Forever, With You (The Inn at Sunset Harbor—Book 3)

CHAPTER ONE Emily looked down at the beautiful girl sleeping peacefully in Daniel’s bed. Her blond hair was splayed across the white pillow. Her features were unmistakably Daniel’s. She looked angelic. It was dark outside, the only light in the room a moonbeam creeping through the curtains, turning the room a muted blue. Emily had lost track of the time but judging by the exhaustion she felt deep in her bones it was close to dawn. She heard the door creak open and glanced over her shoulder to see Daniel standing in the crack, warm light from the carriage house’s fireplace illuminating his silhouette. Just the sight of him made her heart skip a beat. He was like a mirage, like a soldier returned home from war. “She’s still sleeping?” he whispered. Emily nodded. Even though he was back and standing in front of her after a six-week absence, Emily still couldn’t quite believe it, couldn’t fully let her guard down. It was as though she were anticipating the moment he announced that he was leaving once more, that he was sweeping Chantelle out of her life just as swiftly as he’d brought her into it. They left the room together, closing the door quietly in order not to wake the sleeping child. “It must have been a long drive from Tennessee,” Emily said, hearing how stilted her voice was, how unnatural she suddenly felt in Daniel’s company. “You must be exhausted.” “I think we all are,” Daniel replied, acknowledging in one statement the ordeal he had put her through. As they sat together at the table, Daniel looked at Emily intently, an earnest expression in his eyes. “Emily,” he began, his voice cracking immediately, “I don’t know how to say this, how to get the words out. You know I struggle with that sort of thing.” He smiled weakly. Emily returned the smile but felt her heart hammering with anguish. Was it coming? Was he announcing his and Chantelle’s departure? Had he just come back to her to tell her to her face that it was over? She felt tears begin to swim in her eyes. Daniel reached across the table and patted her hand. The gesture was all it took to make the tears she was trying to hold back flood from her eyes, down her cheeks, and plop onto the table top. “I am so sorry,” Daniel said. “It’s not enough, I know, but it’s all I’ve got, Emily. I am so sorry about what I put you through. About running off like that.” Emily stammered, surprised that the words she’d been braced for hadn’t come. “But you did the right thing,” she said. “You went to your daughter. You accepted your responsibility. I wouldn’t have expected any different.” Now it was Daniel’s turn to look confused, as though the words he was expecting from her had not been uttered. “But I left you,” he said. “I know,” Emily replied, feeling a stab of pain in her heart that hurt as keenly as it had the moment he’d first left. “And it hurt, I won’t lie. But what you did, that makes you a good man in my eyes.” Finally, she could see through her tears. “You rose to the occasion. You became a father. Do you really think I would hold that against you?” “I… I don’t know,” Daniel said with a gasp. He was wearing an expression Emily had never seen on his face before. It was a look of utter relief. She realized then that he had been expecting her to be mad at him, to unleash a torrent of anger at him. But Emily had never been mad, she had just been terrified that there would be no way the two of them could forge a life together now that Daniel had a daughter to care for. Now it was Emily’s turn to comfort him, to make it clear that he need not carry any guilt over his actions. She squeezed his hand. “I’m happy,” she said, smiling in spite of the tear tracks on her cheeks. “I’m more than happy, I’m overjoyed. I never thought this could be a possibility. That you would bring her home with you. Daniel, I couldn’t be any happier at this moment.” Daniel’s face burst into a grin. He stood from the table in a rush and swooped Emily off her seat and into his arms. He kissed her face, her neck, as though trying to kiss away the tears he’d caused to fall. Emily felt her whole body relax, all the tension melting away from her. Her body had lain dormant for the last six weeks, and now here was Daniel awakening all those parts of her that had been left fallow. She kissed him back, wantonly, with intensifying passion. He was her Daniel, with the same woodsy smell of forest and fresh air, with his rough hands running over her body, with her fingers twisting into his messy hair. He tasted of Daniel, of mint and tea, a taste that worked like Pavlov’s bell in arousing Emily. When he pulled out of the kiss, Emily felt the enormous absence. “We can’t,” he said quietly. “Not here. Not with Chantelle sleeping.” Emily nodded, though her lips were tingling with desire. Daniel was right. They needed to be sensible, to be grown-ups. They had a responsibility now to do the best for the girl. She would have to come first, always. “Can you hold me?” Emily said. Daniel gazed at her, and she recognized the look of adoration in his eyes. She had missed that look so much, and yet it seemed like the six weeks away from her had strengthened it more. Emily had never been looked at in that way, and it made her heart skip a beat. She stood, taking Daniel’s hand, and led him to the couch. Together they sank down onto it, the touch of the green velvet reminding Emily at once of the time they’d made love here beside the fireplace. As Daniel wrapped his arms around her she felt as content as she had that night, listening to his heartbeat, breathing in his scent. There was nowhere else she would want to be right now than here, with Daniel, her Daniel. “I missed you,” she heard Daniel say. “So much.” Somehow, with them snuggling in this position, without eye contact, Emily found it easier to discuss her feelings. “If you missed me so much, you could have called.” “I couldn’t.” “Why not?” She heard Daniel sigh. “It was so intense what was going on there I couldn’t cope with the thought of you giving up on me. If I had called you, you might have confirmed my worst fears, you know? The only way I got through that whole ordeal was by holding onto the hope that you’d still be here for me when I returned.” Emily swallowed. It hurt to hear him speak this way, but his honesty was so welcome. She knew this whole thing had been incredibly difficult for him and that she would need to be patient. But at the same time, she had gone through an ordeal as well. Six long weeks without word, waiting and wondering what might happen when Daniel returned, or if he would return at all. It hadn’t even occurred to her that he’d bring his daughter home with him. Now she had to begin to imagine in what ways their lives—and their relationship— would change now that they had a child to care for. They were both standing on new, unsteady ground. “It sounds like you didn’t have much faith in me,” Emily said quietly. Daniel fell silent. Then his hand began to stroke her hair. “I know,” he said. “I should have trusted you more.” Emily sighed deeply. For now that was all she needed to hear; affirmation that it was his lack of trust in her that had turned a difficult situation into something far harder than it needed to be. “What was it like?” Emily asked, curious, but also in an attempt to get Daniel to open up, to help him not suffer in silence. “Your time in Tennessee, I mean.” Daniel took a deep breath. “I was staying in a motel. I’d visit Chantelle every day, just to try to shield her, just to be a warm, friendly face. They were living with Sheila’s uncle. There was literally nothing there for a child.” His voice became strained. “Chantelle mainly kept out of the way. She’d learned not to bother either of them.” Emily’s heart clenched. “Did Chantelle see them using drugs?” “I don’t think so,” came Daniel’s reply. “Sheila’s living a life of complete disarray but she’s not a monster. She cares about Chantelle, I can tell. But not enough to go to rehab.” “You tried to get her to go?” Emily heard Daniel suck air between his teeth. “Every single day,” he said wearily. “I said I’d pay. I said I’d find them a place so they didn’t have to live with the uncle anymore.” In Daniel’s voice, Emily heard his heartbreak, his hopelessness at the wretched state of his daughter’s life. It sounded unbearable. “But you can’t force someone to change if they’re not ready. Eventually, Sheila accepted that Chantelle would be better off with me.” “Why didn’t she tell you she was pregnant?” Emily asked. Daniel laughed sadly. “She thought I would be a bad father.” Emily couldn’t imagine the sort of man Daniel must have once been to make someone think such a thing. To her, Daniel would be the perfect father. She knew he’d had a bad-boy streak, a rebellious few youthful years, but she was certain that couldn’t have been the real reason Sheila had hidden her pregnancy from him, or kept the existence of their daughter a secret. It was an excuse, a lie uttered by a drug user that shifted blame away from their own failures. “You don’t believe that, do you?” Emily asked. She felt Daniel’s hand begin stroking her head again. “I don’t know how I would have behaved six years ago when she was born. Or even when Sheila was pregnant. I wasn’t exactly the committed type. I might have run.” Emily twisted then so that she was facing Daniel, and wrapped her arms around his neck. “No, you wouldn’t have,” she implored him. “You would have become a father to that little girl just like you’re doing now. You would have been a good man, done the right thing.” Daniel kissed her gently. “Thank you for saying that,” he said, though his tone betrayed his uncertainty. Emily snuggled back into him, her grip tightening. She didn’t want to see him like this, in pain, filled with self-doubt. He seemed on edge, Emily thought, and wondered if he was struggling with the readjustment of being home, of suddenly being a father. Daniel must have been so focused on Chantelle that he had neglected to pay attention to his own emotions, and it was only now, in the warm, cozy, safe carriage house, that he was able to give himself the space to feel. “I’m here for you,” she said, gently stroking his chest with her hand. “Always.” Daniel sighed deeply. “Thank you. That’s all I can say.” Emily knew it came from his heart. Thank you was certainly enough for her for now. She sunk against him and listened to the sound of his breathing slowing as he fell into a slumber. Shortly after, she felt sleep take hold of her too. * They were awoken abruptly by the sound of Chantelle stirring in bed in the room next door. Emily and Daniel leapt up from the couch, disoriented by the sudden brightness in the room. In the fireplace, embers still smoldered. A moment later, the bedroom door opened a sliver. “Chantelle?” Daniel said. “You can come out. Don’t be shy.” The door slowly opened fully. Chantelle stood there, wearing one of Daniel’s oversized shirts, her blond hair tangled across her face. Though she didn’t share Daniel’s dark hair or olive skin, their resemblance was irrefutable. Especially their eyes. They both had the same shade of piercing blue irises. “Good morning,” Emily said, realizing how stiff she was from the few hours of sleep she and Daniel had had on the couch. “Do you want me to make you some breakfast?” Chantelle scratched her chin and looked shyly at Daniel. He nodded his encouragement, signaling to her that it was okay to use her voice here, that she wouldn’t be shouted down or called a nuisance in this place. “Uh-huh,” Chantelle said in a timid voice. “What do you like?” Emily asked. “I could do pancakes, toast, eggs. Or do you prefer cereal?” Chantelle’s eyes widened with astonishment and Emily realized with a painful pang that she’d probably never been given a choice before. Perhaps she hadn’t even been given breakfast. “I’d like pancakes,” Emily said. “What about you, Chantelle?” “Pancakes,” she repeated. “Hey, you know what?” Emily added. “We could go up to the big house and have breakfast there. I have blueberries in my fridge so I could put those in the pancakes. What do you think, Chantelle? Would you like to see the big house?”