Leesa crouched beside Andy’s wheelchair, trying to reel in her emotions. The anger she felt toward Mr. Darren was no match for the pride she felt in Andy at that moment for the courage it took for him to come clean. She squeezed his hand, unable to find the words he needed to hear. She pushed to her feet and approached Mr. Darren.
“I don’t have children, so I can’t speak from a parental standpoint, but I know I would have done anything to help your son pass his classes and feel good about himself. You were willing to throw me to the wolves, to have my career, my life, torn to shreds in the very town where I grew up in order to protect your son.” She shook her head. “That’s a really horrible thing to do.” Tears streamed down her cheeks.
“Yes, you’re right. And I’m so very sorry,” he said.
His eyes held so much grief and regret that it was hard for Leesa not to simply accept his apology, but she couldn’t. She had to spell out her feelings to him. He needed to understand that words couldn’t give her back what they’d stolen from her.
“‘Sorry’ can’t fix what happened. An apology can’t return my life to what it was. It can’t erase the doubt from the minds of everyone around me, or give me back everything I worked so hard for, in the town where my father raised me.” Fresh tears sprang from her eyes with thoughts of her father. She drew in a deep breath and held her chin up high, feeling a weight lifting from her shoulders. All it needed was a little harder shove for her to be able to breathe again. “But for Andy’s sake, I forgive you. Maybe you’re right. His life didn’t need any more upending than he’s already experienced. But that doesn’t make what you did right. I just hope you’ll both learn something from this.” She reached for Cole’s hand. “Luckily, things for me have turned out okay. And I hope for Andy’s sake, things for him will, too. If you’ll excuse me, I have a life to build.”
Leesa walked back into her childhood home, her fingers laced with the man she loved, and finally—Lord, finally—she understood how things had gone so wrong.
Cole closed the door behind them, and she melted into his arms, happy that at least everything in her life finally felt right.
Chapter Twenty-Five
COLE AND HIS siblings, along with Leesa and Tegan, made quick work of moving Leesa’s things into Cole’s beach house the following weekend. Leesa listed her old furniture on Craigslist, and by the end of the following weekend, her childhood home was empty. She’d kept most of her father’s books and all of his most treasured belongings, pictures, and other memorabilia from their lives, but her favorite thing was the hammock. Since there were no trees on the beach behind Cole’s house, Cole, Sam, and Nate had constructed a wooden cradle and rigged the hammock up on that. It was, like everything Cole did, perfect. He’d cleared space for her in every room, including shelves in the living room for her father’s books, and they’d even hung a few pictures of her and her father in the boat.
It’s our life, not just mine. I want to feel your presence everywhere, he’d said.
It was Saturday afternoon, and Leesa sat on the stone wall in Cole’s parents’ backyard, watching Cole and his brothers toss a football. Ty, his youngest brother, had come back from his assignment for the get-together, and like the rest of Cole’s family, he’d embraced Leesa without hesitation. He was big and strong, like the rest of the Braden men, and every bit as reckless as Cole was cautious. He wore his hair longer than the others, and the mischief in his eyes rivaled Sam’s. Leesa saw a look that could only mean trouble pass between Sam, Ty, and Nate while Nate reached back to throw the football, and she held her breath. Ty tackled Cole when Cole caught the ball. Nate and Sam were quick to pile on top of them, and their laughter rang through the air like a celebration.
“They’re still boys at heart,” Ace said as he sat down beside her.
“They must have been quite a handful when they were growing up.” Leesa tucked her hair behind her ear as a breeze swept off the water.
“Oh, yes. I hope that never changes.” Ace turned a friendly smile in her direction. “So? You did it. You faced your past and moved forward.”
“Yeah, I did. Thank you for the talk. It meant a lot to me,” she said honestly. “And I’m sorry about overstepping my bounds.” She still felt guilty for asking about his leg.
“Do you know that you picked up on the thing no one else did?” His gaze turned serious, and her stomach clenched.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean—”
He patted her hand. “I called the docs at the VA hospital, and they put me in touch with a therapist out in Pleasant Hill. I start mirror therapy next week.”
Leesa felt her eyes widen. “You do? So you’re not upset with me?”
“I’m not a complaining man, Annalise, but when you brought up what you saw on my face, it made me wonder. What if my family saw it but never said anything?” He looked across the yard at Maisy and smiled. “I asked Maisy about it, and she reminded me that she’d asked about it for two years after the accident, and apparently I brushed her off so often that she stopped asking. You know, I think I lived with the discomfort for long enough that it became part of who I was.”
“And now?”
He laughed softly, and it sounded so much like Cole’s laugh that her eyes were drawn across the yard to the man she loved. Cole waved and blew a kiss. She waved back as Ace responded.
“Now it’s time to accept my past and move forward.”
“But you said the pain was a good thing, a motivator,” she reminded him.
He pushed to his feet and reached for her hand, drawing her up beside him. “I think I’ve had enough reminders of what I left behind. Look at my beautiful family.” His eyes moved from the boys to Shannon, Tempe, and Jewel, who were headed their way, and then to Leesa. “There is no better motivator than the people in this yard.”
“Dad, Mom wants you to start the grill,” Tempe said as the girls joined them.
Leesa watched Ace walk away. “You guys are so lucky. Your dad is wonderful.”
“Yeah, we are,” Shannon said. “But your father must have been pretty incredible, too. Look how you turned out.”
“Thanks, he was.” She handed the notebook she’d been carrying to Tempe. “I’ve added my ideas for the Girl Power group. And I was thinking, I really enjoy working at Mr. B’s, but I also miss teaching, so I thought maybe I’d also start doing some tutoring on the side.”
“Please can you help Krissy? Her creative writing is not nearly as strong as her creative dancing,” Jewel said.
“Yeah, I’d like that.” She watched Cole and his brothers heading toward them.
“You’re really ready?” Tempe asked as she leafed through the notebook.
“I am.” She reached for Cole’s hand as he came to her side.
“Hi, angel. You doing okay?” Cole asked.
“Yeah, perfect. I was just telling Tempe that I’m ready to think about starting the Girl Power group.”
“And she’s offered to help Krissy with her schoolwork,” Jewel added.
Cole tugged her in closer. “Both excellent ideas.” As he lowered his lips to hers, Shannon sighed. Cole shifted his eyes to his sister.
“Go ahead, kiss your woman,” Shannon said with a wide grin. “I cannot wait until I have someone who looks at me the way you and Nate look at Leesa and Jewel.”
“Well, you’re not going to find him in the Colorado Mountains.” Ty ran a hand through his shiny dark hair. His long bangs fell right back in front of his eyes. “I’ve been on nearly every mountain across the world, and I’m telling you, you won’t find love on any of them. Sorry, sis.” He draped an arm around Shannon and smiled at Leesa and Cole. “Besides, you got years before you’re as old as Cole.”
“Hey,” Cole said.
Leesa laughed.
“I didn’t know love had an age requirement,” Jewel said as she snuggled up to Nate.
“I’m kidding.” Ty gave Shannon’s shoulder a squeeze, then released her. “Seriously, though, sis. Why the hurry?”
“I’m not in a hurry.” Shannon gazed at their parents, hugging by the grill across the yard. “It just seems nice.”
“Well, I’m not in a hurry. I’ve got too many things I want to do before I settle down.” Tempe tucked the notebook beneath her arm and waved to their parents, who were walking hand in hand on their way to join them.
“I’m with Tempe and Ty.” Sam tossed the football in the air and caught it. “So many women, so little time.”
“You guys have it all wrong.” Cole smiled at Leesa. “One perfect woman, never enough time.”
Sam and Ty scoffed. Tempe and Shannon awwed, and Nate and Jewel nodded in agreement, while all Leesa could do was wonder how she’d gone from a woman scorned to a woman loved. But when Cole dropped to his knee and took her hand in his, that thought disappeared completely.
“Cole?” Leesa’s eyes widened when he reached into his pocket and pulled out a jewelry box. Ohmygod!