Switched At Birth

by Christine Rimmer

  Across the table, Ben’s eyes were big as Frisbees.

  “Dad, come on,” Sten replied and had no idea what to follow up with. He finished lamely, “Time and place, man.”

  “So that’s a no?”

  “It, um, didn’t work out.”

  “That’s a no.” His father seemed to stare right through him. “Pass the broccoli,” he said, adding, “fool,” so low it was almost inaudible.

  But Sten heard him. And judging by the way his nephew’s eyes got even wider, Ben heard him, too.

  * * *

  Karin flopped down in the deck chair next to him. She handed him a beer and then tapped it with her can of Hansen’s Natural Grape Soda. It was twilight, the last sliver of the day vanishing out there over the waves.

  For several minutes, they just sat there, staring off at the ocean.

  But his sister’s silence couldn’t last. “I talked to Madison. They’re leaving for Executive Airport at eight in the morning.” The small airstrip where the private planes took off was about five miles outside of town. “Dad and I and the kids will go over to the cottage at seven thirty to say goodbye.” She stopped talking, probably waiting for him to admit what a blockhead he was to turn Maddy down.

  He said nothing.

  So of course, she said, “You need to go over there, Sten. Work it out with her. Don’t let the best thing that ever happened to you just ride off in a Hummer.”

  “She’ll be in the Subaru that’s hidden in the garage, if you really want to know.”

  “What in the world are you babbling about?”

  “Nothing. Just leave it, Karin. Just leave it alone.”

  She sipped her soda. “I get why you’re mad. You’re mad at yourself. And you know what? You should be mad.”

  “Let me finish that thought for you.” He stared furiously at the last light of day as it winked out to nothing. “I’m a dolt and a dunce, a real birdbrain and a total schmuck to let her get away.”

  “True,” said his sister. “But the good news is, she’s not gone yet. It’s not too late. You know that, right?”

  “Oh, yeah?”

  Karin sank down in her chair. “You exhaust me. You really do. And if you don’t work this out with her, if you don’t go after her and beg her to give you another chance, well, I don’t know what to tell you, except that you deserve all the misery you’ll be suffering once she’s gone. I mean, just look at yourself. You’re miserable already. And you’re choosing to be miserable.”

  He turned and gave her a glare. “Karin, that’s enough.”

  She just kept talking. “I mean, think about what you’re doing. The wrong woman, a woman who didn’t deserve you, broke your heart. And your response to that, your way to make sure that doesn’t happen again? Refuse to give the right woman a fighting chance.”

  “How do you even know she asked for a chance?”

  “Oh, please. Like I haven’t seen the two of you together. Like I don’t know a true love match when I see one. She asked, because that’s who she is. She’s brave and true and honest about her feelings—and you go ahead, Sten Larson. You go ahead and try to tell me I’m wrong.”

  “Are you finished?” he muttered, his teeth clenched so hard his jaw ached.

  “Sten.” Now she gave him a pleading look. “Don’t do it. Don’t throw love away.”

  He faced the ocean again and stared into the darkness wondering what the hell had ever made him think that living with his family was a good idea.

  * * *

  Somehow, Sten got through the endless, sleepless night that followed.

  At seven thirty the next morning, his family all trooped over to the cottage to say goodbye. He remained upstairs at his house. But he heard them all come back, heard them leave again, his dad and Karin for the Boatworks, the kids to catch the school bus.

  A few minutes later, the Hummer drove off. He stood at his front door watching it go. Besides the driver, there was someone sitting in the back seat and also in the passenger seat, though it was hard to say who with the windows tinted. Dummies, maybe? He had to give her security team credit. They knew how to pull off a fake-out, all right.

  Twenty minutes after the Hummer headed up the twisting driveway, the garage door of the cottage opened and the Subaru Forester backed out. A man was driving. There was no one else in the car—or at least, that was how it looked.

  He went back inside and poured himself a third mug of coffee.

  Standing at the windows in the great room, looking out at the gray day and the restless ocean, he sipped his coffee and tried not to feel so raw and hollow inside. When his cup was empty, he filled it again and went outside. He sat in his favorite deck chair staring out at the waves, wondering how long it was going to take him to get over the woman he’d just sent away.

  A long time.

  Like, say, maybe...forever.

  This was so much worse than what had happened with Ella. This was Maddy he’d lost.

  And it was his own damn fault she was gone.

  A misty rain started to fall. Still, he sat there and considered how badly he’d screwed up.

  He kept hearing his sister’s voice in his head. The wrong woman, a woman who didn’t deserve you, broke your heart. And your response to that, your way to make sure that doesn’t happen again? Refuse to give the right woman a fighting chance...

  It pissed him the hell off when Karin was right.

  Because Maddy was good and honest and true—and he was letting her get away, why, exactly?

  What excuse had he given her?

  Because he wasn’t a Hollywood type of guy?

  Weak. Feeble. Downright pathetic.

  What was his fear here, really? That she would long for her career if she gave it up?

  The truth was, he didn’t think she should give it up.

  But really, that was up to her.

  What about him, then? If he wanted to be with her, where would he fit?

  Say it turned out the way he was so sure it would. Say that, given more time to consider her own future, she realized that she just wasn’t ready to quit, that she wanted to make more movies?

  The real question for him was could he live with that? Could he maybe go visit her on location now and then, do what he needed to do to help Karin and his dad with the Boatworks and also kind of keep the home fires burning in Bel Air?

  Why not?

  Seriously. Why the hell not?

  For a woman like Maddy, the least he could do was learn to be a little damn flexible.

  If she would even have him now.

  If he wasn’t already too late.

  He got out his phone to text her. Fine drops of rain spattered the dark screen as he stared down at it, finger poised to swipe.

  But he didn’t swipe.

  Because a text or a phone call?

  Uh-uh. That wouldn’t be near enough.

  Leaving his empty mug on the arm of his chair, Sten jumped to his feet and ran back inside to grab the keys to his truck.

  * * *

  It was a ten-minute drive to Valentine Bay Executive Airport.

  He made it in seven. Yeah, he was begging for a speeding ticket. But a miracle happened and he didn’t get stopped.

  Tires squealing, he spun into the small parking lot at the airfield and slammed to a stop beside the familiar Subaru. It was empty now, just waiting for some guy from the rental place to come pick it up. The rain fell, soft and steady.

  He turned off the engine and jumped out just in time to see a Gulfstream lift off the end of the runway and sail upward into the gray sky. It had to be her.

  And that meant he was too late.

  With his heart like a lump of lead in his chest, he watched the plane vanish from his sight.

  He’d blown it. She was gone. He hung his head and let the
disappointment wash over him.

  Now what?

  He wasn’t giving up, but it was going to take some work to get to her. Yeah, it was only what he deserved for being the world’s biggest dumb-ass, but still.

  If he hadn’t sat there on the deck in the misty rain pondering his own idiocy for so long, he might have at least had a chance to get down on his knees to her before she left for LA.

  He took his phone out of his pocket.

  It lit up with a text in his hand.

  A text from Maddy?

  Not possible. No way could he get that lucky. His blood roared in his ears and his heart did something impossible inside his chest, as he read, Turn around.

  What the...?

  Slowly, hardly daring to hope, he faced the tiny terminal.

  And there she was, inside the terminal, her unforgettable face pressed to the glass.

  They took off at a run, simultaneously. She burst through the glass doors as he reached the walkway leading up to them.

  “You came to get me!” She squealed like Coco did when he tickled her, and threw herself into his wide-open arms.

  “Maddy.” He gathered her in, hard and tight, buried his face in her hair and breathed in the scent that belonged only to her. The rain kept drizzling down. Neither of them cared. “Maddy...”

  She lifted her head to breathlessly explain, “I sent Dirk in the plane, back to LA. I couldn’t leave without trying one more time. I thought, well, if that makes me a crazy, love-addled nutjob, I don’t care. I thought, I’ve got two weeks in that cottage and I’m taking them. Your sister said she didn’t give two shakes about the paparazzi. So did your dad. They said to stay, that one way or another, we would work it out, together. That all I had to do was just not to leave yet. And the more I thought about that, the more I thought they were right—oh, Sten. Were they? Were they right?” Those turquoise eyes searched his.

  “Yeah.” He cradled her precious, rain-wet face between his hands. “But it wouldn’t have mattered in the end if you’d flown off before I got here. One way or another, I would have tracked you down to tell you that I love you, Maddy. That you’re everything to me, that I was so wrong and I know that now, and would you please just give me a chance to make everything right?”

  She let out a cry and surged up to press her sweet mouth to his.

  That kiss? It was everything—a promise. A vow.

  For now and tomorrow and all their tomorrows.

  When she dropped back to her heels, she said, “There was someone else, wasn’t there? Someone who hurt you?” At his slow nod, she commanded, “Tell me. All of it. I need to know.”

  And he did tell her. He explained everything about Ella—or at least, he made one hell of an attempt, right there in front of the terminal, as the misty rain dribbled down on them. “She, well, she texted me that Sunday night when you were at Daniel’s for your DNA party. And she showed up at the Boatworks last week to try to get something going with me again.”

  She gulped. “Were you...tempted?”

  “Hell, no.”

  “But you said that she was between us...”

  “Uh-uh. It was my failure with her—that was what got between me and you. That she was the wrong choice for me all along and I refused to see it. It screwed with my head, to have to realize how completely I’d misjudged her. While I was with her, I wouldn’t let myself admit the truth about her. I ignored all the signs that it was never going to work with her. Because I had chosen her and by God, I needed to be right in my choice. My pride wouldn’t let me see that I was only a convenience for her, a placeholder until she could get the other guy to take her back. Then he did take her back and I had to face what a chump I’d been.”

  She put a hand to his cheek. “Too bad for her. She blew it. Her loss, my gain.” Maddy’s smile was slow and full of satisfaction—but then she frowned and chided gently, “You should have said something, explained all this earlier. It would have helped me to be more patient, to understand.”

  “Yeah.” He turned his face into her hand and pressed a kiss against her soft palm. “I messed up. And I am so sorry. I hope you can forgive me.”

  “Of course I forgive you. I love you and I always will.”

  He took her hand and kissed the back of it. “I’m so glad. That you’re here. That you didn’t go.”

  “But see, that’s because I’m not like that other woman. I don’t have secret goals. I own my goals out loud and proud. I go after what I want and for me, you are the goal, Sten Larson. You’re the one that I want.”

  “You mean that.” It wasn’t a question.

  And she knew it wasn’t. “I love you.”

  “Maddy, you were incredible yesterday, telling me you loved me, trying to reassure me that we could work it out. And me? I was nothing but a coward. But not anymore. I get it now. I do. You are the one for me. I just want to be beside you, whatever the future brings. I understand now, how it is, how it will be. You are always with me. In here.” He pressed their joined hands to his heart. “I love you. And I want everything with you—to marry you, to have kids with you. All of it.”

  “Yes,” she whispered prayerfully. “Yes, to all of it. I want that, too.”

  “But for right now, the simple fact that you’re here. That you love me, too. Maddy, that’s what counts, that’s what really matters. That’s the beginning.”

  “The beginning.” Her eyes shone so bright. “Yes. Today, right now, here in the drizzling rain, you and me, telling the truth, making our promises to each other that we are bound to keep—this is the real beginning. The beginning of us.”

  Epilogue

  Madison remained in Valentine Bay until the end of April.

  Right away, it got inconvenient, with the paps popping up every time she turned around. She called her security team. They sent Dirk, Sergei and two other guys to patrol the cove and keep the press at bay.

  After that, it wasn’t too bad, really. Sten and his family took it all in stride. Mostly, they pretended the photographers weren’t even there. It became kind of a game with them, to behave as if it was nothing out of the ordinary having people with cameras plastered to their faces everywhere they turned. Coco and Madison built the biggest sandcastle ever, with technical advice from Ben and plenty of help from Sten.

  The Bravos handled all the excitement well, too. Madison had them over to the beach cottage for dinner. And another night, she and Sten met Harper and Hailey, Aislinn and Jax for drinks at the Sea Breeze. The bodyguards came with them for crowd control. Only one pap got in. Ingrid Ostergard escorted him right back out.

  When Madison returned to LA, Sten went with her. By then, the world had kind of figured out that America’s Darling had a special guy. Together, she and Sten gave an interview to People, a full-color center spread, just to make it official.

  She had a five-day break from filming in mid-June due to the necessity for emergency script changes. They flew home to Valentine Bay and got married in the little church where all the Larsons had been baptized. It was beautiful and media-free, a small, private ceremony, just the Bravos, Karin and the kids, Otto Larson and Percy and Daffodil Valentine.

  Her security team made that happen with the clever use of a decoy limo. Once the limo had driven off, Madison, in her wedding gown, stretched out on the back seat of a Hyundai Sonata. Sergei gently settled a tarp over her. She giggled all the way to the chapel at the sheer absurdity of going to get married under a tarp. Sten, in jeans and a T-shirt, drove his truck to the church. He changed to his tux when he got there.

  “Forever,” he whispered, as he slid the sapphire ring that had once been his mother’s onto her finger.

  “And always,” she vowed.

  * * *

  Two years later, Madison had completed both of her final films. She’d also received a nomination for her second Oscar.

 
Sten, looking super hot as always in a gorgeous tux, was her date for the Academy Awards. Six months pregnant with their first child, Madison wore a clinging gold gown that showed off her baby bump. When Robin Roberts asked her what she had coming up next, she reached for Sten’s hand. He wove his fingers with hers and moved in close.

  “Married life,” she replied. “You know, the man I love and babies, lots of family nearby.”

  Robin smiled and congratulated her.

  Madison won that night. She thanked everyone who had made her win possible, including the parents who’d raised her to be bold and fearless, to chase her wildest dreams. She and Sten skipped the after-parties. They went straight back to the house in Bel Air where she could put her feet up.

  Three weeks later, they flew home to Valentine Bay and settled in to raise their family on Sweetheart Cove.

  It never got out to the world at large that Madison Delaney Larson was a Bravo by birth. And that suited her just fine.

  On Madison’s fortieth birthday, Sten and Jax threw a party at the cove for her and for Aislinn. It was a gorgeous almost-spring day. They spent most of the afternoon out on the beach, with a big family dinner later up at the house.

  Madison had a great time. Her life was as she’d dreamed it might someday be. She had it all—a big extended family, four beautiful children and the man she loved at her side.

  * * * * *

  Watch for the next book in

  The Bravos of Valentine Bay series,

  Connor Bravo’s story,

  coming in October 2019,

  only from Mills & Boon Special Edition.

  Liam Bravo and Karin Killigan’s story

  will be available in December 2019.

  And for more great Bravo stories,

  check out the first books of

  The Bravos of Valentine Bay miniseries:

  The Nanny’s Double Trouble

  Almost a Bravo

  Same Time, Next Christmas

  Available now wherever

  Mills & Boon Cherish books and ebooks are sold!

  His Texas Runaway

  by Stella Bagwell