Page 80 of Close to My Heart

Teddy moved to my side. “Shouldn’t you have gone with Sutton to see her grandmother?”

“She didn’t want me there.” I hated to admit it.

“You could have insisted.”

It hurt to draw a deep breath, and the frailty of our bond was more apparent than ever. “I don’t know what my place is in all this.”

“You’re supposed to be by her side.”

My brow furrowed. “When she doesn’t want me there?”

“Maybe she doesn’t think what you have will last. That it isn’t worth getting deeper with you.”

That sucked because I’d hoped for the opposite. “I want more.”

“Then you have to show her. Be the husband you vowed to be.”

The wedding, the vows, all of it was real to me. I wanted to be by her side in sickness and health. Here was my opportunity, and I’d screwed up. “What makes you the expert on relationships?”

“I watched Daphne and Cole, then Fiona and Aiden, and finally Claire and Jameson go through all this stuff. At this point, I feel like an expert.”

“Yet you’re not with anyone.”

Teddy shook his head. “Like anyone would put up with me.”

I snorted. “You got that right.”

Something passed over Teddys’ face then, and I wondered if I’d hurt his feelings. No, that couldn’t be right. We always ribbed him about how gruff he was with the ladies. Certain women loved it, but they always got burned eventually. Teddy wasn’t the date-‘em-and-keep-‘em type. He either didn’t want a long-term relationship or hadn’t found the right girl.

“What are you going to do if she ends things?” Teddy emphasized each word.

The vice around my chest tightened. “I don’t want a divorce.”

Teddy narrowed his eyes on me. “Are you going to fight for her?”

I shifted on my feet. “That’s the plan.”

Teddy nodded. “Good.”

My lip curled. “I can’t wait until this happens to you. When you find someone who knocks you out of your carefully controlled life.”

Teddy chuckled. “Like that’s going to happen.”

I raised a brow. I had thoughts about why he was so resistant to Charlotte, but Sutton returned with her arms wrapped around herself and her head bowed. I crossed the room to be by her side. “Are you okay?”

She lifted her gaze to me. “She looks so frail laying there in the bed. I never thought of her as weak. Even when she said she didn’t have much time left. I think it just hit me hard.”

I pulled her to me, resting my cheek in her hair. “I asked how you were doing.”

“My grandmother’s in the hospital, and I’ve been lying to her this whole time. How do you think I feel?” Her tone was bitter.

I pulled back slightly to see her face. “Are you having regrets about us?”

She pursed her lips and looked away from me. “I wish I hadn’t lied.”

“You wanted to marry a stranger instead of me?” I couldn’t help but ask.

She slowly shook her head. “I wish none of it was necessary. That I’d walked away from the inheritance. It’s not more important than my relationship with my grandmother.”

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