His brows pinch. “Ash?—”
I put up a hand. “You let me go because you loved me, I get it. But I didn’t then.”
He looks at me dead in the face and says, “I don’t care what’s happened over the last six years, I’m glad it wasn’t you. I miss Akers every day, but I wouldn’t have survived it if it’d been you.”
I have to blink back tears.Jesus, how much am I gonna cry today!
“I’m okay now. Therapy helped—well, and Maggie. She made everything worth it.”
He’s quiet for a long time before finally asking, “Can I meet her? Just once?”
He must think I’m going to say no because before I can respond, he adds, “I can come there. Everyone heard us today, so it’s not like they don’t already know she’s mine.”
My chest squeezes. It feels cruel to say no.
“Please?”
Goddamn it.
“Yeah. You can meet her.”
He closes his eyes, taking a deep breath and turning back to the lake. “Does she know about me?”
I don’t want to hurt him more than I already have, but there’s no changing what’s happened over the last six years. Maggie and I have had a whole life outside of Ravens Ridge.
Shaking my head, I tell him, “I met Casey a couple of months after I had Maggie, and he just kind of jumped right in.” I shrug. “I mean, she’s five. I couldn’t very well tell her all this shit.”
God, I hate this. I wouldn’t want to do this to anyone, but this is Gabriel.
My Gabriel.
“You don’t have to tell her who I am. If it’s easier for her, I mean.”
Placing a hand on his back, I angle my body to face him. “Look, I don’t expect anything from you. I made an impossible choice, and in doing so, I knew what I was signing up for. This changes nothing.”
He rears back with furrowed brows. “No. This changes everything. She’s mine even if she never knows it. I’ll respect whatever you decide, but I’m not that guy.”
I tilt my head as my chin quivers. “I don’t want her to get hurt.”
He peers straight into my eyes and clears his throat. “Iwould never let anything happen to her. I just want to meet her.”
“Okay.”
A smile spreads across his face, and for the first time since he showed up, the storm retreats a little from his eyes. “Her name’s Maggie?”
“Yeah.” I grin. “Well—Magnolia, but we call her Maggie.”
I couldn’t help it. I wanted him to be a part of her even if he never knew. We fell in love under the magnolia tree, and the most beautiful thing came from it. Her name felt like the obvious choice.
His eyes turn glossy.
There’s a nagging part of my brain that just wants to make this better. I just want this aching we’re both feeling to stop. So, I ask, “Do you want to see pictures?”
He nods, and I scroll through my phone until I find a picture from the day she was born.
“She was kind of stubborn. I went a week past my due date.”
I hold out my phone.
