Her worry about her own situation must have shown in her face. She smoothed her features into sympathy. “I’m the soul of discretion, and I’ve become quite fond of your family. While I don’t have advice to offer, I can always lend an ear.”
Naomi played with her dark hair, looking at her future stepmother through the strands. “Jeannie? Do you have thoughts?”
“I think you have to decide what’s in your heart.”
“You have to know me well enough to realize I’m not the vulnerable type to go around asking for help. I have opinions on everything. Usually.” Naomi glanced at her hands, then looked up with a hint of embarrassment in her eyes. “I wish I could ask my mother.” Then she rushed to add, “I hope that doesn’t hurt you to hear.”
Jeannie’s eyes grew soft. “Of course not. That’s a logical wish, especially now.” She drew in a deep breath. “I’m not your mother and I can’t begin to guess at where your feelings should or shouldn’t land. But I can say this. If you’re going to make a break, it’s better to do so before the twins get attached.”
Tears leaked down Naomi’s cheeks and Jeannie gathered her into a hug.
The wisdom in Jeannie’s words scared Isabeau to her toes, while also making her next move crystal clear. She needed to decide about a relationship with Trystan now. For the sake of her future, for her child. She didn’t have the luxury of time to wait and see how things played out, risking a horrible breakup later when there was a baby in the picture.
She eased away from the two women quietly. She couldn’t wait for another ultrasound. Trystan deserved to know now.
She searched the fund-raising event for Trystan. Eyes scanning the teeming crowd, looking for the rugged cowboy in a tuxedo. He carried the tux well, clean and sharp lines accenting his broad chest. Trystan gestured with his hands as he spoke with Jack Steele, Delaney and key donors.
Heart thundering as Isabeau looked at the scene, her racing thoughts anxious for the future.
As soon as the evening wound down, Isabeau was going to ask Trystan to take a walk.
They needed to talk.
* * *
Of the many uncomfortable moments of Naomi’s life, the ride in the limo with Royce—after that honest conversation with Jeannie—seemed to top the list. She’d finally found him by calling him on the phone. Twice.
He’d made his way to the limo. Waited inside with a vacant look settling onto his dark features. He’d given a small smile when she’d slid into the leather seats.
Silence lingered between them, feeling as heavy as a thick Alaskan blanket. The limo lurched forward and still no one spoke.
Even after Jeannie had given Naomi the impetus she needed to talk to Royce, she couldn’t convince her tongue to form coherent words or thoughts. An ache weighed heavy in her chest as the limo turned the corner, the dim boat lights fading from view.
She couldn’t go on like this. They couldn’t go on like this.
Naomi broke first, tension mounting in her jaw. Another ache. Another result of feelings that she didn’t know how to articulate. So she started simple. No flash. Just an honest statement.
“I missed you during the fund-raiser.”
Royce tugged his tuxedo tie off and pitched it to the floor, his gaze dropping. “I wanted to have the car ready. You’ve been overdoing it tonight.”
Indignation zipped through her, making her all the more irritated and uncomfortable. “My doctor okayed my attending this event.”
“He didn’t say you could go hiking.”
“I wasn’t hiking.” She pulled her shoes off before he noticed the swelling. “I was sitting on a chaise.”
“It was quite a haul up there,” he said, head leaning against the glass. Royce tapped his fingers, which grated on Naomi’s nerves.
“No one has suggested I should use a wheelchair. And if you’re so concerned, maybe you could have stuck around instead of playing the hermit,” she barked tersely, crossing her arms over her chest.
“The crowds got to be too much for me. I put in an appearance the way anyone would expect a member of the company to do.”
A deep breath. Then another.
She looked out the window, eyes taking in the streetlights that illuminated tall pine trees and glinted off street signs. Of course, Naomi barely registered these things. Unease spread through her chest, forming knots in her shoulders and adding to the lump in her throat.
Jeannie’s advice knocked around inside her brain as it had for the past two hours, coalescing all Naomi’s doubts. She knew Royce would never walk away from her—most certainly he wouldn’t walk away from the babies. But was she pushing him into a life that would make him unhappy? She certainly couldn’t commit to a life in the wilds out of the public eye. So how could she ask him to force himself to “put in appearances” in her world full of people and family?
She twisted her engagement ring again, checking to make sure her fingers hadn’t swollen too much, something she found herself doing more and more often as if she already knew she might need to remove it for a heartbreaking reason.
“I think we rushed into things.”
He sat up straighter, his jaw jutting as the chauffeur drove through the security gates outside the Steele family compound. “I disagree. We simply moved fast because we know our minds.”
“Do we? We’re almost strangers in many ways.”
“Then tell me what you want me to know,” he said in a clipped voice as if compatibility could be as basic as filling out a history profile.
“It’s not that simple and you have to see that. I’ve had complicated relationships because of what I experienced in the past, losing my mother, my twin sister, battling cancer so young.” She stared at her home, a place of such joy and loss. Part of her wanted to run, now that the car had stopped, but she had to see this conversation through. “You’ve had a challenging time with relationships in the
