Rebecca clutched Princess Cecily’s mirror to her chest and walked through the home she was supposed to share with Adam.
A small part of her was relieved to be released from a promise made in a lifetime she couldn’t remember. The other part of her felt pain deeper than anything she’d experienced during even her most debilitating headaches—because this pain ravaged her heart.
Adam had just walked out of her life.
He was going back to Crane Landing—without her.
Suddenly, all those memories he had shared about a young girl and a boy who loved her beyond reason were leaving with him. Rebecca had both loved and envied those young sweethearts, and sometimes she’d even hated them for threatening the life she was trying to build with Adam.
He had held onto her with one hand... and his past with the other.
She hadn’t held him at all. Not when he had needed her most.
She loved him too much to chain him to a woman who might be mentally unstable.
The thought settled like a rock in her gut. Weighted by guilt and regret, she sank onto the parlor sofa. The magnificent heirloom lay on her lap, a sparkling reminder of Adam’s love. He had treated her like the princess who had owned the beautifully crafted mirror.
She had treated him like a servant.
She hadn’t meant to. From the beginning of their relationship—from the beginning of her memory of them—he had been dedicated and passionate, willing to pluck the stars from the sky had she desired them. He’d made it too easy for her to depend on him... and to love him.
“You deserve more than a broken woman,” she whispered to the empty parlor.
The distant whine of her family’s sawmill a few blocks away seemed to echo the cry in her heart. Adam should be here living in this house, working the mill he loved so much, spending his days in the bosom of his beloved family. Instead, she had chased him away from everything he loved.
He was leaving it all for her—but all she wanted was him and to know she was of sound mind.
But she was a woman who walked the house at night and saw people who were most likely hallucinations, a woman who would never compare to the girl he lost or the young woman who had promised to marry him. This new woman he claimed her to be was as much a stranger to him as he’d been to her—he just couldn’t see past his memories to realize that.
She had no memories to cloud her eyes. She could see her potential illness and what that could mean for Adam.
She could see the man she had fallen in love with—and she had driven that man away for his own good.
Head down, Adam strode across the Grayson lumberyard hoping no one would approach him. Whenever one of the crew called out a greeting, he merely raised his hand and kept walking. He needed to talk with his father.
Adam found him in the office.
Any other day Adam would have been happy to catch up with his dad and uncles all corralled in one place. Some of his best memories were right here in this office where the Grayson brothers had put on marvelous displays of ribbing and roughhousing. Their joking and brotherly debates had made Adam laugh himself to tears more than once. Seeing them today made his eyes burn with tears of sadness.
Swallowing hard he tried to get hold of his emotions. “Dad, you got a minute?” he asked.
All four Grayson men swung their attention to Adam.
“Morning,” his dad and uncle Kyle said in unison.
Radford greeted him with a nod.
Boyd, not one to miss an opportunity to heckle the youngest partner, pushed a coffee mug into Adam’s hand. “Perfect timing, young blood. I’m ready for my third cup of coffee.”
A surge of sorrow clogged Adam’s throat and cut off his breath. He couldn’t laugh at Boyd’s blatant heckling and make his own wise comeback as he usually would. He couldn’t even summon a smile. All he could do was bite his lip and try to choke down the bitter anger and hurt trying to burst forth.
“Oh, boy,” Boyd said, “looks like I’d better get you a cup of coffee.”
Adam shook his head. He didn’t want coffee. He wanted Rebecca.
“You all right, Adam?” his father asked, his smile fading.
“I have some news about the mill that I need to share with you.” Adam passed the cup back to Boyd. “I had thought to talk with you alone, but...” He swallowed again, cursing the insistent surge of emotion that kept clogging his throat. “This will affect all of you, so I’ll just out with it now. I need to step out as a partner.”
His father frowned. “What?”
Boyd laughed. “Very funny, Adam.” He thrust the cup back at him. “You’re just trying to get out of pouring your uncle a cup of coffee.”
Adam took the cup, turned to the pot sitting atop the small office stove and filled the cup. He handed it to Boyd, who sat with his mouth open. Any other day Adam would have eaten sawdust before succumbing to Boyd’s ridiculous joking command, and his uncle knew it.
“Whoa,” Boyd said, setting the cup aside. “What’s going on, Adam?”
Now that he had the full attention of the four men he respected most in the world, he struggled to find the words to say goodbye. Everything he aspired to be was contained within these strong, honorable Grayson brothers. He’d become a son to one, a nephew to the others, a partner with all of them—something he couldn’t have even imagined when he’d moved to Fredonia ten years ago.
But this had been part of his dream—the one he’d created with Rebecca—and he had to leave it all behind him.
Clearing his throat, he said, “Rebecca and I ended our engagement this morning.” He clamped his mouth shut and tightened his chest to keep his sorrow from erupting in a boyish sob. But he longed to throw himself into the strong arms of these men who had become his friends, who had long ago rescued him from a wretched childhood and had taught him so much about life.
For several seconds all four of them stared, dumbfounded and speechless.
“She’s not ready to marry me,” Adam said, his voice hoarse, his throat aching. “I released her from her promise to me. I’m leaving for Crane Landing today.”
“Slow down, son.” His father, always the one to reason through a situation, gestured for Adam to pull up a chair. “Before you make a rash decision let’s talk this through.”
Adam shook his head, declining the chair and the chat. “There’s nothing left to say, Dad. I’ve been reeling Rebecca back into our relationship from the minute she opened her eyes and didn’t recognize me. It’s not fair to her. She hasn’t had a chance to decide a thing for herself. I’m going back to Crane Landing so she can do that and so I can figure out how to live my life without her in it.”
His father blew out a breath. “I’m honestly so stunned I don’t know what to say.”
His uncle Kyle, the more serious of the brothers, spoke up. “I’m real sorry to hear this, Adam. I think we all are. But you can figure things out right here.”
Adam shook his head. “I can’t live here without Rebecca in my life. You’re her family. She needs to be here with you. This is her home.”
“It’s your home, too, Adam.” His father said.
“That’s right,” Boyd chimed in. “And we are also your family.”
“Are you sure?” Adam asked, casting a sidelong glance at Radford who still seemed unable to believe what was happening.
“What do you mean, are we sure?” his dad asked, offense thick in his voice.
“I’m not questioning our family at home, dad. I’m referring to the Grayson family and the Grayson name. Am I really a Grayson? Am I really part of this family?”
“Gads, Adam, this has rattled your brain,” Boyd said. “I’ve never once questioned if you belong in our family. I may have questioned why you’d want to be, but never that you deserved to be. You’re my nephew and part of this family. Period.”
Adam acknowledged his words with a grateful nod.
“I agree,” Kyle said. “It’s never crossed my mind to think otherwise. You’re my nephew and I’m darn proud of you.”
“Thank you, both of you. It’s just that being adopted into the family I couldn’t help but wonder sometimes.” Adam glanced at Radford, willing the man to acknowledge or denounce him as family.
Radford nodded as if he understood. “I learned in the war that family doesn’t always mean blood, Adam. I suspect you and Rebecca will find your way through this rough patch, and that a little time away may do you both a world of good.”
That he didn’t say Adam was family hurt. That he might want Adam far away from his daughter hurt more.
“Rebecca might just need time for things to settle,” Radford continued. “Maybe after a little time alone she’ll better understand her feelings for you. You have the benefit of your past. She has nothing but three months of courting. She’s still discovering foods she likes and how irritating her siblings can be.”
“That’s right, Adam,” his father said in agreement. “Why not take a few weeks at Crane Landing and then come back to the mill and try to work things out with Rebecca?”
“Sounds like a reasonable plan to me,” Boyd said.
Kyle and Radford said nothing.
“Sir,” Adam said to Radford, “this isn’t just a rift between your daughter and me. Rebecca is deeply confused about what she wants. I’m just muddying the water for her. I’m leaving today. I apologize for not fulfilling my partnership and obligations at the mill. It’s been my dream for so long—” His voice broke. He cleared his aching throat. “I appreciate everything you’ve all done for me.” He sucked in a breath, trying to get through his final farewell as he said goodbye. “Dad, I’d like to take Scout with me this time.”
Because he wasn’t coming back.
His father, a big bear of a man, reached out and pulled Adam into a hug.