she wanted him to feel. Though his father had been wrong to steal from hers, he couldn’t deny a feeling of empathy when he thought about how it would feel to have a child of his own to protect and provide for.
I would do anything for that baby. Already. I would move mountains.
It was a miraculous feeling, unlike anything he had ever felt in his life. It was powerful. And Zach was not going to deny it.
After he had spent a few conflicted hours lying awake in bed, he heard movement next door. He hesitated for a few minutes, unsure of what to do, then rose and knocked on the door between the two bedrooms.
“Come in,” Rhea called.
Zach opened the door. Rhea was wearing what he took at first to be a bikini, but on closer inspection he realized it was simply a black bra and panties.
“What’s going on?” he asked her.
“I couldn’t sleep,” she said. “You either?”
“No,” he admitted.
“I thought I’d take a swim,” she said.
“It’s dark outside,” he pointed out.
“That’s okay,” she said. “I like swimming at night.”
He nodded. “Can I come out with you? I’d feel better knowing you weren’t on your own.”
She grinned. “I don’t need looking after. But yes, you can come.”
She turned away from him and went out onto the patio.
He watched her go, momentarily mesmerized by the sway of her hips, then hurried after her.
When he got outside, she was sitting on the edge with her feet in the water.
“I really can’t thank you enough for bringing me here,” she said. “I’ve never seen anything like this place. It’s magical.”
“I’m glad you’re here with me,” Zach said.
“Could you ever have imagined this when we were in school together?” she asked.
“Definitely not,” he said. “I couldn’t have afforded a weekend in New York City back then, never mind something like this.”
She glanced at him. “Doesn’t that feel strange to you?”
“What?” he asked.
“Talking about money,” she said. “About what you couldn’t afford then, and what you can afford now. Knowing that the only reason you can afford these things is because your family stole from mine.”
He was quiet for a moment, thinking about it. It was a valid question.
“I guess the truth is that I’ve made my peace with that,” he said. “It’s true that the life I have now probably wouldn’t have been possible without the startup loan my father gave me. And it’s true that that money should not have been his. But I paid that loan back, the same way I would have repaid a bank loan. And I just can’t live my life feeling guilty for borrowing that money when I had no idea what the source of it was.”
“No,” Rhea agreed. “I don’t think you should feel guilty about that at all. And I don’t think you owe my family anything. I didn’t mean to suggest that. I just… find it awkward.”
“If I thought I could win your love by giving my money away, or by pretending I didn’t have it, I would do that,” Zach said.
She turned and stared at him. “Why would you do that?”
“Well, I don’t think it would have any effect on your feelings,” Zach hastened to clarify. “But you must understand by now that what I want is for the three of us to be a family. You, me, and the baby. I would do anything to make that happen. If there was something that you needed from me that would bring about that result, I wouldn’t hesitate to do it.”
She trailed her toes slowly through the water, then lifted her foot out and examined it. “That’s what you meant when you said you could understand why your father would commit a crime,” she said thoughtfully.
“Yes,” he said. “That’s it exactly. My father was a man who would do anything if he believed his family needed it. I’m the same way. He shouldn’t have done what he did. But he must have believed it was necessary in order to give me the life he thought I should have.”
Rhea nodded slowly.
“He was wrong about that,” Zach said. “I wish he had just asked me back then, because I would have told him I didn’t want anything of the kind. I would have told him it was fine that we didn’t have money, and that I would find my way regardless.”
“I understand,” Rhea said quietly.
He glanced at her. “You do?”
“It’s hard to say no when there’s something you believe your family needs,” she said. “I’ve been in