A Pound of Flesh (A Pound of Flesh #1)(196)

“I wanted to apologize to you.” A heavy breath escaped her, and she closed her eyes. “I love you very much, sweetheart, and I want us to go back to the way things were. I hate fighting with you.”

“We’re never going to be the way we were, Mom. Too much has happened.”

Eva fought down the alarm rising at the back of her throat. “I … I understand if you don’t want to try.”

Blazing green eyes met hers. “It’s not that I don’t want to try, Mom. It’s the fact you can’t bear to be in the same room as the man I love. Carter and I come as a package now. If you can’t deal with that, then there’s no hope for us to ever go back to how we used to be.”

Eva fisted her hands together, willing her misgivings and distrust down into her stomach. “I understand.”

“No,” Katherine countered. “You don’t.” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Just because he told you about saving me doesn’t mean you understand what Carter and I are to one another.”

“Then explain it to me,” Eva urged. She wanted to understand. Needed to.

Katherine answered without hesitation. “I love him more than I could ever explain.” Her voice never wavered in its fervency. “He understands me, he keeps me safe, and he loves me, too.”

“I know he does.” Love like that was undeniable.

“He’s honest, sensitive, and one of the bravest men I’ve ever known. And I want to be with him for the rest of my life.”

Although Eva’s heart gave a panicked thump, Katherine’s words really didn’t surprise her. Of course she wanted to be with him forever. He was her other half, just as Danny had been Eva’s. How could she deny her daughter the one thing she’d wanted for her since the day she was born?

“How does that make you feel, Mom? How does it make you feel that someday that man in there, whom you regard so hatefully, will be my husband, the father of your grandchildren?”


Eva pushed her hands under her arms and stared out at the gardens, picturing her grandchildren running about the trees and flowers. She saw Katherine in a simple white gown with wildflowers in her hair, walking with Harrison down a path of white magnolias toward Wes, who would no doubt look devastatingly handsome in a black suit and white shirt unbuttoned at the neck.

It seemed so simple, so natural. And, in that moment, Eva knew it was inevitable. “It makes me feel terrified.” The confession slipped from her lips in a whisper.

“Why?” Katherine demanded. “Why does the thought of my being happy scare you so damned much?”

Eva stared at her daughter, beautiful, strong, and determined. “It terrifies me because you’re not my little girl anymore.” She moved closer and moved Katherine’s hair from her shoulder so that it spilled gloriously down her back.

“I’ve made some very bad choices during my life, not least the ones regarding how to handle your career and man choice, and for that I’m truly sorry. But please believe that when you have children of your own, you’ll know exactly what that means. I would walk into hell and take on Satan with my bare hands if anyone threatened to hurt you. A mother protects her children no matter the consequences, whether they’re five or twenty-five.”

She cupped Katherine’s face. “After your father died, knowing that my only connection to him was you scared the life out of me. I wanted to keep you even more protected, away from anything or anyone who could take you from me.” Her eyes filled with tears when Katherine’s face nestled into her palm.