The next day… I remembered the fireworks, but I had to rack my brain to recall the conversation we’d had at the Pierces’. What had I said? That I was glad he was missing. That I liked not having to think about him.
But that didn’t mean that I wanted to be kept in the dark. Not only by JC, but by Norma.
I turned to her, brows furrowed. “You knew and you didn’t tell me either?”
Norma wrung her hands in front of her. “I did. It wasn’t meant to be deceptive. Hudson offered to hire some people to find him. Put him back in jail. But JC told us not to bother because he already knew where he was. You’d said you didn’t want him arrested again, and I did. JC convinced me he would keep Dad watched so that he didn’t present a danger to you, and I agreed. That’s it.”
That’s it? As if she’d merely forgotten to tell me that she’d bumped into one of my schoolteachers on the street instead of that she was practically an accomplice in hiding my fugitive father.
Slowly, I ran my hands through my hair. “I can’t believe this. The two people I trust more than anyone else—”
“You didn’t tell me you were pregnant!”
“Jesus, are you kidding me? I just went to the doctor this morning. I haven’t told anyone. You’ve known about Dad for months!”
“Don’t blame Norma for this,” JC said from beside me, closer than I’d realized he’d gotten. “I bullied her into it.”
Norma rolled her eyes. “I wasn’t bullied into it. I needed convincing to not have him sent to jail, but I readily agreed that Gwen didn’t need to know about it.”
I pointed a finger at her, shaking with the extent of my frustration. “You always do that. Overprotect us. You did it with Ben, and now me. You’re my sister, not my protector. It wasn’t your place!” I was yelling. I didn’t care.
Next, I spun to JC. “And you. You’re the worst! Watching my father for more than a year? On my behalf? I didn’t ask you to do that. How dare you assume you knew what I wanted?”
“I didn’t assume anything.” JC’s volume matched mine. “I watched him for me. When I left, he was a threat to you. I couldn’t leave and know that he might come after you again. I’ve lost someone before, Gwen. I’m not going to apologize for wanting to keep you safe.”
“And yet you think it’s fine to put yourself in danger. Don’t you realize what it would do to me if I lost you?” My throat was so tight that my final words came out as a sob. That was at the epicenter of my anguish—the possibility that the man who had taken so long for me to find, the man who loved me more than I’d ever thought possible, that he could get hurt. That he could be killed.
It was a thought that I couldn’t entertain for even a second without feeling my world collapse under me.
He started toward me, but I put my hand out to stop him, as well as the conversation. “You know what? I don’t want to talk about this any more right now. I need time to calm down. Norma, can I stay with you tonight?”
She started to answer, but JC interrupted. “Our place is better protected. If you want me out of the condo, I’ll go, but please stay there instead.”
Right. I had to plan my life around security now.
I rubbed my hand across my forehead. “I’m not kicking you out of the condo. It’s yours, not mine.”
“It’s ours.”
I didn’t argue. He’d been the one to pay for it, but I’d never thought of it as his place, even as I said it. “Whatever. Just. Take me home, then. You can sleep on the couch.”
Strangely, even though I was mad, I didn’t want to be away from him. I just didn’t want to have to look at him either.
Without another word, I left the conference room.
“Gwen?”
I turned back at my sister’s call. “What?”
“Congratulations on the baby.”
It almost made me laugh. God, how ridiculous this day was. I hadn’t fully adjusted to the fact that I was pregnant, and now I had to deal with both that and living under high security. And I was mad at Norma too. But I loved her, just like I loved JC, and I’d forgive them both soon enough. “I’ll—I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
JC came toward me, his arm poised as if he were going to wrap it around my waist. “If you know what’s good for you, you won’t touch me right now.”
He dropped his arm, and I spun around to head down the hall.
Behind me, I heard them talking. “I’d like to tell you that she’ll calm down,” Norma said, “but frankly, I’ve never seen her like this.”