Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 88060 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 440(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88060 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 440(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
Aurora’s brows drew together in confusion, but I went on.
“After finding out how sick she was, I was filled with guilt for having the thoughts I had, and the only thing I knew to do was stay with her and help her through the cancer. Toward the end, Hope accused me of having feelings for you. I didn’t deny it.”
Aurora closed her eyes and did a slight shake of her head, then looked at me and asked, “Wait. What do you mean? Please tell me you didn’t have feelings for me, and that’s why you asked for the divorce.”
“No, you’re not the reason I asked her for the divorce. I honestly wanted to make the marriage work, but I found out that…”
My voice trailed off, and I closed my eyes. Aurora took my hand, and my heart jumped in my chest. Her touch was so soothing, and I could see the concern in her eyes. That was one of the things that attracted me to this woman. Her caring heart. There wasn’t anything she wouldn’t do for anyone.
“I was going through some paperwork looking for something, and I found some legal documents that involved a former coworker of mine.”
“What were they?” she asked with curiosity.
“A restraining order for Hope to stay away from him and documents saying that Winnie’s biological father was giving her up.”
With a quick shake of her head, Aurora let out a disbelieving laugh. “I’m sorry, you said Winnie’s biological father gave up his rights to her, but you’re…”
It was her turn to let her voice trail off before she asked, “Oh my God. You’re not Winnie’s biological father?”
I shook my head. “No, I’m not.”
“Did you know?”
“I had no idea. At the time, Hope and I had been separated, so was this guy. They’d met through work events, so Hope knew him. They had a short love affair, and that’s when she got pregnant. By the time she found out and told him, he had worked things out with his wife and told Hope to stay away from him. He had no desire to raise the baby or even have her in his life. They did a paternity test, and when it came back, he was the father and he made it abundantly clear that he wanted nothing to do with the baby or Hope. So she moved on to plan B.”
Aurora’s hand came up to her mouth as she sucked in a breath. “You were plan B?”
I nodded.
“She lied and told you the baby was yours?”
“Yes, and I didn’t have any reason not to believe her. We’d had sex the night before the split, so I believed her when she said the baby was mine. I had already bought the space for The Muddled Moose and was going to push that onto the back burner when Hope insisted we move to Moose Village and raise our baby. I was thrilled at the idea of moving back home and being closer to my family. Hope’s only worry was my mother. I’m sure you noticed how she treated Hope. She never did care for her, from the very beginning, and she never attempted to not let her know, no matter how many times I told her to stop treating my wife like utter shit. Anyway, that’s a whole other story. After I found the paperwork, I confronted Hope, and she admitted to everything. I then told her I wanted a divorce. I also told her I wasn’t in love with her anymore. I did tell her that I wanted Winnie in my life and that, as far as I was concerned, I was her father. She agreed, and that was that. She didn’t seem the least bit bothered by my confession of not loving her. Or at least it appeared that way. But then you started showing up with Cadie more, and I felt this attraction toward you that I had never felt before. Hope clearly saw it as well but never said anything.”
“Then she got the news of her cancer,” she softly said.
“Yeah. I was filled with so much guilt, I obviously withdrew my petition for divorce. My mother was furious, but I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t leave Hope to fight that on her own.”
“And Winnie?”
“That was a no-brainer. She’s mine. And I told Hope that. I was there the day she was born. I held her and instantly fell in love with her, and I planned on raising her regardless of whether we shared the same DNA or not.”
Aurora sniffled. “Liam, I don’t know what to say. This is a lot of information to take in and process.”
I smiled and took her hand in mine. “There’s more. I need to get it all out.”
She nodded. “O…okay.”
Taking a deep breath, I slowly exhaled. “I started to develop strong feelings for you after the cancer diagnosis. I tried like hell to ignore it. I told myself a million different things to talk myself out of what I was feeling. Hope eventually confronted me, and I told her she was wrong, but she didn’t believe me. That was when she started to push you away.”