by Mari Carr
May was crouched over the toilet, and it was obvious she had indeed been sick.
He shut the door behind him before kneeling next to her. “May.”
She jerked at the sound of his voice, lifting lifeless eyes to his. It had only been three days since he’d seen her, but she appeared to have aged twenty years.
“Lochlan. Go away. I’m sick.”
“I can see that. I’m here. Let me help you.” He tried to rub her back, but she pulled away.
“No. I’m okay now. It’s passed.” If she thought that weak reassurance would move him along, she was sadly mistaken.
“What happened to the dead bolt?”
May laughed, but it was a cold, humorless sound. Something Lochlan hated hearing from her. “Someone broke in yesterday while Mom, the girls and I were at the store. I guess if there’s a bright side to being poor, it’s that there wasn’t anything for them to steal.”
Lochlan’s blood ran cold at the idea of someone breaking in. What would have happened if they’d been home? “That’s not funny, May. You could have been hurt.”
“It was most likely teenagers,” she continued. “All they took were the TVs and some beer from the fridge, a few worthless knick-knacks and my change jar. More the fool them, it was nothing but pennies and nickels.”
“Did you call the police?”
She shook her head. Every inch of her body screamed defeat.
His indomitable, powerful woman was broken.
Lochlan felt a bit nauseous himself, seeing her like this.
She moved away from the toilet, dropping to sit on the floor, her back against the bathtub.
Lochlan stood up, rubbed his chin—and then noticed the plastic shopping bag on the counter of the sink.
It was hanging open…wide enough that he could see the unopened pregnancy test inside.
His heart started to race, equal parts fear and hope. While he couldn’t think of anything more incredible than May carrying his baby, he suspected she wouldn’t view the news as wonderful.
May didn’t notice where his gaze had landed. She wasn’t looking at him at all. Her eyes were distant as she quietly said, “She forgot who we were.” Her voice was weak, tired.
Lochlan knelt down in front of her. “I know. Chloe called.”
That admission roused May’s interest for a moment, but it was fleeting. She closed her eyes and shook her head.
“I can’t do this anymore,” she whispered, the words broken. And once spoken, the floodgates opened.
He pulled May into his arms as she sobbed out too many years’ worth of sorrow, stress, pain. He held her, rocked her and tried to comfort her with soft words of hope.
“It’s going to be okay, May. You’re not alone. I’m here. I’ll always be here.” The tears continued for several minutes and Lochlan simply held her tight, feeling each pained cry like a dagger to his heart.
Finally, when she started to calm, he whispered, “Everything will be fine.”
She snorted out a breath of disbelief over his use of her word. “Fine. Yeah. Right.”
He cupped her face in his hands. “May. Everything will be fine.”
“I’m scared.”
Lochlan kissed her on the cheek, wishing he knew what to say to make her feel better. Unfortunately, her fears in regards to her mother were genuine. If she was suffering from dementia or Alzheimer’s, she was going to get worse, not better.
“I know you are, but you’re not alone. You’ll never be alone again.”
She didn’t look convinced. In fact, her face reminded him of her first day in his office. The vulnerability was back.
“I want you to listen to me, sweetheart. And I want you to let the words soak in. You are not alone. Everything is going to be all right.”
She looked at him and, this time, she seemed to take heart, bolstered by his confidence. “You really think so?”
“I know so.”
“How can you be so certain?”
“Because I love you, and I intend to move heaven and earth to make it true.”
She bit her lower lip, not responding. But she wasn’t running away, like she did the last time he’d told her about his feelings.
Progress.
A solid minute passed, and he lifted one eyebrow impatiently. “You haven’t said it back to me yet.”
She smiled, and he knew he’d won this skirmish as well.
“Cocky man. What makes you think I’m going to?” she teased.
He crossed his arms. “I’m waiting.”
She closed her eyes and sighed, her smile fading. “You don’t want me to say it, Lochlan. You really don’t.”
“Why would you say that?”
“Because I’m a package deal. If I say it back, then you inherit a hell of a lot more than just me in your life.”
Lochlan nodded. “I’m aware of that.” He stood and pulled her up as well. He wrapped his arms around her in another bear hug, squeezing tight enough that she would know he had the strength to get both of them through this.
“I love you,” she whispered.
Lochlan had made millions, seen his company rise through the ranks as one of the most successful tech start-ups out there. All of that paled to the happiness he felt in this moment, hearing those three little words from the woman who’d stolen his heart.
“So here’s what happens next,” he said. “You, Linda and the girls move in with me.”
She started to pull away from him, already shaking her head. He tipped her face up to his with a firm finger under her chin.
“You’re moving in, you’re marrying me, and you’re coming back to work. The condo will work for the five of us until we find a proper house. We’re going to find a doctor for your mom, going to make sure she has the best care available.”
“You don’t want kids,” she said, a tinge of stubbornness creeping back into her voice. She may have admitted her feelings, but she wasn’t finished fighting completely.
He grinned, her argument weak at best. “I didn’t want kids. Until you. Now I want to help raise those two sweet girls across the hall and…” Lochlan reached over and pulled the pregnancy test out of the bag. “And I want to make at least three more with you.”
“I don’t know if I’m pregnant. The nausea could be because of stress.”
He’d had the same thought. “Take the test tonight and we’ll find out for sure, but understand, I’m marrying you no matter what the results are.”
“I’m not marrying you.” She paused, then a soft grin appeared as she added, “At least not right away. One of has to be practical about this. We’ve known each other all of two and a half months. Why don’t we live together for a little while, make sure we actually like each other before getting hitched?”
“We can discuss that.”
She laughed. “How generous of you to allow a discussion. Is this another one of those arguments you don’t intend to let me win?”
He gave her a soft kiss on the cheek. “Probably.” Then he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small box.
May’s eyes widened. “Wait. You came here with a ring?”
Lochlan sighed. Clearly May thought his proposal had been issued on a whim. Or worse, as a result of his seeing the pregnancy test. The truth was, he’d bought the ring three days ago, right after she ran out of his office after he told her he loved her.
“Of course I did. When you propose to a woman…” He started to drop down on one knee, but she caught his arm.
“Oh my God. Not here! We’re in the bathroom. What if our kids ask us one day about your proposal and we have to tell them you dropped to one knee in front of the toilet I was just puking in?”
Lochlan laughed as he stood back up. She’d just given him her answer without realizing it. He could wait for a better place to pop the question and slide the ring on her finger.
“Excellent point. Brush your teeth and meet me in the living room. We’re going to pack up as much stuff as we can and get it o
ut of this hellhole tonight.”
May hesitated.
“What’s wrong?”
“My mom. What if the move confuses her? Makes things worse? Maybe we should—”
“You’re not staying here. Period.” He reached for his cell phone. “Aunt Lane is a nurse. I’ll ask her to meet us at my place after dinner. She can check Linda over, maybe give her something to help her sleep, and then suggest a doctor for us to see in the morning. Okay?”
May nodded, a fresh tear sliding down her face. “That would be really great. Dammit.” She tried to quickly swipe it away. “I can’t seem to pull myself back together.”
He pulled her close and placed a kiss on top of her head. “So you’ll hang on to me until you can.”
For the first time, May did just that. Let him guide her and her family through what came next without complaint. Within two hours, Lochlan had her, her mom and the girls packed up and moved into his place. They’d ordered pizza, eating it in the living room, despite May’s concerns for Lochlan’s furniture. He insisted leather was easy to clean, and they had a picnic around the coffee table and his big screen TV, calling out letters and guesses to Wheel of Fortune.
Lane arrived and spent nearly an hour chatting with Linda. When she left, she gave them the number of a doctor who specialized in treating dementia patients. Her mother retired after the visit, marveling over the comfortable bed in the guest room and thanking Lochlan for the hundredth time for offering them a safe place to stay.
May’s fears regarding the move confusing her mother never materialized. If anything, she seemed more at ease, more relaxed than Lochlan had ever seen her.
They walked toward the girls’ room hand in hand.
“She never mentioned feeling unsafe in our apartment,” May remarked.
“I suspect she didn’t want to upset you. She knew you were doing everything you could to keep all of you in a home and fed.”
She stopped him just outside the girls’ room. “Lochlan, I overheard those people at work talking about us. I don’t know how to convince them that I’m not just after your money with all of us moving in here like—”
Lochlan placed his index finger over her lips. “Stop. Don’t even finish that thought. None of them feel that way. Besides I’ve set the record straight and they’re happy for us. Genuinely happy.”
“Oh.”
“You can’t resign, May. I’m completely inept when it comes to dealing with anything in that place.”
She laughed. “I doubt that.”
“If you feel better, I’m dragging you back to work tomorrow. You’ll see for yourself. I’m not a pretty sight when left to my own devices.”
“Okay.”
“Really?” he asked.
“You’ve given me a safe place to live. The least I can do is kick your ass into shape at work.”
“There’s my feisty girl. I was starting to wonder when she’d reappear.”
He kissed her, intending to make it a quick, short buss, but the second his lips touched hers, things got out of control. One minute, he was giving her a friendly kiss, and the next, he had her backed up against the wall, his hands creeping under her shirt.
“We better put the girls to bed,” he murmured against her lips. “And move this to the bedroom. Quickly.”
May was out of breath when they parted, so she took a moment to compose herself and then they walked into the bedroom.
Chloe was bouncing on the bed, still full of way too much energy this close to bedtime. “Is this really going to be our room?”
Lochlan nodded. “Yep. All yours. We can redecorate it however you want. Replace that big bed with twin beds or bunks even, if you’d like.”
“I like the big bed and sleeping with Jenny.”
Lochlan knew that wouldn’t always be the case, but considering the life-altering changes they’d gone through in the past year, he understood the sisters’ desire to hold on to each other—the only constant.
“Well, then,” he suggested, “how about a new paint color and bedspread?”
“Pink!” Chloe shouted.
Lochlan started to agree when another voice piped up.
“Purple,” Jenny corrected quietly.
May looked at Jenny, then him, then back at the young girl again in complete disbelief.
As always, it was Chloe who never missed a beat.
“Yeah! Purple!” She grabbed Jenny’s hands, and the two of them giggled as they jumped on the bed.
It took May a full minute to comprehend what she was seeing—and then she was on the bed as well, laughing and tickling both little girls.
Lochlan watched, his future unfolding before his eyes.
It had never looked better.
12
Lochlan carried May over the threshold to his condo as she laughed. The girls were having a sleepover at the Collins Dorm with Yvonne, and Lochlan’s mother had invited Linda to stay at her house so the lovebirds could spend their wedding night alone together. Keira was aware of Linda’s fading memory and had promised to keep a very close eye on her.
Only three months had passed since Lochlan had swept into the bathroom at her apartment and whisked her here. After putting the girls to bed that first night, Lochlan had led her to the living room, where he’d dropped to his knee to propose in a much more romantic setting.
She’d said yes. And then he waited while she took the pregnancy test.
As Lochlan put her down, she rubbed her hands over the small bump forming as the baby grew inside her.
It amazed her to think how, in one night, she’d gone from feeling as though she’d lost everything, to suddenly getting every single thing her heart desired. A home, a husband, medical care for her mother, Jenny’s voice back, her job, and a baby. Talk about a sliding-door moment. It had been magical, perfect. And it had only gotten better each day since.
Lochlan had wanted to plan a big wedding, an event to rival Caitlyn’s, but May put her foot down, insisting on something smaller, more intimate. She was delighted to have finally won an argument.
So today they’d headed to the Justice of the Peace with her mom and the girls, Lochlan’s parents, his sister and Lucas, and his Pop Pop. The simple ceremony had been sweet. Perfect. Now that she’d opened the floodgates, the tears she’d struggled to shed for years appeared regularly these days…provoked not by sadness, but by genuine, overpowering happiness.
After the ceremony, and because the Collins family never passed up an opportunity to celebrate, they left the courthouse and traveled to the pub. Lochlan’s aunts and cousins threw one hell of a wedding reception.
Best of all, Sally had surprised both of them by showing up. When Lochlan cornered her to ask if she’d been playing matchmaker, she admitted she had hoped something might spark between them, but she hastened to add if it hadn’t, he still would have gotten a great PA. Lochlan had kissed his old assistant on the cheek, then bought her a beer.
“Start taking off your clothes, Mrs. Wallace. I want you naked by the time we reach the bedroom.”
May stopped. “May Wallace,” she said, crinkling her nose. “Kind of boring and normal.”
Lochlan laughed. “You want to keep your maiden name? Or hyphenate? I don’t mind either way.”
She reached up, wrapping her arms around his neck to kiss him. “I’m only kidding. I love the sound of May Wallace.”
“So do I. But…you’re not walking to the bedroom. Or undressing.”
“Has anyone ever told you that you’re impatient?” she teased, even as she started unbuttoning her silk blouse.
“Only everyone I’ve ever known.” Lochlan’s eyes drifted lower, watching as she gave him a sexy striptease, slipping each button free slowly, tempting him with only glimpses of her lacy pushup bra.
Once her blouse was open, she turned her back to him, sliding the silk over one shoulder, then the other.
She let the slick material fall to the ground, but she made no move to face him. Instead, she reached
behind her back, unfastening her bra. Holding the cups in place, she spun around and let it drop as well.
Lochlan’s eyes never left her body, taking in every inch of what she revealed.
May reached for the zipper on her skirt, taking her time as she dragged it down. A quick glance below Lochlan’s waist told her he was enjoying her show…a lot. His pants were bulging and he made no attempt to hide the raging hard-on inside.
She shouldn’t have looked down. Suddenly, teasing him with a slow show felt impossible. She shimmied her skirt and panties to the floor, kicking both off, along with her heels.
Lochlan chuckled as he approached her. “Looks like you’re suffering from a case of impatience yourself.”
She expected him to kiss her, so she was surprised when he knelt in front of her instead, placing his lips on her stomach, kissing the tiny bump. May ran her hands through his hair.
When they’d read the results of the pregnancy test and seen the plus sign, May’s first reaction had been outright panic…even with the engagement ring on her finger. Everything had gone so fast between them, and every now and then she still had brief moments of fear. She’d lived under a dark cloud for most of her adult life, so she struggled to believe good things could last.
She’d shared that fear with Lochlan, who’d promised to spend the rest of his life proving her wrong about that.
She hoped he succeeded.
“I can’t wait to meet you,” Lochlan whispered to the baby inside her.
May grinned. “You realize there’s a fifty/fifty chance there’s a girl in there. Think of how outnumbered you’ll be then.”
Lochlan had joked the other day about feeling as if he’d suddenly moved into the Barbie mansion, his masculine abode suddenly dripping in “girl stuff.”
Of course, May had pointed out that he’d created that environment, spoiling Chloe and Jenny, constantly stopping to buy treats and toys for them—dolls, LipSmackers, even little parasols—just because.
“I’d love another girl, May.”
She ran the back of her hand along his beloved face as he looked up at her.
“I think I’d like a little boy,” she admitted. “This world needs more men like you. Knights.”