At First Sight - Nicholas Sparks [71]
“So did I.”
“Why would he do something like that?”
“I don’t know,” Jeremy said.
“Because of me? What did I ever do to him? He doesn’t even know me. He doesn’t know us. This was . . .”
“Evil,” Jeremy said, finishing for her. “I know it was.”
“But . . .” She dabbed at an unexpected tear. “He . . . I just don’t . . .”
“I don’t know what to say, either,” Jeremy said. “I’ve been trying to make sense of it since it happened, but the only thing I’ve figured out is that in his own twisted way, he thought he was helping me avoid a potential disaster. It’s sick, I know. In any case, I’m through with him.”
She met his gaze with sudden fierceness. “Why didn’t you tell me about the e-mails earlier?”
“Like I said, I wouldn’t have known what to say. I didn’t know who sent them, I didn’t know why. And then, with everything else . . .”
“Does your family know?”
“About the e-mails? No, I didn’t say anything—”
“No,” Lexie interrupted, trembling. “That you were worried about whether it was your baby.”
“I know it’s my baby.”
“It is your baby,” she said. “I’ve never slept with Rodney. You’re the only one I’ve slept with in years.”
“I know. . . .”
“But I want you to hear me say it. It’s our baby, yours and mine. I swear.”
“I know.”
“But you wondered, didn’t you.” Her voice was beginning to crack. “Even if it was only for an instant, you wondered about it. First you find me over at Rodney’s, and then you discover that I hadn’t told you about being pregnant before, and with all your other stress . . .”
“It’s okay.”
“No, it’s not. You should have told me. If I’d known any of this . . . we could have gone through all this together.” She struggled for self-control.
“It’s over, okay? There’s nothing we can do about it, and we’ll get through this and move on.”
“You must have hated me.”
“I never hated you,” he said, pulling her close. “I love you. We’re getting married next week, remember?”
She turned her face into his chest, finding comfort in the circle of his arms. In time, she sighed. “I don’t want to see Alvin at the wedding.”
“I don’t, either. But there’s something else I have to tell you.”
“No, I don’t want to hear it. Not just yet. I’ve had enough shock for one day.”
“This is good,” he promised. “You’ll want to hear this.”
She looked up at him, as if hoping he wasn’t lying.
“Thank you,” he said.
“For what?”
With a gentle smile, he kissed her on the lips. “For the letters you sent to my family. Especially my mother. It’s those things that remind me that marrying you is the best thing I’ll ever do.”
Thirteen
A cold, slashing rain, unseasonable in its fury, crashed water against the windows in waves. The gray clouds, which had drifted in uneventfully the night before, brought with them morning mist and a wind that shook the last of the blossoms from the dogwood trees. It was early May, and there were only three days until the wedding. Jeremy had made arrangements to meet his parents at the Norfolk airport, where they’d follow him in a rented car to Cape Hatteras Lighthouse in Buxton. Until they arrived, he busied himself with helping Lexie make final calls to verify that everything was ready.
The gloomy weather did nothing to dampen the renewed passion Lexie and Jeremy felt for each other. On the night he’d returned, they made love with an intensity that surprised them both, and he could vividly recall the electric feel of her skin against his own. It was as if, in their lovemaking, they were trying to erase all of the pain and betrayals, the secrets and anger, of the past few months.
Once the burden of their respective secrets had been removed, Jeremy felt lighter than he had in months. With his impending marriage, he had a valid excuse to avoid thinking about work and had little trouble doing so. He went jogging twice and made the decision to take it up regularly again as soon as the wedding was behind him. Although the renovations on the house weren’t complete, the contractor promised that they would be able to move in well before the baby was born. It would probably be the end