Jeff tensed, froze for a moment and then his shoulders slumped. “I don’t see what that has to do with anything.”
“Mari said he didn’t want me to feel guilty that I knew who my father was and he didn’t. Is that why you were always so hard on him, because he wasn’t yours?”
Jeff turned, a thunderous look on his face. “I was hard on your brother because he needed it. Not because he might not be my son. Regardless of whether or not he was, I treated you both the same.”
“No. You didn’t. You gave him hell, especially when he got to high school and wanted to box. You hounded him until he couldn’t take it anymore.” All the anger and pain he felt over losing his brother rose to the surface. “It’s your fault he ran away and I got left behind. If I’d known they were leaving, believe me, I’d have joined them rather than stay here and put up with your bullshit.”
Jeff dropped the grease gun and turned his guilt-ridden face toward Ethan. “He had some fool ideas of how to go about hitting the big time. I wanted him to ease into it but there was no telling him once he put his mind to it.”
“And look what happened. He never spoke to us again. Wouldn’t it have been better to go along with what he wanted rather than what we ended up with?”
“Maybe, but you never know how it’s going to go, do you? You do what you think’s right at the time and it can still blow up in your face.”
“So none of this had anything to do with him not being yours then?”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about. Raising kids isn’t easy but you wouldn’t know about that. Your brother raised your son. How do you feel about it? Cheated, hurt? Do you even know if you’re going to have any say in his life now that he’s living here?”
*
Had she told Ethan too much? Guilt circled her all morning while she cleaned the ballroom. She’d promised Rake that she’d tell his father everything first but something about Ethan last night made her spill that little snippet of information before talking to Jeff. She regretted it because it’d rocked him. That much was obvious but it was too late now. When he found out what else she had to say, he was going to regret asking, she was sure of it.
“Mari.” April’s voice rang out as she walked in the back door of the hotel. “Where are you?”
“In here.” She threw her cleaning rag into the bucket and held her arms wide as April bounced in.
“Wow. Just wow.” April gave her a hug and then spun around, looking at the room. Her gaze went to the ceiling, a shudder rippled over her shoulders. “That looks so much better without your feet hanging through it.”
“Certainly does. They did a great job, didn’t they?” The sun shone through the open stained glass windows, throwing shafts of light over the polished wooden floorboards.
“It’s fabulous, but we knew it would be.” April walked over to the window and looked out before turning back. “So, what did you want me to do?”
“I need to decorate the room so I can take photos for the website and I need your help.”
“Tell me what kind of look you’re after.” She stood in the middle of the room with her eyes closed.
“Bridal. Whimsical. I want pretty but sensual, dreamy but fresh. Does that make sense? I want something different to what I’ve had before. You’ve seen my website.”
“I have. Let me think.” She stood for a moment, a smile on her lips as something came to her. “I’m seeing a table set for two in the middle of the room. The lights low but lots of candles on the floor at different levels behind the bride and groom. Crystal on the table, the light shining through the bubbles of the champagne. Maybe the two of them dancing in the foreground.” She opened her eyes. “That photo of Dakota’s Christmas tree. Could we recreate that tree in the corner of the room?”
Mari could see where this was going. “Yes, I believe we could. I’m sure Dakota would help us. She still has that gorgeous angel tree topper at her house.”
“That’s it then. Since this is going to be a destination wedding venue, you need to focus on what you can give here that you couldn’t in LA. According to David, Cherry Lake does snow very well. Since winter will be sneaking up on us soon, why not go with that? You can always change the photos later to something by the lake when the seasons change. A beach wedding theme for summer but we can look at that idea later.”
Thank goodness for April and her forward thinking. “You’ve nailed it, kiddo. That’s exactly what I want.”
“Cool. When you’ve finished cleaning and want my help setting up, give me a shout.”
They both looked up as footsteps sounded coming through the back door. Ethan appeared in the doorway. The look on his face made her stomach clench.
April screwed up her face, signaling her immanent departure. “Gotta go. Talk later.” She scurried out and left them alone.
Chapter Eighteen
“Am I ever going to be able to have any say in my son’s life?” He should have led up to it, not blurted out the question. It wasn’t as though she was trying to keep them apart. Quite the contrary, but still, not having control of the situation was digging at him.
“I’m sorry. What are you talking about?”
Ethan should have planned it better, spoken the words in a softer tone. Warmed her up to the discussion they needed to have, that he desperately wanted to get over and done with so he knew where he stood in Noah’s life.
“Noah. He’s my son. I want to know if you have any intention of me having a decent say in his life. You’ve
