heart sank. “What did you do?”
“I didn’t say no.” He wouldn’t look at her. “And I will always feel guilty about that. I should have gone to Nico that night. I should have told him the truth. I should have told you—”
“You could have trusted me, Henry.” That was the part that hurt the most. “I understand when things happened with Marissa. You didn’t know us that well. But later? You should have known we would have believed you. Why didn’t you think we’d trust you?”
“I was… so afraid. Everything had been going great. Better than I ever could have expected. And then Fairfield made me feel like I was the guilty one, you know? That it was my fault for not telling Nico about Marissa in the first place.” He shook his head. “I know I should have known—should have trusted both of you—but it’s like that asshole crept into my head and knew everything. He played on every single thing I was most afraid of.”
Toni felt like there was lead in her stomach. “What did you tell Fairfield? Were you the one who was sabotaging—?”
“No!” Henry bent down and took her face in his hands. “Not once. Not ever. I swear on my mother, Toni.” He closed his eyes and breathed out. “And I don’t know who it was. But every time something happened, I felt guiltier. More trapped.” When he opened his eyes, they were distant and angry. “I never even told Fairfield anything valuable. I kept stringing him along. Kept trying to figure out how I could get rid of the guy. Get him off my back.” Henry’s eyes went wide. “I didn’t kill him.”
Toni blinked. “I didn’t think you did.” It honestly hadn’t even occurred to her. She could tell he was being honest with her. All the walls he’d thrown up were completely down. “But you and I are going to go to Nico’s house right now. Tonight. I will go with you. You’re going to tell him everything, and he is going to forgive you.”
Henry stood straight and his face was a mask of pain. “Toni, he’s gonna be furious. You know how he is about people playing straight with him. He’s gonna fire me. He’s gonna make sure no one around here will ever hire me. I’ll have to leave town and—”
“Nope.” She took a deep breath. “He’s not gonna do any of that shit, Henry. I promise you.”
Henry sat down on the couch, and Earl came and sat between his knees. He looked defeated. Resigned. “I know you’re one of his favorite cousins, but I don’t think you realize how furious he’s going to be about this.”
“Oh, he might be furious.” She sat next to him. “He could very well have you cleaning out fermentation tanks for a year, but he’s going to forgive you.”
He reached over and tentatively played with a piece of her hair. “How can you be sure?”
“Because I know my cousin.” She took a deep breath. Henry had been completely honest and vulnerable with her. It was time to return the favor. “And because I am one of his favorite cousins. And because I’m going to have a baby.” She turned to Henry, frozen next to her. “And you’re the dad.”
Chapter 13
“When were you going to tell me?” Henry stared ahead at the twisting road that wound away from the cove and into the hills. “When you started showing?”
“It’s only been like nine weeks, okay? I’ve only been sure of it for a couple, and the chances of miscarriage are still kind of high.” She crossed her arms. “I was kind of shocked, okay? At my age, I didn’t think that was something I needed to worry about.”
“You’re not that old!” He shook his head. “And we only slipped like… once. That I can remember.”
She shrugged. “There were probably a couple of times when we went back for seconds that we didn’t remember to…”
“Okay maybe.” He sighed. “Are you okay? Have you been to the doctor? How are you feeling?”
“Mostly fine. A little sick. And yeah.” She motioned in the vague area of her abdomen. “I went today actually. It was an experience. Everything looked normal.”
“Good. I’m coming with you next time.”
“That’s not actually up to you.”
He jerked the car to the side of the road and stopped. “Listen. I want to be very clear, just in case you’re wondering how I am dealing with this because I’m kind of all over the place right now.”
She’d never