In captivity I gave birth to You. A tiny baby girl. I survived for You, and I named You Claire.
Emotion filled her eyes. She looked up slowly. “Does Claire know?”
“Yes.”
“And that Dr.Doug Hart is her father?”
“Yes. She’s been told.”
“And you’re certain he’s the father? I mean, is there any chance Garrison or Axel could actually be—”
“She gave a DNA sample. So did Doug Hart. The RCMP ran an expedited paternity test. She’s Doug Hart’s child. Jasmine is her mother.”
“I want to see her.”
“She’s not seeing anyone, Angie. She’s not talking to anyone. She doesn’t want to see you, especially.”
Angie closed her eyes. Her world spun sickeningly. “I know how she feels, Maddocks. I ... Iknowhow she feels after learning her entire life, her whole world, was a lie. I’ve been there. I can help her. Ineedto speak to her.”
He stroked the back of her hand. “Don’t push it, Ange. She’s hurting. Bad. She’s been robbed of family. The people she thought were her parents are her kidnappers. Her uncle killed her birth mother. The man she believed was her father helped bury her birth mother. Her half sister—as it turns out—pushed her birth mother into the Nahamish, tried to both kill her and drown the unborn child. Claire knows you did this—you exposed it. She might never take kindly to you. She blames you right now.”
A knock sounded. Ginny appeared at the door in her black wool coat, a red scarf around her neck. In her arms she held Jack-O.
“Angie,” she whispered. She hurried forward, and Maddocks took Jack-O. Ginny kissed and hugged Angie. “Oh God, thank God you’re all right.” She flashed a glance at her dad, a look of guilt and worry on her face.
“Ange, I’m sorry. Ihadto tell him. About the dress. I told him on the drive up. After we got the news that you were in hospital—we didn’t know if you were going to ...” Her voice caught. She flicked another look at her father. “We didn’t know if you were going to be okay. Dad was so worried. It ... it was the only thing that kept him going on that interminable drive up the island to see you and until you started coming round. I told him about Father Simon, the church, how my choir wanted to sing at your wedding. I mean—” Her eyes flashed worriedly to her dad. “That is, if you guys are ... I ... If—”
“Gin, Ginny, stop.” Angie reached for the girl’s hand as emotion pricked in her eyes all over again. “I love you, Ginny. It’s okay. It’s fine. I understand.” She glanced at Maddocks, nerves suddenly nipping at her own heart at the strange look on his face. “I love you all so much,” she whispered. “Including that butt-ugly mutt.” She sniffed, wiped her nose, struggling to contain her sudden overwhelming emotions at just being alive, at having these two and that dog with her now. “I never want to be without you guys.”
Maddocks regarded her. Angie swallowed.
“Marry me, James Maddocks.”
“Dad,” Ginny said, reaching for Jack-O, “I need to step out for a minute. I think Jack-O needs to go pee.”
He let his daughter take the dog from his arms. Ginny cast her father a worried look, then turned to Angie. “It’s going to be fine.”
When Ginny had exited, Angie said, “Talk to me, Maddocks. You’re making me nervous.”
He took her hand, fingered the ring again. “You had it resized.”
She nodded.
His eyes began to gleam with emotion. It twisted his face, as if he was trying to control a tsunami of feelings inside.
“What changed, Angie?” he said. “Has anything really changed? Because maybe it’s just the heat of this moment, the euphoria from having survived. Maybe—”
“I did not get that ring resized in some heat of the moment, Maddocks. I ... realized something over the past few weeks. I always wanted this. You. Me. Together. I thought I’d dealt with my fear.”
“Fear of commitment?”
“Fear of being abandoned again. Admitting how much I love you and need you, and then having you walk out on me.”
“Angie—”
“No. I need to say it. I thought I’d dealt with it. I really did. But when I lost my policing job, I lost my independence, my sense of self, which was shaky to begin with after learning my past. I was coming to our commitment from an incredibly vulnerable place, and ... and, yes, it was a scary place. My independence, being able to provide for myself, own my own accommodation, be respected for my job, it was all suddenly gone. I hadn’t realized what a deep, subterranean driver that sense of independence and self-control was to me. My PI work was shaky at best, and then I lost that.”
“Being with you, Ange, being a couple—it was never about taking your independence. It’s about becoming a team. Facing these life challenges together.”
