He glanced at Mirabelle. “You were the only one who supported us, but even after my parents’ deaths, Nora couldn’t get over the fact that there was still one other person who knew about her past. I think that’s why there was always tension between you two. Please don’t blame her for it, Mirabelle. She’s a good person, but the decisions she made when she was young haunt her to this day.”

Then Paul’s father looked at Paul and Olivia. “Please don’t judge your mother. She loves you both.”

Paul reached across the table and squeezed his father’s hand. “We have to judge people by their future. Otherwise, they can never become what they’re meant to be.”

Slowly, his father nodded. “Go, Paul, and do what you need to do. You know in your heart what’s right.”

Paul smiled. Yes, he knew.

29

“Are you sure about it?” Sabrina asked.

Holly nodded. “You saw what happened. I can’t stay here. I have to go home.” She looked at Daniel, who leaned against the armrest of the sofa in the living room of his parents’ home. “Could you please go over to Paul’s house and get my suitcase? I don’t think anybody wants to see me over there.”

Daniel nodded, his face serious. “Of course I’ll do that. Do you want me to give Paul a message while I’m there?”

Holly bowed her head. She had embarrassed Paul and his family. “I’m sure he doesn’t want to hear from me.”

“Okay. I’ll be back shortly.” He pivoted and left the room.

“Oh, Holly. Don’t you think you should talk to Paul and tell him the truth?” Sabrina asked. “Don’t you think he deserves to know that it’s his child?”

Holly met her friend’s gaze. “What would that serve? There is no future for us, no matter what happened before last night.”

After Holly had run to the Sinclairs’ house, because she hadn’t had anywhere else to go after her former client had exposed her, she had told Sabrina everything that had happened between her and Paul.

“But he seems to care about you. Why don’t you give him a chance and let him decide for himself, before you conclude that he doesn’t want to talk to you?”

The doorbell rang, and Holly sighed. “Don’t take this the wrong way, Sabrina, but sometimes you’re a little naive. I was an escort for several years. I knew what I was doing, and I did it anyway. I have no excuses for my behavior other than that I couldn’t find a job I was good at. But I was good at entertaining men. And now I’m paying for it. Because a man like Paul could never love somebody like me. No matter how much I love him and how much I will love his baby, I have to be realistic. We have no future.”

“How much do you love me, Holly?”

Holly whirled and shot up from the sofa.

In the door to the living room stood Paul, Holly’s suitcase next to him. Daniel was right behind him.

“What are you doing here?” she asked, though she knew already. He was here to deliver her things so that she wouldn’t set foot in his parents’ house again.

“I asked first. How much do you love me, Holly?”

“We’d better leave you guys alone,” Sabrina said, and walked to the door.

“Don’t!” Holly begged, but her friend shook her head, and she and Daniel left. Holly’s gaze drifted back to Paul, who still hadn’t moved from his spot near the door. “You weren’t supposed to hear that.”

“Just like I wasn’t supposed to hear that the baby is mine?”

Holly trembled. “I’m not giving it up. And I’m not asking for child support.”

His lips twisted. “Oh, I wasn’t going to offer to pay child support.”

Oddly disappointed about his callous words, she pointed to the suitcase. “Thank you for bringing my things. So now that everything is settled, you can leave.”

“Nothing is settled between us.”

Her breath caught in her lungs. “I’ve got nothing left to say to you.”

Paul took several steps toward her and instinctively she shrank back. “You haven’t answered my question yet.”

“What do you want, Paul? To humiliate me further? Don’t you think I feel humiliated enough? Now you want me to confess that I’m in love with you so you can trample on it? I won’t do that!”

“I have no intention of humiliating the mother of my child. On the contrary.” He moved closer, backing her into a corner. He sighed. “Don’t you realize what’s been happening between us the last few days?”