Page 44 of Losing Hope

She followed his movements as he walked to sideboard, poured himself a hefty drink, and then took a long drink. Instead of moving back to his seat, he walked past it to stand in front of the window and look out over the city. A million questions were running through her head, but she started with the most obvious.

“How did I not know about this? I wasn’t a child when this happened. There wasn’t anything in the papers about another person in the car. Does Tommy know aboutthis?”

He turned around and met her with a pained gaze. “Because the girl was the same age as you… It could have been you. I didn’t want you to have to go through the pain of dealing with that, as well as losing your mother.”

She stood then and began pacing, more questions tumbling from her. “But how did you hide that from me, and then a lawsuit, as well. How could you possibly have kept this out of thenews?”

He raised his brows as if the answer was obvious. “Hope, I own one of the largest publication companies in the world. Keeping it out of the news was easy. And then you went back to school where you were busy and away from any of the lawsuit business being handled.”

She stopped pacing and moved to stand in front of him instead. “Why would they blame Mother? Why sue us? I thought it was due to icy road conditions. Is there more that you aren’t tellingme?”

He set his drink down on the table and gathered her stiff body in his arms tenderly while speaking softly. “It was the weather. It was an accident, but they wanted someone to blame. They lost their little girl. You didn’t need to deal with all ofthat.”

She pushed herself out of his embrace and looked up at him. “But now I do have to deal with this. I’ve fallen in love with this man, Daddy. I had no idea that there was a connection to our family, and he feels like I fooled or betrayed him. He won’t talk to me or return my calls.”

“What do you mean? You’ve fallen in love? With this Gage Flynn? How and when could this possibly have happened? You’ve only left Dylan a couple weeksago.”

She gritted her teeth and felt her skin grow warm at the thought of having to defend her feelings but even more so about discussing Dylan. “Yes, Daddy, I left Dylan after I caught him sleeping with another woman. You seriously didn’t expect me to stay with him after that, did you? I’m sorry if it means you’re a man short of your foursome for Sunday golf games.”

His voice was raised ever so slightly in anger, but his tone was calm as he replied. “Of course, I didn’t expect you to stay with him. My daughter deserves better than that. But am I expected to believe you fell in love with another man in the span of time since you left Dylan?”

“You’ve told me on more than one occasion that you fell in love with Mother the moment you laid eyes on her. Is it so preposterous that the same thing could happen tome?”

She watched as he turned and swiped his glass off the table, bringing it to his lips for a drink before continuing. “Hope, nothing would bring me greater pleasure than to learn you’ve truly fallen in love. But don’t you think you should take some time to let your heart heal before giving it to someone else so quickly? Besides, what do you really know about a man you’ve only spent a few dayswith?”

A small, sad smile fell across her lips. “Daddy, the one thing I learned in the past week is that I had no idea what real love felt like until I met Gage. My heart is fuller after spending four days with him, and now more broken, than it could have ever been with Dylan.”

He shook his head and turned back to the window. “I think you’re making a mistake, Hope. It’s too soon. Maybe things are better this way. Do you really want his dead sister coming between you? You will only serve as a constant reminder to him of what he’s lost. Sometimes, there are some obstacles that people can’t move past, and it’s just better to let go and moveon.”

Her heart skidded to a stop as she listened to her father telling her to give up and move on. “But I lovehim.”

He turned around and stepped to stand in front of her. “Sometimes, love isn’t enough. I’m sorry, Hope, but it sounds like he’s already made up hismind.”

Tears slid from her eyes as her father’s words sunk in and travelled straight to her heart, filling the cracks like cement and turning it to stone.

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