Move back in with Kim? Will she want to have a roommate with a baby? Her boss is tight with Nate’s family. In fact, they’re in-laws.
Go back to Dillington? No. I can’t go back, since Chadwick’s still there and I’m probably still unemployable. Actually, it’d be so much worse now. Everyone in town who tsked and wagged their fingers at me would feel vindicated if they saw me tossed aside after having married my boss.
I grab an Uber to my old place and text Kim that I’m on my way. I feel like I need an impartial third party to help me process everything. I’m too close to the situation to be objective and logical, and everything that happened with Dad, Mom and Nate is spinning around in my head without offering any clear conclusions.
Kim’s waiting for me with a couple of fruit smoothies. “I figured you’d want this rather than wine.”
“Thanks,” I say as I walk in and plop down in a chair in the dining room. “You’re a goddess.” I suck down half the glass, then feel my eyes sting with tears. God. I told myself I wouldn’t cry like an idiot.
“Come on.” Kim sits next to me and rubs my back comfortingly. “What happened?”
“Dad happened, then kind of…unhappened. Then Nate. And then Mom.” I tell her how everyone lied to me, turned me into a fool. How happy I was that Dad came to see me, then the emotional crash when I realized he only wanted to use me. That Nate knew everything but didn’t tell me in order to help Mom perpetuate a lie she should never have started.
“Are you angry at Nate?” Kim asks.
I shake my head. “I don’t know. I wish he hadn’t lied. I don’t know why he felt like he had to keep things from me, like I’m some idiot who can’t handle real life.”
“You told him how much you love your dad.” Kim’s voice is soft and gentle. “He probably couldn’t find a good way to tell you.”
“So what?” I say, suddenly pissed off that she’s taking his side. Shouldn’t she be telling me to kick Nate’s ass?
Kim shakes her head, but her dark gaze is far too understanding. “Don’t be angry with me, Evie. I’m trying to help you be happy. Answer me this before we go any further. Do you love Nate?”
My face crumbles, piercing pain radiating from my chest. “Yes.” More tears fall. “I do.” I wipe them away impatiently. “And that’s the problem. I’m in love with him. Why can’t I be in love with some normal, ordinary guy, the kind you see on streets all the time?”
“Because nobody falls in love with someone they think is just…ordinary.” Kim places her elbow on the table and props her jaw in her hand. “You fall in love with someone extraordinary. And in your case, that’s Nate. You have to overcome your fear of the power he has if you want to be with him. I mean, he’s a Sterling. He’s always going to be rich and powerful.”
I cry harder because she’s right. And I don’t know what to do about it. It’s so hard to think. I’m somehow more emotional. I wonder if it’s the pregnancy, but surely nobody becomes this overwrought because of a little hormonal fluctuation, do they?
Kim looks off into the distance. “Think of it like a Chinese emperor and his harem.”
“What?” Why are we going from Nate to some old Chinese emperor?
“I’ve been watching some Chinese historical dramas. The emperors in China held all the power, right? And the girls in the harem didn’t, of course…unless they could make the emperor fall in love with them. Then they had all the power, because the emperor loved them and would do anything for them.”
“What does this have—”
“Nate cares about you deeply,” she says. “He may even love you.”
I shake my head. “He just wants the baby. His family loves children.”
“Evie. No matter how much he cares about pleasing his family and wanting the child you created together, he wouldn’t stay married to you if he didn’t care about you.”
“But you said Barron’s traditional. And he’s still the head of the family, at least for social stuff. The baby—”
“Evie! We’re not back in the eighteen hundreds. None of that matters if Nate doesn’t want you, and he wouldn’t have stayed married to you to please Barron, either.” Kim purses her mouth. “No matter how much influence Barron might have, Nate doesn’t do everything the old man wants. He just goes along with Barron because they both want the same thing.”
That seems unbelievable. On the other hand, I’ve seen the steel in Nate when he dealt with the people who stole from the hospital in Houston. The contrary and mulish part of me says, “He lied.”
“Yeah, he did. But let me put it to you this way. If you found out that his mom was a horrible person, would you tell him immediately?”
“But she’s not.”
“Hypothetically. I’m saying if she… Let’s say she was unfaithful to his dad, and she embezzled some family funds set aside for charity. Would you tell Nate immediately or would you hesitate, wondering how it was going to impact him and his relationship with his mom?”
“Of course I’d tell him,” I say, feeling stubborn.
“Really?” Kim arches an eyebrow. “You wouldn’t hesitate? Even a little?”