Into the Fire - Leslie Kelly [73]
She looked like he'd slapped her. "So you think because you and I slept together you know me inside out, huh? You know the real me better than anyone else in my life?"
He held her stare. Finally, he nodded. "Yeah. I do. And I don't want to lose the real you. You've got to make a choice, Lacey. Move gloriously forward. Be supportive and understanding to your family while still being true to yourself. Acknowledge that you're not responsible for the choices and happiness of everyone around you." He paused. "Or move backward. Be ashamed. Hide the truth. Let them make you their dark secret again."
She bit her lip, trying to blink away her tears.
Nate cupped her face, slid his fingers into the silky softness of her hair and pleaded with her. "Please, move forward, Lacey. With me. Be the woman I've fallen in love with."
She gasped, raising a hand to her chest. "That's not fair, Logan . How dare you say that to me now, when you've pulled the rug out from under me? When you've betrayed me?"
"I haven't." He tilted her chin with his index finger and forced her to look into his eyes. "I'm giving you my word. I did not tell Kelsey that J.T. is your father."
She stared at him. Nate met her gaze openly, silently urging her to believe in him. They'd come to know each other so well in the past month, she had to trust him, had to be the open, honest, loving woman he'd come to know, who followed her heart and her instincts instead of her doubts and misgivings.
After a pause that seemed to last forever, her eyes shifted. "I don't believe you." She pulled away. "Now I have to go figure out what to do about this nightmare." Turning, she walked out the door.
Nate died a little inside as he acknowledged the truth. He'd taken a gamble by admitting his love for her. He'd gambled, and he'd lost.
His Lacey was gone.
* * *
Chapter 11
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H er mother, Donna, had already called twice by the time Lacey got home. One of Donna's old college friends lived in Baltimore and had been listening to the show. "The phone lines are crackling tonight," Lacey muttered. Here and probably in Smeltsville , Indiana , too.
In the first message, her mother asked Lacey to call right away to tell her what had happened. In the second, she said not to call tonight. That meant she'd told Lacey's stepfather.
Lacey's first impulse was to get in her car and drive to Indiana . She resisted it. In spite of the pain of the confrontation with Nate at the radio station, she had been listening to what he'd said. He'd been right, in some respects. She couldn't do anything to help her mother at this particular minute. Hell, she couldn't even help herself.
Her heart hurt. Lacey didn't think she'd ever, in her life, felt such a deep sense of loss—not even on the night she'd learned her father wasn't really her father.
Losing Nate, believing he'd betrayed her, knowing she could not be the person he wanted her to be … she'd never imagined she could feel such pain.
* * *
Lacey didn't get a chance to talk to her mother until late Saturday. She avoided calls from the press all day long, not picking up the phone if she didn't recognize the number on her caller ID box. Nate's number never came up.
She spoke with her father once. They had a difficult conversation—J.T. was clearly hurt by Lacey's dismay over what had happened. "You know, there might be some people in the world who wouldn't mind having it revealed that I'm their father, rather than that sanctimonious reverend your mother married."
Lacey sighed. "J.T., I know you're having a hard time understanding this. I'm sorry if it seems like I'm ashamed of you. I'm not."
"It does seem that way and has for a long time."
A month ago, Lacey would have bitten her lip, shed a few tears and pleaded for his forgiveness and understanding. Somehow, today, her response was different. "Welcome to my world," she said softly.
"What?" He sounded shocked.
She cleared her throat. "You heard me. Maybe I understand how you're feeling, J.T.,