Four hours and a lot of chewed nails later, Millen pulls up to the curb outside a giant three-story house that at one glance looks like at least six of mine combined.
“Wow,” I breathe, looking out through the windshield at what might just be one of the most beautiful houses I’ve ever seen. The outside is a buttercup yellow, six of the eight road-facing windows showcased with ornate Juliet balconies painted black.
“It’s just a house,” he says, and snapping my head his way, I’m met with a wide smile.
“That is more than a house. It’s a modern-day castle.”
“There’s no moat.”
“That you can see,” I reply, making him laugh.
He reaches over and grabs my hand. “You okay with this? I know you weren’t expecting it as part of our weekend away.”
“As long as she’s not Lana’s biggest fangirl, I’m sure we’ll be fine.”
He shakes his head. “She isn’t but she is trying to be. We’ve been friends with the Mason family for a long time so she’s known Lana since she first came to live in San Francisco.”
I snicker. “Lana has that effect on people. Well, except in my case, it’s a mutual understanding that we’re never gonna be best friends.”
“Was that ever a possibility?”
“Not on your life.”
“Good to know,” he says wryly. He lets go of me and turns to open to the car door. Feeling a rush of unexpected panic, my hand darts out to squeeze his forearm, stopping him in his tracks. He turns to look at me, surprise and concern filling his features. “What’s wrong?”
The last four hours of consuming thoughts have led to this moment. There’s absolutely no doubt in my mind that I was meant to be with this man. Everything I’ll ever want and need, I know Millen would move heaven and earth to give me. But he has to be sure of what he’s giving up. He has to be sure that I’m the woman that can give that back in return.
It’s something I haven’t been able to verbalize until now but parked outside his family home, this is the do-or-die moment. If ever there was a time to give him one last chance to reconsider, it’s now.
“Please tell me that I’m not walking toward my impending doom. That you’re absolutely, one hundred percent sure you want to do this. You gave me seventy-two hours and said you’d walk away if that was what I wanted. Now I’m giving you an out. If you want to—need to—walk away, for your mom, for your family, your business, for yourself, I’d hate it but I’d let you go. If that’s what you needed.”
He doesn’t react straight away. Then he does, slamming his seat back before leaning over me, wrapping an arm around my waist and pulling me into his lap. His big hands frame my face as he pulls me down so we’re chest to chest.
It’s as if the whole world around us freezes, the Earth no longer spinning on its axis, the two of us the last two people on the planet not stuck in suspended animation.
“Do you love me?” he says, his words a harsh whisper reaching straight into my chest to form a tight fist around my heart.
The three words I haven’t been able to say may now be the most important ones to ever come out of my mouth. This is a true now-or-never moment that may very well determine my future happiness.
His molten eyes bore into mine, matching the burning desire I have to tell him what he wants to hear.
“Yes,” I say, swallowing hard, my gaze locked with his. “I know I always will.”
His expression softens instantaneously, his lips crushing mine barely a second after I get the words out. It’s a hard and fast kiss that’s more meaningful than all of those that’ve gone before it because in this moment, we’ve sealed our fate, wherever that path may lead us.
“As much as I wish I could show you just how much hearing you say that means to me,” he says roughly, “I really do want you to meet Mom, and I wanted to come see her before I go back to Davis with you for a few days.”
My head jerks back at his announcement. “You’re coming back with me?”
His lips twitch, his eyes dancing with amusement. “Well, I may be rich, but shipping you back home in a taxi for the ninety-minute drive might be a bit too extravagant.”
I shove his shoulder gently. “You know what I mean.”
“If you’ll have me, I’d like to come home with you. Spending more time together that doesn’t just involve being horizontal.”
I giggle at that because of all the times we’ve been together, we’ve definitely not always been horizontal. Naked, yes. In a bed, hardly. “And I’d like to meet your dad, if that’s a possibility, because he’s the most important man in your life, and as someone who wishes to at least compete with him for that position, I think it’s a good idea I size him up.” He waggles his brows and I burst out laughing, dropping my forehead to his shoulder in the process.
I lift my head and place a gentle kiss on his neck, before whispering “yes” in his ear. His replying squeeze of his arms around me gives away how much it means to him.
Sitting up straight, I look down at him, a genuine smile on my face, my previous nerves all but disappeared. “Let’s do this.”
“For the record, she’s joint first in the role now.” The warm, melty feeling that washes over me is obviously evident in my expression because his eyes go soft. With a light brush of his lips against mine, he places me back on my side of the car then hops out. After opening my door, he leads me hand in hand toward the front of the house.
Millen doesn’t knock. He simply enters a code on to a pad next to the door and walks right in, dropping his keys on a side table in the huge entryway, and walking down a short corridor lined with photo upon photo of Millen and his parents.
Sitting on the couch in what I assume is the living area is an older, still handsome, and somewhat commanding man who couldn’t be anyone but Millen’s father. Leaning against him with her back to his side, her feet resting up on the extraordinary long black leather couch, is a frail, fragile-looking, yet still stunningly beautiful woman with hair the exact same color as Millen’s. His mom.
My heart breaks for her. She’s no longer the bright vivacious woman in those photographs and it’s evident that she’s losing the battle no one wants to ever fight, especially when you’ve beaten it once already.
His dad’s eyes narrow in on me, dropping to my hand holding tightly to Millen’s. Instinctively, I pull away, something that does not go unnoticed by the man beside me as he tries in vain to not let me go, or by his father, who breathes a visible sigh of relief.
“I didn’t think you’d be home,” Millen says to his dad.
“I wanted to spend the afternoon here,” his father replies tersely, not taking his eyes off me. I’m compelled to pull my hand away from Millen but when I try, his grip tightens.
“Millen,” his mom breathes, her melodic voice laced with a weakness not suited to her.
“Hey Mom,” Millen replies, moving toward her and sitting on the edge of the sofa. He reaches out and gently brushes away a tendril of hair back behind her ear. “How are you doing today?”
“Better than yesterday, probably better than tomorrow,” she replies with a sardonic smile. Turning her attention to me, her face softens. “And who’s this lovely lady?”
“This is Kenzie, my… friend. Kenzie, this is my mom, Nina, and my father, Bradley.”
“Hello, Kenzie.” Her tone is still sweet as she studies me. “It’s been a long time since I’ve met any of Millen’s friends.” Her expression is friendly but I don’t miss the flash of suspicion she quickly hides.
“Mom…” Her son warns, the smile playing at his lips contradicting his voice.
She winks at me before looking at him. “Millen, if a dying woman can’t tease her son, what else is there to do?” As the words leave her mouth, the air in the room thickens. Millen’s expression drops.
His dad stiffens—more so than when I walked in—and carefully eases away from his wife, giving her arm an affectionate rub before standing and addressing Millen.
“Can I have a word?” he asks.
Millen’s back straightens. “If it’s business, I think it can wait.” His voice is tight, the anger dispersed amongst his words unmissable.
“I’m afraid it can’t. I’ll meet you in my office,” Bradley says curtly before walking out of the room.
My wide eyes meet Millen’s annoyed ones, conflict warring with concern hidden beneath.
Nina reaches out and pats the couch beside her. “Come sit with me, Kenzie. You can tell me about yourself and where my son has been hiding you.” My shift between her and the man at my side is something she doesn’t miss. “I promise I don’t bite. Well, not first, anyway.”
Millen’s eyes go to the door that his father left out of.
“You better go,” Nina says quietly. “Besides, you won’t be long, and it’ll give me a chance to get to know Kenzie.”
“Yeah, okay.” He closes the distance between us and gives my hand a squeeze. “I’ll be back as soon as I can,” he says quietly before letting me go and moving to where his mom is, leaning down and kissing her cheek. “Be nice, Mom.”
“Oh, stop. You’ll scare her off.”
“Impossible,” he says with a laugh before shooting me one last meaningful glance and following his father.
“Now, Kenzie. Take a seat. Knowing those two, they might be a while. Especially since I know it’s not business they’ll be discussing.” There’s a knowing glint in her eye.
I’m nervous all of a sudden. What do you say to a woman you know—and who knows you know—is dying? That you’re sorry for what she’s going through? Do you say it straight out? Do you allude to it? Or do you ignore the fact and act as if this is a completely normal meeting of the parents when in fact it’s anything but.
So I choose to take the least obvious road, that being to address the elephant in the room.
“So…” I say, meeting her soft, wrinkled eyes. Eyes I love only a little less on her than I do on her son.
“So,” she replies, her lips twitching before we both laugh.
“This isn’t exactly how I thought this would go.”
Her replying smile is wide and bright. “You’re not exactly the woman I thought Millen would bring home today. Maybe you’re the type I had hoped for—the kind that puts a spark in his eye I haven’t seen for many months now—but you’re not the woman currently wearing his ring on her finger.” Her choice of words surprises me but I don’t let it show.
“And you’re not anything like what I was worrying myself sick about on the way here.”
Her lips tip up. “Millen sharing horror stories again?”
“Oh, no. Millen kept telling me it would be fine. But given what I know—and not knowing what I was walking into—a woman in my situation will always go straight to the worse-case scenario.”
Her expression falters for a millisecond before she catches it, her eyes drifting to the door where her husband and son disappeared out of. “These are trying times.”
Instinctively, I reach out and cover her hand with mine, surprising her as much as myself. “I’m so sorry to hear about that.”
“I was too but when faced with your own mortality, you realize what’s truly important. Life is fickle; it can chop and change without warning. It’s what you do with the time you have left that becomes more important than anything else.” She takes a deep breath and returns her attention to me. “And seeing my son happy is definitely one of those important things.”
Tears prick my eyes but considering I’m with the other woman in Millen’s life who he loves more than anything, I don’t hide it. I want to reassure her that I’m the person to do that. “This isn’t exactly a typical situation though, is it?”
She laughs, turning her hand in mine and squeezing my fingers. “A typical life is a boring life, Kenzie, and something my son has never ever been is typical. He’s strong-willed and determined, but loyal to a fault and since he was old enough to know better. He’s always put this family first.”
“I guess me turning up on his arm today is a surprise then?”
“Not exactly. I’ve known something has been troubling him for a while, and I’m not just talking about my illness. He came home a few months ago a different man, one I haven’t seen for a long time, since the first time I got sick. I was relieved but that was fleeting. Then he announced his engagement to Lana and I was thrown for a loop.”
It hits me that my gut feeling about Millen not giving me the full picture of the business side of things was absolutely on the money. There’s a piece of the puzzle I don’t have, one that is perhaps—purposefully—not being shown to me or his mom.
My expression must give me away because Nina’s hand tenses in mine as I ease my arm away from her. My chest tightens, my entire body frozen in place as the full picture becomes a sharp landscape, one with details Millen may have been too close to see.
“It was a shock, but I’ve tried to understand and get to know Lana better. Now I’m wondering why he’s bringing another woman home to meet me.”
I smile at her. “I can see how that might be confusing.”
“So how did you and my son meet?”
“The history of Millen and I has been somewhat… complicated.”
“I bet,” she says without an ounce of disapproval.
“He met me in Davis before he found out you were sick again.”
Regret covers her face; her eyes growing wet.
“Nina?”
“I just want him to be happy. That’s all I’ve ever wanted.”
I tilt my head and shrug, deciding that I owe her the truth since she’s being so forthcoming with me. “After we met, he came back home and found out you were sick again.” Millen’s words about reducing the stress on his mom ring in my ears so I choose what I say next carefully. “I think what happened from there snowballed out of his control until he walked back into the bar I work at and saw me again. What’s happened since then is probably something a mother doesn’t want to know about.”
Amused eyes sparkle at me. “He went from one out-of-control situation into an entirely different, but somewhat better one that led to you spending the weekend at the lake house and coming home to meet the parents?”
“Something like that,” I murmur, looking down at my lap.
“This isn’t going to be easy,” she replies, grabbing my attention.
“Maybe not.”
“But I like to think nothing is impossible.”
I can’t help the small smile that plays at my lips now. I know now where Millen gets his personality from. “I hope you’re right,” I whisper.
Nina smiles back but winces as she does it. She puts on a good front but I can tell from her strained features that she’s in pain.
“Is there anything I can get you? Anything I can do to help?”
Her eyes grow gentle and she lets the mask slip, something that’s as gratifying as it is hard to see. “A glass of water would be good. The kitchen is at the end of the hall on the right. Would you mind?”
I stand and look down at her. “Do you need anything else? Medication? Painkillers?”
“I’m all dosed up in that regard.”
“Alright,” I reply. “Just send a search party if I’m not back in ten minutes. Your house is as beautiful as it is large, and I fear I may get lost.”
She grins and shakes her head. “I can see why my son loves you.” My breath catches and her eyes are all knowing. “I’ll die happy and at peace knowing he’s being taken care of by a woman who loves him as much as I do.”
I crouch in front of her and give her hand a squeeze. “That is something that I can promise you I’ll do. As long as he’ll have me, as long as he needs me, I’ll be there.”
“Good. That’s all I want.” Her eyes shine up at me. We need to stop this before we both lose it. Decision made, I move back to my feet and shoot her a grin.
“Remember. Search party, ten minutes.”
“You got it.”
I take a left out of the room and—following the directions Nina gave me—locate the kitchen at the end of the hall. I locate the glasses surprisingly quickly and open the refrigerator, finding chilled water waiting for me.
It’s when I’m walking back down the hall that I hear Millen’s dad raise his voice, the tone unmistakably angry as he addresses his son. “Millen, we don’t have a choice in this. There are contracts in place, legal obligations we cannot get out of.”
“That’s not my problem, Dad. You signed them. You put us in this position. Harris will just have to suck it up.”
“You’re wrong about that. You’re a Ross—you’re going to take over the company one day. This is most definitely your problem.” He sighs.
I stop outside what I assume is his office door, imagining him pacing the room, dragging his fingers through his hair as Millen sits there taking the lecture but not listening. One thing I do know about Millen Ross, he is as stubborn as he is determined, and when he told me he was choosing me and the life we could—would—have together, I believed him.
“Look, have your fling, get it out of your system. It’s what men like us do. I’m sure she’s a nice girl but in four weeks you will be marrying Lana Mason, come hell or high water.”
“I’ve made my decision, Dad. I choose Kenzie. You may not like it, but I’m a grown man who has put this family and the company first for far too long. I never wanted to marry Lana. She’s a friend, but she’s not the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with. When we made the arrangement five years ago, I never imagined I’d meet a woman who would make me the man I want to be. The man I need to be. Kenzie is the one I want to be with—the one I will be with.”
My heart swells while simultaneously clenching like a vise. Millen never said there would be more financial ramifications for this decision than just not getting the company the funds it needs. In choosing me, he’s going against his father, against his business, and setting himself up to face a formidable foe in Harris Mason.
“And what about your mother? She doesn’t need the stress this would cause.”
“Considering Kenzie hasn’t come running in here demanding we leave immediately, I imagine that Mom is getting along with her just fine. Mom would want me happy, as should you.”
“You could marry Lana and still keep seeing that woman. Women like Lana Mason understand situations like this.”
Millen splutters, a chair scrapes against the floor as I assume he moves to his feet. “Women like Lana? Can you hear yourself right now?”
“Millen, this will destroy us. Our reputation, our future expansion—everything.”
“It wasn’t me who put all the Ross Corp eggs in the Mason vineyards basket, Dad. Sorry, but I’m not going to do it. I can’t do it. I hurt Kenzie once and I’ll spend the rest of my life making it up to her. Now, if we’re done, I’m going to get back to the living room and check that Mom is okay.”
I scurry down the hall, not wanting to be caught eavesdropping on a conversation that may’ve been about me but that I had no business hearing.
Unfortunately, the only thing running through my mind for the rest of our visit is everything I heard. Millen’s words. His father’s insistence. My racing heart, and the deep-seated feeling that we may have won the battle but we’re definitely far away from winning the war.