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He had logical reasons for their union. Their physical attraction was clearly mutual—and as hot it had ever been. But it wasn’t just the sex. He wanted to hold her afterward, too. And before. To have the right to just walk into her home any time day or night. And to know it was his home, too...
“I came up here to tell you that I can’t be friends with you anymore, Bray.”
He turned, grinning. Thank God. She knew it, too. Had seen that them being married, not friends, was the only way for them to be happy. Somehow, this time they’d make it work.
She was standing at the sink, not doing anything, just standing there, her back to him. He moved toward her, wishing he had a ring to offer her. She’d kept hers from before. Would she want the same one?
She continued to speak. “If you’re willing and in agreement, I’d like to continue our business association with The Bouncing Ball and Braden Property Management. And I will stand by my agreement to put your name on Morgan and Madison’s birth certificates.”
Something odd in her voice stopped him from touching her. He stood back, listening, thinking that this was her attempt to meet him on his ground, with logic, not drama.
It wasn’t necessary. He could deflect the drama. He just couldn’t sit in it with her. And that was good for both of them. She’d obviously realized that his control was an asset, that no matter how out of control things might feel, she’d always have him to maintain order in the chaos. To think while others reacted. To keep them from careening down a hill without breaks and crashing into little pieces.
He stood there while she continued.
“I will want the legal custodial agreement, with you signing over to me any rights to the girls, done before they’re born. It’s the only way I can put your name on the birth certificates. And that’s all. Whether or not I tell them about you will be a decision made sometime in the future, as occasions warrant. I can tell you only that I would let you know before I said anything to either one of them. This is it, Bray. This is all I can do.”
What? That last bit. What?
He stood frozen. Hearing her. Unable to process the ramifications.
She was over-reacting. That was it. Because of the sex. She’d said it would get the best of them, but couldn’t she see that was a good thing? It was part of what kept bringing them back to each other.
“Take some time, think about it,” he said. Time would bring rationality. Fear and panic would fade.
She turned, looked him right in the eye. “I don’t need any more time. I’m not running scared here, Braden. This is something I know. We can’t stay away from each other anymore when we’re together. These babies have looped a new cord around us and it’s drawing us closer every time we’re together.”
Exactly! So why didn’t she see the obvious solution?
“When we’re together, I need you to keep your distance,” she told him. “Because I can’t stay away from you. When we’re in the same room, it’s like you’re a magnet, and I feel myself being pulled ever closer to you.”
He took a step toward her, then another, his eyes intent on hers, silently telling her she was fighting the inevitable.
Holding up her hand, Mallory moved toward the door. “No, Braden.” Her tone was unequivocal and he stopped instantly. “No more. Because when it gets down to everyday living and I’m me and you’re you, it’s not going to work.”
She cut off his rebuttal. “Think about it. What if my test had come back positive a second time and I was dealing with possibly losing one or both of the babies I’m carrying? Or what if a few minutes ago what I felt hadn’t been one of them moving? I know the risks I’ve taken on. I know I might face horrible heartache if anything happens to these babies. I know that I’m going to spend many nights watching them breathe, afraid that if I stop, so will they. But I’m also prepared to deal with that. And to deal, I may have to curl up in a corner and cry or sit in a rocker and hug a penguin. I can’t do that when you’re around.”
She lay a hand on the doorknob as she continued. “And you...you need a home without drama, Bray. You deserve that. I love you and I know that’s what you need, and knowing that I can’t give it to you just about kills me, but not as badly as it would if we remarried and then divorced again.” She shook her head, as if clearing it of the image. “I can’t lose you a second time. Not like that.”
It was logical. Every word of it. There was no drama. Just how he liked it.
With a nod, Braden walked to his desk, sat down at his computer and stared at a screen he couldn’t really see. He heard the door open.
And close.
He didn’t look up.
Chapter Nineteen
A week passed with no word from Braden. And then two. Mallory worked. She attended her baby shower, wept over the bounty of gifts and love her coworkers and friends showered on her. She had lunch with Tamara twice.
Her friend was pregnant. Tamara had never struggled to conceive. But with four pregnancies, she’d never been able to carry a live baby to term. She was having a hard time keeping herself above water emotionally as she faced going into her second month, and with Mallory grieving over the loss of Braden, the two of them made a sorry pair.
And yet they made it through each day. Not just functioning, but living. Hoping. Loving. Flint was a rock for Tamara, but it was Diamond Rose who was going to save her friend. The little girl who’d been conceived and born in prison was enough to show anyone that life didn’t always work out as expected but it did work out.
Diamond Rose was still in her first year of life and already she’d healed two hearts and created miracles in two lives.
Mallory thought about Flint and Tamara and little Diamond Rose a lot. She talked to Morgan and Madison about them. They were a testament that she and the twins would know happiness. That things didn’t have to be like a storybook to be right. That even when families weren’t mom, dad and kids, they were still family.
