A Silken Thread - Brenda Jackson [92]
She paused a moment before continuing. “I know that’s no excuse for what I did, for what we did, but it happened. And now…it’s over between us.”
Brian shifted in his chair again. “But you said you loved him.”
“I do and I won’t take that back. But loving him is causing others pain and I can’t let that happen.”
“Are you aware that he’s asked Karen for a divorce?”
She nodded. “Yes, but he had planned to do that anyway, before he even met me. However, he wanted to wait until after the wedding. I am not the cause of their divorce.”
“She’s saying that you are.”
“Then she is wrong.”
Brian looked at her with dark eyes that were so much like Patrick’s. “You say you love him, yet you’re giving him up,” he said. “Because of me and Erica?”
She smiled slightly when she felt a single tear fall from her eye. “Yes, but then I never should have had him in the first place. What I did was wrong and I admit that. What I should have done was wait until he was a free man.”
“And had he come to you a ‘free’ man you would have gotten involved with him?”
“Yes, because I’d fallen in love with him.”
When Brian didn’t say anything but sat there for a long while, she finally asked, “Is there anything else you want to ask me about the situation?”
“Yes, do you believe that he loves you?”
She lifted her chin and met his direct, penetrating gaze. She saw no point in telling him that Wilson had told her several times that he did, and she believed him every time he’d whispered the words to her. She knew in her heart that Wilson loved her as much as she loved him. But this was one time love wouldn’t be enough.
“Mom?”
She swallowed hard. “It doesn’t matter if he does or not.”
Brian stood up and she tilted her head to look up at him. When he reached out his hand to her, she took it and he gently tugged her to her feet, as well. She felt the strength in the hands that held hers and she appreciated it at that moment.
“I think it will matter, Mom, especially if what you believe about his feelings for you are true. I’ve told Erica that what happened between Wilson and you doesn’t concern us, and eventually she’ll see that it doesn’t. You and Wilson have to live your lives, like Erica and I have to live ours. You’re my mother and I will always love you, no matter what.”
His words caused a rush of breath from Rita’s lungs and she leaned warily against him, lowering her head to his chest when she felt more tears fall from her eyes. Her son was a man she was proud of. He loved her no matter what and she couldn’t ask for more than that.
When he wrapped his arms around her, she couldn’t help but let even more tears fall. Right now she needed his strength and he was unselfishly giving it.
She lifted her head and gazed up at him through wet lashes. “I’m sorry for hurting you and for letting you down,” she whispered brokenly.
He shook his head. “Something I’ve realized since meeting Erica is that love makes no demands, it provides no ultimatums and it refuses to accept any regrets. What it does is embrace life and promise happiness even when you’re going through the worst part of a storm. There will be better and brighter days at the end.”
She swiped at her eyes. “You actually believe that?”
He smiled as he tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “Yes, Mom, I actually believe that.”
She couldn’t decide if her son was a romantic, a realist or a revolutionist. And at that particular moment, for her it truly didn’t matter. She wanted to believe what he said and decided that she would.
Chapter Twenty-Six
“Are you all right, Erica?
Erica forced a smile on her lips as she placed her book down in her lap. “I’m fine, Mom, why do you ask?”
Karen shrugged her shoulders. “You seem annoyed about something.”
Erica shook her head. “No, I’m fine.”
She resumed reading her book while thinking what she’d told her mother just now was a bald-faced lie if ever there was one. She wasn