Page 105 of Between Never and Forever

I listened to more of the story from him. He went round and round in circles, not ever taking blame for what I could tell must be gambling. He was taking her money. And then he went on to explain how family helped family, how Kee didn’t want people to know because it would hurt her mother. They weren’t going to exploit her disease. They made the decision as a family.

He explained it all as I stared at the woman who I’d thought had broken up with me for fame. Instead, I saw how she’d been strong enough to do it for family, had sacrificed her life for them, not willing to put them through pain when she must have endured so much of it.

She was strong. Brilliant. And broken from her family.

She had resigned herself to a chair in the corner and chewed on the side of a nail as she stared off at nothing. When I said my goodbyes, her dark eyes shimmered as they turned to me.

“Heartbreaker,” I whispered. The guilt of knowing she’d suffered for years alone with it sliced through me, almost causing me to choke on my words. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

She waited a second before she looked away to say, “She’s not an excuse, and I won’t use her as one. Ever.”

“But she’s a reason. So is your father.”

“She didn’t have Alzheimer’s back when I signed that addendum, Dex.”

“I can put two and two together. Your father has been—”

“I love my dad. He’s a good man.” She cut me off, not willing to hear a single bad thing about him. “And we’ve always been taught take care of family, right? You work with your family. You take care of them.”

“Of course we take care of family,” I answered immediately. “But—”

“Then I took care of my dad and mom.” She shrugged, finishing the sentence with finality. She held my gaze, hers unwavering in that moment. “I would do it again.”

And I realized right then, I didn’t blame her for it. I would have done the same. It was the missing piece of the puzzle I needed to solidify what I already knew.

I’d never stopped loving her. Not even for a second. I might have hated her at the same time because I didn’t know, but the love was still there.

“I get it all now,” I said quietly. Then, I strode over to her and knelt down so I could take her face in my hands. I leaned in and kissed her. I kissed her like I should have fifteen years ago. I kissed her with no reservations but with love and softness. I kissed her like I should have every damn day since I met her. I kissed her like I loved her, because I did.

I loved that she didn’t fit in any damn box I tried to put her in, that she kept me on my toes, that she sacrificed herself for others, and that she’d sacrificed our love at one point. She was selfless and good and bad in all the best ways possible.

I pulled back to tell her again, “I get it all, Kee, but I wished you’d trusted me.”

“I trusted that I could handle it myself without burdening you or anyone else with it. I needed to do right by them. You don’t air family drama to the world—”

“I’m not the world, though. I never was.”

“I know that.” She squeezed her eyes shut. “But you were my world in some weird way, and I didn’t want you taking on something you couldn’t handle. You didn’t deserve that.”

“You didn’t deserve having that burden on you either.”

“Yet, he’s family, you know? He’s just—”

“Terrible with money?”

“Right.” She stood and straightened her shirt like the conversation was over. “So, we can do a press release tomorrow. We’re breaking off the engagement.”

I shook my head slowly. “I’m not doing that.”

“Of course you are. I have to figure this out, but you need to disentangle yourself from me immediately and—”

There was no way. Didn’t she see that now? “Actually, we’re getting married.”

“What?”

“You’re marrying me.” I wasn’t letting her go.

“Do you hear yourself?”