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“Yes, I’m still here. What did you tell him?”
“Nothing. He didn’t give me a chance. He gave me the night to think things over. He wants me to be sure about how I feel.”
“And how do you feel, Maggie?”
I love him.
“Mom, I need to talk to you.”
Maggie’s smile fled when she glanced down at her son. His tearstained face looked up at her, and she felt her heart crack at the sight.
“Raine, I gotta go. I’ll see you later.”
Maggie tossed her cell onto the kitchen counter and scooped Michael into her arms. His small body trembled against her, and he fought to control the sobs that were burrowed inside him.
“Baby, what’s wrong?” She ran her hands along his cheeks and tugged gently so that she could look into his eyes. What the hell had happened in the shower?
A long, shuddering breath was released, and he was finally calm. One single tear glistened along his eyelash, and she kissed it away.
“I’m sorry, Mommy. I was in the shower and started to think about how much I was going to miss Tommy and this house”—he shuddered and pointed outside—“the birdhouse out back, and Cain…and I got really sad.” He wiped his eyes. “I’ll even miss Shelby, and she poops all over our grass.”
“Oh Michael, I’m so sorry. Honey, I did a lot of thinking last night.” She tightened her arms around him and drew him close to her chest. “It would be wrong to leave right now, to run away and start over because we’re afraid of…your dad.” Maggie struggled to breathe as a wash of emotion flooded her. “I don’t want us to live in fear.”
A hiccup escaped from Michael, and a tremulous smile crept over his face. “We’re gonna stay in Crystal Lake?”
She kissed him, gave him a big hug, and didn’t let go. “I can’t think of any other place I want to be.”
Maggie cradled Michael’s face in her hands and stared down into his dewy eyes. “Cain told me what you saw.” Her lip trembled, but she refused to cry as her thoughts turned to the past. She forced herself to speak. “I want you to know that what happened between me and your father wasn’t healthy, and I’m so sorry that you had to see some of that ugliness.” She searched his eyes and felt him stiffen. Dante had never reached out to his son. Never touched him the way Cain did.
“What if he finds us?” Michael whispered.
Maggie stared at her son, at the classic lines that defined his features. He was very much like Dante, and he’d grow into a handsome man one day. Thank God, he’d never inherited the mean streak and blackness that lived inside her husband.
Just thinking about Dante made her sick. He represented so much that was unfinished in her life. So much that she’d run from. She glanced at the clock. She’d deal with that mess, but first, a parade.
“Don’t worry about that. Today is football and Cain’s concert, okay?” She kissed him once more, her hands lingering on his shoulders as she steered him toward the fridge. “I think you need to eat some breakfast while I shower, and then if we hurry, we’ll make the parade before it reaches the end of Main Street.”
Michael’s face lit up and he nodded, his curls bobbing and the one that she loved straying over his brow. He pushed it away impatiently. “Awesome! And then we’re going to go to the football game, right?”
She smiled and headed toward the shower. “Yes, so dress appropriately.”
Maggie had the fastest shower of her life, though she was careful to make sure her legs—among other things—were shaved and smooth as silk. She towel-dried her hair and left it to hang in long waves. She didn’t have the time or inclination to straighten it. Besides, Cain loved the wild look, and today, for him, she was all over that.
A light gloss on her lips and a bit of mascara and she was good to go. She pulled on a pair of boy-short undies and then slipped a light, airy halter dress over her head. It had been an impulse purchase a few weeks earlier, a markdown at the Dallas Boutique, which was a small shop downtown.
Maggie loved the feel of it and twirled in a circle, letting the skirt swish around her legs, the hem stopping just above the knee. The warm green color complemented her dark hair and the light tan she’d acquired over the past few weeks.
She felt beautiful.
An image of Cain flashed before her eyes and filled her with such a gentle wave of longing and need that she paused. Her heart pounded, and her chest was tight, filled to the brim with so many things—excitement, possibility. A future.
She glanced up and caught sight of herself in the mirror. Slowly her hand rose, and she pushed several strands of hair away from her face. Was it the light streaming in from the window that made her eyes so luminous and her skin glow?
Her fingers fell to her lips, and she smiled a full-bodied smile full of happy. The lightness she felt inside was visible in her reflection.
Maggie leaned in closer. Nah, it wasn’t the sunlight. She was in love. Totally and completely in love.
She glanced at the clock once more. “Michael, we need to leave, or we’re going to be late.” And I need to see Cain.
