Maid for Love (29 page)

"I know you meant well," she whispered. "I know that. But how could you not tell me? How could you keep a secret like this from me? How could you convince me to take this huge chance on you and then disappoint me this way?"

Her gut-wrenching sobs must've woken Thomas, because he let out a wail from his crib.

Wiping her face, Maddie got up to go to him. "What's the matter, baby?" Tuning into her distress, he'd cried more tonight than he had in months. She leaned into the crib to pick him up.

Thomas clung to her, crying his little heart out.

"I know, baby. I know. But we'll be okay. We were okay before he came along, and we'll be okay after." Even as she said the words, they rang hollow to her, and apparently to Thomas, as well. He cried until his tiny body was worn out and shuddering. "I'm so sorry, Thomas. I wanted it to work out as much as you did, but I can't be with someone who thinks it's okay to keep important things from me. I just can't."

Like she had when he was a newborn, Maddie walked the baby from one end of the small apartment to the other until he finally fell into a fitful sleep. Then she broke one of her own rules by bringing him into bed with her so she wouldn't have to sleep alone.

Mac lay awake all night on Janey's sofa. When daylight began to filter into the room, he got up, took a shower and got dressed for work. The simplest of tasks seemed to take all his energy, and the pit of emptiness inside him grew larger with every passing moment. As a quiet rain fell on the island, Mac walked along Water Street, past several bicycle rental outfits before he found one that was open.

"Morning," the young man in charge said. "Help you with something?"

"I'm looking to buy a bike—as close to new as you've got."

"Sure thing." He pulled out several before Mac found one that seemed to be in almost perfect condition. Painted a deep royal blue, the mountain bike had multiple gears and hand brakes. He'd wanted to buy her a new one, but this was the best he could do at the moment—and it was a major upgrade from what she'd had.

"I'll take a helmet, too, if you can spare one."

"No problem."

Ten minutes later, Mac rode the bike into Maddie's yard where his truck was still parked in the driveway. As he sat on the stairs and waited for her and Thomas to emerge from the apartment, the light rain became a downpour. Right on schedule, the door opened, and Maddie stepped out with Thomas in her arms, both of them wearing yellow raincoats. The baby let out a happy squeal at the sight of Mac.

"What are you doing here?" Maddie asked, her face set in the closed, guarded expression he remembered from their first days together. After experiencing her open, loving side, the regression pained him.

"It occurred to me that I never replaced your bike." He gestured to the new one parked at the bottom of the stairs.

"Oh."

He knew her well enough to suspect she was wrestling with whether or not she should accept it.

"I got you a helmet, too, in case some other guy knocks you off your bike."

She finally looked right at him, and the impact of those caramel eyes meeting his almost knocked him over. "That was probably a once-in-a-lifetime event."

He kept his gaze trained on her. "It was for me." Rain wet his hair and face, but, afraid to break the spell, he didn't dare move to brush it away.

"Thank you for the bike."

"You're welcome."

In the midst of an awkward silence, Mac scrambled to think of something—anything—he could say that would keep her talking to him. "You'll be soaked by the time you get to North Harbor."

"I'll be fine."

"Let me drive you. I'm going to the same place. We can toss the bike in the back so you can get home later."

"A little rain won't hurt me."

"It'll hurt me to think about you riding your bike in the rain. What if you fall again?"

"Fine," she said, exasperated. "But it's just a ride."

"Okay."

She came down the stairs.

Thomas lunged for Mac.

"Could I hold him? Just for a minute?"

Reluctantly, Maddie transferred the baby to Mac's waiting arms.

He hugged Thomas in close to him. "Hi, buddy," he said, breathing in his sweet scent. "I missed you this morning."

Thomas took a handful of Mac's hair and tugged. "Dadadadadada."

Mac winced, and not from the pain of having his hair pulled. His eyes flooded, and he was grateful for the rain on his face. "You have a good day with Aunt Tiffany, pal." Mac kissed the baby's pudgy cheek and handed him back to his mother.

Thomas wailed in protest as Maddie walked him across the yard to her sister's house.

Mac put the bike in the back of the truck and got in to wait for her. With the window down, he could hear her arguing with Tiffany, who probably didn't approve of her sister taking a ride from him.

A few minutes later, Maddie slid into the passenger seat and slammed the door. Her face was flushed and her breathing choppy.

"Everything okay?" he asked.

"Yes." She didn't say another word on the short ride to North Harbor.

At the hotel, Mac got out to retrieve the bike. When she joined him, he kept a firm grip on the handlebars. "You know where I am if you change your mind."

"Yes," she said without looking at him.

"I love you. Only you. I always will."

Her brief nod was the only indication she gave that she heard him.

Mac held on to the bike, knowing the moment he let go she'd walk away and never look back.

"I need to go to work."

He reluctantly released his hold on the bike and watched her wheel it up the hill, his heart breaking. "Maddie!" The single word burst from his chest in a desperate cry.

Her shoulders stiffened, but she put her head down and kept going.

M
addie had considered leaving the island—taking Thomas and the things they couldn't live without and just going. Unfortunately, she didn't have quite enough money saved to make it happen. So she'd had no choice but to face whatever might be waiting for her outside the safe confines of her apartment.

Rattled by the encounter with Mac, Maddie somehow managed to get through the long day at the hotel. Her coworkers were clearly curious about the letters in the paper, but no one asked. At the end of the day, when they were gathered in the supply room folding clean towels and sheets, she decided she had to say something.

"So, um, I know you all saw the paper yesterday."

The other women stopped what they were doing and turned to her.

Maddie's face heated with embarrassment, but she forced herself to say the words. "I had a bit of trouble with some of the local boys in high school. One of them was mad I wouldn't sleep with him, so he made up a story and got his friends to go along with it. I was given a horrible nickname that has stuck to me ever since."

Daisy gasped. "I'm so sorry, Maddie."

"These," she said, gesturing to her breasts, "apparently come with expectations, and if you don't live up to them…" Maddie shrugged.

"How did it end up in the paper, honey?" Sylvia asked.

"I told Mac about it, and he flipped out, especially since his brother was involved."

"So he made them write the letters?" Patty asked.

Ethel stormed into the room. "What's going on here?"

"Leave us alone, Ethel," Betty snapped back.

The others watched nervously as the two women stared each other down.

Seeming to realize she'd interrupted an intense moment, Ethel spun around and left.

Sarah closed the door behind her.

"Mac forced them to write the letters?" Patty asked again.

Maddie nodded. "Unfortunately, he failed to mention anything about it to me, so we're over."

"No!" Daisy wailed. "You love him! You're going to marry him!"

Maddie fought back tears. "I can't marry someone who'd keep something like that from me. I just can't, Daisy."

The others got busy again with the sheets and towels.

"You guys don't agree?" Maddie asked.

"It's just that he came here and filled in for you," Patty said. "That was so sweet."

"And remember how nice he was to us?" Sylvia added. "Bringing us coffee and that one day he got pizza for everyone?"

"I know he's a good guy," Maddie said. "That's not what this is about."

"Honey, he wanted to fix it for you," Betty said. "Granted he went about it all wrong, but he can't help that. He's a man. His intentions were good."

"You guys think I'm crazy to break up with him over this." She'd expected her friends to share her outrage.

No one replied, which spoke volumes.

"I told him that keeping things from me was a deal-breaker, and still he didn't tell me about the letters or that he'd punched Darren, even after I asked him what happened to his hand."

"You have to stand up for what's important to you," Sylvia said.

"Absolutely," Daisy said.

If that was true, why was Maddie suddenly worried that she'd made a huge mistake?

On the way home, she stopped at the post office to buy stamps.

"Hi there, Maddie," Mrs. Jergenson said with a friendly smile.

Maddie stared at the woman behind the counter. She'd been in there a hundred times over the years and never once had the woman who ran the local post office addressed her by name.

"How are you today?"

"Fine," Maddie stammered. "Thanks." She bought her stamps and went to the drug store. Since she didn't yet have a basket on the new bike, she bought only a few essentials.

"Afternoon, Maddie," Mrs. Gold said. "Nice to see the sun after all that rain this morning."

Again, Maddie was rendered speechless.

When she received the same treatment at the grocery store, Maddie had to acknowledge that her life on the island seemed to have changed overnight. The rumors people had believed for years had been dispelled. Her reputation had been restored. And she had Mac to thank for that.

Over the next two weeks, Mac threw himself into work. He spent twelve to fourteen hours a day at McCarthy's, either making repairs or reorganizing the business's finances. The company had plenty of money to pay for upgrades, and his father seemed more than happy to turn everything over to Mac.

Too bad he was miserable. He wasn't sure he'd be able to stay on the island permanently after what had happened with Maddie. Living without her and Thomas, especially knowing they were so close but out of reach, was just too damned painful. Except for fleeting glances as she came and went from the hotel, Mac hadn't seen her since the day he drove her to work. He continued to hope she'd come around, but he hadn't heard from her and had begun to accept that he wasn't going to. Janey had convinced him to give Maddie some time and space, but the longer he went without seeing her, the worse he felt.

He'd been consulting almost daily with his partners in Miami on a wide variety of ongoing projects. A few weeks ago, he'd been certain he would stay on the island and had planned to tell his partners he wasn't coming back. Now he wasn't sure, so he hadn't said anything to them about his long-term plans. The more he hedged, however, the more persistent Roseanne became about pinning him down on a return date.

In light of that, he shouldn't have been surprised when she showed up one day at McCarthy's just as he was starting work on the gift shop roof. He watched Ned's cab pull into the lot. Roseanne emerged and took a good look around the marina.

Mac suppressed a groan and wished there was somewhere to hide. But she spotted him on the roof and let out a happy shriek. Teetering on spike heels, she came rushing toward him as every guy on the dock stopped what he was doing to stare at her. Wanting to reach her before she got to the pier and broke her neck on those heels, Mac descended quickly from the roof.

They met in the parking lot where Roseanne launched herself into his arms.

Mac had no choice but to catch her.

Gripping a handful of his hair, she wrapped her legs around his hips and planted a huge kiss on him.

He heard the whistles and catcalls, but all Mac could think about while she kissed him senseless was getting rid of her as fast as he could.

"Maddie," Daisy whispered. "Mrs. McCarthy wants to see you in the office."

"Did she say why?"

Wide-eyed, Daisy shook her head. "Good luck," Daisy called after her as Maddie took the stairs from the third floor to Mrs. McCarthy's lobby office.

Outside the door, Maddie steeled herself and knocked briskly. "You wanted to see me?"

Linda looked up from a spreadsheet on the desk. "Maddie, hi." She waved her in. "Close the door."

Maddie took the seat Linda offered.

"Can I get you anything? Some coffee or tea?"