One Special Moment - Brenda Jackson [72]
“Oh, how awful.”
Sterling sighed. “I’m surprised Nicholas Chenault wanted me to know.”
Colby pushed herself out of his arms and looked up at him. “Why wouldn’t he want you to know? Angeline Chenault is your mother, too. Evidently she told him the truth, and he feels you should know. I personally think you should be there with him during this time.”
Sterling frowned. “How can you think anything like that? He doesn’t know me. And even if Angeline told him about me, Chenault and I are strangers.”
“The two of you are brothers, Sterling. You can’t hold against him what Angeline Chenault did to you all those years ago. And as far as I’m concerned, you can’t hold it against her anymore, either. She came to you and apologized and tried to make peace.”
Sterling began pacing and muttering before coming back to stand before Colby. A dark scowl covered his face. “Do you know what you’re asking of me?”
She met his gaze. “Yes. I’m asking that you do what you know in your heart is the right thing. I think you should go to the hospital and be with your brother during this time. I have a feeling he needs you.”
“He may resent me being there.”
“I honestly don’t think he will. Otherwise, why would he have tried contacting you?” A confused expression then shone on Colby’s face. “How did he know Kyle Garwood would know how to reach you?”
“It’s well-known in the business world that Kyle and I are business partners on a number of ventures as well as good friends.”
Colby nodded. “Are you going to go?”
Sterling rubbed the back of his neck, still unsure of what he should do. Again, against his will, he felt compassion for the woman who had turned her back on him, and now, thanks to Colby, he was beginning to feel compassion for his brother and what he was probably going through right now.
“I can’t go. We’re just getting back from our honeymoon, and I need to get you settled in. Have you forgotten I’m to fly to Spain next week to begin filming, and—”
“Stop making excuses, Sterling. Mac can meet us at the airport and take me to your home in the mountains. By the time I’m on my way, John can have the plane refueled and ready to fly you where you need to go. I’ll be fine until you return. And I’m sure you’ll get to Spain on time.”
Pulling her close, he wrapped his arms around her waist. “Are you sure?”
“Sure of what?” she asked with a mischievous twinkle in her eyes. “That I’ll be fine until you return or that you’ll make it to Spain on time?”
Sterling grinned as he placed a kiss on her lips. Leave it to Colby to calm and soothe any frazzled situation. “I don’t want to leave you, you know.”
She smiled at his words. That was the first time he had even hinted at the possibility that maybe…just maybe, he liked having her around.
“You have to go, Sterling. It’s time you let go of the past. Your mother asked for your forgiveness, and I think it’s time you gave it to her…before it’s too late.”
Chapter 19
Colby stared out the car window. “What a lovely town. I think I’m going to like living here.”
Mac gave her a dubious look. “If you do, you’ll be the first wife of a Hamilton who did. All the others hated this place.”
She remembered Sterling telling her that. “I don’t see why. Who wouldn’t like living in a quaint and quiet town that’s located within a stone’s throw of the Smoky Mountains?”
“A bunch of bored women with nothing better to do than sit around complaining.”
Colby smiled. She really liked Mac. “How much farther is it to Sterling’s home?” she asked, shifting around in the seat to take a look at a new hospital they had just passed. It seemed they had been riding for quite a while.
“Not much farther. His property is at the very end of town. We’re already in Hamilton, North Carolina.”
Colby raised a brow. “Is it a coincidence or do the Hamiltons have a city named after them?”
“In a manner of speaking it’s named after them. Sterling didn’t tell you all about his family’s history?”
She shook her head. “Other than to mention there haven’t been any girls born into the Hamilton family in over a hundred years, and the