Page 58 of Losing Hope

“Your father.”

Eyes widening, she stammered, “My father?”

He nodded. “He came to see me a few daysago.”

She asked again, not sure if she heard him correctly. “My father came to seeyou?”

“Believe me, I was just as surprised.”

She moved to adjust the blanket over her body nervously. “What did hewant?”

“To tell me the truth, I guess, about your mother and Faith, about what happened the night of the accident.” He ran a hand through his damp hair and shrugged. “Better late than never, right?”

She frowned. “And, so, you thought you should come see menow?”

He shifted so he could move closer to her and rested his hand on her thigh. “He told me to come seeyou.”

“Hewhat?”

He nodded. “He said he’d caused enough heartache and if I still loved you to come seeyou.”

“Oh.” She stared at him, dumbfounded by her father’s actions, watching as he shifted uncomfortably. “And doyou?”

“Do Iwhat?”

“Still love me?” It came out on a whisper.

He shook his head. “Do you really have toask?”

“Gage, what about your family? They could never acceptme.”

“I flew here from Pennsylvania. I spent the last two days with them, telling them what your father shared with me, but mostly telling them all aboutyou.”

“And they areokay?”

He shrugged. “It’s a lot for them to accept and understand in a short amount of time, but, yes, I think they’ll be okay. More than anything, they know you are a victim in everything that happened.”

“What aboutyou?”

His eyes narrowed. “What aboutme?”

“Will you be okay with everything that’s happened? Can you be with me, knowing who my father is and what hedid?”

A scowl crossed his features and then vanished. “I was angry at your father, at your family, for a really long time. Mostly because I wanted to understand what happened and wanted answers. Your father finally gave me some of that when he spoke to me the other day. Am I ready to be sitting across from him at a family dinner?” He shook his head. “Not yet, but I don’t want to kill him anymore. Over time, I’m hopeful it will get easier.”

She turned her head and watched the flames lick over the logs, teasing and tickling the wood that would soon be burned to dust. She was so afraid opening her heart up to Gage again could very well cause her the samefate.

She twisted her head back to him as he moved to slide up against her waist on the couch. “Hope, over the last four months, all I’ve done is think of you—every time I walked into a coffee shop and heard someone order more cream than coffee, every time I saw a white Range Rover drive down the street, or saw a woman with long blonde hair, or any time I smelled lemons. Do you know that you smell like lemons?”

She shook her head, eyes locked onhis.

“And every single time I closed my eyes, all I could see was you—in my arms, lying back in the grass, kissing your lips, tasting your skin. I heard your laughter in every smiling picture I took of you. You’ve invaded my soul. You want to know if I still loveyou?”

His hand moved up and cupped her cheek, and he brought his face even closer to hers. “Baby, I never stopped.” Then, their lips were fused together as one as tears rolled down her cheeks.

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