He’d been thinking about that, too.
“All those things you said last night,” he began, “about what you wanted... You didn’t mention babies. Do you want any more?”
He hadn’t thought he did. Or ever would. But he’d been wrong about a lot of things.
“With you? I’d have one tomorrow if we could,” she told him. “I did it all alone, with Ethan.”
He took her hand. “Then yes, I’d want to move eventually. We’ll need a third bedroom, at least. But I’d like to stay in Santa Raquel, if that’s what you’re asking.”
She nodded.
And as he turned onto the highway that would lead them the rest of the way across the desert, he felt something he’d never expected to feel again.
Like he was going home.
* * *
They’d just stopped for lunch and were about an hour from home when Tad’s burner phone rang. He’d asked Miranda to wait to put her SIM card back into her phone, and he hadn’t put his in, either. Not until they knew more about her father’s plans.
Their plan, as determined mostly by Chantel, was for Tad to take Miranda and Ethan to The Lemonade Stand, where an attorney would meet her to fill out paperwork for a restraining order, while Chantel tried to talk to Brian and get him to leave town willingly.
She listened while Tad talked, surmising from the conversation that it was Chantel. And then realized, when he mentioned North Carolina, that it wasn’t. He was talking to a woman; she could hear enough of the voice to know that. And didn’t like how proprietary she felt.
Or how threatened.
“That was Gail,” he told her as he hung up. “Good news!”
She’d gathered that from hi
s tone of voice. “Chief Fire Marshal Brian O’Connor is back in North Carolina,” he said. “Apparently he chartered a plane, and just landed.”
Right. Her father was a millionaire now. He could charter planes. She didn’t care about his money.
“He left,” she said, hardly believing it. “Gail’s sure? Someone’s physically seen him?”
“He’s at his office right now.”
“Chantel told him we were married,” she guessed.
As she said that, his phone rang again. This time it was Chantel. She explained that she hadn’t wanted to call until she knew the chief had landed on North Carolina soil, but now it was confirmed, Tad relayed when he got off the phone.
“Apparently he saw reason in Chantel’s point that if he ever hoped to have a chance to talk you into seeing him again, and letting him see his grandson, he should go home and wait for you to contact him,” Tad said.
She couldn’t believe it.
She’d won?
“Maybe seeing me reminded him why it was best that he not spend a lot of time around me,” she said. “He’s happier without the constant reminder of my mom. Or maybe seeing his grandson really does matter more.” Loving Ethan like she did, she got that.
“And maybe seeing you again reminded him how much he loves you, and with the health scare giving him a new perspective, he doesn’t want to grow old alone.”
“He could get away with beating me up, manipulating and controlling me back then. He could do it without risk to his reputation. He’d never get away with kidnapping Ethan. I guess his need to do good in the community really is the stronger part of him.” She wanted to hope so.
“He wasn’t always an abuser,” Tad said, as though wanting to help her believe that her father could change.
Time would tell.
“If I ever see him again, or introduce him to Ethan as his grandfather, we aren’t going to do it alone,” she said. “You’re there or it doesn’t happen.”