Читать книгу Marriage On The Cards: Marry Me, Mackenzie! / A Proposal Worth Millions / Heart Surgeon, Hero...Husband? - Susan Carlisle - Страница 12

Chapter Five

It took Dylan a couple of weeks to make a decision about Hope. He had gone about his daily life trying to focus on business. He hadn’t told anyone about Hope, not his girlfriend, his aunt or his best friend. He needed to get right with it in his own head before he could open up to other people. And after many distracted days and restless nights, he had an epiphany of sorts: Didn’t he have a moral obligation to Hope? Yes, the idea of becoming an “instant parent” terrified him. But if he was brutally honest with himself, the idea of repeating his father’s mistakes scared him even more. Once he came to a decision, he took the only next logical step: he called Mackenzie.

“Hello?” Mackenzie answered the phone.

“Hi, Mackenzie. It’s Dylan. How are you?”

“I’m fine. Busy. But fine,” Mackenzie said. “Hope’s doing really well. Her recent blood tests came back clear. She’s still in remission.”

“That’s good to hear.”

When he didn’t add anything more, Mackenzie asked, “How are you doing, Dylan?”

“I’m okay. Still sorting through this thing, I think.” Dylan rested his forehead in his hand. “Look, Mackenzie, I’ve been thinking a lot about Hope...are you sure that getting to know me is what your daughter wants?”

Mackenzie hated that she hesitated before she said, “I’m sure.”

“Then, let’s set it up.” Dylan stared out the window at the calm ocean in the distance. His tone was steady but his heart was pounding.

“Um...” Mackenzie rubbed her temples to prevent a migraine from flaring up. “I haven’t told Hope that I found you yet. I was waiting to hear from you. I didn’t want to get her excited and then...well, you know...”

“Understood.” Dylan sounded as if he was arranging a business meeting rather than a meeting with his newly discovered daughter. It was his comfort zone and it helped him stay sane. “When can you get that done?”

“Not tonight,” Mackenzie said distractedly. “She has chemo tomorrow and she’ll be sick all weekend...but maybe next week sometime when she’s feeling better...”

“That’s fine.” Dylan nodded his head. “Once that’s done, give me a call and we’ll figure out the next step. Does that work for you?”

“Yes,” Mackenzie said after she cleared her throat. “I’ll call you once I’ve spoken with my daughter.”

After they ended the call, Mackenzie stared at the phone for several seconds.

“Well?” Rayna was staring at her like a cat gearing up to pounce on a catnip toy. “That had to be Dylan, right? What did he say?”

“He wants to meet Hope.”

Rayna turned the burner on the stove down. “See? Look at that! Prayers in action! This is great news!”

“What’s great news?” Charlie walked through the front door wearing mint-green scrubs. She hung her keys on the hook just inside the door.

“Hi, honey.” Rayna smiled at her wife, Charlotte. “Dylan finally came to his senses and called. He’s agreed to meet Hope!”

Rayna was the yin to Charlotte’s yang. Rayna had shoulder-length wispy blond hair, pretty, Slavic features and alabaster skin. Charlotte, who preferred to be called Charlie, was an attractive mix of Irish and Mexican heritage with light brown eyes, golden-chestnut skin and thick black wavy hair worn loose and long. At first, Rayna and Charlie were just her landlords, but they had become family after Hope was diagnosed. Rayna and Charlie had been in the trenches with them right from the start—cooking meals, running errands and pulling all-nighters watching Hope while Mackenzie caught a few hours of sleep. And Rayna’s church had held fundraisers to help raise money to help pay for Hope’s burgeoning medical bills. It was hard to imagine how she would have gotten through the first year of Hope’s treatment without them.

“Huh...” Charlie kissed Rayna on the lips. “How come you’re happy and Mackenzie’s not?”

“You know Mackenzie resists change.” Ray held out a wooden spoon to Charlie. “Here. Taste this.”

Charlie tasted the sauce. “That’s really good.”

“I don’t think I resist change,” Mackenzie said.

A sleepy-eyed, rotund gray tabby cat named Max appeared. Charlie scooped him up, kissed him on the head. “I thought this was the call you’ve been waiting for all week...?”

“It’s not that I’m not glad that he called. I am. It’s just a lot to take in, that’s all. It’s always just been Hope and me.” Mackenzie rested her chin on her hand. “I like how things are between us now...”

“Resistant to change,” Rayna said in a singsong voice.

Charlie got some water and then joined Mackenzie at the kitchen table. “But maybe this will turn out to be a great thing. You yourself already said that he’s a good guy. What could it hurt to have another person share the load? Between the bakery and managing Hope’s leukemia treatments, let’s face it...you’ve got your hands full.”

At Mackenzie’s feet, Max was preparing for a leap onto her lap. Mackenzie patted her legs for encouragement.

“Oh, my dear lord, what have you been feeding this cat, Ray?” Max landed on her leg with a grunt. “I thought he was on a diet.”

Charlie sent Rayna an “I told you so” look. Rayna was immediately defensive. “He is on a diet! Don’t listen to them, Max-a-million. You’re just big boned!” Rayna pointed a spatula at her. “And don’t change the subject. What’s really scaring you?”

Rayna could read her like a book. “I don’t know. I suppose I am, a little scared. I mean...what if...

“What if...” Mackenzie hadn’t admitted this private thought aloud. “What if Dylan ends up wanting custody of Hope? What if Hope decides that she wants to live with him down the road?”

Charlie and Rayna both shook their heads in unison.

“Nope. Not gonna happen.” Charlie twisted her thick wavy hair into a bun.

Rayna came to the table. “Not a chance.”

“I feel stupid admitting that out loud...” Mackenzie scratched behind Max’s chops.

“It’s not stupid,” Rayna said. “It’s human.”

“I suppose so...” Mackenzie helped Max to the floor safely. “You know what, guys? If it’s all the same to you, I think I’m just gonna skip dinner.”

“Are you sure?” Rayna asked, disappointed. “I was going to try out a new recipe on you! And I have wine...”

“Yeah. I’m sure.” She stood up, glad that she lived next door. “I just need some time to...decompress before Hope gets back from the movies.”

“Bath salts, candles and a hot bath.” Rayna hugged her tightly at the door. “Everything always looks better after a bath.”

* * *

Dylan drove slowly up the winding, tree-lined private driveway that led to his aunt’s farm. When he was growing up, and Uncle Bill was still alive, the farm had been bustling with activity. Now the place felt lifeless. The horses were gone, the stable hands and horse trainers were gone. The only thing left were empty pastures, empty stables and Aunt Gerri’s sprawling two-story 1900s farmhouse with its wraparound porch and old tin roof. At one time, Forrest Hanoverians claimed over a hundred acres and were renowned for the quality of their Hanoverian breeding program. Over the years, Aunt Gerri had sold off much of the farm’s land until only the central twenty acres of the farm remained.

Dylan parked his car in the circle driveway in front of the house. Aunt Gerri swung open the front door and waved at him.

“I was just getting ready to play the organ, when I saw you coming up the driveway!” Aunt Gerri called to him from the door. Just shy of her eighty-third birthday, Geraldine Forrest was a petite woman with intelligent bright blue eyes, a steel-trap memory and a kind-hearted disposition. Dylan always marveled at her energy; she kept herself busy going to garage sales, playing the organ at her church and socializing with her long list of friends.

“How are you, Aunt Gerri?” Dylan walked up the porch steps.

“Well...I’ll tell you...I’m fit as a fiddle.” Aunt Gerri held out her arms to him. “Oh! I’m so happy to see you!”

“I’m glad to see you, too, Aunt Gerri.” Dylan hugged her and kissed her on the cheek.

“Okay...so let’s go inside.” Aunt Gerri turned to head back into the house. “You’ll have to shut the door real hard—it’s been sticking lately.”

Dylan ran his hand up the edge of the door. “I’ll fix it for you before I leave.”

“Oh! Would you?” Aunt Gerri beamed. “That would be such a big help. I was finally going to break down and call someone about it tomorrow. You’ll be saving me the trouble. Do you want coffee?”

“No, thanks. I’m good.” Dylan stopped to straighten a picture of Uncle Bill hanging in the foyer. After his mom died, this became his permanent home. Uncle Bill and Aunt Gerri took him and raised him. This house, with its creaky wide-planked wooden floors and thick crown molding, was his home. It was the one place that never really changed. The one thing he could always count on, especially when something significant happened in his life.

“Let’s go to the sitting room, then. I want to show you my brand-new organ.” Aunt Gerri headed into the large room to the left of the foyer.

“It’s a Lowrey Holiday Classic...” Aunt Gerri stood proudly by her organ. “I just traded my old one in. This is my seventh organ and this’ll probably be the last one I buy...”

Dylan sat down in his grandmother’s rocking chair. “It’s nice. I like it.”

“I’ll be sure to play it for you before you go.” Aunt Gerri settled herself in another rocking chair. “So...” Her sharp blue eyes were curious. “What’s the news?”

“Can’t I visit you without being accused of having an ulterior motive?”

“Oh, I think I know you pretty well,” Aunt Gerri said. “There’s gotta be something real important going on to bring you all the way out here on a business day.”

“You’ve always had my number ever since I was a kid.” Dylan fiddled with the loose rocking-chair arm before he looked back at his aunt. “And you’re right. There is something I need to tell you.”

“Well, go on and tell me what it is so we can talk it out.”

“I found out a couple of weeks ago that I have...a daughter.” Dylan watched his aunt’s face to gauge her reaction. “Her name is Hope. She’s ten.”

“Did you just say you’ve got a daughter?” Aunt Gerri stopped rocking. “Who’s the mother?”

For the next half hour, Dylan talked and his aunt listened. He told his aunt about the first time he’d ever seen Hope at the barn and he recounted his recent conversation with Mackenzie. Like a confession, he didn’t leave anything out. Not even the fact that he hadn’t been sober the night Hope had been conceived or the fact that he had never dated Mackenzie. And when he was done, he felt as if a weight had been lifted. Now that Aunt Gerri knew about Hope, it was real. No matter what happened, no matter how tough it got, there was no going back.

When he had said his piece, Aunt Gerri thought a bit before she spoke. She rocked back and forth, mulling things over.

“Now that I think about it, I remember Mackenzie. She was a heavyset girl, wasn’t she? But she had beautiful blue eyes.”

Dylan nodded. “She still does.”

Violet eyes.

“She was such a sweet little girl,” his aunt said. “But so serious.”

“She still is.”

“Well...what does she want from you, Dylan? What does she expect?”

“She wants me to spend time with Hope. That’s all. She doesn’t want money...”

“Not even for the medical bills? Good gracious, cancer treatment can’t be cheap.” Aunt Gerri had always held the purse strings for the farm.

“I know,” Dylan responded to his aunt’s skeptical expression. “I thought it was strange, too. But she was adamant about the money. More than that, she doesn’t want me to be a parent to Hope, either.”

Aunt Gerri frowned. “But is that what you want? You’re the child’s father.”

“Honestly, Aunt Gerri? I have no idea what I want.”

“Well...I suppose that’s where you need to start then, don’t you? If you don’t know what you want, how in the world can you figure out what you’re going to do?”

* * *

Hope had picked Pegasus as their first father-and-daughter day. It seemed like a better idea than a restaurant, and he wanted Hope to feel comfortable, so he had agreed. Now that he was here, he started to doubt the soundness of that decision. Perhaps they should have met in private, at his house, before they went public. Dylan parked his car next to Mackenzie’s Chevy and shut off the engine. Instead of getting out, he stayed in the car. He’d never felt capable of having a panic attack until today. His heart was racing, his mouth was dry and beads of sweat were trickling down the side of his face. He was a mess. The thought of spending the day with Hope made him feel panicked. He had absolutely no idea what to say to a ten-year-old girl; ten-year-old girls hadn’t exactly been his target demographic.

“Quit being a coward,” Dylan said to himself. “And get out of the stupid car.”

After convincing himself to leave the car, Dylan headed to the office. Lucky for him, Aggie was the only one there.

She greeted him with a broad smile and a loud, booming voice. “I heard you were comin’ out to lend us a hand today!”

Aggie stomped over to him in her crusty, knee-high black rubber boots and pumped his hand a couple of times. “Come on over here and take a load off. I’ve got your papers all ready to be filled out. Nothing fancy—but the long and short of it is, you’re agreein’ that if one of our horses kicks you in the privates or eats your pinkie for a snack, you’re on your own. We volunteer at our own risk around here...so if you can live with that, I’ll be more than happy to put you to work.”

“I can live with it.” Dylan sat down at the cluttered picnic table in the middle of the room and resisted the urge to start straightening it up. Instead, he forced himself to focus on reviewing the papers.

“I’ll make you a badge so you’ll feel official. We don’t have riders today—just barn work. But anyone who wants to ride after the chores are done can saddle up.”

Aggie handed Dylan a badge and Dylan handed her the filled-out forms. Dylan stood up and Aggie looked down at his pristine boots.

“If you’re gonna hang with us, you’re gonna have’ta get you some good old-fashioned muckers. Those fancy boots aren’t gonna survive a fresh steamin’ pile of manure, I guarantee that.” When Aggie laughed, one eye stayed open and the other one shut completely. “I’m done with ya, so head to the barn. There’s always plenty to be done and not enough hands to do it.”

Dylan walked out of the office, around the corner, and bumped right into Mackenzie.

Their bodies hit together so hard that Mackenzie had the breath temporarily knocked out of her.

Concerned, Dylan held on to her arms to steady her. “Are you okay?”

“I wasn’t expecting anyone to come around that corner,” Mackenzie said, slightly annoyed. “But I’m okay now. You can let go.”

Dylan released her arms quickly, as if he was pulling his hands away from hot coals. “Sorry. I did it again.”

Dylan stared hard at Mackenzie. Something had just happened between them. When their bodies came together, they were a perfect fit. She was curvy and voluptuous and petite; not what he would normally gravitate toward. But he liked the way her body had felt against his. He had enjoyed the feeling of having Mackenzie in his arms. She felt like...home.

Mackenzie tugged on the front of her oversize, long-sleeve T-shirt. “I’m glad you came.”

“I said I would,” Dylan said defensively.

“I know.” Mackenzie had worry etched into her forehead. “I know you did...but I was...”

“Worried that I wouldn’t show?”

“Yes...I’m sorry. But, yes. Hope could hardly sleep last night. She’s so excited to meet you.” Mackenzie was speaking in a low, private voice. “But I think she’s more scared than anything.”

“Scared? Why is she scared of me?”

“She’s not scared of you. I think that she’s scared that you won’t like her.” Mackenzie pushed some wayward strands of hair away from her face.

“Well, then, that makes two of us, because I’ve been really worried that she won’t like me, too.” Dylan looked down at his outfit. “I changed my clothes three times before I finally put this together.”

Mackenzie’s eyebrows rose. Dylan was wearing a pressed Ralph Lauren button-down dress shirt, new dark-wash jeans and his spotless boots.

“I did mention that you were going to be doing barn work...didn’t I?” Mackenzie asked.

“You mentioned it. I just wanted to look nice for Hope.” Dylan frowned down at his outfit. “I look ridiculous, don’t I?”

“No. You don’t look ridiculous, Dylan. You just look...kind of dressy for the barn. That’s all,” Mackenzie tried to reassure him. “But stop worrying. Trust me. Hope doesn’t care what you’re wearing. So...are you ready?”

“Nope.” Dylan’s stomach started to feel a little queasy.

“What happened to the fearless Dylan Axel I used to know?” Mackenzie tried to tease his nerves away.

“He was too young to know better.”

“Come on, Dylan.” Mackenzie offered him her hand. “The best way to get something done is to start...”

Dylan took her hand, soft and warm, and let her gently tug him in the right direction. Their hands naturally slipped apart as they walked side by side through the barn’s dusty center aisle. As they walked along, Mackenzie greeted the ragtag bunch of secondhand horses and the handful of volunteers working that day. With thirty geriatric horses to care for, Dylan understood why Aggie was so eager to sign him up. Organizations that relied entirely on donations, grants and volunteers were in a constant state of borderline panic and flux. Pegasus was no different.

“This way.” Mackenzie tucked her fingers into the front pocket of her jeans. “Hope’s out back washing feed buckets.”

Dylan could hear the water running from the hose and he stopped walking. “Wait.”

“What’s wrong?”

Dylan backed up a step. “Maybe this isn’t the best place for this to happen.”

“Oh, no, no, no, no, no. You’re not backing out.” Mackenzie’s demeanor changed. She walked over to him and grabbed his hand. “This is happening right now.”

Mackenzie pulled Dylan forward a couple of steps, into an open area with concrete slabs set up for washing the horses.

“Hey, kiddo!” Mackenzie slapped a bright smile on her face. “Look who I found...”

Under her breath, and only for Dylan’s ears, Mackenzie said, “You’re up.”

Hope looked up from her task of washing out a large group of blue feed buckets. She looked at him directly and what he saw in her eyes was something he hadn’t experienced with anyone other than his aunt Gerri: total acceptance. Hope’s pretty face lit up with excitement as she smiled nervously at him. She dropped the hose and wiped her hands off on her jeans while she headed over to where they were standing. Hope wrapped her arm around her mom’s waist for security. She looked up at Mackenzie, Mackenzie looked at Dylan, and Dylan looked at Hope.

“Awwwkward.” Hope was the first to break the uncomfortable silence.

Dylan liked how Hope broke the ice. “You’re right. It is.”

Mackenzie ran her hand over the top of Hope’s head. “Sometimes this one doesn’t have a filter.”

“That’s okay.” Dylan was immediately hooked by Hope’s shy, brief smile. “I have that same problem sometimes.”

“Do you know who I am?” Hope asked him.

“Hope...” Mackenzie started to correct her.

“No. That’s okay,” Dylan said to Mackenzie before he looked down at Hope. “Yes. I do know who you are. You’re my Hope.”