by Lindsey Hart
Leanne never took for granted the sacrifices her mom made for her. She knew that Sarah had, first and foremost, given up everything she wanted for so very long, so that she could be a good mother. The best mother.
It made Leanne feel extra selfish for what happened at the cabin. Every single time she walked into a room and her mom was sitting quietly, staring off into space, so obviously sad, it broke her heart.
Even though it was ungodly early in the morning, Leanne walked into the kitchen to find her mom awake. Sarah sat at the small island, sipping a cup of coffee. From the looks of it, it was cold. And black. Her mom didn’t even drink coffee black.
“Mom?” Leanne rubbed sleep from her eyes and took a seat on the stool next to Sarah.
Her mom slowly turned. She forced a smile. “Hey, sweetheart. It’s early. You shouldn’t be up.”
“What about you? You look like you’ve been sitting here half the night.”
The faraway look in Sarah’s eyes confirmed Leanne’s suspicions. “Mom… I’m sorry. We’re both so sorry. You can’t let us- what happened- you can’t call off the wedding because of me. I’ll never forgive myself.”
Sarah blinked hard. “It’s not because of you. Not really. I just can’t- I can’t marry Carl knowing that- well, if you and Markus- if you were ever to be together… it’s complicated. We’d be caught in the middle. I don’t want to end up hating each other because something happened with you guys and you hate each other. It would break my heart and it would break Carl’s heart and I know we’d end up having to take sides and the marriage wouldn’t survive.”
“No! Mom! You can’t let- what happened with me and Markus, it was a mistake! It’s over.”
“Still. Carl and I both know that we can’t get married now. Not knowing what happened between you both. It would be so awkward. It would be… really hard. We can’t just forge on ahead and pretend this didn’t happen.”
“I know,” Leanne insisted. “But I don’t see what this has to do with you guys. Not really. I mean, we made the mistake. It was a mistake, mom, I swear it.”
“Sometimes things happen. I don’t blame you. I guess it just showed Carl and me... that maybe we weren’t ready for marriage. Maybe we’re too old for that stuff. Our kids are finding… well, you guys are both old enough to have relationships now. Maybe it’s corny that your mom is getting married for the first time.”
“No, it’s not, mom.” Leanne reached out and gripped her mom’s hand. It was cold. So very cold. “It really is not corny. I wanted you and Carl to be together. You guys were great. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean for anything to happen. I didn’t… it was a mistake. It’s in the past. You and Carl can move on. Markus and I- we don’t ever have to see each other again.”
“But that’s not what you want.” Sarah’s gaze swept to Leanne’s face and Leanne found it impossible to look away. Her mom knew her. Knew her too damn well.
“It doesn’t matter what I want.”
“Yes, it does. Besides, Carl and I don’t want to be married and have our only children never be able to be in the same room together again. We don’t want to have to do separate holidays and always be separate. We wanted you both to be friends.”
“Guess I fucked that up.”
“Sometimes,” Sarah said patiently. “Things just happen. I understand. We’re all human. I know you wouldn’t have done it if you didn’t have something really special with Markus. I know, because you’re my daughter. You’re a good, sweet, considerate person and I know you would have thought of the consequences. I know what it’s like to be young and… you really don’t think about it. You lose your mind and things just happen.”
“I didn’t think about the consequences. I never thought you and Carl would break up. I’m so sorry, mom. You have no idea.”
Sarah sighed. “It’s alright. There are other men out there. Maybe it’s for the best. Like I said, it’s a little ridiculous to be getting married at forty anyway.”
“No, mom. It’s really not. You deserve to have a life of your own. You deserve to be happy. That shouldn’t be put on hold for anyone. Not because of me and my mistakes.”
“Leanne- I…”
Her mom’s words were cut short as the sound of the doorbell reverberated through the house. Sarah’s head cranked around in the direction of the front door and she frowned. “It’s six in the morning. Who on earth would be ringing the doorbell?”
Leanne couldn’t hide her smile any longer. “Well… I might not have been able to sleep for the past few nights. Finally, I decided enough was enough. I might have texted Markus, because I knew we had to fix this.”
“Leanne! You didn’t…”
“I did mom, because it was the right thing to do.” Leanne slid off the bar stool. “I’m going to answer the door. Which means you have probably five minutes to go change and brush your hair or your teeth or whatever else you might want to do.”
Her mom stared hard at her for a few long seconds. Leanne tensed, afraid that Sarah might tell her to send Carl and Markus away. It hadn’t been easy, trying to fix things, especially over text. She wasn’t even sure that they were fixed, but she knew she couldn’t let her mom lose out because of her own irresponsible, unforgivable actions.
Finally, Sarah’s tight lips creased into a small smile. “I guess you better answer the door then.” The old sparkle flashed back into her eyes and she straightened and unfolded herself from the barstool like she was slowly coming alive again.
CHAPTER 16
Markus
Markus didn’t know what he was going to say to Leanne when he saw her. An apology, first and foremost. He hadn’t tried to ruin his dad’s relationship. He hadn’t tried to break up the marriage. It broke him up inside to see his dad miserable after seeing him so happy.
When Leanne started texting, telling him they had to fix things, he knew she was right. It hadn’t taken long, a night of conversation with his dad, to convince him that he needed to make things right. He needed to get Sarah back or he’d regret it for the rest of his life. And so would Markus.
Even if he didn’t really believe in love, or at least, had spent years telling himself that, he knew his dad did and that meant the world to him.
So there they stood, on Sarah and Leanne’s doorstep. His dad held a bouquet of flowers and shifted anxiously from one foot to the other.
There was a long pause between when he rang the doorbell and the door opened. So long he thought maybe Leanne had changed her mind and was going to keep them shut out.
When that door swung inwards to reveal Leanne’s smiling face, something inside Markus went wild. He wasn’t even sure what it was. He didn’t understand those kind of feelings, feelings that he’d never experienced before. Feelings he said he didn’t believe in.
Leanne looked tired. There were dark smudges under her eyes and though she was dressed in jeans and a blue blouse, the blouse was rumpled, like she might have slept in it. Or not, since she’d spent most of the night texting him back and forth, trying to come up with a solution.
“Hey,” she said softly. Her eyes swiveled to his dad’s face. “Hey, Carl. I’m glad you came. Come on in. Mom will be down shortly.”
“I’m actually here.” Sarah appeared behind Leanne. “Carl… I- I didn’t expect to see you- here.”
His dad nodded slowly. “I know. I… I was wondering if I could come in.”
“Yes. Please come in.” Leanne let the door swing all the way open. Her smile was huge and genuine and contained way too much hope. It was clear that she wanted to fix things as badly as Markus did.
The four of them stepped into the small living room. Sarah and Leanne took a seat on the couch and he and his dad sat on the loveseat.
Carl passed the flowers over and Leanne got up and took them. She disappeared to another room in the house but returned a moment later without them.
“So…” she prompted as she sat down.
Markus shook himself out of whatever trance it felt
like he was in. “I… I just want to say first that I’m sorry. I never meant to hurt anyone and I know Leanne certainly didn’t. What we do is our own business. I know you guys think that as our parents, you have to be involved. You have to mediate and be in our corners and you think it will end up a disaster so you called off the wedding. I get that you don’t want us to come between you and what we did, that obviously came between you both in a huge way.” He cleared his throat roughly. “I’m sorry. Truly. Leanne and I have talked about it and we both think that we can all be adults here. That we can either be together or be apart, but we’ll keep that between us for the most part. Either way, we know we can be friends, or at least, be civil. We both know that this is bigger than us. It’s not just about us. It’s about you both, dad and Sarah, you guys having a chance at happiness. My dad never really had that before. He had a shitty deal with my mom and he’s never tried again until you. I know how happy he was with you Sarah.”
Leanne nodded. She turned to her mom and took her hand. “No matter what Markus and I do, we seriously will never do anything to rip you and Carl apart. We want you guys to be happy and be together. I’ve seen how miserable this past week was. No matter what happens, you and Carl deserve to spend the rest of your lives together. Whatever happens with Markus and I… we don’t expect you to fight it out for us. We promise that we will be adults, like he said and at least always be civil. You don’t have to worry about having a divided house over this. It will never come to that.”
“Oh honey,” Sarah started. “You say that now but… you don’t know how you’ll feel in the future.”
“None of us do,” Leanne responded. She squeezed her mom’s hand. “None of us can say for sure what will happen, but you have our promise that we will never try and break you guys up. No matter what, that would always be first and foremost for us. I love you and Markus loves his dad so you should just take our word for it that we want what’s best for you both.”
Markus cleared his throat again. It was rough, having to push out those words, having to mend a relationship that he’d been responsible for tearing apart.
“I don’t want my dad to spend the rest of his life unhappy. You haven’t called off the wedding officially. At least, you haven’t told anyone yet. You could still go through with it.”
“Please, mom,” Leanne added. “I would feel guilty for the rest of my life if you didn’t marry Carl because of me. Well, me and Markus. We would both feel terrible. I know that you love Carl. We can all see that. Even Markus.”
“Even me,” Markus confirmed.
The room fell silent for a few long, awkward minutes. Beside him, his dad sat stiffly, obviously hardly daring to hope. Sarah reached up and brushed at the tears that were starting to flow. She sniffed.
“That is, if you still want to marry me.”
Markus nearly winced at the uncertainty in his dad’s voice. It turned out, it was all it took for Sarah to finally give in. Her shoulders sagged, probably more with relief than anything else.
“Of course I want to marry you!” She swiped at her eyes again.
Carl stood and Sarah followed. He opened his arms and she stepped into them. Markus nodded to Leanne, who obviously agreed that it was time to exit. He followed her into the kitchen, where a discarded coffee cup remained on the kitchen island.
Leanne leaned against it and crossed her arms. “So, for someone who doesn’t believe in romance, you were looking at our parents like you were really happy.”
“Of course I was,” Markus admitted. “It was hard work talking sense into my dad. I’m glad things worked out. I know he’d never be happy otherwise and I couldn’t stand that. Sarah is the woman for him and your mom deserves to be happy too.”
“I agree.” Leanne blinked hard. “I… I guess we can be friends then. I mean, you’re going back to school soon, after the wedding and-”
“Actually, I was thinking about not going back. I was thinking about sticking around and seeing where things end up.”
“Things?” Leanne raised a brow.
“Yeah. Things. Us. I don’t know… I said it before. With you, it’s different. I’ve never felt whatever it is that I’m feeling before and I don’t want to lose that. It does mean something to me. You mean something to me. I want to figure out what that is. If you do…”
“And you know this after knowing me for a few days?”
“We’ve texted back and forth too…”
“That was about our parents.”
“Leanne, I don’t know anything at all, I just… you make me feel alive. You make me believe that anything is possible. You even make me believe that love can actually work. I believe in that for our parents, and no matter what happens with us, I want you to know that you’ve opened my eyes and I… I can’t thank you enough for that. If you wanted me to be here, I would be here. If you want me to stay, I would stay. If you want to pursue this, I would do whatever it takes…”
Her lips finally turned up in the ghost of a sarcastic smile. “For someone who doesn’t believe in romance, that sounds pretty romantic.”
“Oh don’t worry, there is still lots of time for me to fuck things up.”
“That’s more like the Markus I know,” Leanne laughed. “I just have one question and we can go from there.”
“What’s that?” Markus braced for it. She was probably going to ask him something he couldn’t answer because he didn’t know the answer to. He’d probably really screw it up and that would be it. He’d miss his chance and he’d have no one to blame but himself…
“Do you want to kiss me?”
He nearly choked. It took him a moment to recover. “Yes… yes of course!”
“Then come here and do it, my romance non-believer.”
He grinned as he closed the distance between them. “Maybe you can convert me yet.”
EPILOGUE
Leanne
“It seems like just last week that we were here, in the same place, you calling my mom a gold digger, me throwing coffee all over your lap.”
Markus groaned. “Don’t remind me. I thought I was going to be scarred for life.”
“Fortunately for me, you’re not.”
Leanne glanced around the backyard where all their friends and family were gathered for their own engagement party. She’d finally cornered Markus outside, almost in the exact same spot she’d first met him.
“Do you think people will think it’s weird that our parents are married and now we’re getting married?”
“Maybe they did at first,” she shrugged. “But it’s been three years. I’m sure everyone is used to the idea. I guess we couldn’t help it that lightning struck us.”
“Lightning?” Markus grinned. “I would say it was more like scalding java.”
She had to laugh. “Okay, well maybe that. Whatever it was, I’m glad that it happened.”
“I’ll never quite be glad about the coffee, and I’m not sure about those first few weeks, but it was all smooth sailing after that.”
“I’m still thankful for all of it. It made us grow up real fast and get the hard stuff out of the way.”
“It turned out that was all we needed.”
“That and a huge push from our parents.”
“Your mom moving in with my dad and renting the place out to you and you needing a roommate, yes that really helped.”
“Roommate,” Leanne snorted. “Never. Not unless it was the kind with benefits.”
Markus swatted at her and she dodged out of the way, laughing playfully. “Do you think mom and your dad will be surprised that we want to buy the house?”
“No, of course not. We’ve been saving for all these years. You’ve been working so hard… I finally got a job.”
“It was about time. I was tired of supporting your ass.”
“You love my ass. Supported or not.”
Markus reached for her and she stepped into his arms. She let him pull her in against his chest and wrap her up. She didn’t even
care that people were walking by, staring and smiling at them. If the whole world didn’t know already that she loved this man, they soon would. The whole wedding thing made that pretty official.
“I guess I do,” she admitted grudgingly. “I mean, it’s not like you can actually use a philosophy major for anything.”
“Not unless teaching counts. Which I will be doing in a few months, thank you very much.”
“My husband, the professor. Sounds sexy.” She smiled coyly as she wrapped her arms around Markus’ neck. “I’ll have to pay you a visit in that tiny little office in the corner you get all to yourself.”
“Please do. We won’t need much space for what I have planned. Just a lock on the door…”
“How very unprofessional, professor,” she giggled. “I’m very much looking forward to it.”
“I’m very much looking forward to you being my wife.” Markus planted a hot, searing kiss on her lips right in front of everyone.
“Two days,” she rasped as she pulled away. “Think you can wait that long?”
“I can wait that long if you can. Unless you want to change your mind and run now. After that, you’re going to be stuck with me for life.”
“For life? I thought you didn’t believe in that. Lifetimes of love and laughter and happiness and all that?”
Markus’ eyes twinkled with mischief and sparkled with love. She adored the way he looked at her, like she was everything in the world to him. “You may have converted me after all.”
He pulled her close and amidst cheers and hoots and clapping, he dipped her and kissed her again.
The End
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