Finding Forever (13 page)

S
o this was
home, at least for right now — this palace. It was indeed a new year, and Whitney couldn’t have been happier.

The children were off doing their school lessons, and Liam and his father were discussing business.

Just thinking of Liam set her heart to hammering and made her head feel fuzzy. And against all odds, against all obstacles, he seemed to feel the same way that she did. How was that possible?

A month ago, this would have seemed like a royal mistake. But the children were thriving, and the house back in Oregon was fraught with too many memories, with the constant sense of her sister’s loss. Her only problem, Whitney told herself, was having too little to do.

She’d have to remedy that somehow. Maybe get a job or finally finish her master’s degree. But for now she was just walking the halls. Perhaps she could get a ride into town, but she’d be wandering around all alone, just as she was now.

While strolling by Frederick’s office, she stopped when she heard her name.

“You and Whitney are spending a lot more time together,” she heard Frederick say. “I’m glad that the problems seem to have evaporated.”

Whitney smiled. She knew no good ever came from eavesdropping, but she couldn’t help herself. She would leave in just a moment.

“Yes, we have, Liam replied. “She’s been very good company, and she loves Brayden and Ally so much. She’s good with them.”

Okay, so it wasn’t a declaration of love, but it was still pretty nice.

“And have you stopped going after getting custody of the children?” Frederick asked.

Whitney froze. Ugh. That was her greatest fear come to light. She hadn’t known Liam had been actually trying to take the kids, though she’d figured he might think it best for them. She waited with bated breath to see what the two men were going to say next.

“Yes. She loves them, and I think there’s a way for us to work the situation out on our own,” Liam said.

Whitney’s heart thundered. What exactly did he mean by that? How did he expect them to work it all out? Did he want her to just give up the children to his family? She wasn’t sure that she wanted to hear anything more, but she still stood there in the hall.

“But back to the problem we were discussing,” Frederick told his son. “I really didn’t want her to attend the dinner party.”

“I quite understand,” Liam replied. “She’s utterly lacking in manners, she dresses inappropriately, and she seems to have no sense of how to behave at such a function.”

“I don’t know how she got invited in the first place,” Frederick said with a sigh.

“If only there were a way to uninvite her, Father.”

“Yes, it’s too bad that it’s impossible under the circumstances, son. We’ll just try to tuck her away in some corner. Perhaps she’ll be able to behave for one evening.”

“I suppose that’s the best we can hope for,” Liam told him.

Whitney stood frozen outside the door. She knew she was nobody special, but she felt she’d grown during the time she’d spent with the Feltons. Liam had never acted embarrassed to be with her. But maybe this was the biggest of their insurmountable troubles. It was huge.

Unable to listen for even a moment longer, she ran down the corridors to the safety of her room and locked the door. She lay there crying for a long while, but she somehow managed to pick herself up.

Dammit. Screw them all.
She refused to shed another tear over this pack of snobs.

If they were simply tolerating her for the sake of her niece and nephew, she couldn’t stay there any longer. Maybe Liam thought of her only as an amusement, and maybe all the things he’d said to her in the last several weeks were lies. How freaking obvious. It was a way for him to work out the custody situation without taking her to court and — what was the expression? — airing dirty laundry.

How could she have been so wrong about him? She should have realized, though, that someone like him didn’t fall for girls of her social class. Her lack of class. That happened only in her romance books, not in real life.

Whitney started packing up her things, and that didn’t take long. She then went to find the kids. She didn’t know exactly where she would go when she left, but she knew she had to get out of this place. The children were clearly benefiting from being with the Feltons even if she wasn’t. So she’d have to find a place nearby. But that wouldn’t be easy, especially since things were so much more expensive on this side of the country.

Though being away from the kids for even a bit would rip her apart, she couldn’t take them away from here — they were doing so well. She’d get a place for all of them, and then, when the children were with the Feltons, she wouldn’t have to be around. The two men didn’t have to love her to love Brayden and Ally.

She found her nephew first. He was in his room, looking so handsome and so happy. He was smiling every day now, so she could never regret the time she’d spent at this mansion.

“Can I talk to you for a minute, darling?”

He beamed at her. “Of course, Aunt Whitney.”

“I have to leave for a little while, but I just want to let you know that you can call me anytime, and I’ll be back for you really soon.”

Brayden stared at her. “But why do you have to leave?”

“I have to get back to the real world. This place is amazing, but it’s not my home. This is your family, and you need time to bond with them, so I don’t want to take you away from that. But it’s not my family.” She was fighting tears as she spoke.

“It won’t be the same without you,” he said, and he sounded more like a child than the young man he was becoming.

“I’m so proud of you, Brayden. You’ve grown so much since we got here. I know your parents are looking down on you and feeling so happy.”

“I love you, Aunt Whitney. Please don’t go.”

“I don’t want to leave you. I really don’t. But right now this is what’s best for me,” she said. The ache was growing worse by the minute.

“Is this just because you don’t want us anymore?”

She clutched him to her and held on tight. This was the last thing she wanted him to believe.

“Never. I only ever want what’s best for you. I promise.”

He was silent for a few moments, his young eyes full of too much knowledge of things he should know nothing about. Her heart was breaking all over again.

“Please promise, too, that you won’t be away for long,” he finally said.

She loved hearing those words. It made her feel as if she hadn’t completely failed. “I promise, Brayden,” she told him. “And that’s a promise I guarantee I will keep.”

“Aunt Whitney, you aren’t ready for dinner,” Ally said as she came into her brother’s room.

“I won’t be able to make it tonight, sweetie,” Whitney told her niece.

“Are you not feeling good?” the little girl asked.

“Not really, baby girl. But I’m working on feeling better.” What a lie, though it was a white lie. She was barely holding it together.

“Can I do anything to help, Auntie?”

“Isn’t that a question I’m supposed to be asking you?” Whitney said as she pulled her niece onto her lap.

“You’re the one who told me grown-ups need help sometimes too,” Ally reminded her.

“You are growing into such a beautiful young woman,” Whitney told her, hoping and praying she could take just a small amount of credit for that.

“I know something bad is happening.” A tear ran down Ally’s cheek and Whitney’s heart shattered the rest of the way.

“Oh, sweetie, I’m sorry. I have to go now, but I’ll see you really soon. Don’t worry.”

Whitney’s sanity was hanging on by a thread. She hugged both children and scurried away. If she didn’t leave this oppressive setting right now, she’d talk herself out of it, and it was obvious she wasn’t wanted.

She made it to the taxi she’d called and away from the mansion before she allowed any more tears to fall. Her heart was devastated, but she’d survived worse things in her life, and she would survive this too. The taxi pulled up at a cheap hotel nearby, and she took a handkerchief to her face as she walked inside her shabby little room. Maybe she should just go back to Oregon.

But she couldn’t believe that moving away was best for her niece and nephew. There really was nothing left there except for a house that held too many memories. Yes, most of them were good, but for now it served only as a reminder that two people they all loved were never coming back. It really was best for them all to find a new life on this side of the country. She’d be able to figure out the details without …

To heck with it. Right now she couldn’t even think about the rest of the day — let alone the future.

Everyone was allowed a private pity party for at least one night. And after all, she was by herself. Who would know anyway?

W
here is your
Aunt Whitney?” Liam asked Brayden as the two children came into the room.

“She left, Uncle Liam. Didn’t she tell you?”

“Left? Where did she go?”

“She told us that she had to leave for a while, but we don’t understand why,” Brayden replied. “She said she didn’t belong here and had to leave. She was so sad. I haven’t seen her so sad since … well, since … you know.” The boy bowed his head and looked down at the table.

Liam was rendered speechless. What could have possibly happened?

Without another word, he rushed to the office he had in his father’s house and placed a phone call. He then rushed out to find his father and explain that he’d be late for dinner.

With his connections, it didn’t take long to find her, and with his heart thundering like never before, Liam approached the door of her hotel room and rapped on it with some force. He waited impatiently for the knob to turn.

“Who’s there?”

Was that her voice? His heart thumped as he stood there waiting, wondering if he should tell her he was the one there.

“Open the door.”

Silence greeted those commanding words. But he could almost feel her on the other side of door. Placing his hand against the wood, he hung his head, frustration mounting.

“I’m not leaving, Whitney. I don’t care if it takes all night.”

Finally, he heard the sound of the locks unlatching and then the knob was turning. He didn’t move as it opened, and now she was standing before him.

When he saw her red-rimmed eyes, his heart burst out in a gallop. “Why?”

“What are you doing here, Liam?”

She sounded so defeated. None of this made sense.

“Why on earth did you leave?” he said, pulling her into his arms.

“Don’t do this to me. Liam. You’re a better man than this. … Or … or maybe you aren’t.”

“What are you saying? You know very well how much I love you.”

His heart pounding in triple time, his happiness in her hands, he stood there in agony. What would she say This moment was the longest , the most hellacious of his life. This was why he hadn’t wanted to fall in love, hadn’t wanted to put his happiness into someone else’s hands. He couldn’t stand the loss of control.

But even more frightening to him than losing control was the thought of losing this woman.

W
hitney shook her
head, trying to clear it and to deny his words at the same time. He couldn’t love her if he felt ashamed of her.

“You … you were talking to your father. You said I was an embarrassment,” she finally said, horrified she had to admit she’d overheard the awful conversation that had sent her running from the mansion.

“What are you talking about, Whitney?”

“I heard you speaking with your father earlier about the dinner party. You both said you didn’t want me there because I was an embarrassment, because I didn’t know how to behave in polite society.” It was so much humiliation.

“Oh, Whitney, I’m sorry you thought we were talking about you.”

She held up her hand, her tears drying as anger took over. She wouldn’t allow him to lie to her. This was too much.

“I heard my name, I heard you say there was a problem, and then you were saying how embarrassing I was,” she told him, pushing away. His touch was confusing her worse.

“I don’t know what you are talking about.”

He reached for her, but she took another step back.

“Stop lying to me!”

“I swear I’m not.”

She looked at him, really looked at him, and she couldn’t help but notice that he didn’t seem to understand what she was saying. Honestly didn’t understand. It was either that or he was one heck of a good actor. But some men were. Some men could fool you into a lifetime of servitude without you ever knowing that you were bound and chained. She wouldn’t be one of those women.

“You were talking about a dinner party, and you said I was lacking in manners, that I don’t know how to dress appropriately, and that I have no sense of how to behave at such an occasion.”

As she repeated the words with which he and his father had condemned her, the tears welled in her eyes again, much to her frustration. Dammit! How dare this man keep sending her off on this emotional rollercoaster.

“Oh, Whitney, my darling Whitney, did you see us speaking?” he asked.

“Well, no, but I didn’t need to. The words were pretty freaking clear,” she told him. “Excuse my French, of course.”

“If you had stepped into the office, you would have seen my father and me looking at a guest list. We were speaking of a guest neither of us particularly cares for, and when you see her at this dinner party, you’ll realize why we said what we did. How could you ever think you caused me any embarrassment? Granted, we haven’t been together long. But surely we’ve been together long enough for you to know how much you mean to me.”

She wanted to believe him so badly that it scared her, and truth seemed to shine in his eyes, but what if this was a lie? Still, could she live her life always afraid, not trusting people? Was that any way to live? No, no, it wasn’t.

He suddenly kneeled down and pulled out a little velvet box. And she started to shake all over.

“Whitney, you’ve brought joy and hope to my heart. I can’t imagine a world without you in it, and I can’t picture my life without you. Please take away my suffering and do me the honor of marrying me. We’re meant to be together. It’s fate.”

He was actually proposing to her on bended knee! She couldn’t speak at all now as she looked at this amazing man. He had so irritated her the first time she’d met him— and for a while afterward — but he’d somehow gained access to her heart.

And she knew he was the one. She knew that this had happened fast, and that their relationship was impossible, but didn’t miracles happen? Sometimes things that had once seemed impossible turned out to be great, didn’t they? Okay, not everything, but the world’s greatest miracles had begun as the impossible and yet stood the test of time.

Looking at him through her tears, she nodded, and the smile Liam gave her was the greatest gift she’d ever received.

Liam jumped up and pulled her into his arms, lifting her high off the ground and locking his lips to hers. She fell into his kiss. Her day had gone from the worst of her life to the best.

A long while afterward, he pulled away and took her hand, then slipped the beautiful diamond on her finger. Its sparkle mesmerized her.

“I love you so much, Liam,” she told him.

“And I will love you forever,” he replied.

Then he again drew her into his arms and the magic continued.