to understand I’ve put myself in the same position he faced with my mother. His situation was a little different because he was married when I was conceived, but basically similar.”
He shook his head. “I can marry you and still be a father to my child with Shelly, and you’ll be the perfect stepmother, like his wife was to me. Or I can marry Shelly and hurt you. It seems I’m always hurting you.”
“He just wanted you to know he was your father. He loved you and was extremely proud of you. He wanted to give you one final fatherly lesson.
“You can be a good father to a child even if you aren’t there every day. You just have to make sure you’re there for the important things, and they know you love them.
“He was a good father to you. It made all the difference in your life knowing Knight loved you. You know that.”
“I don’t need you telling me what I know about Knight and how I grew up and what I think about family and having a father who is there for you. I know,” he yelled. “Why can’t you just let it be? I’m not going to abandon my child. I’m going to be there every day. He’ll never wonder where I am because I’ll always be there. I’m not going to change my mind.”
She understood the anger, felt his pain. She knew what it was like to miss parents, wish they were there for you every minute of every day. She had her grandparents, but still, somehow, it wasn’t enough. Cameron had George, but it wasn’t enough. Not to a child.
Cameron made this decision from his child’s point of view.
Resigned to her heartbreak, she couldn’t keep asking—or what amounted to begging—at this point. She would if she thought it would make a difference. No matter what she said or did, he still chose a life with Shelly over one with her. She understood that now. It wasn’t Shelly he wanted, but the life he’d never had with his mother and father. Even George being his father didn’t change anything.
Telling him about their baby wouldn’t either.
“I have to go back in and tell your brother and sister who you are. Come back when you’re ready.”
“What was he doing at the docks? He mentioned you saved his life once.”
She sighed. She didn’t want to tell him about the day at the docks. His expression, the way he waited, told her he wouldn’t let her get away without telling the story.
“The day I returned from my yearlong trip, I saw a man at the end of the dock standing on the railing in the pouring rain. I went over to him and said, ‘Nice day, don’t you think? Personally, I love a good storm.’”
“He was going to throw himself into the sea?”
“No. He was just having a bad day. He told his children he was dying and instead of being compassionate, they wanted to know when and how much they were getting. I told him about my uncle and my relationship with him. We bonded. I realized who he is, and he and my grandfather were old friends. He remembered me as a child. Instead of doing something foolish, he asked me to dinner, where I met you and Emma for the first time.”
“So you’re telling me if you hadn’t been on that dock, I wouldn’t have met you, and I might never have known Knight is my father?”
“Things happen for a reason. My life wouldn’t be what it is now either. I wouldn’t have met you and Emma, maybe Shelly wouldn’t have lied and told you she’s pregnant, and Knight might have been foolish enough to jump,” she said and shrugged.
If she hadn’t met George, she wouldn’t be pregnant with Cameron’s baby now.
He didn’t say anything about her calling Shelly a liar again. She let it go. Why keep fighting it. All it did was make her sad.
He studied Marti’s face, saw the toll this was taking on her in her pale skin and tired eyes. Overwhelmed by the urge to take her to bed, wrap her in his arms, and let her sleep. Instead, he reined in the impulse, curled his hands into fists on his thighs, and reminded himself she wasn’t his to touch. Not anymore. He had Shelly. His daughter and baby would have a full-time mother and father.
Chapter Thirty-Five
* * *
THEY RETURNED TO George’s study and Cameron sat next to Shelly again. Marti walked