Page 19 of Separated from My Love
He always could disarm her with a smile. She often wondered if it had the same effect on other people as it did her. When his lips tilted upward her mood immediately brightened. It was like walking outside on a sunny day and absorbing the rays into her soul. Oh, how she’d missed that feeling. Her heart lightened and she found herself smiling back at him like a happylittlefool.
“Sowewait?”
“Yes,” he said. “I have faith that we will end up exactly where we are supposed to. The fates, God, whoever you want to refer to—has a plan for us. It’s up to us to follow the map theyleftus.”
“If you’re willing to try, then so am I?” It was the least she could do. They both had a lot to work through. Old hurts were hard to let go even when it was obvious how much the damn things heldherback.
“Good,” he said. “There’s a lot you’ve missed. Do you have any questions about what’s happened while you were stuck inthepast?”
She did have a lot of questions. Some were from the moments before she disappeared and the others were about her family. She wasn’t sure how much he’d answer, but she wouldn’t find out until she tried. He wanted to make a fresh start. They couldn’t do that unless they had total transparencybetweenthem.
“Can you tell me…” She paused, unsure how to word herquestion.
“Eve, just ask,” he saidearnestly.
“Why were you so distant before I disappeared? It felt like we were drifting apart then. If I can’t trust what we had, then how can I believe we have any kind offuture?”
She loved him. That had never been in question. The faith she had in his love for her had been. If he didn’t answer in an acceptable fashion they didn’t have a chance in hell ofreuniting.
“It’s kind of a long story.” He sighed. “But I’ll tell you everything. I couldn’t back then because it was of a sensitivenature.”
She frowned. “I don’tunderstand.”
“I know,” he said. “But you will. It all started when my father came to see me at workoneday.”
“At his business?” She was confused. Trenton worked with his father. Why would he have to go visit him at work? Perhaps he meant to say in hisoffice.
“No, love. I hate that company and never intended to work for them. I’m an agent, or rather was one, for the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau. I took a sabbatical from the NFIB to help my father catch the person embezzling from his firm. It took longer than I planned, but we did eventually uncover him and had him taken into custody. I never returned to the NFIB after you disappeared. I couldn’t focus on anything and have been drifting for awhile.”
That was not what she expected him to say. “Why couldn’t you tell me all of that before? I would haveunderstood.”
It would have saved them both a lot of heartbreak too. At the time, she’d thought he no longer loved her and was putting distance between them to avoid an argument or something. Oh, how she’d misjudged him… She’d been about to end their relationship that night. Something she’d not really wanted to do, but she’d been so sick of him cancelling their plans and pushing her away. It all was so clear now and there had been so much time wasted, both literally and figuratively. They’d missed out on so much. If he’d been forthright sooner she might never have gone to the cliffs that night, and maybe, just maybe, she would never have fallen through time in the first place. It is hard to say what direction their life might havetaken.
“I couldn’t,” he said. “I was a secret agent with the NFIB. I couldn’t blow my cover with them—even for you. If we’d married, I could have shared it with you, but not before then. As to my father’s mess… He asked me to keep it private. I’d have trusted you with everything, but it wasn’t my secret toshare.”
She could understand that. If his father didn’t want the world to know about his embezzler, that was his business. The secret agent stuff though… “So you would have married me without telling me that you were in a clandestine organization and your work could potentially get you killed? Don’t you think that is something I should’ve known?” She had a new appreciation for Rosanna’s predicament and how she handled the discovery that the man she loved was a spy. Dom had pushed Rosanna away to protect her from his occupation too. Genevieve hadn’t realized how much she’d actually had in commonwithher.
He nodded. “I would have told you before we married. If we had any chance at all—we needed total honesty between us. I didn’t want you to make that big of a decision without having all the facts.” He paused and stared into her eyes. “I had planned on asking you to marry me before you disappeared. I had a ring that I carried with me everywhere, waiting to find the best opportunity toaskyou.”
Her mouth fell open as that revelation hit her. It sucked all oxygen from her lungs and she had trouble breathing. He’d planned on asking her to marry him… If there had ever been a time for her to be able to read his mind, that was it. Why didn’t her telepathy ever work with him? Was it because he was her one true love? Maybe she wasn’t supposed to know everything about him. Some people were meant to keep their secrets, and it appeared as if Trenton was oneofthem.
“Do you still have it?” Had he had it with him the night she’d fallen over the cliff? Her heart beat heavily in her chest. She wanted to see it to feel it on herfinger…
“The ring?” he asked. “I do. One day I might pull it out and ask you as I’d always intended. If I’m lucky enough, you might evensayyes.”
Genevieve was starting to think she was theluckyone…
