Page 22 of Merging Wright

“Why would you do this?” Mach turns on me the moment his uncle leaves the room and Landon excuses himself to make a phone call, presumably to the justice of the peace. I’m also assuming he’ll be calling in a couple favors at the town hall to obtain a marriage license on short notice.

Glancing down at our fingers still locked together, I shrug. “I don’t know. I just don’t want your town to go to waste.”

“This isn’t my town. Let some power company have it.”

“Machlan Jonathon Wright, I will not let this town be turned into a power plant,” Camilla states defensively, her voice full of disappointment while she’s still pressing her hands together as if in prayer.

“Ma, I didn’t mean—”

“Yes, you did, and you’ve sulked long enough. Marry the girl. Rebuild our town. Save my home.” She pats her chest. “I have plans for that house.”

That’s the second time Camilla has alluded to plans, and I’m curious what she’s thinking. If she says grandchildren, I’ll renege on my offer to officially marry Mach. At forty-five, that ship is a wreck at the bottom of the ocean with my heart buried in a treasure chest. I always wanted children. I always hoped I’d be a mother, but little heartbeats do not happen when you aren’t someone else’s pulse.

“If you don’t want to marry me, I understand.” What I don’t understand is the sadness in my own voice. Ours won’t be a real marriage. We aren’t doing this because we’ve fallen in love. We’re here to save a town and the lives of others. We’re here to restore their faith in the community.

And for some reason, a thrill ripples through me at the thought.

“Why didn’t this fall on Myles?” Mach turns to his mother, overlooking his brother who sits two chairs away from him.

“Da had his reasons.”

“And what could those be?” Mach shifts in his seat, still holding my hand, but aiming his irritation at his mother.

His mother shakes her head. Either she doesn’t know or isn’t willing to tell him.

Mach finally releases my hand and abruptly stands. “I need some air.” His biting tone is directed at his mother, but his overall anger permeates the room. He hastily exits the office, and when the door slams shut, I jolt in my seat.

I meet his mother’s gaze.

“I knew I liked you.” Her Scottish lilt softens but accentuates. “You’re one to hold onto.”

Yesterday, she hugged me like she didn’t want to let me go. I’m afraid to let go.

The sentiment was strange in the moment, and I dismissed it in the haze of exhaustion, but the statement creeps back with more meaning today. Camilla knew the terms of this will, and she knows something about that energy plant.

“Why didn’t you just tell him?” I ask her.

“He would never have come here willingly.” Whatever the relationship was with his grandfather and this town, Camilla is right. Mach wouldn’t have returned, especially if he knew these conditions. In being here, maybe the hope was that submerging him in his history would open his heart. He’s a brash man, but his present disgust and dislike are more than I’ve ever witnessed.

Where is his compassion? I don’t want to believe he really means the town can perish.

Mach formed a scholarship for Rebecca’s daughter when Rebecca’s husband suddenly passed away. He paid the out-of-pocket medical expenses of another employee at Impact when he was diagnosed with cancer. He contributed to many of Rochelle Ashe’s side causes for single mothers, despite hating Rochelle. This disconnect in empathy for others is not like him.

“What if he doesn’t return?” I whisper to his mother with genuine concern about Mach’s sudden disappearance.

Camilla slowly smiles, tapping her fist over her left breast again. “His acushla will call him home. He’ll come around.”

Her confidence in her son’s connection to me astounds me. Her belief in my power over him, the strength of my heart over his, is beyond comprehension.

I, however, am not so certain Mach won’t take that old truck and leave me behind.

+ + +

When Mach hasn’t returned by lunchtime, Landon orders in sandwiches for Camilla, Myles, and me. I listen as Camilla and Landon discuss the town, telling me more about the various businesses while sharing smiles with one another. Landon doesn’t wear a wedding ring which means nothing in this day and age where some men don’t. Then again, he’s roughly Camilla’s age, and I sense a romantic history between them.

Unrequited love seems to be a theme around here, although no one mentions love regarding Mach and me.

Myles is decidedly quiet, offering sympathetic smiles and an occasional joke to keep the tension low. “I’d marry you myself if those were the terms of the will.”