“Your mother,” Bonita answered, yanking Lauryn’s attention back to her. Bonita’s eyes, so like Adam’s, shifted to Susan Lowes, assessed her and then returned to Lauryn. “Your birthmother. Adrianna Laurence.”
Lauryn’s throat closed up. She yearned for details, but she didn’t want to make Susan uncomfortable by asking for them.
Susan took the initiative. “How so, Mrs. Garrison? I’ve never seen a picture of Adrianna although my husband did speak of her occasionally.”
Bonita looked like she regretted opening the dialogue. Her lips thinned and her gaze drifted to the bar then returned. “The coloring is different. She was as dark as Lauryn is fair. But the bone structure is identical. The profile, the set of your eyes, your chin.”
No slurring marred Bonita’s clipped words tonight. Lauryn wondered if that was her choice or because Adam controlled the bartenders.
“You knew her?” Lauryn asked with a flutter of excitement in her belly.
“She often accompanied her mother to society functions.”
“Really? What was she like?”
“She was quite a trial to her parents, always finding little ways to stir up trouble and draw attention to herself. Reading the interview you did with the paper quite reminded me of her. I trust you’ve outgrown the need to be the center of attention? Or have you? I’m not sure after this debacle.”
“Mother!” Brooke exclaimed.
“I have, Mrs. Garrison. All I want to do now is be a good wife to Adam.” If he’ll let me.
Bonita lifted her chin and looked down her nose at Lauryn. “Adrianna went out on a limb to save her child. You went out on a limb to save mine. Perhaps you have some redeeming qualities. But that remains to be seen.”
“Mother!” Brooke repeated.
“It’s okay, Brooke. She’s right. I—”
“Lauryn.” Adam’s voice stalled her racing heart.
She turned and there he was, tall and lean, with his disheveled hair and intensely blue eyes. She flushed hot and then cold. Would he throw her out?
“Tommy lied,” she blurted.
“I know.” There was something in his eyes, some emotion Lauryn couldn’t identify, that made her mouth go dry.
“Adam, get me a gin and tonic. Your bartender refuses to pour.”
“Sorry, mother. Everyone has orders to keep you sober tonight.” He spoke without looking away from Lauryn.
“Not exactly a happy birthday then, is it?” Bonita sniped and then stalked off. Brooke followed.
Adam shifted his attention to her mother. He extended his hand. “My apologies for my mother’s behavior. I’m Adam Garrison.”
“Susan Lowes, Lauryn’s mother.”
Adam’s tight smile didn’t completely erase the tension in his face. “It’s nice to meet you, Mrs. Lowes. You’ve raised an amazing daughter.”
“Yes, I have, haven’t I?” Susan squeezed and then released Lauryn’s hand. “Lauryn, could you direct me to the powder room?”
Lauryn looked from her mother to Adam and back again. “I’m sorry, I don’t know where it is. I don’t come upstairs very often.”
“That way,” Adam pointed toward a set of double doors.
“Thank you.” With that Susan turned and left them.
Lauryn wanted to call her back. She wasn’t ready for this conversation. Wasn’t ready to blow her last chance.
Instead, she squared her shoulders and swallowed to dampen her mouth. “How did you know about Tommy?”
Adam gripped her bicep and led her toward an empty corner where the music and chattering crowd were less intrusive. Once there he didn’t release her. She wanted to lean into the warmth of his hand, to grab that hand and never let it go.
“I hired a private investigator.”
She couldn’t help the flood of disappointment. “I guess it was too much to hope you’d actually believe me.”
“Lauryn—”
“It’s okay, Adam. I understand. My whole plan to move here, befriend you and search for the diaries was ill-conceived and completely self-centered. I never should have done it. I hurt too many people and I lied too many times.”
“You didn’t lie, Lauryn. You left things out. Things you didn’t consider relevant. And they wouldn’t have been if Saunders hadn’t decided to twist the facts. Your past, like mine, is part of who you are. We made mistakes, but we learned from them. I changed, and so did you.”
He didn’t hate her? Her heart swelled with hope. “I didn’t expect my past to come back to bite me. But I should have given you the information and let you make the decision. You had the most to lose. The nomination—”
“Forget the nomination. If the council members are too narrow-minded to realize I’m qualified for the job then it’s their loss.”
“But what about the bigger stake in Garrison, Inc. that you wanted?”
“I’m no longer interested. You were right. I’m doing what I want to do, investing when and how I want to invest, with no one to answer to but myself. And I’m good at it. I’ve always been a solo player. I shouldn’t try to sign up for a team sport now.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m sure.” He scanned the crowd and then faced her again. “And I’m not completely blameless in this deal. My reasons for marrying you were…what was it you said? Ill-conceived and completely self-centered.”
Did that mean they had a chance or that he was ready to walk away from it all—his plan and her?
“But enough about our mistakes. You know you have every right to contest the settlement of the Laurence estate, don’t you? You’d inherit millions.”
Her mouth dropped open. She snapped it closed when she realized she was gaping. “I—I didn’t know that.”
“The estate was supposed to go to the last surviving heir. That’s you. After a year’s search without finding an heir, the properties were sold, but the monies are currently being managed by a trust.”
“Ohmigod. I don’t even know what to say to that.”
“Think about it. Talk to Brandon. Learn your options.”
“Right. Yes. I will.” She shook her head. “Why are you telling me this?”
His hand tightened on her arm and then his fingers loosened and massaged tiny circles on the tender underside. Her pulse quickened and tension wound deep inside. “Because you’ll be wealthy enough to do whatever you want. To live wherever you want. With whomever you want.”
“You know money’s not why I wanted to find Adrianna’s diaries, don’t you? I needed to know I was wanted—that I wasn’t a baby even a mother couldn’t love.”
There. She said it out loud for the first time and found understanding in Adam’s eyes.
After several silent seconds he nodded. His hand slid down the length of her arm until he captured her fingers. He stroked her knuckle above her wedding rings with his thumb.
“The P.I. told me the police arrested Saunders in California yesterday. Saunders has already turned over the money. He’ll be shipped back here to face extortion charges.” Adam’s throat worked as he swallowed. “Unless you want the charges dropped.”
Confused, Lauryn frowned. “Why would I want them dropped?”
“Because you still care about him. I know you filed charges to help me, but if you want a future with him, then I don’t want you to be an inmate’s wife, and I don’t want you to waste your inheritance on his legal fees.”
Alarm prickled through her. Did Adam still want the divorce? “Adam, I don’t care about Tommy, and I don’t want to drop the charges. What he did was illegal and he hurt you.”
“Then why did you hesitate when I asked you to write down information about him for the police?”
She flashed back to their last morning together in the Sunset Island house—the last morning she’d been happy.
“Because I realized at that moment that everything my father had bellowed at me was right. I was headed down a dangerous path. If I’d stayed with Tommy I’d very likely have been in jail by now. I may not have been born a baby a mother couldn’t love, but for five years I did my best to become a teenager a father couldn’t. I’m very lucky he and my mother cared enough to stand by me when I was trying so hard to push them away.”
Adam’s hand tightened around hers. “You didn’t hesitate because you loved Saunders?”
The intensity of his gaze tripped her pulse. “How could I when…I love you? But I know I messed up by keeping secrets. And I know you might not be able to forgive me or trust me again. So, Adam…if it’s what you want…I’ll give you your freedom. But I really want to try to make this marriage work.”
He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. When he lifted his lids again Lauryn’s knees nearly buckled at the love she saw shining back at her. Beaming at her. Like a lighthouse beacon.
She mashed her lips together and pressed a fist over her heart. Hope swelled within her like a hot air balloon, making her feel light-headed.
Adam cupped Lauryn’s shoulders. “If you can forgive me for being a total ass even when your eyes and my heart told me to trust you, then I want to renegotiate our agreement.”
She shifted uneasily. “Renegotiate how exactly?”
“Two years is not enough. Hell, fifty years isn’t going to be enough. I want eternity. Not one second less.” He lifted her hand to his mouth and kissed her knuckles. “I want these rings to mean the words we said on that beach.”
He released her hand only to gently cradle her face and brush his thumbs over her damp cheeks. She hadn’t even noticed the tears escaping.
“I love you, Lauryn Garrison. I want to spend the rest of my life showing you that you are wanted. Loved. Needed. And if you’re willing, I want to fill your birthmother’s house with her grandchildren.”
Her lips quivered and happiness blossomed inside her. She took a ragged breath. “On one condition.”
“Name it.”
“You don’t pay me to be your wife. That’s one job I’d willingly do for free.”
He winked and her heart turned over. “You have yourself a deal, sweetheart, and I’m going to make sure it’s one deal you will never regret.”