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
