Sarah sighed and raked her fingers through her already sleep-tousled hair. “Why would he love me? No one else ever did.” She stepped away and wrapped her arms around her middle; then, knowing he was looking for more answers, she gave him the unvarnished truth. “I mistook his needing me for love. But it wasn’t. And Sean stopped pretending it was more than just business. It was always, ‘You have to get these projects done, so we get paid. Here’re another five projects, hurry up or our employees won’t get paid.’ He got what he wanted, and I got a piece of what I wanted.”

Luke’s gaze narrowed. “So he got the business and you got . . . what? You grew up poor, but money doesn’t seem to be your motivator.”

“I grew up alone,” she corrected him.

Luke’s eyes went bright with understanding. “You wanted a family.”

“I had the boys, but we were never a family. Sean was all consumed with the company and money. He was never part of the family life I created at home with the boys. He was too busy out having a good time. Sure, he’d drum up business. He liked to schmooze the clients. But there was also a lot of travel to exotic places. He liked to live the life of a wealthy mogul.”

“But the boys have dozens of wonderful memories about their father.”

“Jack was about four and Nick wasn’t even two when Sean died. How much do you think they really remember? I didn’t want them to remember that Sean was never there, or that when he was, he couldn’t be bothered with them. That’s no way for a son to remember his father, so I took what little time Sean did spend with them and made it seem like that was how he was all the time.”

“You lied.” He seemed surprised and upset by it.

“Yes. No child should ever feel like they aren’t wanted.” She’d felt that way all too often. Even now, she had to remind herself that she had a good life, the boys, and that was enough. “I didn’t want the boys to grow up remembering Sean couldn’t even take the time to hug them.”

Luke brushed his fingertips down the side of her face and placed his hand on her shoulder. “That’s not right. They deserve better. And so do you, sweetheart.”

“I’ve had to fight and work for everything in my life. I want the boys to have everything I never had.”

“They have you to love them the way you were never loved. They feel that. They know it. They’re happy.” His hand swept up the side of her neck and his thumb brushed along her jaw. “All I want to do is make you happy.”

She leaned into his touch. “You do.”

“Why did you stay with him so long?”

“I’d planned to leave, but certain circumstances warranted my caution in just walking out.”

“What circumstances?”

“The boys, for one. I needed to have the means to support them when I left. I’d started doing some side work. Something fun and creative. I loved it and wanted to change my focus. When it sold big, I knew I could make a decent living. Sean found out what I was up to and threatened to use the boys to get me to continue to work for him.”