She wiped away tears, knowing he hurt when she showed emotion like this. He blamed himself for their predicament. Mari tried so hard to be strong for him but his illness was taking its toll on the both of them and some days she struggled more than others. “Ha, sure. We couldn’t wait to get out of the place and you expect our son to fall in love with it?” She lifted his hand and kissed it. The once strong fingers were now thin and wasted. He loathed being so weak but this was one argument she wasn’t going to win. She’d tried before and failed.
“He’s Ethan’s son. Don’t lose sight of that fact. He was only mine until now. I should’ve insisted we mend the bridges between us all but I was selfish, wanted to keep you to myself. Which is only going to make your life harder.” Rake coughed, swallowed down the pain. “Remember, you promised me to see it through. I know it’s not going to be easy but everything is there waiting for you.”
“I know and I will. You can count on me.” If it’s the last thing I do, I’ll honor your wishes. I owe you that much for saving me when nobody else wanted me.
Chapter One
“Thanks for the job, Mari. Glad we’ve got it settled and ready to go at last. You’re going to be very happy with the finished product. I’ll send the boys around in the morning to start work. Don’t be surprised if Ethan looks in later today to see what he’s up against but, don’t worry, he’s an expert in old retrofits like this. Any problems, give me a call.”
“Thanks, Christian. I can’t wait for them to start. I’ve been looking forward to getting the ballrooms upgraded.” She hung up the phone and it hit her hard. It was all about to happen just as she’d planned and now she was terrified.
How stupid she’d been ignoring the reason she was here. Easy to do when she’d found out Ethan Benson was working away from Cherry Lake. It’d given her a false sense of security being able to put off the inevitable battle looming ahead. Of course he was going to be angry. Furious with her; she could hardly blame him even if she wanted to. As soon as she’d scheduled the remodeling job with the company he part owned, the clock had started ticking. Call it a stupid move to choose him as a builder but it was her failsafe system to ensure they finally connected. Then she’d have no choice but to tell him everything.
“Someone looks pensive.” Her half-sister Bella Moore wandered into the upstairs apartment with a cake box in her hands.
“You could say that. The builder is finally starting work tomorrow. After all the planning and changing designs, we’re finally ready to knock out walls and make her look pretty. I thought they’d never finish that job in Poulson and come back to deal with local work in Cherry Lake.” She sighed hating that talking like that made her sound as if she was looking forward to the confrontation.
“Oh. That builder! Now I get the frantic face you’re sporting.” Bella reached out and rubbed her hand over Mari’s back. “Honey, you came here to see him, let him know about Noah. You’re doing the right thing. I know you are.”
“But I’m so scared. What if he hates me or what if he doesn’t believe Noah is his and I’m trying to trap him? What if he never forgives me for marrying Rake and is hanging onto the old theory that I’m a thief? This could go wrong in so many ways, Bella. How can I guarantee they won’t still want to press charges and have me thrown in jail? What’s going to happen to Noah if that happens?” She closed her eyes and sucked down a sob of frustration. “Maybe I made a mistake thinking I could come back and fix things. Maybe, for once, Rake got it wrong.”
“I doubt that would happen after all this time. Statute of limitations and all that. Have you thought that maybe Ethan was the one who made the mistake dumping you and then ignoring your phone calls when you tried to tell him about Noah, to say nothing about not backing you up with his father?”
“Yes, no. Different answer, different day. No matter how much I argue with myself, this has the potential to come back and bite me in the butt. I know it’s morally right to make sure Ethan knows but I’m so scared he’s going to make Noah’s life miserable because of what we did.”
“Noah isn’t a tiny child anymore. He’s very capable of making his own decisions about people so if this man isn’t nice about it, he won’t hold back.”
“But he’s only ten years old.”
“And, if I recall, I was pretty mouthy at that age. I knew what I wanted and, believe me, I could see through people. I bet you could too.”
“So long as Noah isn’t hurt. That’s been the biggest motivator here. Losing Rake was hard for both of us. If finding out he still has a father makes him happy, that makes me happy too.”
“If Ethan isn’t kind to him, he’ll have me to deal with. Nobody hurts the child, nobody, and that includes Ethan and his father.” A smile replaced the grim look from seconds ago. “But, I know you’ll do the right thing, regardless. It’s in your makeup to fix things. Look at this old place.”
“Not sure if it’s the way I’d be looking at it.” But Bella was right. Mari loved to take
