“Damn, that’s our fault. She told Ash she was turning her phone off because she didn’t want us bombarding her with calls. Said she’d made up her mind.”
His heart lurched. “What are the odds she’ll leave it to less than two hours before checking in?”
“Zero,” Jessica replied quietly. “You think you missed her?”
No. He couldn’t, wouldn’t entertain that possibility. Not while her plane was still on the ground. “Maybe she’s stuck in traffic.”
“Yes, maybe. She said she was getting in a cab.”
The desperation in Jessica’s voice nearly matched his own. Did Olivia have any clue how much she was going to be missed? Or whatshewas going to miss out on?
“I’ll stay till the gate closes,” he croaked. “Just in case.”
He knew in his heart it was futile. Olivia, his brilliant, organized ex-girlfriend, would never have left it to the last minute to check into the most important flight of her life.
By the time he reached his front door a miserable hour and a half later, all he wanted to do was curl in a ball and cry.
He didn’t know if he had it in him to slap on a smile for his daughter and pretend it didn’t matter that Olivia had gone. Assure her they’d still be able to talk to her on video. That she’d still be part of their lives.
Just too fucking far away to play any real part.
Standing on the doorstep, he heaved in a breath, straightened his spine. Ellie needed a stable dad, a happy dad. Somehow, he’d find a way to be that for her.
“Mum, Dad, I’m back,” he shouted as he walked into the hall.
It was their routine—he called out, they answered. But an eerie silence greeted him.
The hairs on the back of his neck started to prick as he strode through the hall. “Ellie?”
“I’m here.”
His heart settled. She didn’t sound upset; she sounded... giggly?
He didn’t know what to expect when he walked into the living room, but none of the scenarios that had run through his head included this one.
Olivia sat on the sofa, her arms around his daughter.
Ellie beamed at him. “She didn’t get on the plane.”
Thunderstruck, he stared at Olivia, words barely able to squeeze from his throat. “You didn’t get on the plane.”
Eyes shining, she gave him a soft smile. “I didn’t get on the plane.”
Chapter 36
If she’d ever doubted she’d done the right thing, seeing the tumbling emotions on Connor’s dumbstruck face gave her all the reassurance she needed. There was shock, disbelief—she’d watched him close his eyes, then open them again, as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Close on the heels of those was hope, and threading through it all was love. The clear, unfiltered adoration in his gaze when it collided with hers caused her heart to expand so much, it pressed against her rib cage.
“What.” He shook his head. “Please tell me you’re not here because you missed the plane.”
He had no clue, she realized with shame. No clue how much she loved him. How, in the end, it hadn’t come down to a decision of whether to go or stay. Staying had simply been the only option. She hadn’t been able to envision her life without him in it. Him and Ellie, who’d given her such a welcome when she arrived—a delighted squeal, followed by a hug that had almost knocked her over—that she’d cried.
This family had reduced her to an emotional mess, and she couldn’t be happier about it.
“Do you really think I would miss a plane?”
He gave her a weak smile, but she could see he was trying to keep grounded, trying not to leap to conclusions. “I went to the airport to stop you from catching it.”
“So your parents said.” Right before they’d asked her if she wanted them to take Ellie back to their house so she and Connor could have their reunion in private. She’d contemplated it briefly, but then she’d looked at the beaming smile on Ellie’s face. Today was the start of them as a family, and Ellie was just as important a part of that as her and Connor. “How were you going to stop me?”
