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“Breast cancer runs in my family,” she explained. “Both my grandmother and my mother died of it when they were in their thirties. I was just thirteen when my mom died. She fought hard, but, in the end, it was all for nothing. After she was gone, my dad had a breakdown. He couldn’t handle it. He completely closed himself off. He stopped noticing I was even there.”
Jake wondered how that would have affected a teenage girl who’d just lost her mom. He couldn’t conceive of how could her dad have done that. Sure, he must have been devastated by his wife’s death, but to ignore his own daughter due to his grief was unforgivable.
Jake didn’t understand that at all. But he thought maybe he understood her better now. Her father hadn’t coped with his wife’s death, he’d shut Molly out. And Richard had done the same as punishment. Then he’d left her because she had this hanging over her. Both had left her, but she had to realize Jake wasn’t like that. He hadn’t left her; it was the other way around.
“After we grew closer, why didn’t you tell me then? Did you think I would turn away from you? You left because you thought I would leave you?” He was devastated that she might think that of him.
“No, I never thought that.” She looked at him sadly. “I thought about telling you after I . . . after I figured out that I loved you. I knew you wouldn’t turn away from me. But that was the same day I found those photos and realized there was a part of your past I didn’t know about. And then when Saxon explained how you’d lost Rebecca and how badly you’d taken that loss, I knew I couldn’t stay. I couldn’t put you through that again.”
“Once again, you figured you knew best, didn’t you?” he said coldly, standing. “You decided what was best for me and you took off. Well, you don’t get to make those decisions about my life, Molly. About us. You should have stayed. You should have told me. You took away my right to take care of you.”
“I didn’t want you to have to go through what my dad did.”
“There’s a problem with your reasoning, Molly. You forgot to factor in that I love you. That not telling me might have hurt me more. I’m not your dad and I’m not Richard. Losing Rebecca was awful, it was horrid, but I wouldn’t have given up one moment with her. And you had no right to make that decision for me.”
“Jake, please—”
“I just . . . I need a bit of time to myself. To think.”
He turned and walked out, unable to be in the same room with her anymore. He needed time to think. To decide what to do next.
Molly sat on the beach, watching the sun set. She’d waited all day in her hotel room for Jake to return. Her plane left in a few hours, but she had no plans of getting on it. Not while Jake was here.
She’d finally come out to get some air, unable to stare at the hotel walls anymore and wallow in her guilt. Jake was right. She’d thought she’d known what was best for him. Tears dripped down her face as she realized she’d made a huge mistake and she had no idea how to fix any of it. She wiped her hands over her cheeks.
“This is a breathtakingly beautiful place.”
She startled, turning to find Jake standing behind her, staring out at the horizon. She held her hand over her chest. “I really wish you’d take up whistling or something so I’d know when you were coming.”
“Now where’s the fun in that?”
He sat next to her. All she’d need to do was lean in and she’d be touching him. It was so hard to resist. Only the idea that he might reject her held her in place. But damn she needed his arms around her. She needed to hear it was going to be all right even if that was a complete lie.
“I was coming back to Haven, you know,” she told him quietly.
“I saw the packed bags earlier.”
“I’ve spent these last few days so miserable and I realized I wasn’t being fair to either of us. I thought I was doing the right thing, but instead, I just caused us both more pain. Jake, I . . .” her words dried up, a sob building in the back of her throat. Her body shook as she started to cry. It was just all too much. “Please don’t be angry at me. Please. I’m so sorry. So, so sorry. Please, I couldn’t stand it if you hated me.”
To her surprise, he lifted her onto his lap, holding her close. His arms surrounded her in safety. The scent of him filled her. Home. She was home.
“Oh, love, don’t cry. It’s okay. It’s all right. I’m here now and I’m not angry. Sh, now, you’re gonna make yourself sick, and I think you threw up enough last night to last you a while.”
She let out a small laugh. “Sorry about that.”
“The next time you want to go out you can be damned certain I’m going with you. I will not have another man feeling up my woman.”
She stiffened. “What do you mean?”
“I’ve done a lot of thinking today. Baby, you were wrong to keep this from me. Even more wrong to leave the way you did.”
“I know. You’re right. I always think I know best. I really fucked everything up.” And she was miserable because of it.
“But I was wrong to shut you out. To not tell you about Rebecca. If I’d told you everything instead of Saxon, you wouldn’t be under the mistaken impression you needed to protect me—from anything. I protect you, not the other way around. I’m not walking away, Molly. And I’m not letting you pull away from me.”
“Jake, I’m dying.”
He shuddered, and she wished she could see his face more clearly. “What sort of prognosis did they give you? Did you get a second opinion?”
