The Baby Pact (Babies and Billions #5) - Holly Rayner Page 0,57

your support, but I’ll do it without you if I have to.”

Chapter 21

Rhea

“What’s going on?”

Rhea turned toward the door. Her mother stood there, Stephen at her side.

“This is the young man?” she asked. “The baby’s father?”

“This is Zach,” Rhea confirmed.

Zach got to his feet, crossed the room, and extended his hand to Rhea’s mother.

“It’s a pleasure to see you again, Mrs. Wilson,” he said. “I don’t know whether you remember having dinner with me when Rhea and I were in college.”

“I remember.” Rhea’s mother’s voice was cool, but not as icy as her father’s voice had been. “What brings you here today, Zach?”

“They’re in love, apparently,” Tom said.

Dana Wilson turned to her daughter. “Is that true, Rhea?”

“Yes,” Rhea said. “I know it’s not what you and Dad were hoping for, but I think you owe it to me to get to know Zach. He’s a much kinder person than Dad seems to believe he is.”

“Rhea, nobody doubts that he’s a good person,” her mother said. “That’s not what this is about.”

“Then what is it about?” Rhea demanded. “Because I don’t understand how you can hold him responsible for something his father did.”

“No one’s holding him responsible,” Stephen said. “We haven’t called the cops, have we?”

“You told me yourself that the only reason charges weren’t pressed was that the recording of the theft was made illegally,” Rhea shot back. “You don’t have the grounds to press charges, even if you wanted to. There’s nothing the cops could do.”

“I didn’t know that,” Zach said. He turned to Rhea’s father. “I owe you my thanks.”

“I didn’t do it for your sake,” Rhea’s father said.

“I understand that,” Zach said. “But if my father had gone to prison for his crime, I would have been alone in the world. Even though you weren’t trying to look out for me, it means a lot to me that that didn’t happen. So thank you.”

Tom said nothing.

“Mom,” Rhea said. “Dad. Listen. We know that what Zach’s father did hurt our family. We know that it still hurts our family, even now. But Zach isn’t his father. He would never do anything that would hurt me. And he knows that it would kill me if anything bad happened to anyone I loved.”

“I wish I could undo what my father did,” Zach said. “If I had some way of making it right, I would.”

“I’m just asking you to try to see past that,” Rhea said. “It was a terrible thing, but it was a long time ago. And now Zach and I are going to be parents. We’re having a child together. To me, that’s more important than anything that’s happened before. Can’t you set aside the past? For my sake? For the sake of your grandchild?”

There was a long, painful silence.

Finally, Rhea’s father spoke. He sounded eighty years old. “You know I’d do anything for you, Rhea.”

“I know,” Rhea said.

“I suppose, if this young man means that much to you, I can try to accept him.”

Rhea’s heart soared. “That means the world to me,” she said, her eyes filling with tears.

“I know I’ve held a grudge,” her father said. “I know I’ve made it difficult for the family to move on from this. And the truth is that, if we had been impoverished, I probably would have done whatever I had to to get money. I would have broken any rule if it meant providing a better life for you and Stephen.”

“That’s how my father felt,” Zach said. “It’s how I feel too. And I’m so thankful that I’ve gotten to a place in my life where I’ll be able to provide for my child without having to worry.”

“You know,” Tom said, “I liked your father when I met him, Zach. We all did. He seemed like a good and genuine person. And I remember admiring how hard he worked to provide for you.”

“He worked hard all my life,” Zach said. “He was the hardest working person I’ve ever known.”

“It must have been frustrating for him to meet us,” Rhea’s father said. “To see how much our family had, and to realize that the daughter of the man he worked for was one of your peers in college.”

Zach nodded. “I think that was hard,” he agreed. “I think it made him question whether everything he had done for me was enough. He could never hope to provide the kind of life you could give Rhea and Stephen. I remember him being very quiet that evening when we drove home