Page 53 of Hayes

"But we can't," he finished. "The price we pay for being who we are."

Her expression became contemplative.

"What is it?"

"My parents were far from being Parents of the Year or the Decade."

"You are going to make a wonderful mother," he assured her swiftly.

"I would like to think so."

"I have every confidence that you will be the best mother in the world."

"How can you tell?" she asked him achingly.

"Because you are the sweetest person I know. Cammy, you cry for homeless people and would march home or demand that I engage my parents to do something about them."

"My mother thought it was amusing," she reflected. "She used to tell me that I am a bleeding heart, and the world was going to eat me up and spit me out."

"She was wrong," he told her gently. "You are strong where it matters and those are the qualities I want my children to possess."

"Your mother told me some things when she burst into your room."

"What did she say?"

"She knew that my mother propositioned not only your dad, but you as well." Her eyes became shadowed. "She believed I had inherited those traits."

His fingers tightened on her face. "She shouldn't have–"

"She is a mother, Hayes, and I would like to think I will be that fierce. My mother was a parasite and believed that she was in competition with everyone." Leaning over, she kissed him slowly. "I don't blame her for wondering."

He kissed her back. "I know you," he said quietly. "I know you better than anyone else. I know what your ideals are, what you treasure, and how you operate. What matters– the only thing that does is that I know who you are, darling. No one else's opinion means a damn."

She smiled at that as she wrapped her fingers around his wrists. "I agree with you."

"Now," he continued briskly, "we need to revisit the topic of our wedding."

"We cannot have a wedding in December for the obvious reason. We are already in the month." she pointed out.

"January then." He shook his head. "I am not waiting longer than that," he warned.

"I was not going to argue. A New Year's wedding and a new beginning for us."

Chapter 13

Simone stared at herself in the mirror, making certain that everything was in place. She had called him and even though she had his personal number, she had gone through his wretched assistant who had coolly told her in the smug and professional voice of hers that 'Mr. Marsden was currently in a meeting and could not be disturbed.'

The woman had never liked her, and she had been planning on waiting until she was Mrs. Hayes Marsden to insist on her being fired. But that was not going to happen now, she thought bitterly.

Her father has been on her case for her to do something. "Get him in a room alone and take off your clothes. Surely, there must be something you are good for."

So now she was forced to play nice and confront a man who had thrown her over for his childhood sweetheart. It was galling and humiliating, but it had to be done. He had finally gotten back to her, and she had insisted on seeing him. She had suggested he come to her place, but he had refused.

"That would not be wise." He had suggested a very public restaurant. But for what she had in mind, that would do. She was about to play a hand and a lot was hinging on it being a winning one. She had everything in place and had to look the part.

Her father had warned her that there would be no second chance. "Handle this well and you will have my utmost gratitude and approval. Fail and you might as well be dead to me."

She blinked back tears and wished her mother was still alive. What a twist of fate, and what a horrible turn of events that had taken her mother away from her, instead of a man who had wished for a son and gotten a daughter instead.