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He didn’t eat. Didn’t sleep. He was consumed with finding Callie so he could bring her home. Or not bring her home. He didn’t care as long as he could find her and confront her.
It was nearly a month before he realized that his efforts were misdirected. Callie wouldn’t be found if she didn’t want to be. But eventually she’d come home, wouldn’t she? He didn’t believe for a minute that she wouldn’t return to the family she loved more than anything.
It was then he realized that he needed to focus his efforts on making her homecoming special.
And that precipitated a trip up the mountain to see her family.
With a little help on the sly from Lily, he made damn sure that the entire family would be assembled when he arrived. It was time to take the bull by the horns. It wouldn’t be pretty, but he wasn’t about to give up without one hell of a fight.
He parked by the myriad of vehicles and got out, spoiling for a fight. He strode to the front door and knocked briskly.
He didn’t have to wait long. The door opened and Adam Colter stood there unsmiling, his steady gaze brewing with anger.
“What the hell are you doing here?”
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sp; Knowing he wouldn’t get through the door without a little shock value, Max thrust the document that Callie had signed at her father.
“We need to talk about this. ”
Adam took the paper and scanned the contents. His expression grew darker and darker until he resembled a black cloud of fury.
“You son of a bitch,” Adam seethed. “I’ll fight you on this. It will never hold up in court. She signed this under duress and great emotional strain. When I’m through with you, the entire world will know what a calculating bastard you are. ”
Max held up his hand. “I don’t give a shit what that paper says or whether it will hold up in court. I never intend to sign it or pursue ownership. ”
Adam paused and then looked back up at Max, open speculation in his gaze.
“Like I said, we need to talk. Preferably without violence, although after three weeks of searching all over Europe for your daughter, I’m about ready to shed some blood. Yours will do just fine. ”
Adam continued to stare at him for a long moment, and a glimmer of a smile shadowed on his lips. “You love my daughter. ”
“Yeah, what was your first clue?”
“You can cut the sarcasm, son. Your actions haven’t been those of a man who loves a woman. ”
“Just let me in so we can talk about this. I want things to be perfect if and when Callie comes home. ”
Adam hesitated a moment. “I didn’t take advantage of your mother, Max. I can show you the letter she sent me. I can show you the bill of sale. I paid her more than a fair price. The last thing my brothers and I wanted was to take advantage of a young widow with two children to raise. ”
Max swallowed and then slowly nodded his acceptance. He had to let go of his anger. These were Callie’s dads. The past couldn’t be changed. He’d been a boy when his mother had sold, and he’d viewed the transaction through the eyes of an angry child. It was time to consider that he’d been wrong. He’d been wrong about so many other things.
“I owe you and your brothers an apology,” Max said in a low voice.
“If you make my daughter happy again, that’s all the apology we need. ”
“Thank you, sir. I plan to do exactly that. ”
Adam stepped back and then motioned Max inside. Max walked past him and into the living room where all of Callie’s family was assembled.
Lily met his gaze and shot him a look of sympathy about the time the rest of the room exploded into chaos.
It took a full five minutes for Adam to calm everyone down. Even Holly stood to the side, her face drawn into tight lines of anger—and grief.
He went to her first, wanting to ease her fears, her worries, even when he didn’t have any information to do so.
“Have you found her?” Lily asked just as he approached Holly Colter.
Max turned to look at Lily’s hopeful face, his own drawn into an unhappy grimace. “No, I haven’t. ”
Then he turned back to Callie’s mother. “I want to apologize to you for all the hurt I’ve caused. I love your daughter. I love her more than I’ve ever loved anyone else. I’ve done nothing for the last three weeks but try to find her. I’ve come to the realization that she’ll come home when she’s ready, and when she does, I want things to be…right. ”
Adam handed the paper to Holly. “He brought this. ”
Holly scanned the paper and then her eyes filled with tears. “No. Tell me this isn’t real. ”
Max took the paper from her shaking hand and then calmly ripped it into a dozen tiny pieces. “I don’t care if it was real or not. It doesn’t matter because I won’t sign it. ”
“Thank God,” Holly whispered.
“Someone want to tell us what the hell is going on?” Seth demanded from across the room.
Max turned to face the forbidding faces of the Colter men.
“Callie tried to give me her meadow. I won’t accept it. I love her. I’m not going to lose her without a fight. You need to accept that. She loves you. You love her. I love her. There has to be room for all of us in her life if she chooses it. I’m here to make my peace with you, but I’m also here because I need your help. ”
Silence fell and perplexed looks replaced the anger of just moments before.
“What do you have in mind?” Ryan Colter asked cautiously.
“All Callie’s ever wanted is to build her dream house. She takes ridiculously low-paying, dangerous jobs and she saves. She drives a truck that’s about to fall apart, and she doesn’t even have a home of her own because she saves every penny for that dream.
“She took that money she’s been saving and she left. She gave up on that dream. I’m going to give it back to her. ”
“Okay,” Ethan said slowly. “How do you propose to do that?”
“I’m going to build her house in that meadow so that she has it to come home to. Whether she takes me back or not, I want her to have that safe place—a place of her own. Something she can always come back to no matter where she travels or where her path takes her. But I can’t do it without your help. ”
