Page 110

She laughs lightly, sobering when Gabriel approaches us, a solemn expression on his face.
“What is it?” It’s not like him to be so somber.
“I have… news. That was Connor.” He motions to the phone still in his hand. “Dad had a heart attack.”
Something in my chest thumps painfully. “Is he okay?”
“Don’t know. Connor’s headed to the airport to fly home just in case. He said Dad’s in the hospital now having an angioplasty done, whatever that means.”
Serena grips my hand, lending me support, and I squeeze it back, too many thoughts running through my head to make sense of it all.
Dad and I haven’t spoken since the blow up at his office. My resignation from the company was immediate, and true to his word, I wasn’t let back in Bishop Plaza to go up to my apartment. Thank God I’d had Lori take everything out she could beforehand. And after Dad fired her, she was happy to resume her position as housekeeper in our new place.
“I… I don’t know how to react. How to feel,” I admit. There’s so much history tied to this news. “How do you feel about it?”
He shrugs. “Am I an awful person if I say I don’t care? I made my peace cutting ties with him a while ago. He’s an abusive jerk.”
“You wouldn’t care if he… dies?”
His mouth firms and there’s silence between us for a few moments. “I don’t know,” he admits finally.
I look over to Serena, but she merely shakes her head. “He tried to convince me you’d left me, then made me homeless. I’m pretty biased.”
I nod, not quite ready to unpack the jumble of this news about Dad. For now, there’s nothing I can do. No one from his team contacted me directly, so I assume he didn’t give instructions to include me in the loop. But I can provide support to Connor at least. I leaned on him during my brief time working overseas. If there’s anything he needs from me, I’ll gladly do it. He’s the only one of us left that still speaks to Dad, even if it’s only business related.
I pull my phone from my pocket to tap out a quick text, asking Connor for an update when he has one, then turn back to Gabriel, his mouth a grim slash across his face. “I’m going to find Mackenzie,” he says, already searching the crowd for her.
“Yeah, of course.”
He walks away and Serena gently wraps her arms around me. “I know people aren’t always black and white,” she murmurs, her voice barely audible over the din in here. “He did bad things, but he’s still your father.” She would know about that. We spent a long time discussing what I’d learned about her father and his gambling debts, and how deceived she’d felt by what he’d hidden and plotted. “I’m here to listen if you want to talk about it when we get home.”
God, I don’t deserve her. How can she be so understanding when he tried to ruin her life? “I actually had something else planned for later.”
She leans away, tilting her head up at me in question.
I retrieve the ring box out of my breast pocket, popping the lid to show her the ring inside, the diamonds sparkling brilliantly even in the dim lighting. “This just came in from the jewelers today.”
She steps back, clapping a hand over her mouth, but she can’t hide her spreading smile.
I take it out, holding it up for her to see. “You said you wanted a ring from me, right? I saw you looking at this in the shop window on one of our walks with Petey.”
“You remember that?” she whispers, her voice catching.
I nod, slipping it over her left ring finger, next to the wedding band already there. “Your fingers are so slim, I had to special order the size.”
“I love it.” She holds her hand in front of her, admiring it. “Oh God, I really love it.”
“We’ll have a do-over wedding sometime soon. If you want to marry me for real, that is.”
She nods before I’m finished speaking. “I do. I want that. I love you, Archer.”
“Love you too,” I whisper in her ear as she crushes herself to me.
I may not know exactly what the future holds with my family, my career, even myself, but I do know I want this woman by my side while I figure it out. Gabriel had no idea how much he hit it on the head when he said I should be thanking him.
Because there’s no one else I’d rather spend my life with. This is only the beginning.