Because a person didn’t see what they weren’t expecting—and she hadn’t expected Lacey to break her promise with such ease and alacrity.
“I never wanted to lie to you,” he said. “I just…I just wanted to get to know you. And once I did, I didn’t know how to do it. I didn’t want to show up out of nowhere and say, ‘Hey, I’m the baby you gave away.’ Even more than that, I felt strongly that I needed to talk to my parents first.”
Tessa’s throat ached. “Did you?”
“Yes. Yesterday, when I went back home. And the first thing—the very first thing I wanted to do was tell you next. That’s why Lacey and I rushed over here. Seamus just…beat us to it.”
She grunted in disbelief. Was he telling the truth? Was anyone?
“I don’t know what to say,” she rasped. “Except get off my boat and leave me alone.”
“Not until you listen to me.” At her withering look, he sighed. “Please. Please, Tessa.”
When she didn’t answer, he moved slowly toward her, then stopped on the other side of the helm, a foot or so away.
“First, don’t be mad at Lacey.”
“I’ll be mad at who I want to be mad at,” she fired back. “And I’m furious at both of you. I told her in confidence.”
“And she found me out of love.”
She snorted. “Funny way of showing it.”
“When she reached out to me,” he continued, apparently choosing to ignore her sarcasm, “I knew I’d regret it if I didn’t meet you. I had to. I was curious, yes, but it was more than that and you can ask Lacey. I’ve always felt a connection to you. I wondered about you, and knew …you’d made a difficult decision. I wanted to know you and I wanted you to know what a great choice you made.”
She just stared at him, the tremors finally fading and leaving behind…a cocktail of emotions that was making her dizzy.
“I had no idea what I’d find, even after Lacey told me I was… What did she say? A carbon copy of you, only the twenty-five-year-old male version.”
She looked away, blinking back more tears, not quite ready to unpack all that. “How did she find you? I couldn’t.”
“You looked?” he asked.
“One time…” She shook her head. “I didn’t try that hard, to be honest.”
“Lacey called the hospital where I was born and had just enough information to get a name.”
Tessa closed her eyes, remembering the litany of facts she’d spewed that afternoon in a bistro in Miramar Beach. Date, time, weight, length, and the name of the hospital. “That was enough to find you?”
“Not if I’d been just a normal guy, but she got a last name and I had my picture in the paper and she…”
“She figured it out.” Well, fair enough. He did look a lot like Tessa even though that thought had never even crossed her mind these past few weeks.
“But the rest is on me, Tessa. I cooked up the idea to meet you as her boyfriend. I talked her into that. Don’t be mad at her, please. She loves you so much.”
His concern for Lacey softened her a bit, and his willingness to take the blame was noble.
Not forgivable, but noble.
“Lacey sent me a message on Instagram and I agreed to meet her instantly because I’ve always wondered about you.”
“Did you ask your parents? I think they would have known my name.”
“No,” he said. “I had a great childhood and didn’t want them to feel I had a burning need to know my biological parents.”
Her heart skipped a beat at the word—it was her turn to tell the truth. Ugly and shameful as it might be, it had to be told.
“Parent,” she said softly, the admission churning her stomach. “Don’t ask about the other half of your gene pool because…it wasn’t a relationship as much as a…” She wanted to say “mistake” but how could she? Nothing about this specimen of humanity standing in front of her was amistake. “Fling,” she finished, knowing it sounded lame.
