All of the blood drained from Dana’s face, and it felt like her extremities, too. The Redmonds were richer than the city of Richmond. She’d have no chance in a legal battle with them.
Josh must have known. Which was why he hadn’t wanted to tell them about the baby.
Or maybe he’d told them, but hadn’t wanted her to know who he was, the power he had, until he had his custody arrangement all wrapped up.
“My son is in love with you, my dear. I assume you’re in love with him because I’ve yet to meet a girl who didn’t fall for him, and I just want you to know, right now, that he loves you, too. But he said he’s not going to marry you, and I don’t think you should settle for anything less.”
Tears blurred her eyes again. The lights in the distance were growing so close they appeared as a kaleidoscope of colors through the tears. Dana blinked. She had to pull out into the road.
Had she heard the woman right?
“He’s in love with me?”
And she remembered her insistence that Josh make his parents believe their story. As she recalled, her cooperation had hinged upon his ability to do so.
The tears continued. The cars came closer. The kaleidoscope grew. And then she saw part of the reason for the sudden rush of color—a police bubble on the top of the first car. It was almost upon her now.
Followed by a vehicle she recognized because it had been parked in the driveway of her duplex many times over the past couple of weeks. And had a spot in her new garage, right next to her car.
Give your Josh a chance to explain....
Or a chance to be free.
“Mrs. Redmond? Josh is here and—”
That was as far as she got before Josh was pulling her out of the car and into his arms, to the squealing chorus of two puppies who’d just peed all over the front seat of her car.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
THE ROAD WAS ABLAZE with color. Headlights from at least six vehicles. The blue-and-red flashing bubble from the top of Greg Richards’s car.
“If you ever do anything like this again...”
He held Dana’s body up against him. Or perhaps it was she who held him up. His relief was so great he couldn’t be sure who was holding whom at the moment. Leaning her back against her car, he pressed his body against hers, placing his shaking hands on either side of her face.
“Are you okay?”
“Of course I’m okay, Josh. I was lost. Not hurt. I have plenty of gas and would have found my way back. I always keep a bottle of water and some hard candy in the car, and I had my phone.”
He had the whole blooming town out looking for her and she hadn’t needed him?
“You’ve been crying.”
“I was on the phone.”
He wanted to ask with whom. “You didn’t answer any of my calls.”
“I didn’t want to talk to you.”
But she was holding him. And letting him lean on her. In front of the whole crowd gathering behind him.
They’d wait. He was Josh Redmond—and a Montford.
“I was engaged,” he said. Knowing he might only have this one chance to explain.
“I know all about Michelle, Josh.”
“I haven’t told anyone here.”
“Your mother called me.”
His mother?
“She thinks you love me, and that you’re going to get so caught up in your sense of duty that you’ll blow things and lose your one shot at happiness.”
His mother thought that?
Yes, he had a strong sense of duty, but he was also...
Without a lot of time.
“I asked you to convince them and you did.”
Dana was so calm. Even with her cheeks still wet with tears. And he was like a blind man struck dumb.
“But you don’t have to lie anymore, Josh. You’re a good and decent man, just like your mother said. And from what I can tell, you’re blaming yourself for something that isn’t your fault. Michelle was a grown woman....”
In true Dana fashion, she was going on and on without pausing for a breath, seemingly unaware of the small crowd gathered behind them. They’d all agreed to give Josh however much time he needed. Before they got their turn.
“Michelle should have told you how she felt,” Dana was saying matter-of-factly, as if she wasn’t pressed up against a car in the middle of nowhere. “She also knew, which you didn’t, how much she’d had to drink that night. Whatever problems she had might have been exacerbated by you, but not caused by you.”
She and his mother had obviously been talking for a long time. And he could tell by the look in her eyes that he’d hurt her.
“I just want you to know, Josh, that I’m not going to hold you to any of this. Your whole plan, the money you’re spending... We’ll work something out, but you are not beholden to me, or duty-bound to give up your life to—”