“You want to go for a ride?”
I fully expected Richard to say no to my proposition, but maybe I could get to know my father-in-law and gain some insight.
He nodded and reached to rub Brandy’s neck. “I’ll take the beast.”
Fifteen minutes later, Richard had Brandy tacked up, and I was mounting Barcado. I hadn’t gotten much of a chance to explore the trails around the club—I was honestly waiting until Maggie could ride again so we could discover them together—so I took us to the route I was most familiar with. Maggie was ecstatic when I messaged her that we were leaving for a trail ride and told me to stay out until sundown. I laughed at her message and felt a new wave of warmth over my body at her reaction.
“So, look. I want to apologize to you personally about how I acted last night.” Richard looked at me pleadingly as we began the walk down the driveway. Barcado snorted and nodded his head up and down as if he were demonstrating how I should respond.
“Thank you. It was hard for Maggie to see that last night, but this morning was a good start in making up for it.” Sure, he still wouldn’t be my favorite person of all time, and I was pissed at him for hurting Maggie the way he did, but his incentive to actuallydosomething about his problem earned him the slightest more respect.
“I really do want to do better. This kid might be a second chance for all of us.”
His words held more truth than he realized. The baby Maggie was carrying may as well have saved Richard and me in the best way. Maybe we were more alike than I thought. “I thought the same thing when Maggie told me she was pregnant. It wasn’t an easy adjustment for anyone, but I can understand how easy it can be to turn to alcohol.”
Richard nodded as Brandy snorted at a fly on her nose.
“Well, I’ve got to say, the way you tried to diffuse the situation last night instead of punching the life out of me is also much appreciated. And I’m sorry about the…” He gestured to the cut on my face from the glass bottle smashed against it the night before.
“Let’s just put it behind us.” A beat passed before I could speak again. Was it possible that I could bond with the man I had hated all my life? Then again, I did fall in love with his daughter after growing apart from her for years—the woman I would ultimately do anything for. “I really do care for your daughter. This baby she’s carrying—and Maggie herself—has changed me for the better in a lot of ways. I’ve grown more in the past five months than I have in my twenty-three years of life.”
“I can see that. As soon as I shook your hand yesterday, I knew you had changed. That’s part of why I was so cold towards you—you’d changed, and I hadn’t. Well, that, and the fact that you got my daughter pregnant, and neither of you told me about it. I think highly of you, Hennicke. Not only did you drop everything in Pennsylvania for my daughter, but you’ve provided a beautiful life for her out here.”
His praise meant more than I expected it to mean. I found myself feeling prideful at his words. At what I had accomplished here. At the life that I had built for myself and Maggie. If someone told me a year ago that I would be living with a woman I was not only committed to, butloved, was preparing for a baby, hadn’t had a drink of alcohol or an anxiety attack in months, I wouldn’t have believed them for a second.
“Thank you, Richard.”
Dare I say, the rest of our ride was enjoyable. Silent moments followed peaceful small talk and compliments of the beautiful scenery around us. Maybe I could form a relationship with my wife's father.
Maybe we could be a family. Together. Happy.
Chapter twenty-nine
Jack
“Are you sure you know how to put this thing together? It looks backward.” Maggie rotated massive paper instructions in her hands as she sat back on the glider we had just put together. At seven months pregnant, she sported a large baby bump now and had a beautiful pregnancy glow that made her look like a goddess. The new baby nursery had been transformed into a maternity clothing store and held far too many baby onesies than we needed, since the baby wasn’t coming for another two months. Nonetheless, I wasn’t about to upset my baby mama about her onesie-buying obsession.
While polo season was almost over, Maggie and I decided to stay in Golden Meadow. She loved her job teaching polo and riding lessons here, and I had taken on several clients who wanted green horses trained for next season. It worked out well since I only had one string of horses who played hard and at their best for the entire season. And even without my dad, my childhood home, and my polo family in Pennsylvania, I was happy here. This place held a forgiving layer to it. Like, no matter where you came from, you were welcome and loved.Maybe I had lived halfway across the country my entire life, butthiswas my home. Here, with Maggie and our little fruit.
Everything felt near-perfect, which had me shaking in my boots, waiting for the other shoe to drop. Nothing ever stayed this way for long. My father had taken the pregnancy news as well as we expected after Richard left for rehab. He was less than furious, but upset we had kept it from him for so long. Sans for the still-unknown whereabouts of my mother, life felt calmer than it ever had.
“Trust me. I know what I’m doing,” I lied. The pieces on the ground looked like they fit together a certain way, but I couldn’t put the damn thing together if Maggie kept hogging the instructions. “It might help if I could see the manual, though.”
“I thought you knew what you were doing.” She raised her eyebrows. Always challenging me, this one. I took in the forest green V-neck that shaped her curves perfectly and accented her emerald green eyes. Her brown waves, which were usually tied up into a bun or a ponytail, cascaded over her shoulders, mesmerizing me.
“Well, my bruised ego can admit I’ve never put together a crib before.” I winked.
“Maybe we should take a break.”
“Maybe we should.”
Maggie rose from the glider, hobbled over to me—her swollen ankles were her biggest enemy now—and placed her chin on my chest, looking helpless for me. The bump in her stomach pressed into my abdomen, and that sense of possessiveness that took over every time I felt our baby arrived instantly. This perfect woman was carrying our child, and I could never thank her enough for it.
I couldn’t help but lean down to kiss her.
Her warm lips met mine, and she instinctively melted against me. My arms wrapped around her waist to pull her closer, closer,closer. I could never get enough of this woman. A sigh left her mouth as her lips tugged mine into her oblivion, enslaving me with her scent, her sounds, her presence. She hummed and wrapped her arms around my neck as her fingers rummaged through my hair. The slight tugs did unspeakable things to my body.
I had been with dozens of women throughout my teenage and college years, felt plenty of hair pulls and sighs and moans, but nothing,nothingcompared to Maggie. It wasn’t because she was the first woman I had ever been with. Not because she was the mother of my future child. There was something more about her, and I knew it wasn’t just me she had the effect on. Everyone was attracted to her bright presence, beautiful features, and captivating laugh. Feeling her against me now made me want to beat the life out of anyone who looked at her the way I did.
