Destiny (19 page)

She looked into his understanding eyes, obviously stunned. “You’re the first person who asked about me.”

“Get used to it,” Nash said in a deep voice he barely recognized. He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close.

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep,” she whispered.

“Kelly—”

“Let’s go!” Tess shouted at them. “We’re leaving.”

“Coming,” Kelly said, abruptly turning away.

Nash groaned. Fine, they’d continue this discussion later.

They all walked out to the car, Dare maintaining a safe distance from Nash. He knew he’d have to deal with his brother eventually, but Dare didn’t seem inclined to talk and Nash was still too pissed to think rationally.

They’d lingered in the gymnasium so long the parking lot was fairly empty. No sooner had they walked toward their cars when a woman stepped out of the shadows.

“Tess, come say hi to your momma!”

Sixteen

Ethan grabbed Tess’s hand and Nash supported Kelly
with an arm around her waist.

The overhead lighting was dim, but Nash was able to make out Leah Moss’s bleach blond hair. She had similar features to Kelly, but her nose and jaw were more angular and harsh. Kelly was softness and warmth. Tess, it seemed, resembled Nash’s side more than her mother.

“Aren’t you going to give me a hug?” Leah held her arms out to Tess, gold bracelets jangling in the silence.

Nash glanced at his sister, who’d shrunk into Ethan’s broad body. Looking at her pale, frightened face, his heart nearly broke in two. She stared at her mother as if she were looking at a ghost. Tess didn’t respond or run over for an I-missed-you hug.

“What are you doing here?” Kelly asked, her voice colder than Nash had ever heard.

Leah gripped her small silver purse tighter in her fingers. “I want to see my girls. Is that a crime?”

Ethan knelt down until he was at Tess’s eye level. “Do you want to see your mother now?”

The teenager shook her head back and forth almost violently.

Ethan rose and placed his hand on Tess’s shoulder. “Dare, Faith, take Tess home,” Ethan instructed.

“Tess, baby, it’s me, Mommy!” Leah called to her.

“Not now,” Kelly bit out.

In tense silence, Faith and Dare each held out a hand. Tess eagerly grabbed for them and let them lead her away.

Kelly waited until Tess was out of earshot before turning to her mother. “It’s not bad enough that you left without saying good-bye, but you have to show up the same way? You upset her.” She folded her arms across her chest.

“That’s not fair, Kelly.”

Nash thought it was pretty damned accurate.

The wind blew around them, as cold and unfeeling as this woman apparently was.

Leah cleared her throat. “Roger Grayson told me you were looking for me.”

“And you didn’t have to travel far to get to us. Were you waiting in the parking lot?” Kelly asked in disgust. “Instead, you sent a strange man in to scare Tess. A private investigator you hired to dig up dirt on your own daughter.”

“You packed up and left Manhattan. I had to know what I was dealing with before I saw you again.” Leah whined her explanation.

Kelly let out a laugh that Nash knew held a world of hurt. “You mean keeping in touch with me never occurred to you before now? Checking on Tess never crossed your mind?” She raised an eyebrow, her expression as cool as her eyes when she looked at her mother.

To Leah’s credit, and Nash gave her very little, the woman glanced down, appearing ashamed. “I had to get myself together before I could come back.”

“You mean you had to find a man to take care of you?” Kelly asked. “I heard you were married. Forgive me if I don’t congratulate you.”

“I can’t believe you aren’t happy for me,” Leah said, pouting, like a little girl.

“Mom, go home, okay?” Kelly said, sounding exhausted.

Over Kelly’s head, Ethan met Nash’s gaze. They’d just been given a glimpse into how Kelly had had to parent her own mother.

Nash studied Leah, trying hard to see what had drawn his father and allowed him to betray his family. Whereas Nash’s mother had had a natural beauty, Leah, in her form-fitting red dress with shirring, clearly meant to call attention to attributes Nash doubted were God given. Instead of making her look younger, Leah looked old and used. Alcohol had probably contributed. Hell, maybe her artificial looks had been attractive when she was younger, but Nash couldn’t see any beauty now. And given how she’d treated her children, there wasn’t much inside to like either.

“I can’t go home,” Leah insisted. “We need to talk first.”

Kelly would have laughed at her mother if this whole situation weren’t so pathetic. If she wasn’t doing everything she could to stay on her feet. The last thing she’d expected was her mother to show up now. But as soon as the PI had said who hired him, Kelly realized she should have.

Impulsive, selfish, that was Leah. No thought to what was good for anyone but herself. “What do you want?” Kelly asked her mother again, eager to get rid of her.

Kelly didn’t want to be around her any more than she wanted Nash and Ethan subjected to their father’s onetime lover.

“I don’t think we should have this conversation in front of them.” Leah pointed at the men without meeting their eyes.

“Why not?” Kelly asked. “We’re not going to talk about me. You want to talk about Tess. And she’s
their
sister too. Unless you’ve forgotten that you slept with their father?”

“Kelly!” Leah said, horrified, her perfectly red lips opening in an
O
.

Kelly rolled her eyes. “It’s a little late to be embarrassed, don’t you think?”

Leah dragged her gaze upward, looking from Nash to Ethan for the first time.

Uncomfortable silence followed.

“You both have your father’s good looks,” she said at last.

Nash remained quiet.

Ethan glared.

“Kelly, please. We need to talk alone.”

Kelly shook her head, confused. She knew her mother wanted custody of Tess. She just didn’t know why. Why had her mother discovered her parenting genes all of a sudden? And what did her new marriage have to do with bringing her daughter home? Kelly was dying to know but until Leah mentioned the word
custody
, Kelly would be damned if she’d give her the opening.

“Nash and Ethan stay,” Kelly said.

Nash shrugged. “We stay,” he told Leah.

Ethan didn’t have to utter a word. His dark, dominating visage said it all.

“Your father loved you boys,” Leah said unexpectedly.

Kelly sucked in a startled breath and looked at Nash.

He winced but kept quiet.

“If their father loved them so much, he shouldn’t have cheated on their mother,” Kelly muttered.

Leah kicked a foot petulantly against the blacktop. “It always comes down to that, doesn’t it?”

Kelly braced herself for the oncoming tantrum. Heaven knew she’d lived through enough of them. “To what?” she asked.

“To me having an affair. You’ve always looked down on me because of my relationship with Mark Barron.”

“Because he was married! You knowingly slept with a man who had a wife and three young children!” And Kelly couldn’t stand the thought or the sight of her mother since she’d found out.

Dimly she was aware of Nash and Ethan surrounding her on both sides, the conversation as awkward and awful for them as it was for her.

Her mother strode up to her, invading her space, wagging a finger in Kelly’s face. “My God, you’re a judgmental hypocrite. But you were no better than me when you slept with Ryan Hayward!” her mother spat back.

The words hit Kelly like a slap and she struggled for air. “Ryan was legally separated,” she said through gritted teeth. “I made damned sure I saw papers before I got involved with him because I had no desire to be like you.” She trembled with hurt and rage.

Her mother had been around during the time she’d been involved with Ryan. She just happened to take off while Kelly had been trying to cope with the end of the affair, the pain and the betrayal. Not that Leah had cared about her older daughter’s emotional well-being. Nobody’s feelings mattered but her own.

The lump in Kelly’s throat grew larger and tears threatened, making her unable to speak or fight back.

Leah had no such trouble. “It’s so easy for you to judge,” she went on. “Why is that? Where does that moral righteousness come from? You met Ryan while you were working as an escort! Where do you get off judging me?” Leah asked, sounding hysterical now.

Kelly whipped around, her gaze darting from her mother and the vile words she spewed to Nash and the stunned expression of disbelief on his face.

“How the hell would you know that?” Kelly asked, horrified.

“Escort?” Beside her, Nash stiffened and Kelly’s entire world crashed around her.

“It’s not as bad as it sounds,” Kelly said, the words sounding pathetic and lame, even to her.

“It’s in the reports my investigator gave me,” Leah mumbled, sounding at least a touch ashamed of the route she’d taken.

Not that it mattered. Nothing did.

“That’s it,” Ethan said suddenly. He stepped forward, placing his hand beneath Leah’s elbow and leading her away from Kelly, giving her much-needed breathing room.

“You have no right to speak to your daughter that way. Her situation was nothing like yours. She was the victim. And a decent mother wouldn’t use her painful past against her. You’ve had your say, and now it’s time for you to leave.”

“What the hell is going on?” Nash asked. “What does Ethan know that I don’t?”

Nausea swept through her and Kelly’s knees threatened to buckle.

“I’m going.” Leah shook free of Ethan’s grasp. “I didn’t want it to be this way, Kelly. I thought when I came back you’d be happy to give your sister back to me and get on with your life. Then I discovered you didn’t even keep her. You pawned her off on half brothers she didn’t even know.”

“That’s not what happened!” Kelly yelled at her, tears streaming down her face.

She’d done her best for Tess. Her very best until she was afraid of losing her sister altogether. Giving her to Ethan had been a last, desperate resort to save Tess, not dump her.

“Shh,” Nash said, softly, wrapping his arms around her and holding her tight, but Kelly sensed his confusion and knew once he understood everything in her past and, worse, that his brother already knew, his feelings of betrayal would end anything good they’d shared.

“I didn’t mean to hurt you, Kelly. I’m your mother and I love you. But you judge me so harshly and I just wanted to point out that in reality, you’re no better than me.”

Kelly shook her head, wanting to deny those words with everything in her. But her mother was right. And that was what Kelly had been running from for so long.

Unaware of her thoughts, her pain, Leah continued on. “I’m Tess’s mother. And I want her back.” Leah straightened her shoulders, trying to pull herself together. “The next time you hear from me it’ll be through my lawyer.”

“Why?” The word ripped from Kelly’s chest. “You hated being a mother. You weren’t a parent when you were home. Why in the world would you want her back now?”

Leah glanced away. “My husband has money, so don’t think I won’t fight you.” She turned and headed across the lot to her own car.

“You won’t get Tess,” Kelly called to her mother’s retreating back. “I’ll fight you in court. Ethan, Nash, Dare, and I will fight you. You aren’t worthy of being her mother!”

Kelly’s legs shook so badly as Ethan unlocked the car door that Nash had to lower her into the passenger’s seat of his truck.

“Calm down,” he said gruffly. “Take deep breaths.”

She slowly drew in air and let it out, over and over until the anger and dizziness receded. “I’m okay,” she said.

“Are you sure?” Ethan asked, concern etching his features.

Nash kept a comforting hand on her shoulder.

“Yes. I’m sorry you had to deal with her.”

Ethan shook his head. “It’ll be okay. I’m sure she has enough skeletons for us to dig up and use. Tess isn’t going anywhere.”

“He’s right,” Nash said. “I have a great guy on my payroll. I’ll call him first thing in the morning.”

“Good, since my guy couldn’t manage to locate Leah before she found us,” Ethan said in disgust.

“We need to find out why she wants Tess.” Kelly’s gut told her the answer to that question was the key to beating Leah in court.

“We will,” Nash promised.

Kelly glanced up at Ethan. “You need to get home to Tess. She’s going to be upset and confused.” Just like Kelly was. “Do you want me to come over?” she offered.

“Ethan can handle Tess,” Nash said. “We need to talk.” His fingers suddenly tightened on her shoulder.

Her stomach cramped and she forced herself to meet his gaze. One look and she saw how quickly things between them had changed. Gone was the desire in his eyes from the stairwell earlier. Instead, there was wariness and distrust, two things she never wanted him to feel toward her.

She swallowed hard. “I know we do. Can you handle Tess?” she asked Ethan.

“Of course.” He shot her an apologetic glance. “I’ll have Tess call you later,” he promised.

“Thanks.” She rose to her feet and shut the door to his car.

Ethan raised his hand in good-bye. He climbed into his Jag, started the engine, and drove away, leaving Kelly to face the man she loved.

Nash’s wary stare merely cemented the reason Kelly had told him not to make promises he couldn’t keep. When someone Nash cared about disappointed him, he shut them out. And she knew her news would do that and more. It had been seductive to think she could rely on him, but as her mother taught her, then Ryan, people rarely stayed around.

So though she loved Nash and had foolishly allowed herself to believe they might have a future, she’d been deluding herself. She was now facing both him and the end.

Nash’s gut cramped as he studied Kelly. Shaken and
upset, he knew now wasn’t the time to push her for answers, but he had no choice.

More revelations. More secrets. More lies. He wondered if they’d ever end.

“What haven’t you told me that my brother already knows?” he asked, keeping his distance as he spoke.

“I want to do this but I need to sit.”

He glanced around and caught sight of a swing set on the nearby grass. “Come on.”

She followed him to the large iron swing, lowering herself into one.

He leaned against the metal support bar, arms folded across his chest. He hated this feeling of being in the dark and he was dealing with it way too often lately.

“What did your mother mean about you being an escort? And why did Ethan seem to already know everything?” he asked, sounding cold and unable to help it.

Kelly concentrated on kicking the dirt beneath her feet. Though she sat on the swing looking lost and alone, he found himself unable to offer her warmth and comfort, not until he’d heard it all. And maybe not after.

She curled her fingers tighter around the swing’s chains. “You already know I didn’t want to get involved with another man who had ties to his ex. That’s because I was in a serious relationship with a man in Manhattan. His name is Ryan Hayward and he works for a large investment firm there.”