Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 64406 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 322(@200wpm)___ 258(@250wpm)___ 215(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 64406 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 322(@200wpm)___ 258(@250wpm)___ 215(@300wpm)
The senator crossed an ankle over his thigh, more relaxed than she thought he would be. “Because I was almost certain the news outlets were telling the truth. And if you were pregnant, I thought it was time you understood what happened between me and your mother.”
Winter blew out a long breath and her insides trembled, making her glad she hadn’t asked for caffeine. “She wouldn’t talk about you. In fact, Mom lied for most of my life. She told me she didn’t know who my father was.” Until the end, but she didn’t want to think about her mom being gone, and she needed to hear his story.
As if sensing she needed his strength, Harrison put an arm around her waist and pulled her close.
The senator winced, obviously hurt by the news of her mom not naming him as her father. Which surprised her. “That bothers you?” she asked.
His gaze bore steadily into hers. “You have to trust me when I say I did not know about you.”
She swallowed hard. Oddly enough, she believed him.
“If I had known, I’d have come for you. I would have made certain you had a father.”
That statement she had an issue with, and she shook her head in denial. “Like Nikki had a father?”
She didn’t mention Derek because he and his father had had a different relationship. Probably because he was the senator’s son.
“I deserved that.” The senator glanced down, but she caught the embarrassed flush on his cheeks. “I made many mistakes with my children. When they were younger, I tried harder to counter my wife’s… icier tendencies.”
“Icy. That’s what you’d call her? I wasn’t there to see her behavior with Nikki firsthand but the day I showed up at your home and told you who I was? She lost her mind.” Winter cringed at the memory of Collette, the normally haughty woman Winter had seen on television, shrieking and yelling, when she discovered Winter’s mother had kept her child.
She’d called Winter’s mother a whore and swore Nikki wouldn’t ruin her family. As if the woman hadn’t done that on her own.
“I’d never seen her… unhinged like that before. As for myself, she was a hard woman and I admit it became easier not to fight with her and let her dictate how things went.”
“That’s weak,” Winter said, not holding her punches.
He inclined his head. “I agree and I’m trying to change my relationship with both Nicolette and Derek. I’m not certain it will work.” He sighed and Winter understood.
Nikki wasn’t budging on forgiving him. Not yet.
“You could start by calling her Nikki,” Winter suggested. “Nicolette reminds her of her mother’s demands.” She didn’t think her sister would mind her revealing that bit of truth and Winter wanted Nikki to mend fences if she desired it. Why not make it easier on them?
“I appreciate that.” He leaned over, picked up the carafe and poured himself a cup of coffee, adding a dollop of cream. After taking a long sip, he placed the cup down on its saucer.
“Now, about us. There are things I want you to know.”
Unable to deny her curiosity, Winter leaned forward, and her knees hit the edge of the glass table. She scooted back. “What are they?” she asked.
The senator rubbed his hands on his navy slacks, obviously deep in thought, before he raised his head and met her gaze. “Your mother was the love of my life.”
Stunned, she sucked in a breath, the words hard to hear and even more difficult to believe. “Then why didn’t you go after her? I know she disappeared, but you had resources. You could have looked for her.”
It was something that had bothered Winter for the last year that her mother had been gone. No matter what her father did or didn’t know about Juliana’s pregnancy, how much could he have cared for her if he’d let her go so easily.
Another sip of his coffee, then he said, “I received a note from your mother—well at the time I thought it was from her—asking me not to search. She said she’d listened when I’d talked about my future plans for the country, and she couldn’t be the reason I didn’t have the opportunity to try and change the world.” He dipped his head. “I realize how pompous that sounds now.”
Oh, it did, Winter thought and narrowed her gaze. “I take it she hadn’t written the letter?”
Or maybe she had. If she was leaving the father of her child behind with the money Collette had given her, she’d had to make sure he didn’t look for her.
“Collette wrote it. She admitted as much,” he said.
Winter nodded and wondered if her mother had left but hoped the love of her life would come searching for her only to be disappointed.
“So you chose your career over the woman you claimed to love,” she said, not cutting him any slack.