Vanessa had blown her chance years ago and she wouldn’t get another. At that thought, I remembered my own crimes, my own lack of loyalty. I couldn’t change the past, but I wasn’t going to let Vanessa bother Griffen. All of this was hard enough for him as it was.
“What do you want, Vanessa?” I asked, trying to copy Griffen’s cool, detached tone. I don’t think I succeeded, but at least my voice wasn’t shaking. Vanessa’s take-no-prisoners bitchiness had always made me nervous.
Striding deeper into the room, Vanessa took a position in front of the desk, her hands still on her hips. Tilting her head to the side, she said, “Hope Daniels. How cute. Did Edgar send you over to help Griffen sort out all of this?” She waved her hand at the neatly-stacked pile of mail.
“Something like that,” I said bitingly.
Griffen laughed, and the sound was anything but cold. Rolling his chair to close the distance between us, he slid an arm around my back, reaching over me with the other arm to catch my left hand in his. He pressed a light kiss to my fingertips before raising my hand, angling my fingers so the light from the tall windows hit the ring on my finger.
Lady Estelle’s ring. No, my ring. That still hadn’t sunk in.
Griffen missed the flash of Vanessa’s dark eyes, choosing to press a slow kiss to my jaw instead. Despite my nerves and Vanessa’s sharp gaze, I shivered. Griffen’s lips on my skin always did that.
Vanessa lost her hold on sweetly bitchy and slid right into openly catty. “Trying to make me jealous, lover?”
Griffen kept my hand in his as he leaned back to look at Vanessa. “Hope and I are married. Considering the circumstances, I convinced her to quit working for Edgar and help me out over here.”
Vanessa’s composure slipped. Her jaw dropped, dark eyes wide and fixed on my ring. Vanessa was speechless for a whole five seconds.
Good, because I had no clue what to say. Vanessa was deluded if she thought she had a chance with Griffen, but still, it was a little absurd.
Had Griffen really married plain, mousy, inexperienced Hope Daniels when he could have had someone like the glamorous, adventurous Vanessa? I couldn’t blame her for being shocked.
Vanessa finally found her voice if not her composure. “Don’t be ridiculous, Griffen. Obviously, this is some kind of joke. This is Hope. Don’t tell me you couldn’t do better than Hope Daniels. I came here to offer you another chance. If you aren’t interested you could just say so. You don’t have to lie to me about hooking up with—” She waved her hand at me. “That.”
Griffen’s eyes flared with temper. He looked like he was ready to pick Vanessa up and toss her out the door. While I kind of liked that idea in theory, Vanessa wouldn’t hesitate to press charges for assault.
The last thing we needed was another Sawyer in jail.
Under my breath, I murmured, “Don’t. She’s not worth it.”
Vanessa tossed her hair. “Oh, like you are. Please. You were panting after him when you were a teenager. You ruined our engagement because you wanted him for yourself. You probably killed Prentice, orchestrated this whole thing so you could end up with that ring on your finger.”
I rolled my eyes. Vanessa scared me a little, but this was just too much. Either I was poor, pathetic little Hope Daniels, or I was a criminal mastermind. I couldn’t be both.
I wasn’t either one. I was just Hope, and I wasn’t putting up with this bullshit.
I pushed back my chair and stood, putting a little space between me and Griffen. I needed space to say what I had to say. It would hurt, but it had to be done. Both of these people were way overdue for my apology.
“I’m glad you’re here, Vanessa. I’ve never had the chance to say I’m sorry. To either of you. I did ruin your engagement. I was sixteen and I had a horrible crush on Griffen. I knew—”
I met Griffen’s eyes, glad to finally—finally—be saying this straight out. “I knew she would make you miserable. It doesn’t excuse telling Uncle Edgar you were going to elope. I betrayed a confidence, and I know you’ll never forgive me for that. All I can say is that I was young and I wanted the best for you. I knew I wasn’t doing the right thing, and I did it anyway, and I’m sorry.”
Vanessa sucked in a breath for her comeback. I cut her off. “I’m sorry for what I did, but I’m not sorry about the way it worked out.” I thought for a second and then concluded, “Well, I’m sorry for Ford, and I’m sorry about the way Prentice treated Griffen. But I’m not sorry I stopped the two of you from getting married because you didn’t love him. You would have made him unhappy.”