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“Thanks for standing up for me,” she murmurs.
“The jerk needs to apologize for real.”
“It really meant a lot.”
I start the engine and pull out of the lot. The restaurant connects to the suburbs by a road through a small forest, more like a sprinkling of trees. The second I get under the trees, my savage nature kicks in. Pulling up at the side of the road, I drive deeper into the shadow. The sun has almost set. We’re in the dark.
“Please say you’re stopping to kiss me,” she whispers.
“You shouldn’t want that,” I growl, turning to her.
She nods. “I know.”
I lean over and kiss her. Hard. I kiss her with five days’ worth of passion stowed up inside of me. I kiss her with all the heat of knowing we belong together and she’s the only one. She’s the only woman I ever want, ever need, and I almost say it.
Then she breaks the kiss off and puts her hand on my chest. She squeezes hard. “Wait, Max.”
“Do you know what I was thinking on the way here? We’re living in a Dickensian world now, Ellie.”
She laughs curiously. “How’s that?”
“The coincidences.”
“Yes, they are rather ubiquitous. Aren’t they?” she says in a funny British accent.
I chuckle, then brush her hair behind her ear. I love doing that with her. “If you choose to become a teacher, I meant what I said. You’re going to be so, so good with the kids.”
And our kids, I almost add.
“I have to know the truth,” she says. “We can’t kiss. We can’t be together. Not if I don’t know.”
I run a hand through my hair, sitting back. “I’d never want to come between you and your family.”
“What choice is there now? You don’t want me to believe what she said.”
“Do you, Ellie?”
Could you?
“No,” she says after a pause. “Honestly, I don’t, but you left her at the altar after she lost the baby. You did that.”
I push the car door open and walk deeper into the trees, my hands in my pockets. A moment later, my woman is beside me, laughing softly. “I guess we’re going for a walk.”
“I just needed some air.” I lean against a tree. “I never had a family. Just my uncle, and he wasn’t a good person. I was never adopted. I was alone. So when I met Jane, I tried to do what real people did. That’s how it felt. That’s how I saw others.”
She places her hand on my arm and squeezes. Her compassion means so much.
“So I went through the motions. I didn’t feel anything but never did, so I didn’t think I could. Then she got pregnant, so I proposed.”
“She said you proposed because you were in love.”
“Yeah, she liked to say that. She said she had to tell it that way because otherwise, it would seem like we were getting married for the baby.”
“Oh,” Ellie mutters.
“You can believe me or not, but the sad truth is, I wouldn’t have proposed if it wasn’t for the kid. I didn’t have parents, but if I ever become one, I will be there for them.”
“That’s admirable,” Ellie says fiercely. “That matters, Max, especially considering everything you’ve been through.”
“Jane knew what I’d been through too. She got jealous when I spoke about the baby. She said I only sounded in love when I spoke about our unborn child.”
“Jesus,” Ellie whispers. “It’s awful, but I can see that. It isn’t that shocking to me.”
“One night, she came home. She screamed at me. She or the baby, if I had to choose. She made me choose. So I told the truth. If I had to, it would be the baby. She left for two days. When she finally returned, she told me she’d gotten an abortion. She laughed about it. She rubbed it in my face. So I got mad. I got petty. I got immature.”
“You left her at the altar,” Ellie says with awe in her voice.
“I’m not proud of that.”
“It’s understandable.”
“I’m still not proud of it.”
“This is just awful,” she says. “It’s just… I believe you. That’s the crazy part. I’m not doubting a single thing you’ve told me. I can see Aunt Jane doing all of that. I can see it, literally, in my head. I can hear her yelling.”
“I never wanted to hurt her,” I say. “After the altar thing, I regretted it. I just wanted to move on, and then I saw you, and…”
“And?” she whispers.
The sun has almost completely gone now. The stars are starting to come out, and the moon is appearing.
“For the first time in my life…” I take her hips in my hands and squeeze her possessively. “I felt something. I felt like I’d found the person I’d been waiting for without knowing I was waiting. I finally understood what all those sonnets meant when I saw you, Ellie.”
