Chapter 28
TWENTY-EIGHT
I LOVED YE THE LONGEST
Scarlet
Ally didn’t say a word, but I could see his refusal coming.
“I have money,” I hastened to add. “And Dad would guarantee my job. If we could tell the court we had a wedding planned, they’d consider us a couple, right? Then we’d be on equal footing to the Banks’. Or higher, because you’re Cait’s dad. It would work.”
Ally’s gaze softened. “Do ye actually want to marry me?”
I opened and closed my mouth. Like babies and buying a house, marriage had been on my long list of things to think about in the future. Ally was my everything, but a wedding hadn’t even crossed my mind. Until today when I’d desperately needed a backup idea. “Eventually.”
“Then eventually, I’ll propose, and we’ll do it right.”
Behind me, Dad gasped. “You’re turning down my daughter?”
Ally shook his head. “No. Scarlet’s mine, and I intend to keep her. I love her. But I’ll marry her on her terms, not because of a rushed court case.” He stroked my fingers. “I love ye more than anything.” Then Cait hiccupped, and he smiled. “Sorry, lass. I love ye both equally.”
“But—” I tried again, my brain buzzing.
“We’ll have to hope that we’ve done enough. Have ye any idea when Banks will show?”
“Not tonight. She said she had to take her children somewhere. At the earliest, it will be in the morning.”
“Grand.” Ally shouldered Cait’s change bag and picked up her carrier. “Everyone, thank ye for the show of support. I need to go and lie down for a year with my family.”
He hugged his twin and kissed Taylor on the cheek, murmuring congratulations for something, waved to everyone else, then we headed for the door.
“Come, let’s go home,” he said to me.
So we did.
For the evening, we fought to put aside the rising fear that this weekend could be it. We bathed Cait and changed her into her sleepsuit, then we made a meal together and ate it at the kitchen table, alternating playing with the baby and being a family.
I barely knew Cait, but the staggering sense that she was mine—ours—overwhelmed me.
After she fell asleep, I placed her in her Moses basket.
Ally took me in his arms and laid down with me on the couch, holding me so close.
He apologised for walking out earlier, and I tried to do the same for the mess my report had made. He wouldn’t hear it.
“I know you turned down my proposal,” I said against his shoulder, “but one day I’ll make it again, and you’ll say yes.”
“Nope.”
I gazed at him.
“I told you, that’s my job.”
“Oh yeah? Why can’t I do it?”
He shook his head. “I loved ye the longest. It’s my right.”
I stared back. I’d never take Ally’s love for granted, and I still wasn’t sure how he’d see me if the court case didn’t go in his favour, but one thing was certain: I loved him more than humanly possible.
“How do you know you were the first to fall?” I asked.
He gazed back. “Aye, okay. I need to explain your nickname. Why I call ye Scar. That first time I saw ye, when ye came here with Mathilda, I fell hard. I told Wasp that I was in love, and Callum overheard. He took me aside and told me under no uncertain terms was I to mess with ye.”
I grinned. “He did?”
“Aye. Ye were fourteen, and I was sixteen. It was a good call.”
“Where does Scar come into that?”
“Because.” He traced over my cheek. “You scarred my heart. The first and only lass to ever touch it, and ye put a gouge there, deeper than any of the damage to my skin and far more painful. My original scar.”
My chest panged. All that time, and I’d never known.
Cait snuffled, and both of us glanced to where she lay in her basket, then we hugged each other and watched her sleep. Tomorrow, or the next day, was a reckoning for all of us.
I could only hope we won the day.
At nine the next morning, we drove to the castle. Mathilda greeted us with her kids, and we took up residence in the great hall, waiting on Georgia Banks.
“I asked for her number, but she wouldn’t give it,” I told Ally, watching the door. “What if she doesn’t show?”
The door swung open, and we jolted up. Ella walked in, shaking rain from her umbrella. “We heard about everything that happened last night, and I wanted to offer support. I met Kaylee once and I thought maybe I could mention that, and make the connection stronger.”
Ally furrowed his brow. “I’d forgotten all about that. It was so long ago.”
She passed us and headed to the kitchen, one hand to her obviously pregnant belly. “I won’t get in the way, but I’m around if you need me.”
“Thank ye,” Ally replied, and she disappeared. He glanced at me. “Callum sent me a message. He’s banished himself in case he yells. If ye see me about to do the same, stamp on my foot, aye?”
We linked hands and once again watched the door.
It swung open a second later and, again, it wasn’t who we wanted to see. My dad emerged into the great hall, the twins scampering after him, looking like they’d come back from an early walk. He raised a hand to us. “Scarlet, do you have time to talk?”
I opened my mouth to refuse him, but Ally nudged me.
“Go ahead. I’ll probably just be sitting here and waiting for hours.”
I gave him a soft kiss, grateful as I really wanted to talk to Dad, and then followed my father into the dining room. He closed the door, and we sat at the head of the table.
“You’re retiring,” I said, sounding like an accusation.
Dad wrinkled his nose. “Ah, you know about that.”
“I found out from Philip. You were going to tell the board before me?”
“That was necessary as new director roles needed to be appointed. I don’t plan to down tools for a while yet.
I wanted to remain part time in order to mentor you in whatever position you take on.
It’s one thing you doing the work, but walking into a board meeting with someone on your side makes all the difference.
One day, I wanted to see you head up this company.
” He dropped his attention to his hands. “If you wish it, of course.”
“I do. It’s the only place I want to work. I’m so proud of being a Storm.”
His gaze sought mine once more. “Really?”
I reached out and hugged my dad. “Have you been worried about that?”
“After Hong Kong, I didn’t know what to think, and you had other issues on your plate.”
Oh, Dad. “Did Philip tell you I applied for the Storm Force job in Edinburgh?”
My father’s lips thinned. “Yes. But Devon cheated to get in there first. Correct?”
“I think so. He didn’t admit it to me.”
“Philip will get to the bottom of that.” He took my hands. “If it falls open again, do you still want it? I know you’d prefer to be closer to your new family.”
I gazed at him for a moment, at my handsome, dark-haired dad, at his frown lines and his fond expression. “I do want it. Why aren’t you trying to talk me out of seeing Ally? I always thought you disliked him.”
“Disliked him? No. He annoyed me, but all teenage boys do, particularly ones who noticed my daughter in the way he noticed you.”
“Then you approve?”
Dad’s expression turned contemplative. “That young man has changed beyond all recognition, and I don’t mean from the accident.
He stepped up when it mattered, when most people in his situation would take the easy way out.
I’ve been impressed at every turn. But all of that is beside the point.
If you love him, that’s more than enough for me. ”
A scraping sound filtered through—the castle’s front door thudding open.
Dad and I both drew a breath and stood. I flew out of the dining room and ground to a halt at the sight ahead.
Georgia Banks stood in front of Ally, two children at her heels, and another, older, woman frowning at her side.
And she’d just taken Cait from Ally’s arms.