All of the air had been sucked from the room, and he felt sick all over again.
He’d not left because of an ultimatum. He’d left to make them a beautiful life as a couple.
“I was going to work my ass off for a year to get enough money to come back here and buy a house for us. I knew you’d never leave Scotland. I wanted to take the time to be worthy of proposing to you. Back then, that version of me saw our tiny apartment as shameful, and I wanted to buy you the world. Now I know that it was more than enough.”
At his words, Graham lifted his head, and there were tears on his lashes. They were dripping down his cheeks.
“You would have come back?”
He nodded.
“I knew your tour was up in six months. I assumed you’d trust me, and when you demanded I tell you why, I couldn’t. It made me angry when you fought me on it. I began wondering if you cared about me at all, or if I was just a fling to keep youoccupied during the wars. I spiraled out of control at the thought I’d made a mistake, and with the papers I signed, I couldn’t back out. I had to leave.”
That was all it took.
Graham sobbed.
His legs got weak, and he fell to his knees.
Graham had been so close to having it all. He’d been on the cusp of joy and a family. Instead, he’d lived alone in hell for seven years.
“I’m sorry I gave you an ultimatum,” he whispered. “I would have been your husband. I would have had my heart,” he added. “I was so close to being loved for the rest of my life instead of being…THIS.”
Michael felt horrible.
This wasn’t faked.
There was so much emotion here.
Yes, Riley cried and begged for forgiveness, but not once did he carry the blame. It was always someone else’s fault.
HIS.
But with Graham, he was taking ownership. He was being the bad guy when Michael was just as much to blame. After all, he could have come back.
Instead, he’d never checked on him.
He’d abandoned him.
As he cried, Michael reached down, and pulled him up. He picked him up in his arms, and carried him to the bed. There, he crawled into the blankets and held him.
“I was so close,” he whispered. “I was twelve hours away, and I could have had my greatest dream and the best treasure in the world,” he whispered. “I almost had you. I almost had the best thing in the world, and I threw it away with an ultimatum. How do I live with that?”
Michael held him.
In that moment, he knew.
He still loved him.
While he’d seen countless horrible things, there was that overwhelming need to forgive and go back into that storm.
With Graham.
When he lifted his chin, the man’s lower lip quivered. There was so much pain there.
Michael wanted to free him from that.
Gently, he found his mouth, and curiosity won out. He wanted to know if it would feel the same.
