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"Convenient to say now Do you really think three words willdown his dread "No, and that’s not why I’ them now I knoill take time for me to prove it to you But it’s the truth, and I’m relieved to finally say how I feel"
Alyssa turned her back on him "How am I supposed to ever believe you?"
He didn’t have an easy answer except trust--the one thing he’d shattered between the you the truth"
"The same sort of truth you told when you led hed "They’re just words and they don’t "
"That’s crap! Fro" Luc raked a hand through his hair How to s were deep and wide and went on forever? "We nant, and I still want to be a husband and father This could have been any other e of convenienceexcept we fell in love Love, sugar It’s too good to just throay We have to co, even if it takes a while"
"It’s not a ; it’s a lie You can’t use those three little words to put a verbal Band-Aid over the fact that you apparently have so little respect for me, you immediately assumed the baby was another man’s You kept critical infor you cared--"
"I do care, godda? I Love You I never really knehat that lare "You love et a second opinion about whether you could possibly father a child, just in case your doctor rong--"
"Actually, I made an appoint the second opinion will be different and this baby is mine"
"This new doctor will tell you what I already know: You’re capable of siring a child I have no doubt you’ll be an incredible father, and I’ll never take this child away from you He or she is half you and should know its father But none of the rest of this shit matters For us, your sudden confession and ‘I love you’s are too little, too late Good-bye, Luc"
THE day after Thanksgiving, and Luc stared out theof his Tyler, Texas, horay day He had reasons to be thankful, he supposed Feeling it was i but the terrible emptiness inside him, an emptiness he knew could be filled only by his wife
And Alyssa wasn’t talking to him At all
He’d left their house in Lafayette after their argu twelve hours, she’d changed the locks at both her residence and the restaurant, as well as her hoht, he’d waited in Bonheur’s packed parking lot like a daht steal a few ain that he was sorry and he loved her
Instead, Tyler had rushed her to her car and curled his arm around her protectively the second they’d seen hih to allow Alyssa to escape The bastard had paid for it; Luc knew he had a e even a ith his wife
The next night, she’d called him from the restaurant to reiterate her plea to leave her alone Before he could sayup
That had been a long, one back to LA and finished his taping He could only iine what those episodes looked like, since he’d been on autopilot the whole tiet a call back to reshoot some
Yesterday, he’d likely ruined Deke and Ki holiday They had so much to be thankful for and had invited all of Kiround, but Hunter had stared with those knowing eyes as he’d shaken his head and an, had concurred
"Anything fro so contrite that he could hardly be angry with her She’d merely assumed that, since Alyssa was his wife, he’d been honest with her about his "condition"
"No"
"I’ize again It only ree a daed the heels of his palms into his eyes "Why didn’t I learn the first ti my cousin, Deke is my best friend I kept the truth from him, too It al learn I wanted her and that baby so badly" He sighed "I checkedto you as well, right, about who the baby’s father was?"
"Yeah, and at the time, that’s how I justified s don’t hed "What are you going to do? I’ve never seen you this s I should be elated about, you know? A year ago, when I first started hearing from the cable network, the shoas a dream come true For that to actually be a reality nowIt’s everything I’ve worked for, one of the goals in the back ofthe saredient to see if I could make it better It’s one of the reasons I broke my back to make so many personal appearances, put out the best possible cookbooks I wanted this opportunity to reach avid foodies and share "
"I’reat Your personality will draers in I just know it"
He shrugged "Maybe Thing is, I’m not sure I care that much anymore"
Kimber squeezed his hand "You’re just upset God, if I’d had any idea--"
"Don’t bla If I hadn’t married her under false pretenses, I wouldn’t be in this mess"