42. Emma
Chapter Forty-Two
EMMA
T he need to comfort Garrett was almost visceral. She could feel his pain and his panic. He was worried she was going to walk away from him.
His eyes and nose were red, and he kept making fists as if he were checking the impulse to reach for her.
She wanted to crawl back into his lap, but he’d just shattered her world and remade it at the same time.
“It wasn’t your fault.”
She had to believe that, to believe everything he’d said. The alternative was too unbearable to consider. Her heart couldn’t take it.
“Emma, if I hadn’t been such a colossal asshole, you wouldn’t have been in those woods at all!” Garrett pointed out, not done with his self-flagellation.
“I would have picked you up and we would have been at the cabin talking things through— alone . I wouldn’t have thrown a party at all. But I was so up my own ass that I didn’t do what I should have done, which was fly to your school to help you with whatever you were going through before bringing you home.”
The question must have been all over her face because he shook his head .
“What that was, I still don’t know. I’ve come up with a million possible explanations. Maybe you’d had an issue with one of your classes or dorm mates that got out of hand. Or maybe you lost one of your grants for business school and you didn’t want to tell me because money was a touchy issue between us.”
She snorted lightly. “I’ll bet it was.”
Emma had been fortunate to have a roof over her head while his family had multiple homes in their hometown .
How many did he have now? Five? A dozen? They simply weren’t on the same level and never would be.
But that was her issue, wasn’t it? Neither of them could help the circumstances of their birth. And judging from Garrett’s what’s mine is yours attitude, he had never looked down on her because of it.
“I don’t think money alone would have upset me the way you described.”
Because now that she was in a relationship with him again, she just couldn’t imagine freezing him out for any reason.
“You still think Edward was a factor, don’t you?”
He stared at her for a long moment. “I had been in love with you for years, Em. It made sense that he would have some difficulties letting you go too.”
This time she didn’t stop herself. She climbed into his lap, intending to hug him, but the dam burst without warning, and then she was sobbing, crying against his chest.
He cradled her to him, rocking her in his warmth. “I know, baby. Me too. Me too. But we have a chance to put everything right. Stay . Let me make it up to you. Let me give you the life you deserve.”
Emma stared at him, wondering if she should be mad. Because she knew now this had been his plan all along.
Yeah, he’d said all the right things about paying it forward and balancing the scales because she’d motivated him to succeed back in high school. But in the back of his mind, this idea had always been there. His wife . With all the benefits that entailed.
Part of her still didn’t believe it. “You married me,” she whispered. “You went that far. ”
Garrett looked at her as if she was everything that had ever mattered to him. The terrifying part was that it might have been true.
“I was always going to ask, Emma.”
“You were going to propose?” But it wasn’t a question. Not anymore.
He cupped her face, nodding.
“It was a vague plan, but a real one. I was going to ask you when I graduated from business school, or a year later when you did, depending on how things worked out. I was going to get my mother’s ring from my aunt.”
He lifted a hand when she gave him a horrified look. “It is mine. My mom had willed it to me for my future bride. But she died when I was so young. My aunt keeps it in her safe back home. I’ve been meaning to ask her for it, but I haven’t had time. I will get it though. It’s important to me that you have it.”
That she didn’t doubt, but Emma could feel her heart sinking. Didn’t her mother have an affair with his aunt’s husband?
“I don’t suppose you have many aunts?” she asked weakly.
He shook his head, a wry light in his eyes. “Just the one, on my mom’s side. Her name is Philomena. I call her Aunt Phil. My father had a brother too. His name was Frank, but he was much older and passed already. I also have two cousins: Frank’s kids, and their grandchildren. But the brothers weren’t close, so I saw them maybe twice a decade growing up. Phil didn’t have any children.”
Emma tried to calculate the odds. The woman holding her future engagement ring was the one whose husband had cheated with her mother, Mariana.
And of course, his aunt Phil didn’t have any children of her own. She just had Garrett.
His hand closed over hers. “The ring is mine, Emma. What our parents’ generation did is their business. We’re not a part of it.”
Emma wanted to shake some sense into him. “How can you say that? From what I’ve been able to piece together, your aunt Phil is the only relative you are close to. Do you speak to her? Visit?”
His shoulders straightened and she knew she wasn’t going to like his answer. “Phil isn’t going to hold what happened between your mom and her husband against you because I won’t let her. You are my wife now. She will respect that.”
Was he really this naive? The woman probably despised her mother. He was likely his aunt’s pride and joy.
Any woman would have been proud to call the man her nephew. There was no way she’d accept Emma as Garrett’s wife.
From her conversations with George and Rainer, she knew Garrett had been born to a successful and self-involved businessman. After his mother had died, the man had focused on his work, leaving Garrett in the care of housekeepers and less frequently his aunt.
Garrett had never told them he resented his father’s frequent absences. Not in words. But his actions since then spoke volumes. Because Garrett didn’t simply become a better businessman than his father. He became a mogul, completely eclipsing his parents’ accomplishments.
Today Garrett operated on another level, one where financial magazines wrote about his deals.
According to Rainer, people vied to do business with Next Chapter, bringing opportunities other companies like his didn’t get. He was a shining star. And because he wasn’t his father, he would have stayed in touch with his aunt, caring for her in whatever way she would let him.
They were probably extremely close.
No, there was no way this Aunt Phil would welcome her with open arms. The best she could expect was grudging and teeth-gritted politeness. Emma didn’t want to imagine what the worst-case scenario would be.
“Problem for another day,” she muttered, feeling a little dizzy. She made a move to climb off his lap, but he didn’t release her.
“One that I will deal with,” he said. “ Me . This isn’t your problem. All you should be focusing on is your family, continued recovery, and whatever job you decide is worth your time.”
Her family and recovery she could deal with. But that yawning gap in the road up ahead that was her future career was just too much on top of these revelations .
The future in general was frightening to contemplate.
Which brought up another issue. “What happens if you change your mind?”
He raised his eyebrows. “How can you possibly think that is going to happen?”
“You never know someone until you live with them. We never got that chance. What if you decide you can’t stand the way I chew a few months down the line?”
His face cleared, warming. “Emma, we have been living together for months. I already know how you chew.”
“What if you snore and I can’t sleep? I could snap and go after you with a baseball bat.”
Garrett chuckled silently. “That is very specific. Also, I don’t snore. You didn’t use to, either. If that’s changed, I will buy some earplugs. Problem solved.”
His grip on her tightened and suddenly she was being carried.
“You do, however, bring up a very good point. The most significant change is going to be our sleeping arrangements. Why don’t we go see how much you like my bed? I think you’ll find it very comfortable.”
Emma couldn’t stifle a giggle. “You say that like we’ll actually be sleeping in it.”
Garrett grinned down at her. “See, your memory may be faulty, but it hardly matters. You already know me better than you think.”