Chapter 3
“She told me you said I was a distraction.”
Lucas's face twisted.
“I never said that.”
Laurel took a step backward.
“She said you didn't want me.”
“I didn't know you were waiting.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
He reached into his coat and withdrew the folded letter.
Laurel recognized the paper immediately.
The crease near the bottom.
The small stain where her tears had fallen.
Her own handwriting.
She covered her mouth.
Lucas held it out.
“It was trapped behind the lining of my funeral suit. Mr. Finley found it yesterday.”
Laurel took the letter with trembling hands.
For several seconds, she couldn't speak.
Then she whispered, “I waited three hours.”
Lucas closed his eyes.
“I know.”
“No, you don't.”
Her voice rose.
“I sat in that station until they turned off half the lights. Every time someone walked through the doors, I thought it was you.”
A tear slid down her cheek.
“I thought if you loved me even a little, you'd come.”
Lucas looked devastated.
“I would have.”
“Don't.”
“I would have come, Laurel.”
“Please don't say that.”
“Because it's true.”
She pressed the letter against her chest.
“Do you understand what that does to me?”
Lucas said nothing.
“I spent five years teaching myself not to love you. Five years convincing myself that I was stupid for believing someone like you could ever choose someone like me.”
“You weren't stupid.”
“And now you're standing here four days before my wedding telling me it was all a misunderstanding?”
He swallowed.
“No. I'm telling you it was a lie.”
Laurel stared at him.
“My mother admitted everything.”
The color drained from her face.
“She told you I asked for fifty thousand dollars to leave,” Lucas continued. “And she told me you accepted it.”
Laurel shook her head slowly.
“I never took a penny.”
“I know.”
“She offered me five thousand. I refused.”
“I know.”
Lucas stepped closer, then stopped himself.
“I don't expect forgiveness. I don't expect you to leave Matthew. I only came because you deserved the truth.”
Laurel wiped her cheeks.
“Why now?”
“Because I found the letter.”
“No.”
She looked directly at him.
“Why did you never come looking for me?”
That question hurt more than all the others.
Lucas lowered his head.
“Because I was a coward.”
Laurel went still.
“I believed the version of you that made it easier for me to survive losing you. I was grieving my father, and instead of asking questions, I let my mother give me an answer.”