AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Yes, I did,” she insisted, pushing herself into a sitting position and pulling the sheet along to keep her breasts and lady bits covered. “By insisting you choose between us and your career, I put you in an impossible situation, Chace. How can you not considerthattaking things out on you, especially when I knew you couldn’t just leave the military before your time to serve was up.”
“You weren’t thinking clearly, Holly. Hell, neither of us were.” He sat up straighter and leaned back against the headboard of the bed. “You’d just lost Sloane in a freaking war zone only to find out a few weeks later I was being deployed to an area of similar unrest and uncertainty in the Middle East. You were scared, and I should have realized that the emotional strain, grief, and fear you were battling were the driving force behind your reaction.”
“Don’t you mean my ultimatum?”
At the time, an ultimatum was exactly how Chace had interpreted the words she’d hurled at him.
Choose, Chace. Me or the military. Because I refuse to sit here waiting for the call telling me I’ve lost another person I love to this never-ending conflict in a foreign land.
More than anything but a court-martial and dishonorable discharge, Chace wanted to choose Holly. But he couldn’t. Not with two years left to serve and a team of fellow Rangers counting on his return.
Still, he should have explained the situation to his CO and requested a leave extension, even if it was only for one additional day. Anything to help Holly better understand and accept why he had no choice but to return to active duty and serve his remaining two years. Beg her to give them at least that much time before breaking their engagement. And promising that once he’d fulfilled his military service, he’d request his separation papers for an honorable discharge.
But Chace hadn’t said or done any of that. Instead, he did what he thought was best, because he didn’t want to cause Holly any further heartache or unnecessary worry. Without a word, he’d gone wheels up with his team, praying that once he formally left the military, she’d understand, accept, and forgive his reasonings for the choices he’d made.
She hadn’t.
No, that wasn’t a fair assessment either. The truth was Chace hadn’t given Holly the chance to do anything. During his remaining time to serve, he rarely came home, and the few times he did, their paths never crossed, primarily by design on both their parts. It wasn’t until the twins’ baptism that they stood in the same air space again, and that was only because, as the girls’ godparents, it was expected.
They were civil at the christening, the reception afterward, and all events centering around their goddaughters that followed. If and when they spoke, the conversation only revolved around Lyss, Emme, and Wren.
Until he came back to Hickory Ridge to help Holly take care of the twins after their father had suffered life-threatening injuries while serving his country.
He couldn’t help but wonder if that was irony or divine intervention.
“What are you smiling about?” she asked.
Chace wasn't sure Holly would view their current circumstances the same way he did. But what the hell? “How a situation similar to what broke us up brought us back together eight years later.”
“It’s not quite the same.”
“It’s close enough.”
Holly wrapped her fingers around his hand. “At least this time no one died.”
“C’mere.” He tugged her closer until she was nestled on his lap, her body curled against him with her head on his shoulder. Though his mind whirled with all those things he still wanted to say, Chace contented himself with just holding her in his arms right where she belonged.
After a few minutes, Holly broke the silence stretching between them. “So, what happens now?”
“Right this minute now? Or now in general?”
She drew circles on his chest with her finger. “With us.”
“What do you want to happen?”
Her brows drew together, forming that little wrinkle above her nose. “Didn’t we just have this conversation?”
“But we’ve already taken care of that request.”
“Was it a one-and-done?”
“God, I hope not.” He caught her lips in a kiss.
Holly chuckled. “That’s a relief.”
With his thumb and forefinger, Chace lifted her chin so he could see her entire face. “Do you mean that?”
“Yes.” She laid her palm against his cheek. “I absolutely do.”
