Chloe paused and dashed away the tears of anguish and grief that stung her eyes before taking a deep breath and continuing in a fiercely controlled voice. “And did we see your family lose anything while we lost it all?” She shook her head. “You lost nothing. Your father could have reached out at any time and helped us, or, here’s an idea, honored his original agreement with my father. But he chose not to. So I grew up hating your family—all of you. And when the news came about the fire and the failed safety inspections, well, I saw an opportunity to exploit your misery and I took it.
“But I never expected to discover you were not like your father. I never expected to love you.”
Miles stood there—immovable, expressionless—as she spoke so passionately. As she laid her heart bare to him.
“Are you done?” he gritted out.
She could no longer speak. Her eyes flooded with persistent tears, and her throat completely closed as a massive sob rose from deep within and choked her. And then he walked away.
Chloe couldn’t remember how she traversed the distance between the stables and the house, but she found herself in their room, her suitcase opened on the bed, and piling the items she’d brought with her into it. The tears had stopped, but the raw pain of loss clawed at her from deep inside. It couldn’t end this way, she kept telling herself. But it had.
She didn’t even bother changing her clothes. She knew he wanted her out of here and that’s what she had to do. Once she was packed and had double-checked she hadn’t left anything behind, she grabbed her handbag and her suitcase and went downstairs. Ava was just coming in through the front door with Keith Cooper as Chloe reached the bottom of the stairs.
“Chloe? You’re leaving us?”
“Miles has asked me to go,” she said stiffly. “But before I do, I just wanted to apologize to you. To your whole family, really. I didn’t disclose who I was, and by omission I have lied to you all about my intentions toward your family. I didn’t expect to like you all so much, much less fall in love with Miles. But I can’t deny that I had an agenda when I met him. My feelings for Miles, now, are true. I only hope that someday he can forgive me for what I’ve done.”
“Oh, Chloe.”
Unexpectedly, Ava rushed toward her and enveloped Chloe in a brief hug. Chloe held herself stiffly. Unable to accept the solace Miles’s mother offered because if she did, she would crumble into a thousand pieces and not be able to move again. She had to say her goodbyes. She had to leave. Not to do so would be in direct contradiction of his wishes and, above all else, his wishes were paramount.
Thankfully, Ava let her go and, with a nod to Keith Cooper, Chloe continued out the front door and to the car that had just pulled up in the driveway.
“Ms. Fitzgerald?” the driver asked as he got out of the car to open the back door for her and take her case.
“Yes.”
She got in the rear of the car and the driver closed the door. The dull thud a final knell to the hopes she’d begun to nurture that she could have a future with Miles. Once the driver had stowed her case in the trunk, he took his seat behind the wheel.
“To the airport, right?”
“Yes, to the airport.”
She didn’t even bother looking back. This was the last time she would leave Texas. The first had been painful and full of uncertainty, but this was so much worse. Because this time she felt as though she was leaving a vital part of her behind. A part that she would never recover again.
By the time she landed in Chicago it was getting late. She texted her mom from the airport to let her know she was back. It took her just over an hour and a half, using public transport, to get to her home. Despite her mother’s frequent visits, the house smelled musty, but Chloe locked the front door behind her, dropped her bags in the hallway and then went straight to her bathroom and turned on the shower.
She could still smell the scent of her horse on her clothing as she stripped off and stepped into the shower stall. And there, she let go of all the pent-up misery of the past several hours. It was ages later before she could summon the energy to wash her body and her hair. Even longer before she had the strength to turn off the water and dry herself.
Exhausted by grief, she tumbled naked into her bed and closed her eyes, willing herself to sleep, but all she could think about was the shock and betrayal she’d seen on Miles’s face. Knowing she’d hurt him so badly was like being flayed with a whip and left her entire body sore and aching. She thought she was done crying but as she flipped and flopped on the bed, she realized that her pillow was now sodden with the steady stream of tears that simply would not let up.
So she curled into a ball and she let herself cry and wail and howl. And in the end, none of it made any difference. She was still alone. And she’d devastated the only man she’d ever truly loved.
* * *
“Chloe? I know you’re in there, honey. I’ll let myself in if you don’t come to the door.”
Chloe woke to the sound of her mother’s fist battering on her front door. She dragged herself from her bed and wrapped herself in a robe before staggering to the door and opening it. Bright sunlight streamed through the open portal, temporarily blinding her, and she put a hand up to shade her eyes.
“Oh, honey. What happened?” Loretta asked, stepping across the threshold and kicking the door closed behind her while enveloping her daughter in her arms.
Chloe tried to hold herself together, the way she always had for her mom. Since her father’s death she’d learned that her role was to comfort her mom, not the other way around, but right now she lacked the energy to hide her hurt. Instead, she leaned right into Loretta’s softer frame and put her arms around her mother’s waist.
“I fell in love, Momma. And I broke his heart and then he broke mine.”
“Oh, my darling girl. I’m so sorry.”
Her mother hugged her tight and didn’t move, didn’t say a thing. Just held her. The tears cleared more quickly this time and, once she’d stopped, Loretta led her into the sitting room and pushed her down onto the couch.