by Amanda Berry
“What time?”
“Nine.” Jules paused. “Are you okay, Brady?”
His sanitized white room stared back at him. The emptiness of his apartment mocked him. No Maggie. No Amber. Just him.
“Yeah. I’ll be fine. See you then.” He disconnected the call. When he went to work in the morning, he’d fall into his routine and have barely any time to think about what he’d left behind in Tawnee Valley.
He downloaded the files from his home server for the meeting tomorrow. Reviewed his notes and what Jules had emailed him. Everything was ready for tomorrow’s meeting.
His apartment was empty. His life was empty. As he looked around, he wished he were in Tawnee Valley. Even the prospect of fighting for his project didn’t thrill him. He couldn’t imagine being here without Maggie and Amber. In a little over a week, they’d come to mean everything to him. But all he had left was his career. Maggie had made it clear that she did not want to move to New York.
Unfortunately, he couldn’t get Maggie out of his head as he lay in bed, trying for sleep. He’d offered marriage, but she’d turned him down. Because she loved him. His chest filled with warmth. He hadn’t had time to process her words before. Maggie Brown loved him. The sacrifices she made for her mother had been out of love. The sacrifices Sam had made had been out of love. And he’d expected her to follow him, sacrifice the life she’d built for herself and their daughter, because he wanted her with him. While he sacrificed nothing.
Brady pulled the red silk scarf through his fingers. How much more should everyone else sacrifice for him?
* * *
By the time exhaustion claimed him, his alarm clock went off. Even as tired as he was, Brady almost wished he had chores to do. Feeding the animals usually helped clear his head.
Instead, he rode the subway to his office and grabbed a coffee from the shop in the lobby. He needed a few days to settle back into his normal routine. Everything would return to normal.
Paperwork had piled up on his desk from last week. When his meeting alert went off, Brady was feeling mostly human. The coffee and the monotony of paperwork had helped.
Jules came around the corner as he left his office. Her dark green suit was the top-of-the-line businesswear, but it didn’t do anything for him. All he could think of were Maggie’s bare feet on the runner board of her bed.
“I’m glad I caught up with you before the meeting,” Jules said as they walked together toward Kyle’s office.
“I’ve recovered all the files. We should be able to reassure Kyle that the project isn’t leaking funds.” Brady kept pace, but couldn’t help remembering the slower walks with Amber and Maggie. Crisp autumn air and light conversation. Amber’s giggles ringing through the streets.
“I had a chance to look through the preliminary numbers for the Tawnee Valley project you sent me,” Jules said. “I think you might have something there. With a few tweaks, I bet we can get Kyle on board with the project.”
“That sounds good.” Brady paused outside Kyle’s door. He placed a hand on Jules’s sleeve to stop her from going in. “Do you think it’s possible to love someone and not know it?”
Her forehead wrinkled as her perfectly arched eyebrows pulled toward each other. “What do you mean?”
“Sorry. Just preoccupied.” Brady stepped aside for Jules to lead the way into Kyle’s office.
“Have a seat,” Kyle said.
The last time Brady had been in here he’d been focused on finding a way to make the project work and finding time to meet his daughter. On the far wall were portraits Brady hadn’t noticed before. They showed various poses and ages of Kyle with his wife and their two children. Staged photos meant to show a happy family.
Very few of the family photos in Maggie’s house had been staged with studio lighting.
“How did your visit with your family go, Brady?” Kyle regarded him with a piercing gaze.
“It went well. Very well.” Except for the part where Maggie didn’t want to live with him.
“Good. Jules, you had some problems to discuss.” Kyle leaned back in his chair.
“We were able to recover the files for the budget. I think you’ll be pleased with the calculations we’ve done. We’re scheduled to come in right on budget with the Detrex project.” Jules was all business, from her hair to her outfit to the way she carried herself. She had been everything Brady had thought he wanted.
“Peterson called to try to reschedule his meeting for this morning. Do you know anything about this?” Kyle looked at Brady first, but Brady turned to Jules.
“Given that Mr. Peterson grabbed my ass yesterday and suggested that the project would be back on track if I went out with him, my guess is he wanted to turn himself in on sexual harassment charges.” Her cool demeanor didn’t change.
“Why didn’t you tell me this happened?” Brady could have done something about it.
Jules turned her cool gaze to him. “I don’t need a protector, Brady. I can handle myself fine.”
She’d said that before, but all of Brady’s life he’d been taught to protect women. Now it seemed as if none of the women in his life needed him. Not Jules. Not Maggie.
“Those are some strong accusations. We take sexual harassment seriously in this organization. Would you be willing to report this in an incident report?” Kyle kept his gaze on Jules.
“Of course.”
“Do you mind if I call in Mr. Peterson?”
Jules crossed her arms. A smug little smile formed on her lips. “No, sir. I don’t mind at all.”
Within minutes, Peterson stood in the room as far away from Jules as possible. Both Brady and Kyle stared at the bruise on the man’s cheekbone. Brady resisted the urge to smile.
“Suspension without pay pending litigation.” Kyle didn’t seem unhappy to watch security escort Peterson grumbling from his office. When the door closed, Kyle addressed Jules, “It doesn’t have to go that far before we step in, Jules.”
She nodded. All this time, Brady had thought he was protecting her, but she could handle it on her own. Just like Maggie. It wouldn’t matter if Detrex succeeded because Maggie wouldn’t be there. If he wanted his family, maybe it was time to stop asking them to sacrifice for him and instead make some sacrifices of his own.
“I want off the Detrex project.”
Surprised, Jules and Kyle faced him.
“Jules doesn’t need my help. She can handle the account and take the project where it needs to be.”
Jules flushed, but didn’t say anything. Kyle nodded his agreement, but Brady wasn’t finished yet.
“I want to talk to you about another project, though. If you have time,” Brady said.
“My ten o’clock just got escorted from the building. What were you thinking?”
Chapter Twenty-Two
“And Jessica said pineapples come from special pine trees.” Amber walked backward to face Maggie. Obviously looking for confirmation.
“I’m pretty sure this time Jessica is wrong.” Maggie made a circle motion with her finger to get Amber to face front and watch where she was going.
“Daddy called yesterday.”
Maggie stumbled but caught herself. “Did he?”
“Yup.”
It had been almost a week since he’d left. The only other time he’d called she’d been outside. Amber had been hanging up the phone as Maggie walked in. Maybe it was better this way. Cut off all contact with him.
“He misses us.” Amber spun in a circle. They were walking home from her Girl Scout meeting.
“Does he?” Maggie highly doubted that. He was probably too wrapped in whatever his next project was to even make time to think about them.
“Yeah, and he hopes to see us real soon.” Amber took off running for the house.
Maggie hoped that Brady meant it. Not for her sake but for Amber’s. Amber would get her hopes up and when Brady failed to meet her expectations, it would be Maggie’s responsibility to soothe the hurt. Maggie’s
own father had contacted her two times after he left. Both times he’d promised to stop by next time he was in town. She’d sat outside and waited until she fell asleep on the porch swing.
Amber shouldn’t have to go through that.
Penny had convinced Sam to watch Amber Friday night. Penny was determined to take Maggie out drinking and to find someone to take the edge off, as Penny put it.
A small part of Maggie held out hope that Brady would come to his senses, but even if he did, she wasn’t sure she could trust it. What would he be willing to say to be able to have Amber in New York? After all, he’d already proposed marriage.
“Mommy, hurry.” Amber’s voice sounded far away.
Maggie searched the sidewalk, but she was only a few houses away from their house. Amber must have run ahead and let herself in.
As Maggie reached their sidewalk, she happened to look on the porch. Sitting on the top step holding a bouquet of fresh-picked wildflowers was Brady Ward. She stopped as her breath caught and her heart skipped a beat.
In jeans and a gray T-shirt, he sat on her porch, looking at her. Her mind couldn’t process anything.
When he walked her way, she noticed movement in the screen door behind him. Penny and Amber smiled before they ducked away.
“I picked these for you.” Brady held out the bouquet. A jumbled mess of goldenrod, black-eyed Susans and a blue flower she couldn’t remember the name of. They were the most beautiful flowers she’d ever received. She took the bouquet warily. If he started in on New York again... She had to stay strong.
“I realized something while I was away.”
She wasn’t sure she was strong enough to meet his gaze. This was the man she loved, but it didn’t take a degree to realize he wasn’t going to love her in return.
“What did you realize?” Maggie took a deep breath filled with the scent of wildflowers.
“I’ve been searching for something my whole life. In high school, I thought if I was number one all the time that I would feel like part of this town. When I went to England, I thought if I rose to the top of the corporate ladder, I would feel like part of the company. When I moved to New York, I thought maybe this time it would be different.”
When he didn’t continue, she finally lifted her gaze to his. Her heart beat out of control. This was the one man who could get under her skin and stay there even though he was hundreds of miles away. How many times could she tell him no? How many times would her heart break over Brady Ward?
“When you came to me in New York, I thought maybe this was it. All I had to do was be an awesome dad and I would fill this hole in me.” He reached out and brushed a strand of hair from her face.
“Did it?” Maggie was terrified to hear his answer but if she was ever going to be free to find love, she had to.
“Maggie, I didn’t need to leave this town to find what I needed most in life. I got a little screwed up along the way, but when you walked back into my life, you gave me clarity again. You gave me a daughter. You gave me your love. Without wanting anything in return.”
She held her breath. But she did want something in return. She wanted his love more than she wanted her next breath.
“I suck at this without PowerPoint.” He smiled as he closed the distance between them, without touching her.
“I can’t.” Tears welled in her eyes. “I can’t move to New York. If I thought it was the best thing for Amber, I would do it in a heartbeat, but I would die every day, knowing you don’t love me.”
His thumb caught her tear. “See, I’m making a mess of this. Amber told me the other day about how much fun she had with her friends. How they’d spent the afternoon picking flowers. I can’t imagine taking that away from her. Or from you.”
Maggie drew in a breath of air, aware of the press of her chest against his. “Then why are you here?”
He took her hands. “Because this is where I belong, Maggie. You are where I belong. All this time I thought I needed to be number one, but the only one I need to be number one for is you, Maggie Brown.”
“What?” Tears raced down her cheeks, even as her heart lifted in her chest.
“I thought that by you moving to New York I would have everything, but I would have fallen into the same patterns. Work too much and not stop to really listen to you and Amber. My whole world there centered on work and getting to the next level.”
“What are you trying to say?”
“You sacrificed your college for your mother and Amber. Sam took care of Luke and almost sacrificed the farm to help you out. I’ve done nothing to prove to you that I love you and want to be with you.” He took her hands in his.
Her heart raced. “How do you know you love me and not just the idea of a family?”
He smiled and pressed a quick kiss to her lips. “I’ve been a fool. Afraid to love, afraid to have a family need me. You are the one who soothed me when things felt out of control. You are the one who gave me strength when I needed it. Before Amber was even in the picture, I needed you. Even before I knew the real Maggie Brown. Something about you has always drawn me.
“I love you with all my heart. I want us to be a family. I don’t need New York as long as I have you and Amber. I want to show you how much I love you for the rest of my life. Right here in Tawnee Valley. My company is starting a new project and I’ve asked to take lead. We’re building a factory here. If I have to stay at Sam’s and come to your house every day to ask you if you’ll marry me, I will.”
Tears welled in her eyes and choked her throat. Never in her life had she imagined he would love her.
“I hope those are tears of happiness. I love you, Maggie Brown. I want to marry you. If I have to beg, I will.” He started to drop to his knee, but she caught his elbow.
She drew in a deep breath and blinked rapidly to help the tears go away. “All I ever wanted was your love. If I thought you loved me, I would have moved to New York in a heartbeat.”
“Now you don’t have to.” He kissed her. “Say you’ll marry me, Maggie. That we’ll live here in Tawnee Valley and grow old together.”
Looking into his beautiful blue eyes, Maggie knew she was lost and found at the same time. “Yes, I’ll marry you.”
Her heart felt as if it was going to burst from happiness as he gathered her in his arms.
* * * * *
Keep reading for an excerpt from Her New Year’s Fortune by Allison Leigh
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Chapter One
New Year’s Eve. A night of mystery.
Just like she was mysterious. Beautiful. Exotic. And definitely mysterious.
Dark, auburn hair spilled in waves down her back, kissing the golden spine revealed by the cut-down-to-there black cocktail dress that clung to her lithe figure. Her companion’s dark blue gaze was focused intently on her face...dropping to her lips as she took a small sip of her martini. Slightly dirty, just the way she’d ordered. She lowered the cocktail and leaned a little closer to him, feeling more than slightly naughty. Beneath the table, she slipped her foot out of her sinfully high black heels and subtly slid her toes along his ankle...
“Excuse me, miss. Miss? Miss?”
The fantasy spinning inside Sarah-Jane Early’s head popped like a bubble of spen
t soap and she focused on the tuxedo-clad man standing in front of the hostess station she was manning at Red, looking none too patient. She was there not to daydream, but to help see to the needs of every guest of the wedding reception that had commandeered the popular Mexican restaurant for the night, and she quickly smiled. “Yes, sir, how can I help you?”
The man tugged at his skewed bow tie, casting a glance off to one side. “How do I get to the Red Rock Inn?” His question was hurried, and muttered half under his breath. She could have told him he needn’t have bothered trying to be so quiet. For the past three hours, the music from the reception had made conversations nearly impossible. She leaned a little closer to give him the directions to the hotel. He nodded, and took time to thank her before moving away to hold out his hand to the woman he’d obviously been waiting for.
In seconds, they were hurrying out the front door of the restaurant, the man’s arm wrapped possessively around the woman’s hips. It was obvious to anyone with eyes in their head that the couple couldn’t wait to be alone.
She knew there was no point in envying a couple in love...or even a couple in lust, or she’d be spending her life in a constant state of envy. Still, Sarah-Jane sighed and shifted her weight from one foot to the other.
Fantasizing about wearing killer heels was one thing. Actually doing it was another. She wished she’d have just worn a pair of shoes from her own closet. She had a pair of black pumps. Admittedly they were nearly ten years old, purchased by her mother who had insisted that Sarah-Jane needed to wear the modestly-heeled things for her high school graduation. But they were leather and having been worn only a few times since, were still in good condition.
She glanced down at the shoes she was currently wearing. If she were honest, the only thing in common these shoes had with the old ones in her closet were that they were black. She twisted one foot this way and that, and sighed again, a little wistfully. The shoes that Maria Mendoza had insisted she wear were beautiful. The velvety suede was as black as midnight and certainly suited the clinging black cocktail dress she was wearing better than her sensible old pumps.
