Chapter 5
True to his word, Mac watched the ceremony from afar, unable to hear the words he knew were being spoken. To have and to hold. To honor and cherish. ‘Till death do us part.
I’ve missed so damn much.
Shonda was an awkward teenager when he’d seen her last. A tear ran down his cheek.
Ellie had been his sole focus all this time.
He knew now, it was because thinking about the children was too much to bear.
He watched his daughter kiss her new husband, and hoped Marshall was a good man who would treat her right, not like her old man had done.
“You take care of her,” he said under his breath.
A cheer went up from the guests, Shonda lifting her bouquet in one hand and their joined hands in the other.
Mac clapped as the newly married couple walked back down the aisle, followed by Ellie and the white man who’d walked Shonda down the aisle.
Mac held his breath. What happened now, he could only guess.
In his dreams, she was happy to see him, but as he watched her storm straight toward him, he was suddenly certain that wasn’t how this was going to go at all. Still, his mouth pulled into a grin, his pleasure at seeing her again so intense it could not be stifled.
She stopped several feet in front of him. “Take off your sunglasses,” she demanded.
He did, aware of the tears still streaking his face and how they contrasted with his smile. In the distance, he could see the white guy watching them. “Who was that who walked her down the aisle?” Mac asked.
Ellie crossed her arms, the position further pushing up her generous breasts. “Well, it certainly wasn’t you.”
“I would have been here if I knew.”
“Don’t you put this on me, Mac O’Brady. It’s nobody’s fault but your own you aren’t in your daughter’s life.”
“I was a sorry excuse for a man.”
That other guy was walking toward them, an interloper Mac suddenly feared would throw a wrench into his plans to reunite with his wife.
Mac took a step to the side and held out his hand as the other man reached them.
He was tall, with green eyes and a face Mac begrudgingly thought women might find attractive. “Mac O’Brady.”
“Mike Turner.”
The men faced off, neither offering more information. Turner reached for Ellie’s hand, which she instead lifted to gesture to Mac. “Mac is… was… my husband.” She gestured to Turner. “Turner is an old friend.”
Mac noticed the quick glance Turner shot her at being classified as such, but he recovered his composure just as fast. He turned back to Mac. “I wasn’t aware you were invited.”
“I wasn’t aware I needed an invitation to my own daughter’s wedding.”
“Do the kids know you’re here? Or did you spring this on them, too?”
Ellie put her hand on Turner’s arm. “That’s enough. We’re not going to fight at Shonda’s wedding.”
Turner shrugged. “No one said anything about fighting. I just think it takes some gall for Mac here to show up out of the blue and surprise everyone at such a big event. Am I wrong?”
“No,” said Mac. “You’re not wrong. I didn’t even know she was getting married. I showed up at the house and your neighbor told me where to find you.”
He watched as Turned tried for Ellie’s hand again.
This time, she let him take it. Mac stared at their entwined fingers and considered what it meant for him.
Ten minutes ago, he’d been flying high, everything he’d wanted for so long within his reach.
Now he was in an airplane spiraling toward the ground.
“But you’re right. This isn’t the time for reunions.” He took a step back, a knot tying his windpipe closed. He forced his next words out. “Tomorrow, maybe Lewis and Callie and I can touch base.” He looked to Ellie, his stare saying more than words ever could. “I’m sorry.”
He turned back toward his car. The devil on his shoulder suggested he grab a drink on the way back to the hotel.
“That’s how you got me into this mess,” Mac muttered under his breath.
If there was one thing he’d learned, it was that drinking was no way to deal with life’s problems. It just created more of its own.
Now he was walking away from the only people who mattered in his entire life, people he’d fought long and hard to find again, to become a man worthy of their trust once more. And Ellie wasn’t going to stop him from leaving.
“Daddy!”
He whipped around to see Callie racing toward him in her pretty blue bridesmaid gown. “Shonda said you were here.” She threw her arms around him. “You’re coming to the reception, right?”
He called back over his shoulder to Ellie, “Looks like I’m staying for dinner, after all.”