Unable to meet his questioning look for fear of giving herself away, she focused on his wide bare chest. “Women cry for a variety of reasons. It doesn’t necessarily mean that there’s something wrong.”
He tilted her chin up until their gazes met. “Could one of those reasons be a hormonal thing?”
“Sometimes.”
Looking thoughtful, he stared at her for several long seconds. “Do you think we’ve achieved our goal?”
“It’s probably too early for any symptoms indicating that I’m pregnant.”
He was silent for several moments before his amiable expression turned to a dark frown, as he contemplated something.
“Luke?”
Taking a deep breath, he finally explained. “When Jake called the other night, it wasn’t just to catch up with each other. He told me he’d talked to Arielle and she was sobbing her heart out. But she wouldn’t tell him why.” He shook his head. “We figured something had to be wrong.”
“I suppose that could have been the case,” Haley conceded, nodding. “But women aren’t like men. We don’t keep things bottled inside. There are times when we cry simply to relieve tension and stress.”
Luke mulled over what she’d said, then running his hands over her back in a soothing manner, he asked “Is that why you were crying just now?”
“Yes.”
It was as good an excuse as any she could come up with. And in truth, she had been stressing. But his refusal to acknowledge her as his wife was something he wouldn’t want to discuss.
“I think I know what you’re worried about,” he said, pulling her close.
“You do?” She seriously doubted he’d understand even if she told him what the problem was.
He nodded. “I’m sure it’s normal to be frightened about getting pregnant and all the changes your body will go through.” Kissing her tenderly, he held her to him. “But you aren’t going to be alone, Haley. Unlike a lot of men, I don’t consider my job finished once my son is conceived. I’ll be with you throughout this whole thing.”
The sudden tension she detected in his large frame confused her. “Is there something going on that I don’t know about?” Haley asked.
Pausing, he finally took her by the hand, walked over to a grouping of patio furniture, then lowering himself into one of the wrought iron chairs, pulled her down to sit on his lap. “I believe I’ve told you before about me and Jake raising Arielle after our mother was killed in a car accident.”
Haley nodded.
“Do you know why we were left with that responsibility, instead of our father taking care of our sister?” When she shook her head, he continued. “Because the bastard wasn’t anywhere around. He took off shortly after our mother learned she was pregnant with Arielle. The same as when he learned she was expecting me and Jake.”
“Your father left your mother—”
“Twice,” he finished for her. “She loved him with all of her heart and trusted that he cared the same way about her. But all she got out of the bargain was three kids to raise alone and the heartache of watching the jerk continually walk out on her.”
With sudden clarity, Haley saw the reason behind Luke’s avoidance of relationships. He obviously never intended for anyone to have that kind of power over him.
“Oh, Luke, I’m so sorry. That must have been so difficult for all of you.”
He shrugged his shoulders. “There’s no reason to be sorry. We did just fine on our own and I’m thoroughly convinced we were better off without him.”
She didn’t know what to say. Her father might have completely ignored her after her mother had left Haley on his doorstep, but he’d at least furnished a roof over her head and food for her to eat. Apparently, Luke’s father hadn’t even bothered to stick around long enough to see to his children’s basic needs.
“But the story doesn’t end there,” Luke continued, staring out at the gardens beyond the balcony railing. “We recently learned our mother wasn’t the only woman to fall for his line of bull.”
“You have another sibling?” she guessed.
Shaking his head, he sighed heavily. “More like three. All brothers. All from different mothers. And all from different parts of the country.”
Shocked, Haley could well understand his bitterness. “Your father certainly believed in sowing his share of wild oats, didn’t he?”
“Oh, yeah.” Luke was silent a moment before he went on. “I suppose you could consider Jake and I the lucky ones. At least we got to meet the man once when we were ten. The others never had that opportunity. They didn’t even know his name.”
“Why did your father return after all those years?” she interjected.
“He just showed up at the house one day, stuck around long enough to impregnate our mother with Arielle, then took off again.” A chill slithered up her spine at the sound of Luke’s harsh laughter. “Of course, Jake and I may have met him, but we didn’t really know who he was, either. It wasn’t until we learned about our half brothers that we discovered he’d been using an alias when he was with our mother. Instead of the starving artist he’d portrayed himself to be, he was a notorious womanizer with a bottomless bank account.”
“When and how did you find out about your brothers if they didn’t know who their father was?” she queried.
“After he was killed in a boating accident somewhere in the Mediterranean, our paternal grandmother hired a team of private investigators to look into her son’s past escapades to see what damage he’d left in his wake throughout the years. She knew all along about the other three boys he’d fathered. But she only recently discovered that Arielle, Jake and I were also illegitimate grandchildren.”
“That must have been heartbreaking for her,” Haley said, feeling compassion for the poor woman. “She was cheated out of watching all of you grow up and being part of your lives.”
“Believe me, that old bird is a survivor,” he corrected, his tone indicating he had no pity for his grandmother. “She probably wouldn’t have taken the time to pay much attention to us anyway.”
They fell silent for several minutes before Luke asked “Now that you’ve learned all about my family secrets, what about you? Why wasn’t your mother part of the family picture?”
His question caused a knot to form in the pit of Haley’s stomach. Millie Sanford may have given her life, but the woman had never been a mother to Haley.