Chapter 21
Twenty-One
Maggie had been off-kilter for hours, ever since she’d watched Brayden spin his magic with the children.
Of course she’d known he would be great with them, but to actually see him in action was something she wouldn’t soon forget.
For so long, she’d dreamed of being part of an equine therapy program, and now that hers was up and running, she felt a tremendous sense of accomplishment.
And the only person she wanted to share that with was the man who was making it happen.
After dinner, she went upstairs to check in with Corey, who hadn’t come down to eat with the others. She knocked gently on Corey’s door and listened for sounds from within. “Corey?”
The door opened, and Maggie was taken aback by the young woman’s ravaged face. Her eyes were red and swollen and full of heartbreak.
“May I come in for a minute?”
Corey nodded and stepped back to admit Maggie, who had brought a covered plate of Mitch’s lasagna with her.
“I thought you might be hungry.”
Corey shrugged and returned to her rumpled bed. “Not really.”
Maggie set the plate on a table and pulled a chair over to Corey’s bedside. “You need to eat to keep up your strength.”
“Why? What’s the point? The baby’s gone, Trey’s gone… What does it matter if I keep up my strength?”
“You matter, Corey. I know everything seems so awful right now, but it won’t always be this way.”
“How do you know that?”
Maggie recalled how Brayden had told the kids how he’d gotten the scar on his forehead and decided to follow his example.
“I once went through a really difficult time when my mom was in a bad accident that left her in a coma.” Corey seemed interested, so Maggie pressed on.
“The doctors told us she would never recover.”
“How old were you?”
“Almost ten.”
“That’s really young to lose your mom.”
“It was pretty rough for a long time, even though my sisters and I had a lot of people supporting us.”
“No one can take the place of your mom.”
“Exactly. As bad as I felt, though, it did get better in time. I missed my mom all the time, but it wasn’t as painful as it had been at first. You get used to the new normal.
Somehow. That’s what this is for you, Corey.
Your new normal, and as painful as it is right now, in time, it’ll get easier to cope with what’s happened.
You’ll always miss the baby, and maybe you’ll always miss Trey, but you have a big, long life ahead of you, and anything is possible. ”
“It’s hard to believe that. How can I still want Trey when he caused all this?” Tears spilled down her cheeks. “He’s the reason our baby was born too soon and why I had to give him up. It’s all his fault, and I still want him anyway. I hate myself for that.”
“Dr. Wright is coming out from town tomorrow,” Maggie said, referring to the counselor she’d asked to meet with Corey. “I’d like you to see her and talk to her about how you’re feeling. Will you do that?”
“I guess.” She glanced at Maggie. “They found parents for him. A couple who’ve been trying to have their own children for years. The social worker told me they’re elated and haven’t left his side for a minute.”
“It’s good news that he’ll have loving parents. Does that make you feel any better?”
Corey nodded. “It does. I’m happy for them—and him.”
“Will you have some dinner?”
“It does smell good.”
“Mitch’s lasagna is the best.” Maggie got up to get the plate and silverware she’d brought and delivered the meal to Corey.
She sat in the chair to keep Corey company while she ate.
“You don’t have to stay if you have stuff to do. It was nice of you to check on me.”
“I don’t mind staying.” Maggie vastly preferred sitting with Corey to staring at her phone wondering if or when Brayden was going to text her.
She spent half an hour with Corey and stopped to talk to the other moms in the lounge before she headed downstairs.
“The kids couldn’t stop talking about Brayden and the horses,” Trish said. “Thank you so much for making that possible for them.”
“I’m so glad they loved it.”
“They did,” Kelsey said. “Brayden was amazing with them. I feel very good about Travis taking lessons from him.”
“That’s great to hear,” Maggie said. “He’s very excited to work with them.”
“Did you talk to Corey?” Niki asked.
“I did and got her to eat some dinner.”
“Oh good,” Trish said. “We were worried about her.”
“I’ll see you all in the morning. Sleep well.”
“Night, Maggie.”
She went downstairs, put Corey’s dish in the dishwasher and went into her apartment to check her phone. Her heart leaped when she saw a new text from Kate with the day’s photos of Poppy, which she scrolled through before replying. She’s getting so big!
I know! Kate replied. I’ll be shopping for college before I know it.
Maggie sent the laughing emoji and put her phone down, feeling out of sorts and uncertain about whether she ought to reach out to him or let him make the next move.
She would wait on him since he was the one who had asked if they could talk, and he was the one who had to decide whether he was going to trust her.
She changed into pajamas and brushed her teeth, exhausted after another challenging day that’d been made more so by the uncertainty with him.
Resigned to not hearing from him, Maggie got into bed with a book on her reading app and tried to focus on the story.
She read the same line three times before realizing she lacked the concentration to read.
So she switched on the TV and tried to find something to watch until she felt sleepy.
When her phone rang an hour later, it startled her out of a doze. She found the phone wrapped up in her blanket and took the call from Brayden.
“Did I wake you?”
“No, I was watching TV.” And sleeping, not that he needed to know that.
“Could I come over?”
“Sure. Meet you at the kitchen door?”
“Be there in a minute.”
Maggie got up, put on a robe, ran her fingers through her hair and went to deactivate the alarm and turn on the light over the kitchen door.
Brayden jogged across the yard and up the stairs to the kitchen door.
Maggie opened the door for him and then shut and locked it behind him. She’d reactivate the alarm when he left. “Come on in.” She led him to her apartment.
He shut the door and followed her to the small sitting room that adjoined the tiny kitchen that she rarely used thanks to Mitch.
“You want something to drink?”
Brayden shook his head and sat in the other chair rather than joining her on the sofa. With his elbows on his legs and his head down, he seemed distraught.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m deeply conflicted.”
“Do you want to talk about it?”
“No, I really don’t.” He glanced up at her, his eyes conveying more emotion than she’d ever seen from him. “But I will. For you.”
Maggie held out her hand to him. “Come here.”
He stared at her hand for a long moment before he reached out to grasp it and joined her on the sofa.
Maggie turned toward him and put her arms around him.
Brayden rested his head against her.
“You don’t have to do this. I totally understand the need to keep some things private, and I’d never want you to feel like you have to share something with me that you don’t want to. We can go forward as good friends and colleagues.”
“I’ve been telling myself that same thing all day, that I could not tell you, and we’d just not do this. But then I thought about the things you shared with me, how courageous you were, and I feel like I owe you the same in return.”
“You don’t owe me anything, Brayden. I told you the things I did because I wanted to, not because I expected anything in return.”
“I know, but the thing is…” He raised his head so he could see her face and lifted his left hand to cup her cheek.
“I want to be more than friends with you, Maggie. I look at you, and I just want… well… everything with you. I’ve never wanted to go all in with anyone else, so I’m willing to take the risk, to trust you. ”
Maggie leaned in to kiss him. “Thank you.”
“But it’s super important to me that this stay between us. You can’t even tell your sisters.”
“I understand, and you have my word that it’ll go no further.”
“When I left lockup, my lawyer was very clear with me. If you don’t talk about it, your past can’t be weaponized against you.
I took that advice very seriously, and I haven’t told anyone.
When I went to college, I left everything else behind, made new friends and had a fresh start that I’ve been living off of ever since.
Only my mom knew about my life before college. ”
“And then you lost her.”
“Yeah. I really wanted to talk to her the last few days.”
“I’m so sorry you couldn’t and that you’ve been so tortured over this. Maybe I shouldn’t have made such a thing of it…”
“No, you were right to look out for yourself, especially after what happened to you.”
“I’m well aware that if you weren’t working with me, I’d never have known there was something I should be asking about.”
“Yeah, and I want to be clear, if you hadn’t found out I had a juvie record from the background check, I never would’ve told you, no matter what happened between us. I drew a line in the sand years ago that divides my life into before and after, and I never, ever cross that line.”
Maggie took a deep breath and released it slowly. “My stomach hurts.”
“Mine, too.” He took her hand and brought it to his lips. “I have this feeling that you’re going to be worth crossing the line for.”
“You have my absolute word that no matter what happens between us, I’ll never repeat what you tell me. Ever. I’ll take it to my grave.”