Chapter 16 #2
Oh damn, when he called her that, she melted inside. “If I’m ready to date anyone.”
“I understand why you might feel that way, but I meant it when I said you have nothing to worry about where I’m concerned. You believe me, don’t you?”
“I want to.”
“But?”
“There’re things you’re not willing to talk about.”
“My juvenile record, you mean.”
“Yes.”
“I don’t talk about that with anyone.”
“Which is your prerogative, just as it’s my prerogative to be hesitant to date someone who doesn’t want to talk about what got him into trouble back in the day.”
“It was a one-time thing, something that happened that I don’t regret because I was defending something that couldn’t defend itself. Under the same circumstances, I’d do it all over again, even knowing the outcome.”
Maggie was more intrigued than ever after hearing that much. His use of the word something that couldn’t defend itself led her to believe that the incident had involved a horse.
“I think you probably would’ve done the same thing I did in that situation.”
“Do you understand that I’m reluctant to get involved with you without knowing more about this?”
“Yes, I understand, but I hope you’ll consider what I’ve done with my life since then and weigh that against one thing that happened when I was a kid that was well worth every bit of hell I went through afterward.”
He was extremely convincing. She’d give him that.
“Will you think about it?”
“I’m not sure how I’ll think about anything else.”
“Maggie…”
“Brayden…”
He took a deep breath and released it slowly. “Let’s change the subject. How was your day?”
“It was good. My parents, aunt and uncle came for lunch and a tour.”
“How was that?”
“Great. They loved the place and everything we’re doing here.”
“You said your parents are divorced, right?”
“Yep, and both remarried to people we adore.”
“That doesn’t happen every day.”
“We got very lucky—and we know it.”
“You said you’d tell me about how your parents ended up divorced.”
“I did say that, didn’t I?”
“Uh-huh.”
“And you really want to hear about that?”
“I want to hear about everything, Maggie Harrington. Every freaking thing.”
No man had ever been more blatant about his interest in her. She’d gotten her share of attention from guys in high school and college, but this one was in a league all his own, and she rather liked his league. “I told you about my mom’s accident, right?”
“You did.”
“Well, after that, my dad… He was pretty much a mess for a long time, so much so that my aunt Frannie, who’s his sister, moved in to help take care of us.
He did everything he could for my mom, but after a while, we had to accept that she probably wasn’t going to recover, and we had to get on with our lives.
He moved her out of our dining room into a place of her own with round-the-clock nurses. ”
“That must’ve been a very difficult thing for you.”
“Saying it was rough is putting it mildly. My mom… She was the glue who held us all together. We were a mess without her. So after a year had gone by and my mom was in the new place, my dad made a real effort to get things back on track with us and at work. He’d taken an entire year off, which was funny because before the accident, it was a big deal to get him to take a week off.
“He and Jamie had been hired to build an Infinity hotel in Newport, and that’s when my dad met Andi, who was their director of interior design. She was headquartered in Chicago, but things between them got pretty intense. She and her son, Eric, eventually moved to Rhode Island to live with us.”
“Was your dad still married to your mom?”
“Oh yeah, he was adamant about how he’d never leave her, but he was forty-four and had a lot of life left to live.
Everyone was encouraging him to move on.
Even my grandmother, my mom’s mom, was supportive of him after the way he’d suffered after my mom’s accident.
Watching that was almost as hard as seeing my mom get hurt. ”
“You all went through so much.”
“We did, but we were very well supported. In addition to my dad and Frannie and Jamie and our grandmother, we had my dad’s parents and Jamie’s parents, who’re like extra grandparents to us.
Everyone stepped up for us. We got through it, thanks to my dad and Frannie.
And Andi… She was just… We love her very much.
She somehow managed to get it mostly right coming into our mother’s home and befriending us and supporting us as best she could without appearing to try to ‘replace’ our mother, which wasn’t possible. ”
“Wow, what a challenge that must’ve been for her.”
“It was, but she’s just the nicest person you’ll ever meet, and we adored Eric. I told you he was born deaf, right?”
“You did, and when he came into your life, that’s when you learned sign language.”
“That’s right. He and I had an instant bond. I can’t even explain it, but from the minute we met, we were just buddies. We still are. He’s one of my closest friends, and vice versa.”
“You’ve got me sitting on the edge of my seat here, because you told me your mom recovered, so now I’m wondering what that was like.”
“It was amazing and insane at the same time. A lot happens in three years… You don’t realize as life goes on its merry way, but Andi got pregnant.”
“Oh my God. Whoa.”
“Yeah, it was pretty crazy. Then we found out she was expecting twins, which was super exciting. I couldn’t believe there were going to be six of us.
My dad was hilarious about it. I could tell his head was spinning, but he was thrilled.
He and Andi were crazy about each other, and it was so nice to see him happy again after everything he’d been through.
And Andi, too. Eric’s father left them when they found out he was deaf. ”
“Shut up. Who does that?”
“I couldn’t believe that, either. It’s his loss. Eric is amazing.”
“Wow, just when you think you’ve heard everything…”
“I know. So Andi is pregnant and due in September, and that April, my mom got really sick with a high fever that went on for days. She was in the hospital, and we really thought that was it, that we were going to lose her for good this time. My dad was there around the clock, and Jamie kept him fed while the rest of us tried to focus on school and stuff.”
“That must’ve been hard.”
“It was. All our grades suffered during that time. My dad was with her two weeks after she went into the hospital when she opened her eyes and looked at him.”
“He must’ve freaked out.”
“He did. We all did. It was unbelievable. A total miracle.”
“What did he do? What did Andi do?”
“Andi moved out.”
“Oh man. I’m heartbroken for people I’ve never met.”
“It was brutal for all of us. When she moved to live with us, her company hired her to manage the Newport hotel, so she took Eric and moved into the manager’s suite. She told Dad and us to focus on our mom and to not worry about them, but my poor dad was a wreck over it all.”
“Who wouldn’t be?”
“He’s a good guy, always tries to do the right thing, and he’d promised Andi he’d never leave her alone with their babies, and now…”
“I can’t even imagine that dilemma. And your mom! Waking up after all that time to find out her husband had someone else and twins on the way. Christ have mercy. Someone should make this into a movie.”
Maggie laughed. “Sometimes real life is too painful to be entertaining.”
“True. So what happened?”
“My dad tried to tell my mom, as gently as possible, everything that’d happened.
He started with us, how Jill had graduated and was at Brown and how Kate wanted to go to Nashville after she graduated and how I was almost thirteen.
She couldn’t believe that she’d been ‘gone’ for three years.
And when he told her about Andi and the babies, she asked him to leave. ”
Brayden took a sip from a bottle of beer. “Did he go?”
“He did, but he kept going back, trying to get her to talk to him.”
“And what about Andi? Did he see her?”
“No. She wouldn’t see him, but she arranged for Eric to see him every week. He’d become like a dad to Eric, and she made sure they saw each other.”
“He must’ve been dying over her being pregnant with twins and living apart from him.”
“He was. It was so hard for him. Then my mom had a dream that brought back the memories of being attacked by a client she was showing a house to. She’d been a Realtor before all this happened, and the guy threatened to kill one of us if she ever told anyone.
So she didn’t tell anyone. When she saw that car coming at her that day, all she saw was a way out. ”
“Sweetheart… My God. I don’t even know what to say.”
It occurred to Maggie that she should’ve told her mom about Ethan, because she would’ve understood in a way that no one else ever could have.
“What’re you thinking? Your expression totally changed.”
She shared the thought with him. “Everything with my mom happened such a long time ago that I didn’t even think to tell her. I haven’t told anyone that story in years.”
A warm smile lit up his sinfully handsome face. “I’m very honored that you’re telling me. So what happened after she had the dream?”
“I’ll tell you the rest the next time we talk. I have to get some sleep.”
“Oh come on! You can’t leave me hanging! I’ll go crazy waiting to hear the rest.”
“No, you won’t. You’ve got fish to catch and beaches, boats, bars and ballads to keep you busy.”
“I never would’ve suspected you were so mean to leave me on a cliffhanger this way.”
Maggie laughed at the outraged expression on his face. “You’re going to want to tune in for the next episode.”
“Have no doubt I’ll be there. Same time tomorrow?”
“Go out and get drunk, Brayden. You’re on vacation.”
“I’d much rather talk to you and hear the rest of this captivating story than get drunk. I can do that any time.”
“If you say so.”
“I say so. Same time tomorrow?”
“I’ll be here.”