Stay With Me (The Montgomery Brothers)

by Chase, Samantha

  Mac smiled down at her. “You don’t have to thank me, Gina.” He trailed his fingers along the side of her face, relishing the softness of her skin. “Whatever you need, I’m here for you.”

  If only he knew that she needed him by her side forever.

  ****

  For the next four days, Gina felt like she was caught in a whirlwind. Her father had planned everything for his own funeral and Gina had been relieved to not have to even think about those decisions. As expected, there was a ton of paperwork to go over due to the size of her father’s estate and, as promised, William Montgomery was by her side and held her hand through it all as he walked her through it.

  The entire Montgomery family had been wonderful. With William helping her with the legal and financial decisions, Monica, Emma and Maggie had been there like sisters and a mother to her when her emotions began to overwhelm her. Emma had brought over every kind of baked treat from her bakery that she knew Gina loved and Maggie had sat beside her and listened to stories of her childhood. Lucas and Jason had been overly attentive to her and she found that she drew strength just from having them all around.

  And then there was Mac.

  He was never out of her sight. While William had walked her through countless documents, Mac had been right beside her and helped his father explain some of the overwhelming papers. During the wake and funeral and reception afterwards, he was right by her side. She never had to lift a finger for anything because he seemed to know what she needed and when.

  At night, when the lights were out and her memories threatened to overwhelm her, Mac was there to hold her close. They hadn’t made love since the night at his home but the time that they spent clinging to each other was just as intimate to Gina. He comforted her when she needed it and she found that it was getting easier to make it through each day with Mac beside her.

  They were eating dinner with his family a few nights later when Jason mentioned that he was preparing to go to San Francisco for business. “It’s beautiful there,” Gina commented. “I always love going to Fisherman’s Wharf. The food there is amazing.”

  “I’ve never been there personally,” Maggie said, “and I’m hoping that we’ll find some time to do some sight-seeing.”

  “I could recommend some great restaurants if you’d like,” Gina said casually and that’s when it hit Mac. The funeral had merely been a distraction from real life. Now that Arthur was laid to rest and his estate was well on its way to being settled, Gina was going to head back to the west coast. He could ask her to stay; they could talk about it tonight after they went back to the guest house but the thought of asking her and making her leave the life that she knows behind didn’t sit well with him.

  Conversation continued to flow but Mac chose to not be a part of it. Everyone was so focused on keeping Gina’s spirits up that no one seemed to notice his silence. When the meal was done and everyone was saying their good-night’s, William came to stand beside his eldest son. “Kind of quiet tonight,” he said conversationally. They were standing alone in the family room while everyone else was heading for the door.

  “Wasn’t a whole lot to say.”

  “You’ve been to California a bunch of times; I’m sure you could have added a tip or two for your brother and Maggie.”

  Mac shrugged. “Gina’s the native; she knows far more than I do.”

  “She’s not a native; she was born and raised here in North Carolina. This is where she belongs; this is where her father wanted her to be.”

  Mac was desperate for a change of subject. “How are you doing with all of this, Dad? We’ve all been so focused on helping Gina that I feel like we’ve sort of overlooked the fact that you lost your best friend.”

  His father’s gaze softened. “I’m not going to lie to you, Son; it’s pretty damn devastating. I can’t remember a time in my life when I wasn’t friends with Arthur. Knowing that I’m not ever going to see him again is more painful than I ever thought possible.”

  “I’m so sorry,” Mac said gruffly. “I can’t even imagine that.”

  “Pray that you never do, Mac. I’m trying to do everything that I can for Gina; everything that Arthur would want me to do, but I’m battling my own grief at the same time and I don’t know what else I’m supposed to do.”

  “Just love her, Dad. She’s lost her father and now you’re the closest thing that she has to one.”

  “It’s a big responsibility, Mac. It’s easy to love your own kids; as a parent you can’t help it. Gina has always been special to me. She’s the daughter your mother and I never had. It’s easy to keep thinking of her that way and love her.” Mac smiled and nodded. “You’re in love with her, too. Aren’t you?”

  Mac’s eyes shot to his father’s. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  William reached out and placed a reassuring hand on his son’s shoulder. “Someday you won’t be so afraid of it.”

  “Of what?”

  “Letting go of the control. You were always one to want to control everything and everybody and loving someone means that you’re not always in control. But you know what? It’s worth it, Mac. Don’t fight it so damn hard.”

  “I’m not like Lucas and Jason, Dad,” Mac said adamantly. “You’re not going to play that game with me. It won’t work.”

  “There’s no game here,” William assured him. “I could tell how you felt about Gina every time I saw the two of you together. It’s obvious that you’re both crazy about one another.”

  “Oh, you’d love that, wouldn’t you? Then you could tell everyone how you played matchmaker to all three of your sons who were too stupid to realize how you were setting them up.” With every word Mac was getting more and more agitated. “I don’t like being played, Dad; you know that. Is that why you left it up to me to check in on Gina? Pick her up from the airport?”

  Now it was William’s turn to be angry and he crowded close to his son and spoke in a near growl. “In case you’ve forgotten, that poor girl came here to watch her father die. How dare you make this about you or me or something as trivial as me putting a damn feather in my cap? I told you from the get-go that you weren’t right for Gina; I told you that I wouldn’t do that to her and judging by the way that you’re behaving right now, I’m glad I didn’t.” With a near sneer, he stepped away from his son. “Grow up, Mac. None of this was about you.” William strode from the room and Mac was left standing alone and wondering what the hell had just happened.

  It took a few minutes for him to settle down and go in search of whoever was left in the house. His father was no where to be seen but he found his mother and Gina sitting at the kitchen table talking quietly to one another. “Oh, Mac,” his mother said, smiling with surprise. “I thought you must have snuck out with the crowd. We didn’t realize you were still here.” She gestured to the chair beside her. “Gina and I were just talking about which of her paintings I want to hang in the guest house.”

  The smile that crept across his face couldn’t be helped. He was proud of her. Plain and simple he was proud of how Gina had transformed herself since she arrived. If only he could be certain that she wouldn’t regress back to her former timid self once she was back in California and under her mother’s influence. “They’re all amazing,” he said as he sat down. “I’m sure that no matter which ones you choose, you’ll be pleased.”

  Gina beamed under his praise. “Thank you.” They talked about her art work for a little longer before Monica looked at the time. “As much as I enjoy sitting and talking with you both, I’m afraid that it’s getting a bit late for me. William’s already gone up as you can tell.”

  Mac wanted to point out that his father hadn’t gone up to bed because he was tired as much as he was pissed off but he decided to keep that bit of info to himself. Rising to his feet, he leaned over and kissed his mother good night. Gina did the same. “Thank you for everything, Monica. Dinner was delicious.”

  They made their way across the yard in silence and M
ac knew that the woman walking beside him was stronger today than she had ever been. When they got to the front door of the guest house, he paused. “You seemed to enjoy yourself tonight.”

  “I did. But then again I always have a good time with your family; they’re easy to get along with.”

  “I was thinking that I should probably go back to my place tonight,” he said finally, hating the words even as he said them.

  “Oh…okay.”

  “I haven’t been to the office in almost a week and I’m sure that you have things to do as well.”

  “Yeah, sure.” She didn’t. Unfortunately, all she had left to do was deciding on whether or not she was going to relocate here to North Carolina or go home to California and back to her old life. It was on the tip of her tongue to share that with Mac; to ask him to help her decide but he was already pulling away from her again. Physically and emotionally.

  Gina couldn’t do it anymore.

  “I was hoping that we would have the time to talk,” she blurted out. “I mean, I can see that you’re anxious to leave and all but I have to know something before you go.”

  “Anything,” he said but he was cautious.

  “Do you want me to go back to California?” Her eyes were wide and her back was stiff as she asked it. No matter what his answer was, Gina would never have peace if she didn’t take the risk and find out.

  Mac weighed his words carefully. “I think that you need to do what you want to do. I mean, if you think that you’ll be happy back in there and in your old job then you should do it. Of course you could go back there and start fresh; get a new job, move out of your mother’s house and experience life being independent.”

  Gina stared at him. Just stared. “I’m not asking you for the Miss America, politically correct answer, dammit! I want to know what you, Mackenzie Montgomery, want me to do!”

  “I want you to do what makes you happy, Gina,” he said stiffly. “I think that you need to experience all of the things that you’ve denied yourself. You deserve that.”

  Well, she had her answer. She didn’t like it but at least she had her answer. With a regal nod of her head she turned and opened the front door. “Thank you for seeing me home. I’m sorry if I kept you from your job; I know how important it is to you.”

  His patience snapped. “Dammit, Gina, what is it that you want from me?” Mac reached out and grabbed her upper arm and spun her around to look at him.

  She pulled out of his grasp. “I wanted honesty; I wanted to know how you felt but all you could do is hand me this line of bull. Well congratulations; you’re like Switzerland. You managed to not get so involved with me that you can’t actually form a personal opinion.”

  “You have no idea, do you?” he said roughly. “I’ve sat here on multiple occasions listening to you go on and on about how you were tired of people making decisions for you. You yelled, you screamed and you cried about it. Now, when I’m standing here, giving you the opportunity to make your own decision, I end up being the bad guy! I can’t win!”

  “Don’t you dare put this on me!” she yelled. “This isn’t about me making my own decisions. This is about you using that as your excuse to not have to change your way of life. Perfect Mackenzie who likes everything neat, tidy and orderly. By letting someone else in, you’d have to give up some of your precious control and that just isn’t something that you’re willing to do; not for me and not for anyone. Well you know what? That’s fine. Because I deserve someone who doesn’t see having me in their life as a sacrifice but as a blessing.”

  “Gina…”

  “Don’t,” she spat at him. “Just…don’t. I can’t make you love me; I can’t make you change and you know what? I never wanted you to. I love you because of who you are. You look at me and you see all of the ways that I’ll inconvenience you and you know what? I’m tired of people treating me like that. I am a good person, dammit. And if you can’t see that? If you can’t appreciate that then you don’t deserve me.”

  She stepped inside and slammed the door and in that moment, Mac realized just how much he had lost.

  Chapter Twelve

  All of her art supplies were packed up. The plan was to have UPS come and pick them up and ship them to her mother’s house. Temporarily. In the week since she’d last seen Mac, Gina had done some serious soul searching and started forging the path of her new life.

  Gone was her life of an accountant. That was the first and easiest decision that she had to make. As much as she’d hated doing it by phone, she had called her boss and tendered her resignation. Surprisingly, the sky did not fall and the Earth kept spinning. Once she had hung up, Gina had felt like a giant weight had been lifted off of her.

  The next thing she had done was call her mother. Another thing that she contemplated doing in person but decided that the only way she could return to California was if the air was cleared between the two of them first. Of course her mother had ranted on and on about what a mistake Gina was making in leaving her job and how it was irresponsible of her but when she realized that her daughter wasn’t going to sway from her decision, her attitude changed.

  “I didn’t think I raised you to be so defiant, Gina.”

  “No, you didn’t. You raised me to simply fall in line with whatever it is that you wanted. That’s why your marriage failed; Dad wouldn’t fall in line and become the man that you thought he should be. You cannot control people like that; I am my own person and for the first time in my life I am discovering who I am. You can support me or you can ignore me; the choice is yours. Either way, I’m going to do things the way that I see fit from this point on.”

  “It’s just so drastic…I don’t understand why you can’t just come home and we can talk about this!”

  “Because we don’t talk; you talk. So the ball is in your court, mom. You can have a relationship with me or not.” Gina had learned to be bold; to say exactly what was on her mind because she was done being anyone’s doormat. “I would have thought that you, more than anyone, would have learned that when you push people too far, they eventually walk away. You pushed dad until he was willing to let us leave. He didn’t want to fight with you anymore. Did that make you any happier than you were when you were with him?”

  Barbara was silent for a long moment. “No,” she said quietly. “You may not believe me, Gina, but I missed your father every day.”

  Tears streamed down her face. “So because you wanted to punish him for not letting you tell him how to live his life, you destroyed our family. Are you really surprised that I don’t want to follow that same path?”

  “I never thought he’d let us go. On some level I thought that he’d either stop me before we could leave or that he’d come to his senses and come for us in California. And if I’m being totally honest, I truly believed right up until the end,” she said with a sob, “that maybe he’d even just sell the company and move across the country to be with us.” She was crying so hard that she couldn’t speak but Gina waited her out, needing to finally hear the reasons why her mother acted the way she had. “Oh, Gina, I made a mess of our lives! I never stopped loving your father and when he didn’t come for me or fight for me, I became angry and bitter. I wanted to punish him; I didn’t realize how much I hurt you. I’m so sorry!”

  She knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but from this point on the two of them were going to have to work really hard at building a new relationship. And while Gina was certain that her mother would insist that the way to do that was to spend a lot of time together, Gina had other ideas.

  By the time that conversation ended, she felt like she was floating on air, so light was she after removing what she considered dead weight. A look around the guest house had Gina feeling nostalgic. The Montgomery home had always been a haven to her as a child and it was even more so now. Leaving here was going to be harder than she ever could have imagined. She looked at the two pieces of art that Monica had chosen for the walls; the landscape of the garden and a sunset over the la
ke at her father’s house. Both made Gina smile and she was honored that Monica had wanted them hung on the walls here.

  Wrapped by the front door was the painting she had done for Emma for Lily’s nursery. She was planning on bringing it over to her this afternoon and now that she was finished with the majority of her packing, she would shower and take the drive over.

  As she got ready, Gina realized how happy she was for Lucas. They had been friends since they were kids and it was so wonderful that he had married someone like Emma who seemed to truly understand him and was so obviously in love with him. Plus, she was thankful that Emma was someone that she easily bonded with and now considered a friend. It may have been ten years since she’d last seen Lucas but now that she was older, Gina knew that she wouldn’t let that much time pass ever again.

  It was a beautiful crisp fall day; perfect for late October. The leaves on the trees were so vibrant that Gina’s hands fairly twitched with the need to paint. Inspiration struck and instead of loading the painting into the car, she grabbed her camera and a sweater and walked outside. There was a light breeze that was carrying a variety of leaves around her and Gina lifted the camera and just started shooting.

  The Montgomerys’ property was several acres large and with no direction or plan in mind, Gina let the leaves and the wind guide her. The gold’s and the red’s flew by and she almost couldn’t keep up with everything that she wanted to capture. She cursed as her long hair kept blowing in her eyes and she wished she had thought to bring a clip with her. A small leaf landed on the zoom lens of her camera and without even missing a beat, she continued to shoot through her partially obscured view and captured a magnificent sunset.

  Sunset?

  “Shoot,” she murmured and looked at her watch. Unable to believe her eyes, the watch told her that she’d been walking the property for almost three hours. “Too late to head over to Emma’s now, dang it.” Feeling invigorated from the fresh air and excited to get back to her computer to see what she captured, Gina headed back to the guest house. The thought of disappointing Emma made her frown, but William and Monica were throwing her a going-away barbecue on Sunday. She’d call Emma once she was back in the house and tell her how she’d give her the painting then.