He nodded. “Heathcliff.”
Edward was overdressed, wearing a long, wool overcoat.
Rush stood up and moved in front of the crib. It seemed like he was instinctively protecting our daughter. “What are you doing here?”
“Lauren told me where to find you. I came to see my granddaughter…and to talk to you.”
It was surprising to see Edward here, not only because of his relationship with Rush, but because of his health. He must have had a driver waiting right outside to take him immediately back home.
Edward looked down at the sleeping baby. “She’s beautiful like her mother.”
I swallowed, not knowing how to respond. “Thank you.”
He looked at Rush. “Can we go somewhere and talk?”
“No. Anything you have to say, you can say in front of Gia.”
“Okay.” Edward slowly sat down. “Something has been weighing on me for months.”
Rush took a seat and sucked in his jaw. “Alright…”
“When you came to my hospital room with Elliott, to propose your agreement, I said some things that I need to explain, namely that getting your mother pregnant was the biggest regret of my life, that you were a burden.”
“Yeah…I definitely heard it all the first time. You don’t need to rehash.”
My heart was breaking for Rush. That bastard. I never knew he’d said all that. Why did he even come here?
Edward looked like he was struggling with his words. “I need you to know that I didn’t mean a word of it. I knew what was needed to get Elliott to sign to your agreement. He needed my approval, as he does with every decision he makes. I knew if I didn’t choose my words wisely, that he might never give you the freedom you needed. So I lied and said those things to convince him to give you what you wanted, to sway things in your favor. It was the least I could do for you.”
Rush stayed silent while Edward went on.
“I heard a lot of the things you said to me when I was in the hospital. I couldn’t open my eyes or speak, but that didn’t mean everything you said and did went unnoticed. Although I don’t understand why you felt the need to be there when my behavior toward you over the years has been less than admirable, I want you to know how thankful I am for that and how proud I am of the man that you’ve become, even though I never say it.” Edward let out a shaky breath. “You are not my biggest regret. My biggest regret is that I never knew how to be a father to you. That’s something I can’t ever change and something I will regret until the end of my days.”
There was a long moment of silence.
Rush, who hadn’t been looking at Edward, finally turned to him. “Okay. Is that all you came to say?”
“No.” He stood up slowly. “I’ve created a trust for your daughter. It will contain a significant inheritance when she turns eighteen.”
“I don’t want your money.”
“You don’t have a choice in the matter. It will be in her name regardless of how you feel. She can make the decision at that time as to what she wants to do with the money. I just wanted to let you know that I’ve set it up. I’ll have my attorney forward all of the details.” Edward walked over to the crib. He reached his hand inside and brushed a finger along his granddaughter’s cheek before turning his attention toward me. “Congratulations.”
“Thank you,” I said. My ability to talk seemed to be limited to those two words since he’d arrived.
And then Edward simply walked out.
Rush, who’d been stoic throughout his visit, closed his eyes briefly and let out a breath. Then I saw a single teardrop fall from his eyes. As much as Rush tried to have people believe that he didn’t need his father’s love, that was far from the truth. And even though I suspected things would never be great between Edward and Rush, I was happy that our daughter’s birth could help Edward admit to some of his mistakes and do what he could to atone for them.
Rush turned to me as he wiped his eyes. “You didn’t just see that, okay?”
I smiled and whispered, “Okay.”A nurse walked in with some paperwork. “So, not to pressure you, but here is the birth certificate form. It would be best if you could select a name for your daughter before you leave the hospital, so we can help you process everything. I’ll leave it here with you.”
Rush looked at me as he held our nameless kid. “Damn…we’d better decide, huh?”
We were no closer to a name than we were yesterday, having vetoed all of each other’s suggestions.
Rush looked down at the baby in his arms. “You know what the problem is? There’s no name good enough for my beautiful angel. Nothing is good enough.”