Unbroken by Love (The Basin Lake Series Book 4)

by Vercier, Stephanie

  At that, I rise from the table, wrap my arms around her and say a very sincere, “Thank you.”

  * * *

  I’ve driven from one end of Basin Lake to the other. I’ve stopped by Beth and Ben’s and the Kessels’ again, been to Pamela’s and Forester’s and everywhere and anywhere that someone might know where Kate is. I got the feeling talking to Mrs. Kessel, just as I did with Paige, that she knew something more than she was telling me. Maybe even with Beth too, but I wasn’t willing to call any of them liars.

  I’m about to give up and head home until I can regroup when my phone rings. I pull to the side of the road and answer.

  It’s Evan.

  “Hey, Evan. What’s going on?” My heart starts beating faster at the idea he might be calling about Kate.

  “Hey, man. I thought you’d want to know that Kate’s at our house.”

  I drag my hand through my hair and slump against the back of my seat. “Makes sense,” I tell him, not surprised but sure as hell relieved.

  “She seems to think she’s not worthy of you or some kind of bullshit. I told her and Paige both they don’t know what they’re talking about, so I’m at the corner store buying some pickles for Paige—cravings you know—but I’m also calling you.”

  “Can I come over? Can I talk to her?”

  “That’s the reason for the call,” he says with a half laugh. “She can deny it, but I know she needs to see you. You need to convince this girl—”

  “Convince her I love her?” I laugh now too. “That’s all I’ve been trying to do.”

  “Then you’ve got to find a better way, man. I won’t say anything to them, but maybe text me when you pull up. Then I can prepare them both.”

  “You’d do that for me?”

  “Course I would. What are friends for?”

  Emotion strangles my throat. Even though we’d started to put the problems of our past behind us and Evan had offered support while my dad was in the hospital, I wasn’t sure how close I could expect for he and I to actually be again. I hadn’t counted on the possibility of it being like when we were kids, when we’d always have one another’s back. But maybe I’d been wrong to think that—maybe we could.

  “Thanks, man,” I finally say.

  “You’re welcome.”

  And then I’m on the road again, moving closer to Kate.

  * * *

  She doesn’t run and hide when Evan lets me into he and Paige’s house. She’s in the living room, sitting in a chair, her head down.

  “I’ve been worried pretty much sick about you,” I tell her, slowly moving closer, my hands stuffed in my pockets.

  “I’m so sorry.” She lifts her head, her eyes red and puffy. “I’m an idiot.”

  “We’ll give you some time.” Paige says, Evan quick to help her up from the couch. He gives me a nod before they head down the hallway and disappear.

  “Can I sit?” I ask Kate, still standing further away from her than I’d like.

  “Of course you can.” She wipes at her eye and sighs. “I didn’t expect you to come all the way out here. I didn’t expect—”

  “For me to love you no matter what?” I sit in the spot on the couch Paige vacated, angled toward Kate and close enough to touch. But I keep my hands folded on my knees, needing her to be the one to reach out to me.

  She offers me a very slight, wobbly smile. “I’m not like Paige or Claire… or even my mother. I never wanted to be a teacher or a doctor. I didn’t want to go off to college or move to a big city. All I’d ever wanted was to stay in Basin Lake, to meet a boy, to fall in love and have a family.”

  “Aren’t you and I in love?” It’s a reminder, not really a question.

  Her smile widens, but it’s a sad smile. “Yes, we are. But I just can’t help but think it won’t be enough… and maybe not just for you, but for me too.”

  “Love isn’t enough?” She’s confusing me, and damn if my head isn’t already spinning from everything that’s happened today and really ever since Meg was dropped into our lives.

  “People have things that fulfill them. Paige has teaching. Evan has his restaurant. Claire is going to be a doctor, and Tyler’s a firefighter. If I can’t even be a mother, than what do I have? It’s like I’m nothing, nothing at all. And eventually you’d see it too, and I don’t want to suck you down into my misery.”

  I ease back into the couch and shake my head. “Is that really what you believe, Kate?”

  She shrugs. “Sometimes… yeah. I had a little hope when Kayla dropped Meg off, but…”

  “We can’t control what happens with Meg,” I tell her.

  “You were heartbroken. You wanted her to be yours.”

  “Yeah, I did,” I admit.

  “And you’ll want your own child someday too.”

  “Will you just stop?” I try not to sound angry as I move right back to the edge of the couch, but damn if she’s not pushing me. “How is it fair for you to presume what I’m thinking or feeling, Kate? I get that you need to protect yourself, but can’t you have a little faith in me too?”

  “Garrett… I’m not trying to hurt you.”

  “Well, you are. You know, you talk about dreams, and I’ve lived some pretty big ones, playing college ball and being in the NFL. A lot of guys would kill for that kind of life, but the more successful I was at it, the more empty I felt. I wanted to come home… to build a home… build a family. And don’t tell me what that’s supposed to look like, Kate. Maybe I thought that meant a wife and five kids, but now if what it means is just me and you spending our life together, then that’s all the family I want or need.”

  “I’m so sorry,” she says, her eyes tearing up. “You’re right… you are. I’ve been trying so hard to protect myself and drowning in my own unhappiness that I haven’t given you a chance… not a fair one at least.” She gets up from her chair, walks around the coffee table and sits down on the other side of me. I keep my hands to myself until she reaches out, until she takes hold of mine, and I let her.

  “I don’t like feeling this way,” she says, so much emotion caught in her throat that I know it must be hard to get the words out. “I hate it… I do. And I know I should be thankful for everything I have when a lot of people don’t even have a fair chance at life, but Shawn messed me up, and—”

  “I’m not Shawn, Kate. I’m just me. And I love you.”

  She lets out a very long breath, and I think maybe she’s beginning to realize, without doubt, that she’ll be safe with me, that I’d rather die than hurt her. “Be patient with me,” she finally says. “I do trust you, and maybe I need to go back to therapy for my issues. It never helped before, but maybe now it would.”

  “I’ve been in therapy,” I say, keeping our hands bonded together. “And it helped me. There’s no shame in it. I’ll support you if you want to do that… or if you want to go to yoga classes or go for long runs or join a support group of whatever… whatever you want… I’m here.”

  She can’t hold back the tears, and I don’t want her to. “Okay… okay,” she cries, nodding and leaning into me.

  I hold her close, both of us just sitting together quietly, our eyes closed for however long we need.

  “What will happen with Meg?” Kate asks quietly, the first to break the silence.

  “We’re going to do everything we can to make sure she’ll be safe wherever she ends up. Since we haven’t been able to get a hold of Milton, he and Kayla might have run off together. But he’ll be back—the Vikings and his contract will make sure of that.”

  “I just want what’s best for her, even if we can’t keep her.”

  “Me too.”

  “Is it safe to come in?” Paige peers into the living room, bracing herself against one of the wooden beams that separates it from the hallway.

  “Yes, of course,” Kate says, sitting up but keeping her hand in mine.

  “Everything okay?” Evan asks, following his wife in, raising his eyebrows at me.

 
“I’m thinking it will be,” I say. “We’ll take it one day at a time.”

  “We do have an extra room if the two of you want to stay the night,” Paige says. “Kind of late to be driving back to Basin Lake, don’t you think?”

  Kate turns to me, her blue eyes saying so much without saying a word, and I know just what she’s thinking.

  “We need to get back to see Meg.” I say it for the both of us. “I don’t know how much longer she’ll be with us, and I think we’d both really like to get her tucked into bed.”

  “Of course,” Paige touches her belly, then looks over at Evan. “Sounds like she’s stolen your hearts.”

  “I’m sorry you guys have to go through this,” Evan offers, wrapping his arm around Paige.

  “We’ll manage.” I rise from the couch, following Kate’s lead.

  “We will,” she agrees. And I believe her. There’s something in her eyes that tells me she’s done second-guessing herself or us.

  We leave Kate’s car with a plan to pick it up in the next few days. She tells me she’d rather be with me, together. So we get into my truck and head toward the freeway.

  Our drive back to Basin Lake is a hopeful one, like there’s some current of electricity propelling us back toward home, back to a complicated, perhaps even confusing future, but one in which she and I will be together. We don’t say a lot, but we don’t need to. Sometimes it’s okay just to be together and not to have to say anything, to let a country song play on the radio and to stretch your arm out behind your girl and for her to lay her hand on your thigh.

  And that’s pretty much what we do.

  Secure now that Kate trusts me and believes in me, my mind wanders back to Meg. She’s found a place in our hearts, but if we can’t keep her, then we’ll make damn sure she’ll end up with someone safe, someone who won’t disappoint or abandon her. And maybe another child will come along who will need the kind of home I hope to build with Kate, or maybe one won’t. Whatever happens, it will be all right as long as I’ve got Kate.

  “You feeling better?” I ask her once I’ve parked in front of my folks’ house, having called ahead to let them know we were on our way and would be picking Meg up.

  She holds tight to my arm. “Much. If Meg can be a trooper at three years old, then I’m going to try to emulate her. I’m going to work on being strong.”

  “You’re already strong,” I assure her. “You just needed a reminder of how strong our relationship really is.”

  She responds with a kiss, long and sweet, one that makes me wish we were at home and in my bed instead of in my truck.

  “I’d really like to get you naked.”

  She looks down toward my crotch where I’m sure she sees how stiff she’s gotten me. “Later,” she says with a smile.

  When she reaches for the handle of her door, I ask her to hold on, that I need a few minutes, to “relax.”

  She laughs sweetly, then starts talking about the Farmer’s Almanac she’d found on the coffee table at my house, basically going over the most mundane facts in an effort to help me out. Truth is that it’s difficult not to get excited around Kate, but I remind myself there’ll be time for us later. Right now, there’s a little girl inside who I think might really like to see us.

  I assure Kate I’ll be fine, and then we head toward the house like one solid unit. We’re barely through the door when Skyler meets us, her face drawn.

  “Dad all right? Meg?” A sudden fear shoots through me, thinking the worst, thinking he’d just had another heart attack or that someone had come for Meg while we’d been away.

  “Dad’s fine,” she says in a low voice, looking to Kate and I both. “And Meg is sleeping up in Charlotte’s room, but there is something, something I need to tell you both.”

  “Okay.”

  “Let’s go into the family room. Everyone is waiting.” We follow her, and indeed, Matt, Mom and Dad are all sitting with grave looks on their faces.

  “What’s going on?” I ask.

  “Meg is okay, isn’t she?” Kate looks back and toward the stairs, as if Skyler’s earlier assurance was a lie.

  “Yes… yes,” Skyler says. “Just please sit down.”

  Kate and I move to the empty loveseat. She sits first, and then I’m right next to her, my arm around her, her hand on my knee.

  “We had a visit from one of the officers in town,” Dad says, his voice stronger than I remember it being since the heart attack. “I’m afraid he had some rather bad news for us about Meg’s parents.”

  “News?” I look over at Skyler. “Why didn’t you say something when I called?”

  She shakes her head. “Let Dad tell you.”

  Kate grips my knee tighter, and her breathing picks up.

  “There’s no easy way to say this. The man you figured out was Meg’s father, Milton Beers… well, he killed Kayla Millbanks and then shot himself. He’s dead. The office said it was a murder-suicide.”

  Kate gasps, and my stomach drops out from under me. “They’re dead… both of them?”

  “Yes. It happened just this afternoon outside of Minneapolis. I’m sure it will be all over the news tomorrow. The officer mentioned some of Kayla’s friends started coming out of the woodwork, saying her and Milton’s relationship was abusive and had been for years.”

  “But I knew him,” I say, trying to match Milton, my teammate, to Milton, both as Meg’s father as well as a man capable of killing her mother, a woman he must have loved at some point. Would he have killed Meg too if she’d been there with them? The thought sends a cold shiver down my spine.

  “She was protecting her,” Kate says, her voice full of emotion. “That’s why she brought her here… because she trusted you, Garrett.” She looks over at me, her eyes rimmed with tears but also full of so much love that I can feel it soak right into my skin. “Of everyone, she had the most faith in you. That’s why she drove Meg thousands of miles… because she knew you were the best person in the world to trust her daughter with.”

  I’m choked with so much feeling, unable to speak. Is that what had happened? Did Kayla know Milton was going to do something like this and had made the bet that I’d take Meg in and keep her safe?

  This moment is like no other. I’m wracked with so many emotions that I don’t think I could make sense of them even if I tried. And thankfully I don’t have to… not right now at least. Kate wraps her arms around me, holding tight.

  “I will always love you, Garrett,” she tells me between the tears that are now falling from her.

  “Me too,” I say, barely getting it out. “Me too.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

  GARRETT

  Two Years Later - A Basin Lake Epilogue

  I hadn’t known Kayla was an only child or that her father left when she was only six years old. Her mother had moved to Florida when Kayla was nineteen. Kayla could have gone with her, but she told her mother she liked the winters in Minnesota, that she couldn’t imagine a Christmas without snow. These are the things her mother told us after her daughter’s death, things I should have known about a woman I’d been sleeping with, a woman I might have fathered a child with.

  Kayla had few close friends, and, of those, only two seemed to know her history with Milton. She met him when she was twenty and met me when they were broken up for what, her friends later told us, was one of dozens of times. Other than those two friends, her relationship with Milton and the fact that he fathered Meg was somewhat of a guarded secret, maybe because Milton dated so many other women or maybe because Kayla didn’t want anyone to know she kept going back to him. Either way, when I’d briefly dated her, Milton didn’t seem to know about it, or if he did, he didn’t care.

  But, in the end, he did care or at least thought that was the emotion he was feeling. A man who will murder a woman he once proclaimed to love is selfish and loves only himself. By killing Kayla, he took away not only her life, but the life of a mother, Meg’s mother. He left a legacy of death for a girl who dese
rves so much better than that.

  “Congratulations,” Evan says, shaking my hand and pulling me out of my thoughts.

  “Thanks.” I smile and catch up to the present… to today… a day I’ve waited for what seems like forever to come. “You and Paige have been amazing. I’m so grateful you guys are a part of my life… our lives.” I look down the steps of the courthouse in Spokane, the day sunny and bright, Kate who is now my wife gathered with her sisters and friends, taking pictures to help commemorate and share this day.

  “And we’re damn lucky to have you guys, too. But why are you standing up here on the periphery of everything? Just need a breather?”

  “Exactly,” I say, taking a breath and wiping a tear that is trying, but failing, to escape the corner of my eye. “I’ll get back down there in a minute, but it’s kind of nice to watch them all from here. Look how happy they all are?” Just the sight of them makes my chest heavy and my throat tight, like I could cry or burst open with love.

  He pats me on the back. “Ever thought we’d get here? Both of us dads, both of us married to the perfect girl for each of us?”

  “Honestly?” I laugh. “It wasn’t looking good there for a while.”

  “No… no it wasn’t. Want to sit for a few?”

  “Sure,” I say, and join him, sitting on one of the wide steps and stretching my legs down them.

  “So, you’ve obviously been a father since the day you welcomed that girl into your life, but how does it feel now that it’s official?”

  “How do you think it feels?” The giant grin on my face should say it all. “Meg is ours. Meg. Is. Ours,” I repeat.

  It had been a long, painful road. After Kayla’s death, both Kate and I offered to take Meg in for good, but we also weren’t willing to stand in the way of helping her get placed with any of Kayla’s relatives who wanted her, even though that pretty much killed us to have to even offer. But, other than her mother, there was really no one, and her mother said she was too old to take in a child that young.

  There were months of social service involvement and even a foster home we dreaded having to let Meg go into during some legal wrangling. But we had to follow the law and the process, and not every step was a good one. Those steps were made easier at least with some help from the husband of Paige’s childhood best friend, Emma. John used his many contacts in the legal system to help us cut through mounds of red tape a lot faster than we could have on our own, allowing us to give Meg the forever home she deserves.