"I had no intention of getting between you and Ranger," Junior said, ignoring the nurse who checked his medication.

"You didn't plan to talk some sense into me?" Ellie asked wryly, not backing down even as she cast a worried glance at the monitors.

"I saw how he looked at you and you looked at him, Ellie," Junior admitted to her surprise, the tension leaving his body. "You two love each other, and not even I will stand in the way of that. However, I still think you're making a mistake."

Ellie watched him with a frown.

The nurse relaxed as well but was still not at ease.

"Daddy..." She didn't know what to say. Tears pricked her eyes, and a knot rose in her throat.

The door slid open and she feared it would be Ranger coming to check on her. Seeing him right now would set her father off like a keg of dynamite.

Arielle wheeled Lissa into the room, a furrow between her brows, and her head cocked at a questioning angle.

She brought the chair to a standstill a few feet from the door, locking the wheels before retaking her position behind Lissa—as if to back her up.

This is a low blow, even for Arielle.

Their eyes met and she couldn't read her mother-in-law's expression. But she understood her intentions.

Lissa will calm Junior down but at what price to my mother?

She expected anger from Lissa, but the tears in her eyes tore through Ellie like razor blades through paper.

Her fingers locked on the plastic covered end of the bed.

"Oh, love, come here," Lissa said, her voice low. Ellie reached her side in a single stride, kneeling beside the chair as her stepmother embraced her. "I'm sorry."

The words froze Ellie. A sob escaped her like a stopper pulled from a bottle of shaken champagne.

It took a few moments before she pulled back, tears streaming down her cheeks, to look at Lissa.

"What are you sorry for?" she asked, hiccupping. "This is all my fault."

She slowly got to her feet, feeling slightly unsteady, and remaining near Lissa. But she made sure to leave enough space for the nurse to do her job. Although the room was larger than most, the machines and bed crowded the space.

"Because we made you feel like you had to run off and get married in Sin City," Lissa said, pulling a wad of tissues from somewhere.

Her words focused Ellie's wandering attention.

"Mom—" Ellie's voice broke. "I shouldn't have—" She reached out and squeezed Lissa's hand resting on the arm rest.

"No, we shouldn't have," Lissa countered, her voice low but strong as she covered Ellie's fingers with her free hand. "Even after everything, you didn't feel we supported you or you wouldn't have done this."

"Bullshit!" Junior interrupted, tugging at the heart monitor's leads.

Startled, Ellie pulled free of Lissa's grasp like a child caught with their hand in the cookie jar.

She wondered why he was so quiet, but now she realized he had allowed them to have their moment.

He's done holding his tongue.

The nurse slapped his hand as if he were a child—a tap so gentle it was almost more of a suggestion.

That thunderous frown of his deepened. The stable hands would've run for cover instead of facing that glare, but his displeasure didn't intimidate the nurse.

"Leave those alone," the nurse warned. "You're not going anywhere, Mr. Gardiner."

She turned to face Lissa, Arielle, and Ellie.

"I'll give you lot two more minutes," she said, adjusting the drip one more time.

They waited until they were alone.

Ellie's eyes wandered from her father to her mother, trying to gauge their moods. They were watching each other—and in that way of theirs—having a silent conversation.

"I thought Lissa should be in on this discussion," Arielle said quietly. "Since she fretted about Junior yelling at Ellie and having another episode."

Ellie caught the worry in her eyes—and the guilt.

I hate that word.

"You should've considered my condition," Junior bit out, "before you aided my daughter and your son in their foolishness."

"What they did wasn't right," Arielle said, not batting an eyelid or backing down. "But keeping them apart was not right either. They belong together, and they had plans long before all of this came to light."

Ellie grasped Arielle's slip of the tongue before Lissa did.

"Do you mean to say they were going to elope?!" Junior yelled, the machine beside him almost catching a speed bump.

The door slid open. "Okay," the nurse said. "Time to leave Mr. Gardiner to his rest." Her tone brisk.

"Why pretend to plan a wedding and then do this?" Junior asked, ignoring her.

"There was no pretense," Arielle said. "We planned a wedding. Ellie and Ranger scheduled the ceremony for ten days from now, hoping you two would be well enough to attend. But a former girlfriend of Ranger's got wind of his nuptials."

Arielle massaged the back of her neck, rolling her shoulders, and betraying the strain she felt.

"She cancelled the venue and everything else by pretending to be his secretary."

Ellie didn't expect Arielle to come this close to revealing the truth. It felt like she stood at the edge of a cliff waiting for the wind to sweep her into the sea.

"They didn't want to wait another two months for the venue to be available," Arielle bent the tale to her will. "And we lost the security deposits on the catering, the band, the venue, and the flowers. Ellie didn't want us to go through the expense again, only for Victoria to find some way to foil our plans."

Hearing that name almost turned Ellie's stomach.

Arielle shouldn't have mentioned the woman to Junior and Lissa—that's a mistake that might come back to bite us.

"What?" Junior asked, confused and suddenly in protective father mode.

Just as Arielle had intended. Ellie wiped her face and blew her nose, calming down. Getting to her feet, she rested her hand on Lissa's shoulder.

Why do I always underestimate Arielle?

"Ellie wanted to marry at city hall," Arielle admitted. "She wanted to get it over with and show Victoria that she wouldn't be run off."

The woman skillfully mixed the truth with lies, coming off as completely earnest.

Ranger inherited his acting abilities from her. The idea unsettled Ellie. Yet, with his family, he's always so sincere that I sometimes forget he's a famous actor.

"Why would she do that?" Lissa asked, her brow furrowing.

Ellie's attention wandered.

The nurses have signed NDAs, but what if she leaks this conversation to the press?

That would destroy our lives.

Yet Arielle seemed unconcerned about the woman's presence.

Although it worried Ellie, she suspected the nurse would be well-compensated for her discretion.

This wing of the hospital caters to the wealthy and keeping their secrets would be an imperative.

"Because Victoria hurt Ranger deeply," Ellie said, not wanting to stand there like a statue while Arielle fought her battles for her. "And although he broke all ties with her, she still sees him as her property."

"Why didn't you come to us?" Junior asked, the tension ebbing from his frame. "We could've found a different way."

Ellie's nervous energy seeped away, and all she wanted was to find a quiet spot to give into the crushing weight of her exhaustion.

"Daddy," she said quietly, "you would've dragged yourself out of bed—and that wasn't an option."

She fiddled with her watch strap. "Ranger and I had an agreement, and you taught me to honor my word. Years ago, we decided that before he turned thirty, we would marry. But I couldn't bring myself to talk to you about it."

When will the lies stop? Her heart cried out.

"What were you planning to do, love?" Lissa asked. "Marry and just hide it from us? Or confront us after the deed was done?"

Ellie wanted to avoid looking at her stepmother, hoping Lissa wouldn't notice something off about her demeanor.

But she couldn't.

"No," Ellie said. "I would've told you. But no matter what you said, I still intended to marry Ranger."

She took a steadying breath.

"With or without your blessing." The words fell like mortar shells on a pristine pasture. "Because if anyone should understand love... it's the two of you."

Add manipulation to my growing list of sins, she agonized, as those carefully chosen words hit home.

Arielle's rubbing off on me.

"Then why didn't he come in here and face me like a man?" Junior demanded, probably hiding his discomfort.

He doesn't have the strength to argue anymore.

Her heart ached for him.

"You would never have heard me out if he was here," she said. "And you would've blamed him for everything—but he wanted to come clean with you from the beginning."

Am I turning into Victoria? Or worse... my mother?

"I wouldn't have," Junior protested, his voice weak.

"Junior," Lissa said with a sigh, "be honest with yourself. You'd be in the ICU if Ranger had come with Ellie." She shredded a tissue between her fingers and the pieces dropped to the floor unnoticed.

"Don't make me call security," the nurse reminded them from the door.

Ellie hadn't just lost track of her—she'd forgotten about her entirely.

"This conversation is not over," Junior insisted, the edges of defeat coloring his voice.

He looks so fragile, almost vulnerable.It reminds me of the first time I saw him after the surgery.

"No, Daddy, it is," she said, tired to the marrow of her bones.

Arielle swiveled Lissa's chair back toward the door.

"I married Ranger," Ellie said with finality. "I'm part of his family, and he's part of mine. The only choice here is whether we're still part of your family."

Her father froze, blinking as if his mind couldn't make sense of her words.

"And that depends on you." She wished she could make this easier for him. "Ranger and I are a package deal."

She went closer to his bed but stopped, unable to bridge the gap between them.

"If Arielle and Hunter could accept one of their stable hands as a fitting mate for their son, why can't you welcome a good man as your new son?"

Ellie hated using everything she knew about him and weaving it together with the wishes of her heart to fight for their relationship.

All it will take to unravel all of this is the truth, she realized.

Would he hate me when he realizes I lied to his face? The thought tightened her chest until she could barely breathe. I didn't even realize I was capable of such things, and I would've been better off never knowing.

She had gotten the man of her dreams. They had shared their bodies, and for a while, she'd deceived herself into thinking everything would be okay.

The confrontation with her father turned everything into bitter ashes in her mouth.

"A house built on dishonesty cannot stand." Senior's words echoed from the past again.