Lowlander Silverback(23)

Mac’s lips ticked as he shook his head in disgust. “They weren’t fit in the first place. Layla fell to pieces when they left, but me? I was glad they were gone. At least Layla had a shot of a couple of normal years before she went out on her own. It was late in her life to give her stability, but she took to it. Most kids would’ve acted out, but not her. She was a Steady-Eddie. Responsible beyond what the kids at her school were, but she’d already been on her own a lot by then.” Mac swung his intelligent gaze to Kong. “I’m so proud of that kid I don’t know what to do with myself.”

Kong grinned and nodded. “She sure loves you.”

Mac nodded slowly, thoughtfully. “Do you know what she does every morning, first thing?”

Kong shook his head. He didn’t know nearly enough about Layla.

“She drives out to the cemetery and waters my late wife’s grave. Gloria has the greenest patch of grass and the cleanest headstone. I used to do it. Every day I visited my wife because I still feel very much married. But when my health went, Layla picked up where I couldn’t. She brings me pictures every time she visits, and my Gloria has different flower arrangements in every one.”

Kong’s throat tightened as he fell for Layla even more. She was a good one. A genuinely decent person. Perhaps she was the best he’d ever met, and he was saying goodbye in a letter.

“Can I ask you something?” Kong said softly as he fingered the folded paper in his hands.

“Sure.”

“Why didn’t you ever re-marry? Lots of people find someone else after they lose a mate, but you didn’t. Why not?”

“Because my Gloria was it for me, son. And may you be lucky enough to find a woman like that. I had thirty good years with the love of my life. I lived an entire lifetime with her. Some men only get one big love, Kong. One shot at that kind of happiness. Anyone else would’ve just felt like filler until I died and joined Gloria again.”

Mac watched him for a long time, but Kong couldn’t speak. Not now when he felt like Layla was that for him. The other females were the filler, and he was choosing them over something real with her.

“Layla has talked about you over the years,” Mac said quietly. “People don’t affect her like they do you or me. She shut down after her parents left and became protective of her heart. But with you, I saw that spark in her eyes again. It was nice to see her open up about someone other than me. I was hoping she wouldn’t be alone in this world when I go. This morning she said you would leave soon, though.”

Kong nodded his head, a deep ache unfurling in his chest. “I’ve been called away. I’ll be gone in a week.” He made a single clicking sound behind his teeth and met Mac’s sympathetic gaze. “I’m letting her down.”

Mac’s eyes rimmed with moisture as he pointed with a shaking, knobbed finger to the pirate romance Layla had gotten him from the library. “Read to me a while?”

Kong nodded and replaced the thick book on the end table with the goodbye note he’d brought for Layla.

“The second to last page of chapter sixteen,” Mac instructed.

Kong flipped through to the right page and read aloud. “As he watched his love float away at the helm of the small tug boat, he knew he’d made a grave mistake. A necessary one for her since she would be better off safe on land than on the arm of a high seas criminal, but a detrimental one to him. With every stroke his first mate rowed her away from him, his heart turned blacker, darker, and more hollow as a pain reared up inside of him and became too harsh to bear. He was killing himself by sending her away but saving her in the process, and all because of who he’d turned out to be. So many decisions in his life that had gotten him to this exact moment in time would haunt him, but he couldn’t regret the journey. The jagged road he’d taken in his life had led him to a few glorious moments with her. He’d lived more in the last two weeks than he had in the entirety of his forgettable life because he’d known love—the bone-deep kind that changed a man from the inside out. And now…he knew sacrifice.” Kong’s voice cracked on that last word, and he shut the book, unable to read anymore. He swallowed several times before he braved a glance back to Mac. “I’m sorry,” he whispered.

“I’ll give her the note,” Mac said in a frail voice.

“Thanks.” Kong stood and strode for the door.

“Kong?” Mac asked.

Kong stopped and turned, leaned on the door frame. “Yes, sir?”

“You should read the ending to that book someday.”