Loree Lough - Bringing Rosie Home

That’s how I’d feel if I’d put some other kid’s welfare ahead of Rosie’s.

Grant ground his molars together. Thoughts like that could only make matters worse. The coming weeks and months would be tough enough; reverting to his former surly behavior would make things unbearable.

* * *

“LEE HAS RESCHEDULED all my client meetings,” Grant said as he steered their grey rental sedan out of the airport lot. “I told her, ‘indefinitely.’”

“And I cleared things with my boss. She assured me I’ll still have a job...if I come back.”

If? Grant shrugged. They hadn’t exactly had a chance to discuss the long-term. He already knew guarding his heart wouldn’t be easy once they started living as man and wife again. How long could he keep it up?

Rena sat quietly, staring out the passenger window for several minutes, then said, “I know you’re still angry with me. I don’t blame you because I’m still angry with myself, and I realize I don’t deserve your understanding and kindness and...whatever, so I really appreciate the way you’ve been treating me.”

How was he supposed to react to that?

“In a quarter mile,” said the British voice of the GPS, “turn right.”

Grant maneuvered onto the off-ramp. So far, he’d done a fair-to-middlin’ job of keeping his feelings in check, but he just wasn’t ready to go there with Rena tonight. Maybe he’d never be ready to get close to her again. In that case, they’d have to find a way to help Rosie understand that they’d always be there, together, for her—even if their marriage ended.

Grant shook his head. How would he explain it to his little girl when he didn’t understand it himself?

The separation had unofficially begun a full year before Rena left for Fenwick Island. It had been her idea to move into the guest room, and while something had told him that if they hoped to salvage what was left of their marriage, he ought to discourage it, he’d let her go. When she suggested moving to Fenwick Island, he’d let her go yet again. Funny thing was, they’d been apart nearly eight months before he’d stopped reaching for her first thing in the morning, to stroke her soft hair, touch her shoulder, run a fingertip down her cheek. Would the old, loving habit resurface once she moved back into their room? In his opinion, she looked her prettiest right after she woke up, with tousled hair and a makeup-free face.

Suddenly, he felt sorry for her—a surprise, since for so long he’d felt little more than bitterness. On the phone earlier, Grant’s mom had made him promise to treat Rena with kindness, as much for his and Rosie’s sake as Rena’s. He’d meant it when he said he didn’t hate her. Oh, he’d tried, but memories of her lyrical voice and the sweetness of her temperament smothered the emotion, just as surely as water douses a fire.

Unfortunately, none of that changed the fact that her carelessness cost him his daughter.

“Are you all right?”

Her voice startled him, and he said, “I’m fine.” He looked over at her. “Why?”

“You’ve barely said a word since we hit the road.”

“Just...just a lot on my mind.”

“Yeah, it’s pretty daunting, isn’t it?”

She could say that again.

“If I could spare you all of this...”

Should have thought of that during the field trip.

But that was no way to start things. Not if he hoped to do what was best for Rosie.

“Look. Rena. We’re gonna get through this. We have to—”

“—for Rosie’s sake,” they said together.

One hundred percent truth, he thought. Rosie had been an astute, sensitive child. Even the tiniest spat between him and Rena had the power to put tears in her eyes. Seeing their daughter upset had been all it took to inspire an apology from Rena, even if he’d clearly been in the wrong. Keeping the peace at any cost must have been programmed into her DNA.

Had that changed? Or would Rena still be willing to pay any price to protect Rosie?

If she'd held that mindset that day at the zoo...

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