The Millionaire's Wish

by Abigail Strom

  Paul had done that to her, made her feel that way. Made her turn her back on the very idea of love for ten years. He hadn’t just hurt her physically; he hadn’t just hurt her once. He’d hurt her over and over again.

  The rage sweeping through him was so consuming that when she spoke again, it was hard to focus on her words.

  “I was comfortable being single. I never felt like I was missing anything, not once. And then you came along…”

  Those words, and the tone of her voice, cut through his emotions and made him see her again.

  She was smiling. “You came along, and made me throw everything I’d ever believed out the window. Because of you, there’s nothing lurking in the darkness anymore…. only magic. The magic you make me feel.”

  He didn’t know what to say. His heart ached in his chest, and he leaned forward to kiss her.

  Allison had let her experience with Paul go. It was over for her. What she’d just shared with him had been the departing shadow of that bad memory, and he should let it go, too.

  But instead of the peace he’d felt this morning, there was turmoil. And in his mind’s eye all he could see was Paul Winthrop’s face.

  Then he remembered that the patent law office was in Chicago. Paul probably lived in Chicago. Chances were, he’d stayed over after the party. He could be in this hotel right now.

  He stood up, his muscles trembling. “I’ll be right back,” he said. “I need to go…check on something.”

  “Rick—”

  “I’ll only be gone a minute,” he told her. “I’ll be back before you finish your breakfast.”

  When she looked in his eyes, Allison knew exactly what he was planning to do. She shot to her feet and blocked his way.

  The expression on his face raised the hairs on the back of her neck.

  “Let me go, Allison.”

  “Rick, you have to listen to me. You can’t go after Paul. He’s not worth it.”

  This was her fault. She should have realized that Paul might be staying over in the hotel, and that Rick might react this way. He’d watched his mother be abused, and she knew he had a protector personality.

  Not being an alpha male herself, she hadn’t thought about what a man like Rick might do when confronted with this information—especially when the person who’d hurt her could be right here in the hotel.

  He tried to step around her, but she got in his way again.

  His jaw was like granite. “Let me go.”

  “I can’t. I’m afraid of what you’ll do if you find him.”

  “Paul’s the one who should be afraid. He deserves to feel every bit of fear you did that night.”

  “Maybe so. But he could file assault charges against you, Rick. You know I can’t let you do this.”

  A muscle in his jaw jumped. “You can’t stop me.”

  “How are you going to get past me? Push me aside? Walk right through me?”

  “Damn it, Allison, get out of my way!”

  “No.”

  “What makes you think I won’t push you?” A spasm of pain crossed his face. “What makes you think I won’t hurt you?”

  “Because I know you.”

  “You don’t. You don’t know what’s inside me.”

  His hands clenched into fists. There was so much rage and torment in his eyes that she couldn’t stop herself from reaching toward him.

  He took a quick step back. He was breathing hard, every muscle in his body tense.

  “Stay away from me,” he said.

  “Rick—”

  She could feel the tension in him, rising to the breaking point. He took another backward step and bumped against the dresser, jerking his head around and catching sight of his own face in the mirror.

  He froze.

  Allison could see his reflection over his shoulder. It looked like he was staring into an abyss, into the eyes of a demon that haunted his darkest nightmares.

  He stood there for a minute. As she watched, she could see the rage leaving his body. When he turned around again, the look in his eyes brought her heart into her throat.

  She’d seen that expression on the faces of people who’d just been given a terminal diagnosis.

  She took a step toward him.

  “Rick—”

  “It’s okay,” he said, moving past her. “I’m not going after Paul.”

  Watching him leave was one of the hardest things she’d ever done. She wanted to follow him so much it hurt.

  But not yet. She needed to give him a little time first, a little space.

  And she thought she knew where he’d go to find it.

  Rick drove straight to Hunter Hall. He didn’t decide to consciously; he just got in his car and started the engine. It wasn’t until he was halfway there that he realized where he was going.

  There were two images in his mind. Allison waking him up in the middle of the night, leaning over him and saying those words with such determination, such knowledge of what they meant.

  “I love you.”

  If he lived to be a hundred he’d never forget how it felt to hear her say that—and how it felt to say it back to her.

  He tried to cling to that memory, to burn the other image out of his head.

  The sight of his father’s eyes looking out of his face.

  He hated that Allison had seen him like that. But even though his rage hadn’t been directed at her, it was something that was inside him. A part of him.

  The poison his father had left behind. The violence he’d never be able to escape.

  Allison deserved better than that. Better than a man with this ugliness inside him. He loved Allison with everything he was, every cell in his body—but hadn’t his father loved his mother once? In the beginning?

  With that legacy of hate in his heart, how could he ever trust himself completely?

  Rick pulled up in front of Hunter Hall and turned off his engine. He sat in silence for a moment before he dropped his head into his hands.

  “Richard? What are you doing here?”

  He raised his head to see his grandmother standing in the driveway, peering at him through the window.

  He got out of the car and slammed the door shut, leaning back against it and dragging a hand through his hair.

  “Are you all right?”

  “I’m fine.” His voice was rough, and he cleared his throat. “Gran…there’s something I have to tell you.”

  She tilted her head back to look at him. “Goodness, Richard. You look absolutely dreadful. What is it?”

  “I lied to you. About Allison. We weren’t really dating—not at first. I asked her to pretend we were, because I knew that was the only way I could get Hunter Hall.”

  She was quiet for a moment. “You felt you had to do that? Lie to me?”

  He remembered talking to Gran on the phone, the day he’d first met Allison.

  “I couldn’t stand the idea of losing Hunter Hall. It’s always felt like home, with you living here. But if you leave, and Jeremiah moves in…it won’t be.”

  There was another silence.

  “I’m partly to blame,” she said slowly. “I hated seeing you alone, and I always wanted a family to live in this house. And I thought if I made my feelings clear, perhaps you’d at least consider dating a different type of girl—a girl you could actually fall in love with. I was hoping all along I wouldn’t need to give the place to Jeremiah.” She sighed. “I had no business trying to manipulate you like that. Considering the circumstances, I forgive you for lying to me.”

  She looked up at him, and while her green eyes might have been brighter fifty years ago, they couldn’t have been any sharper. “What did you mean when you said you and Allison weren’t really dating at first?”

  He smiled a little. “Yes, Gran, my plan backfired. My make-believe romance turned into reality. At least for a little while.”

  “I see. And now?”

  He looked away. “It’s not in the cards, Gran. You might as well call Jeremiah a
nd tell him the good news.”

  She shook her head. “I’ve changed my mind about Jeremiah. I’ve never really liked him, or that dreadful wife of his—and there’s no reason I would like their children any better, if they ever have any. I’d rather give this place to you, my dear—even if you live here alone all your days, and die a curmudgeonly old bachelor.”

  He stared at her. “But…why?”

  “Well, you’re my favorite grandson.”

  “I’m your only grandson.”

  “That, too,” she said with a smile. “In any case, I’ll be moving out within a month—and Hunter Hall will be yours. What are you going to do with it?”

  He looked up at the gabled rooftops silhouetted against the blue sky. With Hunter Hall in his possession, he now had everything he’d ever wanted.

  He closed his eyes.

  “I don’t know,” he said. “I don’t know.”

  She reached up and put a hand on his cheek. “Why don’t you take a walk, Richard? Take some time to clear your head. Down by the pond, perhaps. That was always a favorite spot of yours.”

  The pond was a quarter mile away. From here, he could just see the tops of the willow trees.

  “Good idea,” he said. He smiled down at his grandmother and gave her a quick kiss. “I love you, Gran. I don’t think I tell you that enough.”

  “No, you don’t. But I love you, too.”

  She watched him walk across the grounds until he was out of sight. Then she went back inside the house to call Allison.

  Allison went back to her apartment to shower and change. She took her time, counting every second. Only then did she let herself make the drive to Hunter Hall.

  When she got there, Meredith answered the door.

  For a moment the housekeeper just stared at her. Then she called out, “Evie! She’s here… Allison’s here!”

  Meredith let her in, and there was a hurrying of footsteps before Rick’s grandmother came into view.

  “Thank goodness,” she said. “I’ve left messages at the Star Foundation but of course no one’s there today, and your home number is unlisted.” She paused suddenly. “You did come to see Richard, didn’t you? I’ve just been assuming, but…how did you know he was here?”

  Allison took the elderly woman’s hand. “Because this is where Rick goes when he’s hurting.”

  Evie’s eyes filled with tears.

  “Can you tell me where he is?”

  Evie nodded. “He’s down by the pond,” she said, leading Allison to a set of French doors opening onto the gardens. “If you follow that path, it’ll take you there.”

  Rick was sitting on a stone bench, staring out at the water. He sat so still that Allison slowed to a halt, watching him.

  A minute went by, and another. Allison knew she hadn’t made a sound, but something made him look over his shoulder, and he saw her.

  She moved toward him then, taking a seat on the bench. He was still in his black tuxedo pants and white dress shirt, wrinkled and stained now, and his jaw was rough with stubble.

  “Allison,” he whispered as if he couldn’t believe she was there. Then he took her in his arms and kissed her hair, her cheeks, her eyelids, and finally her lips.

  When he broke the kiss he pulled her even tighter against him, wrapping her up in a cocoon of warmth and strength. But she could feel his body shaking, and she knew he was feeling anything but strong right now.

  “I’m sorry,” he said, his words muffled against her hair. “I had to kiss you one last time.”

  She pulled away a little, enough so she could look at him. “Why does it have to be the last time?”

  He didn’t answer her right away. He took her hands in his and looked down at them, and when he spoke his voice was quiet.

  “You know why. I know what you saw in my face this morning, and I don’t want you to see that again. I don’t want you to look at me and see Paul.”

  “You’re nothing like Paul.”

  “I don’t want to look in the mirror and see my father.”

  “You’re nothing like your father.”

  His eyes met hers. “Right after you bumped into Paul last night, I went into the bathroom and saw my reflection. That was when I thought you were still in love with him, and I was so jealous I…” He closed his eyes. “I looked exactly like him. And then, this morning…I could swear his eyes were looking out of my face.”

  He opened his eyes again. “You said there’s nothing lurking in the darkness anymore. But for me, there’s still something lying in wait. Something I’m not sure I’ll ever be free of.”

  “Violence,” she said.

  “Yes.”

  “Rick, have you ever hurt someone weaker than you?”

  “God, no,” he said, a look of absolute revulsion in his eyes.

  She smiled a little. “I wish you could have seen your face when I asked you that question. You’re a strong man, and you’d fight for someone you love. But you’re not capable of hurting an innocent.”

  “You can’t know that for sure.”

  “Yes, I can.”

  “But how? How can you know that?”

  She framed his face with her hands. “Because I know you. I trust you. I trust you with my life, Rick. With my hopes, my dreams, my heart.”

  He stared at her. “All of that?” he whispered.

  “All of that.”

  His voice sounded shaken. “I don’t trust myself, yet.”

  “I know. But I trust you enough for both of us.”

  He pulled her into his arms and hugged her close, so close she had to push against his chest after a moment.

  “Oxygen,” she gasped, laughing.

  He laughed, too, a little shakily. “I love you, Allison. I love you so much. I wanted to give you everything, to lay the world at your feet, but you’re the one with all the gifts—all the gifts that matter.”

  He took a deep breath. “There is one thing I’d like to give you, though. I’d like to change the name of this place.”

  “Change the name of Hunter Hall?”

  “Yes. I’d like to call it Megan’s House.”

  She stared at him.

  He took her hands in his. “It’s just an offer. Maybe you’ll decide this isn’t the right place for your center after all. Megan’s House is your dream, and you’re the only one who knows what will make it come to life.”

  Her head was spinning. “I can’t… I don’t…”

  “You’ve spent your whole life making wishes come true for other people. It’s time someone granted a wish for you.”

  Tears burned behind her eyelids. “But Hunter Hall is your family home. I know how much it means to you.”

  “It doesn’t mean anything to me.”

  “But—”

  “I always thought it did. This place was my holy grail…a piece of magic I could never really possess, a wish that would never really come true. Even when I thought it would be mine someday, something about it never seemed quite real.

  “When I came here today, I realized why. It’s because I thought, all these years, that what I wanted was the house. That the magic was in the house itself. But what I really wanted, what I really wished for, was what I always found here. Love, family, happiness, peace. But those things don’t have anything to do with Hunter Hall—not the building, anyway. Those things are about people.”

  He cupped her face with one hand. “You’re my grail, Allison. My every wish come true.”

  She covered his hand with hers and closed her eyes. She hadn’t known it was possible for her heart to feel so full.

  “Would you say it again?” he asked after a while.

  She knew what he wanted to hear. “I love you.”

  “Again.”

  “I love you.”

  “Maybe you could just say it over and over until—”

  She cut off his words with a kiss, and he wrapped his arms around her waist. “Or you could do that,” he murmured against her mouth.

  She
kissed a path along his jaw. “Let’s go tell your grandmother you’re okay, and then let’s find a room. I don’t care where it is, as long as there’s a bed in it.”

  He surged to his feet, pulling her up with him. “Your wish is my command.”

  Epilogue

  Six Months Later

  “What’s going on with you, Richard?” his grandmother asked him. “You haven’t stopped smiling all day.”

  “Why wouldn’t I be smiling? Megan’s House officially opened its doors today.”

  The two of them looked out over the grounds of the Hunter estate, where children and their families were enjoying the beautiful autumn afternoon. Allison was helping to flip burgers with Rachel and Jenna.

  “Six months, and you still can’t take your eyes off her,” his grandmother said. “When are you going to take the final plunge and propose?”

  “Funny you should ask,” Rick murmured. “See you later, Gran,” he added as he moved purposely across the lawn.

  He came up behind Allison and slid his arms around her waist.

  “Take a walk with me,” he said, as she twisted around to give him a quick kiss.

  “Now? But the party—”

  “Will be fine without us for a little while.”

  She cocked her head at him. “You’re up to something,” she said after a moment, smiling.

  “That’s a definite possibility,” he admitted as he took her hand. He led her down to the pond and over to the stone bench where she’d found him that day six months ago.

  They sat in silence for a minute, breathing in the dense sweet scent of fall and listening to the willow trees rustle in the breeze. Allison was watching a family of ducks glide by, a soft smile on her face.

  He reached into his pocket and knelt down at her feet.

  She stared at him, her eyes wide, and then down at the ring in the black velvet box lying open in the palm of his hand. It was a tiny flower made of jewels, one perfect diamond surrounded by sapphires.

  “Oh, Rick,” she breathed, looking back up at him.

  His voice was strong, but there was a tremor in it, too. “Allison, will you marry me?”