“Just give them a minute, honey.” My sister consoles him as Mack slides the door shut behind us.
Suddenly, his arms slide around me and he hugs me from behind. “I wanted to surprise you with a little treat.” He murmurs in my ear and I instinctively rest my head back against his chest. “I know today was pretty stressful for you, so I booked us a couple rooms at the Four Seasons and got us some passes at Elitch. I figure a little R & R will be good for you. Chelsea is going to share a room with Chris, so I’m going to have two days in a hotel with you to do whatever I want.” His voice grows thick with desire.
I flutter my eyes closed for a moment and feel the tension ease from my shoulders. Dr. Galt’s stupid face pops into my head and my tendons practically snap as the stress winds me back up. “Mack, you can’t just spring things like this on me and call my boss and demand he give me days off.” I pull away from him and turn to face him. “Today was ridiculous, I could’ve gotten fired you know. And you taking off and not answering my texts or calls was a pretty shitty thing to do to me. What were you thinking?”
“I wasn’t thinking, I was reacting. I wasn’t going to let that asshole threaten your job because of me. I know I didn’t handle it the best.”
“Didn’t handle it the best? Mack you can’t just do whatever pops into your mind. We’re adults now, you have to act like one sometimes. I’m not sure what’s going on with you. And then you just make plans with Chris and Chelsea without even talking to me? How did you think that was gonna go over?” My teeth are clenched together so tight that my jaw hurts.
Mack stands straighter as he squares off his shoulders and looks into my eyes. “I know today was a shit show, Lauren. I fucked up.”
I can feel the anger begin to drain from my body along with my energy. “Look, I don’t want to fight with you. The truth is, I’m worried about you. Chris told me about what happened at the grave the other night,” I lower my voice and touch his hand gently.
Anger flashes in his eyes. Mack pulls his hand away. “I’m fine.” he answers tersely.
“Are you sure? Cause you know it would be understandable if you needed a little help. You’ve been through a lot. More than any of us can imagine. Chris has only been going to his group therapy sessions twice now and look how much it’s helped him. Maybe you can find a group …”
“I said I’m fine.” He juts out his chin and clenches his fists at his side. I can see him struggling with his demons and his temper. I’m not sure if he can win this battle though. Mack takes a deep breath and closes his eyes. When he opens them, the rage has passed and sorrow has crept into it’s place.
“I know that I haven’t always dealt with everything the best, ok? But I’m fine. Just let me deal with things the best way for me. Anyway, I wanted to say sorry for the way things happened today. That’s why I wanted to make it right and treat you guys to a few days of fun. I thought it would be nice to spend time together as a family.” His crystal blue eyes scan my face as my anger and my forgiveness battle it out.
“A family?” I mumble, his eyes holding me in place.
“Yeah, you, me, Chris. Our family. I asked Chelsea to come because I don’t have a car and still need to learn to drive with my leg,” he looks down at his prosthetic wearily. “And she agreed to come along and help look after Chris. Now we can start making up for some lost time together. We don’t have to hide our relationship anymore, since I left Spalding. It’s all good.”
My mind keeps dancing around the word “family”. It’s something I’ve always dreamt of, sharing my life with Mack.
“What’s in your hand?” He reaches over gently plucking the card from my fingers.
“It’s a card. The chief’s daughter made it for you.” I don’t bother telling him why he gave it to me. It doesn’t matter.
A smile creeps across Mack’s face as he looks down at the pink paper. “That’s nice,” he looks up at me, “I can’t wait to get cute little homemade cards from our daughter.”
“Our daughter?” My breath hitches in my throat. Mack steps toward me and wraps his arms around me.
“Of course. We make beautiful children. It’d be a damned shame to stop with one.” His voice rumbles in my ear and I can feel my resistance melting away. “Why don’t we go to Elitch? Let me make today up to you? I’d like to take Chris somewhere fun and then, once it’s just you and me in the hotel room, I can really make things right.” His eyes twinkle.