Page 53 of Seeking Happily Ever After

He swallowed hard. “My hands are tied, Char. I have to—”

“Your hands are tied?” She glared at him and it killed him inside that he’d hurt her so badly but despite how he’d behaved, she was still willing to be there for him, and more importantly, Amelia. “How can you say that? After everything. The lies, the deceit, andnowyou’re saying your hands are tied?” She choked on a laugh and shook her head.

“Charlotte, I’m so sorry.” He tried to reach for her, but she pulled away.

“Don’t apologize, Nick.” When she turned back to him, her eyes shone with unshed tears. “Not to me.” She bit her bottom lip. “You need to apologize to that little girl in there. Because…” Her words were lost on a sob. He waited while she took in a deep breath. She opened her mouth, but closed it again and shook her head.

There were no words that could have possibly cut him deeper than the way she looked at him in that moment.

Charlotte turned and walked across the room so she stood in front of Jessica and Amelia, who started to fuss. The baby reached for Charlotte and smiled when she saw her. Charlotte reached out a finger and Amelia instantly wrapped a chubby fist tightly around it. Tears fell down Charlotte’s face as she looked at the baby, trying to communicate in a simple touch.

It was such a sweet moment, hot tears pricked at Nick’s eyes.

A sob escaped Charlotte and an instant later, Jessica yanked Amelia away. The baby cried in protest and Jessica immediately started patting her back and bouncing her, causing the baby to cry harder.

Nick moved instinctively toward Amelia, and he saw that Char had moved to do the same, but she caught herself before reaching out. Instead, she again wrapped her arms around her waist, turned to look at Nick with tears streaming down her face, shook her head, turned, and ran out of the guest house.

ChapterFifteen

Charlotte didn’t knowwhere to go but she knew she couldn’t stay at the house. She couldn’t stand by while Nick just handed over Amelia to a total stranger.A total stranger who had abandoned her baby once before. An addict. A…

It didn’t matter that Jessica was her mother. Not to Charlotte. It took more than blood and DNA to be a mother. And maybe everyone deserved a second chance, but Charlotte could not bring herself to think that way. Not yet. Not like this. Not when it came to Amelia.

She deserved better.

Char drove her car through a veil of tears, down the winding roads. She couldn’t go to her parents or to Jeremy. How could she admit that she’d been so very wrong? She’d basically insisted that they trust her instincts on this, that she was doing the right thing.Her instincts?What a joke. Obviously she couldn’t trust her gut. Not when she’d been so sure that Nick was an amazing father who’d do anything for his little girl.

He wouldn’t protect her now, and she couldn’t stand by and watch it happen.

She’d been so wrong.

The reality of it all hit her like a brick. She’d twisted her entire life up for him. The lying and acting and…falling.She’d totally fallen for him, and none of it had been true. She’d been so stupid to let herself think it could be anything. That itwasanything. When obviously he didn’t consider her the same way. Hell, he didn’t consider her at all if he couldn’t be bothered to tell her what was going to happen.

Clearly, she wasn’t nearly as ready to move on from her past as she’d thought. She couldn’t trust her gut then, and it was painfully obvious, she couldn’t trust it now.

She swallowed back another sob.

The pain in her chest was almost too much to bear. A double whammy. She’d fallen in love with both of them—Nick and Amelia. And she’d fallen hard. And now…

Charlotte wasn’t sure where she was going, until she turned down the road that would lead to Lynx Creek.

The cabins.

Surely, Stephanie wouldn’t mind if she stayed for a little bit in one of the cabins. She just needed a bit of time. Some space before going…well, she’d figure that out after.

She drove up the hill, toward the cabin that she’d been working on last. TheLumberjackcabin. It was the most private. She’d be able to cry and feel sorry for herself in peace.

Char ignored her ringing phone as she parked her car behind the little cabin. Whoever it was, she didn’t want to talk to them. She had nothing to say to Nick and everyone else…she didn’t feel like talking. She needed to be left alone so she could pull her thoughts together and figure out what she was going to do and where she was going to go. Her heart hurt way too much to formulate a reasonable thought of any kind. What she really needed was a good cry.

And that’s just what she did. She left her phone in the car, and didn’t even bother opening the front door to the cabin. Instead, she dropped to the porch floor and pulled her legs up into her chest, tucked her head down and cried for everything that had just happened and all the things that she couldn’t even begin to understand.

She’d been so stupid letting her guard down again for Nick.

He was different.

Wrong.

He wasn’t different. He was another man who filled her with lies to get what he wanted from her. He’d used her and worse, he’d made her fall in love with him.

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