by Marie Force
“We’ve waited a long time to have a dad who took care of us. Thank you.” She kissed his cheek and made him blush.
“It tain’t nothin’.”
Tiffany got up and hugged him, too. “It’s more than we’ve ever had.”
“We should get the kids home to bed,” Maddie said to Mac.
“Sure, hon, whatever you want.”
“Thanks again for the lovely dinner, Ned—and Mom,” Maddie said.
“Our pleasure, honey,” Ned said, glad to know both girls were in loving relationships with good men who would support them through this latest development in their complicated relationship with their father.
He and Francine saw them off a few minutes later, helping to buckle toddlers into car seats and waving as they drove away.
“You didn’t tell me you’d added the girls to your will,” Francine said as they walked inside to finish cleaning up. The house would smell like lobster for days. “You continue to amaze me, Ned Saunders.”
Embarrassed by her effusiveness, he said, “I did it a long time ago. Added you, too.”
“That’s very kind of you.”
“It tain’t about kindness, doll. It’s about makin’ sure yer set if I kick the bucket.”
“Don’t talk like that. I don’t like it. I plan to make your life complicated for many years to come.”
“I’ll look forward ta that.” Smiling at her sauciness, he squirted liquid soap into the big pan they’d used to boil the lobsters. “Maddie seemed ta take the latest news from Bobby kinda hard.”
“It’s always been hardest on her. She remembers him living with us and remembers him leaving. Tiffany had no memory of him.”
“I’m certainly no fan a his,” Ned said in what had to be the understatement of his lifetime. “But he didn’t hafta do what he did for the kids. I gotta give him credit for that.”
“Yes, I suppose we do, but I don’t want to talk about him anymore.”
“What would ya rather talk about?”
“Our wedding,” she said with a smile for him. “Where would you like to have it?”
“Anywhere you want, doll. Tell me where ta be, and I’ll show up with bells on.” He couldn’t wait to marry her, to put his ring on her finger—finally—and have the rest of his life to spend with the only girl he’d ever loved.
Maddie didn’t say much on the ride home, and Mac decided to leave her be until they got the kids bathed and off to bed. It took three bedtime stories to lull Thomas to sleep. Mac tried to remain patient with the boy, but he was anxious to be with Maddie.
When Thomas finally stopped chattering, Mac moved carefully to get up from the “big boy” bed that his son was so proud of. Clicking on the night-light, he left the door propped so they could hear him if he woke up in the night. Luckily, both their kids were pretty good sleepers, but he still wanted to be able to hear them if they woke up, and he didn’t trust those baby monitors Maddie swore by.
At times, Mac still couldn’t believe the changes in his life over the last couple of years. He’d gone from being the most happily unencumbered bachelor in the world to the happiest family man any guy could be. He wouldn’t trade one second of his new life to go back to the way he used to live.
In the master bedroom, he found Maddie propped up against a big pile of pillows, breastfeeding their daughter. The letter from her father sat on the bedside table, unopened.
“Is she asleep?” Mac asked in a whisper.
“Think so.”
“Want me to take her?”
“Sure.”
Although they were old hands at this by now, they still moved carefully so as not to wake the sleeping baby. Mac lifted Hailey into his arms, loving the way she snuggled her little face into his neck. He didn’t move for a long moment, waiting for her to settle again.
Knowing how much he loved snuggling with Hailey, Maddie smiled at him. That smile turned him to mush every time, reminding him that she’d made his new life possible.
Mac walked the baby into her room and put her down in the crib, tucking blankets in around her.
Hailey’s eyes opened for a heartbeat of a second, and Mac froze, waiting to see what she would do. She popped her thumb into her mouth, turned on her side and drifted off.
He released the deep breath he’d been holding and tiptoed from the room after making sure the baby monitor was on.
“All set?” Maddie asked when he returned.
“Yep. Two for two. I got the touch.”
“You’re a regular baby whisperer.”
Mac stretched out next to her on the bed, turning on his side to face her. “Are you going to read it?”
“I don’t want to.”
“Want me to do it for you?”
Rolling her bottom lip between her teeth, she contemplated his offer. “I suppose one of us has to look at it.” She reached for the envelope and handed it to him.
Mac opened it, looked over the paperwork that set up college trust funds for his children and then scanned the letter her father had enclosed. “Do you want me to read it to you?”
“I guess…”
Mac took her hand and held it against his chest. “Dear Maddie, I hope this finds you doing well. It was so good to see you recently and to be able to spend some time with you. While I know it was difficult for you to extend the overture to me, I thank you for having me to your home. I like knowing where you live and that you are happy with your new family.”
Mac glanced up and saw that she was staring intently at the wall, her face expressionless as she listened to him.
“I realize it’s rather inadequate after all this time to say I’m sorry for what I did. It’s inadequate to admit that I probably had no business getting married or fathering children when I was far more concerned with partying and hanging out with my friends than I was with changing diapers. That, of course, is no fault of yours. It’s my fault and mine alone. All of you deserved far better than you got from me, and seeing each of you again has brought home to me just how much damage my immature behavior did to people I loved.
“Believe it or not, I did love you. I do love you. I always have. I thought of you and your sister all the time. Seeing you again has also brought home just how much I missed with you both. For years after I left, I thought about going back and trying to fix what I’d done, but I lacked the courage to face you—and your mother—and for that I take full responsibility. It’s important to me that you know I thought of you every day and will continue to do so for as long as I live.”
A small whimper of distress escaped from her tightly clenched lips.
“Maddie—”
“Please finish. Please.”
Mac forced his attention from her back to the letter, hating the pain it was causing her. “I want you to know the funds for the children were not done to assuage my guilt, which is not insignificant, but rather to perhaps make life a bit easier for my grandchildren than it was for my children. That’s all. I promise the money is given with no strings attached.
“I also promise that you’ll not hear from me again, unless you wish to. I’ve enclosed my address and phone number, and my door is always open to you and your sister as well as your families. If I had my life to do over again, I never would’ve left. I shall always regret that and the pain I caused you. With all my love and best wishes, your dad, Bobby Chester.”
Mac folded up the letter and put it back in the envelope. “Are you okay, honey?”
Even though she nodded, tears slid down her cheeks, breaking his heart. “I wasn’t expecting him to say all that.”
“It must be nice to hear how he feels after all this time, to know he regrets what he did.”
“I guess. It doesn’t change anything, though.”
“Maybe not,” Mac said, choosing his words carefully, “but at least he owns it.”
“Yeah. There is that.”
“Come here, baby.” He held out his arms to her and waited for her to settle into his embrace before cl
osing his arms around her. Brushing the hair off her face, he kissed her forehead and then her lips. “What can I do for you?”
She slid an arm around his waist. “This is good. Really good.”
“Will you respond to him?”
“I was just thinking about that. I should thank him for the money, I suppose, but how do I address the thank-you note? Do I say, ‘Dear Dad’ or ‘Dear Bobby’ or ‘Dear Mr. Chester’?”
Mac couldn’t imagine what it might be like to not know how to address his own father. “I suppose you could call him whatever feels comfortable for you.”
“I don’t know what that is.”
“You can think about it for a few days and see what seems right.”
She shifted in his arms, raising her head to press her lips to his. “I don’t want to think about it anymore tonight.”
“Oh no? What do you want to think about?”
Her smile lit up her caramel-colored eyes. “What do you think? It’s been a while.”
“Sorry about that.”
“No need to be sorry, but I’m all for you making it up to me.”
Mac could tell she was making an effort to be lighthearted when her heart had to be burdened by what her father’s note had said. Determined to take her mind off her worries, he moved so he was on top of her. He was never more at home anywhere than he was in her welcoming embrace. Tonight was no different. Her arms came around him, her fingers combed through his hair, and her legs hugged his hips.
After more than a week since he’d last made love to her, it didn’t take long for the desperate need she inspired in him to override his plans for a slow seduction.
“Mac,” she gasped. “Don’t wait. I need you.”
That was all he needed to hear. Their coupling was fast and furious and deeply sensual, as always. For a long time after they were married, he’d expected their ardor to cool, but rather, it had only intensified. This time was no different.
Maddie arched her back and dug her fingers into his backside, trying to keep him inside her while she climaxed.
Her orgasm triggered his, and he cried out from the power of it. “Holy moly,” he whispered into her ear, sending a shiver through her.
“Mmm,” she said, holding him close. “Just what I needed.”
“Happy to be of service, my love. Any time.”
Her laughter reassured him that she’d get through this latest trial. They’d get through it together.
Tiffany read and reread the letter from her father, absorbing the words she’d waited forever to hear. He loved her. He’d always loved her. He regretting leaving, wished he had it to do over. This changed everything. All her life, she’d been influenced by the bitterness of her mother and sister. Before she met her father as an adult, she’d had no memory of him. It was like he’d never existed to her. She knew that wasn’t the case for her mother and Maddie, and had tried to be empathetic toward their feelings even as she yearned for something, anything of the man who’d fathered her.
Now she had that and so much more.
Blaine came into the bedroom and pulled off his shirt, drawing Tiffany’s attention to his muscular chest and six-pack abs.
“How many stories did she talk you into?” Tiffany asked.
“Four.”
“You are way too easy.”
“What can I say? I’m putty in her hands—and yours.” He dropped his shirt, pants and boxers into a pile on the floor that would still be there after he left for work in the morning.
No man was perfect, she thought as she held out her arms to him, but hers was as close to perfect as any man got. She’d expected him to lie beside her, but he came down on top of her, making her squeal when he nibbled on her neck.
“What’re you up to, Chief Taylor?” Tiffany closed her eyes and sighed with pleasure, as she did every time he was near. She kept waiting for the other shoe to drop, for the whole thing to go bad, but it only got better.
“About nine inches and growing,” he said as he always did, making her giggle—like always.
She slapped his rear, drawing a groan from him. “You’re so fresh.”
“You love me.”
“Yes, I do. I love you so much.”
“I never get tired of hearing that, baby.”
Before she knew what hit her, he was inside her, making tender sweet love to her. How did he do that? How did he walk in the room, strip out of his clothes and rev her up so easily? In the past, it had taken a lot more effort to get her in the mood. “I don’t know how you do this to me every time.”
“Do what? What am I doing?”
“Making me crazy without lifting a finger.”
He withdrew from her suddenly, making her wish she’d kept her mouth shut. “I skipped over all the preliminaries, didn’t I?”
“I don’t care. Come back.”
“In a minute.” He set out to kiss her everywhere, or so it seemed to Tiffany. By the time he entered her again, she was hovering on the brink of an explosive release, which detonated the second he pushed into her. “God, that’s hot. You make me pretty crazy, too. You know that?”
She looked up at him, so sexy and amazing, so devoted to her and her daughter, and the words tumbled out of her mouth before she took even a second to contemplate what she was saying. “When are you going to move in with us?”
He stopped moving and stared down at her, his expression unreadable. “I…ah… I didn’t know you want me to.”
Her casual shrug belied the pounding of her heart and the fear that he might say no. “You sleep here every night that you’re not working.”
“True.” Though he kept up the movement of his hips, she could tell she’d taken him out of the moment with her offer.
Determined to keep his mind on the task at hand, she ran her tongue over his nipple and bit down gently, drawing a sharp inhale that regained his attention.
He captured her mouth in a passionate kiss as he gathered her in tight against him and came hard without breaking the kiss. For a long time afterward, he held her close. Steeped in his familiar scent and the scratch of his late-day whiskers against her neck, Tiffany was certain she’d never been happier or more content in her life.
He’d very quickly become essential to her, and she could no longer imagine a day without him in it. Best of all, her daughter was equally smitten with their handsome cop.
“I didn’t mean to throw that out there the way I did,” she said after a long period of silence.
“You knocked the wind out of me for a second.”
She ran her hands over his back and down to cup his lovely rear. “You recovered rather nicely.”
He chuckled and raised his head to kiss her. “I did, didn’t I?”
Though she was on pins and needles waiting for his answer, she nodded and gave him a playful smile.
“The thing is…”
Tiffany’s stomach clenched the way it used to when she was with her ex-husband. His explosive temper was something she’d never gotten used to, and her stomach had been in a constant state of upset. She told herself Blaine was nothing like him, but she wanted it to work with him so badly. Sometimes she wondered if she wanted it too badly.
“I’d sort of hoped we might get married,” he said.
It was Tiffany’s turn to stare at him in shock. “Married.”
“That’s what I said.” He kissed both cheeks and then her lips. “Not that this counts as an official proposal, but what would you think if I did propose?”
“I…um…I just got divorced.”
“So? Are you planning to play the field now that you’re free?”
“Of course not. You know I’m not.”
“Then why not make it official?”
“I thought we’d take baby steps.”
Blaine withdrew from her and turned onto his back, reaching for her hand and bringing it to his lips. “I understand that you’ve been through a lot, and the last thing I want is to pressure you for something you’re not rea
dy for. But you should know I’m all in, Tiff. With you and with Ashleigh.”
Her eyes filled with tears that she blinked back because she refused to ruin this special moment by bawling. She’d done enough of that when she was married. “I love you so much. You know that, right?”
“Yes.”
“I’m not ready to talk about getting married again. That has nothing at all to do with you, though.”
“Okay.”
“So what do you think about baby steps?”
He turned on his side and rested his hand on her belly. “I think, besotted bastard that I am, I’ll take whatever you’re willing to give and be very, very grateful for every minute I can get with you.”
Releasing a sigh of relief, Tiffany turned into his embrace and kissed his chest. “This has been a really nice day.”
“You’ve waited a long time for the men in your life to love you the way you deserve to be loved.”
“Yes.” As much as she didn’t want to cry, she couldn’t help the tears. These were happy tears, however. They’d been a very long time coming.
Chapter 13
After Abby confessed to feeling self-conscious about walking into the Beachcomber with wet hair and clothes, Adam put his arm around her and kept her engaged in back-and-forth banter about how foolish she’d been to swim alone at night as they cut through the lobby to the stairs. They’d almost made a clean getaway when he heard his name coming from an all-too-familiar voice. His arm immediately dropped from Abby’s shoulders.
He turned and let out a gasp of surprise when he saw his parents, dressed up for a night out. They looked at him and then at Abby, seeming shocked to see them together.
“Abby,” Linda said, kissing Abby’s cheek. “I hadn’t heard you were back on the island.”
Adam couldn’t believe his well-connected mother had missed that tidbit.
“Will Cal be joining you?”
Abby ran a hand over her wet hair. “He… I…”
“Abby and Cal have broken off their engagement,” Adam said, trying not to squirm under the heat of his father’s steely stare.
His parents took a moment to absorb that piece of information. He could almost hear their wheels turning as they wondered what he was doing in a questionable embrace with his brother’s ex-girlfriend.
