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“I can’t imagine that.”
“Oh yeah. Sex, drugs and rock' n' roll. The whole nine yards. You know me, if I’m going to commit to something, it’s with my whole ass. But I was in so much pain and it all came out as anger, because they just wouldn’t listen to me. My heart hurt so much that I didn’t know what else to do to cope with it. One time, we got into a huge fight because I’d come home late. I was nearly eighteen, about to finish high school, and they still wanted to set my bed time. Such bullshit. So yeah, we fought. I was crying and so mad. I just screamed at them, ‘I hate you! You’re not even my real parents!’”
The thought of a young Scarlett, hurting and lashing out in anguish, tugged at my heart. “I’m guessing that didn’t go well.”
Scarlett let out a humorless laugh. “My dad slapped me across the face and said, ‘We’re the only parents you’ve got, you ungrateful brat. You should be glad we took you in.’ Can youbelieve that? As if they had only done it as an act of charity and now I owed them for the cushy life they’d given me.”
Jesus fuck, I couldn’t deal with this. But who was I to say anything against it? “Scarlett, I’m so sorry you had to go through that. You didn’t deserve it. What they did was unforgivable.”
“Yeah, well, it’s all in the past now. Forgive and forget, you know.”
I shook my head adamantly. “You had every right to be a mess. The way they treated you...” Words failed me as an inexplicable need to protect her, to take away her pain, almost overwhelmed me. Until I remembered I wasn’t the man for that. “I’m surprised you still talk to them.”
“I didn’t, for a while. I went away to college and basically didn’t speak to them for four years. Didn’t even come home for Christmas. Didn’t respond to their messages on my birthday.”
“That sounds fair enough to me. But obviously, bridges were mended somehow?”
“I put myself through therapy, which helped a bit. Still, I didn’t invite them to my graduation. It was after that, that Dad reached out. Of course, he never apologized, just said enough is enough, it’s upsetting your mother. I’ve always had a sneaking suspicion that Dad wanted the clout of having a lawyer for a daughter is what prompted it. You can imagine his crushing disappointment when I became an environmental lawyer. It was like a personal insult to him. Like I’d done it just to spite him.”
“Fucking hell, these people sound exhausting.”
This time, her laugh sounded more natural. “You can say that again. But they’re all the family I’ve got, so I guess I’m stuckwith them. I gotta say, though, you come with a few extra side benefits I wasn’t expecting.”
“Such as?”
“Family dinner has never gone like that before. Tyler didn’t know what to do with himself, not being the center of attention for once. If I’d known that all I needed to do to become the favorite was to bring home a billionaire, I would have done it years ago!”
I laughed at that, then we fell into a comfortable silence. After a few miles, I gave into the urge to ask her something I wasn’t sure she wanted to answer. I knew I probably shouldn’t, but I found her utterly fascinating, so I asked, “You’ve never tried to find your birth mother?”
“I did think about it for a little bit, after college, but decided not to. Too scared of more rejection, to be honest. It’s kinda weird when your own family doesn’t really like you and it bleeds into everything else. You always have that feeling of not quite fitting in and you assume that most people don’t like you.”
Christ, that hurt more than anything else. It was all I could do not to pull over and drag her into my arms. “I like you, if that means anything.”
“It does, thanks. Although be honest. It’s the tits, isn’t it?”
Okay, so she wanted to make light of it. Fair enough. “It’s definitely the tits.”
CHAPTER 25
Scarlett
It didn’t matter how hard I tried not to let it, the knot of anxiety in my stomach was twisting so hard I wanted to throw up. The sterile scent of antiseptic that hung in the air of the doctor’s office really wasn’t helping.
With my phone on speaker, I put it down on the doctor’s desk, dragging in a few deep breaths as I waited for Rhett to answer.
“Hey, sugar?—”
“I’m with the doctor and you’re on speakerphone,” I butted in hastily.
“Ms. Wright. How are you on this fine afternoon?”
Jesus, I could have laughed at the quick turnabout in his tone. “Well, I’m not sure. That’s why I’m phoning. Doctor Morris says the babies have elevated iron levels. She’s talking about doing more tests.”
He barely missed a beat. “I see. What are the implications of the elevated iron levels and what further testing is required?”
Oh, well, I could have cried because didn’t he just sound so calm and in control?
Dr. Morris took over. “Elevated iron levels can be a concern for a number of reasons, but it’s hard to say without more information. Speculation certainly won’t help us. We need to focus on what we can confirm through comprehensive testing. I do have some theories, but without a complete family medical history, we’re navigating in the dark.”