Surprise Delivery(95)

I look to the bedroom door and think about who is just beyond it. Aurora. What would be in her best interests? Growing up in a life without knowing what it’s like to go without? Growing up wanting for nothing? Would it damage her to grow up without a father? Or, would it damage her more to only know me as an infant, then to be ripped away from me and have to live with her father, raised by an endless stream of nannies?

“What’s in your best interest, little one?” I whisper. “What’s the best thing for you?”

Unfortunately, I know she can’t answer me – and even if she could, she probably wouldn’t have the answer any more than I do. No, as her mother, it’s my responsibility to make the decision for her.

Like Henry said many times over, it’s my job to protect my family.





Thirty





Duncan





“Have you spoken with your brother lately?”

I sit down on the couch, a glass of scotch in hand and give my mother a rueful smile. “What do you think?”

She sips her tea and looks at me. “I think you two are stubborn, hardheaded, and set in your ways.”

I laugh softly. “Yeah well, his ways don’t exactly jibe with mine,” I say. “I’m not really into letting somebody else dictate how I live my life.”

She sets her cup down on the coffee table. “This is going to sound trite, but he really does mean well,” she says.

“It sounds a lot worse than trite, Mom.”

Her smile is tinged with sadness. “Your brother feels it’s his duty to protect the family name, Duncan,” tries to explain. “I know he takes it to extremes, but –”

“You and Dad built the family name into what it is,” I interject. “You based it on generosity, kindness, and compassion. That’s the reputation the Clyburne family name carries. Henry is perverting it. That he feels some people are beneath us on the social ladder and are, therefore, somehow unworthy of our attention or affection – it’s repulsive to me, Mom. It goes against everything you and Dad taught us as kids.”

She sighs and gives me a small nod. “I know,” she says. “And what he did to you and Alexis is – it’s terrible. But, he’s your brother, Duncan.”

“That doesn’t mean I can sweep everything under the rug,” I say. “Just because we’re blood doesn’t mean that everything he does to protect the family name is okay. Not by a long shot.”

“I’m not saying it is,” she objects. “All I’m saying is give him a chance to explain –”

“I have. Many times over,” I reply. “And it always comes back to the same things – I betrayed the family by going into medicine rather than the company business. I don’t date the right kind of women, I don’t do this right or that right, I’m tarnishing Dad’s legacy. It’s always the same with him.”

She picks up her teacup and takes another sip, seeming to be contemplating her next words. She sets the cup back down and sits back on the sofa, the sadness still clinging to her like cobwebs.

“Ever since your father died, your brother has kind of gone off the rails,” she says. “He doesn’t have that North Star to guide him. He needs that.”

“He’s also a thirty-nine-year-old man who should know how you do and don’t treat people,” I reply.

She nods. “I don’t disagree with that,” she says. “But, these kinds of incidents are how we can teach him.”

“Mom, if he doesn’t get it by now, I really don’t know if he ever will.”

“Don’t give up on him just yet, Duncan,” she sighs. “He and I had a long talk the other day and he sort of opened up about some things – things I didn’t know before.”

“We all have our issues, Mom,” I respond. “It comes down to basic human decency. That’s a trait I fear Henry is lacking.”

She purses her lips and frowns. “Just – don’t give up on your brother just yet, Duncan. Please. For me,” she says. “He’s not a lost cause. Believe me when I say he understands his shortcomings, and he’s trying to address them. He really is.”

“I’ll believe it when I see it.”

She looks at me for a moment, a small smile playing across her lips. “You are so much like your father in some ways, you know. Never one to take things on faith,” she says.

“I’ve lived in the real world too long,” I say. “I know that when you take people on faith, ultimately, they’re going to burn you.”

“Well, that’s a cynical point of view,” she states. “I certainly never raised you to be such a cynic.”

I laugh softly. “No, you haven’t,” I concede. “It’s hard-won experience that has.”

She cocks her head and looks at me. Her eyes bore into me and I can tell she sees something going on in my head. My mom just always seems to know.

“What is it?” she asks. “What’s going on, Duncan?”

I sigh and take a drink of my scotch, letting everything that’s happened go through my mind again – not that it’s stopped since the night Brad attacked me. I came to my mom today to ask for her advice. I’ve been drifting between absolute excitement about having a daughter with a woman I love and complete rage and betrayal over the fact that she’s lied to me about it this whole time.