Matthew swept her off her feet and carried her over to the settee. He sat down with her cradled in his lap. He bent his head, and felt his wet cheek against hers.
“It wasn’t your fault, Matthew. It wasn’t my fault. It was just something that happened. We have to believe that so we can move beyond it. There will be other babies.”
He lifted his head to meet her gaze. “But will there be other babies…for us, Carmen? For you and me?”
Carmen knew what he was asking. He’d once told her that he didn’t want any other woman to have his child but her. And from the look in his eyes he still wanted that. He wanted to know if their relationship would ever get back to the way it was, when he was her whole world and she was his.
She shifted slightly in his embrace to wrap her arms around his neck. She wanted to make sure he heard what she was about to say. “I never stopped loving you, Matthew. The reason I wanted that baby so much was because it was a part of you, and a part of me. And the reason I hurt so much afterward was because I thought I had lost that connection. I thought the baby would bring us back together.” She paused a second and then said, “But I’ve discovered that all it takes to bring us back together is us. Being with you here this past week has shown me there is still an us, and I want that back so badly. I was never involved with Bruno. It was all a publicity stunt. The only man I ever wanted to belong to was you. Can you forgive me for shutting you out of my life when I needed you most? Can you forgive me for running away? I will never leave you again.”
“Oh, Carmen. I need you to forgive me, as well. I love you so much. I was so driven to give you the things you were used to having that I lost focus, I forgot about those things that truly mattered. You, and truly making you happy. I’ve been so lonely without you. And Candy, too, was just a publicity stunt. Hell, I was looking forward to spending time without her here. But when I arrived and discovered you, I wanted you to stay. At first I wanted revenge, to hurt you the way I was hurting, but I soon discovered it couldn’t be that way with us.”
She nodded. “I was going to make you want me and then leave again. Instead I ended up wanting you so badly I didn’t know what to do.”
“We’re going to handle our business differently from here on out,” he declared. “I’ve learned this week that I can balance my work and the rest of my life. Will you give me another chance to prove it?”
Carmen smiled up at him as he pushed back a strand of hair from her face. “I want that, too, Matthew.”
“And will you marry me, Carmen?”
She felt more tears come to her eyes. “Yes, yes, I will marry you, and this time will be forever.”
“Forever,” he said, bending down to kiss her. And the kiss they shared was full of promise for a brighter and happier future. Together, knowing what they now knew about each other, they would be able to do anything.
Moments later he broke off the kiss and stood with her in his arms. She recognized the look he was giving her. “What about the polo match?” she asked.
He chuckled as he crossed the room to the bed. “There will be others.”
Carmen knew he was right. Being in his arms and making love to him was what she needed. They were being given another chance at happiness and were taking it.
“It will be me and you together, Carmen, for the rest of our lives.”
She reached up and caressed the side of his face. “Yes, Matthew, for the rest of our lives.”
EPILOGUE
Ardella rushed over to them the moment Matthew and Carmen entered the tent, and from the anxious look on her face it was evident she was looking for a scoop. This time Matthew and Carmen didn’t mind giving her one.
“So you two, what are you smiling about?”
Matthew pulled Carmen closer to his side. “It’s a beautiful day and we believe it will be a good polo match.”
The woman gave them a sly look. “I think there’s something else.”
Carmen decided to take Ardella out of her inquisitive misery. “There is something else and you can say you heard it right from us. Matthew and I have decided to remarry.”
The smile on the woman’s face appeared genuine. “I am truly happy for you two, but you know everyone will want details and facts.”
Carmen threw her head back. “Sorry, but some things we plan to keep secret and sacred.” She refused to spill the beans about their plan to have a private ceremony on the beach here in the Hamptons this weekend. The first person she’d called was Rachel who had been supremely ecstatic.
“Matthew, will Carmen star in any future Birmingham movies?”
Matthew glanced down at Carmen and chuckled. “Ardella, Carmen can do anything Carmen wants.”
Ardella beamed. “I will take that as a yes.”
“You do that,” Matthew said. And, knowing that Ardella probably had her secret camera ready, with the profound tenderness of a man who was in love, he pulled Carmen into his arms and kissed her.
No one would understand the emotions flowing through him at that that moment. They were the heartfelt emotions of a man meant to cherish the woman he loved. A man who’d recently realized that he really was husband material.
Carmen’s heart was just as full and later, as she and Matthew sat beside each other watching the polo match, she couldn’t help but wipe a tear from her eye. They had talked and together had promised not to let anything or anyone come between them again.
“You okay, sweetheart?”
Carmen glanced up at Matthew and nodded. “I couldn’t be better.” She paused and, still holding his gaze, whispered, “I love you.”
A smile touched his lips. “And I love you.”
She leaned closer to him when he tightened his arms around her shoulders. She was happy about the future that lay before them. He wanted to try again for a baby and so did she. But right now she looked forward to being Carmen Aiken Birmingham again.
She smiled, liking the sound of that and deciding to show him just how much when they returned home later. Life was good but being with the man you love, she decided, was even better.
* * * * *
Don’t miss New York Times bestselling author
Brenda Jackson’s new book, Finding Home Again,
the next heart-stirring novel in the Catalina Cove series…
CHAPTER ONE
Bryce Witherspoon moved around the party intent on enjoying herself, although the host was the last person she wanted to be around. However, she knew Kaegan Chambray felt the same way about her. Yet, as always whenever he hosted one of his acclaimed cookouts, he included her on the guest list. They both knew the reason why.
Since moving back to town, their childhood friend, Vashti Alcindor-Grisham, forever the peacemaker, had let them know she was best friend to them both and wouldn’t take sides. Nor would she allow herself to be pitted one against the other. So, whenever Vashti was invited to one of Kaegan’s cookouts, to keep peace, he sent Bryce an invitation as well. Vashti’s motto was there are things that happen in the past that are best left there.
Bryce figured she could make things easier on Kaegan by not coming, but then why should she? He certainly didn’t try making things easier for her by coming into her parents’ café regularly. Kaegan would arrive every morning at the Witherspoon Cafe for blueberry muffins and coffee, knowing she would be there and more likely than not, would be the one to wait on him.
It wouldn’t be so bad if she could forget what he once meant to her. It had been ten years since their breakup. She wasn’t twenty-two anymore. Since then she’d dated, but what she’d shared with Kaegan had been special. At least she’d thought it had been. He was her first in a number of things and on so many levels. That’s why the pain of their breakup still managed to linger even after all this time.
And it hadn’t helped matters when he’d returned to the cove four years ago with a chip on his shoulder, still believing he’d the one who’d been wronged. She’d decided to show him that he wasn’t the only one who
could carry around a chip, and at this stage of the game he could believe whatever he wanted about her. All those years ago she’d tried proving her innocence and he hadn’t wanted to listen to what she had to say, so what he thought now didn’t matter.
Coming to his parties let him know she could be in the same room with him and feel absolutely nothing. She figured he was determined to prove the same thing to her, which was probably why he frequented the café every day.
Okay, she knew there was another reason why he patronized the cafe. He might not like her, but he loved her parents and they loved him. He also was good friends with her two older brothers. But they didn’t know the whole story. She never told anyone what had happened between them to end things. In fact, she’d only just told Vashti last year.
One night when Vashti’s husband Sawyer was out of town, Bryce had stopped by her best friend’s home and once Vashti had put her newborn son, Cutter, to bed, over a glass of wine and a sappy movie, she’d told Vashti everything.
She could recall her conversation that night over wine with Vashti like it had been yesterday…
* * *
“Kaegan and I decided we wanted to be more than friends while you were gone to that unwed home to have your baby, Vash. That’s when we became girlfriend and boyfriend. We just didn’t publicize it to anyone at school. My parents knew though. They liked K-Gee so it didn’t matter to them.”
Vashti nodded. “But he left here two years before we finished school and rarely came back. How did the two of you keep the relationship going?”
Bryce took a sip of her wine. “You recall my mom’s youngest sister Jancee?”
“The one who moved from Canada to live in DC?”
“Yes. I would make the excuse of going to see her. But I was really catching the bus to see Kaegan when he was stationed in Maryland.”
Vashti didn’t say anything. “I remember in our senior year how you would occasionally take the bus on the weekends to visit your aunt. I can’t believe you never told me what you were doing and where you were going,” Vashti said in an accusing tone.
“I wanted to tell you, Vast, but you were in your own little world during that time. You were still in grieving after losing your baby. The last thing I wanted to do was overwhelm you with my happiness when you were so unhappy…”
* * *
That same night she’d also told Vashti the reason she and Kaegan had broken up. Instead of the sympathy Bryce had expected, Vashti claimed she could see both sides and felt they were letting their stubbornness get in the way of them sitting down and talking through their issues.
As far as Bryce was concerned there was nothing to talk about. His lack of trust in her was unforgivable. Had he believed in her and knew she could never betray him, none of this would have happened. A part of her wished the hurt he’d caused could somehow eradicate her attraction to him. It didn’t. Whenever she saw him she had to put up with seeing a man who turned feminine heads wherever he went. Including hers.
Kaegan was part of the Pointe-au-Chien Native American tribe. His features were ultra-handsome and the mass of silky black hair that flowed around his shoulders made him look wild, untamed and heart-stopping gorgeous. She recalled the times she would part his hair down the middle and braid it for him, making him look even more alluring.
Usually he wore it in a ponytail but not tonight. Bryce recalled telling him just what seeing all that hair flowing around his face did to her. How hot it made her feel. How so turned-on she would get. That had been years ago, but she of all people knew Kaegan never forgot a thing. That made her wonder if he’d worn it down purposely to make her remember.
Over the years his features had matured. He no longer had the look of the cute boy she’d fallen in love with so many years ago. His eyes appeared to have darkened somewhat but were perfect for his brown skin tone. His high cheekbones had always been his most captivating asset. They still were. Even with that dimple in his chin that couldn’t be ignored. The dimple became even more defined whenever she saw him smile, which was rare when he saw her. She had a tendency to elicit his frowns.
She would be the first to admit that a younger Kaegan Chambray had been a heart-throb, but the older version of that heart-throb was now just too breath-taking for words. Whether she liked him or not, she had to give him that. Deciding she’d both scowled and lusted at him long enough, she glanced around.
Two years ago, Kaegan had torn down the house he and his parents had lived in to build this one. She knew the painful memories within the walls of his childhood home. His father was an alcoholic. , Most of the time, he managed to stay sober during the week to run his business. On the weekend was when he would drink himself into a stupor.
It was during those times when Kaegan would use the small boat he kept hidden away in the underbrush of the bayou and escape through the swamps to a place he considered his hide-away, a deserted, uninhabitable island, Eagle Bend Inlet. It was during those times when Bryce feared for his safety, while going through the swamps that one of those huge alligators was going to eat him alive.
She continued to study his home. She’d never been given a grand tour like a number of others, but she liked the parts she’d seen. It was right on the bayou, on land that had been in the Chambray family for generations. She could imagine waking up here every morning to such a gorgeous view. According to Vashti, due to the risks of hurricanes, Kaegan had built a home that could withstand up to four-hundred mile an hour winds. And the tilt of the foundation, that wasn’t even noticeable, was a deterrence to flooding.
She thought the place was huge for just one man but he’d always said that one day he would grow up and build a mansion…for them. Well, he had certainly built a monstrosity of a house, but it hadn’t been with her in mind. When he’d return to town it had been quite obvious he hadn’t wanted her in his life any more than she wanted him in hers.
“Here you are.”
She turned to greet Vashti. “Yes, here I am on a Friday night. I could be somewhere else you know, and would be if I thought for one minute I wouldn’t hear your mouth about it tomorrow. One day you’re going to realize that no matter what you think, Vash, all Kaegan and I feel for each other now is contempt. Total dislike.”
Vashti rolled her eyes. “If you say so. By the way, did you see Ashley? She looks great pregnant. Ray wasn’t messing around. Who comes back from their honeymoon pregnant?”
Bryce took a sip of her wine knowing Vashti had deliberately changed the subject, but she was fine with her doing so. “A person who comes from their honeymoon pregnant is someone who’d intended to get pregnant. According to Ashley, they spent the entire time trying and it was all about a promise Ray made and intended to keep. They’ve been through a lot, and I’m happy for them.”
A friend of theirs, Ray Sullivan, had married Ashley Ryan six months ago. Last month the couple shared the news they were having twins. A boy and a girl. They’d even selected the names. The boy would be named Devon and the girl Ryan.
A smile touched Vashti’s lips. “I’m happy for them as well. I love happy endings.”
Bryce rolled her eyes. “You also love torturing your two best friends. Why do you put me and Kaegan through this every time he gives a party? I don’t have to be here and we both know that he doesn’t want me here. The only reason he invites me and the only reason I come is because neither of us want to hear you bitch about it.”
“Hey, it’s not my fault that my two best friends fell in love behind my back.”
Bryce rolled her eyes again. “That’s what you get for leaving us alone for those six months.”
“Like I had a choice.”
Bryce knew at the time her best friend hadn’t had a choice. Vashti had gotten pregnant at sixteen. Her parents had sent her away. While she was gone Bryce and Kaegan had grown closer, and all the love Bryce had secretly felt for Kaegan suddenly blossomed.
She tried to recall a time when Kaegan hadn’t been a part of her and Vashti’s live
s and couldn’t. Neither could she recall a time she hadn’t loved him. K-Gee is what everyone called him. The descendants of the Pointe-au-Chien tribe mostly made their home on the west side of the bayou. Kaegan’s family’s ties to the cove and the bayou went back generations, even before the first American settlers. A few of the simpleminded townsfolk of Catalina Cove had never recognized the tribe, except when it was time to pay city taxes.
Although Kaegan was two years older than her and Vashti, the three of them had hung together while growing up since Kaegan hadn’t officially started school until he was almost nine. Dempsey Chambray felt his only son was more useful working in the family seafood shipping business and for years had claimed Kaegan was being home schooled. When the Catalina Cove school board discovered otherwise, they presented the Chambrays with a court order that stated Kaegan was to be put in public school immediately.
Kaegan was a super smart and intelligent kid, and it didn’t take him long to catch up with the rest of the class. However, he couldn’t be put in his right grade because he began missing a lot of days from school to help his father on the boat. It was Mr. Chambray’s way of showing the school board that although they may have required that his son attend school, Kaegan was entitled to sick days. Most people knew that the days Mr. Chambray claimed Kaegan couldn’t come to school because he was ill, Kaegan was out on the ocean working in the family business. It was only when the school board threatened to file a lawsuit against Mr. Chambray’s business that he allowed his son to attend school without any further interruptions.
When Vashti returned to town after her pregnancy, Kaegan had advanced enough in his studies to be placed in his right grade, leaving them two grades behind. But he didn’t forget them. Although his school day ended half an hour sooner than theirs, he would hang around just to walk Vashti and Bryce home from school every day.
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