Letting Go (25 page)

“Losing the man I love is something I don’t think
I
could recover from a second time,” Quinn quietly admitted.

“You’re not…you’re not going to lose me,” Luke said. “If you want me, I’m yours. I always have been.”

He slowed and then turned into a parking lot. Quinn realized he’d driven to the elementary school they’d gone to as kids. He shrugged apologetically. “I figured this would be as good of a place to talk as any.” He turned the truck off and the sound of the raindrops pelted from above.

“It’s fine. And we do need to talk.”

With the wipers off, the rain streamed down the windshield, distorting the world beyond. Even still, he stared straight ahead when he said, “Can I go first?”

“Please.”

He finally turned in his seat to face her. “I’ve said it before but I think it’s important enough to say again. I don’t want to lose you. I can’t lose you. Not due to my pride or my stupidity or my insecurities. Before I showed up at my parents, I went to visit yours.”

Quinn opened her mouth in surprise. Then she closed it again, letting Luke finish with what he had to say.

“I let your mom know, without a doubt, that I love you. That I have always loved you and that I will always love you. I told her I love Carter, too. And Quinn, I do. I can’t imagine loving that kid any more than I do right now. I told her that she’s going to need to accept that because I can’t change it.” He looked worried as he waited for her response.

“I can’t tell you how much it means to me to hear you say that,” she replied. “I love how you are with him. And it’s so clear that he adores you, too.” She hesitated and then made an apologetic face as she said
, “How did she take that?”

Luke blew out a breath. “Better than I thought. But to be honest, Carly was there. She was pretty firm with your mom. She told Margo that she needed
to put your happiness first for once.”

Quinn gave a small nod. She could only imagine what else Carly had said.

“I think maybe Carly finally got through to her. At least a little. I think maybe Margo gets that this is about us, about
our
lives. And not about her. I let your parents know that I plan on spending the rest of my life with you, if you’ll have me. Pete gave us his blessing and at Carly’s insistence, your mom agreed to try to be supportive.” He took her hands and took a deep breath. “We are so close to having everything. I close on the house this Friday. The family business is going to be mine in a month. I want you in my life, sharing these things with me. So I know that I need to stop giving a damn about what anyone thinks, or what anyone says.”

“Yes,” Quinn said as she gave Luke a small smile. “You do.”

“Because as long as you still love me—”

“Of course I still love you!”

He smiled at that. “Then the only thing that matters is me, you and Carter. And where we go from here.”

“Where do we go from here?”

“Forward,” Luke said decisively. “Together. As a family.”

Quinn blew out a happy sigh. “I love the sound of that.”

20

“Quinn,” Nora said seriously, “retirement is not agreeing with me in the least. I am bored out of my ever-lovin’ mind!”

Quinn laughed because she could relate. Before Carter was born she had spent a little bit of time as a stay at home wife. It hadn’t agreed with her. She, too, had been bored out of her ‘ever- lovin’ mind’. Now, with a busy toddler to chase after all day long, it was a different story.

“I would appreciate it so much if you would let me take Carter a few days a week.
” They had talked about this arrangement quite some time ago, but Quinn had never taken her up on her offer. “It would give you a little bit of ‘me-time’ and we all know that every mother needs that. You don’t get near enough of it. But more than that, I would so love to have some more time with my grandson.”

Quinn and Carter had stopped by for a visit
at Nora’s request. Quinn hadn’t realized that Nora apparently had an ulterior motive for the invitation. Now Nora was looking at her beseechingly.

Quinn
cocked her head to the side, mulling her words over. If she were offering for Quinn’s benefit alone, she would’ve declined. However, the hopeful, imploring look that Nora was giving her led her to believe that she truly was asking for herself. Having lost Jake, she felt an even greater desire to spend some time with Carter.

As if sensing Quinn was still unsure, Nora continued. “
I am so happy that you and Luke worked things out. Furthermore, I know he asked if you’d be interested in doing the books for the company.”

“
Yes, he did,” Quinn agreed.

“I know you didn’t ask for my two cents, but I’m going to give it to you anyway,” Nora said with a wink. “It’s a family business, you’re family. It suits your needs perfectly.
And
,” she said dramatically, “if you let me watch Carter, it’ll suit my needs as well.”

Quinn laughed at that. “Oh! Now I see what this is really about. You want me to take the job.”

“As a matter of fact, I do,” Nora said unapologetically. “But either way, I’d love to watch Carter. If you decide not to take the job, I could watch him while you do your shopping. I remember how difficult it could be to shop with a little one. And cleaning the house? While a toddler is walking behind you, messing it up again, is hard to do. But more than that, I’d love for you to just sit back and read a book. Or take a bubble bath. Maybe meet Luke once a week for lunch? Or heck, Quinn, even take a nap!”

Quinn was amused by the thought of taking a nap. She’d never been able to take naps and doubted she could start now, regardless of how exhausted she sometimes was. However, the thought was nice.

“Alright,” she acquiesced. “If you are sure you want this for yourself too.”

Nora beamed at her and nodded. “I do, Quinn. You have no idea how important this is to me.”

“As for the job,” Quinn said with a smile, “I told Luke last night that I’d love to take it. You’re right, it suits my needs perfectly. I want to be able to feel like I’m doing something. As much as I love being home with Carter, I am anxious to join the working world. If I do the bookwork, I can have both.”

Nora beamed at her. “I didn’t realize you already came to that decision! When do you start?”

“Well, soon. Luke would like me to start before Tom is done.”

“That is soon!” Nora smiled at her. “Things really are falling into place
for the two of you, aren’t they?”

Quinn nodded. “They are. And I couldn’t be happier.” A pang of regret shot through her as she thought of Jake. “I mean—”

Nora cut her off as she waved away the impending explanation. “I know what you meant. I understand, you don’t have to explain anything to me. Just because you love Luke now doesn’t diminish what you felt for Jake. Or what you had with Jake. But Jake is your past. Luke is your future.”

Quinn gave her a grateful smile.

“Speaking of your future, it’s so exciting that Luke closed on the house this morning!”

“I know. He’s picking me up in a little bit so we can go check things over,” Quinn admitted.

“I have an idea,” Nora said conspiratorially. “Why don’t you leave Carter with me?”

~*~*~

“It’s even better than I remember!” Quinn said excitedly as she darted from room to room.

She wandered over to the large picture window that overlooked the backyard. Spring had arrived early. The trees were dotted with green buds and the sky was a brilliant blue.
The lawn was huge and lined with flowerbeds.

“It looks even bigger now,” Luke said as he glanced around.

“That’s because it’s empty. It’ll feel more…
homey
when you fill it up,” she assured him. As offered, she had left Carter with Nora while they looked at the house. Luke seemed especially high strung today. Quinn couldn’t blame him. Buying a new house had to be exciting for him. She was excited as well.

“Come on,” he said as he grabbed her hand. “There’s something I want to show you.” He pulled her down the hallway. They passed three empty bedrooms and Luke tugged her into the master suite.

“Oh, how convenient that you have the
bedroom
all set up!” Quinn said with a laugh. As she took a few steps further into the room she shook her head in amazement. “I can’t believe you had time to do this.”

“I had help,” he admitted.

She turned to him. “Who?”

He shrugged. “Carly and Jesse, if you can believe it. Those two work surprisingly well together.”

“I love the new bedroom set,” Quinn said as she ran her hand across the cherry finish.

“Carly helped me to pick it out. I wanted something new. New house. New start and all that.”
His eyes darted around the room, as if he was still getting used to the sight of it as well. “Besides, the bed I have now I’ve had since I lived at Mom and Dad’s. It was time for something new.”

“Carly’s been a busy girl
this week!”

A smug look crossed Luke’s face
when his eyes settled on Quinn again. He’d spent quite a bit of time with Carly this past week. When they’d left his grandparents’ cabin, Carly had been serious when she said that she was going to help Luke make things up to Quinn in a big way. While most of the ideas had been Luke’s, he’d valued Carly’s input.

“Oh, you have no idea
what that girl and I have been up to.”
But you’ll find out soon enough
, Luke thought.

“She knows me well,” she said as she took in the room. The walls were mocha colored and Carly had chosen a comforter to match. It was mocha with turquoise accents and throw pillows. The bedroom set, though new, had an antique feel. She hadn’t been antiquing in quite
a long time but Carly knew how much Quinn adored her antiques. 

Luke stood back, pleased by the smile on Quinn’s face. Yet his heart was pummeling against his chest. He’d been waiting for this moment for so long. Now that it was finally here, he couldn’t believe how nervous he was.

“What’s my suitcase doing here?” Quinn asked with a laugh. Then she turned to Luke with a knowing look. “Oh do you think you’re going to talk me into spending the night?” she teased.

He pulled her to him and she went, laughing as she wrapped her arms around his neck. His mouth came down on hers gently
. Her laughter faded as she felt herself melt in his arms.

“I’m hoping for a whole lot more than that,” Luke
finally whispered in her ear.

Slowly, he released her and she slid from his arms. She was sur
prised by his suddenly serious expression. Before she could question it, he led her to the bed and they both took a seat on the edge.

“When I was packing for the move, I ran across something,” Luke said.

Quinn was eying him curiously. “And what would that be?”

“I was hoping you would ask that.” He turned from her, reaching for the nightstand. He pulled an envelope from the drawer.

She tried to interpret the expression on his face, but she couldn’t.

“What is this?”

“Open it,” he urged.

She took the yellowed envelope from his hands. She carefully folded the flap back and pulled out the card that was inside.

Her hand flew to her mouth when she recognized the card. “Oh my goodness!”

It was a handmade
Valentine’s Day card; a construction paper cut out in the shape of a heart. It folded down the middle. The front of the card was covered in red crayon-drawn hearts. Glitter was flecked across the surface. Quinn slowly opened the card. Written in Luke’s sloppy, fifth-grade scrawl were the words:
Quinn
,
will you be mine
?

Underneath that line was a single word, written in pink pen:
Yes
.

“I can’t believe you kept this!” she exclaimed.

Luke laughed along with her. “Honestly, neither can I. I still remember making them in art class. We were supposed to make them for our parents. I gave mine to you.”

“I remember writing on it and then putting it back in your desk before class started,” Quinn admitted. She laughed and added on, “As soon as I put it back, I regretted it, wishing I’d kept it. I almost ran back to pull it out but you came into the room.” She held the card in her hand. It brought back so many memories of her childhood with Luke.