looked him directly in the eyes. “This is so like you,” she commented. “I mean, showing up so suddenly, making decisions and expecting me to agree to whatever you want.”
Annoyed by her words, Justin grimaced. “I called and left you a message, letting you know that I’d be coming over.”
Heather’s gaze swung to the answering machine sitting on the table. The little red message light was blinking. “I haven’t had time to check my messages. As soon as I came in the door, Paul arrived.”
“Would it have made a difference if you’d known I was coming?”
“I don’t know.” She searched his face, wishing for even a hint as to what he was thinking. “We didn’t exactly part on good terms.” Truthfully, they hadn’t exactly parted on any particular terms. He had simply walked away from her one day.
Later, he’d contacted her through his lawyer, who had informed her he would be sending her a monthly check. Once she’d realized that he wasn’t coming back, she slowly started putting her life back together.
Then she’d discovered she was pregnant again.
They’d made love one of the last evenings they’d spent together. On her part, it had been a desperate attempt to regain some closeness between them. Heather hadn’t taken precautions, and neither had Justin. Even up to the very end, she’d hoped to have another child. She had foolishly thought another baby would help her marriage, had hoped Justin would love her if she gave him a child.
But he’d left, anyway. It wasn’t long afterward that she had started missing her periods. When she’d found out she was pregnant, she was elated, yet deeply saddened by the irony of her situation. She realized she was going to have the baby they’d always wanted—only Justin wouldn’t be there to share the joy with her.
She’d hoped he’d contact her, give her some idea he still cared for her. But he hadn’t, and she had decided at that point not to tell him about her pregnancy. She’d thought about it long and hard. But dealing with his rejection had been so difficult, and she’d known he would have come back to her only because of the baby. Heather just couldn’t live with him knowing that her love wasn’t enough to make him happy.
For a while, she’d been worried he’d find out somehow, or that their paths would cross and he’d discover the truth. Fortunately, Pittsburgh was a very big city. Justin’s office was across town in the Pittsburgh Plate Glass building, and their house in the elite suburb of Fox Chapel was far enough away that she’d hoped her secret was safe. Apparently she hadn’t had to worry about it. Justin had never even tried to see her—until now, and the friends they’d had had dropped out of her life when she no longer traveled in the same circles.
Justin’s lips curved into the bare resemblance of a smile. She hadn’t seemed surprised when he’d shown up. “My intent in coming here wasn’t to run roughshod over you.” His gaze was direct. “My motives aren’t suspect. I’m asking you to give us another chance.”
When she didn’t answer right away, he felt his heart stop. His plans for a reconciliation depended on getting Heather alone with him so he could convince her to give their marriage another try.
“I don’t know. I need to think about this,” she stated frankly.
Though he didn’t necessarily like her answer, he decided not to pressure her. He’d give her some time to think about it, then see where that got him. He had a tenacious nature and wasn’t one to give up easily if something was important to him.
That had a lot to do with his past. It hadn’t been easy getting past abandonment and growing up in foster care. Justin had never been fortunate enough to live with a family who cared about him.
He hadn’t stayed with any one family very long. There had always been a reason to get rid of him, no matter how hard he’d tried to fit in. He’d been too young or too old, too reserved or too much trouble. At a very early age he’d learned to look out for himself.
He should thank Miranda for instilling in him a drive to make something of himself. In a perverse way, her abandoning him as a baby had implanted the motivation to become independent and successful.
“All right.” He stared at her a moment, then reached for her hand. He was both surprised and pleased when he realized she still wore his ring. He touched it, then watched the large, tear-shaped diamond sparkle in the light from the window. She drew her hand away, and he frowned. “I’ll call you tomorrow.”
Heather pressed her lips together as she followed him to the door. “No,” she said quickly, wanting to control their next meeting. “I have school and a meeting afterward. I’ll call you. Where will you be?”
Reaching inside his jacket, he extracted a business card. “You know the office number. This has the number of my apartment, as well as my digital.”
Heather studied the card as he opened the door. “All right, I’ll call you after school tomorrow.”
Justin nodded, then stepped outside. He hesitated, then turned back toward her. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Heather watched him get into his Mercedes and drive away. As he disappeared from sight, she sagged against the door, her strength zapped.
Justin’s visit had blindsided her. Even a tornado wouldn’t have caused such havoc in her life.
Was she losing her mind? She’d actually told him she’d think about his proposition—that she’d consider giving their marriage another try.
Did she really want to?
A long time ago she’d loved Justin. Could she learn to love him again?
Three
“How did he look?” Kathryn Watson asked as soon as they had settled around the kitchen table to eat dinner.
“Justin?” Heather asked needlessly. “The same. Too handsome for his own good.” She twirled a few strings of spaghetti around on her fork, then took a bite and chewed thoughtfully. There wasn’t a woman on earth who wouldn’t look twice at him if she passed him on the street.
“Does he know about Timmy?”
“No! Oh, my, Mom. That’s what I thought, too, when I saw him.” She explained that she’d stopped off at home for a few minutes to bring some things into the house and that Paul Dailey had shown up. Heather also told her of the altercation between her husband and Paul.
Kathryn chuckled, and Heather shot her mother a glare. “It wasn’t funny.”
“I wish I’d been there,” Kathryn said. “Justin’s always been very protective of you. I bet he was seething.”
“He was overbearing and rude,” Heather retorted, taking another bite of her food.
“Well, at least that problem’s solved. You’ve been discouraging him for months.”
“Yes, well, Justin didn’t have to be so…blunt,” she said, for lack of a better word.
“Funny, that’s one of his traits that I’ve always admired. Justin’s not a man of many words, but when he says something, he’s direct. What did he want?”
