Chapter Thirty-Five

Lexi

I stared listlessly down at our suitcases, trying to think if there was anything that I'd forgotten to pack that we'd need right away. Or ever again, really. I was sure that once we walked out these doors, we were never going to be allowed back into Andrew's mansion again. The thought still made my heart clench.

I had never meant to let Andrew's mansion feel like home, but it had definitely become that way over the time that we'd been living there. It wasn't just that all of Emma's and my things were there. It wasn't just that I had no idea where else we were going to live. No, it had something to do with the fact that Andrew and Emma and I were all there together. It had something to do with lunches and family outings. It had something to do with finally, for the first time in my life, feeling comfortable in a home.

I couldn't believe I had to let that all go.

“But Mama, where are we going?” Emma asked, sounding confused.

It broke my heart to hear her ask that. I didn’t have a good answer.

“We're going to go stay in a hotel for the night,” I said. “Won't that be fun?”

I had been doing some online freelance work recently, so I could at least afford a couple nights at a motel. It wasn't a long-term solution, but I didn't know what else to do.

I couldn’t stay there. Not after the accusations Andrew had thrown at me. We couldn't go back to Misty's, not now that someone else had moved into the spare bedroom. Although I think Misty would have been fine with Emma and I staying in the living room, that wasn't good for Emma. Besides, I didn't know what her new roommate would think of that idea.

Probably they'd think that you need to get your shit together, a voice in my head whispered snidely.

“Is Daddy going to be at the hotel, too?” Emma asked, sounding scared as she hugged the sloth that Andrew had brought back from London for her, on his first trip away.

I choked back tears and knelt down next to the girl, trying to figure out some way to say this. “Daddy is—” I broke off, tears streaming down my face.

Of course, as soon as Emma saw my tears, she started crying, too. I gathered her into my arms, trying to think of some way to calm her down, but I didn't have it in me to lie again, not that evening.

There we were, standing by the door, waiting for the taxi to come pick us up and drive us to a motel, all because Andrew had somehow become convinced that I was nothing more than a con artist and a gold digger.

If that was really what he thought. I knew I’d done nothing wrong. I’d always told him the truth. I couldn't help but wonder if maybe he'd just gotten bored with us.

It hurt in ways I'd never expected it to. I'd always been panicked about what Emma and I would do if Andrew chose to kick us out, but I'd never really thought about what it would feel like. It felt as though my whole world was crashing down around me. I remembered being out on the boat on Independence Day and thinking about how I just wanted that moment to last forever. What I wouldn't give to have tha

t time back.

Before I could try to explain things to Emma again, the door swung open. Andrew stood there staring at us.

He took a hesitant step inside. In one hand, he held out a bouquet of flowers to me. Yellow roses, my favorite. In the other, he held out an enormous stuffed giraffe to Emma, who squealed in delight. Her mood changed like lightning.

“Why don't you go introduce Giraffe to all your other stuffed friends?” Andrew suggested. Emma nodded enthusiastically and ran off to her room to do just that.

I looked back at Andrew, wondering what to say. “We were just about to leave,” I said, my voice hoarse as I looked toward our suitcases. “There's a car coming.”

Andrew's face went through a complicated set of emotions, and then he actually got down on his knees in front of me. “I know I haven't done anything to deserve it, but please forgive me, Lexi. I'm so sorry about last night. I'm so sorry that I didn't listen to you, and that I didn't trust you. You didn't deserve any of that. I just got scared. I can't believe I was so stupid.”

He took a deep, shaky breath. “That 'evidence' was actually from Renée. I don't know why I didn't suspect that it was fake. She even mentioned that she'd found a private investigator who was willing to go along with a shady scheme that she had, but I didn't listen to my instincts. I let my suspicions get the better of me, even though I know that Emma is my daughter and that you aren't here to con me.”

I was silent, not sure what to make of this. I wanted to believe that he was really sorry, but inside, I felt kind of hollow. I wasn't sure that I'd be able to resume a relationship with him, even if I wanted to. “How do you know that I'm not conning you?” I finally asked. “What changed?”

“I did what I should have done in the first place?” Andrew told me. “God, I was so stupid. I made such a rookie mistake. One that I never should have made. I didn't bother to check my sources. I didn't double-check the so-called evidence. That's something that I should never have done.”

“And now?” I asked.

Andrew grimaced. “I had Janice collect a few hair samples earlier today,” he admitted. “I know that I should have just trusted you, that I shouldn't have even had to check, but I figured for both of us, to let this rest once and for all, I should get the real truth. I paid one of the best paternity test clinics in the city to expedite the results this afternoon. It turns out that that other sample wasn't from Emma at all.”

I started to feel irritated, wondering if he thought he could just jerk me around and play with my feelings. What right did he have to do this to me? And to Emma as well. “Well, I'm glad that you enjoyed playing forensics analyst for the day,” I snapped. “I'd better go figure out where Emma went so we can get out of here.”

“Wait, hear me out,” Andrew pleaded.

Tags: Claire Adams Romance
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