Sam had read the report and been drowned in shame. He’d been prepared to tar her with the same brush as the police officers who’d investigated the infant’s death. But they hadn’t known her. He did. Anger and heartbreak had blinded him when they’d fought after bringing Riley home from the emergency doctor, but once that anger had cooled, he’d had to admit that she truly was the kind, capable, loving woman he’d come to know over the past few months.
He finally understood why she’d been so determined to hold on to it all. Been prepared to lie about Riley’s paternity to keep their home. He’d gone through the wringer the past few weeks, and his early anger had settled down to a slow burn, but all that was nothing compared to what he knew she must be feeling now. He made a decision. He was going to Connell Cove and he wasn’t coming back until Erin agreed to allow him to ensure that she was financially secure.
He crossed back to his desk and picked up his phone to talk to his executive assistant.
“Julia, get me on the next flight to Lake Tahoe, I don’t care which airport, just whichever one leaves soonest. If there are no commercial flights then charter one. And make sure there’s a rental car there for me, too.”
“A rental car? Did you want a driver?”
“No, I’ll be driving myself.”
“Are you sure, Sam?”
He ruthlessly quelled the instinctive thrust of fear that pushed from the back of his mind. “Absolutely certain.”
“Okay, then.”
He waited about ten minutes until she called him back with the details. He didn’t even head back to his apartment for a change of clothes, instead getting Ray to take him straight out to the airport. One way or another, he’d settle this with Erin Connell before the night was out.
* * *
It had been the week from hell, knowing each time she nursed Riley it was taking her one step closer to the last time, and ultimately, the day she would have to say goodbye to him. For good. She’d ignored the visitation rights that Sam’s lawyer had included in the documents. She knew in her heart it was better this way. Better than only seeing Riley for a few short hours every few weeks. Knowing such torture would probably be even more painful than not seeing him at all. She simply couldn’t face having to walk away from him each time, knowing someone else was loving him, raising him into boyhood, then manhood. Someone who wasn’t her.
She’d put Riley to bed for the night a little while ago. For some reason, tonight it had been hard to actually put him down and walk away, leaving him to settle into slumber. All she’d wanted to do these past days was hold him and never let him go.
Maybe it had been the confirmation from the trustees of the property that the land and house would be signed over to the State on the same date she had agreed to hand over custody of Riley. It was as if every tie to her happiness would be severed at once. She’d considered putting a proposal together to the trustees, to be put forward to whichever organization would be managing the property, appointing her as caretaker. But then she’d changed her mind.
She couldn’t bear to think of living the next few years in the place that had seen both the beginning, and the death, of all her dreams. It would be hard to leave here, incredibly hard, because even with the sadness that had been borne out of the past few months, there had been so many good, strong memories. But living here would be so much harder with every second of every day filled with memories of Riley and of what might have been.
Erin was going into the kitchen to make herself a cup of herbal tea, when she heard a vehicle on the driveway outside. Instead of stopping at the front entrance, it came down the side and pulled up outside the kitchen door. She looked at the clock, and saw that it was nearly eight o’clock. She certainly wasn’t expecting anyone this late, but only her friends came round the back like that.
The slam of the car door echoed outside. She strained her ears and heard the uneven, heavy tread of footsteps coming toward the house. Her heart skipped a beat. She only knew one person, one man, who walked like that. Sam. Her hand fluttered to her throat.
What was he doing here? Surely he hadn’t reneged on the deal giving her the extra weeks with Riley. He was going to have him for the rest of his life, for goodness’s sake. What was an extra fourteen days in the scheme of things? Had she missed something in the legal jargon?
Even though she was expecting the knock at the door, Erin jumped when the sharp, decisive sound reverberated through the ancient wood. She forced her legs to move, forced her hand to lift the latch and to swing the door wide. Even though she knew it had to be him, actually seeing him again was a shock. One that sent her heart plummeting to her stomach. She fought to hold on to her self-control, to show him he didn’t affect her anymore.