16 Marsden Place

by Rachel Brimble

  Jack’s heart thumped inside his chest; his head ached. He couldn’t wait for lawyers and red tape. His damn ex-wife was a silent virus, buried deep in his blood. He had to flush her out of his system once and for all.

  “Martina.”

  She halted. “What?”

  Now that he had her attention, the words didn’t come.

  This was Holly and Katy’s mother. What good would it do to continue hating her for abandoning them? What message would it send to his precious babies and their future relationships? He swallowed the lump of indecision in his throat. He had no idea if he would live to regret letting even an inch of his guard down, but this had to end.

  “It doesn’t matter what goes on or what’s said once this goes to court. You can do your worst as far as I’m concerned, and I’ll come back fighting. All that matters to me are Holly and Katy. I suspect the same isn’t true of you.”

  She sauntered back toward him, saying nothing.

  Anger struck afresh inside him. He could barely look at her. “I’m neither blind nor stupid. You’ve started a war here you’ll lose. No more games or I swear to God this isn’t going to end the way you think it is.” He met her ultimatum with one of his own: “You either work with me for the sake of Holly and Katy or you become enemy number one. Which is it?”

  “I’ve lost everything, Jack.” Her gaze lingered on his lips. “I’ve lost everything, including you. I gave you two kids, and I won’t walk away with nothing.”

  “That doesn’t mean we have to go through the courts. You don’t have to do your hardest to infiltrate the girls’ lives before you’re truly ready to be a mum to them.”

  “What else can I do? I’ve no money. Nowhere decent to live…” Her eyes darkened, and her mouth sneered. “Do you really think I want to be here? Living on your perfect little street, with your perfect little house? Do you?”

  And there it is. Jack curled his hands inside his pockets as the truth finally started to rear its head. “Which is it, Martina? Are we going to do this civilly or not?” He shook his head. “You weren’t a perfect mother then; you won’t be now.”

  “What were you? The model father? I don’t think so.”

  He looked to the sky. “No, I wasn’t, and I’ve still got no idea what I’m doing.” He dropped his chin. “Can’t we at least try and start making a change? Both of us?”

  She looked into the distance. “I can’t.”

  “Why?”

  “I just can’t.”

  “Do you really want this? To be threatening me? Sienna? Our children?”

  She faced him once more, her shoulders slumping. “I don’t stand a chance in court of even visiting the girls unless you help me get straight and reconcile with them. But why should you?” She shook her head. “My life’s a mess, Jack.”

  “You can still make a better life than you ever could’ve with me. You can still see the girls…though you’ve barely even asked about them.”

  She lifted her hand in defeat. “What is there to know? Holly and Katy are with you. I know they’re okay. I know you’re doing everything for them. My mum loves telling me how much they love you, how you’re doing such a great job. She tells me they don’t need me. My own mother tells me to leave them alone. You have no idea how that feels.”

  She made for her car again, and Jack cursed before chasing after her. He gripped her elbow. “Listen to me. I want to try to work this out so they have both of us. Both of us doing our hardest to rectify our mistakes. To make them see a good marriage isn’t a hopeless aspiration. Do you really want them growing up bitter and resentful like you did?”

  “I did not—”

  “Yes, Martina, you did. I can’t believe I haven’t seen it all this time. This is a cycle. Your mum never had any time for you, did she, until I came along and she saw the prospect of money and children. She used me in the hope we’d last, that I’d look after you because your dad walked out on her. Don’t you see that? Because I do.”

  “That’s psychological bullshit.”

  “Last chance. Do you want to be a part of your daughters’ lives or not? With you or without you, I’m going to love those girls for the rest of their lives. I hope Sienna will too.”

  She glared. “She has nothing to do with this.”

  Pride filled his chest as he felt a weight lift. He could do this. A sense of liberty permeated through him. “Yes, she does. Because I love her. Now, do you want to be a part of my new family or not?”

  For a long moment she said nothing, and then she swiped at the tears spilling down her cheeks.

  “What the hell am I supposed to do, huh? I’m living in a tiny apartment with a man I can’t stand. I’ve no job, no money—”

  “I can help you get back on track. But I won’t give you money.”

  Anger swirled in her dark green eyes. “I can’t do anything without money. Why can’t you understand that?”

  Jack took a deep breath. “Move home.”

  She huffed. “With my mum? No chance.”

  She yanked open her car door, and this time Jack made no move to stop her. “Fine. Then go. But if you come back here again asking for a single penny from me, there will be no more phone calls. No more chances to make things right with Holly and Katy.”

  She stopped. Jack’s heart thundered in his ears as he waited for her next move. When she met his eyes, she blinked, and a tear rolled down her face. “I don’t even know where to start with them.”

  Jack took a breath in an effort to harden his heart. “You have to at least take the first step.”

  “But my mum’s, Jack? She’ll drive me insane.”

  “You’ll tolerate it. You’ll live with it. If you want a relationship with Holly and Katy, you’ll do anything. I did.”

  She hesitated, then asked, “You’d actually help the girls find a way to forgive me?”

  “If you go to your mum’s,” Jack said, nodding, “clean up, find a job.”

  “You’ll have to give me time. It may take a while.”

  “And Sienna?” Just the thought of her lit a fire in his stomach, just like every time he saw her.

  Martina’s lips curved into a wry smile, and she straightened her posture. “I guess she’s in and I’m out. Sooner or later I’ll have to accept I can’t fight against the way you look at her when she’s near you. How you look at me every time you even say her name.”

  He nodded again. “I guess you will.”

  “More than that,” she said after taking a breath, “you trust her to be around the twins. That couldn’t have been easy for you considering the way their own mother was with them.” Her eyes softened. “I’m sorry, Jack.”

  Jack returned her smile. “We can do this if we take one day at a time. No promises. No saying things we’re not sure we can guarantee. Okay?”

  She hesitated and then sighed. “Okay.”

  They stood for a moment before Jack slowly offered his hand. She looked down at it for a moment before a soft smile curved her lips. “Goodbye, Jack.” She shook his hand.

  “See you soon.”

  Their hands slipped apart, and Martina turned and slid into her car. The door slammed shut, and she pulled away without looking back.

  Jack stared after the retreating car. He’d figure this out. He’d find a way to fix it. For all of them. He just prayed what he dreamed would come true, because right then, not a single person he cared about was happy.

  Having spent two nights exploring her options in London, Sienna was back at Marsden Place. She watched the realtor pull out from her driveway before turning to face her house. The “For Sale” sign was a wooden placard challenging her to a new life.

  Inhaling a shaky breath, she walked inside the house she loved and through to the shop room. She lifted the lid on a box of furry handcuffs and nipple tassels and smiled. God, she’d miss every aspect of what she’d built since her father was killed, but deep inside, she’d changed.

  And she’d be forever grateful to Jack for makin
g that change possible. He’d broken down her concrete wall and given her the gift of release. The possibility of love, of laughter, of having a family of her own one day wouldn’t have come unless she’d met him. A firm believer in fate, Sienna knew Jack had been meant to enter her life. She was now equally confident that leaving was the right thing to do; otherwise, things would not have happened as they had.

  Her front doorbell rang, and Sienna stiffened. She didn’t want to see anybody, but avoiding Jack over the next few days while she packed her things for London would be impossible.

  She stepped forward and peered through the window.

  Damn it. She’d been just in time to see Jack glance back at the “For Sale” sign and ring her doorbell a second time.

  “Okay.” Sienna stepped back and took a deep breath. “Okay, let’s do this.”

  Marching from the shop room into the hallway, she opened the front door before she could change her mind. “Hi, Jack.”

  He stood silent, staring. Sienna felt her body respond to his muteness, and then there it was—that appraising gaze of his that penetrated her own before wandering over her face, neck, then down to her breasts and back again. The one that made her feel like the loveliest woman in the world.

  She cleared her throat. “Do you want to come in?”

  “I’ve missed you.”

  Having expected a question about her selling up, the softly spoken statement caught her off-guard. Denial was futile. “I’ve missed you too.”

  He stepped inside, and they stood facing each other, the atmosphere heavy with unspoken questions and accusations. Sienna gestured toward the kitchen. “Let’s grab a cold drink and sit outside. Are the girls with your mum?” Please say they’re not with Martina.

  “Yes.”

  “For the weekend?”

  “No, they’ll be here soon. I’ve texted my mum to tell her where I am. But can we put the girls on the backburner for now and talk about that sign stuck in your front garden?”

  Heat struck her face, and she cast her eyes downward. “Why don’t you go and sit outside? I’ll bring out some drinks, and we’ll talk. Diet Coke?”

  “Sure.”

  He held a newspaper so tightly in his hand, Sienna could’ve sworn his fingers would soon snap.

  “What’s that?” she asked.

  He glanced down at the paper. “News.”

  “News?”

  “Yes.” Without another word, he walked away.

  She followed behind and stopped short in the kitchen as she watched him step out the back door. Opening the refrigerator, Sienna’s heart raced and her hands shook. The way he’d looked at her when he’d mentioned the sign had been intense. How could he look at her that way when he’d forgiven Martina? On her return from London, Mike had told her about Jack’s and Martina’s intention to work things out for the sake of the twins—and their newfound amicability.

  Nausea knotted inside Sienna as she pulled two cans of Diet Coke from the fridge. She winced against the pain in her heart that had become a habitual thing since the previous week. Grabbing two glasses from a cupboard, she walked outside on unsteady legs.

  Damn. He’d chosen to sit in the swing seat, their swing seat, rather than at her small patio table. Pulling back her shoulders, she forced her feet forward and lowered onto the seat beside him.

  “Here.” She passed him a glass and can.

  They snapped open their drinks, and the sizzle of filling their glasses permeated the tense silence. When they simultaneously leaned forward to put their cans on the table in front of them, their thighs brushed. The jolt of awareness caused Sienna’s breath to catch. She didn’t doubt the electricity between them would’ve lasted forever if her and Jack’s circumstances were different.

  “So you’re leaving.”

  Sienna shifted sideways in her seat to face him, and her heart ached at how sad he looked. Exhaling, she said, “I don’t know if it will be forever, but I’ve been offered a great job managing one of the biggest lingerie stores on Oxford Street. It’s an amazing opportunity.”

  “Better than working for yourself?”

  No. Nothing is better than working for myself. Here. In Potterford. With you next door. The twins. My mum and Kelsey just a few streets away. “It’s certainly something I haven’t tried in a while.”

  “I see.”

  He stared ahead, a muscle working in his jaw. Sienna could tell he knew she wasn’t happy; he had an uncanny knack of making her feel completely exposed. How could she lie to him? She sighed. “Look, Jack, I have to go and let you work out what’s best for Holly and Katy. Martina is their mother.”

  “And that means what? I give her access to them regardless? I don’t think so.”

  Sienna surveyed his profile, her stomach tight. “I thought things might be working out for you.”

  He turned his face to her, his forehead creased. “How can anything be working out for me if you’re moving to London?”

  “Mike told me.”

  “Told you what?”

  “Told me Martina was prepared to back down and do things your way.”

  With him looking at her mouth as though he wanted to kiss her, her strength faltered. A sudden neediness lodged in the place her heart had been moments before. She could no longer deny she’d fallen in love. Was no longer sure she even wanted to.

  “Jack?” she asked when he’d still said nothing.

  Uncertainty shone in the deep blue depths of his eyes. What was he thinking? The shake of his head was barely perceptible, but it was enough to knock the wind from her lungs. What else did he want her to say?

  The steady thump of a headache snaked across her furrowed brow. “I don’t want to come between you and Martina giving your relationship a second try. If Holly and Katy have any chance of their parents being together—”

  “I’m sorry, Sienna.”

  Sienna blinked hard against the tears burning like wildfire behind her eyes. “You don’t need to apologize. That’s why I left.”

  He gave a wry smile. “You really don’t get it, do you?”

  “Just because I haven’t had children, it doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate the importance of parenting as a unit. I might not be a mum, Jack, but I’ve been a child. And I’ve loved my mum and dad dearly.”

  He lifted his hand to her jaw and kissed her. She didn’t push him away; she didn’t demand he stop and tell her what the hell he thought he was doing. Like a masochist, a starving woman, she met his tongue, slid her hand across his thigh. Deeper and deeper he took her until Sienna could feel herself drowning in the cruelness that he wouldn’t be hers.

  They parted, and he brushed the hair from her eyes as he traced his tender gaze over every inch of her face. “I’m sorry,” he repeated, “that I put you through going to London and finding a job because you didn’t know what else to do.”

  “I just want you to be happy, and if—”

  “I’m sorry…because you’ve had a wasted trip.”

  His eyes gleamed, and Sienna’s heart raced. He was happy—no, smug. Elated. Goddammit, he was grinning. She frowned. “What’s going on?”

  He lifted her hand and pressed a kiss to her knuckles. “I’m sorry for not making you see what you meant to me. I’m sorry for making love to you and not doing it in such a way it was clear I was yours no matter what happened next. I’m sorry I risked losing you. And I’m sorry I didn’t learn my lessons a damn sight quicker as far as fatherhood is concerned, but I’ve learned them now. The twins need us all to work this out, Sienna. You, me, and Martina. I want you to stay. Right here, with us.”

  “I don’t understand—”

  “I’ve let it go, Sienna. I’ve let go of the guilt and fear. I’ve let go of my anger toward Martina. It’s true that she and I are going to try. One step at a time, without lawyers so we can get the trust back and she can be a part of the girl’s lives. But not mine.”

  Hope sparked in Sienna’s heart, but it was nothing against the fire of doubt ther
e. “But you’re part of what she wants. She won’t accept—”

  “Then she won’t see Holly and Katy. She knows that.” He leaned forward and kissed her lips, her jaw, then lifted her hair and kissed her neck. “You mean the world to me. I’m happy when I’m with you. I don’t want that to end.”

  She shivered as his fingers brushed over the curve of her breast and down to her waist. “I don’t know, Jack. What if farther down the line this changes and you walk away.”

  “I won’t.”

  “You can’t promise that.”

  He pulled back and looked deep into her eyes, his hand holding hers. “I can. I know I can because of what I feel for you, what the twins feel for you. Please. You have to trust me. Trust life. Please.”

  The excitement of possibility lodged Sienna’s words into her throat. Could this really be happening? In a matter of weeks, she’d gone from being scared to look a child in the eye to longing to care for the two little girls next door.

  In the midst of her elation, however, she slowly put her glass down on the table.

  “It won’t work, Jack. If I stay here, I’ll still have to open the shop in my front room. And you were right: Holly and Katy shouldn’t be around that.” Sienna hesitated. “What are you smiling about? I’m serious. I have to work, and I don’t want to do anything other than what I’m good at. What I love. The move to London makes more sense than you seem to understand.”

  Jack picked up the newspaper lying behind him on the seat. “Read this.”

  “What is it?”

  “Read it.”

  Dragging her gaze from the power of his, Sienna looked at the front page of The Potterford Post. Emblazoned across the page was a photograph of Sienna’s Sexy Solutions and the two shops on either side of it, along with the headline:

  LANDLORD’S PLAN FOILED—TENANTS OFFERED

  RENT FREEZE AND LOST EARNINGS

  Sienna stared at Jack. “You…”

  Beaming, he nodded. “Yep, while you were gone, I found out exactly what Thomas has been up to. Did you know he owns that entire block? The man has more money than he knows what to do with but still wanted more.”