His gaunt face sagged. “I’m sorry, Letty. I really am.”
“Isn’t there any hope?” Her voice cracked. “An o
peration? A—a second opinion?”
Her father’s eyes were kind. He shook his head. “I knew I was dying before I left prison.”
She staggered back. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
He rubbed his watery eyes. “I should have, I guess. But I didn’t want you to worry and take all the stress on yourself like you always do. I wanted, for once, to take care of you. I wanted to repair the harm I did so long ago and get you back where you deserved to be. Married to your true love.”
True love, Letty thought bitterly. Her stomach churned every time she thought of Darius lying to her all this time. The unfeeling bastard.
“It was my only goal,” her father said. “To make sure you’d be looked after and loved after I was gone. Now you and Darius are married, expecting a baby.” He grinned with his old verve and said proudly, “Getting my arm broken by that thug was the best thing that ever happened to me, since it helped me bring you back together. I can die at peace. A happy man.”
“Darius never told me you were sick,” she choked out, her throat aching with pain. “I’ll never forgive him.”
Her father’s expression changed. “Don’t blame Darius. After all my self-made disasters, it just shows his good sense. Shows me he’ll protect you better than I ever did.” He looked up from the wheelchair. “Thank you, Letty.”
She felt like the worst daughter in the world. “For what?”
“For always believing in me,” he said softly, “even when you had no reason to. For loving me through everything.”
She looked at her dying father through her tears. Then looked around the hospital room at the plain bed, the tile floor, the antiseptic feel, the ugly medical equipment. She couldn’t bear to think of him spending his last days here, whiling away his hours with wheelchair races.
Her eyes narrowed. “Do you really need to be in the hospital?”
Howard shrugged. “I could have gone to full hospice. Other than pain meds, there’s not much the doctors can do for me.”
Her belly tightened with a contraction that felt like nothing compared to the agony of her heart. She lifted her chin. “Then you’re coming home with me.”
Howard looked at her in disbelief. “Back to that apartment? No, thanks. At least the hospital isn’t cold all the time and someone brings me meals...”
“Not the apartment. I’m taking you to Fairholme.”
His eyes looked dazzled.
“Fairholme?” he breathed. She saw the joy in his wrinkled face. Then he blinked, looking troubled. “But Darius—”
“I’ll handle him.” Wrapping her arms around her father’s thin shoulders, she kissed the wispy top of his head. Her father’s last days would be happy ones, she vowed. He would die in the home that he’d adored, where he’d once lived with his beloved wife and raised his child, surrounded by comfort and love.
Letty would take care of him as he’d once taken care of her.
And, she thought grimly, she’d also take care of Darius.
She’d loved her husband with all her heart. Now she saw that all the sacrifices she’d made, all of her trust, had been for nothing. For an illusion. Darius didn’t love her. He would never love her.
It was his final betrayal. And for this, she would never forgive him.
* * *
Darius walked into his office near Battery Park with a smile on his face and a spring in his step. He was late but had an excellent reason. He’d stopped at his favorite jeweler’s on Fifth Avenue to buy a push present for his wife.
He’d read about push presents in a parenthood article. It was a gift that men gave the mothers of their children after labor and delivery, in celebration and appreciation of all their hours of pain and hard work. Since Letty’s due date was so close, Darius had known he had no time to lose. He’d found the perfect gift—exquisite emerald earrings, surrounded by diamonds, set in gold, almost as beautiful as her hazel eyes. They’d even once belonged to a queen of France. With Letty’s love of history, he knew she’d get a kick out of that, and he could hardly wait to give them to her. And even more amazing: when he did, their son would be real at last, and in their arms.
Darius realized he was whistling the same hokey lullaby that his wife had sung in the shower that morning to their unborn baby.
He loved Letty’s voice.