The Last Honest Woman (27 page)

"I am, too." She picked up her glass and sipped. The wine was unfamiliar and wonderfully cool. "I know you were angry with me this morning."

"Abby—"

"No, wait a minute. The last thing you said to me before Ben came in turned on all sorts of lights. I'd like to get it out now—all of it—and end it."

He could have told her that it didn't matter anymore, not to him. But he could see it mattered to her. "Okay."

"You've asked me why I stayed with Chuck. Very simply, I'd stayed because I'd made a promise. Eventually, when I knew I had to break it and end my marriage, I needed to take all the blame. Somehow it was easier for me to go on believing that I'd made a mistake, I'd failed in some way."

Her voice was strained. Abby took another sip of wine, then continued. "But I hadn't made a mistake, Dylan, and I have two beautiful children to prove it. You said Chuck failed himself and you were right. He was capable of so much more, but he made the wrong choices. It's time I admit that I made the right ones. I've got to thank you for that."

"I'll take your gratitude, but it's not what I'm after."

As it had in the hospital waiting room, her stomach worked itself into knots. "I'll never forget what you did, what you've done just by being here."

"I have a hard time hearing you put all that in the past. Don't you want to know what Ben and I talked about white you were gone?"

She looked down at her wine. "I thought you'd tell me if you wanted me to know." Then she smiled up at him. "Besides, I could always get it out of Ben if you didn't."

"That's one of the things I love about you."

She looked at him with eyes that were clouded and no longer calm. "Dylan, this morning when you were shouting, you said—"

"That I'd fallen in love with you. You have a problem with that?"

She was holding her glass with both hands now, but she didn't look away. "I wish I knew."

"Let me explain it to you the way I explained it to Ben." He set his glass down, then took hers and set it on the counter. "I told him I was in love with his mother. And that I was new at being in love and didn't know quite how to handle it. I told him I knew I'd make some mistakes and that I hoped he'd give me a hand."

He combed a hand through her hair, let it rest on her cheek, then removed it. "I told him I knew a little about running a farm, but I didn't have much experience at being a husband and none at being a father, though I wanted to give it a shot."

Her eyes had grown wide, so wide and vulnerable that he wanted to pull her against him and promise to protect her from everything. But there'd be no rash promises with Abby. She'd had rash promises before, and had them broken. He thought second chances should be based on faith. "Are you going to give me a chance?"

She couldn't swallow. She wasn't even sure how she could still manage to breathe. "What did Ben say?"

Smiling, he reached out and touched her cheek. "He thought it sounded like a pretty good idea."

"So do I." She flung herself into his arms. "Oh, Dylan, so do I."

Perhaps it was gratitude he felt, perhaps it was relief. Mixed with it was a sense of coming home at last. "Just don't start thinking about buying cows."

"No. No cows, I promise." When she laughed, he pressed his mouth to hers. There was everything—love, trust, hope. There were second chances in life, and they'd found theirs.

"Abby…" He could spend hours just holding her.

"Mmm-hmm?"

"Do you think we could talk your father into dancing at our wedding?"

Her eyes laughed at him. "I'd hate to see you try to stop him."