Never Say Never: Gravel Hill Boys Book Two

64. Madison

“Oh my God, Ian,”I cried as I flew at him and threw my arms around his neck. “What happened? You just disappeared on us. If Maylene hadn’t told me you spent the night at your parents, I would be calling every hospital and police station in West Virginia.”

I pulled back and stared up at him, my hands cupping his cold cheeks. My eyes were red and swollen from crying most of the afternoon, but I didn’t care. I was just so relieved to have him standing there in front of me.

“Why did you disappear like that?”

He looked tired and worn. And oddly, surprised, as if he’d forgotten I’d be here. His eyes searched mine, his gaze stripping me bare, peering into the very soul of me. In that moment, I couldn’t be sure if he liked what he was seeing, and it scared me. I ran my fingers over his forehead and brushed away the lock of hair hanging over his eyes. “Maylene said you were at Roosters last night and you got so drunk that Mr. Todd had to call your father to pick you up.”

Ian had yet to say a word, and I had this need to fill the silence, as if my words would be enough to keep him there. I busied my hands unzipping his jacket and pushing it off his shoulders.

He swallowed, his eyes still scanning my face, and spoke. “When did you talk to Maylene?”

“Earlier this afternoon. When you didn’t come back to the hospital, I called and texted you, but you never answered. Did you lose your phone? Please tell me you lost your phone and that you weren’t ignoring me.” I looped my arm through his and led him over to the sofa. “I needed someone to pick us up from the hospital. When I couldn’t reach you, I called your mother. And since you had the car seat, she called Maylene.”

“What about your parents?”

“My parents? How did you know they were here? I never even got a chance to tell you they were coming. You were already gone last night when I woke up.”

Confusion marred his face. “I thought you were going back to Philadelphia.”

“Who on earth said that?”

“You did.”

Now I was the one who was confused. “When?”

He rubbed his temples. “Yesterday. I heard you. You were going back to Philadelphia with your parents. Didn’t they fly in from France last night and then swoop in with their helicopter to rescue you?”

I didn’t appreciate the bite in his tone, but let it pass. For now.

“They did, but I never agreed to go back with them.”

“I heard you,” he argued.

“I don’t care what you heard, Ian. I had no intention of leaving without you.” Hurt and anger caused my eyes to burn and fill, and I silently cursed another emotional, hormonal overload. I blinked back the tears threatening to overflow. “Unless that’s what you want,” I choked out.

The seconds leading up to his response felt like years, but then he swallowed me up in his arms and crushed me to his chest. For the first time in twenty-four hours I felt safe again. “Of course that’s not what I want. I love you.” His voice broke. “I love you so much. I don’t want you to go anywhere without me.”

I melted into him and gave myself a moment to breathe and to fully fill my lungs. I exhaled slowly, savoring the feel of his arms around me, and listening to his heartbeat, strong and steady.

This was my home, right here. Not a Philadelphia penthouse, or a Main Line estate, or a villa in Paris. Home was wherever Ian was. It didn’t matter if it was a tiny farmhouse in Ashwood, West Virginia, or a tour bus in the middle of America’s heartland.

Home was being wrapped in his arms, safe, secure, and loved.

I linked my arms around his waist and looked up at him. “I love you too, so why would you think that I’d leave you?” I took a step back. “Not only leave you, but leave without a word, without even telling you where I was going?”

He dropped his forehead against mine. “I heard you on the phone with your parents. When your father told you they were coming for you and that he had a photographer booked to take pictures of you and the baby, and that someone from his company would be writing the birth announcement. Honestly, I can’t even remember all of it. The guy never stopped talking. But then I heard you say ‘Fine. Whatever.’ Why wouldn’t I think you were letting them take you back to Philadelphia without me?”

Grabbing his hand, I led him to the sofa. I sat facing him, my knees pressed against his thighs. “Listen to me. I was exasperated and trying to get a frantic newborn to latch on to nurse, while the man who’s barely paid me a moment’s notice in years tried to railroad me into doing what he wanted. He didn’t even think I was capable of writing a simple birth announcement. It’s my job. It’s what I do, and I make a lot of money doing it.”

Was I getting worked up? Absolutely.

“Hey, hey. I’m sorry. I’m stupid.”

I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding. “You’re not stupid. You’re brilliant, Ian. And amazing. My God, you delivered our baby. Here. On this couch. In the dark, in the middle of an ice storm. That’s incredible, and if I hadn’t already fallen head over heels in love with you, I would’ve after that night. You’re my hero.” I held his hand tighter.

“The only thing you were stupid about was believing I’d let my parents swoop in and take over. Not happening. I made that very clear to them. This is my life, and I’ll live it as I see fit.”

“Where are they now?” he asked tentatively.

“I assume they’re back in Gladwyne with my grandmother. They presented a united front for the first time in years, but it no longer matters to me. The only person I truly want you to meet is Gibby. As long as the weather holds, she’ll have the helicopter bring her out later this week.”

“I can’t believe your family just flits around the country in their own helicopter.”

“What can I say?” I grinned. “They like to flit.” And then I laughed. “You should’ve been there when the hospital administrator came to my room and demanded my father move his helicopter from the hospital landing pad.” I shook my head. “So embarrassing. My father believes laws, rules, regulations—none of them apply to him.”

“Holy shit. What did he do?”

“My father? He threw money at it, what else? Bought himself a half-hour visit with me as long as the pilot remained in the chopper and he and my mother agreed to leave immediately if a medical helicopter was due to land.”

I laughed. “So the hospital administrator, the guy who runs the show, let your father walk all over him, but little ‘ol you said, ‘Back off. This is how it’s gonna go.’”

“More or less.”

“And what did they think of our Little Satsuma?”

My heart filled with love for this beautiful man before me, the life we created, and even for my wayward parents. “They thought she was perfect.”

“Hell yeah, she is,” he said, grinning as he rose from the sofa. “Speaking of which, I’m gonna take a peek. I missed her. Is she in our room?”

Our room. Those two words made me feel warm and tingly, and I grinned back at him.

“She is. While you do that, let me finish getting supper together.” Before I could stand, Ian put his hand on my thigh and scolded me.

“No way. You’re supposed to be taking it easy. It’s not even three days, and you’re already cooking.”

“Reheating is not cooking. Your mother gave me spaghetti sauce she had in the freezer and a box of pasta. I didn’t even put the salad together. She did.”

“Still. You stay there. Let me go stare at my baby for a couple minutes and then I’ll put some water on for the pasta.” He swung my feet up onto the sofa, tucked a pillow behind my head, and tossed a blanket over me for good measure. Then he added a few logs to the fire, kissed my forehead, and quietly slipped into the bedroom.

The last seventy-two hours had been an emotional roller coaster, and I was more than ready to just go about the business of becoming a family. Liane had forbade me from logging in to my laptop for the next ten days—not even to check email. We still needed to get back to the city—I needed to see Dr. Abernathy and Quinn had her first appointment with her pediatrician—but it was hardly a hassle traveling by private jet.

My life had been embarrassingly easy before Ian Donohue flirted his way into it and stripped me bare—both literally and figuratively. Anything I’d ever wanted was mine, or so I’d thought. I hadn’t really missed being part of a family because I’d never really seen one close up. I grew up thinking I was happy. In reality, I was anything but happy.

This was happy. That man I heard cooing in the other room, who I was certain had woken our daughter because he couldn’t bear to not hold her—that man made me happy. Creating a life with him made me happy. This little farmhouse, where our daughter was born into the loving hands of her father, made me happy. The entire Donohue clan made me happy. Beau and Brooklynn, Barrett, Zac, Macie, Sarah Jane, and of course my BFF Liane, made me happy.

And good Lord, the double cheeseburgers from Roosters made me deliriously happy.

My money couldn’t buy any of that—other than the cheeseburgers—and I’d never been happier.

The world’s sexiest man sauntered into the living room shirtless, carrying a tiny pink bundle pressed against his tatted chest. “Look who’s awake,” he sang quietly. “She insisted on getting up and said she missed me and wanted to see her mommy.”

My heart was full to bursting. “Oh, she did, did she? And her daddy didn’t just scoop her up because he couldn’t help himself?”

The grin he sent my way had me tingling in parts that sadly, were off limits for the next six weeks. That grin of his was dangerous. It was no wonder he’d swept me off my feet when we’d first met and had my clothes on the floor in record time.

“She did, right Satsuma?” he cooed.

I laughed. Poor Quinn. I had a feeling that silly name would stick around for a while.

Ian sat on the edge of the coffee table and lowered the blanket that had been covering her head and shoulders. “I think mama should take off her shirt too, don’t you, Quinn?” She blinked up at him and then yawned, her little knees drew up to her chest, and her tiny arms lifted; her fists closed tightly, and I couldn’t help but notice there was something clenched in one of her hands.

“What the—” Ian handed her to me, but before I could take a closer look, he dropped to one knee. My heart climbed into my throat. His hand wrapped around Quinn’s arm, engulfing it with those long, bass-playing fingers of his.

“Madison, I love you more than I ever imagined was possible to love another person. On paper, you and I might not make sense, but as far as I’m concerned, that’s a good thing. You complete me. Make me feel whole. Loved. Everything I thought I was missing, I’ve found with you. The only thing I can give you that you can’t buy for yourself is my heart. Take it, Madison. It’s yours.”

He held up Quinn’s little arm, and clutched in her tiny hand was the most exquisite diamond ring I’d ever seen, even more beautiful than the one he’d offered the first time he proposed to me. “Madison Cecelia Enright, will you marry me?”

Tears ran unchecked down my face. Not uncommon these days, but these were the best kind of tears. Happy tears.

“Ian, of course I’ll marry you. I love you so very much. And like you said, so much more than I knew was possible. You’ve given me everything I didn’t know I needed, and I will take your heart, and I will keep it safe. Always.”

Careful not to crush our Little Satsuma, Ian leaned in for the sweetest kiss. I grabbed the sides of his face to deepen it, wanting him more than ever, and knowing the next six weeks would be brutal, but I was certain he’d keep it interesting.

“Thank you for loving me. Thank you for giving me our little Quinn. Thank you for giving up your playboy ways and creating a family with me. Nine months ago, I never thought we’d find ourselves here.”

His hand cradled the back of my head as he pulled me in for another kiss. Then he rubbed his nose along my jaw. Kissed the sensitive spot behind my ear that made me crazy, sending goosebumps racing down my arm.

“Never say never, darlin’. I’m all yours.”