A hand pressed against his shoulder and he opened his eyes— his mother with her dark hair with streaks of gray in an updo had finally arrived. She sat on the couch next to him. “Galen, you sounded stressed on the phone. Is everything okay with you?”
He let his shoulders drop but couldn’t meet her eyes. “Mom, you didn’t have to come over.”
She looked up the stairs as another worker rushed toward the door, presumably to get another case of dresses for possible selection. The chaos was why he’d taken the seat that faced the grand piano instead of the constant activity.
His mother turned around and asked him again, “Where is Natalie?”
He patted her knee. “She’s upstairs with Caro, picking out a wedding dress.”
Fiona smiled brighter and motioned for him to join her in the air conditioned sun room, slightly further away from the activity. Potted plants, a round table, and white chairs with tall backs. They looked nice but were uncomfortable.
He followed her and once they took their seats, his mother asked, “So, you have a few minutes. Are you having second thoughts on the wedding?”
She knew him well, and his cheeks heated with shame. “Yes and no.”
She scooted closer to him and he sat back, bumping his shoulder awkwardly. Why had he kept these things? Once she was settled, she put her hand on his. “Tell me.”
Right. He needed to make sense to someone so he started with his mom. “I want to marry Natalie tomorrow. I want her with me for the rest of my life.”
She nodded her head like she liked what he said, but then she slid her gaze from him to look at the bay out the windows. “That’s good, so what’s the but?”
Natalie hadn’t understood. He needed his mother to get it. She’d been there all his life and her example played in his heart.
A maid came in and gave them both waters and left a snack of crackers and sliced cheese. He swallowed the water fast and put the glass down as the maid left. Once they were alone, he told his mother, “But she says she loves me and gets all sweet and kind—even after I told her I don’t believe in love.”
“Aww.” She let out a breath like she was relieved and then said, “You have your brothers’ issues.”
“What?” He crushed a cracker and dropped it to the plate. Both of his brothers seemed perfectly happy these days, married to women they clearly adored.
Now that he thought about it, he’d heard Mitch call Tess “my love” more than once.
His mother brushed her hand on his chin. “Mitch and Damien both almost blew it with their wives because they too didn’t like my example of love.”
She’d locked herself away for days, unable to eat every time his father left. He had a vivid memory of being on the other side of the door as a boy wanting his mother to come out and eat dinner that he’d cooked for her with them. He didn’t mention now how he’d sat outside her door, waiting for her, like a puppy. Instead he simply said, “Mom, you cried for our no-good father.”
She covered his lips and bent her head as if in prayer. “Don’t speak ill of the dead. No matter what awful things he did to our family, he was still your father and he loved you in his own way.”
Yeah right. His father never did anything that didn’t benefit himself first. He shook his head and said, “Like paying for an abortion with Alison?”
She stared at him with big blank eyes. “What?”
Fair. That was a bombshell he hadn’t processed either. Or the fact she was the one planning against his and Natalie’s relationship. The entire scenario hardly registered as facts, but he leaned against the table, folding his hands in front of him. “Alison stopped by yesterday. Said she had an abortion and that’s why she left me.”
His mother, the eternal Catholic, blessed herself like she prayed. “Your father did not believe in abortion. He wouldn’t have done that. He kept what he thought was his.”
Or his mother didn’t know his father as well as she wished. He didn’t put anything past him though his heart beat slightly faster now. “Alison seemed certain.”
His mother stood and paced as she shook her head continuously. She was processing this news, perhaps better than him. He sat straighter and finally she turned toward him and asked, “Can we have Rafe check into that too? I knew your father. He kidnapped Catherine and gave her to an employee’s family to raise. He kidnapped Victoria’s infant baby, made her think her daughter was dead, though he let Colt raise the baby. There is every reason to suspect he’d take Alison’s baby if she didn’t want it. He’d never let anything happen to a member of the House of Morgan and you and your son or daughter would be part of his legacy.”
No. It was way too late to even think about this. He had no children. If he did, he’d have never let Alison go. The thought stopped him and he couldn’t move a finger. His pulse raced; he stood as well. “Any baby would already be eight or nine. We married at 18, divorced at 21 and I’m about to turn 30.”
Fiona turned toward him and stared at him with determination. “Either Alison has the child hidden away or the baby was raised by someone else or she lied and was never pregnant to begin with. We’ll have to figure that out and fast. I’m going to talk to Peter and Isabelle as well about my suspicion.”
The way she was so sure made him pause. Perhaps she was right. Maybe she wasn’t but it was worth checking out. He texted Rafe about what Alison had said and what his mother thought.
Done, he glanced at his mother who finally retook her seat and drank her water. He heard more staff bringing trunks through his living area and decided to stay in the sun room with his mom. “How do you think Natalie will feel about me never saying I love you to her?”
She patted his hand like he was an errant school boy. “That’s silly. You love her.”
