. She’d had it tough and she’d come through to make something of her life. But none of this was enough to make for good blackmail.
“Come on, Charlie. There’s got to be more,” he said. “This isn’t blackmail material.”
She nearly choked on a swig of water. She half turned to fire a look at him. “Didn’t you hear me? My father was a thief. He died being chased by the police. My mother ran off and disappeared. Not exactly a picture-perfect background.”
“Not exactly your fault, either. You said you were five.”
“Easy for you to say,” she said, shaking her head and blinking back—thank God—a fresh sheen of tears. “You have no idea what it was like. Everyone in town gossiping about us. You couldn’t understand. How could you?”
“Thanks for the faith,” he muttered. “You’re not the only one people gossip about. Seen the newspapers? People are always talking about the Waverlys.”
“Yes, poor you,” she said, sarcasm dripping off every word. “How horrible to be followed to all your fancy dinners and be made to pose for pictures. Very intrusive.”
One eyebrow lifted. “Good to know you’ve got a temper. And a snide side, too.”
She frowned at him. “You’re only the second person I’ve ever told about myself. I would think you could understand how embarrassing this is for me.”
“I get that you’re embarrassed,” he said. “I just don’t get why. So you grew up poor. Who the hell cares?”
“You don’t understand,” she said, shaking her head more in temper than misery and Vance was glad to see it.
“Fine. I don’t understand. Now give me the rest of it.”
“Not much left,” she said primly, scooting away from him on the bench. “I put myself through college and when Gran died, I moved to New York.”
He moved in closer. “And Jake’s father?”
She pushed up from the bench and put a stranglehold on her water bottle. “Why not? Let’s just spill the last of the humiliation and get it over with.” She whirled around to face him and the look in her eyes had Vance standing to walk toward her.
But she held up one hand, palm out to keep him at bay. “Don’t be nice to me right now, okay? I’m hanging on by a thread here.”
“Okay, then finish it.”
“I met Jake’s father right after I was hired at Waverly’s.” She dropped her water bottle into the trash and crossed her arms over her chest. Scraping her hands up and down her forearms as if to ward off a bone-deep chill, she started talking again. “His name was Blaine Andersen—at least that’s what he told me.”
Vance didn’t say anything. He had a feeling he knew where this was going and nothing he could say would help the situation any.
“He was sweet and funny,” she mused. “We went for walks in the park and to movies. He brought me flowers. He even replaced my BlackBerry when I lost mine. He said he loved me and—”
“You loved him back.” Strange, but those words had a bitter taste to them.
“I thought I did,” she corrected. “When I found out I was pregnant, I went to tell him, but he was gone.” She shook her head as she remembered. “Familiar story, right? Small-town girl comes to the city and gets taken advantage of. God, I felt so stupid. I even went to the Andersen Architectural firm that he told me was his family’s. They’d never heard of him.”
“Charlie—”
“It’s okay,” she said quickly, interrupting him. “Doesn’t matter anymore. I got Jake out of it and he’s everything to me.”
Vance gave her a grin, as he thought about the tiny boy who had already wormed his way into Vance’s heart. One more complication that he hadn’t planned on. “He’s a great kid.”
“Yeah.” She smiled back and it was her first real smile since this started. Vance was glad to see it, even if it did look a little trembly around the edges. “He really is.”
“So is that it? All your deep, dark secrets?”
“Well, I didn’t tell you about my wild addiction to chocolate-dipped strawberries, but other than that, yes. That’s it.” She sighed and added, “Feels like fifty pounds have fallen off my shoulders.”
“Not surprising. Why’d you keep it to yourself, Charlie?” His voice was quiet. “Why didn’t you come to me?”
“I’m used to taking care of myself, Vance,” she told him with another deep sigh. “And I didn’t think you’d believe me.”
“Yeah, well,” he said, “I do.”
When she looked up at him, with hope shining in her eyes, he felt like a damn knight in shining armor, which he really wasn’t. Hell, half the people in Manhattan would be willing to swear that he was a villain, not a hero. But he certainly enjoyed seeing her look at him like that.
“So I’m not fired?” she asked.
“You will be if you ever hold out on me again.” He dropped one arm around her shoulders and pulled her in close. “Charlie, you don’t have to be alone in this.”
“I don’t know how to be anything else.”
“Then it’s time to learn,” he muttered. Drawing her up against him, he wrapped both arms around her and held on. She fit—that’s all he could think of. Fit as if she were made to slide in next to him. As if she were the missing piece to his puzzle.
He closed his eyes and shut down that particular thought.
