Marry Me, Mackenzie!. Joanna Sims

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      Dylan’s jaw set. “Hope should be able to remember my aunt Gerri, too. Uncle Bill’s the closest thing to a father I’ve ever had. He deserved the chance to know my daughter.”

      Dylan’s well-crafted barb hit its intended mark. And it hurt. Because Mackenzie knew that he was right. Silently, she carefully closed the photo album and handed it back to Dylan.

      Dylan put the photo album on the coffee table and sunk down on the couch a cushion away from Mackenzie. He leaned forward, rested his elbows on his legs and cradled his head in his hands.

      “So...” Dylan said quietly. “We both know she’s mine. The next question I’d like answered is...why did you know ten years ago and I’m only finding out now?”

      Mackenzie leaned away from Dylan. “I found out I was pregnant really early on. I’m regular...like clockwork. So when I didn’t get my period after the wedding...I knew.”

      “And you didn’t think it was important to share this information with me, because...?”

      “I was going to tell you. It never occurred to me not to tell you.”

      “But you didn’t...” Dylan lifted his head, looked at her. “Why not?”

      “Jett told me that you were back with Christa...”

      “Jett knew?”

      “No. Not back then. And not until long after the two of you had already lost touch.”

      Dylan nodded and Mackenzie continued her story.

      “After I found out that your engagement was back on, I thought it was the best thing for both of us if I didn’t tell you...”

      “No.” Dylan shook his head. “You should have told me. I had the right to know.”

      “You forget, Dylan. I knew how much you loved Christa. That’s all you talked about the night Jett got married. And you and I both know what would’ve happened if she found out you’d gotten someone pregnant at the wedding! She would’ve broken off the engagement and you would have lost the love of your life because of me! I couldn’t see any reason to screw up your life, Dylan...not when I didn’t even know if I wanted to keep the baby.”

      “I didn’t marry Christa,” Dylan challenged her. “But, you did keep the baby.”

      “Yes. I did. I thought about adoption. I thought about...abortion. In the end, I decided to keep her.”

      Dylan stabbed his leg with his finger. “That’s a decision we should have made together.”

      “I admit that I may have called it wrong...”

      “Called it wrong...?” he repeated incredulously.

      “But I was young and I thought I was doing the right thing for all of us.” Mackenzie touched her finger to her chest. “I got Hope and you got to marry the woman you loved.”

      “I didn’t even know what love was back then...” Dylan shook his head. “At least now I know why you were so anxious to get rid of me at the barn the other day. You didn’t want me to meet my own daughter.”

      “Not like that I didn’t.” Mackenzie set the record straight. “I didn’t want that for Hope...and I didn’t want that for you.”

      In a rough voice, Dylan asked, “Were you ever going to tell me, Mackenzie? Or were you just going to let me go the rest of my life not knowing?”

      “No.” Mackenzie clasped her hands together. “I was going to tell you. I had decided to start looking for you this year...”

      Dylan’s eyes were glassy with emotion. “You’re telling me...that if we hadn’t run into each other at Ian’s party, you were going to track me down? Why? Why now?”

      Mackenzie took a deep breath in and when she let it out, her shoulders sagged.

      “It’s what Hope wanted. When we were filling out her Make-A-Wish application, she wrote—I wish I could meet my dad.”

      “Wait a minute...” What she had just said didn’t sink into his head right away. “Make-A-Wish? Isn’t that for sick kids?”

      “Yes.” Mackenzie waited for Dylan to ask the next logical question.

      “Are you trying to tell me that Hope is sick?”

      “Hope has been battling leukemia for the last two years.” Mackenzie managed to say those words without tearing up.

      As Dylan often did, he went silent. He stared at her for a long time with puzzled, narrowed eyes.

      “Do you need a drink?” he finally asked. “I need a drink.”

      Dylan stood up suddenly and walked toward the kitchen. He stopped when he realized that she was still sitting on the couch. “Are you coming?”

      Wordlessly, Mackenzie stood up on shaky legs and followed Dylan into the kitchen.

      “Can I interest you in a cold malt beverage?” Dylan pulled a bottle of beer from the side door.

      “Sure. Why not?”

      “Why not, indeed,” Dylan said cryptically as he popped the tops off the beers and handed her one. “We’re both consenting adults here.”

      “Thank you,” Mackenzie said. She brought the bottle up to her mouth but Dylan stopped her.

      “What should we toast to?” He held out his bottle to her.

      “Anything you’d like,” Mackenzie said tiredly. She was exhausted. She was exhausted all the time, and had been for years. The stress of Hope’s illness and the stress of trying to run a business had been catching up with her for a long time. And now she had a sinking feeling that dealing with Dylan was only going to add to her exhaustion.

      Dylan tapped her bottle with his. “To Hope.”

      “To Hope,” Mackenzie seconded.

      “Could you go for some fresh air?” Dylan asked.

      Mackenzie nodded and Dylan opened the French door leading out to the deck. “After you.”

      Mackenzie stepped onto the large deck and was immediately drawn to the edge of the railing that overlooked the beach. She stared at the sun setting over the small, rolling waves and tried to relax her shoulders. Dylan, who used to be so simple to read, wasn’t so easy for her to read tonight. She had no idea what type of emotional shift she might encounter. Next to her, but not too close, Dylan rested his forearms on the railing, bottle loosely held in one hand.

      “So...” Dylan said in a calm, almost contemplative tone. “Hope has cancer.”

      “Yes...” Mackenzie nodded. “She has acute lymphoblastic leukemia. ALL. She was diagnosed when she was eight.”

      “Leukemia. What is that? СКАЧАТЬ