Beth Cornelison - The Return of Connor Mansfield

“Darby, stop. What are you doing?” Hunter wrapped his arms around her and pulled her back. “Calm down, okay? You’ll wake Savannah.”

Another stab of pain slashed through her. Savannah. How many times had she wished Savannah could know her father? And now he was here. To meet his daughter. Yet they couldn’t tell Savannah the truth. It wasn’t fair. How could she draw her daughter into the deceit? And yet, how could she tell her daughter the truth knowing Connor would leave again, return to WitSec with the marshals in a matter of days, hours? Darby knew too well the pain of losing a father, having him blithely walk out of her life.

Her shoulders shook with sobs as she turned and buried her face in Hunter’s shirt. He folded her into a comforting embrace, muttering soothing reassurances.

But no words could calm her. No hug could ease her troubled heart.

Connor was alive, and she had no idea where to start sorting out the tangled web of his lies.

* * *

A cold heaviness filled Connor’s chest as he watched Hunter hug Darby, soothing her. His brother had been Darby’s close friend since college. She’d started hanging out at the Mansfield family home during Hunter’s freshman year at Louisiana Tech, and their friendship had never faltered, even when Connor had fallen hard for his brother’s friend and started dating Darby the same summer.

That Darby would turn to Hunter for comfort during a difficult time was logical. Still, seeing her in his brother’s arms caused a sinking sensation to settle over him. Had the nature of their friendship changed over the years he’d been gone? On the heels of Darby’s hostile reception of him, the possibility that his brother had replaced him in Darby’s affections shot a chilling spear of jealousy through his heart.

They thought you were dead, he tried to rationalize, yet the argument fell flat, did nothing to ease the swelling ache of betrayal.

Hunter is a good guy, salt of the earth, the kind of man Darby deserved, his logical mind justified. But he’s your brother. He knows how much you loved her—still love her, his heart countered.

Connor dragged a hand along his jaw, reeling from the turn of events, stung by Darby’s anger. Acid churned in his gut as he tried to sort out his next move. He had to make Darby listen to him. He had to make her understand his reasons for leaving, for letting the U.S. Marshals fake his death.

Shoving down the seesawing grief and frustration that ripped through him, Connor drew a deep breath, searching for control over his emotions. “Please, Darby, just give me a chance to explain. I never wanted to hurt you. Leaving you was the hardest thing I’ve ever done.”

She jerked free of Hunter’s arms and spun to face him, her expression cold. “So you said. But the facts remain. You left. You deceived everyone you loved.”

He raised his chin and set his jaw. “My family had to believe I was dead in order to convince the Gales—”

“I’m not interested in hearing any more of your excuses. A lie is a lie. You abandoned all of us. Left us to grieve for you!” She folded her arms over her chest and pressed her lips in a thin line. Anger vibrated from her, but a sadness and vulnerability swam in her green eyes, as well. The hurt and questions reflected in her tearful gaze broke his heart. And gave him a shred of hope. Maybe in time she could forgive him for his choices.

He spread his hands in appeal. “Please, Darby, give me a chance. For our daughter’s sake.”

Darby jerked her chin up, fire filling her eyes, her body going rigid. “Don’t you dare use Savannah as a bargain chip! When you left me, you left her, too.”

He took a step toward Darby. “Because you never told me you were pregnant!”

“I didn’t know yet!” As soon as the words left her mouth, Darby closed her eyes and huffed a sigh, as if she realized she had no right to hold that argument against him.

“If I had known about the baby...” he started, but couldn’t finish.

What would he have done? His life would still have been in danger—and Darby’s, too, by association. He would still have wanted to protect her. His handlers in the Witness Security Program would still have argued that she had to believe he was dead to convince Gale. Her disappearance near the time of his faked death would still have sounded too many alarms with the men who hunted him for revenge.

Asking her to leave her family, her job, her friends, her life behind to go with him into hiding would have been too great a sacrifice for him to impose on her. Her family was too important to her. Lagniappe was the only home she’d ever known.

She lifted her eyebrows and tipped her head, inviting him to continue. “If you had known...what? What would you have done differently? Would you have loved me more? Would you have stayed for the sake of the baby?”

He heaved a weary sigh. “I honestly don’t know.”

“If I wasn’t enough reason to stay, if somehow you didn’t love me enough, then maybe it’s just as well you left. I don’t want you here just because of our baby.” A tear spilled onto her cheek, and his heart cracked. “I needed more than that from you. I deserve more than that.”

“It wasn’t like that, Darby. I did love you, but—”

A shuffling sound in the hall to his right drew his attention, stopping him midsentence.

A frail-looking girl with only thin wisps of dark hair on her nearly bald head stood in the threshold rubbing her eyes. “Mommy?”

Connor’s breath hung in his lungs, and his chest contracted. Tears rushed to his eyes as he took a step toward the girl and dropped to his knees. With a trembling hand, he reached for his daughter’s delicate cheek and wheezed, “Savannah.”

Chapter 5

Darby froze as Connor knelt before their daughter and stroked her cheek. Seeing the man with whom she’d dreamed of building a future beside the child they’d created together was an image she’d conjured so many times in her mind. And now it was real. But also heartbreaking.

Though she knew Connor would never hurt Savannah, he was a stranger to her. Connor could easily frighten Savannah if he came on too strong, too fast. Darby’s heart thumped wildly, and she held her breath, watching.

“Hello, precious girl,” he murmured.

Savannah wrinkled her nose and tipped her head as she studied her father and the medical scrubs. “Ah you a doctuh?”

Darby joined Connor in a crouch beside Savannah. “No, baby, this is...uh—” Daddy. The name stuck in her throat. Even though Connor was here for the sole purpose of meeting his daughter, the idea of telling Savannah who he was, only to rip her father away within days seemed cruel. She met Connor’s golden-eyed gaze, and a shudder raced through her. The tender awe and love in his expression wrenched inside her, tripping over her anger and confusion.

Darby scooped Savannah into her arms quickly and stood, turning her back to him. She needed to set some ground rules with Connor before things went any further.

“What’s wrong, Priss? Did we wake you?” She stroked Savannah’s head. “Does your tummy hurt?”

Savannah shrugged and stuck her thumb in her mouth. Darby didn’t have the heart to fight the bad habit that had reappeared recently. Anything that gave her baby comfort was fine with her. Her daughter craned her neck to peer over Darby’s shoulder to Connor. “Where’s Kaylee?”

A grin tugged Darby’s lips. Savannah loved Kaylee, Grant’s new baby. And she had to admit, with his hair darkened, Connor looked a good bit like his older brother. “Kaylee’s at home. That’s not Uncle Grant.”

Darby shot Hunter a glance, looking for help, but Connor’s younger brother only shrugged, deferring to her. He jammed his hands in his jeans pockets and sent her a commiserative glance.