Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 92782 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 464(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92782 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 464(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
“Yes. I know I can.”
She smiled. “Good,” she said, then headed for the door. “I will see you tomorrow morning then.”
“Okay, bye. Thank you,” I called out.
The door closed behind her, and I looked over at the tower of food, wrapped up in pretty packaging. It looked familiar, but I couldn’t figure out where I’d seen something like it before.
40
Liam
I jerked open the door before Madeline could ring the doorbell. Her vehicle pulling down my driveway had been the only moment in the past twenty-four hours that I wasn’t in complete torment. The sight of her meant that Blaise had found Liberty.
“You look like you haven’t slept in a week,” she said, her eyes scanning me before she stepped inside.
Ozzy came walking into the foyer to see who had arrived. He wasn’t in much better shape than me. He’d not eaten much since Liberty had left, and he kept pulling his dog bed to the side of my bed she’d slept on, as if he believed she would come back and he wanted to be there.
“Where is she? Did Blaise find her?” I asked, still gripping the doorknob. I wasn’t going to sit and visit. I needed a goddamn address.
Madeline smiled at Ozzy. “Hello, Ozzy.” Then, she lifted her eyes to me and crossed her arms over her chest.
There was disapproval in her steady gaze that I didn’t have time for. She could berate me later. I just needed to get to Liberty.
“That’s why I’m here. I told him not to,” she informed me.
No. I shook my head. That was what had kept me sane since I’d walked in this house and found Liberty’s note and the photo of our baby.
“Madeline, I have to find her,” I pleaded, my hoarse voice cracking.
She raised her eyebrows. “If she wanted you to know where she was, then she would have told you. The fact that she did not means she wanted time,” she replied.
Fuck. I’d have to find someone who could track her down. She didn’t have a car, and her phone was going straight to voice mail. I’d driven to every motel and hotel in the city and outside the city last night. Nothing. No one had her as a guest. A few had told me that they weren’t allowed to give out that information, but when I had grabbed them by the collar and pulled them over the counter, they had talked.
Blaise was the fastest way to find her.
“Madeline, please. I messed up. She needs to hear what I have to say,” I begged, running my hand through my hair.
The determined gleam in my daughter’s eyes wasn’t softening.
I walked over and picked up the ultrasound photo that I’d been staring at when her car arrived and held it out to her. “See this? She needs me. They both do.”
Madeline took the photo, and a soft smile touched her lips. “I have a brother,” she said. “Congratulations, Liam.”
Then, she lifted her gaze to me. “When I came here, the way she looked at you when you first walked up, that was love. Then, you treated her in a way that no woman deserves. You acted as if she were some hired hand instead of the woman carrying your child. Why, Liam? Why did you do it? My heart was breaking for her, and I was so angry with you, and you were being so stubborn, telling me that she was fine.” Madeline held out the photo to me. She shook her head. “I’m sorry. I can’t allow you to get her address and go to her. She was right to leave. I would have left too. Maybe now, you can acknowledge how you feel about her. Is she the live-in housekeeper, or is she the woman you want to spend forever with and raise a family with?”
Thinking about how I’d treated her was haunting me.
“You think I don’t know that? I haven’t slept. I can’t close my eyes because when I do, I am reminded of what I’ve done. How I hurt her. It is ripping me to shreds inside, Madeline,” I said, slamming a hand on my chest. “If I can’t find her, how do I fix it?! How do I tell her that I love her? That I was scared. That I didn’t think I would be enough for her. Not forever. That I thought I was saving her from a future where she was married to an old man. I couldn’t see us growing old together because I was the one who was gonna be old, not her. I told myself it was selfish of me to make this more. To love her.” I let out a hard laugh. “I was a fucking fool. I’ll be whoever she wants me to be. I’ll take her however I can have her, as long as I can have her. I’ll worship her, love her, and if the day comes when she no longer wants me, I will do everything I can to change her mind. Because I can’t see a future if she’s not in it, here, in my bed, in my house.”