Here to Stay Read Online Free PDF Page B

well. How could she ever hope to make
peace with the man? It seemed an impossible task.
    “I’m sorry, Paige. I thought you liked this
place, otherwise I wouldn’t have suggested it.” Silas looked from
the virtually untouched dinner to her. He leaned back in the wide
bench seat of their booth and studied her more closely.
    “This place is fine, Silas.” She shrugged and
forced a small smile. “I’m just a little distracted.”
    “I can remember Robert having to come here
and pick you up a couple of times when you stayed out past
curfew.”
    Paige grinned in spite of herself. “I
remember that all too well.” She surveyed their smoke-filled
surroundings. Dim lights, music, and great food. Bubba’s had been
her favorite haunt in Trinity as a teenager. A kind of
diner-dancehall combination. Though Bubba served alcohol, he kept a
handle on any sign of trouble. Paige had seen the big, burly man
toss more than one excited cowboy out on his ear. What the place
lacked in class it more than made up for in atmosphere and
hospitality. A flashy old jukebox pouring out honkytonk country
music completed the picture.
    “Have you told him yet?”
    “What?” Paige jerked her gaze to the sixtyish
man seated across from her.
    “As Robert’s attorney, I’m privy to his
deepest, darkest secrets.” Silas smiled a kind, reassuring smile.
“He had Jesse included in his will immediately after the child’s
birth.”
    Paige set her fork down. “No. I haven’t told
him yet.”
    Silas drew in a heavy breath, his expression
suddenly grim. “Robert told me about the other thing as well.”
    “Oh.” It was the only thing she knew to
say.
    “I’m as sorry as I can be, Paige,” he said,
his words steeped in remorse.
    “I know.” She forced herself to meet his
gaze.
    “Robert said that a recurrence is
unlikely.”
    Paige nodded. “The surgery pretty much
eliminated that possibility.” She swallowed tightly.
    Silas clutched her hand in his. “You can’t
have any more children, but you do have Jesse.”
    “I know.”
    “Telling Nathan the truth is the right thing
to do,” he urged.
    Paige cleared her throat. “Well, cancer
certainly forces you to take a look at the bigger picture. I
realized that with Mom gone, I was all Jesse had.” She blinked back
the tears. “What would have happened to him if…” She took a moment
to pull herself together. “At this point, I don’t want my father
near Jesse. And Robert refuses to agree to be Jesse’s guardian in
the even something were to happen to me, unless I tell Nathan the
truth.”
    “Why haven’t you told him?” Wise gray eyes
settled on hers.
    “It’s not so simple, Silas.” Paige focused
her attention back on the salad for which she had no appetite.
“Nathan’s angry and bitter.” She massaged at the dull ache settling
in her temples. “I think he hates me now.”
    Silas shook his head. “Elliott sure did a
number on the two of you.”
    “I know my father is a prejudiced,
self-centered man, but this situation is not entirely his fault.”
Paige had never told anyone what a fool she had been and just how
badly Nathan had hurt her. “Nathan married someone else,
remember?”
    “Only after you left him behind,” Silas
reminded gently.
    “I did what I had to do.”
    “Are you sure about that?”
    “I don’t want to talk about this anymore now,
please.”
    “You’ve been tugged in two directions all
your life, Paige. Your daddy pulling you one way and Nathan pulling
you the other.” He squeezed her trembling fingers. “In the end, who
really won?”
    Moisture gathered in her eyes. No one ,
she wanted to say, but didn’t. Trinity and Memphis had been like
two separate worlds. Each beckoning Paige to leave the other
behind, but ultimately her father had prevailed.
    “Nathan lost you and so did your daddy.”
    Silas was right. Paige hadn’t spoken to her
father in almost a year when she had gotten sick. Elliott Weston
refused to fully accept the