Page 121 of Summer Weddings
“Give me one good reason to stay,” she invited.
He walked past her and into the room. As he moved, he shoved his fingers through his hair. Unable to stand still, he paced the area like a man possessed.
“I love you, and I’m not saying that because there’s another man wanting to dance with you. I’m saying it because I can’t imagine living without you.” He stopped, his eyes imploring. “I need you, Bethany. I didn’t know how much until I discovered you were gone.”
“You love me?”
“I haven’t given you much reason to believe that, have I? There are reasons… I know you don’t want to listen to excuses, and I don’t blame you. Bethany, I’m not saying any of this for Chrissie. I need you forme.I love you forme.” He paused and dragged in an uneven breath.
All at once it didn’t seem fair to mislead him any further. “I’m not going anywhere,” she confessed. “I was coming back, and when I did, I planned to work all of this out with you.”
He closed his eyes as if a great weight had been lifted from him.
“I need to settle things with someone else, too,” she said.
“Ben.” His eyes held hers. “He wants to talk to you.”
Bethany struggled to control her emotions before she asked, “He told you?”
Mitch nodded. “You’re his daughter.”
“He admitted that?” Her eyes welled with tears.
Again he nodded.
“Is he all right? I shouldn’t have said anything—you don’t know how much I regret it.” She found it difficult to maintain her composure. “I shouldn’t have confronted him the way I did. I can only guess what he must think. Please,” she begged, “tell him I don’t expect anything of him. I realize he lied, but I understand. I don’t blame him. Who knows what any of us would have done in similar circumstances.”
“He wants to talk to you himself.”
“He doesn’t need to say a word. I understand. Please assure him for me that I don’t want anything from him,” she said again.
“You can tell him yourself. He’s here.”
“Here?”
“Actually he’s downstairs in the bar waiting. We tossed a coin to see which of us got to speak to you first. I won.”
He gestured to the bed. “Please sit,” he said. “This seems to be a time for confessions.” Bethany obediently perched on the edge of the bed and looked up at him expectantly.
“There’s something important you need to know about me,” he said. “I should’ve told you sooner—I’m sorry I didn’t. After I’ve told you, you can decide what you want to do. If you’d rather not see me again…well, you can decide that later.”
“Mitch, what is it?”
He couldn’t seem to stay in one place. “I love you, Bethany,” he said urgently. “I’m not a man who loves easily. There’s only been one other woman I’ve felt this strongly about.”
“Your wife,” she guessed.
“I—I don’t know where to start.” Mitch threw her a look of anguish.
“Start at the beginning,” she coaxed gently, patiently. She’d waited a long time for Mitch to trust her enough to tell her about his past.
He resumed his pacing. “I met Lori while we were in college. I suppose our history was fairly typical. We fell in love and got married. I joined the Chicago Police Department, and our lives settled down to that of any typical young couple. Or so I thought.”
He paused, and it seemed to Bethany that the light went out of his eyes.
“I see,” she said quietly. “Go on.”
Moving to stand in front of her, he said, “Chrissie was born, and I was crazy about her from the first. Lori wanted to be a good mother. I believe that, and I believe she tried. She honestly tried. But she was accustomed to being in the workforce and mingling with other people, and staying home with the baby didn’t suit her. About this time, I was assigned to Narcotics. From that point, my schedule became erratic. I rarely knew from one week to the next what my hours would be.”
