Page 47 of Overnight Inheritance

“Have you told Sebastian that you love him?” Sarah said pointedly.

She recognized an attempt at diversion when she saw one. She and Heath were the masters at diversion—they’d practiced it most of their lives whenever someone asked an awkward question about their history. “That’s different.”

“Oh, is it?” Her aunt narrowed her eyes. “Please do tell.”

Mae looked at her aunt, her face so similar to the one she saw in the mirror each day, and gave up. It would be good to tell someone. “We’ve already tried a relationship, but it exploded.”

“Oh, Mae. I’m sorry.” Sarah pushed to her feet and joined Mae on the small sofa, placing an arm around her shoulders. “But he knows you love him, right?”

“How do you know I do?” she asked, curious. Why would Sarah think that if Mae hadn’t been sure?

Sarah grinned. “That defense you mounted for him today. That came from a place of love.”

Mae digested that. It might not be a perfect definition of love, but, she really did need to be honest with herself—whatever definition she used, she absolutely, one hundred percent, completely loved Sebastian. Hell of a time to realize it, obviously.

She rested her head on Sarah’s shoulder. “I do love him, and, no, I haven’t told him. In fact, I didn’t even reply when he point-blank asked me at dinner tonight.” She winced at the memory. “He’s been much smarter and braver about it than I have.”

“I was wrong about him.” Sarah stroked a hand over Mae’s hair. “Maybe I was too caught up in my distrust of his father, but I saw the way he looked at you today, the way he defended you to his father. The same way you defended him to us. That man loves you, and he has a good heart.”

A tear slipped out the corner of Mae’s eye, and then another. She swiped them away, but they were coming too thick and fast, so she spoke through them. “It’s too late. He ended things with me tonight.”

Sarah sat with her until the tears stopped and then twisted to face her. “You said he’s at the hospital with Christopher?”

“Yes, he was heading over when I came up here,” she said, scrubbing at her face with the inside of her wrist.

“Regardless of what happened at dinner tonight, they have no other family, so Sebastian has no one.”

Mae had been thinking about that after she left the restaurant, but had decided she was the last person he’d want to see. Now that she’d released some of her emotions, though, she could see more clearly. She needed to check on him. If he didn’t want her there, she’d leave. But she couldn’t leave him alone at the hospital.

She drew in a shuddering breath and stood. “On my way. And you have someone to talk to as well.”

Sarah opened her mouth, as if to deflect again, then closed it and nodded.

Mae smiled.

She caught a taxi, and, when she arrived at the hospital, searched through the emergency department until she spotted him. Her heart tripped over itself at the sight of him. How had she ever doubted that she loved him? He had his head in his hands, so he didn’t see her approach.

She plopped down onto the seat beside him. “Today has been wild.”

Startled, he looked up. “Okay, you have to stop ambushing me or there will be two Newport men in there with heart attacks.”

“Any news?” She bumped his shoulder with hers, offering support but trying to keep the boundaries he’d set.

“No.” He flipped his hand over to reveal his cell. “They said they’d call when they have news or he’s stable enough for a visitor, but where else can I go?”

“Let’s go outside and get some air.” She stood and held out a hand, and, after a quick glance at the doors to the treatment rooms, he took it.

They walked outside into a warm summer night.

“Not that I don’t appreciate you coming,” he said after a couple of minutes, “but why are you here? We left things between us in a fairly final place.”

“Same reason you’re here for your father.” She stopped so she could see his beautiful face. “We’re the same about that—we show up when people need us, regardless.”

He held her gaze for a heavy moment and then pulled her into a hug. “Thank you.”

They strolled in silence for a few more minutes until Sebastian let out a long sigh. “He probably doesn’t even want me here. It’s less than a day since he said he was disinheriting me, but he’s my only family. I’m not even sure where my mother is living now, so, besides Alfie, he’s the only family I have left.”

“Families are complicated,” she said, and given their entangled circumstances, she knew it was an understatement. “He’s a horrible human being, but he’s still your father, the man who raised you, so you’re bound to be conflicted.”

---