When A Man Loves A Woman (Seven Brides Seven Brothers Book 7)

by Calhoune, Belle

  Delilah reached out and caressed his cheek. “Everything is going to be wonderful, Mac. This will give you closure. Being reunited with Callie is the rainbow after all the storms.”

  He cast a quick glance at Delilah, then turned back to concentrate on navigating the car. “I hope this is something good for Callie. There are still so many unanswered questions. Why? How? Who separated us?”

  “I know, Mac,” Delilah said in a soothing voice. “It’s all very troubling, but I think you should focus on the reunion and not the deception that lies at the root of all this. If nothing else, you know that your sister, like yourself, was a victim of whomever separated you. You need to be there for one another as a support system.”

  Once again Delilah was showing him that cooler heads prevailed. He needed to stuff down his anger and focus on the blessed reunion awaiting them. If Parker’s information was correct, Callie Duvall of Savannah, Georgia was his long-lost, beloved sister. They were moments away from the house she had grown up in, a place where she continued to live. Duvall House. He couldn’t help but wonder if the people who lived in that very house had been behind her abduction?

  As he reached the end of Pritchard Street, the GPS instructed him to turn right on to Magnolia. Adrenaline coursed through him like quicksilver. His chest felt tight. His palms were moist as they gripped the steering wheel.

  “I think this is it on the right,” Delilah said just as the GPS announced that they had reached their destination.

  Mac let out a whistle as he gazed out of the car window at the house that took up a large-sized lot on the street. It was a huge, three story, Gothic Revival style home. It was an architectural masterpiece. The grounds surrounding it were lush and green. Flowers were in full bloom in abundance. A black gate sat close to the street, no doubt protecting the occupants from unannounced visitors. As they exited the car and stood staring up at the house, Mac felt almost light-headed at the grandness of this moment. He felt as if he was standing on the precipice of something wonderful. Something life changing.

  “Are you ready?” Delilah asked, reaching out to hold his hand.

  “I’ve been ready for twenty years,” he said with a nod, feeling a jolt of energy as they stepped toward the gate. He pushed against it, surprised that they were given immediate entry. They walked down the walkway leading them to the front steps. Once they were at the door, Delilah reached out and pressed the bell. He could hear the chime ring out from where they were standing on the porch. It was amazing he could hear over the wild thumping of his heart.

  The door opened with a flourish. A tiny woman wearing a black and white uniform eyed them with a hint of curiosity. “May I help you?” the older woman asked, her Scottish brogue strong and hearty.

  “We’d like to see Callie Duvall, please,” Delilah announced. Mac owed Delilah a debt of gratitude. All of a sudden he had felt tongue-tied and unable to utter a single word.

  “Who might I say is calling?” she asked, ushering them inside.

  “Old friends,” Delilah said smoothly. “What a lovely home,” she gushed, clearly trying to divert the woman’s attention away from introductions.

  “Please sit in the drawing room while I see if Miss Callie is available.” The clickity-click of her heels echoed against the hardwood floors.

  Delilah sat down on a velvet couch while he stood by the window. He paced back and forth as anxiety reared its ugly head. “Mac. Settle down. You don’t want Callie to think you’re a crazy person, do you?” she teased.

  Mac stopped in his tracks. Delilah smiled at him and winked. He held out trembling hands. “I’m a wreck. What do I say? How do I greet her? Should I hug her? What if she thinks I’m a crazy person like you said?”

  Delilah jumped up from her seat and quickly reached his side. “Baby, I was teasing you. Callie loved you all those years ago. She’ll love you again. I imagine she’s never stopped loving you for a single instant. Just breathe. Close your eyes and remember how it was between you all those years ago. And believe,” she whispered.

  Mac closed his eyes as scenes from his childhood danced across his eyelids. Playing hide and seek with Callie. Teaching her to swim. Walking with her to the candy store. Singing her to sleep after she’d had a nightmare. Those memories could never be erased. Till the end of time they would share that unbreakable bond. He just needed to believe in it.

  The sound of a door opening caused his eyes to fly open. Nothing in this world had prepared him for this moment. A tall, beautiful woman strode through the door with grace and ease. Her dark red hair hung loosely all about her face and shoulders. She was wearing a long, romantic maxi dress that was the color of a vibrant daffodil. Yellow always had been her favorite color, Mac remembered.

  She stopped mid-stride, her eyes glued on Mac. Before he could utter a single word, she let out a wounded cry. Callie took a step backward, fumbling in the process. She was tangled up in her hem. Mac raced to her side and placed his hand on her arm to steady her. Their eyes locked and held.

  “No!” she said, shaking her head back and forth. “This isn’t possible. You’re dead. They told me you were dead.”

  “I’m not dead, Callie. Feel me,” he said, squeezing her hand tightly. “I’m real. And I’m right here with you. I found you, Callie. After all these years, I found you.”

  “Mac!” she sobbed, flinging herself into his arms like a force of nature. “Mac. I’ve spent the last twenty years mourning the loss of you.” Mac hung on tightly to Callie. Having her in his arms made him feel like a super hero. That’s the way she’d always made him feel when he was protecting her from harm. Her shoulders shook with sobs. She was making a keening sound. He rubbed her back to soothe her the same way he’d done all those years ago. There was no way he could put this feeling into words, but suddenly he felt all the weight and responsibility of being Callie’s big brother again. He felt whole.

  After a few minutes they released each other and stood for a moment holding hands as they gave one another the once-over.

  “You’re beautiful, Caledonia,” Mac said in a low voice. “And I don’t hear a southern twang. Not at all.”

  “No one has called me that in forever,” she said with a gasp. “I almost forgot all about it myself,” she tearfully admitted. “How could I have forgotten that? And because I was almost six when I was adopted I never did take on a southern accent.”

  “So many years have gotten away from us,” he murmured.

  “You look the same!” Callie said in a voice tinged with awe. She reached out and touched his jaw. “Just way more ruggedly handsome and built.” She frowned at him. “You’re not a bodyguard are you?”

  “No,” Mac said with a laugh. “I have a woodworking business.”

  Her face lit up. “Woodworking? Remember all those animals you used to make for me? I still have one that I took with me that night. The sparrow.”

  The sparrow. It had been her favorite. He had whittled it for her because that’s what she had reminded him of. Glorious. Beautiful. And strong. Flying free like a bird. And she still was. He could feel it in his bones.

  “I’ll make you dozens more, Callie. I-I thought we were going to be seeing each other at the foster care agency.” He blinked back tears as the memories assailed his senses. He almost felt like a kid again. Vulnerable and aching. “What happened Callie? Who took you away from me?” His voice sounded wounded. It still ached to remember that brutal night and the days that followed Callie’s disappearance. He remembered how hard it had been as the realization hit him that Callie was gone. Taken from him. She had been almost like a ghost who had never existed.

  “Mac. I don’t remember much of it. I wanted to go to the hospital with you, but they told me I couldn’t go. A woman in a suit took me by the hand and put me in a car. We drove far away that night and I fell asleep in the car.” She shook her head, allowing dark red tendrils to swirl around her face. Her lips trembled. “It’s so frustrating to admit this, but I don’t remember much exce
pt I was taken someplace far away. I stayed at a resort for a few days. It felt tropical...Mexico maybe. There was a pool. They gave me a baby doll. People were speaking different languages. The next thing I solidly remember is coming here to this house and becoming part of the Duvall family.”

  Tears ran down her face. Her shoulders began to shake. “I told my family about you, Mac. I begged them to bring you to me. They told me you were dead, Mac.”

  Dead? The Duvalls had told Callie that he was deceased? And all these years she had believed he was no longer among the living. It was shocking. And it enraged him. He could only pray the Duvall family had been duped as well. To believe anything else would be shattering.

  He ran a hand over his face. “I can’t believe that. All this time…we could have been together. It just blows my mind that someone wanted you to believe that you were all alone in the world.”

  “Who would do that, Mac? And why?” Callie asked, her green eyes flashing with anger and hurt.

  “I don’t know,” he seethed. “But I intend to find out. And God help whoever was behind this!”

  **

  Delilah watched the reunion unfold between Mac and Callie as they lovingly reconnected. She couldn’t help but shed a few tears as they bonded and shared memories of their childhood. Callie kept reaching out and pressing her head against Mac’s chest. It seemed as if she was seeking the protection he had always given her as a child. Their sibling relationship was still intact.

  “Hey Callie. I’d like you to meet someone very special to me. My girlfriend, Delilah Dalton.”

  Girlfriend? Delilah felt a tightening sensation in her chest as the words rolled off Mac’s tongue.

  Callie stepped over to where she was standing and enveloped her in a hug. “Oh, it’s so nice to meet you. The two of you make quite a handsome pair.”

  “Nice to meet you, Callie. I’m so thrilled that the two of you have found each other. Mac has talked of nothing else for quite some time now.”

  Callie couldn’t seem to take her eyes off her brother for long. It was almost as if she was constantly checking to see if he was really here in the flesh. Delilah couldn’t blame her. Twenty years was a long time to miss someone.

  The door to the drawing room burst open with a crash. A man with jet black hair with graying at the temples stood in the doorway. He was dressed in a light linen suit the color of oatmeal. His appearance was striking. The expression on his face was surprise mixed with discomfort. Delilah watched as he smoothly tried to cover it up.

  “Callie. I didn’t know you were expecting visitors. Who do we have here?”

  Callie glared at the man. Her eyes blazed with fury. “This is my brother, Daddy. Mac Donahue. You may know him as Mac Monahan. But something tells me you might already know who he is.”

  Callie’s father tried to mask his face, but it was obvious that he knew Mac’s identity.

  “Now, Callie, why don’t we go somewhere private and discuss this? It’s a family matter,” he said curtly, his southern accent on full display.

  She walked toward him with power in her stride. “Mac is family,” she cried out. My family!”

  A shocked gasp rang out in the room. A beautiful woman stood in the doorway leaning heavily on a cane. Her rich auburn hair was similar to Callie’s vibrant hair color. Her hazel eyes were wide and blinking furiously.

  “We’re your family, Callie,” she cried out.

  Callie’s face crumpled. “Mama of course you are. But Mac..he’s my brother. My biological brother. You told me he was dead. You allowed me to believe that. Why?”

  “Lionel,” her mother said, pleading with her husband with her eyes.

  He stepped forward and shielded his wife. “Blame me. Hate me. Punish me. But your mother had nothing to do with the deception. We wanted a child. We’d lost our only daughter a few months earlier in a swimming pool accident. Davinia wasn’t progressing any in her grief. We hired an agency to find us a child of a similar age—”

  Callie let out a wounded cry. “So I was the replacement child? Is that it?”

  Davinia swept in and took Callie by the shoulders. “Never that Callie. On my life it was never that. You filled a hole in us that was gaping like an open wound.”

  She shook her head in her father’s direction. “And you were willing to separate me from my brother to fill that hole. Weren’t you?

  Lionel’s complexion was ashen. “I’m ashamed to say yes. I learned about Mac before we adopted you.” He looked away from Callie’s scornful gaze. “I couldn’t break your mother’s heart by putting a stop to the adoption. She’d already met you. We’d already fallen in love. So had Luke.”

  Luke? Was Luke Callie’s Duvall sibling? She glanced over at Mac. He seemed to barely be holding it all in. His body bristled with rage. She quietly joined him at his side and leaned in to him, wanting more than ever to show her quiet support.

  “Problem is, she was already my family. Part of my heart. And I was part of hers,” Mac said, his words rippling through the drawing room. “And clearly you didn’t care one bit. You just wanted to bury me six feet under and throw dirt on my grave.”

  Callie began to sob. She twisted away from her mother’s grip and ran to Mac’s side. She buried her face against his chest. “I’ll never forgive you. Not ever!”

  Delilah watched as Mac wrapped his arms around Callie. Big brother. Protector. Together at last. Suddenly, within a matter of minutes Mac’s life had gotten much more complicated. Judging by the drama unfolding before their very eyes, the Duvall family was now fractured. Perhaps permanently. How could a person forgive such a grand deception? Callie would need Mac more than ever now. Her heart rejoiced at the notion that despite this turmoil the two would grow ever closer. And hopefully their sibling bond would be fully restored.

  Things were moving and shifting so fast for Mac and Callie. She couldn’t help but wonder if there was still room for her in Mac’s ever-changing world. Perhaps guarding her heart had been a good idea after all.

  **

  Things were moving so quickly in his restored relationship with Callie. By day’s end Callie had left Duvall house with a few bags and headed to Belle Reve with them. She vowed not to return home until she could sort out her feelings about her adoption and her father’s deception. All Mac could do was be supportive. It was up to Callie to decide where she wanted to go from here. And if she could move toward forgiveness. At this point Callie was facing the grim reality that her life had been based on a huge lie.

  That night after they ordered in some dinner for the three of them, Delilah retired to her room after complaining of a headache. For a moment he had been worried about her being a little on the quiet side, but she had reassured him that it was nothing more than a migraine.

  He and Callie stayed up until the wee hours of the night reminiscing about the good moments from their childhood and the memories that they would hold on to for a lifetime. Despite their fractured family and the rampant abuse, there still had been precious moments shared between them. Love. Affection. Mischief. Adoration. And above all, an unbreakable bond.

  “And Mama. What happened to her? Did you ever see her again?” Callie asked. “Were they ever brought up on charges?”

  Mac didn’t know how to deliver such awful news to Callie about their mother’s death, but he knew he had to give it to her straight. After all the lies she’d been told in her lifetime, she deserved it.

  He steepled his fingers in front of him. “Callie, this isn’t easy to say, but Frank killed her before killing himself. It was a murder-suicide. This happened weeks after we left the house the night you disappeared.”

  Callie let out a shocked squeal. “Oh, that’s terrible!” She clapped her hand over her mouth. Tears ran down her face. “I-I’m going to be praying for the mother we knew before she got messed up with Frank. The one who wiped our tears, made our lunches and tucked us in to bed at night.” She shook her head fiercely. “In the end she was no longer that woman. She was
just Frank’s puppet.”

  “Did he ever…hurt you in other ways?” Mac asked, gently probing.

  At first Callie didn’t seem to understand his question. He hated to ask it, but as he grew older he had always wonder if Frank had tried to touch Callie in an appropriate way.

  Callie’s eyes widened. “No! Never. Thankfully, he never tried anything like that. His abuse was verbal and with that leather belt he always had in his hand. You spared me from anything more brutal. I can never thank you enough for that, Mac. You saved me over and over again.”

  “That’s what big brothers do. What I’ll continue to do if you ever need me to step in. I’m your big brother for life, Callie.”

  She smiled at him—a big goofy grin that reminded him of a five year old version of herself.

  “You’re not going anywhere, Mac. From this moment forward we are going to be in each other’s lives. For always. I’m going to be a permanent fixture in Cape Cod, and I expect Savannah to be your favorite city from now on.”

  Callie’s bossiness made him laugh. Some things truly never changed. She had retained the essence of who she had always been. A firecracker. His baby sister.

  “So, what about Delilah? What’s brewing between the two of you?” Callie asked with a pretty smile that lit up her whole face. Call him biased, but his baby sister was a stunning woman.

  “Delilah is…everything I’ve ever hoped for in a woman. She’s amazing,” he gushed. He looked down for a moment. “I don’t know how she feels about me. We haven’t really reached that point yet. I want to tell her how I feel, but I don’t know if it’s too soon.”

  “It’s never too soon to lay it all on the line,” Callie said. “I watched the two of you together and it’s so obvious that you guys are in love.”

  “I do love her, Callie, but I’m not sure she feels the same,” he confessed.

  “There’s only one way to find out,” she said, a glint in her eye. “Tell her! Wait for the right moment and tell her how you feel,” Callie pleaded.