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Less than a minute later, the two of them are cautiously strolling in, linked by the hands.
Lauren doesn’t even wait a moment to lovingly plant her palm on my cheek and coo, “You look awful.”
It’s impossible not to confess, “I feel awful.”
“As you should,” she sasses in return, sounding more like her daughter than my heart can handle. “The last few days have been rough.”
Lauren parks herself in the chair opposite of mine while Clark plants himself on the arm inspiring me to motion a finger in reference to their close proximity. “You are a couple then?”
“Yes,” Clark answers at the same time he extends an arm around the back of her seat. “For quite some time.”
“How long?”
“Years,” the man who has basically been a father to me admits.
“Years?!”
“Four and a half to be exact.” His grin is bashful. Damn near giddy. “There are days I can hardly believe it’s been that long.”
My mouth moves in total disbelief, yet no sound accompanies it.
Perhaps because I’m not sure what I should say.
“We’ve done our best to keep our relationship fairly private,” Lauren politely picks up. “Maintaining this household…this estate…you has always been our sole focus and top priority. And when things first began to progress past a working relationship, we agreed that that would not change. That if it did then what was between us would need to end.”
“Why?” leaves me in almost all air. “Why would you be willing to sacrifice your own happiness for…for…for mine?”
“Because we love you, Weston,” Clark retorts without hesitation. “Because that’s what…parents do for their children.” This time his shoulders sink in obvious discomfiture. “No, you are not…biologically my son, but I have had a direct hand in raising you your entire life. I’ve spent more time raising you than I did my own daughter, which is something her mother never lets me forget.”
“Which is how Penny got a job here, I’m assuming?”
He reluctantly nods. “Yes. Penelope is a very bright, but very…troubled young woman.”
Understatement.
“And I believe it to be my fault. I blame myself. I ration with the idea that had I been around more for her upbringing, she wouldn’t be the misguided person she’s become. She wouldn’t be someone who apparently can’t distinguish the difference between love and obsession. Dreams and delusions. She’d be less like her mother instead of more so.” Lauren delivers a loving pat to his leg. “Penelope had found herself in an unfortunate circumstance, so rather than simply throw money at the situation – something I had done her entire life – I offered her an opportunity. I agreed to cover the cost; however, she had to come work off the debt here. Under my supervision.” He sucks in a deeper breath. “I truly believed it would be a clean slate of sorts. A chance to start over. Make new connections. Perhaps learn a trade. Allow us to build a relationship we were never properly able to when she was a child.”
“We didn’t want special treatment extended to Penny simply because she was Clark’s daughter, so we filled out all of her paperwork as Penny Astrid – her middle name – and took care of her background to match the change.”
“You lied.”
“I pulled a few strings,” Clark casually admits. “Reinvented her to ensure that clean slate.”
“You hired a real-life Poison Ivy to work at the estate.”
“I had the woman I hope marries me someday hire a lost, little girl that needed her father who couldn’t fathom leaving one child,” he motions a hand at me, “for the other.”
It’s impossible not to sink further into my seat.
The truth is he’s committed no crime.
And neither has Lauren.
Doing what you believe is right for someone you love isn’t something I should punish either of them for.
Clark’s right.
He has been a father to me for my entire life and Lauren has been a motherly voice whenever the voice I remember starts to fade. These two people – like J.T. – are to thank for my existence.
