“You’re right. I apologize. And this isn’t getting us anywhere,” he said. “Let me tell you what I’m needing. How would that be?”
She sighed. “Okay.” Her tone sounded more contrite.
“Good. I need to hear you say that you made a mistake. I need you to admit that not telling me I might be a father was a very unfeeling thing to do. I need to hear that you realize it wasn’t just unfeeling, but unfair to both me and our children.”
He ignored her frown and charged ahead. “I bet that if I hadn’t shown up in Zeke’s Bend, I would still be completely unaware I’m a father. I doubt I would have ever found out the truth, nor would my children. It seems like your hand has been forced every step of the way, and it’s only when your lies are exposed that you finally break down and tell me the truth.”
Sylvie’s back stiffened. She had gone from contrite to angry. That made him the most furious yet. She had no right to be affronted. She was the one who had betrayed him with her lies. He’d done nothing but tell her the truth.
“At least, I’ve admitted what I did and told you why,” she said, acidly. “I still haven’t heard what you’ve been up to, have I … Mr. Cartwright?”
It was a low blow from Heath’s perspective though he’d been expecting it. “Lying about a name is not the same as lying about your children’s father. And yours is sneaky because it was a lie of omission. It’s far worse than what I did.”
Sylvie stood up. “If you’re wanting me to admit that I was wrong for what I did, you’ll be waiting a long time. I don’t think I was wrong. You seem to be forgetting that I didn’t know until recently that you definitively were the father. Sure, I could’ve reached out to you, gotten you all upset. You probably would have thought I was a gold digger. And then, what if the paternity test had come back negative? Then I would’ve had my heart ripped apart for absolutely no reason.”
It was the closest Sylvie had come to admitting how she felt about him. Heath was livid that she’d chosen this moment to come clean about it.
He’d been around her for weeks and he’d been tripping over himself to do everything he could to make her happy. All he wanted in return was to hear from her that she would let him in and that she wanted him to be a part of her life.
Now, at the worst time possible, was when she chose to finally toss him a crumb of acknowledged affection.
He shook himself. He couldn’t let it be a distraction. “Whether you ever admit it or not, what you did is wrong. You didn’t think about anyone else. It was all about protecting yourself from possibly being hurt.”
Sylvie’s chin lifted. “You don’t get it.”
He started to protest, but Sylvie stopped him. “Remember when you admitted to me that you didn’t know if you wanted to be a father? How was that supposed to be the confidence booster that I needed to be able to say, ‘Oh, by the way, Quentyn and Jadyn might be your sons.’ It’s not like finding out you’re a father has filled some big, gaping hole in your life. Fatherhood was something that you didn’t think would fit in the tidy, neat life you created for yourself.”
Heath was shocked. Not only was she defending her decision not to tell him, but she was also attacking him. How had she managed to do that? “I had concerns, yes, but that doesn’t mean my opinion would never change. I was worried for good reason, I believe. My inexperience, my own upbringing, never having had a serious relationship with a wo —”
“Was I supposed to figure all that out, Heath? God, my head hurts. You demand that I tell you everything, so that’s what I do. And my reward for that is you telling me how my reasons are wrong, that my thinking is wrong. You’re so damned arrogant. Try this question on for size. Why did you lie to me about your last name?”
That brought him up short. “You don’t want to know that answer.”
“Oh yes, I do.”
“Fine. I did it because I wasn’t sure how you would react to me after we’d been apart so long.”
She snorted. “You’re a hypocrite. That’s just a different way of saying that you lied because you didn’t really know me. You were afraid if I learned how rich you were, that I might just be with you because of your money — like all the other women who chase after you. You lied to protect yourself, just I did. Admit it, Heath. We’re more alike than either of us realized.”
A small voice inside him acknowledged that she was right, but a louder voice refused to listen. Heath was riled up and wanted justice, wanted her to admit that she’d wronged him.
He backtracked the conversation. “Just because I said I never pictured myself as a father doesn’t mean I never wanted children or a family. I had legitimate concerns about fatherhood and about getting into a relationship with you. I’ve never had a serious girlfriend in my life.”
“You didn’t ever wonder if there was a reason for that?” Sylvie snapped.
“I think we’re going a bit afield of the issue here,” Heath said. His blood was boiling, and he knew if they continued, there was a chance he’d say something he’d regret.
“No, I don’t think we are,” Sylvie said. “You see my mistakes as something I did on purpose to hurt you. Your own mistakes, meanwhile, you don’t think are mistakes at all. They’re all perfectly reasonable things for a perfectly reasonable man to do. Unlike me, the flaky, psychic, unreasonable, bad —”
“Don’t be so dramatic,” he said.
“You didn’t just say that. Oh hell no.”
“I can’t believe you’re attacking me right now, Sylvie. My life choices up to this point have nothing to do with you or your life. Had you chosen to tell me that they might be relevant, we would be having a very different conversation. I don’t know how you can expect me to trust you when our relationship has been built on a pile of lies. I don’t know what’s real or what’s a lie anymore.”
Sylvie looked as if she was biting her tongue hard. If the words that had been coming out of her mouth so far were any indication, he was sure that he didn’t want to hear the rest.
“And sex,” she said, as if it were a bad thing. “Like Momma reminded me tonight, our relationship is built on a casual, one-night stand with a stranger.”
“Don’t do that.”
“You’re not some paragon of virtue yourself, either, Heath. I mean, you wanted to pay me for that sex.”
“For God’s sake. Not this again.”
“I’m sorry,” she said, looking down her nose. “I just don’t think that’s being a good role model for my children.”
Heath felt as if a blood vessel inside his head exploded. All he could see was red. “Well, we know now that they aren’t just your children. They’re mine, too.”
Sylvie crossed her arms over her chest, and her back had stiffened to the point that he wondered if she were going to turn into a statue. “They are my children. I gave birth to them, I have been the only one taking care of them, and I will be the one to continue to do so. They’re mine.”
“They’re mine, too.”
“Only if I allow it.”
“I think a judge would have something to say about that,” Heath said, heavily laying on the threat.
Sylvie’s mouth thinned into a line. “Are you threatening me?”
“I don’t threaten. I tell you the way it is. If you think for one minute you can keep me away from my children, you’re out of your mind.” Heath had gone on the offensive now. All logic had evaporated. He was laser focused on one thing, and that was keeping his sons in his life.
Sylvie’s face turned to stone. “I think it’s time for you to leave.”
“Fine by me. I need some time to think anyway. This conversation has been illuminating.” Heath stood and stalked toward the front door.
Sylvie’s wasn’t quite finished. “Don’t come back, either.”
Heath spun and stared at her. A coldness tamped down his raging fire, the sensation he always got when he was challenged by a competitor in a deal or in the boardroom. He entered full-on, high-stakes war mode. “Think a
bout what you’re starting here. Think long and hard. I told you that if you think you can keep me away from my sons, you’re wrong. This can go straight to court if I want it to, if you push me to it.”
Sylvie didn’t even blink. “Whatever. Take me to court. We’ll see how that works out for you.”
Heath pulled his checkbook out of his coat pocket. Since he wasn’t sure when he was going to be able to come back, he wanted to make sure that, in the meantime, his children were taken care of and he’d done the right thing.
He quickly scribbled out a check for $10,000. He walked across the room and held it out to Sylvie.
She looked at the check blankly but wouldn’t take it. “What’s that? A bribe?”
A lick of flame fought its way through his icy control. “This is the start of taking care of my children. There’s more if you need it.”
Sylvie snapped the check out of his fingers. She slowly ripped it up then let the fragments fall to the floor. “I don’t need your money.”
He fought against the returning flames of fury. “They’re my responsibility. I will help you take care of them.”
Sylvie shook her head. “If you want to do something for the kids, put the money in a trust fund or something like that. I don’t need your money, and I don’t want it. I can take care of them all by myself.”
Heath walked away, scribbling out another check. He laid it on the side table next to the door. Sylvie rushed over, picked it up and ripped it to pieces just like the previous one.