This Promise, Sent Into the Light

Chapter 4: A Public Face

I learned what the Vale family wanted from my first interview as Sebastian's fiancée.

The foundation's communications director, Nina, arranged the meeting in a conference room overlooking the harbor. A photographer waited outside. She had printed a list of questions in a neat font and placed a glass of water beside each chair.

"Keep the focus on the restoration," Nina said. "Bellwether is a love story between a family and its town."

"I thought it was a hotel."

She smiled without showing her teeth. "We're looking for warmth."

"Then don't ask me to describe a merger as a love story."

Sebastian sat beside me, one hand resting on the table. "Mara understands how important the hotel is to the town."

"Does she?" Nina asked me. "Could you say that you're grateful the Vale family stepped in?"

"I'm grateful they're honoring the terms we negotiated."

Nina glanced at Sebastian. "That may sound combative."

"It's accurate."

The photographer came in. He asked us to stand near the window. Sebastian put a hand at my waist. I stood beside him with the ring visible. He leaned close enough for his breath to warm my ear.

"Please don't turn this into a fight."

"I'm answering questions."

"You're making my family look like the villain."

"Are they?"

He lifted his hand from my waist.

The photograph was taken anyway. By the time I got back to Bellwether, the image was already on the foundation's website: Sebastian and me against a gray harbor, looking like a couple who'd never had to bargain for a roof.

The caption called the engagement a "shared commitment to preserving the coast."

The first donation arrived that afternoon. A second followed before dinner. It was exactly the response the board wanted. My town saw a future for the hotel. The hotel staff stopped whispering about layoffs.

I should have felt relief. Instead, I felt the walls closing in.

The next morning, Paige Mercer called the hotel.

"I'm not asking you to meet with me," she said. Her voice was quiet and careful. "I'm asking you not to put the children in the middle of your wedding."

"I won't."

"Sebastian said you knew."

"I do."

"Did he tell you why he kept us private?"

"He said the board would make the children a target."

A small pause. "That's what he tells himself."

I gripped the desk. "Are they safe?"

"Yes. But Oliver found a photograph online. He asked why his father was marrying someone else."

I had no good answer to that. I looked at the image on my laptop, at Sebastian's hand on my waist.

"Has he spoken to them?"

"Not since the announcement. He sent a driver with gifts. I told the driver to take them back."

"I'm sorry."

"You don't have to be. You didn't make him lie."

The way she said it made my apology sound like a door she didn't want me to open.

"Paige, I don't want to hurt them."

"Then don't let him use you to make the lie look respectable."

I sat still after she hung up. My first impulse was to call Sebastian and demand that he tell the children the truth. My second was to remember the financing. Bellwether's staff had been paid. The restoration company had ordered new windows. The trust paperwork was at the bank.

I could not call it all back without hurting people who had never asked to be part of my bargain.

That evening, I went to the Marsh Road house.

Paige opened the door. She had dark hair twisted into a loose knot and a pale mark on one wrist where a watch had been. From inside came a child's voice, then the sharp scrape of a chair.

"I'm not staying," I said. "I wanted to apologize in person."

"You already did."

"I wanted to make sure you knew I'm not here to claim a place with the children."

Paige studied me. "Are you marrying him?"

"I don't know."

"Then you have more sense than I did at twenty-six."

"I'm not asking you to help me decide."

"Good. You wouldn't like my answer."

The yellow-coated girl appeared at the hallway. She held a small plastic horse and looked at me without speaking.

"I'm June," she said.

"I'm Mara."

"Are you going to marry my dad?"

I glanced at Paige. She didn't answer for me.

"I haven't decided," I told June.

She examined the ring on my hand. "It's shiny."

"It is."

"I thought weddings made people stay."

The hallway seemed to narrow around us.

"Sometimes they do," I said. "Sometimes people have to decide to stay even when nobody makes them."

June looked down at her horse. "Dad says he's coming Friday."

"Then I hope he does."

Paige walked me to the door. "Don't make promises to them."

"I won't."

"Not even the ones you think you can keep."

When I drove away, I saw a light come on in the upstairs window. I didn't know if Sebastian would come on Friday. I didn't know if I would marry him. I only knew that the children deserved a father who showed up without waiting for a contract to make it convenient.

At Bellwether, I removed the ring and placed it in the safe.

Then I called Sebastian.

"I want you at Marsh Road Friday," I said. "Not a driver. You."

"I have a board dinner."

"Then cancel it."

"They're expecting me."

"So are your children."

He breathed out sharply. "You can't dictate my relationship with them."

"No. But I can decide whether I'll marry a man who only sees his children when it fits his calendar."

He said nothing.

"Friday," I repeated.

*****