any indication.
“This is more about how the scandal will affect
His scowl darkened. “Your story is more important than family,” he shot back.
She stiffened, feeling like he’d slapped her. “The only family I have left is Georgina. I can’t let her down or Olivia.” She had no options left now. He’d ridiculed her declaration of love. He was angry and hurt. She tried not to take offense but it stung anyway.
“You’re letting me down,” he ground out.
His words cut deep. “Do you love me?” she asked.
His icy silence was answer enough. Her heart cracked in her chest, pain seared her soul as any chance of happiness with Ryan slipped away.
Tears gathered, but she refused to let him see her cry. “Georgina and I will move away. Go someplace where no one has heard of Fitzgerald Bay or the Fitzgeralds.”
Hurt crossed his handsome features before a mask of stone settled into place. “No, you won’t. She’s our family, too. I’ll make sure you never receive custody of her.”
Shock ripped the breath from her lungs. “You wouldn’t do that! You couldn’t. You know how much I love her. How much Olivia wanted me to have her.”
He headed to the front door. “Prove you love her. Don’t write the article.”
With that he was gone.
Meghan sank to the floor, more afraid than she’d ever been. She’d come this far, gone through so much, to find Georgina. Now Ryan threatened to keep Georgina from her.
It wasn’t fair.
The crevices in her heart opened wider. She’d lost Ryan.
She couldn’t lose Georgina, too.
Ryan had to warn his father. As angry as he was at him, the reasons stacking up like driftwood blown into Fitzgerald Bay by as many nor’easters, Ryan couldn’t let his father be blindsided by the scandal.
By Meghan’s betrayal.
Ryan hurt deep inside. A pain so breath-stealing, he’d rather have seven cracked ribs than feel this sort of emotional torment.
This late in the evening, Ryan knew where to find his father. A few minutes later, Ryan entered the house he’d grown up in and made his way to the kitchen where Dad sat eating the dinner Mrs. Mulrooney, Dad’s housekeeper, had made for him. He wore casual clothes that hung on him. Unbidden concern for his dad pricked his mind. Aiden had lost weight and there were newer, deeper lines around his eyes.
Aiden’s eyebrows arched as Ryan slid into the chair across the table from him.
“Hello, son.” Aidan set down his fork. “This is a pleasant surprise. I thought you had dinner plans with Meghan.”
Ryan’s teeth clenched against the fresh wave of hurt. He should be having dinner with Meghan, getting to know each other better without bullets flying. He’d envisioned a moonlight walk on the beach, holding hands, maybe even kissing…
“Dad, we have a situation.” He explained Meghan’s article and the damage it would do.
Aiden sat back, folded his hands over his chest and stared silently up at the ceiling.
Frustrated by the lack of reaction, Ryan said, “Dad, did you hear me? This could ruin your chances of becoming mayor.”
He flicked a glance Ryan’s way. “And your chances of stepping into the chief’s spot.”
Ryan blinked. The next step in the equation hadn’t occurred to him. Sure, he’d been working toward the goal of being chief, but he didn’t care about that right now. After the past few days, he was more inclined to let someone else take the chief’s spot. He much preferred being out in the field.
Aiden heaved a heavy sigh and turned his pale blue eyes on Ryan. “From what it sounds like, this article Meghan has written is nothing but the truth. You shouldn’t be upset.”
Ryan drew back. “Not be upset? How can you be so blase? This will affect all of us. Your bid for mayor will die a flaming death. The reputation of the family will be tarnished. Everything we do as men of the law will be questioned.”
Meghan’s words slammed into him with a vicious blow. His mouth turned to cotton. Was that true? His mind recoiled from looking too closely at her words and his reaction to them.
Determination set Dad’s jaw in a firm line. “It’s time I took responsibility for my actions, my mistakes.”
“A little late for that now,” Ryan muttered. Anger at his dad’s disloyalty to his mom and resentment for not being the man Ryan had thought his dad was and sorrow for all the heartache his father’s actions had caused made his chest tighten. He rubbed the spot over his heart with one hand.
Aiden clasped Ryan’s other hand. “Can you ever forgive me?”
The words knifed through him, making his eyes burn and his lungs feel like they were collapsing. The walls of the kitchen closed in, the very air around him was devoid of oxygen. He felt trapped, cornered. “I don’t know. I-just don’t know, Dad.”
FOURTEEN
Ryan had to get out of there. Away from his dad, away from the pain burrowing deep, trying to drag him into a pit so dark he wasn’t sure there would be a way out. Without another word, he rose and fled from the house.
He bypassed his vehicle and walked all the way to the beach. A path he and his siblings had taken many times growing up. Always before, the anticipation of fun in the sun had made the walk easy. Today the distance felt like miles and miles of torture.
He nodded to folks out for an evening stroll. Normally he’d stop and ask how they were doing. But not today. His mind was in turmoil. Every physical injury he’d suffered this past week throbbed. His heart lay heavy in his chest and his soul burdened.
He hit the beach, immediately shucking his shoes and socks and rolling up his pant legs. The loose sand was cool beneath his feet. He walked down to the water, the shore turning hard and wet. Waves lapped at his ankles as he treaded through the foaming ocean.
Finally he let the thoughts rattling around his brain form, examining and analyzing them with careful consideration.
Dad had been unfaithful to Mom. He’d kept Olivia a secret from his children.
Dad’s question hammered at Ryan. A war waged within his soul. Bitterness and anger versus love.
Meghan’s voice invaded his head, adding to the fray. Words he’d thought trite now hit him profoundly. He was bound by anger. Betrayal. Hurt.
By his father.
By Meghan.
A process, Meghan had said. How did he even begin?
Ryan lifted his gaze toward the town. Lights illuminated the peak of the white spire of the Fitzgerald Bay Community Church. A beacon saying, “Come here.”
With a sense of urgency Ryan didn’t completely understand, he gathered his shoes, quickly donned them and then hustled for the church and the solace he hoped to find there.
