Chapter 33

Scott

We stayed cuddled up at my house for as long as we could on Sunday, neither of us wanting to face Mark with the news. It was important though, and it was better to rip the Band-Aid off than to slowly let him in on the secret. Cassie received a text from her father around three that let her know he had arrived home safely. She showed me the text, and I nodded at her, rubbing my hands over her back. We dressed in nicer clothes and fixed ourselves up before heading out to the house. The car ride over was silent, and Cassie sat there grasping my hand tightly, relying on me for support.

She cracked her window and breathed in the warm summer night air as we pulled up to the gate and headed down the driveway. I parked the car and sat there for a minute, looking over at her to see her expression. She looked terrified, and I didn’t blame her. My nerves were on end as well.

“Hey,” I said, smiling. “This is going to be okay. I am right here with you, and I will not leave you alone in this. We are a team, okay?”

“Yeah,” she said and smiled.

I got out of the car and walked around to open her door and help her out. She clung to me for dear life, and I held her hand tightly as we made our way up to the front door. By the time I reached the top steps, my breathing had escalated and my mind was running faster than my thoughts could catch up. I looked over at Cassie, grabbing her hand before she knocked.

“I want to ask you one last time,” I said. “You are one hundred percent sure that you want me here with you? I don’t want to make matters worse.”

“You won’t,” she said. “We are a family, and we will share whatever burden my father brings down on us. You are my family now, and though he is too, you are my future, and the future father of this baby. I want him to see that you are my partner and that I won’t back down from this.”

“I will always be there for you no matter what,” I said. “We can make it through this, and when we do, we will all be stronger for it.”

“Absolutely,” she said. “You ready?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be.”

She reached up and rang the doorbell, then dropped her hand and grabbed mine tightly. The wait at the front door felt like it was an eternity, and when the sound of Mark’s shoes tapping across his marble foyer echoed in my ears, my heart pounded faster. Cassie looked up at me and smiled, tightening her grip on my hand. We both looked forward as Mark slowly pulled open the door and stared out at Cassie.

“Cassie,” he said. “Why didn’t you just use your key?”

“Father, we need to talk to you,” she said. “This is very important, and I need you to take a deep breath before you react.”

He looked confused and shifted his focus over to me, and his jaw clenched. Slowly, his eyes trailed down between us to our hands clasped tightly. I was afraid she would fold and pull her hand away, but she didn’t. She stood strong by my side, grasping my hand even tighter. I took in a deep breath and looked over at Cassie and then back at Mark.

“Sir,” I said, nodding my head in greeting. “It’s good to see you again.”

“What the hell is this? You two come knocking on my door after I have been gone all weekend? What in the world changed in that short amount of time? I knew I should have never let you stay home without someone looking out for you,” he said.

“Father, stop,” Cassie said firmly. “This is not up for debate. We came here to talk to you like adults. There is no reason, if you respect me, to blow up before you even hear us out. You and I have always been able to talk to each other, and I really need this to be one of those moments that you open up and let us talk, regardless of the fact that Scott is here.”

I looked back as a truck pulled up in the driveway and the landscaping crew jumped out, getting things ready to do their work. The head guy waved at us from the driveway, and I nodded as Cassie smiled and Mark waved back. We turned back to Mark and stared at him, waiting for him to make a decision.

“We can talk right here if that is really what you want,” Cassie said.

“No.” He sighed, moving to the side. “There’s no reason to get so upset.”

Cassie smiled sweetly at me, and we walked into the house. I thought it was strange that he had a change of heart so quickly, but it could have been for other reasons. One thing I knew about Cassie’s dad was that he was an incredibly private man when it came to his family. In his entire career, even being one of the richest men in the country, he had never been known for a scandal. He kept his secrets close to his chest and somehow managed to keep the bad quiet every time. It was amazing what a large check could do in a small town like ours. He could buy just about anyone’s secrecy without much fuss at all.

“Let’s go into the living room,” he grumbled. Then he looked at the maid. “You can take a break, Melinda.”

“Gracias,” she said, bowing her head and smiling at Cassie as if they knew each other well.

I looked around as I walked through the big open front room and into the living room. There were pictures all over the walls of Cassie, her mother—who looked just like her—and the family all together. I wasn’t sure how I had managed to miss all of those when I was there earlier that day, but my mind had been preoccupied with other things at the time. When we walked into the room, I stood next to Cassie, and her father strolled over to the window and stared out at the perfectly manicured backyard, complete with an in-ground swimming pool and pool house in the distance.

“Father, why don’t you sit down,” Cassie said.

“No. I think I’d rather stand,” he said, his eyes still fixed out the window.

“Fine,” Cassie said with a sigh. “Scott and I are here to tell you that we have made the decision that, against your better judgment, we are going to be in a relationship. Now, you made it perfectly clear when you fired him from the company that you do not approve of us being together, but that is something that is not your choice. This is my life, our life now, and I will live it how I please, whether it is down the route you wanted it to go or not. At some point, you are going to have to let go of the idea of always being in charge.”

“I knew you were a strong-minded girl when you were born,” he said, not looking at us. “You have the fire and spirit of your mother, never wanting to take advice, never wanting to do things the right way, never wanting to make choices that are actually in your own best interest. For a moment there, when you came home, I really thought you were serious about changing your future, pursuing something that had long-term viability, doing your family proud and carrying on the legacy that I built, but that was short lived. So, this is what you are deciding? To throw away your life on some random guy with no real future ahead of him? And if so, what did you even come here to ask me? It is obvious that you are going to do whatever you want no matter how I feel about it.”

“I didn’t come here to ask permission,” Cassie said. “I came here to tell you, to talk to you about it, to try to keep you in my life. You think Scott is just some random guy, some fling that will be over and done with in the blink of an eye, but you are wrong. If you think I would change everything for something like that, then you don’t really know me at all. The truth is, this is no fling. I love this man, and I am prepared to spend the rest of my life trying to make up for what you did to him.”

Cassie’s words surprised me. I knew we were back together, but I didn’t know she was so in love with me. It was the first time I had heard the words come out of her mouth. It was strange considering we had spent our entire relationship hiding from other people. To be open and out about it was like taking things to a whole new level. I smiled at Cassie as she pulled the sonogram from her pocket and held it in her hands. Her father was still not looking at her, but she was about to get his attention.

“And then there is this,” she said, tapping him on the shoulder and handing him the picture of the baby. “I’m pregnant. I thought you would want to know being that you are pretty much my only parent since Mom has disappeared from our lives. You will be the only grandfather this child has since Scott’s father passed away years ago.”

He looked down at the picture and walked over to the chair, plopping down and grasping the paper in his hands. He sat there silently, staring, and I walked over to Cassie and rubbed my hand over her back. This was hard for her, but I was hoping that picture was what it was going to take to snap him out of his selfish stance toward her and us. However, the longer he sat there, the more his expression changed. He went from straight-faced and calm to red-faced and livid in about three seconds flat. His hands shook as he clutched the picture of the baby. He whispered something, and we both stepped forward.

“What, Daddy?” Cassie said.

“I said get out,” he said calmly. Then he yelled. “Get the fuck out of my house, both of you!”

The calm smile disappeared from Cassie’s face, and she walked over to her father, grabbed the sonogram picture, and turned back to me. I sighed and followed behind her as she left the house and her father, who had nothing constructive to say at all. We walked out of the front doors and straight to the car, where I opened her door quickly and helped her inside. When I got in the driver’s seat, she looked at me, tears glistening in the corners of her eyes. Immediately, she started to sob, shaking her head and leaning forward into my arms.

“I can’t believe him,” she cried. “Not even the baby was enough to sway him.”

“Give him time,” I said, running my fingers through her hair. “It’s a shock to him like it was to you and to me. Let the idea settle, and if you still haven’t heard back from him in a week, we will come back. Okay? It’s not good for you to be this upset.”

“All right,” she said with a sniffle. “You’re right. I expected this reaction. Now I just have to wait and see.”

I really hoped I was right. Cassie’s future happiness depended on it.