Sighing, Ian walked into the blissfully cool house, realizing how much the back of his neck was burning…and then he looked around in awe. It seemed to be a European country style, tasteful with muted colors, dark shiny wood and beautiful iron work. Jesus, just when he’d been feeling a little confident, he had to walk into this palace. This was where she’d grown up, wasn’t it? This was what she was used to. This was what he could never give her.
“What’s the matter with you?” Brian asked.
“This is beautiful.”
“Man, fuck this house. Come on.”
Leave it to him to put the matter into perspective. Anyway, this was it. Brian headed in the direction of the voices. Ian could hear them all, chatting and laughing, the bubbly babbling of a toddler ringing above the adult conversation. Holy shit, they were at dinner, weren’t they? What the hell was Brian dragging him into?
A pretty, dark-haired woman appeared in the arched doorway of what was apparently the dining room, pausing in uncertainty when she saw Ian but then rushing ahead to give Brian a hug. “Hey, you! Where’s that pretty wife of yours?”
Brian returned her embrace, then jerked his thumb in Ian’s direction. “You’ll have to settle for him. Not as pretty, but he’s good for a laugh sometimes.”
She gave him a light smack on his arm, then extended her hand in Ian’s direction. “He’s so bad. Kelsey Ross.”
He shook it. “Ian Rhodes.”
Kelsey’s assessing gray eyes widened and her grip on his hand tightened, fused to his, he supposed, by her surprise. “Oh! Oh, you’re…oh!”
Brian scoffed. “Well spoken, Kels.”
“Shut up, Brian. I’m sorry, Ian, it’s just that…yeah, I’ve heard a lot about you. It’s so nice to meet you!”
“Same here.” She seemed genuine, so he hoped Brian had been correct. A little black-haired boy appeared at Kelsey’s legs, holding his arms up to her. But Brian promptly scooped him up and turned him upside down while he squealed in delight.
“Where’s Alex?” Brian asked, looking around in mock confusion. “I can’t find him.”
“Here, Bi!” the kid cried happily, while Kelsey shook her head. Laughing, Brian turned him upright again and gave him a high-five. “My nephew, Alex,” he said to Ian.
“He loves his Uncle Bi,” Kelsey said, reaching forward to tame Alex’s black mop of hair.
Brian gave Ian a death look. “If you tell Ghost he calls me Bi, I swear to Christ I will fire you.”
Ian grinned. “I’ll just file that away for future reference.”
“Good idea,” Kelsey agreed. “Ian, you’ve met everyone except Evan, right?”
“Yes, well, briefly.”
“He’s here to have a word with the parental units,” Brian said. “Have you talked to Gabby?”
“Earlier today,” Kelsey said. Her brow furrowed, and she gave her brother-in-law an uneasy look. Something about it raised the hair at the back of Ian’s neck. “Have you?”
“Not in a while…a week or so, maybe?”
“How about you, Ian?”
Shame settled hotly in his chest. Well, it had been there for a while, it just flared hotter. As well it should. He knew he’d been avoiding Gabby, thinking it was for her own good that he was out of the picture, though it was the last thing on earth he’d wanted to do. Probably the last thing she’d wanted him to do. “It’s been a couple of days,” he admitted.
“Oh, guys,” Kelsey said, taking Alex from Brian when he stretched his chubby little arms out to her. “I could kill her. I’m assuming you don’t know who she’s going out with tonight.”
Once, a long time ago during his short-lived JV baseball stint, Ian had taken a line drive to the chest. He’d fallen to the ground and lain there in helpless anguish, trying to force his lungs to fill with oxygen for what felt like an eternity. He’d been convinced something inside him was broken, that this was it; he was going to die.
Even that moment didn’t compare with this.
Gabriella going out with someone.
Who wasn’t him.
Both gazes swung toward him, gauging his reaction to this news. “Who?” he managed to choke out.
“Mark. Her ex.”
Jesus Christ.
“I’m really sorry,” Kelsey said quickly, and he had to wonder what had registered on his face to spur her to move toward him. She put a hand on his arm. “I don’t know what’s happening, but she’s miserable there without you. I’m afraid she might do something stupid.”
“Like go back with that asshole,” Brian all but growled. “I should’ve whipped his ass when I had a chance.”
“Whose?” A man appeared at Kelsey’s side, slipping an arm around her waist. Piercing green eyes—almost identical to his Gabby’s—met Ian’s, and he suffered yet another blow at the memory of her endlessly green gaze. How he felt stripped to the core when she looked at him.
“Evan, this is Ian,” Kelsey introduced. “Ian, this is Evan, my husband.” Evan only gave him a nod and an almost surreptitious once-over. The conclusion he seemed to come to, judging from the look in those eyes that were so like Gabriella’s, was here’s the bug who dishonored my sister.
“My jackass brother,” Brian was saying.
“We’ve got to do something,” Kelsey said, ignoring him and gazing imploringly up at Evan. “Tell me you don’t agree with what she’s doing.”
“What she’s doing?” Evan said, the implication being that he damn sure didn’t agree with what Ian had been doing in comparison. “She’s all alone there. I really can’t say I blame her.”
“Look, I’ve been an idiot.” The words tumbled out, and Ian only hoped he could keep from causing a scene that would get him tossed out of here. “I know that. I let her go back alone, and I shouldn’t have. But it was only because I know she needs you guys. I didn’t want her getting in trouble with all of you because of me. So I stepped away.”
“Which is a pretty shitty thing for y’all to do, by the way,” Brian said, pointedly loud. A moment later, Mr. and Mrs. Ross walked in, looking none too pleased to see Ian standing in their house.
“Brian, what is this?” Mrs. Ross demanded.
“Please, dude, shhh,” Ian hissed at his friend.
“All right,” Brian said, standing back, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall. “I got you in. It’s all on you now.” He smirked as if to say he couldn’t wait to watch the show.
Ian took a deep, fortifying breath. All eyes were on him, and if thunder could be personified, it would take the form of Alexander Ross. The guy looked scary as hell. It wasn’t so much that he was bigger or badder than anyone in the room—it was simply the authority he exuded that made him seem ten feet tall.
Or maybe it was just that he had the power to absolutely crush Ian’s dreams right now.
But, shit, what did it even matter anymore? At this very moment, Gabby was probably with Dr. Asshole. Reliving old times. She might have fallen into his arms at first sight, so pissed and upset at Ian that she couldn’t run back fast enough. Fuck. She’d tried to call him not twenty minutes ago, and he’d let it go to voice mail. “I’m sorry to interrupt your dinner. That wasn’t my intention. Brian brought me here only because I asked him to, because I have to tell you…how much I love your daughter. How much I want to be there to take care of her and the baby.” It sounded horrifically lame to his ears, as if he could possibly sum up his feelings in mere words. He’d never been much of a talker.
“We can appreciate that,” Gabby’s mother began evenly, but her husband cut her off.
“Tell us how you propose to do that, Ian.”
“Sir, I know I don’t have everything you do. I’m not ashamed of where I’ve come from, but it’s true I didn’t have it that great growing up. I fell into the tattoo business when I was young, and I stuck with it because I’m good at it. I think Brian will attest to that. But if you will just give us your blessing, I will work my a— I will work as hard as I can for her. I?
??ll do anything. I’ll go to college so I can be something more for her, if that would make you feel better. If I have to work seven days a week, I will. I only want to be everything she needs. Even if she asked me to stay home with our baby while she goes out to be everything she can be, I would do that too. I’m all about her.
“If you’d asked me even six months ago what my ambition in life was, I wouldn’t have had an answer for you. Since I met Gabby, that answer is easy. She’s it. She and our baby. Please, just…give us a chance. I swear to God, if I trip up one time, you can tell her to send me packing if you feel the need to, and I’ll go quietly. Just…give me a chance. Please. I won’t disappoint you.”
Silence greeted the end of his harangue, the only sound being that of his gently panting breath. What else did they need to hear? His mind grappled desperately for something, anything, a clincher on the whole deal.
Her parents exchanged a long look. Brian’s eyebrows were nearly in his hairline, but he gave Ian the nudge he needed. “There’s different kinds of support.”
Ian nodded. “I might not be much financially, but I’ll be there in every other capacity I can be. I promise you guys that. Surely you’ll agree she needs it right now.”
“I’ve been so worried about her,” Kelsey put in swiftly, looking at Mr. and Mrs. Ross. “Whenever I talk to her, she just…doesn’t sound like herself.”
“No,” Gabby’s mother admitted. “She doesn’t.”
Kelsey didn’t let up. “Do you really want her back with the man who humiliated her in front of the entire Dallas medical community? Her friends and family? The people she wants to work with? I mean, I don’t know about you, but I am not happy about that. She deserves so much better.”
Thank God for Kelsey; Brian had been right. Ian played that angle now. “I would take her to the altar tomorrow, if she would have me. And you’d better believe I would be there to meet her. She wouldn’t be able to keep me away.”
Both of her parents smiled at that. Evan took his son from his wife’s arms, not looking entirely convinced but not seeming as hostile as a moment ago.
“Come on, guys,” Brian said, unable to hold his tongue any longer, apparently. “I got Candace pregnant, and not one of you really gave a crap. You’re all freaking out and trying to run Gabby’s life because she’s a girl, the freaking princess. Get over it. It really should be up to her, not you.”
Ian wanted to cringe at his input, correct though it might be, but he was afraid to move or breathe or do much of anything else.
“Well,” Mr. Ross began, looking down at his wife, “I suppose it comes down to that, doesn’t it?” She sighed and nodded, and his gaze flickered up to Ian’s, narrowing slightly. “It’s up to Gabby, then. Whatever she decides is what we’ll support.”
“Oh, man.” Brian laughed. “Now you really have your work cut out for you, dude.”
Chapter Twenty-One
“Now you really have your work cut out for you.”
Wasn’t it the damn truth.
He’d tried to call her. No luck. She was out with her doctor. Ian could imagine her looking at her phone, thinking, Fuck him, and silencing it. Or maybe she was too occupied to check it in the first place.
It was thoughts like that one that had him on the road to Dallas as the sun fell below the horizon. He didn’t know what he was going to find when he got there, but whatever it was, it would be his fault.
For that reason, he couldn’t bring himself to be angry at her. The idea scarcely registered. She was there and she was lonely. Even if the only thing the doctor represented was a night away from her apartment, he couldn’t blame her for taking it. Hell, even if she had fallen into his arms at first sight, could he really blame her then either? Evan had been right.
Despite all these frenzied thoughts, somehow Ian knew she wouldn’t do anything rash. This Mark guy had most likely come to his senses in her absence, and he’d be a damn fool not to desperately try to get a woman like her back, but Ian could imagine her playing it cool and thinking long and hard about any major decisions. He also couldn’t imagine her not talking to him about it, whichever way it went. Giving him a chance to make things right before she made a choice.
But again, he didn’t know. Uncertainty stretched before him as long and dark as the interstate beneath the wheels of his Harley.
“No dessert?” Mark asked as the waiter came around again.
“No, thanks.” Gabby laid her napkin on the table top, well and truly stuffed for probably the first time since moving back. She was terrible about not eating when she was stressed—and while nothing had really changed about the latter, her appetite had roared to life the moment they strolled into her favorite restaurant.
Almost as if nothing had changed. Mark had seen one of his colleagues upon entering, who’d remarked how wonderful it was to see the two of them back together. She’d held her tongue, and Mark certainly hadn’t raced to correct the man. Gabby had spent the next few minutes wondering if it was true.
Was it wonderful to be back here with him? It felt normal, but that made sense. Only a few months ago, it had been her reality. She’d caught sight of their reflection in the huge wall of windows adjacent to the table as they’d stood speaking to the man and his wife, and they’d fit. She nestled perfectly next to his tall build; she contrasted nicely with his blond good looks.
He obviously loved her, if he was truly willing to take her back now. Not many men would make an offer like that, she suspected. Maybe she really belonged here.
They’d made idle chat during dinner, avoiding anything too deep, and for that she was glad. But his gaze had remained steady and speculative on her for most of the night, and she feared some uncomfortable topics might be broached before the date was over.
“I don’t want to take you home yet,” he said as the waiter dropped off the check.
She’d been afraid of that. “Where do you want to go?”
“Home.”
He hadn’t said my place. But home, as if it were still hers too.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Mark.”
He smiled. “You didn’t think tonight was a good idea, but you’ve had fun, haven’t you?”
She had. Of course, Ian had intruded on her thoughts and she’d felt near tears a couple of times, but other than that, sure, she’d had fun. Better than moping at home at least. “Sure.”
“I only want to talk, Gabby.”
“I don’t know if I’m ready to talk yet. You saw me earlier today. I’m…not in a good place right now.”
“Well, you know I want to fix that.”
She repressed a scoff. “You can’t fix it.”
“Can’t I?”
“No. This is something I have to deal with and figure out on my own.”
“Sweetheart.” Her hand rested on the table; he placed his bigger one on top and gave it a squeeze. “Tell me what you’re thinking. What’s the problem you have to figure out?”
She looked at him incredulously. “How I’m going to make it through school and take care of a baby on my own.”
“I just gave you a solution for that. Come back to me. I’ll be there for you. You don’t have to go through this alone.”
“Mark, you make it sound so easy.”
“It’s not?”
“No. Jesus, you…” Biting down on her frustration, Gabby took a long exhale through her nose to keep from raising her voice. “You humiliated me. It’s kind of a big deal to leave me like you did, you know? You broke my trust. It’s not something I’m going to get over because you ask me to. I’m not… I’m not desperate.”
She forced the word out. Not two hours ago, she’d been feeling very desperate. Not for Mark. For Ian. Who wouldn’t even answer her calls.
Could Mark not understand? Maybe he was as cold and unfeeling as she’d convinced herself he was, because he didn’t seem to get it. Oh, I’ll swoop in and rescue her like a knight on a steed, and she’ll be okay even though I ripped her life
apart six months ago. Piece of cake.
“If you want to rebuild this thing,” she said, forcing her voice to remain even, “then we have to start small. Dinner was good. Let’s leave it at that for now. Please. There’s much more to work out than we can fix in a single night.”
“Is there a chance?” he asked softly.
She gazed at his handsome face, almost wishing that they were in some alternate universe where the wedding had happened, six months had passed, and they were excitedly expecting their first child. She hadn’t gone home for the summer; she’d never laid eyes on Ian Rhodes.
Kind of like the fantasy she and Ian had shared the night they went to the lake. She’d been happy with that one.
But that wasn’t their world, was it? And, despite everything, she wouldn’t change the way things had happened. She wouldn’t. Because she would have missed out on some beautiful moments.
“Maybe,” she told him. “That’s all I can give you right now. I don’t want to get your hopes up, honestly, but I’m not closing the door on the idea either. Okay?”
He didn’t look happy with her answer, but she couldn’t help that. It would be too easy for her to fall into Mark’s ploys. For one thing, if she went home with him, saw the beautiful house she’d lived in, slipped back into the life that had been snatched away from her…she might be a goner. No, she couldn’t do that.
“So…thank you for a beautiful dinner, but I think I should go home now.” She averted her gaze to the centerpiece of their table.
Mark sighed, pulling his hand away. “Fair enough.” He helped her from her chair, kept his hand at the small of her back as he steered her out of the building. A moment later, the valet pulled up in his blue BMW, and he tucked her inside. Never let it be said he wasn’t a gentleman, at least when it came to manners.
After she settled in the car, she dug her silenced cell phone from her clutch and swallowed hard past the knot that formed in her throat. Ian had tried to call her. Several times.
Instead of being happy about that, though, she truly hadn’t realized how angry she was at him until that moment.