Chapter 22 #2
Hearing that set her off again. “I won’t be his only little girl anymore if he has another daughter, and yes, I do hear myself acting like an ass, but I can’t seem to stop feeling this way.
I had a violently negative reaction to hearing about her.
I don’t want her. I don’t want a sister.
I’ve got my brothers and Laura… I don’t need her. ”
“You’re shocked, and it’s perfectly natural for you to feel threatened by something—or someone—who has the power to change your whole life.”
“I don’t want my life changed. I like it the way it is.”
“I’m afraid you don’t have much choice in the matter, honey, if your dad has decided to accept her into his life.”
“He has! All she had to do is show up and stake her claim, and he’s all excited to have another daughter. Like the one he had wasn’t enough for him.”
“Janey,” he said, shaking silently.
“Are you laughing at me?”
“Of course I’m not.”
“Yes, you are! There’s nothing funny about this!”
“When you’ve had a little time to get your mind around it, you might feel differently.”
“How do I get my mind around a sister I never knew I had?”
“What did your brothers say about it? I’m trying to picture Mac finding out he’s not the oldest anymore.”
“I don’t know. I didn’t stick around long enough to hear what they had to say.”
“What’s her name? This sister you didn’t know you had.”
“Mallory.”
“That’s a nice name.”
“I guess.” Janey reached for the baby that Joe transferred to her arms. “There’s my little boy,” she whispered, running her lips over his soft head and breathing in the baby-fresh scent. “I wish I hadn’t run out of there the way I did.”
“You can always tell your dad that when you see him.”
“What if he’s mad at me?”
“He won’t be, Janey.”
“I didn’t know what to expect when they asked us to come over, but it certainly wasn’t this.” Her phone buzzed with a text message. “Can you get it out of my back pocket?” she asked, raising herself up.
“With pleasure.”
His predictable comment made her laugh. “What does it say?”
“From Mac. ‘Are you okay, brat?’ Want me to write back to him?”
“Just say I’m fine, and I’ll talk to him later.”
Joe sent the text and put her phone on the table. “You know your dad is going to be over here wanting to talk to you. If he’s not on his way already, he will be soon.”
“I don’t know what to say to him. I feel like a jerk for leaving the way I did.”
“Maybe just tell him that. He’ll understand, babe.”
“I’m going to have to meet this person, aren’t I?”
“The sister you never knew you had?” he asked with a teasing smile. “Yeah, you are.”
Though he’d planned to go to the marina after the meeting at his parents’ house, Mac found himself driving home instead.
He needed to see Maddie. After two years of marriage, his need for her only seemed to grow exponentially every day, and he’d learned not to question it anymore.
It just was. She’d know what to say to set him straight again.
He pulled into the driveway at the home he’d once surprised her with.
Thinking about that day brought a smile to his face.
After a brief time apart that damn near killed him, he’d gotten her back that day, and they’d been together ever since.
Bounding up the stairs, he opened the sliding door and came to a stop when he saw her on the sofa holding Hailey as she slept.
Maddie gave him a quizzical look full of questions about what he was doing home early on a workday.
He went to her, took their sleeping daughter from her and walked his baby girl upstairs to her crib, where he tucked her in with a kiss. When he turned to leave Hailey’s room, Maddie was waiting for him in the hallway.
Mac took her hand, led her to their bedroom and shut the door. “Where’s Thomas?”
“At the beach with Tiffany and Ashleigh.”
Mac put his arms around his wife and hugged her.
“What’s wrong? You’re freaking me out.”
“Sorry,” he murmured, his lips finding her neck. As he breathed in the scent of summer flowers, a sense of calm came over him. No matter what happened, he would always have her, and she was all he needed.
“Mac? Honey, what is it?”
“My dad has another kid.”
Her entire body went rigid. “What?”
“Well, I guess she’s not a kid anymore at thirty-nine.”
“Start from the beginning. Don’t leave anything out.”
Mac told her about the woman who’d come to the marina the day before seeking his father and how she was actually Big Mac’s daughter Mallory.
“Wow,” Maddie said, exhaling a deep breath as she sat on the bed. “So you met her?”
“The boys and I did.” Mac sat next to her on the bed. “Janey left before Mallory got there. She was upset.”
“She loves being your dad’s only daughter. Almost as much,” Maddie said, glancing at him tentatively, “as you love being the oldest.”
“Yes.”
“Are you okay?”
“I guess. I mean there’re certainly worse things they could’ve told us.”
“Still… That must’ve been pretty shocking to hear.” She took his hand and held it between both of hers. “So what’s she like?”
“She’s actually really nice. She’s an emergency room nurse in Providence, and she looks just like my father’s mother as a younger woman.”
“So he’s not going to make her prove it, then?”
“There’s really no need to. The proof is in the picture. But you’ll be glad to know I asked the same question.”
Maddie leaned her head against his shoulder. “It’s okay to tell me this upsets you. I’d totally understand.”
“I know you would, and that’s why I came to you when I should’ve gone to work.”
“I’m glad you came to me. I’d always want you to do that.”
“How’re you feeling?”
“Pretty good today, actually.”
“Is that so? And is it possible that we find ourselves completely alone in the middle of the day with a bed right here for anything that might come to mind?”
Maddie giggled softly. “What comes to mind?”
Always a believer in showing rather than telling, Mac guided her hand to the evidence of what he had in mind.
“I thought you were upset.”
“I was, until I came home to you. Now it seems I have other issues on my mind that you could help me with.”
“Was this all a ploy to gain my sympathies so you could ravish me in the middle of the day?”
The word ravish coming from her sent a bolt of lust to his already painfully hard cock.
“That makes me sound so devious,” he said while nuzzling her neck and ear.
He tugged on the formfitting tank top that molded to her incredible breasts.
She hated them. He loved them. They’d agreed to disagree on the matter.
“What do you say? Wouldn’t we be foolish not to take advantage of this nearly unprecedented opportunity? ”
“What about work?” she asked, tipping her head to give him better access to her neck.
“Luke is there.”
“Does he know where you are?”
“No, but he wouldn’t mind.” He eased her top up and over her head. “How long has Hailey been asleep?”
“Not long.”
“Oh boy.” Mac dragged his finger from her neck to the deep valley between her breasts, making her shiver. He loved that his touch did that to her. “That means we have hours.” He kissed her. “And hours.”
“Mac,” she said with a nervous laugh, “I did have a few things I planned to get done today.”
“Is it anything that won’t keep until later?”
“No,” she said with a sigh that sounded an awful lot like surrender to him. “It’ll keep.”