Birthright (24 page)

“Friday night I was too selfish to realize what kind of pain you were in.” Her fingers softened against his wrist but didn’t let go. “I hated it that you were drinking, Aaron, but I wasn’t even thinking about you. I was thinking about what I’d been through with Tyler. That wasn’t fair to you.” She stroked the skin of his wrist with her thumb, searching his face for a sign that she was getting through to him, that he be
lieved her, that he knew how much she loved him. “You’re not a punk, Aaron. You’re a strong, brave man. I don’t ever want to hear you say such things about yourself again.”

At last he turned back to her. His gaze met hers, testing, measuring. “What would you do if you saw me drinking like that again?”

“I’d shake you till your teeth rattled. I’d scream at you. I’d wail. I’d beg. I’d tell you I loved you and wanted you to stop. I don’t know.” She offered a hesitant smile. “Would any of that work?”

“The last strategy might.” He remained solemn, even as her smile expanded. “Lily, I mean it. I’m not just the town bastard. I’m Abraham Steele’s bastard.” He shook his head. “My whole past is so screwed up—”

“That’s not important. I mean, of course it’s important, but it’s not as important as your present. And your future. You’re a teacher. A counselor. A coach. A role model. And a pretty decent art critic, too.”

Another smile, faint but promising, flickered across his lips at that last description.

“You know, I don’t even like hard liquor that much.”

“Good.” She skimmed her hand up his arm to his shoulder and pulled herself up to kiss his cheek. “Do you forgive me?”

“There’s nothing to forgive.”

“There’s plenty. I want your forgiveness, Aaron.”

He studied her upturned face. His eyes were so intense, so full of need, so desperately hopeful. “Anything you want, Lily. If I can give it to you, I will.”

“I want you,” she murmured.

“I’m yours,” he said. Plain, blunt, lacking eloquence, but they were the two most beautiful words she’d ever heard.

She closed her arms around him as he lowered his mouth to hers. They kissed, with forgiveness and love, all the love they had to give, all the love they would ever need. Later they would talk about what Aaron had been through, how he was going to deal with it. They would figure out how a man who had grown up believing he was an outsider could accommodate the knowledge that he was, in fact, the son of the ultimate insider. They would work it out.

But for now, they had already worked out the most important truth. She and Aaron loved each other. He was hers and she was his. And there was more than enough forgiveness to share.

ISBN: 978-1-4268-4912-1

BIRTHRIGHT

Copyright © 2000 by Barbara Keiler.

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