Lochlan sat in his office, stewing, angry. He’d been in this desk chair, in this frame of mind, for the past three days. Ever since May ran out and begged him not to follow her. Then, like an idiot, he’d given her time to think about what he’d told her.
He should have followed her, pushed the issue, told her he loved her over and over until the words sunk into that stubborn, prideful, beautiful head of hers.
Her crumpled letter of resignation lay on his desk. He’d read the fucking thing a thousand times since Monday, and it still pissed him off.
She couldn’t leave AdLoch, leave him.
He wouldn’t let her.
He needed her.
He’d fallen apart in the past seventy-two hours. He’d been late to three important meetings and missed one completely. Two men in the tech department had gotten into a disagreement that had escalated into battle lines drawn, half the office supporting one technician, the rest standing behind the other. Apparently, the situation had been brewing for weeks, but May had found ways for them to keep the peace. Without her presence, there was a backslide, and he didn’t have the energy to even attempt to fix it.
Then he’d spent the better part of yesterday morning looking for a file, only to discover it on top of a stack of folders on May’s desk. Right on top. In plain sight.
He ran a weary hand through his hair, muttering, “Fuck.”
“Language.”
He looked up at the unexpected voice.
“What are you doing here?” Lochlan asked, surprised. Pop Pop didn’t drive, and he hadn’t been in Lochlan’s office in probably close to five years.
“Bubbles is waiting in the car. I asked her to bring me by.”
“Why?”
“I was watching you Sunday at the football game.”
Lochlan felt guilty. He’d been so wrapped up in his troubles with May, he’d barely said three words to Pop Pop. And he definitely hadn’t noticed Pop Pop watching him.
“Why?” He felt like an idiot, repeating the same silly question. He rose and came around his desk, gesturing toward one of the two chairs on the other side.
Pop Pop sat in one, Lochlan the other.
“It occurred to me how much you’re like your father.”
Lochlan gave him a crooked grin. “That’s hardly earth-shattering news. Mom has called me Dad’s mini-me since I was five.”
“She has, though I never thought the word ‘mini’ fit in regards to you.”
“It’s from a movie.”
“Ah,” Pop Pop said, and it appeared that something he’d never understood suddenly made sense. “I always wondered about that. Well, anyway,” Pop Pop reached out and patted his knee, “the Collins family was a bit of a mess when your mom met your dad in his English classroom.”
“Our family?” Lochlan found that hard to believe. He’d never met a more solid group of people in his life.
Pop Pop grimaced sadly. “I’m afraid so, my boy. There were a lot of rough years for us after Sunday passed. I had seven kids all under the age of eighteen and a business to run. As a result, a lot of the mothering fell to your mom. She took so much onto her young shoulders. And because I was blinded by grief, I let her. Will was the one who saw how badly she was hurting, but you know your mom. That Collins’ stubbornness runs thick in her veins.”
“You don’t have to tell me. My first name is Patrick. Even though we already had a Padraig.”
Pop Pop laughed. “That girl of mine,” he said affectionately. “She is a bird in this world.”
Lochlan had heard that expression from his grandfather countless times, but he didn’t have a clue what it meant.
Before he could ask, Pop Pop continued, “Will fought hard for your mother’s heart, but she didn’t make it easy on him. She was determined to put her family first, to put our needs above her own. Will taught her that she could take care of herself and still be there for us. I have very few regrets in my life. I’ve always tried to live in such a way that I could wake up every morning and respect the man looking back at me in the mirror, but I know I failed your mom in those years after Sunday’s death.”
Lochlan had never heard this story. Had no idea his grandfather had been harboring this guilt. “You wouldn’t have changed my mom’s need to take care of you all, Pop Pop.”
“No. But I should have seen what it was costing her. Will did. And through patience and perseverance, he got through to her. You’ve got bucket loads of perseverance in you, son.”
Lochlan knew where this was going. “It’s the patience part that’s lacking, right?”
Pop Pop leaned back in the chair. “Half the battle is knowing your own weaknesses. May has a lot of responsibilities for one so young. Like your mother, she’s dug in her heels and figured out how to survive. Not live, mind you. Just survive. She needs your patience, your understanding, your love.”
Lochlan sighed. “I told her I loved her. She ran away.”
“Did you follow her?”
Lochlan realized there was a regret he was going to be carrying around for a long time too. He shook his head.
“Take a look at what’s holding her back. Start chiseling away at the list. I saw the way that girl looked at you at your sister’s wedding. You’ve already won her heart. You just have to convince her to share the rest—her pain, her stress, her responsibilities, her fears. Love is the easy part, Lochlan. It’s the rest that makes life interesting.”
“Okay. I’ll do that.”
Pop Pop pushed up from the chair. “Well, I better get back downstairs. Bubbles was eyeing that fancy bakery across the street from your building. If I leave her alone too long, we’ll be toting home three dozen cookies and a mountain of cupcakes.” Pop Pop patted his lean stomach. “Can’t have that or I’ll lose these six-pack abs.”
Lochlan laughed. And then he did something he didn’t do enough. He reached out and hugged his grandfather. “I love you, Pop Pop.”
He was surprised by the strength in the hug Pop Pop returned. “I love you too, son.”
Lochlan walked Pop Pop to the elevator, then he took a deep breath.
Time to start chiseling away at the list.
First on the agenda was work.
Lochlan sent out an email, flagging it urgent, and calling an emergency staff meeting. Within thirty minutes, he had ninety percent of the office employees gathered in the conference room. It was a tight fit, but he wanted to make sure the information relayed came from him—and that it wouldn’t be misunderstood or misconstrued.
“The ban on office romances is lifted.” It was a simple pronouncement and from the grins of at least eighty percent of the faces looking at him, everyone in the joint knew what had prompted his change of heart.
“And I know you all know why. Let me set the record straight on a few things, so the rumors don’t include anything that isn’t the truth. I didn’t hire May. Sally did. I’d never laid eyes on her before her first day on the job here. I’m pretty sure Sally was playing matchmaker.”
A couple women sitting near him laughed and one murmured, “That sounds like something Sally would do.”
“Her scheme to set me up worked. I’m crazy about May and I’m going to propose to her.”
The room—absolutely silent until then—erupted in applause.
He finished up with his hope that she would not only marry him, but continue on as his assistant because he was a mess without her.
That comment got a “hear, hear” from the man who’d had to hold the meeting Lochlan missed on his own. He dismissed everyone back to work, shaking hands with at least a dozen well-wishers. May had clearly misread her colleagues’ feelings in regards to their relationship. He would be sure to set her straight on that.
He’d just returned to his office, ready to tackle the next thing on his list, when his cell phone rang. He picked it up, intent on silencing it, when he saw her name on the screen.
Had someone from the meeting texted her? Told her what he’d said?
“May,” he said, thrilled she was calling him. Maybe she’d come to her senses.
“It’s Chloe.”
Lochlan’s stomach lurched even as he grabbed his car keys.
“What is it, Chloe?”
“Can you come over?”
He was already halfway out the door. “Yes. What’s wrong?”
“Aunt May is in the bathroom and she won’t come out. Nana…” The little girl paused.
“What about Nana?”
“She didn’t remember us.”
Lochlan was confused. “You mean she forgot to get you off the bus?”
“No. She didn’t know who Aunt May was. She kept calling Jenny May and yelling at her for taking a necklace. Jenny started to cry. Then Aunt May started to cry.” From the thick sound of Chloe’s voice, she was fighting her own tears.
May had been denying Linda’s fading grip on reality, unwilling to see the onset of dementia. Not that he blamed her. At twenty-four, May had lost her father and her brother. Admitting her mother’s illness would only drive home that she was losing her as well.
“Is your nana okay now?”
“Yes. She went to her room to take a nap and when she woke up, she was back to normal. But Aunt May got sick, and now she’s in the bathroom and she won’t come out.”
There was true terror in the little girl’s voice, and it sparked an overpowering determination in Lochlan.
He’d tried to be sensitive to May’s fears, but that was over. From this moment on, her family was his. And he took care of what belonged to him.
“I’m on my way, Chloe. You and Jenny hold tight, okay?”
“Okay.”
“Do you want to stay on the phone with me?”
There was a pause. “Yes.”
Lochlan grinned, delighted that at least one Flowers woman would accept his help. “Okay, that’s fine, sweetheart. Why don’t you tell me all about your day? How was school?”
The distraction seemed to help Chloe forget to be scared, but it helped him too. He listened to her voice as he drove across the city, anxious to get to May.
Once he arrived, he hung up, parked the car and sprinted up the three flights of stairs.
The state of May’s door gave him pause.
The dead bolt was hanging loose, and there was a dent in the middle of the door. A big one.
He knocked, and Chloe opened the door, rushing to wrap her arms around his legs. He lifted her up and gave her a hug.
“It’s okay, baby. I’m here.” He looked around the room, noticing it was in worse disarray than normal. The TV was gone. Actually, it looked like quite a few things were missing since the last time.
Jenny was sitting on the couch, her face pale, her hands balled into fists in her lap.
Lochlan carried Chloe over, the two of them sitting down next to Jenny. “Is May still in the bathroom?”
Chloe nodded.
“And your nana?”
“Reading in bed.”
Lochlan sighed. “Okay. Here’s what I need you to do. Go to your room and pack bags. Put in as much as you can carry. We’ll come back for the rest. You two, your nana and Aunt May are coming to live with me.”
Chloe’s face lit up and, much to his surprise, Jenny smiled as well.
“For real?” Chloe asked, squirming off his lap, clearly ready to start boxing up the entire apartment.
“Yep. While you do that, I’m going to go talk to your aunt May, okay?”
Jenny and Chloe raced ahead of him down the hallway, disappearing into their room. Lochlan walked slower, trying to figure out how he could convince May to come with him peacefully.
Even though that wasn’t exactly necessary. He’d toss the stubborn woman over his shoulder and kidnap her if he had to. She wasn’t staying another night in this shithole. For God’s sake, not only wasn’t there security on the building, now she had no dead bolt on her own front door.
He knocked on the bathroom door. There was no reply, so he tried the knob, surprised to find it unlocked.
May was crouched over the toilet, and it was obvious she had indeed been sick.
He shut the door behind him before kneeling next to her. “May.”
She jerked at the sound of his voice, lifting lifeless eyes to his. It had only been three days since he’d seen her, but she appeared to have aged twenty years.
“Lochlan. Go away. I’m sick.”
“I can see that. I’m here. Let me help you.” He tried to rub her back, but she pulled away.
“No. I’m okay now. It’s passed.” If she thought that weak reassurance would move him along, she was sadly mistaken.
“What happened to the dead bolt?”
May laughed, but it was a cold, humorless sound. Something Lochlan hated hearing from her. “Someone broke in yesterday while Mom, the girls and I were at the store. I guess if there’s a bright side to being poor, it’s that there wasn’t anything for them to steal.”
Lochlan’s blood ran cold at the idea of someone breaking in. What would have happened if they’d been home? “That’s not funny, May. You could have been hurt.”
“It was most likely teenagers,” she continued. “All they took were the TVs and some beer from the fridge, a few worthless knick-knacks and my change jar. More the fool them, it was nothing but pennies and nickels.”
“Did you call the police?”
She shook her head. Every inch of her body screamed defeat.
His indomitable, powerful woman was broken.
Lochlan felt a bit nauseous himself, seeing her like this.
She moved away from the toilet, dropping to sit on the floor, her back against the bathtub.
Lochlan stood up, rubbed his chin—and then noticed the plastic shopping bag on the counter of the sink.
It was hanging open…wide enough that he could see the unopened pregnancy test inside.
His heart started to race, equal parts fear and hope. While he couldn’t think of anything more incredible than May carrying his baby, he suspected she wouldn’t view the news as wonderful.
May didn’t notice where his gaze had landed. She wasn’t looking at him at all. Her eyes were distant as she quietly said, “She forgot who we were.” Her voice was weak, tired.
Lochlan knelt down in front of her. “I know. Chloe called.”
That admission roused May’s interest for a moment, but it was fleeting. She closed her eyes and shook her head.
“I can’t do this anymore,” she whispered, the words broken. And once spoken, the floodgates opened.
He pulled May into his arms as she sobbed out too many years’ worth of sorrow, stress, pain. He held her, rocked her and tried to comfort her with soft words of hope.
“It’s going to be okay, May. You’re not alone. I’m here. I’ll always be here.” The tears continued for several minutes and Lochlan simply held her tight, feeling each pained cry like a dagger to his heart.
Finally, when she started to calm, he whispered, “Everything will be fine.”
She snorted out a breath of disbelief over his use of her word. “Fine. Yeah. Right.”
He cupped her face in his hands. “May. Everything will be fine.”
“I’m scared.”
Lochlan kissed her on the cheek, wishing he knew what to say to make her feel better. Unfortunately, her fears in regards to her mother were genuine. If she was suffering from dementia or Alzheimer’s, she was going to get worse, not better.
“I know you are, but you’re not alone. You’ll never be alone again.”
She didn’t look convinced. In fact, her face reminded him of her first day in his office. The vulnerability was back.
“I want you to listen to me, sweetheart. And I want you to let the words soak in. You are not alone. Everything is going to be all right.”
She looked at him and, this time, she seemed to take heart, bolstered by his confidence. “You really think so?”
“I know so.”
“How can you be so certain?”
“Because I love you, and I intend to move heaven and earth to make it true.”
She bit her lower lip, not responding. But she wasn’t running away, like she did the last time he’d told her about his feelings.
Progress.
A solid minute passed, and he lifted one eyebrow impatiently. “You haven’t said it back to me yet.”
She smiled, and he knew he’d won this skirmish as well.
“Cocky man. What makes you think I’m going to?” she teased.
He crossed his arms. “I’m waiting.”
She closed her eyes and sighed, her smile fading. “You don’t want me to say it, Lochlan. You really don’t.”
“Why would you say that?”
“Because I’m a package deal. If I say it back, then you inherit a hell of a lot more than just me in your life.”
Lochlan nodded. “I’m aware of that.” He stood and pulled her up as well. He wrapped his arms around her in another bear hug, squeezing tight enough that she would know he had the strength to get both of them through this.
“I love you,” she whispered.
Lochlan had made millions, seen his company rise through the ranks as one of the most successful tech start-ups out there. All of that paled to the happiness he felt in this moment, hearing those three little words from the woman who’d stolen his heart.
“So here’s what happens next,” he said. “You, Linda and the girls move in with me.”
She started to pull away from him, already shaking her head. He tipped her face up to his with a firm finger under her chin.
“You’re moving in, you’re marrying me, and you’re coming back to work. The condo will work for the five of us until we find a proper house. We’re going to find a doctor for your mom, going to make sure she has the best care available.”
“You don’t want kids,” she said, a tinge of stubbornness creeping back into her voice. She may have admitted her feelings, but she wasn’t finished fighting completely.
He grinned, her argument weak at best. “I didn’t want kids. Until you. Now I want to help raise those two sweet girls across the hall and…” Lochlan reached over and pulled the pregnancy test out of the bag. “And I want to make at least three more with you.”
“I don’t know if I’m pregnant. The nausea could be because of stress.”
He’d had the same thought. “Take the test tonight and we’ll find out for sure, but understand, I’m marrying you no matter what the results are.”
“I’m not marrying you.” She paused, then a soft grin appeared as she added, “At least not right away. One of has to be practical about this. We’ve known each other all of two and a half months. Why don’t we live together for a little while, make sure we actually like each other before getting hitched?”
“We can discuss that.”
She laughed. “How generous of you to allow a discussion. Is this another one of those arguments you don’t intend to let me win?”
He gave her a soft kiss on the cheek. “Probably.” Then he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small box.
May’s eyes widened. “Wait. You came here with a ring?”
Lochlan sighed. Clearly May thought his proposal had been issued on a whim. Or worse, as a result of his seeing the pregnancy test. The truth was, he’d bought the ring three days ago, right after she ran out of his office after he told her he loved her.
“Of course I did. When you propose to a woman…” He started to drop down on one knee, but she caught his arm.
“Oh my God. Not here! We’re in the bathroom. What if our kids ask us one day about your proposal and we have to tell them you dropped to one knee in front of the toilet I was just puking in?”
Lochlan laughed as he stood back up. She’d just given him her answer without realizing it. He could wait for a better place to pop the question and slide the ring on her finger.
“Excellent point. Brush your teeth and meet me in the living room. We’re going to pack up as much stuff as we can and get it out of this hellhole tonight.”
May hesitated.
“What’s wrong?”
“My mom. What if the move confuses her? Makes things worse? Maybe we should—”
“You’re not staying here. Period.” He reached for his cell phone. “Aunt Lane is a nurse. I’ll ask her to meet us at my place after dinner. She can check Linda over, maybe give her something to help her sleep, and then suggest a doctor for us to see in the morning. Okay?”
May nodded, a fresh tear sliding down her face. “That would be really great. Dammit.” She tried to quickly swipe it away. “I can’t seem to pull myself back together.”
He pulled her close and placed a kiss on top of her head. “So you’ll hang on to me until you can.”
For the first time, May did just that. Let him guide her and her family through what came next without complaint. Within two hours, Lochlan had her, her mom and the girls packed up and moved into his place. They’d ordered pizza, eating it in the living room, despite May’s concerns for Lochlan’s furniture. He insisted leather was easy to clean, and they had a picnic around the coffee table and his big screen TV, calling out letters and guesses to Wheel of Fortune.
Lane arrived and spent nearly an hour chatting with Linda. When she left, she gave them the number of a doctor who specialized in treating dementia patients. Her mother retired after the visit, marveling over the comfortable bed in the guest room and thanking Lochlan for the hundredth time for offering them a safe place to stay.
May’s fears regarding the move confusing her mother never materialized. If anything, she seemed more at ease, more relaxed than Lochlan had ever seen her.
They walked toward the girls’ room hand in hand.
“She never mentioned feeling unsafe in our apartment,” May remarked.
“I suspect she didn’t want to upset you. She knew you were doing everything you could to keep all of you in a home and fed.”
She stopped him just outside the girls’ room. “Lochlan, I overheard those people at work talking about us. I don’t know how to convince them that I’m not just after your money with all of us moving in here like—”
Lochlan placed his index finger over her lips. “Stop. Don’t even finish that thought. None of them feel that way. Besides I’ve set the record straight and they’re happy for us. Genuinely happy.”
“Oh.”
“You can’t resign, May. I’m completely inept when it comes to dealing with anything in that place.”
She laughed. “I doubt that.”
“If you feel better, I’m dragging you back to work tomorrow. You’ll see for yourself. I’m not a pretty sight when left to my own devices.”
“Okay.”
“Really?” he asked.
“You’ve given me a safe place to live. The least I can do is kick your ass into shape at work.”
“There’s my feisty girl. I was starting to wonder when she’d reappear.”
He kissed her, intending to make it a quick, short buss, but the second his lips touched hers, things got out of control. One minute, he was giving her a friendly kiss, and the next, he had her backed up against the wall, his hands creeping under her shirt.
“We better put the girls to bed,” he murmured against her lips. “And move this to the bedroom. Quickly.”
May was out of breath when they parted, so she took a moment to compose herself and then they walked into the bedroom.
Chloe was bouncing on the bed, still full of way too much energy this close to bedtime. “Is this really going to be our room?”
Lochlan nodded. “Yep. All yours. We can redecorate it however you want. Replace that big bed with twin beds or bunks even, if you’d like.”
“I like the big bed and sleeping with Jenny.”
Lochlan knew that wouldn’t always be the case, but considering the life-altering changes they’d gone through in the past year, he understood the sisters’ desire to hold on to each other—the only constant.
“Well, then,” he suggested, “how about a new paint color and bedspread?”
“Pink!” Chloe shouted.
Lochlan started to agree when another voice piped up.
“Purple,” Jenny corrected quietly.
May looked at Jenny, then him, then back at the young girl again in complete disbelief.
As always, it was Chloe who never missed a beat.
“Yeah! Purple!” She grabbed Jenny’s hands, and the two of them giggled as they jumped on the bed.
It took May a full minute to comprehend what she was seeing—and then she was on the bed as well, laughing and tickling both little girls.
Lochlan watched, his future unfolding before his eyes.
It had never looked better.