If she’d known he’d be waiting for her, she wouldn’t have come home. He had no doubt of that. And she needed to be with her father, if for nothing else then to hear the truth from Marcus. Even Marcus deserved to die with everything off his chest. So now Cal stood and felt the force of her suspicions sizzling over his system.
“Give up?” She pushed off the stall and stood close, her blue eyes shooting fire. “I had to give up. I had to leave and start over on my own. I had nothing, Cal. Nothing and no one. So I reinvented myself, or rather, I found myself. I worked hard and I didn’t come begging to anybody back at Camellia Plantation. My father paid for my education, but I paid for my sins. Over and over.”
Her hand fisted against her chest. “Me, Cal. By myself. I did give up for a long time, but I’m back and I need to know the truth. I have a right to ask questions now, don’t I? So do me a favor and answer me. Don’t you think you owe me that at least?”
She stopped, heaving a great breath, her cheeks high with color, her expression still consumed with shock and confusion.
“I need some answers, Cal. I’ve held things inside for a long time now. I’m trying to understand. I need to understand.”
Cal dropped the papers he’d been planning to go over. He couldn’t give her the answers she needed. But the guilt of letting her go without a fight long ago festered in his soul like a disease. Why had he allowed Marcus to do this to her? To do this to their love? Why hadn’t he fought harder for her?
But his hands were tied. He’d promised Marcus. And he’d protected Cassie. He was still protecting her. “You need to talk to your father. He’s the one who hired me and he’s the one who summoned you home.”
“Summoned? That’s a good word for it.” She paced and then looked around as if she’d just realized where she was, the fire in her eyes changing to a smoldering awareness. “Summoned back to my own home and only because it’s the end and he doesn’t want to die with our nonexistent relationship on his conscience. You know, I almost didn’t come home. But I couldn’t live with myself, thinking of him being so sick, so alone. I had to come on the hope that he’d forgive me for whatever I did, not so much to give him any kind of peace, but to make me feel better. That sounds selfish and horrible, but it’s the truth. I don’t understand my father, but I need him to forgive me. Does he still hold it against me, this thing that happened with you and me? Or is there more that I don’t know? Does he ever talk to you about any of this?”
Cal didn’t know what to say since Marcus had never truly confided in him. But he’d pretty much figured the rest out. What could he say? He’d come back here for so many reasons, but only she mattered. He could deny that all day, but the truth shadowed him the same way the scent of magnolias haunted him.
“He talks to me about the plantation. Business-type things that he’s worried about. He’s never once mentioned us or anything else that happened before you left.” Well, that wasn’t exactly true. Marcus had talked to Cal a lot about the past and the future. But he wasn’t ready to go there with her. One more topic Marcus would have to bring up, because Cal sure wasn’t.
Marcus had talked about a lot of things, including Cassie and Cal. At least when he was coherent. Cal couldn’t tell her about the confused rants and unknowingly blurted confessions. Or the grand idea her sick daddy had presented.
“You mean my mother’s death,” she said, taking up the conversation when Cal had sputtered to silence. “That’s when everything changed. I thought he was angry because he’d found us together but there was something else. That’s when he turned against me. He found her dead and then he shot my horse and after that day he caught you with me, he’d hardly even look at me. What did I do?”
He wanted to take her in his arms and tell her she didn’t do anything. Marcus Brennan was a miserable old man who’d treated everyone around him with disdain and demands. He wanted to tell her that he hated what he’d done to her. But he didn’t have all the answers even if he’d pieced things together enough to understand. But if he’d guessed right, it would destroy her.
“I don’t have the answers, Cassie. I swear to you, I don’t know why he treats people the way he does, especially you. I try to steer away from anything that upsets him.”
She whirled, her hand going to her mouth. “In other words, he never talks about me? Because I upset him, right? Maybe I should have stayed in Atlanta.”
Cal came around the desk then, his hands fisted at his side so he wouldn’t touch her. “No, you need to be here. That much I can tell you. He made sure of that, Cassie. You want answers, well, then, go talk to Marcus. Make him explain things to you. That’s the only way you’ll ever understand.”
She looked at him, her eyes widening. “You do know something but you’re not going to tell me, are you?”
“It’s not my place.”
She put her arms across her chest. “I think you’ve already answered me. I remember enough about you to consider that you’d find this place extremely lucrative. Add this property to what you’ve acquired over the years and it all makes sense. You could finally establish yourself as one of the most powerful landowners in southwest Georgia. I want to believe you came back here to help me, but you’d certainly have a good reason to want revenge, too. I just have to decide which. And I’m gonna need some time to make up my mind.”
With that, she turned and pranced out of the stable, her silhouette darkened by the late afternoon sunshine.
The light from that brightness, pitched against the shadows of dusk, hurt Cal’s eyes. She had a point. He’d thought of a lot of reasons for accepting Marcus Brennan’s offer. And revenge had crossed his mind a time or two. But so had the possibility of finally making amends for breaking Cassie’s heart.
CASSIE OPENED THE DOOR to the dark study. The nurse sitting with her father nodded to her then got up to meet her.
“He’s sleeping, Miss Cassie. But it’s almost time for his dinner if you’d like to stay and talk while I feed him.”
“I’ll feed him,” Cassie said, the words sounding strange on her tongue.
Having to spoon-feed her once-proud father caused a giant lump to form in her throat. How had she let it come to this? She should have forced her way back into his good graces years ago. But she’d been too hurt to think beyond getting away from this place and the condemnation and hatred she’d seen in his eyes.
“Are you sure?” the nurse asked, her eyes full of sympathy and understanding. “My shift’s over at five-thirty so I can do it.”
Cassie glanced at the clock on the bookshelf. “That’s another hour. Why don’t you go on home? I’ll stay with him until your relief comes.”
“I’m not supposed to leave him without permission. Usually Teresa or Mr. Collins makes that call.”
Cassie’s anger resurfaced but she couldn’t blame the aide for doing her job. “I’m his next of kin and I say it’s okay. You can go and I’ll stay with him until the shift changes. Don’t worry, I’ll take full responsibility.”
Her father stirred at the whispered voices. “Gennie?”
The aide gave Cassie an apologetic shake of the head. “He’s always asking for her. Your mother?”
Cassie nodded, her silence
