She hurried down the stairs and wrapped her arms around him. “I’m sorry, Malcolm. I thought you and Delaney were doing great.”
“So did I. We were both wrong.”
She knew about his past, how he’d always been so careful with his heart. He didn’t trust easily but once you were in, it was forever. Didn’t Delaney understand that? Didn’t she know what she’d given up by turning Malcolm away?
Either she had no idea or she knew and didn’t care. Callie wasn’t sure which was worse.
She stepped back and pointed down the hall. “Media room. Now.”
“I’d rather be alone.”
“I’m sure that’s true, but your wishes aren’t that important right now. Media room, Malcolm. I’m serious.”
For a second she thought he was going to defy her, but instead he nodded once and walked down the hall. Callie raced upstairs and burst into Keira’s room.
“Delaney dumped Malcolm. We have to do something.”
Keira slammed her book shut and jumped to her feet. “What happened?”
“I’m not sure of the details, but he feels awful.”
Keira’s gaze saw more than it should. “You feel awful, too. Maybe we’re all just unlucky in love.”
“I’m sure that’s not it. Come on.”
Keira scooped up Lizzy and followed Callie downstairs into the kitchen. Grandfather Alberto and Carmen were nowhere to be seen. Callie hoped they were making future plans—someone should find a life partner in this family and why not her grandfather?
“Ice cream,” Keira said, opening the freezer. “With chocolate sauce.”
“Cognac,” Callie said, heading for the wet bar across from the butler’s pantry.
“Cookies. Carmen and I made them this afternoon.”
Callie smiled as she set everything on one of the infamous trays always in use. Together they carried everything into the media room.
Malcolm sat on the huge sectional. He looked up when they entered.
“I’m not sure what you have planned, but I’m fine.”
“Uh-huh. We’ll be the judge of that,” Callie told him.
She set the tray on the coffee table and poured two large servings of cognac. Keira searched through the DVD collection, then pulled out one and waved it over her head.
“The Princess Diaries. It’s kind of old, but it’s about finding where you belong. Something we can all relate to.”
Callie touched his glass with hers. “I swear, I want to be her when I grow up.”
“Me, too.” He smiled. “Thank you for this.”
“You’re welcome. We’re going to deal with our heartaches the way God intended—with liquor, sugar, a movie and people we love.”
He surprised her by leaning close and kissing her forehead. “I love you, Callie.”
The unexpected admission filled her eyes with tears. “I love you, too, Malcolm.”
“Sibling love rocks but romantic love seriously sucks.”
“That it does, and yet we will try again.”
“We will.”
He clinked glasses with her. Keira put in the DVD, then raced over to the sofa and sat on Malcolm’s other side. She reached for the remote and started the movie.
As the opening credits began, she picked up her bowl of ice cream, then snuggled close to him. She rested her legs on top of his while Lizzy meandered over and began to knead his lap.
Callie leaned against his other side and closed her eyes. Yes, she hurt. She had a feeling she was going to hurt for a long time. While she wanted to say that believing in Santiago was a mistake, she wasn’t sure if that was true. Things hadn’t worked out between them, but that didn’t mean she hadn’t learned a lot. She would be more open with the next guy—less guarded and insecure. She would be a bit more careful with her heart, but if she wanted to find someone special, she had to be willing to take a chance. Santiago had allowed her to learn she was capable of loving a man and wasn’t that a great thing to know?
She hadn’t been looking for a family, but she’d found one all the same. She had friends, a sense of purpose and a great future. The lack of one stupid man wasn’t going to get her down. She would give herself tonight to pout and whine and miss him and in the morning, she would start over. Yes, there would still be pain—there was a Santiago-sized hole in her heart—but eventually she would heal and, between now and then, she was going to keep moving forward.
* * *
Delaney told herself to let the suit be her shield of bravery and confidence. She was good at what she did and her nine months out of the job market wasn’t going to kill her. She had a good reason—the death of her fiancé and her father’s surgery and rehabilitation would have rattled anyone. She’d taken some time, had healed and was now moving on.
All of which sounded great in her head but she was slightly less sure about how they would play in an interview.
She hadn’t meant the job search to go so quickly—in fact she’d barely started. But her networking had paid off when a former colleague had told her about three suppliers to Boeing who had recently merged. They were looking for a new CFO who had experience in aerospace manufacturing. After a phone interview, Delaney had been brought in for a full day of meetings. So far they’d gone well and she was excited about what the company wanted to do. She’d enjoyed the technical talk and had been familiar with all their software. Now she had to get through the HR interview, which would probably be the most difficult of the day.
Neal, a handsome man in his late forties, looked over her paperwork. “You come highly recommended.”
“Thank you. I really enjoyed working for Boeing and would be excited to get back into aerospace.”
“You quit your job because of family issues?”
Delaney sensed the pitfalls about to come and deliberately relaxed her body language. She had the education and the experience they were looking for. She was the best they would find and if they couldn’t see that, then they were going to lose their chance at her.
“My father was with the Seattle Police Department. He and my fiancé were shot in the line of duty. Tim was killed and my father was left permanently disabled. He spent several months in the hospital. He’s much better now, although he uses a wheelchair.”
Neal went pale. “Oh my God! I thought you were going to say you got a divorce or something. I’m so sorry. What a nightmare. No wonder you needed a little time to work through things.”
“I did,” she said, relaxing for real. “I was so busy handling everything that I didn’t have time to process the pain and loss. I kept pushing that off but there’s no avoiding the mourning process. Eventually it catches up to all of us. I quit to figure out my next act, so to speak. I played with a few different career directions only to realize I genuinely loved what I’d been doing before. So here I am, excited about my next opportunity.”
As Neal asked a few more questions, Delaney realized that was exactly what had happened. She’d put off having to deal with her emotions. She’d been constantly running just fast enough that they couldn’t catch her—first with getting her dad settled, then by wanting to be a naturopath, then going back to college. She was always so busy, she didn’t have time to think or mourn or heal.
It wasn’t until she’d accepted how unhappy she’d become that she’d finally stopped to face what she’d been avoiding: her past, her failing relationship with Tim, her drifting friendships. She’d needed to work through all that before she could understand what she wanted from her life. And in the middle of all that, she’d met Malcolm.
She forced her attention back to the interview. It lasted another thirty minutes. From there she went on to speak with the president of the company. The day ended with wine and appetizers with the entire management team. Delaney got back in her car close to seven.
She’d just been on a ten-hour interview
and if she had to guess, she would say it had gone really, really well. They were going to make her a job offer—she could feel it. Which meant one part of her life was in order, but what about the rest of it?
chapter thirty-two
Callie had to admit, as she left class, that for all the sucky rain in the winter and spring, summer in Seattle was amazingly beautiful. The sky was bright blue and the temperature a perfect seventy-two degrees.
She felt good. Her culinary classes were going well—the shorter sessions were a little intense, but she appreciated that she didn’t have a whole lot of time to miss Santiago. She and Malcolm were closer than they’d ever been, which was unexpected and pretty wonderful. Keira was making new friends and discovering an interest in science. Grandfather Alberto and Carmen had taken off for two weeks in San Diego. There hadn’t been an announcement about their relationship, but Callie figured them traveling together was a kind of statement. Now if only she could bitch-slap some sense into Delaney, all would be well. Or almost well, because hey, Santiago.
She was about ten feet from her car when a very familiar, tall, broad-shouldered man wearing a bright red cape stepped out from between an SUV and a minivan. She blinked twice to make sure she wasn’t seeing things, then couldn’t decide if she was happy to see him or just a little scared.
“You’re wearing a cape,” she said.
“I know. Can we talk?”
“You’re wearing a cape.”
Santiago smiled. “You’re not going to let that go, are you?”
“It worries me.”
He unfastened the cape and balled it up in his hands. Once he was back to himself, she was able to breathe in the sight of him and let the pain of missing him wash over her.
He looked good. Handsome, a little tired, maybe, but so much the man she’d wanted in her life.
“I was making a point,” he said. “With the cape. I’ve been thinking a lot and it’s kind of my thing to always be the hero. Especially when it comes to my family. I always want to take care of them, be the good guy, solve all the problems.”
With deeds or money, she thought. Whatever it took, he would be there, trying to fix what was broken. As far as flaws went, it wasn’t a bad one—unless you got between him and those he loved.
She’d wanted to be one of them, she thought wistfully. One of the loved.
“But I can’t,” he continued. “I’m not a guy in a cape—I’m just a regular person. I have flaws and loving my family a little too much is one of them.”
He put the cape on the hood of her car and took a step toward her. “You were right to do what you did about Paulo because you’re the kind of person who does the right thing. I know that and I admire it about you, but in that moment all I could see was my brother in trouble.”
“You lashed out,” she whispered.
“I did and you got caught in the cross fire. I blamed myself for what he did. I was humiliated and ashamed and you were a part of that and I was totally and completely wrong.”
Wrong was good, wasn’t it? Okay, not being wrong, but admitting it. It meant—well, it had to mean something.
“There’s no excuse for what I did.” He nodded at the cape. “That’s to explain, but not to make it right. I screwed up.” He looked at her. “I’m going to screw up again, Callie. I’m kind of controlling and a little overbearing and I’m going to make mistakes and get it wrong and I’m going to hurt you. There’s no way I can’t. But here’s what I want you to know—I’ll never stop trying to get it right. I won’t give up, not on you or us. If you’re willing to take a chance on me.”
She heard the words and loved what he said, but needed him to be more clear. “What does that mean?”
He smiled. “You’re my princess.”
Her heart sank. “No,” she told him sadly. “I’m not. Or if I am, I don’t want to be. A princess isn’t real. I don’t want to be put on a pedestal. I want to be a partner. I want to share my life with someone who loves me and sees me as special, but not other than. I want to be part of a team, not be worshipped.”
He reached for her hands. “Callie, when I say you’re my princess, I mean you’re the one I’ve been waiting for all my life. I want us to make each other stronger and better. I want us to have a life together.” One corner of his mouth turned up. “I’m not interested in worshipping you, except maybe in bed. I’m clear on your flaws. You’re moody and you don’t trust very easily and you get caught up in the little things, but that’s okay. I think we could make a great team.” The smile faded. “Callie, I’m in love with you.”
She wanted to believe him but she wasn’t sure. What if he hurt her again? What if it wasn’t real?
And there it was, she realized in a moment of total clarity. She was being handed everything she’d ever wanted. All she had to do was have enough faith in herself to reach out and take it. Yes, she was scared and yes, she’d made mistakes in the past, but everyone had. Her punishment had been harsher, but so what? She’d survived. More than that, she was thriving. She could take a chance on the man she loved or she would live with regrets for the rest of her life. It was, to quote Keira, a no-brainer.
“Keira,” she said quickly. “Malcolm is going to be moving out so I’ll be staying with Keira and Grandfather Alberto. I can’t leave them.”
He leaned in and kissed her. “I know.”
“I mean I’m going to be the main caretaker or guardian or whatever. You have to accept that.”
He kissed her again. “Callie, with my hero complex do you really think it’s going to bother me to help raise Keira?”
She smiled. “I hadn’t thought of it that way, but you’re right. And we may have Lizzy when Keira goes off to college. I doubt they’ll let a cat in the dorm room.”
“It’s fine.” He cupped her face and kissed her a third time. “I love you. It would be really great if you said something back.”
She looked into his eyes. “Something like I’ll love you forever and when we make love, maybe you should wear the cape?”
“Something like that would be perfect.” His smile faded. “I really do love you.”
“I believe you.”
“I’m sorry about what happened with Paulo.”
“Me, too. I should have warned you.”
“No. You did everything right. And when you screw up, I promise to be just as gracious.”
“Me? As if.”
“You know it’s going to happen.” He touched her face. “Want to go to my place?”
“Very much.”
“Want to marry me?”
Her breath caught. “Yes.”
“Good. That wasn’t official, by the way. The real proposal will be in the next day or so. There will be champagne and a huge diamond ring.”
She laughed and wrapped her arms around him. Santiago couldn’t help himself. He was always going to make things bigger than life.
“Don’t forget rose petals,” she teased. “There should be rose petals.”
“Great idea. Depending on where I propose, I’ll bet I could get some swans in the background. Or we could save them for the wedding.”
She sighed. “Let’s do both.”
* * *
The house was charming. Delaney had walked through it twice, admiring the built-ins and the views from nearly every window. There was a big yard, lots of bedrooms and the newly added master bedroom was to die for.
Finding the listing hadn’t been that hard, given the description she had. The price had made her teeth hurt, but with her new job and Malcolm’s fortune, they could afford it. As long as he understood they were buying it together. Assuming he still wanted to have anything to do with her.
She’d taken the last week to get her head where it needed to be. The job offer had come through and she was starting on Monday. She’d cleared the air with Beryl and her da
d, and had seen Chelsea for a great girls’ night out. She was journaling and healing and figuring out all the times when she’d been so scared of stepping wrong that she hadn’t made a single move.
She realized now she’d spent her whole life caught between two worlds. The wonderful women in her neighborhood had totally been there...right up until they’d gone back to their own families. She’d grown up with the feeling of being forever left behind. Maybe because of that or maybe because of who she was, she’d never learned when to hang on and when to let go.
With perfect hindsight, she knew she should have broken up with Tim years ago. He’d been so clear on what he wanted and she hadn’t been that. She wrestled with guilt and hoped that she hadn’t messed him up or made him unhappy.
She was less sure about her job at Boeing. She had loved it, but she was so excited about her new opportunity. Maybe it was okay if there were detours along the way.
She walked back through the main floor of the house and imagined what it would look like if she and Malcolm ever lived here. There would be a room for Keira, of course, and a big table in the dining room for when they had their families over. She wanted to get pregnant fairly quickly, assuming he was interested in that much of a commitment. She hoped he was. The first test of that would be whether or not he showed up.
She’d texted him and asked him to meet her at the house. If he didn’t show, she would have her answer.
“Please be here,” she whispered to herself, then walked to the front porch to wait.
At exactly two, he turned into the driveway. Relief was sweet and happy and for the first time in days, she felt herself believing in what could be. When he got out of his car and their eyes met, she felt her love for him grow until it filled every part of her. She raced toward him, needing to hold him and touch him and tell him everything.
When We Found Home Page 38
