Page 27 of Runaway Bride’s Husband

When I reached Marcus’s voicemail, I sighed and left a message, striding over to the window to find I had a view of a little square. Not bad. Not bad at all, actually.

Almost as soon as I lowered my phone away from my ear, it rang again and I perked up, figuring Marcus was finally calling me back, but nope. As if she’d sensed that things weren’t going according to plan, it was my mother.

“Hey,” I said, switching her to speaker as I kept moving around the room and finally sat down on the edge of the bed. “How are you, Mom? Are you back home yet?”

“Safe and sound, darling.” I could hear the smile in her voice. “Where are you?”

I chuckled. “Good try, but I can’t tell you that.”

“What can you tell me, then?” she asked nervously. “At least tell me you found her.”

“I found her, but I can’t get her to budge on this, Mom. Maggie is adamant about staying put and figuring everything out by herself.”

Mom let out a soft sigh. “Just keep trying, sweetheart. You’ll get through to her eventually. Just bring her home, baby. She needs to go home.”

“I know, but I’ve tried everything I can.” I lay back on the bed and stared up at the intricately pressed patterns on the ceiling. “I honestly don’t know what else I can do.”

“I’m sure you’ll figure it out,” she replied quietly. “Somehow, you always do.”

“Maybe, but this isn’t a family matter. Not our family, at least. There’s only so much I can do before the Pembrokes have to step up and I think we’ve reached that point.”

“Oh, honey. No. Don’t give up.”

I sighed and let my eyes drift shut, exhausted after sorting through random war keepsakes all night. Who even wants a keepsake of a war, for God’s sake? It’s not a fucking amusement park.

“It’s not about giving up,” I said. “Look, before this, I hadn’t even seen Maggie since she was a teenager. We weren’t close friends even as kids. I don’t know everything there is to know about this arrangement between the families. Honestly, I’m not sure how this is my problem, but I still tried. She’s just not interested in listening to me.”

“Sweetheart, you’re the only person she’ll talk to,” Mom said, her tone taking on that vague hint of pleading that always ended with me caving to her demands. “Please just keep trying?”

“I can’t, Mom. At some point, I have to get back to work and back to my life. This is that point. I’m heading back to New York tomorrow. I told Maggie I’d wait until then, but if she still doesn’t want to leave with me, then so be it.”

“No, Ryan. That’s just not good enough,” she said. “The Pembrokes are counting on you. She won’t talk to anyone else. She’s not taking anyone’s calls or returning their texts. She hasn’t even sent her mother an emoji when Adelaide asked if she was safe.”

It was news to me that they were all under the impression that she was actually talking to me. I almost told my mother about Maggie locking me out of the house, but in the end, I refrained. I didn’t want her conveying that message to the Pembrokes and potentially giving them even more ammunition against Maggie.

“Talking isn’t exactly what I’d call it.”

“What would you call it?”

“Well, she threatened to bite me again.”

“Again?” Mom chuckled. “That’s our Maggie.” She paused for a beat. “Please just try again?”

“I’ll stay another day,” I said. “After that, I can’t promise anything.”

“Alright, baby. I know you’ll find a way.”

After talking for another minute, she hung up and I sighed, still staring at the ceiling and wondering why the Pembrokes were putting this on me. It was ridiculous. I had a job, a life, and a career I’d spent years building. Not to mention plenty of drama in my own family.

The Pembrokes had turned their backs on us when things had gotten tough, but now here they were, apparently counting on me to fix this. No one had bothered to ask if I had time to babysit their little princess while she investigated the romantic history of her dead grandfather.

As I thought it over, I had the urge to reach out to Daniel and tell him to come get his wife, but then I imagined him arriving at the cottage and an image flickered across my mind of Maggie with that musket.

She’d looked damn cute, but I quickly dismissed that thought—and the plan to reach out to Daniel. She’d probably shoot either him, or me, or both of us. Either way, it would end in bloodshed if he went there. Maggie might really just resort to actual violence, so no.

For now, I’d keep my word and give her another day, and then, if I still hadn’t managed to convince her to come back, I’d wash my hands of this whole mess and she’d be the Pembrokes’ problem.

Even if it was slowly starting to feel like she really, actually was becoming mine.