It was Gloria.
“What’s wrong, Anthony?” came her calm voice. "You've seemed happier than I've ever seen you, but not today. What's changed?"
His lips were set in a thin line, his eyes unreadable. She didn’t think he was going to answer her.
“What’s changed? Obviously, nothing,” he said, his voice sarcastic. “The woman I’m in love with, the one I want to marry, the one I’ve tried to marry, is still hiding from me. She’s keeping secrets. She won’t let me in.”
“Your Christy is an enigma," Gloria said, nodding her head. "I’ve never met anyone like her, Anthony. She could be sunning herself on the French Riviera or gambling with a James Bond lookalike in Monte Carlo. Heck, she could fly to Italy for a pizza and fly back the same night. And she’s not doing any of those things. She’s here. With you. She spends her days passing out antibiotics and baby formula to hookers. Adopting maimed animals and opening parks and clinics. Why do you think that is?” She tilted her head to one side as she waited for his answer.
“I don’t know,” he told her, his anger subsiding. “I honestly don’t know.”
“Because she loves you, Anthony! How can you not see that?” Gloria asked.
“Because there’s stuff she won’t share with me. Because she won’t marry me,” he huffed.
Gloria gave him a kind smile. “It sounds like she’s hiding something, but I don’t think it has anything to do with whether or not she loves you. And truthfully, you can’t press someone into telling you something they don’t want to.” She looked away and then quickly looked up at him. “Well, I suppose you could,” she said somewhat sheepishly. “But I’m talking more about secrets of the heart.”
He nodded and gave an audible sigh. As if waking up from a dream, he took in his surroundings and realized what he could've done out of anger. If he'd run across the wrong person, he had no doubt he'd have beaten them within an inch of their life.
Swiping his hand through his hair and taking a calming breath he said, "Thanks, Gloria. Thanks for talking to me."
"Anytime, Anthony," she said as she patted his huge arm.
“Did Ron know you were this smart when he married you?” he teased.
“No,” she teased back. “But then again, there’s still a lot Ron doesn’t know about me.” She gave Anthony a wink as she headed for her car.
Chapter Forty-Nine
Naples, Florida 1982
The biker meeting was a few days behind them when Anthony finally had the chance to talk to Kit, who’d agreed to go to the gathering specifically to have some alone time with Christy on Anthony’s behalf. On his way back from an investment meeting in Miami, Anthony stopped at the sprawling ranch house Grizz had built for Kit.
They sat at the kitchen table and talked over coffee. It was just the two of them.
“You’re not betraying a confidence if it’s information I already know, Kit.”
She looked at him sideways. “The reason she’s struggling with telling you is deeper, Anthony, and it should come from her. Not me.”
“I know without even seeing proof that her father raped her and got her pregnant.” An odd expression came over his face then, and he could barely believe the next words that came out of his mouth. “Unless.” He paused. “Unless, it wasn’t rape?” It came out as a question since he couldn’t allow himself to believe it. “Could she have been having consensual sex with her father?”
“No!” Kit was quick to answer. “It absolutely, positively was rape. And you’re right. It was her father.” She saw the guilt on his face for having let himself even think it could’ve been consensual followed by the relief of knowing it wasn’t true.
“She still hasn’t told me she’s pregnant. And I know she’s pregnant so don’t tell me she isn’t.”
“Yes, she’s pregnant. Christy and I snuck away from the meeting and went to a clinic to confirm it.”
“Do you think she hasn’t told me because she doesn’t plan on keeping it?” he asked. He couldn’t mask the pain in his voice.
Kit reached across the table and took his hand. “Anthony, she definitely wants your baby. But she is hiding some things. And they aren’t big awful secrets. But she thinks they are. She told me that you seemed fine when you asked her if Van was Abby’s father, but she still denied it because she couldn’t bear for you to know it’s the truth. And I get that and I believe that it’s not her shame to carry. But she does. And there are other truths she shared with me that you will have to hear from her. Nothing earth-shattering, but it’s messing with her head. If you can get her to tell you, I think it will relieve her anguish.”
“I’ve tried with her, Kit. I’ve never been so patient with anyone in my life. If she won’t open up to me, I can’t think of anyone else who’ll be able to fill me in on what’s really happening in her head.”
Kit looked thoughtful and resting her elbows on the table, she said, “Maybe you should go back to the beginning. Talk to someone who’s always been there.”
Anthony pulled his long hair back behind his shoulders. “You mean Litzy? I finally talked to Litzy and she hasn’t told me anything I don’t already know.”
“Christy told me that Litzy was hired when she was still a baby. Is there anybody who was around before that who could shed some light on this family?” Kit asked.
He slowly shook his head, but then remembered a conversation he’d had with Christy a couple of years ago. They were talking about who she would like to see in charge of the dealerships. She’d suggested Bobbi’s longtime friend and assistant, Valerie. Valerie had been offered the job, but opted for retirement.
He could hear Christy’s words as if she’d spoken them yesterday.
Who better to manage the dealerships than someone who knows my family inside and out? Someone who’d been at Bobbi's side since the beginning?"
Two Days Later
“How long have you known I’m pregnant?” Christy asked, her blue eyes brimming with tears that threatened to spill over.
“Since before we went to the biker meeting,” he answered, pulling her close. He’d taken her to the beach, the same spot where he’d proposed. “What I can’t figure out is why you haven’t told me.”
“Well, I would’ve eventually,” she confessed. “I guess I needed to prepare myself. There is so much about me that is messed up, Anthony.”
They were sitting side by side on the sand, staring out at a crystal blue ocean that didn’t come close to rivaling her eyes.
“I know everything, Christy. I’m pretty sure I know even more than you do.”
She pulled away from him and looked up.
Before she could question him, he said, “I’ve waited more than enough time for you to tell me the real reason you wouldn’t marry me, why you took the birth control pills behind my back, you lied about Litzy being Abby’s mother, about Abby’s paternity. I deserve answers. And I’m not giving you any until you give me some.”