He blinked back into the present and realized he’d moved through the periscoping balcony door to stared out at the Atlantic while he gasped for air.“I don’t know what to say.”
“I wouldn’t have given you up,” she said, moving onto the balcony behind him.“I wanted you.So much.Especially after Dean—your father—was killed in Vietnam,” she said.
Details.She disclosed a lot of details but… “How do you know for certain that I’m…the baby?”
“Your haircut.Tessa helped me g-get a sample for a DNA test but please, please don’t be angry with her.This—all of this—is my doing and I take one-hundred-percent responsibility.”
He turned to face her, shaking his head in disbelief.
“I’m sorry, Bryson.I was too afraid to ask you and stir up trouble if it wasn’t true, b-but the results prove… I realize your adoptive parents will always be your parents, but if you could ever bring yourself to forgive me, I-I’d like to get to know you.And you me.If you want to, I mean.”
And what would happen if he said no?“Does Hadley know about this?”
“No,” Mary Elizabeth said with a shake of her head.“The only people who know are me, Tessa, m-my husband, and…”
“And?”He watched as she closed her eyes and fisted her hands.
“The, um, private investigator my husband hired to look into your history.Please, don’t take offense.Adam just wanted to know that you were…”
“Someone worthy of you and your rich friends?”He watched as his comment struck a nerve and Mary Elizabeth flinched.
“That’s not it at all.Adam is very protective of me and the girls—your sisters.”
Sisters.He’d always wanted siblings, but since his adoptive mother was unable to conceive, that had never happened.Now suddenly he had sisters?
Talk about a lot to take in and process.
“Bryson, I know I’ve surprised you with this, but now that I know for sure, I had to talk to you.Tell you… I had to know about your life.Adam’s report… Your company is quite successful,” she said as though the compliment would make up for the invasion of privacy.
“My father’s company, you mean,” he corrected.
“Y-yes.He taught you well.He must be so proud.”
“He was there for me.Always has been.”He told himself to stop blaming someone who sounded as if she was as much a victim of circumstances as he was, but he couldn’t help it.He wasangryalthough he wasn’t sure why.
He’d had a good life.A great life.But this news?
“I-I hope in time you’ll want to talk.Perhaps get to know me as badly as I want to know everything there is to know about you.”
“The investigator wasn’t thorough enough?”he asked, crossing his arms over his chest.
She winced at the question, and he watched as she worried her lower lip between her teeth.“What are you going to tell them?Your daughters?”he asked.
Mary Elizabeth lifted her hands as though that would give him an answer.
“The truth,” she finally said, “though I wonder if I should wait and give you more time.”She smiled weakly.“I know my girls.Once they know about you, they’ll be here on your doorstep.”
He inhaled and shook his head.No, he wasn’t ready for that.“Don’t tell them.”
“Bryson...?”
“Not yet,” he clarified.
Tears filled the older woman’s eyes but she nodded.
“Of course.You need time.I understand.You’ll let me know when you’re ready?”
“Yeah.Sure.”