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“He could’ve had me committed involuntarily, but that’s not like him. Instead, Rogue took me into the wilderness. He stayed with me. I was never alone for seven months. Even when it was time for the appointments, he always drove me. He watched over me.”
Admiration for my dad only grows. I’ve always known that he’s loyal. He never missed one of my mom’s cancer treatments. He was there at every appointment, her constant rock. It sounds like he was the same for Ace. I can’t imagine the strength it must have taken him to share all of this with me today. “You were so brave.”
“I don’t feel very brave,” he admits in a broken whisper. “I feel like I’m a coward. Every day, the shame is there. Rogue went through the same stuff, and he didn’t fuckin’ crack up. I told you. My brain broke.”
I take my face in his hands. I wish I could make him see himself through my eyes. “You are not broken. You are a warrior. You fought back against a cruel institution when you were a kid. You fought through a war when you were a soldier. Now you’re fighting against the demons in your head. I think that takes a special kind of bravery.”
There’s a sheen of tears in his eyes before he blinks it away. He lets out a shaky breath. “What happened tonight wasn’t your fault. I don’t want you to blame yourself for a second. He’s mad at me, for scaring him.”
I nod and put my head on his chest. It’s not the way I wanted my dad to find out, but it’s done now. We won’t get a second chance to introduce him to the idea of us. The thought reminds me of what Ace said when my dad first showed up. “Did you mean what you said, about me being your future wife?”
He rubs a slow circle on my back. “Yeah, I did. If you’ll still have me.”
I glance up at him, his beard ruffling the top of my head. “I’ll always want you. No matter what.”
He brushes a kiss across my forehead before I settle back against his chest. My voice is muffled by his t-shirt when I ask the question, “What are we going to do if he doesn’t forgive us?”
* * *
Ace
Two days.It’s been two days since Rogue showed up and caused a scene. Two days now she’s worried the relationship between them has been permanently destroyed.
I keep reassuring her that he’ll come around, but I can’t sit by and see her in pain, so it’s time to deal with this. Even if Rogue—the man who’s been my brother—hates me forever, I have to go to him. He’s not going to hurt Mackenzie. I won’t let anyone do that on my watch.
She’s busy at the hardware store today which makes this the perfect time to talk with him. I check his cabin, but he’s not there. He’s not on any of his usual handyman projects. That only leaves one last place he would go, and that’s the lake.
I drive the long, winding route to the spot where Rogue likes to go when he needs to clear his head. Sure enough, I find him on the dock with a fishing pole in his hand.
He’s staring out at the water. His brow is furrowed, trying to make sense of everything. I don’t know if I can fix what I broke between us. But I’ll fix what’s going on with him and Mackenzie. No one gets to make my girl cry.
“Wondered when you’d get here,” Rogue says as I approach the dock. He probably heard my truck coming from a mile away. All that time spent in recon means Rogue is a man who knows how to sense even the slightest change in his environment. It’s a skill that’s kept both of us alive more times than I can count.
I take a seat beside him on the dock. Shit, I remember doing this since the time we were little things, angry at the world with no one to watch our backs but each other. “You don’t have to forgive me.”
“Good, because that’s not happening,” he answers.
“But you do have to answer your daughter’s calls,” my voice is tight. If this were anyone else, I’d settle it with my fists. But he’s her father which means I’m trying to ignore my baser instincts.
He grunts. I don’t think he was ignoring her to hurt her. There was simply nothing left to say. In our world, that means we shut the fuck up. “She’s not like us. She thinks you’re furious at her.”
His movements on the fishing rod stop, and he goes completely still. “She thinks I’m angry?”
“She thinks you’re never going to forgive her. That you don’t love her anymore,” I admit.
“Are you fucking with me?” Rogue demands, looking me in the eye.
I hold his gaze steady and sure. I’ve watched lesser men whither under the weight of Rogue’s stare. “Fix it before I kick your ass.”
I go to leave, but Rogue’s voice stops me. “What is this about for you?”
“I just want to love her,” I tell him, and my voice cracks, betraying my emotion.
“See that you do,” he answers. I know right then that even though Rogue is furious, things are going to be OK. He won’t forgive me today or tomorrow, but he will in time.
13
MACKENZIE
