Avery swallowed hard, her heart bursting with emotion and love for this man. She needed him in her life, appreciated how he was influencing her to fight for herself and, as a result, for them.
“Avery, we need to talk alone.”
She shook her head. “No. Grey stays. Say whatever it is you came to say.” Then she had words of her own for her father.
“Fine. I want to know what you plan to do about the fact that my old dirty laundry is being dredged up again thanks to your relationship with this man?”
She stared at her father and felt very little emotional pull toward him. There were good memories, some holidays, maybe a time or two together as a happy family, until things had fallen apart. But not many, because whenever any of them had needed him, be it for a school event, award, or an illness, he was always working. Or so he’d told them. They’d realized later, working had been a euphemism for being with his other family.
“Avery, I asked you what you plan to do to fix things,” he said, his exasperation with her clear.
“Nothing,” she told him.
“Excuse me?”
“I don’t plan to do a thing. Would you like to know why?” She went on before he could answer. “Because you never gave a damn when your choices impacted me or the rest of the family. One day you came home and blew Mom’s world apart. You told her you had another woman you loved and four other kids, and as if that weren’t enough, you needed us to be tested for bone marrow to save Sienna’s life. And what did Mom do? She agreed!”
Her voice rose and Avery didn’t care. She just needed to be heard. Her thoughts and feelings needed to get out of her head and maybe get into his.
“Did you even read what that article said today?” she asked. “Do you care that the whole world now thinks that you used me to save the daughter you loved more?”
“Avery,” Robert said, his face pale, his voice shaking.
He tried to touch her, and she stepped back into the hard wall of Grey’s chest. She trembled inside and out and was grateful for his silent support.
She swallowed hard. “You didn’t pick up the phone when a stalker came to my door, you don’t care that I’m spearheading this prom for kids with cancer. You aren’t proud of me, only of Sienna. And you only think about how these news articles show you in a bad light.”
He blinked, his shock genuine as he processed her words. He was that egotistical.
But Avery wasn’t finished. “How can you be so surprised? Your actions sucked. Your choices sucked. And after the truth came out, you didn’t do anything to make it better for us. Your first family.” She was shaking now, and Grey wrapped his arms around her, keeping her secure. Safe. “Do you realize you never thanked me for what I did for Sienna? And I don’t care. I don’t need or want your thanks. But back then, I needed and wanted you.”
“I was so wrapped up in Sienna’s illness, in her having cancer, I didn’t think—”
“That’s the problem,” she said, her voice breaking. “You don’t think. You have no idea how that time period impacted me. My life.” She drew a deep breath. “My sanity.”
Before Robert could react, Grey eased her into his side and faced her father. “I think that’s enough. Avery’s had a rough day, and I’m calling a stop to this.”
“He’s right,” Avery said. “If you want to talk, call me, and maybe we can get together when this mess has died down and I’m calmer.” Not that she was holding her breath.
Ian had told her that their father had apologized to him once and encouraged him not to make the kind of mistakes he had in life. But clearly Robert hadn’t learned from his own past.
“I love you and your brothers and sister. I didn’t know,” he said again.
Avery shook her head. “That’s just it. You didn’t know. But you also never bothered to ask or find out.” Avery dropped into the nearest chair as Grey let her father out, feeling lighter for finally having expressed her feelings to the one man who’d set the bar for all the pain and agony in her life.
Grey returned to her and knelt by her feet. “Sugar, you have no idea how proud I am.”
“Thanks. I’m feeling … pretty good myself.” Her adrenaline was riding high now, and she wanted to take advantage.
She grasped Grey’s hand. “I have an idea, and it’s going to sound crazy. But I have the press’s ear now, right?”
He met her gaze warily. “Right …?”
The idea had come to her as she’d been yelling at her father about the event and her role in it. “I want to use that attention to raise money for the cancer center at the hospital. I don’t care if they think I’m using you or keeping you with me because I’m so needy I can’t be alone. We know the truth, right?”
A beat of silence lay heavily between them before Grey asked, “What is the truth?” He sounded uncertain, and her heart twisted for all the pain she’d inadvertently caused him while trying to protect herself.
He’d stepped up from the beginning, while she’d been hesitant and unsure. She’d never expressed her feelings, not even after he had.