Sugar Daddy (Travis Family #1)(105)

"Come off it, Churchill. I'm not an idiot."

"Your mother and I never slept together. You think I'd do that to Ava?"

"Sorry, but I don't buy it. Not if she was getting money from you."

"Honey, I don't give a f**k-all if you believe me or not," he said evenly. "Not saying I wasn't tempted. But I was physically faithful to Ava. I owed her at least that much. You want me to take a paternity test, I'll do it."

That convinced me. "Okay. I'm sorry. Sorry. I'm just...it's hard to accept that my mother went to you for money all those years. She always made such a big deal about never taking handouts from people and how I needed to be self-reliant when I grew up. That makes her a big fat hypocrite."

"It makes her a parent who wanted the best for her child. She did the best she could. I wanted to do a lot more for her, but she wouldn't let me." Churchill sighed, suddenly looking weary. "I didn't see her at all the year before she died."

"She was wrapped up with a guy she was dating," I said. "A real scumbag."

"Louis Sadlek."

"She told you about him?"

Churchill shook his head. "Read the accident report."

I stared at him, studied him, considering his fondness for grand gestures. "You watched the funeral from a black limo," I said. "I always wondered who it was. And the yellow roses...you've been sending them all these years, haven't you?"

He was quiet as I continued to put the pieces together. "I got a deal on her casket," I said slowly. "That was you. You paid for it. You got the funeral director to go along with it."

"It was the last thing I could do for Diana." he said. "That, and keep an eye on her daughters."

"Keep an eye on us how?" I asked suspiciously.

Churchill kept his mouth shut. But I knew him too well. Part of my job was helping to organize the rivers of information that flowed to Churchill. He kept tabs on businesses, political issues, people...he was always getting reports of one kind or another in deceptively innocuous tan envelopes. "You weren't spying on me, were you?" I asked, thinking, Sweet Jesus, these Travis men are making me paranoid.

He shrugged a little. "I wouldn't call it that. I just checked in on you now and then."

"I know you, Churchill. You don't just 'check in' on people. You're a meddler. You..." I sucked in a quick breath. "That scholarship I got from the beauty school...you did

that too. didn't you?"

"I wanted to help you."

I shot up from the sofa. "I didn't want any help! I could have done it on my own. Damn you. Churchill! First you were Mama's sugar daddy and then you were mine, except I didn't even have a choice about it. Do you know how stupid that makes me feel?"

His eyes narrowed. "What I did for you doesn't take away a thing from what you accomplished. Not a single thing."

"You should have left me alone. I swear, Churchill, you're going to take back every cent you spent on me, or I'll never speak to you again."

"Fair enough. I'll take the scholarship money out of your salary. But not the money for the casket. I did that for her, not for you. Sit down, we're not done talking. I got more to say."

"Great." I sat. My mind was buzzing. "Does Gage know?"

Churchill nodded. "He followed me one day when I drove to meet Diana for lunch at the St. Regis."

"You met her at a hotel and you never—" I stopped at the scowl he gave me. "Okay, okay. I believe you."

"Gage saw us having lunch." Churchill continued, "and he confronted me later. He was mad as hell even after I swore I hadn't cheated on Ava. But he agreed to keep it secret. He didn't want Ava to be hurt."

My mind went back to the day I had moved to River Oaks.

"Gage recognized my mother from the picture in my room upstairs." I said.

"Yes. We had words about it."

"I'll bet you did." I gazed into the fire. "Why'd you start coming to the salon?"

"I wanted to know you. I was proud as hell of you for keeping Carrington and raising her on your own, and working your tail off. I already loved you and Carrington because you were all that was left of Diana. But after I met you, I loved you for yourselves."

I could barely see him through the glitter in my eyes. "I love you too; you high-handed interfering old jackass."

Churchill held out his arm, gesturing for me to come closer. And I did. I leaned against him, into the comforting fatherly smell of aftershave and leather and starched cotton.

"My mother could never let go of Daddy," I said absently. "And you could never let go of her." I sat back and looked at him. "I've always thought it was about finding the right person. But it's about choosing the right person, isn't it1?...Making a real choice and giving your whole heart to it."

"Easier said than done."

Not for me. Not anymore. "I need to see Gage," I said. "Of all times for him to be gone. this has got to be the worst."

"Sugar." Churchill wore the beginnings of a frown. "Did Gage happen to mention why he was going on this last-minute trip?"

I didn't like the sound of that. "He told me he was going to Dallas and then to Research Triangle. But no, he didn't say why."