around.
“Dammit, Sam. Not this time. You don’t get to turn your back on me and act like a freaking martyr. If you aren’t going to say anything, you might as well listen.”
Brady took a deep breath to clear his mind. “Eight years. You could have told me anytime in eight years. You could have waited until I was older and time had healed whatever wounds I had, but you didn’t. You owe an explanation to me.”
“A month ago, I had to get a chest X-ray for insurance. My heart is enlarged, but since I don’t have any other symptoms, I’m monitoring my blood pressure and going to the cardiologist in a month.”
It felt as if the floor fell out beneath Brady’s feet. “You’re sick? Have you told Luke?”
“What? So he can stare at me like you are?” Sam moved around to the other side of the tractor, obscuring his face from Brady’s view. “I’m fine. I feel fine. I thought you should know about your daughter since you came back to the States. In case something happened to me.” Sam the martyr. Brady hated this side of Sam.
“We can’t fix the past, Sam. What’s done is done. I’m sorry I wasn’t around to help more. I’m sorry that I left you to raise Luke on your own. I’m sorry you had to take on everything. I’m sorry about your heart.”
“That’s an awful lot of sorry,” Sam grumbled. Brady sighed. Sam wouldn’t even lift his gaze.
“I know you won’t say you’re sorry for what you’ve done.” Brady let the anger slip away. “But I forgive you.”
“I painted a whole chair by myself,” Amber proclaimed in the car.
Brady had been stiff and silent since the conversation with Josh at the diner. Maggie wondered if she should talk about New York. Last night had been wonderful, but it wouldn’t work long-term. If she kept sleeping with him, she would fall deeper in love with him.
“Sam wouldn’t let the dogs sleep with me last night, even after I threatened to sleep outside.” Amber gave her prettiest fake pout.
“Dog kisses, yuck.” Maggie made a face for Amber.
“When I’m older, I want to have ten dogs.”
The car slowed to a stop at her house. Maggie dared a glance at Brady’s profile. He seemed to be processing something.
“Here’s my key. Amber, go inside and get ready for lunch.”
Amber wrapped her arms around Brady’s shoulders from behind. “Are you staying for lunch, Daddy?”
“Maybe, but I might have to go.” He touched her arm with his hand. “We’ll do something fun this week together. I promise.”
“’Kay.” Amber bounced out of the car. Within seconds, she disappeared into the house.
“You know what I can’t get out of my mind?” Brady stared straight forward through the windshield and into the distance.
“No, I don’t.” But she wanted to know.
“How much better my life would have been if you and Amber had been in it all along.”
Not exactly what she thought he would say. She couldn’t keep it inside anymore. “We can’t move to New York.”
That got his attention. She wanted to clap her hands over her mouth and take it back.
“It’s scary, Maggie, but we can make this work.”
She took a deep breath. “I’m sure your life is great in New York. You don’t know how flattered I am that you want me and Amber to be part of that, but…” She wished she hadn’t put that disappointment in his eyes.
“We can take it slow. It doesn’t have to happen right away.” He traced the line of her cheekbone with the back of his fingers. “Think about it?”
“It’s not going to happen, Brady,” Maggie said firmly. “Our lives are here. New York isn’t the best thing for Amber and me. I know how attached you’ve become to Amber. We’ll visit and our door is open anytime you want to come down.”
“Marry me.”
“What?” She leaned against the car door.
“We have a wonderful daughter. We’re obviously compatible in bed. It would guarantee that I wouldn’t just leave you in New York alone. If that’s what it takes to have you with me, that’s what I’m willing to do.”
Her heart stopped pounding for a moment. Had he just rationalized a marriage proposal? When she’d found out she was pregnant, she’d hoped for this. For him to offer to take care of her forever, but when he didn’t show up, she’d had to become stronger and start taking care of everything herself. No one was going to sweep in and do everything for her.
“If you’d known about Amber, you would have proposed to me because it was the so-called right thing to do. But you didn’t love me then, any more than you love me now. I would have said yes because I was scared out of my mind to be alone.”
“It doesn’t have to be about love. It makes sense for us to be together for Amber.”
“Don’t you see, Brady? I’m not scared anymore.” She rolled her shoulders back and opened the door. “I’ve raised Amber on my own. I don’t want ‘good enough.’”
He opened his mouth.
Maggie smiled even as her eyes filled with tears. “I love you, Brady Ward. But I don’t think you could ever love me the way I deserve to be loved.”
Before he could change her mind, she slipped from the car and hurried into the house.
“Peterson has a meeting with Kyle on Wednesday. He wants to put an ax in our project.”
Brady looked up at the sky, wondering why he’d suddenly become some butt of a cosmic joke. Everything seemed to be going wrong. The report on his computer screen claimed the project was aiming to go over budget in thirty days. That couldn’t be correct. Brady had been diligent in making sure the budget was spot-on.
“Have you talked with Kyle?” Brady rubbed his hand over his hair and looked out over the farm from the top of the hill.
“I’m going to go in tomorrow morning, but your files have disappeared from the server.” Jules sounded as upset as he felt. “This project is going to die before it got started.”
Which wouldn’t look good for either of them since a significant amount of money had been spent up front. Brady had lost his brother and possibly Maggie and Amber. He couldn’t lose his job, as well. What more could he do here? At least if he went to New York, he could fix the project. After all, it seemed as if work was the only thing he was good at.
“Schedule with Kyle for tomorrow morning. I’ll call my assistant and book on the next plane out.”
“Brady, you don’t have to do that. Email me the files. I’ll try to reconstruct what you did. You have your family to worry about.”
Sam
