Page 79
All my love to the woman I am so proud to call my daughter,
Lorelei
P.S. Did you wear the coat?”
Kian’s earnest expression was more than she could process as she sat there, tears streaming down her face until she didn’t think she’d catch another breath. Lorelei left her half of the mall?
“Joy? Are you okay?” Kian asked as Joy stood, wobbling on her feet.
Rather than answer, she walked to the bathroom and shut the door.
40
#Workplaceromance
Feeling like a voyeur, but knowing he should read the rest of the letter, Kian took a moment to read it before standing and walking to the bathroom door. He’d had plenty of time to process the fact that he owned half the mall. Joy had five minutes. He wanted to give her time and space, but he also didn’t want her to pull away or get inside her head and decide he was the bad guy.
“Joy,” he said, knocking on the door. “Come out so we can talk about this.” There was silence from inside. He worried she had passed out from the shock or the head injury. “Sweetheart, you have to at least respond, or I’m coming in there to make sure you didn’t pass out.”
“I didn’t,” she answered, her voice nasal, as expected. “Just give me a minute.”
Kian paced in front of the door, running through every move he’d made since arriving in Snowcap Ridge. Had he done the right thing? Would she hold this against him? Would she understand why his mom did what she did? Hell, that might be the hardest question to answer, since he still didn’t understand it.
When the bathroom door opened, Joy stood before him, a wet washcloth on her neck, her eyes glassy. He couldn’t tell whether it was tears, shock, or the head injury, but he grasped her elbow and helped her back to the couch. Once she was seated, he took the washcloth, ran it under cold water again, and returned with it so she could hold it to her flushed cheeks.
“How long have you known?” she whispered, her hands shaking as she wiped the cloth across her face. “That we’re sharing the mall?”
“Since September,” he answered truthfully.
“What would have happened if you had told me about my inheritance before Christmas Eve?”
Sighing, he rubbed his forehead. He had to answer her honestly. Anything else could be their downfall, and that was the last thing he wanted.
“If I had told you before Christmas Eve that the letter would arrive via messenger, we’d both lose the mall, and it would have to be sold. You would also be removed as GM.”
Rather than answering, she sat blinking at him, as though she were still trying to process it all. Then again, she probably was. It took him forever to process the contents of his letter. It was odd, too, because he had inherited the entire company, yet he had less trouble grasping that than the idea of personally owning half of an outlet mall in his hometown.
Joy giggled, then clamped a hand over her mouth. It couldn’t contain the laughter, though. She giggled more and more until she laughed so hard she cried. He worried he’d have to take her back to the hospital. Obviously, this was too much of a shock for her after what happened last night. He’d worried about her head injury complicating matters, but he also knew there was no choice but to tell her the truth before he lost her. That was the last thing he could let happen.
“Joy? Baby? Are you okay?”
The laughter faded as Joy leaned back on the couch, her body going lax. She shook her head against the couch pillow, so he kept his hand on her leg, but gave her a moment to gather herself.
“Lorelei essentially forced you to either keep the secret or cost me everything. She was a businesswoman first and foremost.”
“No, she was a mom first and foremost,” he whispered. “To both of us. She wanted me to learn from you, to discover why Snowcap Ridge meant so much to her and to you, and to see what hard work looked like. She could never have imagined that her forced restrictions would end with us in love.”
“No, she couldn’t have known that,” Joy agreed. “She also wouldn’t have known if you had told me before Christmas Eve. You could have, you know. Once I knew, waiting for the letter would be a small price to pay for owning half of this mall.”
“Thought about it,” he said. “Especially after you talked about that third-act breakup the other night. It occurred to me that we were close enough to the letter’s release to squeak by for a few days. For you to know but pretend you didn’t.”
“Why didn’t you then?” she asked, sitting up carefully while keeping a hand on her head. “And don’t say it was fear of your mother haunting you for life.”
“But you have to admit that’s a legitimate fear.” When she tipped her head and smiled, he knew she agreed. “The reason I didn’t break my mother’s rules was that, in my opinion, it wasn’t my place. I couldn’t take away from you the chance to read her final thoughts, dreams, and gifts for you. The ones she wrote down, knowing it would probably be years before you would ever know she’d done it, but she did it just in case. The words she put down in that letter were more important than my need to protect myself. And I did need to learn from you. I needed to see how you run the mall and find a place for myself within it. Would you ever accept me as the man I am today, or would you forever remember me as the boy who tortured you for years? Those were the choices I had to make, and as we grew closer, it became harder to know if I was making the right one. Whenever I started to worry that not telling you would be the reason I lost you, I’d find some little reminder of Mom, or you’d share a memory of her that made me stop and remember I had to do it her way.”
“Lorelei put you in a tough spot,” she said, taking his hand. “I’ve always been a logical thinker. I can see why you’d worry on both sides of the coin. That was a lot to carry for all these months.”
“Worth it, though,” Kian promised, leaning in and resting his forehead against hers. “It was worth it to know that Mom loved you so much she took care of you forever. This mall is ours now. We can’t sell our half to anyone but the other person, and only for specific reasons you’ll learn when you speak with the lawyer.”
