“I knew she wanted a child, and I was gone so much,” his father went on. “I guess I thought a baby would fill the void of my absence. Hindsight is so much clearer.”
Max eased Abby onto his shoulder and gently patted her back. Raine had told him if she didn’t burp she could get reflux. There were so many rules for babies, but, surprisingly, Max felt he was catching on...and enjoying this little slice of parenting.
The front door opened and closed. He straightened and met Raine’s eyes as she rounded the doorway into the kitchen. Her gaze went from Max to his father.
“Um...sorry, I didn’t know you would be here,” she said, slowly crossing the room. “Let me just take Abby and lay her down. I’ll stay out of your way.”
Thomas came to his feet. “No need to rush out. I need to get back to Elise.”
Max met Raine’s questioning look and offered a smile. “I’ll be home in a little while.”
Thomas nodded and glanced to Raine. “Good to see you again, Loraine. You have a beautiful baby there.”
Raine smiled. “Thank you. I hope I didn’t interrupt anything. I hate for you to rush off...”
Thomas grinned. “I think I’m done here, and I’ll see Maxwell at home later. You two enjoy your day.”
Max watched his father stroll out of the room and waited until the front door shut, leaving just him and Raine and a sleeping Abby.
“What just happened?” she asked, holding the baby to her chest.
“My dad wants to be my dad.”
Raine’s brows lifted. “That’s...great. Why aren’t you smiling?”
“Because I’m torn, and he threw a big decision at me. One I need to seriously consider.”
“Want to talk about it?”
Max shook his head. “Not right now. I’d rather hear how things went with your parents.”
Raine sighed. “Let me put her down.”
Max followed Raine upstairs and waited outside the nursery while she lay the baby down. Once she came out and gently pulled the door closed behind her, she motioned for him to follow her into the bedroom.
“They didn’t deny it,” she told him, crossing her arms over her chest. “They tried to defend themselves by saying I would do the same thing for Abby to protect her from making wrong decisions.”
Max felt his blood pressure soar. “How can they justify something so heartless and cold?”
Raine shook her head. “I have no idea. I just want to move on. I can’t keep dwelling on the past, and I can’t keep getting disappointed by them over and over again.”
Max closed the space between them and enveloped her into his arms. “I’m so sorry, Raine. I want to go back in time and change things, but I know that’s impossible. The truth is out now, and you can do what you want with it.”
“I want to pretend my parents aren’t so deceitful, but when they didn’t even apologize, I knew they only were thinking of themselves and their social status.”
Her arms came around his waist as her head settled perfectly beneath his chin. He honestly had no clue what he was going to do. He had so much waiting for him in L.A., yet all he could think of was what was in his arms right now.
How could he have both? Years ago they’d been ready to try, but now? Would Raine give up her life here? Would she take Abby and follow him, let go of this farm that means the world to her?
He didn’t want to add to her angst, but he couldn’t ignore the fact he was leaving in a few weeks.
“You mean so much to me, Raine,” he whispered.
She eased back, her eyes locked onto his. “You don’t sound happy about that.”
“I just didn’t expect to fall back into your life so easily,” he admitted. “I didn’t expect to get so attached to Abby.”
“Why are you upset about it?”
“Because I can’t stay,” he said. “As much as I’ve loved being here, as much as I’ve loved every minute with you, I have a life back in L.A. and professional responsibilities.”
Raine shifted out of his arms and emptiness settled in just as fast as that wall of defense erected around her when she wrapped her arms around her waist.
“I knew you’d leave,” she said, her tone low, her voice sad. “I’d hoped you wouldn’t, but Lenox isn’t for you.”
“Last night, seeing you in the front row brought back a flood of emotions for me, Raine. I wanted to turn back time when you used to sit right there and watch my performances. Back then, and now, you love this farm, and I wouldn’t ask you to give it up for me. But we’re different people now.”
Tears slid down her cheeks.
“I know,” she choked out, raising her face to meet his eyes. “How can I be upset when we’ve had such a wonderful time together?”
“Raine—”
She held up a hand. “No. Don’t apologize for being who you are. You’re Max Ford. You live in L.A., make amazing movies and live your dream. You’re getting ready to take that dream to another level. If I asked you to stay, that would be selfish, and you’d resent me later.”
Max ran a hand down his face, the day-old stubble scratching his palm. “I wish more than anything things could be the same.”
Raine smiled as another tear escaped her bright green eyes. “I know.... Me, too. But I want you to be happy, and I know you want that for me.”
“More than anything.” He swiped the moisture away from her cheeks with the pads of his thumbs and kissed her lips. “Let me make love to you, Raine. Let’s make the most of the time we still have together.”
She melted into Max’s embrace, knowing their time was limited, knowing when he left this time, she would be even more crushed than the first.
Nineteen
“That’s really great, Noah,” Max said as he drove through the dirty, snow-lined streets. “I’m so happy for you and Callie.”
“You promise you’ll be here for the wedding?”
Noah Foster’s voice resounded through the speakers in Max’s rental car. His best friend had finally set a date for his wedding. No way would Max miss such a special time, especially considering all that Noah and Callie had been through.
“I swear I’ll be there,” Max promised. “I talked with Bronson earlier today, and they were hoping to start production earlier.”
“Aren’t you staying with your mother until the end of April?”
Max turned onto another two-lane road, heading toward Raine’s parents’ house. “My mother is doing remarkably well, and actually my father has taken some time off to take her to her treatments.”
“Whoa, that’s shocking.”
“Seems Thomas Ford had a change of heart where family is concerned.” Max still wasn’t sure what to think, but he was pretty excited his father had done an about-face. “He would’ve been here to help sooner, but he was trying to tie up loose ends at one of the restaurants before he took off.”
“Sounds like this ordeal with your mom really scared some sense into him,” Noah stated. “It’s a shame it took that, but at least he’s come around.”
“He’s even coming to the performance tonight to see me.”
Max wasn’t going to lie. The fact that his father was stepping up and showing support, after all the years of ignoring the fact that Max was an actor and a damn good one, made his heart swell.
“That’s really great, Max.” Noah was silent for a moment before he said, “You haven’t mentioned Raine yet. Everything okay?”
Max and Noah had been friends for a long time, and Noah knew everything, including all about Raine...the early years.
“That’s a botched-up mess,” Max muttered, gripping his steering wheel. “I’ll have to fill you in when I get home. Long story short, our relationship was sabotaged when I left here. I’m on my way to talk to her parents right now.”
“Tell me you’re not,” Noah said. “I don’t know what you found out, but doing anything when you’re upset is a bad idea.”
“I disagree. I think this is the perfect time for me to tal
k to them.”
“Does Raine know what you’re up to?”
Max made his final turn, the house in question sitting straight ahead atop a small hill surrounded by white, pristine snow.
“No, she doesn’t,” Max told his friend. “I can’t leave here and not have my say with them. They hurt her, Noah. She’s totally devastated, and I won’t tolerate them thinking their actions were acceptable.”
“You’re in love with her,” Noah stated simply. “And don’t even bother trying to deny it, because I can hear it in your voice. This woman has always been the one.”
Max clenched his jaw because any words at this point would damn him. Noah was right. Raine had always been the one. But at this point in their lives, when they were both settled into what they loved doing, how could he uproot her? She’d promised to follow him once; he didn’t think she’d offer again.
And she hadn’t made any overtures to indicate otherwise. In fact, when they’d made love yesterday afternoon, it was almost as if she was starting to say goodbye. It was just best this way. Sometimes people weren’t meant to be together, and there was only so much love could do.
Which meant he couldn’t tell her that he loved her. If he did, he’d surely beg her to come with him. He’d offer to pay off her farm, sell it, do anything she wanted if she’d follow him to L.A. And in time she would resent him for keeping his dreams alive and well, while she relinquished everything she knew and loved.
“You still with me?” Noah asked.
Max pulled into the wide, circular drive and killed the engine. “I’m still here, but I need to go. I just pulled into the drive.”
Noah sighed. “Just don’t do anything too rash. If this is the woman you love, these people could be your in-laws one day.”
Max snorted. “There’s no chance of that.”
He disconnected the call and sighed. At one time these people would’ve been his in-laws, but they’d destroyed any chance of that when they had decided to take fate into their own hands and ruin not only his life but Raine’s. And for that alone he was going to have a serious meeting with them.
Yes, Raine would probably not like the fact that he was at her parents’ house, but someone had to stand up for her. Someone had to show her just how much support she had. She’d been fighting her battles alone for far too long, so he had to do this for her sake.
He stepped from the car and ignored the biting wind that swept right through his heavy coat. Damn, L.A. weather was so much friendlier.
After ringing the doorbell, Max stepped back and waited. So many thoughts swirled through his mind on what he wanted to say. He truly had no idea how to even begin, but something told him he’d know once he got in there, all those years of pent-up anger and hurt emotions rushing to the surface. A younger lady answered the door, dressed head to toe in black. A maid? Her eyes widened as recognition of who he was set in. That wasn’t his ego talking, he was very aware that people knew who he was. But he wasn’t about to throw his celebrity status around. This had nothing to do with him and everything to do with the woman he cared about.
“Hello,” he said with what he hoped was a charming smile. “I need to speak with Mr. and Mrs. Monroe, please.”
“Of course.” She stepped back and opened the door wider. “Please, come in. They are upstairs in the study. I can go—”
“I know where the study is,” he said, cutting her off. “Thank you.”
Dismissing her, he walked past the young woman and made his way up the wide, curved staircase. Fury bubbled within him at the fact these people lived like this, while Raine’s house was falling apart.
Selfish snobs.
As he moved down the hall, he stopped when he recognized Marshall’s voice.
“I’ve done all I can to stop the adoption from going through, but there’s nothing else I can do to hold it off,” Marshall said. “Raine passed all inspections and home visits from social services.”
Max waited in the hall, just outside the door, and he had a feeling his temper was going to go from bad to worse very, very soon.
“You have a law degree,” Raine’s father barked. “How can you not find a loophole to halt this adoption? She’s a single mother for crying out loud.”
Max fisted his hands at his sides but remained quiet.
“And she has no money,” her mother chimed in. “This is ridiculous. Why does she insist on being so stubborn?”
“One reason the courts are moving ahead is because this is the home where Jill wants the baby. Hard to argue with the mother’s wishes, especially when the guardian is the mayor’s daughter.”
“And being the mayor you’d think my assistant could pull some strings,” her father complained.
“She’s going to be even more difficult since she learned what happened years ago.” Her mother’s tone softened. “Maybe we should’ve let her go. Maybe she would’ve learned her lesson and come back home eventually—”
“No, had she gone when Max left, he would’ve married her,” Marshall argued. “If for no other reason than for the baby.”
Max froze. Baby? What the hell?
“That was a blessing she lost that child,” her mother said. “My God, it was nearly impossible to keep that a secret.”
The wide hallway suddenly became narrower, as Max’s world slowly closed in on him. Raine had been pregnant when he’d left? Why hadn’t she told him?
An image of Raine pregnant with his child nearly brought him to his knees.
Max swallowed, raked a hand over his face and planned his next move. First, he needed to talk with those three hypocrites in the room behind him. Then, he’d go have a very long talk with Raine.
Dear Lord. He’d been a father?
Between that crushing blow and the fact these people—who supposedly cared about Raine—were trying to prevent her adoption, Max needed to clear his head and fast. He had come here for a reason, but his motives had just changed.
Stepping around the door frame, Max met the eyes of Marshall and Raine’s father. Then her mother turned, her mouth dropping open as she gasped.
“Not expecting company, I see,” Max said easily as he crossed the room to stand with the three people he loathed most in the world. “I was able to hear enough of your little powwow to know that Raine’s life is still being manipulated by the people who are supposed to love and care for her the most.”
“This is really none of your concern.” Her mother lifted her chin, then crossed her arms over her chest. “And it is extremely rude to just barge in here.”
Max glared at her. “You really want to lecture me on manners? I don’t think you want to go there.”
“What do you need, Max?” Raine’s father asked.
With a shrug, Max met the man’s gaze. “I’m just here to stand up for Raine. To let you all know that I’ll be leaving soon, but I know enough now to realize that I need to make a few things clear before I go.”
Marshall laughed. “You have no business here, no matter who you are.”
In a flash, Max reached out and had Marshall by the collar, eliciting another gasp from Raine’s mother. “Don’t even think of running your mouth to me. What kind of a man would purposely try to keep a child away from a loving mother? You’re a lowlife, spineless jerk, and you belong with these two.”
He shoved the man away and looked back to Raine’s father.
“Get out, Max.”
“I will,” he agreed. “But first let me tell you, if this adoption doesn’t go through, I will raise all kinds of hell in this town. I never use my status to get what I want, but I will do that, and more, if Raine doesn’t keep Abby. You remember that the next time you all try to play God with Raine’s life.”
“She could have a much better life,” her mother pleaded. “If she’d just listen to her father and me. She could have her money and find someone worthy to settle down with.”
“First of all, Raine doesn’t care about the money. She cares about people, though I have no idea
where she learned that fact of life from.” Max shoved his hands in his jean pockets, rocked back on his heels. “Second of all, you don’t get to decide who is worthy for her. Raine is happy with her life, and, when she wants to settle down, she will.”
And it would kill him. Knowing she’d fallen in love and made a life with another man would absolutely crush him.
“You altered our lives years ago,” he went on. “Now stay away from her if you’re not going to be supportive.”
“Supportive?” Marshall piped up. “You left when she was pregnant.”
Waves of fury coursed through him. “If you don’t shut the hell up, I’m going to punch you in the face. I think we all know why I wasn’t around for the baby.”
His eyes found Raine’s parents as he forced himself to remain calm and not go all Alpha male and start throwing things.
“You won’t tell Raine—”
Max laughed at her mother’s final plea. “About you trying to sabotage her future again? You bet I will. I don’t lie to those I care about.”
He turned to walk out the door and glanced back over his shoulder. “Oh, and, Mayor? I wouldn’t worry about running for reelection. I have a feeling things wouldn’t work out for you.”
“Did you just threaten me?”
Max smiled. “Not at all. Just letting you know how it feels to have your dreams and future altered.”
He all but ran down the stairs and out the door. He needed air. He needed to think.
He needed to get to Raine.
A baby? They’d been so ready to start their future, and she’d been pregnant. Had she known when he’d left? Why hadn’t she said anything...then or now? How could she keep something so vital from him?
Nausea welled up, and he had to remember to take deep breaths as he slid behind the wheel of the car. Gripping the steering wheel, he closed his eyes and prayed for strength...because, God help him, if Raine knew about that baby before he left, he wouldn’t be able to look her in the eye again.
Twenty
Raine carefully sprinkled two little seeds into each of the small pots lined up along her workstation on the enclosed patio. The small heater kept the space warm enough for the plants to thrive in the winter months and warm enough for Abby to enjoy her little bouncy seat while Raine worked.
Snowbound with a Billionaire Page 16
