Then he spat on the ground again. James was barely able to hold Heath in check.
“Dammit, James,” Heath said, “Let me go. No, come with me. We’ll take turns.”
“Can’t do it, friend. Sorry,” James said, struggling to maintain his hold.
Sylvie wrapped her arms around her stomach. She heard the twins behind her starting to cry. Even the babies knew something terrible just happened.
She felt as if her world had been torn apart. Then she saw Heath quit struggling. He twisted his head to get a look at her. She saw in his eyes that he knew the truth.
She would do anything to go back in time and change everything. Now it was out there for everyone, and Heath had learned he was a father in the worst possible way. She felt exposed. Raw.
James walked up to her as Alan’s convertible headed back down the driveway. “I don’t think you have to worry about him anymore.” He said it like it was some kind of consolation prize, and in a way, it was.
But Alan Posner was the least of her concerns right then. She gave him a short nod, and James walked away grabbing Will by the arm, knowing that now was not the time.
Heath approached her obviously going to say something. The sound of a whirring motor interrupted him.
Great Aunt Elfleda buzzed between them on the walk. She sucked her teeth and scowled at Sylvie.
Sylvie shuddered, willing the elderly woman to disappear before she said whatever hurtful thing she was getting ready to say.
But Elfleda surprised her. “Sylvie, I’m pleased that man isn’t those sweet babies’ father. I’d been worried about them. Apples don’t fall far from the tree, if you know what I mean. And we don’t need any more bad apples in this family. I’m relieved, Girl.”
“Uh, thanks, I guess?” Sylvie said.
“And you, Hoss.” She rotated the chair to face Heath. “I don’t know what you have to do with all this, but I want you to know I’ve got my eye on you.” She pointed at her rheumy, but still sharp eye. “This one right here. On you. All the time. You’ve got a secret and I’m going to figure it out.”
And with that, she whipped around and raced off toward the house again, ordering a frozen Neesa to get with serving lunch for everyone.
“Nothing more to see here, people,” Elfleda ordered as she drove up the ramp to the porch. She stopped briefly in front of Sylvie’s mother, who was standing on the porch next to her husband, Eli.
“That means you, too, Sachet,” Elfleda said. “I see you’re revving yourself up to have a go, but let it be right now. Eli, take your wife inside. Don’t forget the babies. Let’s go eat.”
Her final order served to shake everyone out of their stupors. They all stopped staring and tucked their heads down, most of them abashed to have overhead such a private matter in such a way. They were used to hearing shocking gossip second hand, not first.
Heath looked everywhere but at Sylvie until everyone was in inside.
With a neutral expression on his face, he said, “I think I’m feeling a little tired. Must be the sun. I’m going to head back to my hotel now. We should talk … later.”
He seemed to be in a state of shock. Sylvie didn’t know what else she expected.
“Shall I come by about six then?”
Heath gave her short nod and walked to his car. She watched him go, wanting the earth to open up and swallow her.
This wasn’t the reaction she wanted. She wanted him to want her babies. His babies. She wanted him to be happy he was a father.
She had completely messed everything up. She should have told Heath as soon as she found out Alan wasn’t the father.
Heath drove away, not looking back for even an instant.
She slowly turned in her tracks. Phae and Neesa stepped onto the porch, both of them with expressions of sisterly sympathy.
They held open their arms and Sylvie ran to them, tears flowing down her cheeks.
Chapter Twenty One
HEATH SAT IN HIS HOTEL room staring out the window. The afternoon hadn’t gone anything like he expected. He had left that morning as simply a man. He had come home a father.
Even though he’d known for a while that it was a possibility, the way the truth was revealed shook him to his core. His thinking about being a father had been superficial. Now he was forced to go deeper.
He kept coming back to all the things that his father didn’t do for him. Fathers were responsible for showing their children the ways of the world. They should protect them from its dangers.
They were supposed to teach their kids right from wrong and give them the tools they’d need to make good decisions in life. Heath was overwhelmed at the idea of shouldering such responsibility.
He wasn’t sure if he could do it. He never backed away from challenges, but this was different from his usual dealings like corporate takeovers. This had ramifications that went far beyond the legacy of a company. He was talking about people, little people that were part of him. It scared him shitless.
The clock rolled toward six o’clock, and he waited for Sylvie with trepidation. He had to get this right. No matter what, no matter how unsure he was, it was important for her to understand that he wouldn’t shirk his duty. The babies were his responsibility, too, and he intended to live up to that.
He managed to buoy himself up when the thought occurred to him that Sylvie could decide she didn’t want her him in their lives at all. He wasn’t sure how to feel about that. On the one hand, no more parenting problems. No more risk. On the other, no more Sylvie. He damned sure didn’t want the latter. He wasn’t so sure about the former.
He wondered if Sylvie knew he was her children’s father, or if she’d only learned it that day, like him. And if she had already known, why hadn’t she told him? These were troubling concerns.
He told himself she must have had her reasons. And there was no point speculating about what they might be. Sylvie had her own style of logic, a bold kind of faith in things that Heath lacked. He couldn’t begin to second-guess her, so why even try?
When the knock on the door finally came, he employed the same calming techniques he used before big meetings. It was a combination of focus points and deep breathing, and it worked every time. Even now.
He opened the door. Sylvie wore a flowing skirt and a silky, colorful blue, print blouse that accentuated her full bosom. She took his breath away, as always. He’d never have the upper hand with this woman, he thought, not if she was going to insist on being so beautiful.
They greeted one another, a bit shyly. He closed the door behind her, and they went to the sitting area and sat in the two chairs that faced each other.
Sylvie seemed more uncertain than he’d ever seen her. Despite her beautiful outward appearance, she looked downright miserable.
He had likely played a part in that, discovering he was a father and reacting by running away. He had some fixing to do.
“Would you like something to drink? Some wine? Might take the edge off,” he said.
She nodded. “Neesa’s got the babies for the night.”
Heath went and got the bottle of wine from the mini-fridge and set it on the table between the chairs. He grabbed the wine glasses provided in the kitchenette, and brought them over, too. He knew he was just making busy work for himself, but he felt anxious.
The irony of the s
ituation was that he and Sylvie had been doing nothing but talking for the last two weeks. Unfortunately, they hadn’t been discussing what they should have. Heath was afraid to press the issue, and she must have had her own reasons, too.
There was no avoiding it now, though.
He poured her a glass of wine and handed it to her. She looked grateful for the distraction. She took a long sip, and he realized that she needed the liquid courage as much as he did for what was going to come next. He poured a glass of wine for himself, and then he waited.
“You probably have questions.” The way she said it was a statement and not a question. Probably because she knew as well as he did that it was the understatement of the year.
“How about you start at the beginning, and we’ll go from there.” He figured at this point the less he said, the better. He definitely did not want to say the wrong thing.
Sylvie took a deep breath followed by a sigh that seemed to come from the deepest part of her body. She looked up at the ceiling then closed her eyes tight. When her eyes opened, they met his, strong and true. “I didn’t know for sure until last week that you were definitely the twins’ father.”
“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” he asked, trying to keep his voice even and neutral. “I thought they must be Alan’s since that’s what everyone kept telling me.”
She looked down at her glass. “I don’t know. It was silly of me, but I think I was scared.”
“After all the time we’ve spent together? Why?”
“I felt all along that you were their father. I did. I had no proof, of course. Phae would have made fun of me if she’d known, and kept telling me it was just wishful thinking. But Heath, I swear, deep in my soul, every time I looked at my sons, I knew they had to be yours.”
“And that frightened you because …”
She set her glass on the table. “I don’t know. Maybe because you weren’t here, and then you were, and I don’t trust easily. And this just was so big, so powerful. I can’t explain it, what it’s like to know something then have it come true. It kinds of shakes you up.”