Married...Again. Stephanie Doyle

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      She couldn’t be sorry, then, that she saved it. He’d lost more than two years of his life, and, in that time, he’d lost almost everything else. His parents, the house where he’d grown up, all of his things...her.

      “It’s getting late. Most folks will start to clear out soon. That couch you’re sitting on pulls out. You can sleep here tonight.”

      “Not going to kick me out like you did Danny boy?”

      “His name is Daniel, and I didn’t kick him out. He had a room at the B and B in town. You know Mom’s rules.”

      “No ring, no bed. Why do you think I needed to marry you so quickly?”

      She tried to smile. She really did. But all she could feel right now was sadness. The shock of seeing him again was starting to wear off, and all the old feelings she’d had when she left him were still there.

      “Good night, Max.”

      He stood and walked over to her. She noticed he had a slight limp. A broken femur in the middle of the frozen Norwegian Sea. On a life raft with two people who were already dead. She couldn’t imagine what he’d suffered. Couldn’t let herself think about how it made her feel to know that he was out there on the ocean alone.

      “I think I’ve left you with a misconception. You said that just because I’m back doesn’t change anything between us, and I agreed.”

      “Yes. So?”

      “When I said nothing’s changed between us, I meant it. I loved you when you left, and you loved me. As far as I’m concerned nothing has changed.”

      “Max...”

      “Nor, I screwed up. I know that now and I’ve had more than two hard years to think of what I had done. But I’m back now, and I’m never going to leave you again.”

      Eleanor shook her head. This was what she’d been afraid of when the four months had passed, and he came back from his expedition to find her gone. That he wouldn’t simply accept that she had left him. That she wanted a divorce. That he would fight for her.

      She remembered thinking she would need to be as strong as she had ever been in order to resist him. Because he was right. She had still loved him when she left him.

      “I don’t believe you.”

      “It’s the truth. I’m never setting foot on a ship again.”

      “That’s obviously a natural fear you have right now. But in time that will heal and you’ll—”

      He grasped her around her upper arms and gave her a small shake. “Nor, look at me. I’m not getting on a ship again because I’m afraid of the water. That’s not the reason. I’m not getting on a ship again because I’m not leaving you. Ever. I cost us years of our life together. I know that. So, I’m not wasting another second of it. I was prepared, if I came back here to find you happily married with two kids and a dog, that I would have to accept it and let you go. But a couple dates with Danny boy? No way. I’m fighting.”

      “This is pointless, Max. It’s been too long. Surely you don’t think I can still be in love with you after all these years?”

      He stared into her eyes, but, honestly, she had no idea what he would find there.

      “Then I guess I’ll have to make you fall in love with me all over again.”

      “That’s not going to happen.” She wouldn’t let it happen. She would never survive a round two with Max Harper. She was sure of it.

      “Then prove it. Come to the cabin with me. A couple days for me to spend some time with my parents’ stuff. Grieve them with me. Please, Nor. At least give me that.”

      “It won’t change anything between us.”

      “Then there should be no reason why you can’t come,” he said as if he’d beaten her in a contest of logic.

      “Except that I have a company to run,” she said, exasperated that he wouldn’t even consider she had her own life. Wasn’t that what he’d told her to do? Find something that was important to her. Have a passion for something that wasn’t him.

      “I know.” He smiled. “Head to Toe. I told you I found it when I was looking for you. You’re considered one of the fastest growing start-ups in Denver.”

      She would not be pleased he’d read that about her. She would not feel an ounce of pride.

      “A couple days. You can bring a laptop to work remotely. We need, if nothing else, more closure to our relationship. That’s all I’m asking.”

      If she was going to do this, then she needed to get something out of the deal.

      “Fine. A couple days. You’ll see there is nothing there between us anymore. No relationship to be salvaged. Then you’ll agree to a non-contested divorce. Deal?”

      He took a step back, and she almost took a step forward as if to follow. Such had always been her attraction to him. Just like a magnet.

      He held his hand out. “I agree to divorce you if I can’t make you fall in love with me again.”

      “Max...” she growled.

      “Take it or leave it.”

      Everything inside her was screaming that this was a mistake. That, in fact, the only shelter from the Max Harper storm would be to find whatever island he’d lived on for the past two or so years and go there—where he would never find her.

      Instead, she shook his hand.

      * * *

      “HOLY COW? CAN you actually believe this is happening?” Allie spit out the toothpaste she had in her mouth so what sounded like a question to her probably came out as a mumble to Mike. Then she made her way to her bedroom through the connecting door of the bathroom.

      She should probably lower her voice. Eleanor’s room, after all, was on the other side of the connecting bathroom door.

      “That your mother is letting me spend the night in your room without the benefit of marriage vows?” Mike asked. “No, I can’t believe this is happening.”

      Allie took a minute to check out her fiancé in her bed. He was right. This was a stunning development. They had dated for three years, had lived together for one, had been engaged now for a few weeks, but this was the first time Mike had ever even been upstairs in her room.

      She’d given him the guided tour of her young-girl years, her teenage-crush years, her longing-to-go-to-college years...that had hurt. Showing him what she hadn’t accomplished.

      Two years of community school was all her mother had thought she needed. With an associate degree she could work at a bank, or as a receptionist in an office. After all, what on earth would Allie ever do with a four-year degree when she’d only ever been a B student in high school?

      Unlike Eleanor who had gotten straight A’s.

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