In her mind, despite what happened with David, she believed that life with Mason would be a happily-ever-after kind of love.
She deserved that.
And she wouldn’t let anything get in her way.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Heather stared at the back end of Sierra’s car driving away. “She hates me.”
“Yep.” Mason didn’t sugarcoat it at all. “Right now anyway. Can you blame her?”
“No.” She sighed and faced Mason. “That’s why I came. To apologize. To see if we can work this out.”
“Nice try, showing up unexpectedly and forcing her to deal with you.” The sarcasm came across loud and clear. “Don’t you think she deserves some time to process all this?” Mason shook his head. “Yesterday she spent the morning memorializing David with Danny and Oliver, then she finds out he was having an affair with her sister and her niece is actually her boys’ half sister. You expect her to accept all that in less than a day?”
“Can we talk about this inside?”
“I’m not inviting you in without Sierra here. I won’t give her any reason to question me, especially when it comes to you.”
“I’m not going to do anything. I just thought that maybe you and I—”
“Stop right there. There is no you and I. Sierra and I are together. We are going to be a family. Right now, that doesn’t include you.”
Heather’s heart sank. “She’s never going to talk to me, let alone forgive me, is she?”
“Do you blame her if she doesn’t after what you did?”
“I’m sorry. I really never meant to hurt her.”
“I’m sure she didn’t even cross your mind.” The harsh statement was unfortunately mostly true. “If she did, you didn’t care enough to stop what you were doing.”
I couldn’t stop loving David.
Heather sighed. “I wasn’t the only one who hurt her. David did, too, but I’m the only one everyone is mad at.”
“That’s not true. She’s devastated by what David did to her and their children. He ruined their relationship and marriage. He had everything, but he turned his back on Sierra and what they’d built together.”
“He wasn’t happy. He wanted to be with me.”
“Neither of those things excuses what he did or erases the hurt he’s caused. For either of you. Sierra is devastated.”
“How do you think I feel? He’s gone. I loved him, too. I miss him, too. But I’m not allowed to show that because we weren’t supposed to be together.”
Mason eyed her. “Do you really mean you weren’t supposed to be discovered?”
Yes. And no.
“He wanted to be with me.” She kept telling herself that, but couldn’t convince herself anymore that it was wholly true.
“He was never really yours. He got caught up in something exciting and thrilling in the moment but it ultimately left him feeling bad about himself and worried that he’d lose everything over something that didn’t really mean anything to him.” She wanted to deny that. “I’ve seen it a lot. A husband cheats thinking it’s just sex. It doesn’t mean anything. He’s got no real feelings for the woman. He still loves his wife. As long as she doesn’t find out about it, it’s no big deal. But women have intuition. They know their husband better than anyone. Maybe they don’t want to see it, but they know. Sierra knew. And David sensed she knew. I bet he even let on to you that she was suspicious of him.”
She spoke David’s worst fear. “He thought she’d take the boys from him.”
Mason dismissed that with a shake of his head. “The courts would allow him visitation and Sierra would never keep those boys from their father because she knows they needed him in their life. I bet what David feared was losing a brilliant, loving, kind, generous woman like Sierra.”
“He had me.”
“And you gave him a reason to always be in your life.”
It took her a second to understand his meaning. “Hallee wasn’t planned.”
“Maybe not, but she sure did ensure you kept David coming back to you. He was coming back to you the night he died.”
True. But . . . “That’s not fair.”
“No, it’s not. Neither is what you did to Sierra.”
“I want to make it right.” She did, because she’d lost David and she didn’t want to lose her sister, too.
“‘Right’? What does that even mean? You can’t change what you did or that you have a child by her husband.”
She fell in love with the wrong, right man. She had a baby with him when he couldn’t—or wouldn’t, she sadly confessed to herself—be with her.
She never expected to be a single mom.
She never thought she’d lose David.
“I love Sierra, even if I’ve done a poor job of showing it. I want her to be happy. And if that is with you, then I wish you both the best.” Heather sucked in a breath. “I’m embarrassed and sorry about my behavior yesterday. I’m sorry I put you in the middle of me and Sierra. I have a lot of making up to do. It won’t be easy, but I want my sister back. I want our kids to grow up together.”
“She’s still sorting out her feelings. I don’t know if or when she’ll be able to consider talking to you or getting the kids together.”
Heather appreciated that he’d given up that much, but hated the way he phrased it because it implied Sierra had no intention of keeping Heather in her life. It made her sad and the guilt piled on.
“For what it’s worth, I think you’ll be great for her and the boys.” She shrugged. “That’s all I was looking for, for me and Hallee.”
“Look for it with someone who isn’t already with someone else.”
“Good advice.” She meant it despite the mirth and sarcasm.
“I hope you take it.” Mason sighed. “Look, I don’t know if this can be fixed between you and Sierra. Right now, she doesn’t want to hear anything you have to say. To her, it all sounds like excuses and empty apologies. She doesn’t want to hurt the kids. She won’t take it out on Hallee. And she doesn’t want her boys to think less of David, or even you. She’s not ready to have that talk with them. Until she is, I’m not sure she’ll be ready to hear anything you have to say about it.”
“Understandable. I always knew I’d have to explain to Hallee about who her father was and how we fell in love. We both look bad, but I want her to know that despite what David and I did, she was born out of real love. Sierra probably doesn’t want to hear that, but it’s true. I hope she can find it in her heart to understand I couldn’t turn my back on that love and as much as I regret hurting her, I am incredibly grateful to have Hallee.”
She didn’t know how else to explain it, except that for all the bad she caused, she got something so great out of it.
“Thank you for listening to me and being so good to Sierra and her kids. I appreciate it. If she stays, maybe one day soon we’ll be able to . . . well, maybe not settle this, but put it behind us. I really would like Hallee to know her brothers.”