Revealed: His Secret Child (15 page)

She could feel her heart beating but she held tight to the fact that he was using words like
us
and
future
and the hope burned a little brighter.

“I've hated not being able to share things, like what's
happening at work, with you. And I don't want our jobs to come between us.”

“I could look for something new,” she said tentatively. If he was saying what she thought he was, if he was holding out hope for her, she'd do whatever it took to grasp hold of it. What they could have was worth any price.

He touched her face, reverence in the brush of his fingertips. “You love your job and there's not much else like that around here. On the other hand, as part of my work with Hannah's Hope I've been talking with Ward about the Cara Miller Foundation a lot lately. It's got me thinking that that side of things is something I'd like to be involved in.” His thumb stroked her jaw. “I could bring a lot to it. They're looking at opening an office on the West Coast. It may take a little time but once I find someone to take over for me with Rafe I'm moving over to the foundation. You can stay with the
Gazette
and keep doing what you do so infuriatingly well.”

She leaned into his palm, overwhelmed. “You'd do that?”

“For you? For us? Yes. I'd do anything.”

“You don't have to.”

“I do because I love you.”

For a second she thought that maybe the crash of the ocean had distorted his words.

He framed her face with his hands and said it again. “I love you, Gillian Mitchell. After Dylan died I realized I'd never told him I loved him. We were thirteen and it just wasn't the sort of thing we'd say to each other. But it seemed so wrong and I felt so guilty about it and about being alive that since that day I've never said those words to anyone else I love, either. But, Gillian, you fill the places in me that Dylan's death left barren. Fill them so much that it hurts. In the best possible way. Like learning to use a limb that's been broken. I love Ethan and I love you. I love you together, I love you separately.
I want to marry you again—properly. I want to declare my love for you in a church with family and friends as witnesses to the fact that I'm going to share my life with you forever and always. I just need to hear you say those three words you said earlier one more time.”

She kissed him gently, sweetly and drew back just enough to whisper, “I love you,” before he was kissing her back.

T
he first few notes from the organ silenced the guests in the brimming Beverly Hills church. Sunlight streamed through high stained-glass windows and heads swiveled as Gillian took her first steps up the long aisle, the short train of her white dress trailing behind her.

So many faces. So many friends.

In six short months her life had changed almost beyond recognition.

Her gaze took it all in. The cavernous church seemed to swell with happiness. Hers and that of the guests. Everyone was smiling. Laura, flanked by the rest of her family, was smiling broadest of all, though she was also dabbing at her eyes with a dainty, white handkerchief.

Gillian's arm was linked through her mother's. The woman who'd been both mother and father to her was giving her away. Her mother, usually cynical about men, adored Max.

A sound behind her caught her attention and Gillian glanced back. Lilly and Nicole in their white-satin flower-girl
dresses had stopped to help Ethan, who'd dropped the cushion that held their carefully chosen rings. Fortunately, the rings had been secured with a stitch to protect against just such an event.

Lilly picked up the velvet cushion and Nicole took Ethan's hand as Gillian turned back for the front. They'd make it there. Ethan had the girls helping, and failing that the church was filled with friends who'd be only too happy to assist. She saw Mrs. McDonald out of the corner of her eye, poised and ready to swoop to Ethan's aid. The race to help could well turn into a melee.

They were here for them not just today, but for the rest of their lives.

She looked ahead and found her true north when her gaze locked with Max's, the face of the rest of her life, and couldn't believe such utter happiness had come her way.

She felt herself drawn toward him. He looked so serious, so intense, so…proud. Her heart swelled even further.

Max was working for the Cara Miller Foundation now, helping the charity achieve amazing results.

The scent of white rosebuds drifted from the bouquet she held in front of the almost unnoticeable swell of her stomach. Six more months and Ethan would have a little brother or sister. And Max was possibly even more excited about the prospect than she was. He was already talking about possible names and plans for the nursery in their new home.

Drawn to the blue eyes watching her so intensely—as though she was the only woman, the only person, in the world—Gillian stopped in front of Max. His gaze softened on her as he reached for her hand and interlaced his fingers with hers, holding her as though he'd never let her go.