A Stranger in the Cove

by Rachel Brimble

  He inhaled shakily. “When I got back to the Coast after leaving the bakery, yours and my sister’s warnings circled around in my head, mixing with the realization that maybe my determination to find my biological grandmother might be about pain caused by something else.”

  “Something you want to share with me?”

  “Maybe, but I need to tell you something about Marian first.”

  “Okay.”

  “I scanned through my father’s papers, weighing the pros and cons of continuing my pursuit of Marian and telling her I’m her grandson...and that her son is dead. No matter how much I considered Marian’s possible rejection of my claims, or even me, I can’t carry on without acknowledging my reasons for contacting her.” He searched her face. “I’m not sure you’ll like them, but you should know. You also need to know that whatever your feelings, I will be speaking with her.”

  Her defenses rose. “She’s my friend, Mac. I owe it to her to protect her, if necessary. I was right to ask that you to take into account we have no idea of the circumstances surrounding Marian’s decision to give up her baby.”

  “And I appreciate that. When I took another look through my father’s research this afternoon, I came across something I’d missed.”

  “Which was?”

  “Marian had placed her name as wanting to be contacted should her biological son look for her at any point in the future.”

  Kate dropped her shoulders, her stress vanishing. “Well, that changes everything. If she wants to be found—”

  “I was thinking of leaving.” He looked into her eyes, his focus slowly moving to her mouth. “Only, I’m not sure I can anymore.”

  Her heart gave a traitorous blip, and she forced a smile. “Why? If you don’t want to pursue—”

  “I didn’t expect to find you, Kate.” He met her eyes. “Only a grandmother I’ve never known.”

  Kate stilled. “Find me?”

  He nodded, his gaze softening. “Yes, you. You seem to be changing every original reason I had for coming here.”

  Dangerous hope whipped around her heart. “What are you saying?”

  “I’m saying, there’s more you need to know about me and there’s more I need to know about you. I like you, Kate. A lot.”

  Chapter Nine

  MAC DRAGGED HIS gaze from Kate’s. If he was staying awhile, she deserved his total honesty. “Could I get a glass of water?”

  She leaped to her feet. “Water? Yes, of course.”

  He grimaced as she hurried into the kitchen. He was stalling because he needed the time to get his words straight. His feelings straight. Everything about being in Templeton seemed to have veered off course, and now Kate was another reason to stay.

  “Here.” She handed him a glass.

  “Thanks.” He took a drink. “When I said I like you, Kate, I meant it. I don’t want to go through with meeting Marian without your advice. Your suspicion of me when I arrived here was justified. I see that now.”

  “Oh.” She sat beside him. “I’m glad, because I can be a real pain in the butt sometimes. It comes from looking after the teenagers at the center. Often they come in resentful and angry, but nine times out of ten, they’re hurting.” She smiled softly. “Once I saw that you accepted how important Marian is to me, I recognized the same hurt in you.”

  He nodded, feeling entirely exposed. He still had to finish what he came here to do, even if that meant upsetting Marian Ball.

  Exhaling, Mac took her hand. “There’s something I need to tell you. About me and my family.”

  Concern flashed in her eyes and she inhaled. “Okay. Good. The important thing right now is you. You and Marian. Or maybe not Marian, if Marian isn’t...” She laughed nervously. “I’ll stop talking. Go ahead.”

  Mac failed to hold back his smile. “Right there. That’s why you’re messing with my head. You’re cute...and sexy.”

  She raised her eyebrows as her cheeks darkened. “Sexy? You think?”

  “Absolutely.”

  “Thanks.” She grinned. “But you need to stop looking at me like that if you want me to concentrate on whatever it is you have to say.” She cleared her throat. “Tell me about you and your family.”

  Mac leaned back. There could be no cowardice, only honesty. She deserved to know his search for his grandmother was tied to his pain over the loss of Jilly and their baby. That loss was an integral part of who he was, and if there was a chance of him and Kate acting on the attraction between them, she deserved to know all about Jilly and the accident.

  He didn’t know why he trusted Kate so much, or why he wanted to share the most devastating time of his life with her. But the need was there, and life was too short to question such immediate faith in someone.

  He drew in a long breath and released it. “I lost my girlfriend and unborn baby in a car accident three years ago. She and I were both twenty-two. Children, really. But Jilly and I were in love and spent as much time together as we could. I wanted her and I wanted our baby.” His heart hitched under the weight of his confession and the deep sympathy in Kate’s dark brown eyes. “When she died...when they died... I thought my life was over.”

  Further words clogged his throat as memories of the darkest days of his life slammed into his chest.

  “Oh, Mac. I’m so sorry.” She inched closer, lowering her head on to his shoulder and loosening his fisted hand to intertwine her fingers with his. “I can’t imagine how that must’ve felt or even how you got through it.”

  Relief that he’d managed to at least tell her about the loss swept through him—even if he couldn’t bring himself to confess the truth about the angry, ugly mess he became after his life fell apart.

  He forced himself to continue. “I got through it with a lot of support and patience from my mum and sister. Dad pretty much withdrew from the situation. I wasn’t the easiest person to be around for a long time.”

  “Maybe not, but I imagine that’s why you’re so close to your mum and sister now. Losing someone you loved that way is too awful for words.”

  “And it’s also what led me to wanting to find my grandmother. When Dad died, it was the last death I could take. I wanted to lash out. Hurt someone. Marian Ball became my target. She meant nothing to me. She still doesn’t.”

  She lifted her head and looked deep into his eyes, hurt and disappointment in her gaze. “You haven’t met her yet. She’s just a name on a piece of paper. But when you meet her—”

  “Should I meet her? Now you know my reasons behind finding her...” He shook his head. “I can’t promise what I’ll be like if she sends me away or isn’t at all emotional about Dad. When people find out what happened to Jilly, they immediately ask what happened. When and who was to blame. But you...you understand how what happened sent me into a destructive tailspin.” He touched his fingers to her jaw. “I’m not sure I deserve your understanding, Kate. I’m still that angry person you saw when I walked in the bar.”

  “No, Mac. You’re not, and you’ve promised me no bloodshed, remember? You need to meet Marian. You really do.”

  “But—”

  “Listen to me.” She turned his hand and kissed his palm, her eyes shining with unshed tears. “You need to do anything you think will help you to heal. Anything. It wasn’t your sister who lost Jilly and your baby. It was you. I think Marian might be just the person you need in your life right now.”

  The desire to kiss her surged through him along with a strange sense of freedom, which came with the absence of any judgment or condemnation in her gaze. “You’re quite something, do you know that?”

  She shook her head. “I’m nothing out of the ordinary, believe me.” She reached for her water, her face turned from his. “I sometimes think I’ve suffered, but then I meet teenagers all alone and pregnant or living with depression. Families that are struggling...” She drank. “And n
ow I’ve met you. I haven’t known pain at all. Not really.”

  “Hey. Pain comes in hundreds of different forms. If something, or someone, hurt you enough that the memory lingers, that’s enough to warrant every one of your feelings. You don’t have to justify your inability to get over something to anyone. Including me.”

  She faced him. “You lost a girlfriend, Mac. A baby.”

  He swallowed. “Yeah, and I also rejected the suggestion of counseling and any comfort or solace my friends and family could offer. I pushed them away and struggled to come to terms with my loss alone. That was stupid and unfair. Even after three long years, I haven’t learned anything. Maybe my sister’s right and I should be at home. Not here, doing what I’m doing.”

  “You should be here.”

  The firmness in her tone surprised him.

  “Don’t give up on what you’ve started, Mac. Not now. When we feel strongly about something, we have to see it through to its end. No regrets. No looking back. I try really hard to live by my words and, of course, some days I fail miserably.” She gave a wry smile. “But then another day breaks and, with it, another chance to do better. You’ll get through this, and you will have your happy ending.”

  “Maybe.”

  She squeezed his hand, tears in her eyes. “Definitely.” She took his hand, her gaze dropping to their fingers. Slowly, she raised his hand and pressed a soft, lingering kiss to his knuckles. “I’m going to help you, Mac.” Her breath whispered over his skin. “I’m going to help you find your closure.” Another kiss. She raised her head. “And maybe I’ll find mine, too.”

  He stared at her mouth, its sweet, soft taste tormenting his mind and seeping into his body. He should’ve asked her what she sought closure for, but all he wanted was to kiss her.

  So he did.

  She sighed into his mouth, her hands gliding onto his shoulders as he gently grasped her jaw. Their tongues were gentle at first, but as the heat rose, Mac’s heart beat faster, and his need for this woman grew. He kissed her harder, deeper, until he was forced to move away for fear of scaring her.

  She shook her head, her eyes dark with desire, her mouth pink. “Oh, no. You don’t get to do that again.”

  Fear tiptoed through him. To never kiss her again...the possibility was unbearable. “Don’t get to do what?”

  She grinned, her eyes glinting with mischief. “You don’t get to kiss me like that and walk away again.”

  He smiled, his heart slowing. “I’m going nowhere, but unless you want me to pick you up and march straight into your bedroom, we need to stop.”

  “Hmm.” She glanced over his shoulder. “The bedroom is just a few feet away.” She met his gaze, her eyes slowly sobering. “No. You’re right. Too much, too soon. I might want to throw caution to the wind as far as you’re concerned, but that pain I spoke about? I won’t let it happen to me again.”

  Her words and the remembered heartbreak that showed in her eyes instantly doused his desire. So it had been a man who hurt her. “What did he do to you?”

  Her hands slipped from his shoulders and she shrugged, but as she turned away, Mac caught the flash of humiliation in her pretty eyes. She reached for his glass. “He cheated on me...with my sister.”

  Anger that any guy would hurt her gripped Mac’s gut. “What?”

  She looked at him. “It’s ancient history. Well, at least it will be when I find my closure. Right?”

  He clenched his jaw. “Right.”

  His anger, his need to find the guy who hurt her and slam him up against a wall, shamed him. Her pain wasn’t about him. It was about her. He would be what Kate needed him to be instead of acting on a primal need to protect her. Kate was special. She was brave, generous, funny and beautiful. He couldn’t risk sabotaging what was growing between them before they’d even begun to explore it.

  He offered her glass to her. She took it, her gaze questioning.

  He winked and smiled, picking up his glass, too. “To closure.”

  She softly laughed. “To closure.”

  They clinked glasses and drank, their gazes locked above the rims, and Mac wondered if the fiery strength mixed with fear in her eyes was reflected in his.

  * * *

  KATE MOVED INCONSPICUOUSLY along the couch, putting space between her and Mac. Once again, his kiss had set her on fire and pushed desire into every intimate place. Her want of him was as stupid as it was scary, and she could not afford to let it overtake her sanity.

  Her lust had led her to Dean, who’d hurt her so deeply, the effects still lingered on her heart. She would not allow a man to hurt her that way again. No matter how sexy, kind or dangerously attractive he might be. Never again would she fall too quickly or too naively. She didn’t really know Mac; though she’d learned more about him tonight, the alarm bells ringing in her head and the desire warming her body told her to put on the brakes.

  She’d told him about Dean but couldn’t imagine finding the courage to tell him about her miscarriage. She understood Mac’s determination to find Marian, to find his roots. Family was important to him. Her father, mother and sister mattered to her, too. What would he think of her if he discovered her estrangement from her sister?

  Her family was fractured. His was in pain but still so very close.

  Putting down her glass, Kate remembered the envelope Mac had given her and picked it up from where it had fallen on the floor. She held it out to him. “Here. You know, I really ought to get some sleep. I have an ultra-early start tomorrow.”

  Surprise and then concern flashed in his eyes as he took the envelope. “Have I said something wrong?”

  “Not at all. I just need to get some shut-eye. Do you mind?”

  “No problem.” But he didn’t get up from the couch.

  And she didn’t want him to go. She wanted to learn more about him. To like more about him. She swallowed. “How about we meet up somewhere tomorrow night?”

  “Sure, but I have one more thing to tell you about Marian before I go.”

  “Shoot.”

  “Could you sit down?” He raised his eyebrows. “I don’t want to risk a crick in my neck.”

  She laughed, feeling more than a little foolish, and rejoined him on the couch, concentrating on his face rather than on the sexual thoughts racing through her mind, or the fact her bedroom was only a few feet away. History had proven what a mistake a rash decision could be. “Go ahead.”

  He leaned over and stuffed the envelope into his leather jacket. “The letter doesn’t say much more than what I already told you, but...” He faced her. “Along with the letter there was something else. Something I think my father was ashamed of.”

  “What?”

  “It seems at the time Marian requested to be added to the register, she’d already attempted to find my father. At least three times over three decades.”

  A mix of pleasure and relief swept through her. “So if the Marian you’re looking for is the Cove’s Marian, she’s already looked for her son in the past? She definitely wanted to find him, then. So why wouldn’t your father have come here? It’s clear she wanted to meet him.”

  “I know and that’s another reason why the initial anger I had toward her is lessening. I loved my father, Kate, but he was a coward. A man afraid of so damn much, especially emotions. Confrontation. Grief. He knew his mother had looked for him, but he did nothing about it.”

  He trembled, and Kate drew in a long breath, covering his hand with hers. His anger was there again, but now it seemed more about his father than Marian. “Mac, listen to me. I’m pretty sure if Marian wanted to contact your dad, she’ll welcome you with open arms.”

  “Maybe, but how will she take the news her son is dead?”

  “Oh. Right.” She closed her eyes, imagining what the news would do to Marian. She opened her eyes. “You can’t just blurt something out like
that, can you.”

  “No, but you accept she needs to know?”

  “Yes.”

  “Good.” Looking relieved, he exhaled. “I thought you might try to stop me.”

  “Maybe I would have, but that was before.”

  “Before what?”

  “Before I got to know you a little better.” She looked into his eyes, feeling the attraction between them. “The thing is, you came into town looking dangerous and angry. I jumped to the conclusion you were here to make someone atone for something. I was wrong. Now I know more about you and Marian...” She shook her head, convinced Mac had to see his search through for his sake and Marian’s. “I think you have to be certain Marian is your grandmother and then you tell her everything. It could mean as much closure for her as it could for you.” She smiled. “Believe me, if Marian is your grandmother, you’ll want to know her. She’s wonderful. Truly.”

  “Aren’t you basing that advice on who she is since she arrived in Templeton? She gave birth to my dad forty-eight years ago. She was seventeen. The first record of her starting her search for him shows she was around twenty-five or twenty-six. Then again at forty-five and finally at fifty-five. After that, nothing. She stopped and hasn’t tried again for the last ten years. Why? What changed to make her give up completely?”

  Kate thought. “There must be a link to her arrival in Templeton and her decision to give up her search.”

  “Exactly. Maybe it has something to do with why she’s never had friends or family come to visit. Why no one seems to know anything about her. About her child.”

  “Maybe.”

  “We need to find out what happened ten years ago to make Marian Ball, or Cohen, or whatever her name is, finish with the life she had before she came here. It’s as though she wanted to forget everything that happened before and start her life over. Why?”

  Kate leaned back as sadness for Marian enveloped her. When Dean had hurt her and Ali, Kate would’ve happily disappeared for months so no one witnessed her humiliation. When she lost her baby, she didn’t want anyone to know because she felt like such a failure...so much less of a woman. With time, she realized her feelings were unfounded and irrational, but it had done nothing to alleviate her loss. Did Marian’s decision to give up her baby haunt her in the same way?