Page 57 of Wesley

“Does he love me, too?”

“He sure does, but let’s go ask him to be sure.”

“Okay.” We all got out of the vehicle, and I glanced around. Marisol was right, there were a lot of people here, which meant a lot of people who might overhear the conversation.

“Come on.” He took my arm, and Marisol walked in front of us. She saw him way before I did and took off toward him. I wish that she had been close enough that I could have stopped her, but she was too far ahead, and Wes had turned, seeing her.

His face lit up at the sight of her, and she pretty much dove into his arms. He caught her and the smile he gave her melted my heart. “See, he loves her. Now it’s your turn.”

“I don’t think it’s a good idea if I run and try to jump in his arms. He might move and let me fall right on my face.”

He laughed, “I know my brother, he would never let you do that. No matter how upset he was.”

“If you say so.”

Wes’s face was serious as he spoke to Marisol, and then he lifted his eyes to follow her pointed arm my way. His gaze landed on me, and my heart threatened to stop. If it wasn’t for Brad’s hand on my arm, I might have turned and run.

Wes began to walk toward us, his gaze never wavering from mine until he got closer. Then he shook his head at his brother, “You just couldn’t help yourself, could you?”

“Nope. You can thank me later. Come on, Marisol, let’s go find the fun.” He took Marisol out of Wes’s arms, and they began to walk away.

I heard my daughter’s voice before they got too far, “He does love me, he told me so.”

I wanted to sob. If Wes loved Marisol, was there a chance he could love me after I explained this to him? I could only hope.

“Charlotte.”

“Wes.” Was he as nervous as I was? “Can we take a walk? I’d like to talk to you for a few minutes.”

“Why should I listen? Give me one reason why I should?”

I swallowed, suddenly scared to death of voicing my next words, but I had come this far, I wasn’t going to stop now. “Because I love you, and I think you love me, too.”

He didn’t say anything for a moment, and then he nodded, “Let’s go over that way.”

Holy crap, he did love me! I wanted to rejoice, but I was a long way from being done with this. We were a little way down the driveway, and I wondered if he was walking me off the property. Maybe he was going to ban me from it. If that was the case, I better start talking quickly.

“I owe you an apology. I should have told you about Marisol’s father. The reason I didn’t was that until last Wednesday, I had no clue who it was.”

“How is that possible?” He asked gruffly.

I stopped and waited for him to turn around. “I was raped, Wes. I was at a party, and that guy Tom slipped something into my beer. I barely remember any of the party, and the next thing I remember, I was waking up naked in a nasty motel room, alone. I had no clue who I had been with or even what happened.”

He stared at me, and I continued, “For the last two days, I have tried to dredge up every memory that I have of that night. I wasn’t sure I had any, but I guess I blocked them after it happened. The last few days, I have been digging through my mind trying to find bits and pieces of that night. I remember a few things. I can remember the house we went to, I can remember dancing and drinking, and flirting with Tom. I do remember flirting with him, but I never would have slept with him.”

I paused, waiting for a response, but he didn’t say anything. “And for your information, I never did drugs, and I have only ever been with three men, not counting my rape, in my life, and one of them was you. I haven’t been in a relationship since that happened in college.”

“Why didn’t you tell me this when I asked?”

“Because I was afraid too. I thought you would think bad of me, but I should have. I did nothing wrong, Wes. I was drugged, and I was raped, and yes, I have a beautiful daughter because of that ugly night, but I would not change a thing about that. I’m not sure what I would do without her.”

He cocked his head to the side, “Is that the truth, Charlotte? The absolute honest to God truth? Did you leave anything out? Anything at all?”

“It is the truth, and I told you everything that I can remember, and I did not lie to you about being on birth control.” I held my arm out and tightened the skin on the inside of my bicep. His gaze went to the small mark on my arm where the implant was nestled under my skin.

“Are there any more secrets that I need to know? Anything else that you should tell me? I’m not sure I could handle another secret like this, Charlotte.”

I shook my head, “No other bad secrets. You know the two most horrible things that have happened in my life. Only my therapist knows both of those.”

“Are there good secrets?”

I nodded slowly, “But I think I might have already spilled the beans. I do love you, Wes. I love you, and I want a future with you. I want to build a life and have those four kids—”

“Six.”

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