She snorted. “I don’t know your lawyer. And I thought she was Dad’s, so I wanted him to take care of her. She says her mother has cancer.”
“Let me guess. She wants you to pay for some expensive chemotherapy. Or no, wait…some new kind of experimental drug. One that costs a lot because it’s not in mass production yet.”
She turned around. “That’s pretty cynical.”
A frown was pulling her eyebrows together, and he put his forefinger on the spot. “Because honey,” he said gently, “that’s always how it is. So what happened?”
“Dad told me she wasn’t his kid because he’d never slept with anybody in Provo, the city where she’s from. He also said”—her breath hitched—“I wasn’t his.”
“What?”
“He knew about Mom’s affairs. He had a vasectomy after Shane was born. He said there was no way I could be his, but he looked the other way because he didn’t mind ‘another mouth to feed.’”
If Vanessa hadn’t needed him right then, he would’ve driven back to the Pryce mansion and beaten the crap out of her father. Salazar Pryce had lost the right to judge and say cruel things the moment he’d decided to cheat on his wife. Everyone knew he hadn’t even tried to be faithful. He’d started banging other women within a year of the marriage.
Vanessa’s gaze lowered. “He told me to get out. But it explained so much about how he’s treated me.”
“Was he nasty to you?” Justin asked, mentally starting a list of Salazar’s sins.
“It was more like he was always…preoccupied whenever I was around.”
“Bastard.”
“I thought maybe he was busy. I mean, he already had four rambunctious boys… Anyway, I think I was just in shock when Dad told me.”
“Do you want me to take care of your sister?”
“What do you mean by ‘take care of’ her? Don’t ignore her or send her away. She might be telling the truth.”
“Even so, I don’t like opportunistic parasites.”
“She might be desperate to save her mom. I don’t blame her.”
Justin sighed. “Okay. Let me check her out. If she’s who she says she is and her mother really has cancer, I can see about helping them. But if not, I’m going to make sure she never bothers you again.” It wouldn’t end at that. He would make sure she paid for causing Vanessa pain.
“Okay. Her cell phone number is in my purse. She wrote it on a napkin.”
Justin nodded.
“And Justin?”
“Yeah?”
She reached out and took his hand, twining their fingers together. “I’m glad you’re with me.”
His heart swelled so fast and so unexpectedly, it was like his chest would burst. “So am I.”
“I think I want to nap. Will you stay with me until I fall asleep?”
“Of course.” He kissed their linked hands and watched as she went drowsy and then, eventually, slept.
How odd that things ha
d gotten so much more complicated. He’d assumed that once she was his and their marriage had been made public, their lives would settle down into a simple rhythm and her worries would ease. Instead, circumstances were conspiring to pull her away from him emotionally.
For the first time, he had the thought that marriage and a baby might not be enough to keep her.
Chapter Nineteen