Page 98 of The Grump I Got Stuck With

She rubbed her eyes, looking tired. “Alistair, you told me my happiness was my own problem.”

“I didn’t mean it like that. When I said those things…” I ran my hand through my hair, tugging at the strands. “I wasn’t thinking clearly.”

“Or maybe you were,” she said. “I don’t really know. All I know is that you made the choice to push me away, and there is no app that lets you undo that.”

This was all wrong. “Madison, I love you.”

She shook her head, holding her hand out to stop me from closing the distance, and at that moment, my heart dropped from my chest and onto the floor.

“Do you really?” she asked, sounding resigned. “Or did you just love having someone around who made your life easier and provided everything you needed? Because the moment I stood up for myself and asked for what I needed, you shut me out.”

“That’s not what I meant to do.” God, I was such a self-centered arse to her and my friends. How did everyone put up with me?

She gave her head a sad shake. “Maybe not. I don’t think you had any intentions at all when it came to me. You were thinking about yourself and Kenna and what you believed would be the best for the two of you. What I might want never factored into the equation at all. And that proves to me that I don’t belong here with you. Not when you treat me like an afterthought instead of like an actual partner. I want to know who my mother was. I want to talk to people from the places she went to and make connections and grow as a person. I can’t do that from behind a turret.” Madison took a step back from me, putting more distance between us. “You might be fine living like a recluse for the rest of your life, but I can’t be afraid to live for the rest of mine. I deserve to be more than some secret locked away in a castle.”

I tasted bile. It felt like I was going to be sick. “You’re right. I was scared, and I made decisions that should have been for both of us to make. But we can work through that now.”

“How, Alistair?” Her voice was flat. “Because nothing has really changed. You say you want me and that you love me, and sure, maybe things will quiet down in a few weeks or months, and you’ll go back to pretending everything is fine. But the moment the next story breaks or Jessica says something ridiculous and has the media in another frenzy, you’re going to freak out all over again, and the walls will go back up. I’m not going to wait around for you to slam another door in my face.”

“Madison, I⁠—”

“Don’t bother updating my app anymore,” she said, drifting into the hallway. “Because whoever it is you think you love, it isn’t me.”

She turned on her heel then and marched away, leaving me reeling in the aftermath of her rejection.

By the time evening rolled around, I still hadn’t processed the conversation completely. All I knew was that Madison didn’t want to try again. She didn’t want to fix what she believed was unfixable. And maybe she was right. Maybe I’d screwed this all up to the point of no return.

I hadn’t been able to convince her of how much I loved her or how badly I wanted for us to build a life together.

She didn’t see Dunhope as home.

Kenna climbed into my lap where I sat on the couch, and I pressed a kiss to her temple as one of her shows played on the TV. I didn’t even care that this was the fifth episode of Atomic Kitten Rescue I was being forced to watch. Tonight, the only thing I could think about was how much I’d lost.

My phone buzzed in my pocket, and I reached for it. “Hey,” I said, answering Weston’s call.

“Locke just texted,” he said. “They were at the hospital in Aberdeen this afternoon for an appointment. The doc has induced Isla.”

“Wait, they’re having the baby?” I said, sitting up so quickly I had to catch Kenna before she could tumble off my lap.

“What baby?” she asked, looking up at me with excitement.

“Locke said it was slow going at first, but the labor’s going more quickly now. Lena, Aisling, and I are headed over to Aberdeen if you want to join us?”

“Yeah,” I said, getting to my feet, still clutching Kenna in one arm.

“Great, we’ll swing out and grab you in about twenty minutes.”

I hung up, and Kenna took my cheeks between her little hands. “Is Auntie Isla having the baby?”

“She sure is,” I told her, warmed by her buoyant smile. I glanced around, and it was only when my eyes landed on nothing but furniture that I realized I was looking for Madison. Part of me just felt like she should be there, at a moment like this. But she wasn’t. And she never would be again.

I forced those wretched feelings aside, hiked Kenna higher on my hip, and hurried upstairs to locate the baby gift I’d ordered months ago and wrangle Kenna into her pajamas for the evening. I figured she’d probably pass out at the hospital before the baby arrived, and it would be a lot easier to put her to bed when we returned if I didn’t have to get her changed. By the time she was ready, I could hear Weston in the driveway, honking.

“Aisling!” Kenna cheered, running across the kitchen.

“Boots!” I called after her.

She sat down on the floor and stuffed them on her feet. I managed to get her coat on and a hat on her head before she took off again, yanking the door open. After some seat-swapping, because the girls wanted to sit with Lena in the back, I climbed into the passenger seat. Thirty minutes into the drive, both girls were asleep. And by the time we reached the hospital in Aberdeen, I had to carry a snoring Kenna into the waiting room of the labor unit.