“He’s coming with Curtis.” He looked around the room, and he noticed everyone was watching him. So much for secrets.
Darcy laid her hands on his chest. “Are you alright?”
He smiled. “I’m absolutely perfect.” And he was. Everyone he cared about was right there, staring at him. Well, almost everyone.
“What is that?” Darcy asked as she rested her hand on his chest pocket.
Ed felt the color drain from his face. He’d meant to put the ring in another pocket, but now she had her hand over it.
The smiles on the faces of his family told him he couldn’t wait another second. Christian would have to forgive him.
“It’s your birthday present.”
Darcy licked her lips nervously and then looked around. “My…present?” She sucked in a breath.
Ed took her hands in his. “I didn’t have a meeting in Florida.”
“Then why did you go?”
“I went to meet your father.”
“Oh,” she choked out.
“I know we’ve talked about this, but sometimes things have to be done just right. So I went to Florida to meet your father and ask him for his blessing.”
She batted her eyes quickly, and he could see them fill with moisture.
Ed dropped to one knee, Darcy’s hands still held in his. He could see his mother move to his father’s side and wipe her eyes.
“Darcy, he gave me his blessing.”
“Oh, God.” Her hand shook in his, and the tears no longer restrained themselves to her eyes. They began to roll down her cheeks.
Ed smiled and pulled the box from his pocket as he heard the front door open and slam shut. Good, his brother wouldn’t miss this.
From the corner of his eye he saw Curtis rush into the room, a manila envelope in his hands. But he stopped quickly when he saw what was going on.
The envelope moved from sight, and his uncle stepped back behind his aunt.
Ed opened the box, and Darcy gasped. He took the ring from the box and held it at the tip of her left hand. “Darcy McCary, will you marry me?”
The answer was almost muffled by her sobs and the sobs of all the others in the room. But she nodded quickly, giving him his answer.
Ed slid the ring on her finger, stood, and then gathered her in his arms as his family rushed in around them.
Everyone except Curtis and now Christian, who stood just beyond everyone with the most horrified looks on their faces.
Ed made sure to hug and kiss everyone, but he needed to get to those two. Something must have happened with Christian. His surgery must have…or it was that envelope that Curtis quickly made disappear when he’d walked in the room.
He smiled at his grandmother, who took her hands and cupped his face. “She belongs here,” she said.
Yes, she did.
Curtis and Christian had kept their distance through dinner. But as Darcy blew out the candles on her cake, Ed finally moved toward them.
“Are you two okay? You seem very out of sorts for being at a party.”
Curtis nodded. “Congratulations.”
“Thank you.” Ed turned to Christian. “Did everything go okay at your appointment? They don’t really have to cut off your leg, do they?” He was trying to be humorous, but it wasn’t working.
His family moved around the room, each with cake and a smile on their face. Ed couldn’t figure out why these two were moping around.
“What’s this?” Simone turned the corner with the manila envelope in her hand. She’d already pulled the contents out before Curtis made a lunge for her.
The room had gone silent. But the shock on her face said there was something there that they all needed to know.
Simone put the papers back into the envelope and quickly handed it back to Curtis.
Darcy moved to Ed’s side.
Ed inched toward his uncle. “What’s going on? Is that what I think it is? Are those Darcy’s records?”
“Not now, Ed. Not here.” Curtis tucked them under his arm.
“Wait, you found my birth record? You found my parents?” Darcy was now right next to him again.
Curtis took a step back. “I said not here. Not now.”
“Something is wrong?” Darcy turned and set her cake on the counter and then turned back to Curtis. “Oh, God, what did you find?”
Curtis turned to leave with the envelope, but Christian pulled it from his hands.
“This is what he found.” His voice had an evil tone that Ed had never heard before.
Curtis made a move to pull the papers away, but Ed held his hand up to ward him off. Whatever they found was going to affect him, or they wouldn’t be acting this way.
Darcy was close enough that he could feel her breath on his arm. Someone else in the room moved quickly, as if they knew what was in the envelope.
Ed pulled out the papers and took a good, long look at the medical record from the night Darcy was born.
She was born premature.
She was in distress.
It had been a C-section birth.
The mother had been beaten and was in ICU.
Dr. Curtis Keller was present.
George and Francis McCary were there to take guardianship of the child.
And the baby’s mother, Regan Keller, was not to have contact with the baby.
There was no describing the anger that burned in Ed’s chest. He’d forgotten there was mention once of a baby. The thought never crossed his mind when Darcy happened into his life. But now, here she stood—and the information she’d been looking for was right in his hand.
He’d never felt so deceived.
He took a step to distance himself from her. “This is what you wanted? This is why you wanted to get close to me?”
Darcy’s eyes opened wide. “What are you talking about? I love you.”
“Do you? Or was it just part of your plan to get this information? You looked in our files. You infiltrated our family.”
Tears were streaming from her eyes. “Ed, what does it say?”
Regan moved in behind her and held her hands out. “Give me the file.”
“I want to hear it from Darcy. I want to know she used me.”
Her lip quivered. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Regan ripped the papers out of his hand and looked down at them. “Oh, dear Lord.” She covered her mouth as Zach moved to her side. “I never thought this would happen.”