Second Chance at Forever (Forever Book 2) (31 page)

I said to him, “Don’t make this harder than it has to be, Briggs. Once we land in Maryland, you will get to return to your life, and Reese will be coming home with me.”

“What about Riley? She has already expressed her wishes to remain at home with me.”

“Her place is with her mother, and I’ve already made living arrangements for them, so don’t worry about it. They will remain in Maryland until Riley graduates, and then they’re both joining me and my son in California. You see, Samuel, this was how it was supposed to be, and forces beyond our control kept us apart. I know what you did for Reese all those years ago, and for that I’m grateful, but that’s over now. And you need to accept that.”

“Who the hell do you think you are? You think you can just walk back into her life, destroy what we have, and take my wife while I just sit back and let you?”

“Yes Samuel, that’s exactly what is going to happen. Reese was mine first, and I intend to make her mine again. The days of people trying to take her from me are over.”

“She’s not your fucking property, Reed. She’s my wife! Fuck you.”

I don’t know how he expected me to react to that. I grabbed Samuel by his collar and shook him as if he were a rag doll. He struggled beneath my grasp, trying to break free of my hold. We measured up to be the same height just about, but he didn’t match my strength, especially when I was angry.

“No. Samuel. Fuck. You.” I enunciated very slowly. “Do yourself a favor, and walk away while you still can. If it were up to me, I would have broken every single one of your surgical fingers, but Reese asked me not to. You can’t imagine the level of control and discipline I need to have to respect her wishes with this. I fucking hate that you put your hands on her, not once, not twice, but three times. I know what you did, and only spineless fucks like yourself think that is an acceptable way to handle a woman.”

“You don’t know anything, Reed. I would die for her.”

“Bullshit! If you care for Reese at all, then you would have never raised a hand to her and respected her enough when she said…NO! Walk away, Briggs, because if you ever think of hurting my woman again, then God help you. I will not be so forgiving next time.”

I released him, and he fell back to the couch behind him. Trying to get air back into his lungs, he wanted to say something to me, but he hesitated and continued to cough.

“Enjoy the rest of your flight, Dr. Briggs.”

I threw down a bottle of water to Samuel and exited the cabin. I stopped to take in a few calming breaths before joining Reese and the kids. I restrained myself for Reese, and only Reese. He’s made her feel guilty for her divorcing him and choosing me. Whether I was in the picture or not, their marriage would have seen its ending. I just thank God that I have been given this precious second chance to be with Reese again. I meant what I said to Samuel, the days of people trying to take her away from me are over. I will never let anyone hurt Reese again.

HOW CAN ONE’S life change in only a matter of five days? I pinched the bridge of my nose trying to obviate my migraine that was slowly making my head hurt.
Where do I go from here?
Walker had all the answers, and he had made it sound so simple: I was supposed to divorce my husband and not give it a second thought.

Walker crashed back into my life like an express train at full velocity. I wanted him. That much was true. My body craved him, and I wanted him burying himself inside of me.
But at what cost?
I had always loved Walker Reed; he was the owner of my heart. I needed time to process all of this change, and I had Riley to consider in all of this.

She was young and in love, and in a few months my daughter would be living away from home to attend college. I would not allow what was happening in my life to concern or affect Riley. My daughter had too many things going for her to stress over her parents’ marriage, or what’s left of it. Samuel hitting me this morning was a knee jerk reaction to learning about Walker, and add the divorce on top of an already stressful situation, and he snapped. He begged me to forgive him and not divorce him.

Samuel repeatedly questioned me about Walker and if I slept with him. He pressed and pressed me until I screamed it out. I didn’t want to hurt him with that painful truth, but he wouldn’t relent on his questions. My answer to him earned me a hard slap. I knew I broke him at that moment. No matter how many promises Walker and I had made to one another, I was still another man’s wife. I was the adulterer in this story.

Reliving this was just making me feel sick inside. I never wanted it to turn out this way. My head was beginning to feel worse, probably from my over thinking. Samuel was the one that actually got me into yoga and all of its teachings. Over the years it helped me with my headaches. I was diagnosed with migraines in my first year of college back home in Georgia. I don’t believe I ever shared this with Walker. The headache excuse back in New York was just to divert Riley’s questions. I knew how his wife died, and that was one of the contributing factors. It scared the hell out of Walker to see me in pain, especially with something that Elizabeth also suffered with. I managed to control my pain with holistic methods, but when they became extremely painful, I had no choice but to seek modern medicine. My migraines increased during my pregnancy with Riley, but I managed to control them over the last few years. I reminded myself to talk to Walker about this. I didn’t want him worried about me every time my head hurt.

The plane was quiet. Riley and Jackson were talking, and Samuel was in the next cabin. The only sound heard throughout the plane was the clicking of Walker’s keyboard. He was trying to work and give me space, but I caught him looking over at me with his worried eyes.

I swear after all of these years, he still has a secret channel to my inner thoughts. How does he do this?
I needed to get up and walk around, thinking maybe that would help with my tension.

I walked past Walker and knocked on Samuel’s door asking for entrance. Walker, remaining in his seat, stared at me in shock. I smiled at him. He let out a breath and didn’t try to stop me from talking with Samuel. Samuel, not expecting to see me on the other side of the door, looked surprised, but allowed me to enter.

“Samuel, we need to discuss a few things before we arrive home.”

“Seriously? We don’t have a home anymore. Forgive me for being crass, but the moment you decided to leave me and walk out on our marriage, ‘our home’ was destroyed. Lines were crossed, and trust was irrevocably broken when my hand—these hands—struck you down. I knew at that moment, I had undoubtedly lost my wife. We have nothing to discuss.”

“Samuel, contrary to what you believe, we have to talk, and we need to discuss Riley. She’s pretty upset, and doesn’t understand what happened. It’s been a crazy five days, and her whole world has changed.”

“Whose fault is that, Reese? It’s not mine. I’m not the one fucking my ex-lover and walking out on the life that we built and shared for all of these years.”

“Fine, Samuel. You can call me a whore again if it makes you feel better.”

“It doesn’t, actually, if you want to know the truth. I hated myself for calling you that disgusting word. You’re my wife, mother of my child; you’re no whore. You came to me, Reese, please give me a few minutes.”

“Okay.”

I glanced toward the door, knowing Walker, Stephen, and a team of armed guards were on the other side. Samuel would never dare to hurt me again, but what he was about to say to me would sting just as much as that burning slap he delivered to me earlier.

“I’m sorry, Reese, but let me ask you a question. How do you see this playing out for you? You leave our home with our daughter, and then what? Ride off into the sunset with Walker Reed… A man whom you haven’t seen or talked to in nearly two decades? You’re my wife, Riley is my daughter, and this means you’re my family, not his. Were you really that unhappy with me, Reese? I don’t understand you at all, and I’m too exhausted to even try. From the bottom of my heart, you will never know how deeply sorry I am for hurting you, but woman please give me a small window here to sort out what was once my life. What am I going to say to my colleagues at the hospital? Do you even know the position you have placed me in?”

“I’m sorry, Samuel, I truly am, but I have made my decision. Please don’t fight me on it. I can only hope that we can come to an amicable understanding where Riley is concerned.”

“Please, Reese, don’t do this. Give me a chance to make this right. No decisions have to be made today. If I need to, I will move out of the house, and you and Riley will stay. To end our marriage like this without even trying to save it is incomprehensible to me.”

“I’m sorry, Samuel.”

“Will you stop saying that, Reese? I don’t want your apologies, I want you. Why can’t you see how much I love you? I don’t care if your long lost love has returned; our marriage is worth fighting for, and I’m not giving up on you. What kind of man would easily just give up like that? I am not that man! I will fight for you until I take my last breath, so please give me a chance. Show me that our years together have meant something to you. Please, Reese?”

Hearing Samuel beg me to stay broke my heart. As I stood there I remembered everything about him that made me take that leap of faith and trust him with my heart. I never really gave him a chance to really be in it, since I held back all of these years because of my love for Walker. I walked over to Samuel, and I did the only thing I could think of before completely falling apart.

I wrapped my arms around Samuel’s neck and pulled him closer into me. I whispered into his ear, “I will always love you for saving me that night. I will always be thankful for our daughter that we created together. You will always be my friend, Samuel, because that’s how we began.”

I kissed Samuel with all that I had. He held me as tightly as he could. I struggled to break free of our connection, and he held onto me as if his life depended on it.

“Please, Samuel, let me go.”

“I love you, Reese. Please stay with me.”

“Goodbye, Samuel.”

I left him standing there. He looked beaten down. I turned away from him, and walked out the door. Taking quick strides over to me, Walker scooped me up into his arms and held me. Breathing in each other, my accelerated heartbeat was calming with his gentle strokes on my skin.

“Are you okay, love?” He whispered into my ear, but not before kissing me.

“I’m fine, I just need a minute to compose myself. Please, Walker, can you give me that?”

“Of course. Take all the time you need. I love you, Reese.”

“I love you too.”

MY PILOT ANNOUNCED that we would be landing in the next fifteen minutes. Jackson and Riley had emerged from their room and took their seats in the main cabin. Samuel joined us and sat by his daughter, never once looking up. Reese was in my private bathroom. I asked her to splash some cold water on her face. She was exhausted, but kept up appearances for Riley. She re-entered the main cabin and took a quick glance around the plane. She instantly reached for my hand, and I guided her down to the seat next to mine—a gesture that of course didn’t go unnoticed by the others. I wasn’t going to hide my feelings for my woman; I loved her too much for that. This entire trip was quite the mind fuck.

Stephen interrupting my thoughts was a welcomed relief. “Sir, may I have a word?”

I nodded briefly and turned to Reese. “Reese, how are you feeling? You look pale.”

“I’m fine, Walker. My headache is gone.”

“I have to speak with Stephen for a minute. I won’t be long.”

I kissed her on her cheek. I was thankful she didn’t pull away from me. We haven’t really had the opportunity to talk, and god knows what is going through her head right now. Stephen and I went into my office, as I perused the documents that he had given me.

“Is this all of it?” I asked Stephen.

“Yes sir, it is. I had my best team on it.”

“Once we land, I want the plane prepped, and ready to leave first thing in the morning, en route to California. We will stop in Arizona so I can take care of this, and then we head for home. Jackson needs to return back to school, and I have a company to run.”