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He wanted to push for explanations, but instinct told him to wait. Mariana was already on the edge. Too much pressure and she would crack.
Mariana picked up the phone again, zooming in on the picture.
“The resemblance is uncanny.” She looked up, her face and tone softening. “She’s gone, isn’t she? That’s what your aunt said…”
She leaned back, clearly regretting mentioning the woman she’d wronged.
“My mother died when I was seven,” he confirmed. “But thanks to Aunt Phil, I have all her pictures.”
Mariana couldn’t quite meet his gaze. She reached for a bottle of water and swallowed some.
“Please tell me how this happened.”
How had everyone in this town come to believe that Stella was Mariana’s daughter? “Emma has no idea, does she?”
Mariana closed her eyes, tears glistening at the corners. She shook her head.
Garrett released a shaky breath, every muscle in his body unclenching. For some reason that made them ache but that was fine. Good even. This was going to be okay.
Except for the self-flagellation he so richly deserved. He should have never doubted Emma. She had always been honest with him. They had never lied to each other. Not once.
He’d forgotten that in his shock today.
Besides, he had a much bigger problem to deal with. Emma had no idea she was a mother. “It was the accident, wasn’t it? She doesn’t remember having Stella.”
The timing was right. They spent most of Christmas break together at his cabin. Spring break had fallen the third week of March. But she hadn’t come home right away because she’d been freaking out about something.
I guess I know what that was now.
Emma must have discovered she was pregnant while she was away at school. That last month of phone calls. He hadn’t imagined her distraction. Jesus, she must have been so scared, worried about what he’d say.
Had she doubted him? Did she think he would turn his back on her and the baby?
Garrett had been planning on asking her to marry him, but his plans had been amorphous. He hadn’t talked to her about what was then the distant future. Their relationship had felt too new for such serious discussions.
He should have spoken to her about marriage anyway. If he had, she would have felt more comfortable in confiding in him.
She was going to tell you about the baby in person.That had to be why she was in the woods. You didn’t tell someone they were going to be a father over the phone. At least Emma wouldn’t.
But why didn’t she say anything about him to her mother or one of her friends? If she’d told someone they were seeing each other, Mariana would have put two and two together.
He would have known about Stella.
“We got into a huge fight,” he admitted in a distant voice.
God, he’d been such an asshole. “Her ex-boyfriend was in her dorm room when I called one night. She said they were working on a project together for one of their classes, but I didn’t believe her. I assumed the worst and we argued. I thought we’d fix things when she came home but I never heard from her again. When she didn’t return my calls, I thought she chose Edward.”
Damn the man’s timing.
Mariana buried her face in her hands, scrubbing it hard before lowering them with a shaky exhale. “Emma was acting weird on the phone. But she was in college—she was overdue for some sort of meltdown. I had no idea she was pregnant until the doctors told me in the hospital. They gave her a test when they admitted her.”
The sound of a little girl laughing made him jerk in his seat. He gazed at the ceiling. A moment later,Emma joined in.
They sounded like they were having the time of their lives.
The sound wrapped around his heart, squeezing it in a vise. It hurt so bad, under any other circumstances, he would have suspected a heart attack.
Garrett closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Yes, this was a royal fucking mess. But those were his girls upstairs.His.