Chapter
Fifteen
Maddie
He asks me if I don’t feel what he’s feeling.
The truth is, there hasn’t been a single day that I haven’t thought about going back in time and changing everything about that day.
“I don’t regret not being an Army wife,” she says. “My dad was right. We should have waited to get married.”
My whole body softens when he reacts so much better than I thought he would.
“And it was stupid of me to move ahead with that plan without giving us a chance to work out a compromise,” he says.
I think about this.
“Compromise used to be a dirty word when we were teenagers. Compromise was something old people do. People who are stuck and decide to settle for second best,” I say.
“And now?” Ewan asks.
“I think…I think it’s better to make a sacrifice for the right person. If it’s a person you know would do the same for you.”
Ewan slides off the swing and kneels in front of me.
“You know I’m that person.”
He’s right. Ewan is that person. I can see that from everything he did to get to this point.
“I do, Ewan. But I’m scared. I don’t know that we’re not going to hurt each other again.”
He takes my hand and places it over his heart. “I’ll tell you this. I don’t regret marrying you too young. Yeah, it was rushed and stupid, but god, what a memory we made.”
I smile and nod through tears.
“Maddie, I regret every single moment you weren’t with me. I regret being a stubborn asshole. But I’m a different person now. I’m not perfect. But I want to work on us. And I know what I feel. I feel it in my blood. I feel you in my blood.”
This is a lot. But this is the Ewan I know. “Ewan.”
He is on a roll. “Every time my blood pumps through my veins, it’s for you, Maddie. You’re the reason I keep going. And I want to spend every day for the rest of my life making sure you feel that too.”
I bite my lip, refusing to blubber.
“And there’s something else. Whatever you want to do, I can fully support. Literally, I have the time and the money. It’s a long story, but there’s over a million dollars in my savings, so I’m in no hurry to go back to work. I want to make up for all that lost time.”
“A million? Did you rob a bank?” I ask.
He laughs.“I cashed out just enough of my savings to get the house, but it’s still technically seven figures.”
Wow. Not swooning. Not going to swoon over money, especially if he’s cashing out savings to buy a house.
“That seems risky?” I say as a question.
“The rest is going to stay in the account. It was what I needed to do to prove that I’m not going anywhere.”
Do I trust him on that? I do. He’s always been smart with his money. Always motivated.
“Also,” Ewan says, “you’ve stolen my dog. So one of us has to move in with the other.”
