Jacob wiped his eyes, setting Mack off again with the waterworks. “We introduced ourselves and I just didn’t want to ever leave her. I wanted to carry her away with me and keep her forever.”
“Which you did, but a month later.” Mack smiled.
“Yes, I did. The only thing I regret about what happened back then is that we didn’t just go and get married before going to see her father. We should have just done that and told him instead of pretending that she died. He probably would have acted the same, but at least there might have been a chance of Thomas being in our lives as he got older.”
Eliza came back into the room. “Jacob, what have you been saying to upset Dean’s girl again?”
Mack smiled. “He was telling me how it was love at first sight when he saw you. A bit like Dean and me, really.”
Eliza sat down next to her husband. Dean moved to sit back down next to Mack and took her hand in his, lacing their fingers together. “Just like us, Mack.”
“If you want the truth, Mack, neither his grandmother nor I thought we would see the day when he would fall in love so not only have you made our day telling us about Thomas, but you have made our day by loving our grandson. So, thank you.”
She smiled at both of Dean’s grandparents. “I want you to know I love Dean so much. He has become part of me in such a short time.” She turned to Dean and placed a tender kiss on his lips.
“Now you’ve made me cry,” Eliza said, wiping at her eyes again.
Dean stood, pulling Mack up from the sofa. “We’re going to go and rest for a while before heading out. We’ll see you before we leave.”
“Make sure you do,” Eliza said.
Mack hugged Eliza and Jacob.
“You take good care of her, you hear?”
Dean looked at Mack. “Yes, sir,” he replied, looking at his grandfather.
Chapter 39
They walked out of the study. Dean escorted Mack through to the back stairs to his room so that Martha wouldn’t see them and engage them in conversation. All he wanted was to be alone with Mack, who looked exhausted.
Mack was still really pale after discovering Rose was still alive, having been living all these years as Eliza. God, Dean hadn’t seen that one coming, although he should have realized something wasn’t right with the marriage license and the name of his father and aunt.
“Mack, come and lie down. You look drained.”
She moved over to Dean and wrapped her arms around his waist. “Don’t let go.”
He picked her up in his arms and carried her to his bed. “I don’t intend to.”
He lay down on the bed with Mack cradled in his arms. “You’re the first woman, apart from my grandmother and mother, to come into my room, Mack.” He hadn’t realized until then, with Mack in his arms, in his room, how sacrosanct his room, and possibly his heart, had become. He hadn’t realized that his grandmother was so worried about his heart. He was glad that he had Mack, thou
gh. She was his Rose, the only woman he’d given his heart to.
“I love you, Dean,” Mack whispered before she fell asleep.
As Mack started to wake up, she’d forgotten where she was and why, but she certainly recognized the body holding her.
She smiled, feeling so full of joy, knowing that Rose hadn’t died and had lived a long life. Sixty-eight years with the love of her life, Jacob. She didn’t know how to break the news to Thomas, but hopefully, he wouldn’t be too upset, now that he had the family he’d always wanted.
She wrapped her arms around a sleeping Dean and kissed his chest. “I’m so thankful that you took the trip to meet me in Cape Elizabeth the day that I spoke with Martha, rather than ignoring the call,” she whispered.
“So am I.”
She lifted her head and met Dean’s eyes. “I didn’t know you were awake.”
“Been lying here awhile, thinking about everything that’s happened today, and since I met you. I wouldn’t change any of it.” He gently squeezed her.
He slid slightly down so his face was level with Mack’s, then smoothed her hair back from her eyes. He used his finger to trace her eyebrows, down her lightly freckled nose, and to her lips before he caressed them. She opened her mouth slightly.