“No, thank you.” Half-blind with the fresh bout of tears gathering in her eyes, Tess took the key card and headed for the elevator. It stayed blessedly empty as she went up to the penthouse.
As soon as she shut the door to her room, she dropped her bags and sank to the floor, back against the entryway wall.
Everything was so damned wrong. Broken. What had been full of such promise had shattered, and there was no hope of putting it back together again. Or maybe that was her heart. Why couldn’t he have waited? Why did he have to force the issue? Why couldn’t they have had more time to figure all this out?
It hardly mattered now. For once, there was no amount of work, no amount of Peyton stubbornness or dedication that would get her what she wanted. She couldn’t make Mitch love her the way she needed. And she couldn’t take this baby out of the equation. Wouldn’t, even if she could. Would she ultimately find solace in being a parent, in loving this child with everything inside her, the way her mother had?
The knock on the door had her jolting. She didn’t want to see anybody, not even the freaking bellboy. But she dragged herself to her feet and peered through the peephole. Her father stood on the other side. Not a surprise. She didn’t really think she could run away after dropping the bomb of her pregnancy. He’d expect explanations. On a sigh she flattened her hands and pressed her brow against the door. At least it wasn’t Mitch. For a few moments, she considered ignoring him. But given he owned the hotel, if he wanted in, he’d find a way in.
She opened the door and caught the flash of relief before he took in the sight of her.
“Oh, sweetheart.”
Tess stepped back, figuring the best defense was a good offense. “I know I’m a screwup, and this whole pregnancy will impact my ability to travel hither and yon to do my job, so if we could maybe skip over the interrogation or lecture on how you’re so disappointed, that would be great. Because I really can’t take any more today.”
He stepped through the door and wrapped her in a tight hug. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry for how I reacted. It was just such a shock. You are not a screw up. I’m not disappointed in you, and the job’s not going anywhere.”
Her throat strained against the knot of tears even as relief had her burrowing in, hanging on tight. At least she hadn’t screwed up her entire life.
Trey pressed his cheek to her hair. “You can keep doing whatever you want, whether that’s continuing to oversee the development of the small business incubator here or going back to Denver.”
“I don’t know what I want.”
“You don’t have to decide right now. Come on. Let’s go sit down.”
He settled her on the sofa and tucked a throw around her. Absurd that she was freezing in May in Mississippi. But she tugged the blanket tighter, as if it would somehow protect her from the consequences of the mess she was in.
A minute later, Trey came back with a glass of water. “Here, drink this now.”
Obedient, she swallowed it down, knowing it wouldn’t be enough to dent the dehydration headache that was barreling toward a migraine.
Her dad sank down on the other end of the couch and tucked her feet into his lap. “So you and Mitch.”
Just hearing their names linked had a fresh wave of tears streaming down her face. “I don’t think there is any more me and Mitch after this.” She’d done a helluva job making sure of that, hadn’t she?
“Do you love him?”
Miserable, she clutched a pillow to her chest. “Does it matter?”
“Well, you’re going to be in each other’s lives on a permanent basis either way, so I’d say it does.”
Tess swallowed. “Yeah, yeah I do. So much. He’s a good man. That’s not in question or I’d never have been with him to begin with. I just…for once I wanted to be enough. Just me.”
Trey frowned. “Why wouldn’t you think you are?”
“He doesn’t see anything but this baby. No one should ever use a child as the glue for a marriage.”
Pain flashed over his features. “Is that really what you think your mom and I did?”
“I know it’s what you did. And it didn’t work. I literally watched you fall apart over the course of years. Because I
wasn’t enough.”
“Oh, honey.” He reached out to skim a hand over her cheek. “The reason our marriage fell apart had nothing to do with you.”
“You were going to break up before Mom turned up pregnant.”
“We’d talked about it. Because I was still in love with Sandy.”