Heartache Falls Part 26

Slowly happiness bloomed inside Ali. He meant it. This wasn't just a hormone blast. He honestly wanted to walk away from his job.

So what did it mean? "We'll stay in Eternity Springs, then?"

"I'd like that, yes, but other options are certainly open to discussion. I've learned my lesson, Alison. Your wishes and desires are just as important as mine."

Wow. Just wow. "We can build a house at Heartache Falls."

"I'd like Gabe Callahan to design the landscape. Have you seen the pool he did at Eagle's Way? It's fabulous."

Excitement sparked and began to burn. Ali gazed around the New Place and thought that the dream had never completely died, after all. Ali turned to hug her husband, but the expression on his face stopped her cold. His chin was set. His eyes were hard. "What's wrong?"

"I'm not done. I need to tell you something else." He sighed like a condemned prisoner, then added, "Something else to confess."

No. Oh, no. Not now. Not when true, happily-ever-after, life-can't-get-any-better-than-this joy is right within my grasp. "No, Mac. That's okay. Whatever it is, I don't want to know."

"I need to tell you."

She held up her hand, palm out. "I don't need to hear it! I don't care, Mac. I don't care if you have a gambling habit or a sister who's a p.o.r.n star or a newly discovered predilection for cross-dressing, I don't need to know about it."

"Ali, I'm sorry. I'm so very, very sorry, but we need honesty between us. This lie, my guilt, is a cancer in our marriage and it needs to be cut out. I will spend the rest of my life trying to make it up to you if only you'll forgive me."

What lie could he have told that would make him feel this miserable? Oh, G.o.d. Ali thought her heart might break in two. "Did you have an affair, Mac?"

He drew back, obviously offended. "No! That's not it at all."

"Fine, then forget it." She tried to walk away. He reached for her hand and stopped her.

"No. Ali, I need you to know ..." He raked his fingers through his hair, filled his lungs with air, then exhaled in a rush. "I targeted you."

She frowned. He targeted me?

"Back when we were in college, I acted like Brenda's boy. From the moment I hit South Bend, I was on the hunt. I was looking for a girl just like you. After we met that first time? I did my research on you. I found out who your father was, and I figured out that being his son-in-law could help me in my career, so I set out to win you. I wasn't going to let you get away from me."

All right. Well, that's not so bad.

But it obviously wasn't all. The man looked miserable. He looked tortured. "For heaven's sake, Mackenzie. What did you do?"

"I got you pregnant, Alison."

"Um, yes, I know."

"I wanted you to get pregnant. I didn't want to risk losing you."

The confession hung on the air. Ali waited for more. More didn't come. "That's it? That's your big confession?"

Closing his eyes, he nodded.

She took a moment to absorb that, and then another minute to think it through. "Why me?"

"What do you mean?" Now he scowled at her. "I just told you."

"Not really. There were other girls at Notre Dame who had well-connected fathers. Lots of them. You were a jock. A big man on campus. You could have had any girl."

"I wanted you."

"Because of my dad?"

"Yeah."

Ali folded her arms. "What about Larisa Holcomb? She had a crush on you, and if I recall correctly, her father was a judge on the Illinois Supreme Court."

"So?"

"Or what about Theresa Williams? Her father was a partner in a San Francisco firm that's twice the size of Dad's firm. Then there was the girl from Georgia. What was her name-Pansy? No, Puffy. What sort of name was that, anyway? She totally had the hots for you."

"I didn't want her," Mac snapped. "I didn't want any of those girls. I wanted you."

"Why?"

He shot her a hot, frustrated glare. "Because I was in love with you!"

There. Was it that hard? Ali couldn't suppress a smile. "I see. So let me see if I have this straight. When you were eighteen, you started looking for a potential wife. You found someone you liked, someone who met your preconceived criteria, and you asked her on a date. Over time, you developed a relationship with this girl, and over the next two years, at a time mutually acceptable to you both, that relationship became a s.e.xual one. As often happens in such circ.u.mstances, a child was conceived."

He closed his eyes and rubbed his temples. "Alison, I wasn't stupid. I knew it wasn't your safe time, and I didn't use the condom I had in my pocket. I wanted you to get pregnant. I was my mother's son and I wanted to tie you to me."

"Because you wanted my dad's support."

"Yes."

"And because you loved me."

"Yes."

"And because you wanted to build a life with me, make a home with me, have a family with me."

"Yes!"

"What about being my friend and my spouse and my lover for the rest of our lives? I'll bet you wanted that, too, didn't you? Why, Mackenzie Timberlake, that is such a horrible sin to confess! I'm appalled. Do you want me to call Reverend Hart so you can confess to him? I know neither one of you is Catholic, but maybe you'd feel better."

"Come on, Ali." Unwilling to quit, he folded his arms. "I seduced you."

"Come on yourself!" She braced her hands on her hips and advanced on him. "Has this really been eating away at you for all these years? For crying out loud, Mac. That's sad. And stupid. Sad and stupid.

"In that case, I have a question for you. One question." She held up her index finger. "At what time in our relationship did I give you control over my hormones?"

"Excuse me?"

"My memory might not be as sharp today as it was when I was in college, but I do think I would remember if you had forced me. Mac, use your brain. I could have said no. I could have brought my own condom to the party. I certainly knew my own body's schedule, which meant I knew the risk I was taking that night."

"But-"

She cut him off. "But nothing! We are equally responsible for that pregnancy. Besides, did you ever stop to think that maybe I wanted to be tied to you, too? That maybe I wanted you more than I wanted Europe?"

He visibly swallowed. "What are you saying, Ali?"

"Mac, do you know what one of my going-away-to-college gifts from Daddy was? A hunting vest. A bright orange hunting vest!"

Stunned, he blinked. "I remember that. You had it hanging in your closet in the dorm. I thought that was strange." Then he shook his head. "But what about cooking school? Running a restaurant? That was your dream!"

"Maybe it was. Or maybe it was my backup plan."

At that, the man sank into a seat. He looked poleaxed. "Are you saying you got pregnant on purpose?"

Ali lifted her eyes toward heaven and sighed. "What I'm saying, Mac, is that I loved you then and I love you today and I expect I'll love you until the day I die. I feel terrible for you that your mother was such a poor excuse for a human being, and it's horrible that you felt like you had to keep her secret, and I understand what motivated your actions back when we first met. Meeting her explains a lot about you. For instance, now I see why you reacted so negatively to Caitlin's Patrick."

"He reminded me of me."

"And I could wish for nothing better for our daughter than that she find a man like her father to love."

Mac closed his eyes, and Ali thought she saw him shudder. She moved toward him and sat on his lap. His arms came around her reflexively. "I'm proud of you, Mac," she said softly. "And I'm proud for you."

He touched his forehead to hers. "Ali, from the very beginning, you've been the best mother I could have chosen for my children. I never had to worry that you would neglect them or cause them harm of any kind. I knew that I could trust you with their little hearts ... and with my own."

His words had caused tears to swell in Ali's eyes and overflow. He reached up and wiped them off her cheek with the pad of his thumb. "Don't cry, Ali-cat. Please. It breaks my heart."

"These are happy tears."

"Yeah, well, they still make me feel like a jerk."

"You're not a jerk, Mac Timberlake. You are honorable and admirable. You are an excellent father for my children, and the perfect husband for me. I'm so happy we trapped each other into marriage."

"Me too." He leaned forward and kissed her, gently and ever so sweetly. "Alison Cavanaugh Timberlake, your ancestor might have found a fortune in silver in Eternity Springs, but I believe we have found something infinitely more valuable."

"You do?" She touched his cheek and smiled. "And what is that?"

"Ourselves. Our marriage. Our life together."

Ali's heart overflowed. "Our own little slice of heaven."

"Amen."

Their lips met, and as the kiss went from sweet to steamy, Mac skimmed his hand along the side of her breast and said, "I wish ..."

"Me too." Ali smiled wistfully at her husband as the restaurant's front door opened. "Hey, Mom? Dad?" Chase called. "Granddad and I stopped to talk to Mrs. Blessing, and she told us about an old Model T Ford in her garage. We're gonna take it for a ride. We'll be back in about an hour. Okay? Bye."

Mac waited until the door shut, then said, "That's the great thing about Eternity Springs. Here, miracles happen."

EPILOGUE.

New Year's Day "Another grand opening in Eternity Springs," Sage said to Sarah. "Four years ago, who would have believed it?"

Sarah pulled on her parka and zipped it up. "It gives a girl hope. Life around here seems to be filled with hope these days. Hope and happiness." Sarah gazed around the walls of Sage's gallery and added, "I see it in your paintings."

Sage glanced at the trio of paintings she'd hung the past week, patted her burgeoning belly, and smiled. "I never knew life could be so wonderful."

"I'm jealous."

"Hey, life is pretty wonderful for you, too. Lori is home for semester break and the two of you are knee-deep in Australia trip plans-though I think offering boomerangs for sale in the Trading Post is going a bit too far."

"It's just a beginning," Sarah said with a grin. "Speaking of beginnings, we'd better get going or Ali will start without us."

Sage frowned and glanced at the clock. "You go on. I'll wait for Colt. He's upstairs finishing up a bowl he made for Ali's place, and he's being picky about getting it just right. Tell her to start without us."

"Will do." Sarah opened the gallery door and stepped out into the bitter air. She drew a deep breath that seared her lungs with cold but only heightened her sense of antic.i.p.ation. She sensed a weird hum of something in the air that made her think the year ahead would be filled with something new-something good, she hoped.

She chuckled aloud at her own imaginings. Was she always this giddy on New Year's or was it the effect of too much midnight champagne?

Either way, for the first time in a long time, she looked forward to the new year. And, more immediately, to a taste of Tuscany. She was hungry.

She turned at the sound of her name to see Sage and Colt walking fast toward her. Colt carried a box tied with what she guessed was a leftover Christmas bow. He must have finished his gift.

Sarah waited for the Raffertys to catch up. The friends were on their way to the grand opening of Ali's restaurant, formerly Mac's the New Place and now La Cucina Gialla, which translated to the Yellow Kitchen. The Italian restaurant featured recipes that Ali had learned from her father's housekeeper in addition to those she'd learned how to prepare during the two-week cooking school she'd attended after Thanksgiving while she and Mac were on their second honeymoon in Italy.

"Smell that?" Sage asked as she and her husband caught up to Sarah. "Isn't that the most divine aroma ever? I'll bet you a hundred bucks that Chef Hollywood's menu doesn't hold a candle to Ali's."

"I'm not taking that bet," Sarah replied. "Lori talked to Chase yesterday and he recommended the peposo. It's a beef stew of some sort."

"I'm all over that," Colt declared.

"Chase also said that his parents booked a trip to Paris in the springtime. Another cooking school."

Sage nodded. "Ali told me. She has this idea to change her menu after every trip in order to keep things interesting for the town's year-round residents. She's going to keep the name the Yellow Kitchen, but she'll change the language it's written in according to the cuisine."

"Always thinking, our Ali." At the corner of Second and Pinyon, Colt gestured up the street and waved. "There's Celeste. You ladies want to wait for her? Sage, you're not too cold, are you?"

"I'm fine."

Sarah stomped her feet, wishing she'd worn an extra pair of socks. "It is freezing. The temperature dipped below zero this morning."

Sage wrinkled her nose. "I know. That evil Nic Callahan called to chortle about it. She said she was in shorts."