by Marie Force
“He said he had no idea why she divorced him the way she did.”
“He’ll probably get some answers, Katie. Is there something else you can do until he’s able to talk to you?”
“I’m supposed to be going out with Laura and her friends tonight.”
“Then that’s what you’re going to do.”
“I’m a wreck, Julia.”
“Go make yourself gorgeous and have a good time with Laura. Make it so he has to come looking for you if he wants to see you.”
A soft tap on her door had Katie running to open it and trying to hide her disappointment when she saw Laura and not Shane—and Laura looked annoyed. “Hey, Jule, I’ve got to go. I’ll call you tomorrow.”
“Don’t sit around crying over him, Katie.”
“I won’t.”
“So he’s talking to her in the sitting room,” Laura said, her mouth straight with tension. “We’re going out.”
Katie had never seen Laura look so furious.
“He’s actually talking to her.”
“Yes. He asked me to leave them alone, so that’s what I’m doing.”
Katie’s heart sank at that news, and Julia’s words rang loudly in her mind. “Girls’ night out. Still on?”
“Damn straight it is.”
“Give me ten minutes to get changed.”
“I’ll be right back.” She started to walk away but then turned back. “I promised Owen that my brother wouldn’t hurt you. I’m sorry I wasn’t able to keep that promise.”
“It’s not your fault.”
“Still, I’m sorry about this. Her timing always was exquisite.”
“I’ll see you shortly.” Katie closed the door and went to the closet to choose something to wear, determined to think about anything other than the fact that Shane was downstairs, behind closed doors with his ex-wife.
“I don’t freaking believe it,” Laura said as she stormed into the apartment.
Owen looked up from the floor, where he was playing with Holden, who began to cry. “It’s okay, buddy.”
Holden crawled into Owen’s arms, seeming to hide from her.
“What brought that on?” Owen asked.
“My brother is an ass. He’s downstairs right now talking to Courtney—the wife who nearly bankrupted him with her pill habit and then dumped him after he paid for rehab. He’s talking to her!”
“She’s here?”
“Yes! And the worst part? He was with Katie when she found him, and he left your sister twisting in the wind after he asked for ‘a minute’ with Courtney. I’m so mad at him, I could… Well, I don’t know what I could do, but it’d be bad.”
“Calm down, hon. You’re scaring Holden.”
“I’m sorry.” Laura dropped down to the floor and reached for her son, who clung to Owen. She tickled the baby until he relented and let her hold him. “I can’t stop thinking about what a mess he was when she left him and how hard he’s worked to climb out of that hole. If she undoes all that progress by coming here…”
“He’s a lot stronger than he was. He won’t let her walk all over him.”
“I don’t know, O. She’s crafty. I wouldn’t put it past her to charm her way back into his life and then pull the rug out from under him again. And poor Katie… I could tell she’d been crying when I went to check on her.”
“Crying over Shane? Has it gone that far? They haven’t known each other that long.”
“Um, I’m not sure how I should answer that…”
He stared at her, eyes bugging. “What are you not saying?”
“Nothing.”
“Laura…”
“I’ve got to get ready for girls’ night out.”
“Is he sleeping with her?”
“I know nothing.”
“Don’t lie to your new husband. That’s grounds for annulment.”
“You can’t annul when you’ve already consummated multiple times.” She patted her round belly. “And I can prove it.”
“Just tell me. I can take it, and I won’t hurt him.”
“Swear to God?”
“Swear to God,” he said with a sigh.
“I think they’re sleeping together, but I don’t know if they’re sleeping or you know… not sleeping.”
Owen grimaced.
“But if I had to guess… Not sleeping.”
“I don’t think she’s ever had so much as a date let alone a… a…”
“Lover?” Laura asked, her brow raised in amusement.
“Don’t be disgusting.”
Though she was upset about Shane talking to Courtney, Laura had to laugh at Owen’s distress. “She is a grown woman, you know.”
“She’s my little sister.”
“Who’s sleeping—or not sleeping, in this case—with my little brother.”
“I take back my promise not to hurt him.”
“You swore to God! You can’t take it back.”
“She’s really upset?”
“She was, but I’m taking her out, and I’m not going to let her wallow. If he screws things up with Katie… I’ll hurt him for both of us.”
“I can live with that.”
Shane felt like he was being skinned alive as he paced the sitting room listening to Courtney “explain” why she’d divorced him after he’d paid for her to go to rehab. “Let me get this straight. You’re trying to tell me you did it to protect me?”
“Yes! That’s it exactly. I was given the opportunity to testify against the dealers in exchange for them dropping all charges against me.” Her dark curly hair was longer, her skin clearer and her brown eyes brighter than he’d ever seen them. In all the time he’d spent with her, he’d never seen her totally sober—until now.
“What charges? You were never arrested!”
“I was going to be. After rehab. They were going to charge me with possession and intent to deliver narcotics.”
“Intent to deliver?”
“I was dealing, Shane. Toward the end, I was desperate for money and, well… They had me totally nailed. But I wasn’t the big fish, and I helped them nail the three guys who were running a huge operation in Providence. They were convicted yesterday, which means I’m now free to speak to you about this.”
“You divorced me, Courtney. After everything we’d been through, do you know what it felt like to get those papers on the day I thought you were coming home?”
“I had no choice. It was that or face charges. I couldn’t tell anyone what I was doing, and the only way I could keep you out of it was to leave you.” She stood and came over to him.
When she tried to lay her hands on his chest, he stepped back, out of her reach.
Her hands fell to her waist. “Please try to understand. I was trying to clean up my mess so I could come back to you free and clear.”
“Come back to me? You think you’re going to waltz back into my life like the last two years of fucking hell never happened? Do you know what you did to me? Do you have any idea?”
“If the pain I felt at not seeing you for all this time is any indication, then, yes, I do have an idea of what you’ve been through.”
“You can’t possibly know. All this time, you were fully aware of what was going on and why, while I was left in the dark. Instead of talking to me and telling me what was happening, you pulled the plug and tossed me aside like I meant nothing to you.”
“That couldn’t be further from the truth. Leaving you nearly killed me.”
Shane blew out a deep breath as he shook his head. “I can’t listen to any more of this. I’m sorry. It’s just… It’s too little too late.”
“Shane, please. Please take some time to think about it. I love you as much as I ever did, and I always will. Everything I did was intended to keep you—and your family—out of the nightmare my life had become. I did what I did because I love you so much.”
Her words bounced around in Shane’s mind like painful darts. What he would’ve given a year ago to hear her tell
him she loved him. But as he looked at her now, the woman he’d once planned to spend the rest of his life loving, all he could see—and feel—was the pain.
“I’m here for the night. Could we talk again in the morning when you’ve had some time to think about everything I’ve said?”
“How did you find me?” he asked.
“I went to your old boss. He told me you were working out here now. I asked around when I arrived and was directed here. The girl at the desk said you were away for the day but would be back later. So I waited.”
Filled with nervous energy, he rubbed at the late-day stubble on his face.
“The woman you were with… Is that serious?”
Katie… God, Katie. What she must be thinking. “It could’ve been, until you showed up and ruined everything.”
“I never meant to do that. I never meant to ruin everything for us or for you. I hope you’ll let me prove I’m not the person I once was. I’ve been sober for more than two years, and I’ll never go back to that life. I want the life I had back. I want you, Shane. You’re all I’ve thought about for two long, lonely years.”
“You can’t do this to me, Courtney,” he said gruffly. He felt like his insides were being squeezed in a vise. “I won’t allow it.”
“Please… All I’m asking for is a chance to show you I’m different now. Will you sleep on it? Please, Shane. After all we’ve been through, can you give me one night?”
“You didn’t even give me the courtesy of a phone call when you had me served with divorce papers on the day I thought I was picking you up to come home. Not even a phone call, Courtney.” He was nearly blinded by rage—mostly at himself, because he’d been happy to hear she’d never stopped loving him. What did it matter now? “And now you want me to put my life on hold, again, for you. I’m not going to do it. The answer is no. We’re over, divorced. You saw to that. Now go home and leave me alone.”
He headed for the doors to the sitting room, which were never closed the way they were now. Throwing open the doors, he came face-to-face with Laura and Katie, who were on their way out.”
“Shane, please,” Courtney said, pleading as she followed him.
“Courtney was just leaving,” he said to his sister as he brushed past them and went up the stairs, taking them two at a time. He couldn’t bring himself to look at Katie, who’d probably forgotten by now what she’d ever liked about him.
“Go,” he heard Laura say to her former sister-in-law. “And don’t come back. You’re not welcome here.”
Shane went into his room and slammed the door, seething with the pent-up frustration of the last two hideous years of wondering why. Why, why, why. The answers hadn’t made anything better. They had only made everything worse because now he knew she hadn’t left him because she wanted to—or so she said.
For all he knew, she could’ve made up the whole story, hoping to win him back because single life hadn’t worked out the way she’d hoped it would. With her, you never knew, and he’d had more than enough of that madness during the years he’d spent with her.
After only a few days with Katie, he already knew he could trust what she told him. He already knew her better than he’d ever known Courtney. When he thought about the way he’d let go of her hand and sent her away earlier, he felt sick. “God, what’ve I done?”
He had to go after her and apologize. Maybe she’d never speak to him again—and he wouldn’t blame her if she didn’t—but he had to tell her how sorry he was for the way he’d treated her.
Shane pulled open the door and found Owen standing there with a stormy expression on his face. “Owen… I need to go. I have to find Katie.”
“Not so fast.”
In the year he’d known Owen, he’d never seen him look so angry.
“Owen, please. I screwed up, but I was caught off guard. I sent Courtney away.”
“For now or for good?”
“For good. I care about Katie. I want to be with her, if she’ll still have me.”
“For now or for good?”
“I… I don’t know yet. I won’t make a promise I might not be able to keep. All I know is I like who I am when I’m with her. I like who she is all the time. She’s… amazing.” Shane felt like he was fighting for his life or something equally dramatic. All he knew was if he let Katie slip away, he’d regret it forever.
“You don’t have to tell me that.”
“I’m sorry to have disappointed you—and her. I never meant to. I was broadsided when I saw my ex-wife. I handled it badly.” Shane was going to lose his mind if Owen didn’t get out of the way and let him go find Katie. But with his brother-in-law’s broad-shouldered body filling the doorway, there was no getting out unless Owen decided to move.
“I like you, Shane, or you never would’ve gone out with her once, let alone done anything else with her.”
Shane wanted to tell Owen he liked him, too, but he thought it wise to stay silent until Owen had his say.
“She’s not like other women.”
“I know that. I like that about her. She’s… She’s sweet and genuine and honest.” And all those qualities mattered tremendously to him—more than they ever had before.
“I left you alone because Laura told me I could trust you with my sister.”
“You can trust me. I swear you can. I’m going to fix this with her, if you’ll let me out of here. When I set things straight with her, you won’t have anything to worry about where she’s concerned.”
“What if she doesn’t want to fix it?”
The thought of that made him ache fiercely, and that was when he realized that at some point during the last few incredible days, he’d fallen for Katie Lawry’s particular brand of sweetness. “Please, Owen…”
Owen stared at him for a long, uncomfortable moment. “Did you know that on Gansett Island, the guys always crash girls’ night?”
“They do?”
“Every time.”
“Are you crashing tonight?”
“Hell yes.”
“What about Holden?”
“My mom and Charlie are watching him.”
“Will you take me with you?”
“You promise I won’t regret it?”
“I promise you’ll never regret it.”
“Okay, then.”
“Can we go now?”
“Later.”
“How much later?”
“I’ll let you know.”
Shane knew defeat when it stared him in the face. He wasn’t going to be able to go after Katie until Owen had made him suffer first.
Chapter 27
Mac and Maddie returned to the island on the five o’clock ferry, which had them driving off the boat right at six o’clock. They’d get some time with the kids and then Maddie would join girls’ night out already in progress. She glanced at Mac, whose eyes were fixed on the road. Judging by the tight lock of his jaw, he was tense and worried.
She hated being the cause of his distress. He wanted to talk about it, but she couldn’t. Not yet. Maybe never. But definitely not yet. How could she talk about how empty and sad she felt or how guilty? She’d told everyone what a big accident this baby had been. Thinking about that now made her cringe.
The night they’d conceived the baby, she’d gotten tipsy on champagne and had pounced on Mac. Thomas had caught them having sex, which had been the source of endless laughter among their family and friends. The whole thing had been one big laughfest, and now the joke was on her.
Adding to her guilt, she felt fine despite what she’d been through. The hardest part of the medical procedure had been the anesthesia that had left her feeling nauseated and exhausted. Other than a few aches and pains where her baby had once been and some spotty bleeding, she felt almost normal today. How was that possible?
She wiped subtly at a tear that escaped despite her determination to stop crying before she saw her children. Thomas had known about the baby. He’d have questions, and she had no idea what she
would tell him. How did you tell a three-year-old that the baby brother or sister he’d been so excited about wasn’t going to be born now?
“What do you plan to say to Thomas?” Mac asked, reading her mind, as he often did.
“Nothing for right now. I’ll talk to him about it in a couple of days.”
“He’ll want to know where we’ve been.”
“We’ll tell him I had to go to the doctor on the mainland.” Maddie watched the island go by outside the passenger window. Thankfully, Hailey was too young to have even known about the baby. Maddie was grateful for that small favor.
Mac took the last right onto Sweet Meadow Farm Road. As their big, beautiful home came into view, Maddie was also thankful that they hadn’t yet bought anything for the new baby, so there was nothing to get rid of. They pulled up next to her stepfather’s cab and her mother’s small car.
The minute Mac put the truck into Park, Maddie was out the door.
“I would’ve come around for you,” he said when she was halfway up the stairs that led to their deck.
“I want to see the kids,” she said over her shoulder.
Thomas spotted her the second she opened the sliding door. He came running to her, and Maddie scooped him up, filled with overwhelming gratitude for him and his sister. “You came back!”
Maddie peppered his adorable face with kisses. “I told you I’d be back.”
“Dada come back, too?”
“He sure did. He’s getting our bags.”
Ned got up from his post on the sofa and went to help Mac.
Francine hung back, holding Hailey, trying to give Maddie a minute with Thomas. But Hailey was straining to get to her mother.
“Here I come, baby girl.” Maddie put Thomas down and went to take Hailey from her mother. Hailey snuggled into her arms the way she always did, and Maddie breathed in the sweet scent of baby shampoo.
Her mother’s hand on Maddie’s back conveyed a world of support and love that Maddie appreciated.
