“And there are others.” Haley takes a deep breath and reaches for the clutch in her lap. “Other recordings, I mean. These ones are a bit different. A bit older. You’re in them,” she says lightly. Her hand is at the lip of the table. “I’ve learned a lot about the laws in New York, Aunt Caroline.” Jesus fuck, I’m so proud of her. “About how there’s no time limit on crimes that—”
“Enough.” Caroline has one hand flat on the table. No more color in her face. Her lawyers lean in now, faces blank. “How dare you turn on your own family? That’s enough.”
“Is it?” I ask, and Caroline fucking hates it. She hates to look at me. I wonder if her back hurts as much as mine. “Too painful to relive the past?”
She gives a tight smile. “It would be best for our families if we didn’t. Families such as your sisters, Leo. And your brother and sister, Haley. I’m sure we can come to an understanding.”
“Like…” Haley bites her lip. “Maybe if you left us the fuck alone?”
Caroline jerks back like Haley slapped her, her hand going into a fist, but she recovers. “There’s no need to be vulgar. No need for all these lawyers. A misunderstanding among family.”
“And you’d obviously place a call to the prosecutor as soon as we step out,” Haley says. “I would find it very vulgar to be dragged through a court proceeding against my will.”
A swift nod. Caroline stands, and Haley does, too. I’m right beside her. I won’t leave her alone in Caroline’s presence, even in a public setting.
“I have some calls to make, if that’s all—”
“Apologize,” Haley says, and I’ve never heard such frigid resolve in her sweet voice. She looks as hard and as furious as any Morelli. “For what you did.”
Caroline draws herself up to her full height. She looks down on Haley with bitter imperiousness. “I’m sorry, sweetheart, if you felt hurt by something I did.”
“To Leo.”
Her fist clenches around her purse. “That boy—” She can’t fucking believe this. “That boy doesn’t deserve the slightest—”
“That man is my fiancé.” Haley leans into me and traces the thread around her finger with a fingertip. “He’ll be my family soon. And I feel so strongly about doing what’s right for my family.” She rests her hand on her clutch, her grasp inches from her phone. “I’m sure you understand loyalty to family.”
Caroline glares at Haley for three solid heartbeats before she turns her head to me. Her crystal blue eyes blaze with impotent anger and resentment. “I apologize.”
Then she turns and goes. Haley watches her leave. After Caroline and her lawyers disappear from view, she lets out a breath. “I know she didn’t mean it,” she says softly, her eyes meeting mine. “But that felt good.”
I pull her close. “Better than this morning?”
Haley blushes. “No way.”
“There’s more waiting in the car, if you think you can handle it.”
She loops her arm through mine, tugging hard for the door. “Let’s go,” Haley says, her voice so light, so free, the darkness of Caroline Constantine, the pain of the past left behind in the room. “Hurry, hurry, hurry.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Haley
The knock at Leo’s front doors comes an hour before my engagement party.
It’s a clear, dark night, and Leo’s house glows with candles and sprays of light. Eva has been staying over to plan it with Daphne, and the two of them have taken the castle and transformed it into another dream.
Guests will follow a lighted path through to the ballroom in the far wing of the house. Eva and Daphne haven’t let me in yet. They want the full impact of the decorations to be a surprise. I can’t wait to see it. I can’t wait to be at the party with Leo.
But first I step into my spot by the double doors and wait for Gerard to open them.
My dad and Cash hesitate on the threshold. Cash, because he’s looking into the foyer with trepidation, though he’s been here before. My dad, because he’s looking at me. My gown for the evening is such a pale pink it’s almost white, and it glimmers in the candlelight. His hand comes up to cover his mouth, and when he takes it down again his eyes are shining. “You look—” The same hand goes to his chest. “You look just like your mother.”
I come out onto the border of the cold and take their hands. “Come in. Come inside.” Cash allows himself to be pulled inside. Gerard closes out the night and steps away while I kiss their cheeks. “Thank you, Daddy. I’m so glad you’re here. Both of you.”
They’re in suits and overcoats, dressed for the party, but my dad stops. “If you want us to leave, Haley—”
“I don’t.”
“I’m sorry.” His heartbreak shines in his voice, but he doesn’t waver. “I’m sorry for so many things, Haley, but I shouldn’t have agreed to help Caroline, no matter what she did to me. I shouldn’t have tried to get you to stay home. I don’t blame you if you can’t forgive me.”
“I’m sorry too, Hales.” Cash’s cheeks are an ashamed red, and I can’t stand it.
I pull them both into my arms, as much as I can. “No more apologies. Okay? You’re my family. You’ll always be my family. I want you in my life, and I want you at my engagement party and at everything else. All of that’s in the past.”
My dad tilts my face up so he can see my eyes. “You’re happy here? You love him?”
He’s never judged me. Not once. And there’s no judgment in his voice now. “I love him so much.” I let him see me smile. Let him see my happiness. “He’s the only man I’ll ever want.”
He grins. “Then you’ve made the perfect choice. I’m so happy for you, sweetheart.”
“Me too.” Cash sticks his hands in his pockets. “I mean it.” He leans in to hug me. Then clears his throat. “Is everything settled, then? With Caroline? With the cops?”
“Yes. It’s all okay now.”
Another knock at the door, and Gerard reappears to open it.
My sister comes in alone, her eyes huge, looking over everything in the foyer. Her face lights up when she sees me. “Hey, Haley. Am I late?”
“You’re early. I wanted you all here early. Where’s Jeremy?”
She shakes her head. “I came alone. He didn’t want to come.” Petra shakes her head. “I’m sorry, but nevermind about him. You look gorgeous.”
My heart squeezes. It’s a big deal for Petra to come against the wishes of her husband. He won’t approve, but she came anyway. For me. For family. “Thank you,” I say, my voice hushed.
“Of course. This is a beautiful house.” A shy smile. “I’d love to see it, if we have time.”
We do have time. It feels good to show my family around my home. It feels better to have Petra ooh and aah over the decorations and have my dad appreciate the den and have Cash joke about the size of the kitchen.