90. Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter ninety
Carrie
Reid and I sit on the chair, side by side, and I wait for a bombshell confession, for something more than the night his ex-girlfriend died. “Right before I met you,” he says, “there was a woman that tried to blackmail Cat and Reese.”
I blanch at the answer that is nothing that I expect. “Blackmail how?”
“She was pregnant and said the baby was Reese’s, which was a lie. She just wanted a big payoff, and I was legal counsel to Cat and Reese.”
“Oh my God. Gabe asked Cat tonight if she knew she was pregnant when something was going on. I didn’t know what.”
“He was obviously talking about this and from what I pieced together tonight, and you just confirmed by what you overheard, Cat knew she was pregnant during all of this.”
“Do you think she feared he was guilty and didn’t want to tell Reese?”
“No,” Reid says firmly. “She didn’t think for a minute he was guilty. I was with her; I saw her reactions and I looked into his eyes. I knew he was innocent and she trusts him, but the idea that she might have any doubt gutted that man, as it would me if we were in that situation.”
“But she didn’t tell him about the pregnancy,” I say. “Are you sure?”
“He didn’t know when we were going through this. I’m certain of it, and knowing Cat, she was worried about the trial he was in the middle of and probably just didn’t want to have their news ruined by this woman. Of course, I wouldn’t know. I barely got her to let me help.” He gives a bitter laugh. “Ironically, I think it’s me being an asshole that won her over. The woman was threatening to go public. Her partner in this was following Cat around. Reese wanted to send Cat away, but she was afraid if the woman went public, that would make Reese look guiltier, like she left him. She was worried for her marriage and her husband’s reputation. Now, I know she was also worried for her child.”
“I can’t imagine how horrible that was for them. What happened? How did it end?”
“This is between you, me, and Gabe. Cat and Reese don’t know. I paid off the woman’s family, got her out of town, and then paid to have a DNA test done.”
“Why don’t you want her to know?” I take his hand. “That was an amazing thing to do.”
“Cat and Reese have money, but my sister has worked her butt off to build up her career. I heard her say she’d have to write another book to pay the woman off. It was a large sum of money that I negotiated down. I also demanded the DNA test.”
“Has it been done?”
“Not yet. Soon. The woman gives birth in a few weeks, and Cat and Reese are aware of this. They might not talk about it, but it’s on their minds. I know on some level they both need to know the other one has those results. I think it’s better that they don’t know the results are coming. The anticipation would weigh on them.”
“You get them first?”
“Yes. I get them first.”
“What if—”
“It’s not his baby,” Reid says. “The woman confessed to lying for money but the test is just peace of mind, which brings me to where my head is tonight. Reese would never have hurt Cat like that and yet that woman tried to make it seem as if he had.”
“You did a good thing helping and you didn’t even take credit.”
“She knows I helped. That’s when we started getting closer and then you came into the picture and made sure that it kept happening. The bottom line is this brought me back to us. I can’t fully protect you any more than Reese can Cat. That’s almost unbearable to me. I didn’t want to fall in love. I didn’t want to have someone that I could lose or hurt but I can’t imagine life without you.”
My heart squeezes and I lean forward and press my hand to his face. “Then don’t.”
“I can’t lose you, Carrie. I might have walked out of this bedroom tonight for five minutes, but that was me battling with the idea of wanting control that I’ll never have, that I can’t ever fully protect you.”
Suddenly his need to tie me up, to demand control, makes sense. I take his hand. “You can’t protect me from everything any more than I can you, but you can go to sleep every night knowing that if I die tomorrow, I’ll die loved and happy. I’ll die in love and happy with you.”
He pulls me to him and cups my face. “You don’t get to die. Ever. You hear me?” He kisses me before I can tell him that I can’t make that promise so I let it go but I don’t let him go. I won’t ever let him go. And he doesn’t let go now either. He picks me up and carries me to the bed, and this time when we’ve torn away our clothes, he doesn’t fuck me. He makes love to me and me to him and when we fall asleep, it’s holding each other. Neither of us letting go.
Saturday morning is cold. Reid and I workout in the gym and then shower together before we both dress in jeans and bundle up for our outing to meet Snowflake, but first we detour to our favorite coffee shop. I really love that we have a coffee shop and little habits between us now that we share. We’re walking to the shop, past my old building to find all kinds of construction work going on. “Looks like they’re finally getting to work on fixing that place,” I say.
“Do you miss it?” Reid asks, pulling me under his arm, his big body sheltering me from the December chill.
“Remarkably, not at all,” I say, glancing up at him. “I thought I would, but I feel at home with you.”
“We should talk again about buying a new place or remodeling.”
“I don’t need us to do that, Reid. I like what we have.”
We enter the coffee shop, order and wait for our drinks. “Why don’t we just look around for a place?” he asks, returning to the subject of our home.
“We have a wedding to think about,” I argue. “That’s enough for now. I’m really excited about the place Cat suggested for the wedding.” I touch his cheek. “I really am amazed at what you did for her. I wish she knew. Maybe one day you’ll tell her.”
He kisses my hand. “I just want her to have that DNA test.”
My brow furrows. “I wonder if she told your dad about the baby?”
“I would vote no on that one, and I’m sure the fact that she doesn’t have a parent to share this news with is bothering her.”
“I hate that she doesn’t have her mom to share this with and the same for you with our wedding.”
He strokes my hair behind my ear. “She would have loved you and the changes you’ve brought in me would have pleased her.”
“Yeah?”
“Yes, Carrie. Very much so and I do regret that she’s not here to meet you and see what you’ve made me.”
“I didn’t do this. She did with that letter. Have you talked to your dad at all?”
“Not today,” he says. “I don’t expect we’ll hear from him anytime soon.”
“What about Christmas?”
He arches a brow. “What about it?”
“What’s he going to do for Christmas?”
“He never comes to Cat’s place. He never invites anyone over. He’s alone, by choice, though this year I think we’d all agree with his choice.”
“That’s sad,” I say, as they call out our drinks.
“Only you, my gorgeous woman, could feel sorry for my father. He’s a killer, remember?” He heads to the counter and grabs our drinks.
When he returns and hands me my cup, I reply, “I guess it’s easy to forget that part because it doesn’t feel real.”
“Forget my father. We have a good day planned. Let’s keep it good.”
I smile. “We’re going to meet our cat today,” I say excitedly, as we head out of the building toward our hired car.
Reid pulls me close and says, “Snowball, right?”
“Snowflake,” I correct.
“That sounds like a political joke.”
I laugh. “It does, doesn’t it? We could call her Snow White.”
“Hmmm. Maybe. We need to meet this cat to know what we think.”
We head outside and when we reach our hired car, we’re laughing, his father, and even last night, forgotten. Today is about starting our family and nothing is going to get in our way. My man won’t let that happen and I love that I know this. I love that I trust him the way Cat does Reese. Reid will never betray or hurt me. I will never betray or hurt him.