Deal of a Lifetime Page 18
Tam sat back and pulled Susa into her lap. “I don’t know, fairy girl. He’s your daddy, and he loves you, so he’ll come back.”
“I don’t want him to go.”
“Me neither.”
“Go tell him he can’t leave us.”
How to explain the difficulties of separated parents? She had to say something. “Con has promises he’s made that he has to keep in Chicago.”
“Didn’t he make a promise to you when you had me? Don’t you love him anymore?”
If only life could be as simple. “I love Con as much as I love you, but we never made promises. Even if we had, I couldn’t make him stay.”
“Why not?”
“Yeah, why not?” Con spoke as he walked from the far end of the living room to stand before Tam and Susa.
“Don’t make this harder than it has to be.”
He sat on an ottoman, taking one of Tam’s hands. With the other he rubbed Susa’s back. “I don’t see why this has to be hard, or even why I should leave.”
Susa perked up. “You aren’t gonna leave?”
Con dropped a kiss atop her head. “Be patient a little bit longer, and we’ll see.”
“We talked this over yesterday, and I thought we agreed…”
“I thought we agreed too, but I think we made a mistake. You love me, right?”
Tam pressed her lips together. What to say? She wouldn’t lie in front of Susa. “What if I do?”
“Well I love you, so explain to me how it is that two people who love each other agreed that they were better off living apart.”
Hope peeked around the stone that barricaded Tam’s heart. “You never said you loved me.”
“What do you mean? Of course, I love you. Haven’t I shown you how much I want you and Susa in my life? Do you think that pendant I offered you means nothing? You remember that moment in the hallway outside Mike’s office as clearly as I do. Why remember things like that if you don’t love them and the people involved?”
“You gave me the pendant and asked me to marry you. You talked about making a family for Susa. You never said you love me. You didn’t say it seven years ago either.”
He released her hand and thumped his forehead with the heel of his palm. “I’m an idiot.”
Then he slid from the ottoman, getting down on one knee, taking the pendant box from inside his jacket. “Tam, Susa, I love you more than life itself. Would you do me the honor of becoming my family?”
Tam blinked back tears. “I think you aren’t the only idiot here.”
Susa scrunched her face as she always did when she didn’t understand. “Do you want to marry me too, Daddy? ‘Cause I’m not sure that daddies can marry daughters.”
“You’re absolutely right, sugarplum. I do want to make you officially my daughter.”
“I’d like that. I accept. Mommy?”
“What is it, fairy girl?” Tam’s smile stretched wide over her face, feeling like it might spill down her chin and drip straight into her heart.
“You haven’t told Daddy you’ll marry him.”
“Oh, I will, with all my heart.”
Above their daughter’s head, Con leaned over and kissed Tam with as much passion as he could muster on one knee.
Susa squirmed free. Con pulled Tam to him, plundering her mouth.
Unnoticed, Susannah stared at her parents. Then she nodded. “Good, now I can have a dog and a baby brother.”
With the wisdom of the innocent, she left the room picking her doll up from the floor as she went. “You should learn a lesson from my parents, Florie. Always say I love you.”
A word about the author...
Author of historical, contemporary, and erotic romances, I fell in love with happily ever after the day I heard my first story. (Yes, I was a precocious little brat who read at the age of two, but I could hear much earlier than that.) I studied literature for far too many years before discovering that writing stories was much more fun than analyzing them.
Insatiably curious, an avid reader and traveler, I love to hear from readers about your favorite books and real life adventures. Crazy Cat stories are especially welcome.
You can contact me through my website:
http://RueAllyn.com
Thank you for purchasing
this publication of The Wild Rose Press, Inc.