“You said your tattoo was a symbol of justice. Care to elaborate now that all our skeletons are out?”
She refused to wince. Her fingers came up unconsciously to stroke the familiar lines. “I thought your mother had ruined my father. Your family forced me to question his love and loyalty, and it was easier to hate. I got the tat so I’d never forget the day I lost him. I wanted to be reminded that one day, justice would finally be served.”
“Congratulations. How does it feel to scratch something off your bucket list?”
“I can’t apologize for the girl I was and how I felt, Dalton. I won’t even try. I can only say I see things more clearly now, and we owe it to ourselves to forgive. That’s the real justice I was looking for all along.”
He seemed to ponder her words, taking his time before asking another question. “What made you change your mind about my mother?”
She took a deep breath and clasped her hands in her lap. “The stories you told me. The way you loved her. The way she loved you. They didn’t add up to the woman I’d imagined. Then my aunt Penny mentioned something to me recently. She said Papa told her about a woman he’d fallen in love with, but who needed time to sort things out. We both agreed it sounded like a married woman. I think it was your mom.”
He flinched but kept talking. “You believe they were coming back?”
“I do. All this time, I was so angry and confused. But along the way, I’d forgotten how close I was with my father. What purpose would there be to fleeing to Paris on a weeknight, leaving families they loved behind? My aunt kept telling me the same thing, but I wasn’t ready to accept it. Now I realize it doesn’t make sense.”
“People rarely do,” he muttered. “Especially when sex is involved, which is too often mistaken for love.”
She hugged her body tight against the sudden chill. “Love would’ve brought them back.”
“Love made them leave and killed them both. You’re being a romantic fool because it’s easier to believe. You’re still denying the idea of your father going after my family’s money?”
“Papa wasn’t interested in money—not that way. He lived for his art and everyday pleasures. We were poor, but it never felt like it. We were happy.”
“Maybe that was a mirage, too.”
“No. Just like I don’t believe your mother hated your father so badly she decided to cut her sons loose. She loved you.”
“You know nothing about my mother,” he whipped out.
She fell silent, caught between words that couldn’t reach him and the voice inside begging her to touch him and bring him back.
“Cal told me he knew who you were.”
She blinked in surprise. “He knew about me?”
“He didn’t tell me, though.”
“Why?”
His face revealed a flicker of pain. Her heart swelled with the urge to reach for him, comfort him, but she kept still. “Guess he’s come to the conclusion you have—that our parents fell in love and were coming back. He told me I looked so happy with you, he wanted you to tell me the truth yourself.”
She choked back a sob. “Dalton, I never wanted to hurt you. Never. This connection between us has always been there, and I’ve been fighting it from the very first day. But I don’t want to any longer. I realize you’re the man I was meant for, even though it’s been a short time. There’s an emptiness in my core that’s filled when I’m around you. I’ve traveled the world and met a thousand people to try to slake that emptiness, but it all went away when I first saw you.”
His jaw tightened. “I did, too. But what was real and what was a sick way to get closer to the memory of your father?”
She jerked back. “It wasn’t like that!”
“Maybe. Maybe not.”
The rage was back, shaking his body like a storm wind clutching a weak tree branch. Her body hurt, and she moved toward him, desperate to take away the pain and convince him of the truth. She knelt in front of him, her hands resting on his knees. “This is about you and me,” she said. “This is about how you make me feel when you take me in your arms and make me yours.”
“Then prove it.” His eyes glittered like water droplets hitting stone, brilliant under the glare of the sun. “Prove it to me, Raven.”