Tacked to Death (30 page)

"Find her? No way. She left her son and
me. You read the letter. And you don't know the half of it. I
didn't want to say anything. You've had so much going on," Ethan
said.

"I don't understand."

He took her hands. "Summer. She has not
been a mother to our son. I'm so exhausted. I come home from work
and he's either hungry or needs to be changed. I don't know what to
think. I'm the one who found the day care because I was so worried
about him. I tried talking to her and she would scream at me and
tell me that she was fine."

Michaela shook her head. "I had no
idea. This is all wrong. She'll be back. This is crazy."

"No she's crazy. I don't want her to
come back. She's found another man, and you know what, the whole
way over here, Michaela, I kept running it through my mind. The day
she left me at the altar and then wormed her way back into my life,
and the way she has tried to keep us from being friends, and I know
why. It's because she's seen all along what the two of us haven't,
and as far as I'm concerned this is a blessing."

"What?"

He leaned in and kissed her hard,
wrapping his arms around her. The world, her life, all of it
swirled into a blur, as if she was in a dream. But it was real. And
it was more than nice and more than special. It was a connection so
profound that it brought tears to her eyes, and although she was
confused by all of it, at the same time, she felt more clarity in
those seconds than she'd ever known. He pulled away from her and
said, "It's been you, Mick. Always has. It's that simple. It has
always been you and I'm tired of pretending or denying it. I won't
do it anymore. Will you? I mean, we want to be in your life and I
think there's a future here for us." He looked at Josh and then
back at her. "The three of us. Don't you?"

Emotion caught in the back of her
throat and she couldn't respond for a second. Ethan didn't take his
eyes off of her. When she was finally able to express herself, she
replied, "You don't even have to ask that. I think you already know
the answer." She wiped her tears and kissed him back.