Kendall laughs. “I’d never.”
Paul glares at Magnolia. “I’ll take you to court. I’ll drag it out. Make it expensive and painful. You know I’m right. The girl needs her father.”
Her face wilts. “One, I have more money than you. Two, you’d really do that to us? Knowing it’s not what she wants? She’ll be eighteen soon, Paul. Remember? It’s not even worth the effort. She’s not a little girl who wants to stand on your shoes while dancing in the living room. Those days are gone. I don’t want to fight you, but I’d think after all these years you’d have the decency to respect my role as a mother. I’ll always do what is best for her.”
“You’re in a hospital bed, Magnolia. Who is caring for her?”
Kendall stands. “No one needs to take care of me, but if you must know, Aidan and Jenny have been helping out since I left the hospital. I’m not moving in with you, Dad. You won’t take Mom to court, either. I’ll tell them every gory detail. I’ll spread that story like gospel. No judge would put me back in your house for any length of time knowing how much it would damage me emotionally. I thought you came here to make amends. You’re still the same selfish person you’ve always been. Where is the other woman?” Kendall sneers, bringing that catty teenager out to play. I cringe.
“I need to talk to my family,” Paul says, directing the statement to me. “Alone.”
Magnolia shakes her hand, putting her hand on my arm. “He’s staying. Anything you have to say to us you can say in front of Aidan.”
“Seriously, Maggie?”
I clear my throat. I’ve sat silent long enough. Paul isn’t an opponent in any sense. His salt-and-pepper hair is long and shaggy, and he’s long and lean. I could dispatch of him so quickly I’d be considered a lethal weapon in a court of law. Instead, I say, “Magnolia is serious.” Had she wanted privacy in this fucked-up family moment, I would have respected it. Could even understand it a bit. They were an established unit far before I came into the picture. “It’s probably best if you go.”
“Fuck you, man. Get out of here. These are my girls,” Paul says, eyes glinting with challenge.
That’s all it takes. I didn’t fight hard enough for them in the past, but it’s obvious this is where I’m supposed to be. My fight.
I stand up to my full height and take two steps toward Paul. He wobbles as he tries to step away from my looming presence. “These aren’t your girls. Not after what you did. You lost them a long time ago. This is what happens when men do bad things, Paul. Good men swoop in and steal the things they used to care about. These are my girls now. I care about them. I love them. I would die for them. I almost did. I will fight for them and with them until I take my very last breath. Magnolia is wild and beautiful—the special kind of beautiful, because when I met her, she had no idea of her worth. I did, though. I saw every scar and every memory she shared with me as my chance. As the wrapping paper of a gift I’ve waited my whole life for.”
Paul takes another shaky step backward. I step forward in time with his backward movement. I nod at him. “You will let Kendall stay where she wants. You won’t give Magnolia any more grief because she doesn’t deserve that. No,” I say, choking on my words. “Because she’s good, Paul. Not like you.”
“You can’t just steal my family,” Paul hisses, gaze darting anywhere except my face. “That’s not how it works.”
Instead of threatening him further, I back up toward Magnolia’s bed. “It is exactly how this works. But you are right, I can’t just steal them. I didn’t have to steal them, Paul. You gave them to me. They’re pretty awesome. Thanks for that, by the way.”
“Fuck you!” Paul screeches, waving his middle finger in my direction like a deranged lunatic. He stutters, “Maggie, please. I need to talk to you.”
“He’s right,” Magnolia says, chiming in. “You lost me a long time ago, but Kendall can visit you if she wants and if herpsychologist thinks it’s a good idea, but we aren’t your girls anymore.”
Magnolia squeezes my hand. When I look at her big blue eyes, I see gratitude and love. We haven’t discussed anything pertaining to our relationship while she’s been in the hospital. I told her to focus all of her energy on getting better. This is the first time hope blossoms in my chest. In this heated, uncomfortable moment, I become aware that we don’t just look like family, we might actually be one. Formed of heartbreak. Of betrayal. Joined because of circumstances and forged by the choice of love.
I don’t kiss her to put on a show for Paul. I kiss her to tell her that I understand what she’s telling me by not saying anything at all. It’s gentle. Just her lips glazed in tears and my own with desperate relief in this confirmation. Neither of us closes our eyes. They stay locked for the brief kiss. I pull away when I hear Kendall say, “If you had come in here and asked me what I wanted, I might have said I’d like to start spending time with you again. You went about this the wrong way. We’re getting over a trauma, and you’re heaping more awful on the plate. Dad, please just go home to Pamela. I’ll call you. I promise.”
Paul isn’t looking at Kendall. He’s staring at Magnolia, who is staring at me. My heart lurches at the scene. This is the moment when he finally feels the loss. Realizes what he gave up for selfish pleasure.
“Let me ask you something, Paul,” I bark.
He shakes his head while wearing a sardonic smile. “What?”
“Were you afraid?”
“Afraid of what?”
“Of losing them? When you were carrying on the affair, did it occur to you that you may lose Magnolia…Kendall, because of it? What does that kind of fear feel like?”
His face falls, and he nods at Magnolia, then at his daughter. “You tell me,” he fires back.
I quirk one brow.
“You’ve obviously felt that kind of fear. You’re feeling it now that I’m here trying to win them back.”
“Win them back?” Magnolia asks, voice loud. “Paul, please.” Kendall excuses herself in the guise of taking a phone call, but I know she’s feeling conflicted and uncomfortable, her tense body language says a lot.
After the door closes, Paul replies, “Yeah, Maggie. Doesn’t matter though, does it? You’re so over me, you’ve replaced me.”
