The Endgame Trilogy by Skye Warren

Author:Skye Warren
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Romance
Publisher: Book Beautiful
Published: 2021-06-11T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eighteen

The next morning I visit my father, and the nurse gives me a genuine smile. “He’s been awake on and off. I imagine you’ll be able to talk to him today.”

My heart thuds in anticipation. He used to be my rock, my sole family member after the loss of my mother years ago. And he never remarried—never wanted to, that was how much he loved her. So it was just the two of us, playing chess or hosting society events in the ballroom. Now here we are—me living out of a cheap motel, him bedridden on the charity of his sworn enemy.

“Daddy, can you hear me?”

His eyelids flutter, but after a moment he goes still again. Sleeping. Disappointment wars with relief inside me. I desperately want my ally back, my family, but I know that even he can’t be that. He needs me to give him support. He doesn’t have any left himself.

I leave the book of history on the table and pull out the diary. I stayed up late last night, reading from the beginning. One story of her and Nina Thomas sneaking out of a coming-out ball to take a canoe across the lake had me giggling through my tears. She wasn’t quite as proper of a lady as I was told, but that only makes me love her more.

She longed for adventure before she settled into her role as a society wife.

I flip through the pages filled with her elegant, now-familiar scrawl.

And the man I truly want has no money, no standing. No chance of winning my hand. We both know that it’s impossible, but the heart doesn’t believe in boundaries.

Who was this mystery man? Did my father ever know him?

I flip ahead to a part I haven’t read yet, where she’s engaged to Daddy, and read aloud.

“‘Mother wants the best of everything. The flowers. The cake. Anything less will seem like we can’t afford it, and that would be vulgar. Of course the truth is that we can’t afford it, but Geoffrey graciously agreed to cover everything. He says we’ll share everything in a few months anyway.’”

That sounds like Daddy, incredibly generous. Completely in love.

Whatever happened with the mystery man, it hadn’t changed her decision.

“‘It seems like there’s a party every week. Officially I attend with Mother, and sometimes Father, but I always know that Geoffrey will be there. He does make me laugh.’” A smile touches my lips. “You make me laugh too, Daddy.”

But he must have smiled more before my mother died. There was always a tinge of sadness to him, as if he couldn’t stop remembering her.

The fact that I looked so similar just made it harder for him. I shudder as I remember Uncle Landon’s marriage proposal, the way I would have been a replacement for her. Disturbing. Disgusting. There’s a difference between wanting someone and loving someone. For my father, who genuinely loved my mother, the likeness had been a sad reminder of what he would never get back.

I turn the page.

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