So big, in fact, that despite the seemingly insurmountable issues with Alastair, the FBI, and the SEC, Lola had more faith than ever before that everything was going to be all right. But in order to make sure that they gathered the strongest evidence possible against Alastair, they needed to speak with Moira immediately. What’s more, if the media got to her before she knew the truth about what had happened, it could spell disaster for Duncan.
Lola texted her mother to find out if Moira was still at the house, and learned they were at the café having lunch. But by the time Lola and Duncan arrived at the café a few minutes later, Moira, Ethan, and Beth were all frowning at their phones instead of eating.
“The news,” Duncan said in a low voice. “They must be reading it.”
When her parents and Moira looked up and saw them standing by the entrance, Lola forced a smile that she hoped gave off a reassuring vibe. “Hello! Are you reading the lies Duncan’s brother has told the press?”
The three of them looked at her like she was insane, speaking so cheerfully about something so awful. But Lola refused to be daunted. Not even when her father got up from the table and approached them, looking like a bear with a sore head.
Ethan Sullivan gave Lola a kiss on the cheek, then turned to Duncan. “We need to talk.”
“Yes,” Duncan agreed, “we do.”
Though Lola would have loved to be present for their conversation in case she needed to be a referee between her extremely protective father and the man she loved, it was imperative that she speak with Moira about the poisonous story Duncan’s brother had planted in the media.
Lola gave Duncan’s hand a squeeze before moving to join her mother and Moira at the table, sliding into the seat her father had just vacated as Duncan and Ethan left the café.
“Remember, Mom, how I promised you that one day, if I magically fell head over heels in love like you and Dad did, I wouldn’t fight it?” She let everything she was feeling show on her face. She was done hiding her real emotions, done pretending to be so strong and tough all the time. “I love Duncan. I love him wholly and completely, in a way that I never thought I could love anyone.” Her heart swelled just saying the words aloud, finally speaking her truth to two of the people who mattered most to her. “All my life, no matter how many men have professed to care about me, they’ve all only cared about one thing…and it wasn’t my heart. So I put up walls. Walls so thick and strong that no one would ever be able to break through them again to hurt me. But with Duncan…” She turned her head to look at him as he talked with her father in the park. “My heart knew it could trust him, even before my head did. Now I finally understand that the reason I never fell in love before is because I couldn’t have loved anyone who wasn’t worthy of it. And I could never have fully opened myself up to someone if they were going to hurt me.”
“Lola, honey.” Her mother’s eyes were shiny with tears. “I wish I had done a better job of being there for you.”
“Mom, you’ve always been there for me. But this was something I needed to figure out on my own.” Lola looked out at the gorgeous man in the park who had completely captured her heart. “Actually, not on my own. With Duncan. I needed him by my side to finally see everything clearly.” Lola turned to Moira. “I know this might sound crazy in light of the article you’ve just read and your past experience with Brilliant Funds. But I’m asking you to forget everything you believe to be true about Duncan and to listen to what he has to say.”
Moira remained silent for long enough that it took everything inside Lola to hold tight to her belief that they were all going to have a happy ending. Finally, Moira spoke.
“From the moment I met you, Lola, barely an hour after you were born, I could see that you had such a bright, bold light around you. You’re brilliant and talented and beautiful—and you love with everything you are. I’ve always trusted you and believed that your instincts are spot-on.” Moira’s eyes gleamed with tears. “Do you have any idea how much I’ve learned from you? How to be proud about who I am. How to embrace my true self and not hide it for anyone or anything. And when everything fell apart, how to get back on my feet. But then on Friday, when I saw Duncan at the house, all my unresolved fury came rushing back—along with my self-recriminations over how stupid I’d been to fall for so many lies. It’s taken until today for me to process it completely. I was actually planning to come find you before I went back to Boston so that we could talk things through again.”
“You were?”
Moira nodded, then reached for Lola’s hands. “The article I just read seems to prove that Duncan is responsible for nearly destroying my company. And yet…there’s something I haven’t been able to get out of my head since I walked into your parents’ house last Friday night.” She smiled as she told Lola, “The look on your face when you were dancing with him—and the look on his face as he spun you in his arms—was exactly the way your mother and father looked at each other all those years ago when they fell in love in Ireland. It’s the way Beth still looks at Ethan now. And it’s the way I looked at Stephan before he passed away. The look of forever love.” She seemed momentarily lost in a dream, as though she were back with her beloved husband. “Some people say a love like that is impossible to find, but I’ve always known it’s out there for all of us, if only we can open up our hearts to it.” She paused to take a deep breath, seeming to make her final decision in that moment. “If you think Duncan deserves to have me listen to him and keep an open mind, then I trust you, just as I always have.”
Lola threw her arms around her friend. “I love you so much.”
“I love you too, honey.”
Tears streamed down all three women’s faces as they gathered each other close and held on tight.
CHAPTER THIRTY
“Mr. Sullivan, I need you to know how much I respect Lola. And how much I love her.” Though Ethan’s eyebrows rose, he didn’t interrupt. “Hurting your daughter is the very last thing I ever want to do.” The thought of Lola in pain, in tears, twisted up Duncan’s insides. “While I know that must seem hard to believe given my past with Moira and the news you just read, I promise you that I want only the best for your daughter.”
While Duncan spoke, Ethan Sullivan’s gaze remained steady. Neither happy nor furious. Surprisingly, Duncan got the sense that Ethan was assessing the situation from all angles.
Finally, Lola’s father spoke. “You don’t have any children, do you?”
“No.” It wasn’t until Duncan met Lola that he’d longed for a family of his own.
“One day when you do, you’ll understand that the hardest thing in the world is to let go and allow your children to grow up and make their own choices, good and bad. You have no idea how difficult it is to watch them make mistakes, to see problems coming from a mile away when they don’t yet have the life experience to see it themselves.” Ethan’s expression clouded over as though he was thinking back to some of his children’s worst mistakes. Mistakes he clearly wished he could have prevented.