Page 17 of The Maverick's Homecoming
“It’s about time.”
The steaks were juicy and tender. As for the house salad drizzled with vinaigrette dressing and the twice-baked potatoes? Equally delicious.
Finn enjoyed the meal. However, he couldn’t help worrying a little about Kenzie. She’d seemed fine after her visit to the doctor and he’d promised himself he wouldn’t hover. But was she really okay?
When their server cleared the plates away, Finn ordered a second whiskey and Kenzie said yes to a decaf with cream.
The waitress left and Kenzie asked quietly, “Is something wrong?”
He started to lie and say there was nothing. But he looked in her shining eyes and somehow the truth slipped out. “I was surprised to see Rufus on the sidelines in your place this morning. He said you had a routine doctor’s appointment. And I did kind of wonder if you were…alright?”
She blinked and leaned closer. “Finn. I’m fine. Honestly. And Rufus is great. If one of the players gets injured he will know what to do.”
“I believe you.” Finn sipped his drink. “I’m sure Rufus is perfectly competent.”
“So, then, what were you worried about?”
“I just thought maybe you had some issue—you know, with the baby. That maybe you weren’t, uh, feeling well.”
Her blue eyes got misty. “Oh, Finn…” She reached out.
He grabbed her hand like a lifeline. “You’re okay, then? There’s no problem?”
“Finn. What happened fifteen years ago is not going to happen again.”
He shut his mouth to keep from asking how she could be sure of that.
But damned if she didn’t read his mind, anyway. “I don’t have any kind of chronic issue. And I’m well past fourteen weeks, by which time eighty percent of miscarriages happen.”
“Right,” he said. And the past was there, in the space between them, as fresh and painful as an open wound. They’d lost their baby at fourteen weeks.
That loss had been the end of them—of their love that was supposed to last forever. Of the life they’d planned together. Of all the promises they’d made to each other.
His father had really gone after him then. Finn Sr. had urged him to let the past go and reach for the future. And Finn had wanted to go, wanted to leave all the pain and heartache behind. Three weeks after their baby was no more, he broke up with her and headed off to college in Michigan. He’d always been sure she must have hated him for that.
But right now, those eyes of hers only spoke of sadness and understanding. “I mean it,” she said. “Believe me. All the tests show that this baby is doing great, growing normally. Today was a regular checkup—one that’s been scheduled for weeks.”
He asked, “So…you’re feeling good then?”
She made a joke of it. “What I’m feeling is enormous. And please stop looking at me like I might need an ambulance any minute now. I am fine. My baby is fine.”
The tension in his shoulders eased and he allowed himself a slow, deep breath. “Okay, then. That’s great.” He even managed a smile as he picked up his drink. “Here’s to… What’s her name, anyway?”
“I haven’t decided yet. I mean, I keep making a choice…and then changing my mind.”
“Well, alright then. Here’s to your little girl.”
She raised her coffee cup and tapped it gently to his glass. “To my little girl.” They both drank.
And then, for several seconds they just sat there, looking at each other across the white tablecloth. He felt the echo of the past acutely. Of all the things he hadn’t said, the choices he’d made then that he might have made differently.
Yeah, he’d followed his big dream, even had some success at it. But right now, with his gaze locked on hers, all he could think of was how much he had loved her, how he’d let ambition and grief and the relentless power of his father’s will make his choice for him. How different would things be now if he’d simply followed his heart?
“Hey.” She set down her coffee cup.
He blinked the past away. “Sorry. Just…thinking.”
“About something much too sad, I’m guessing.” Her smile did not reach those eyes that changed depending on the light—from blue to green to hazel, and back to blue again. “Don’t be sad,” she whispered.
