The Day He Came Home

Chapter 3

Alice Kopp avoided looking at her mother. Or her son. No, she kept her eyes glued to Hunter Magleby, the ghost of a man she’d refused to let go of despite the gulf she’d placed between them.

She slipped her hand out of his as fury roared into Hunter’s expression. She put both hands on her son’s shoulders, hoping to use him to steady herself. Everything around her felt like it was rocking back and forth. Shaking. Maybe they were having an earthquake right now.

Or maybe all that trembling and breaking and splitting was just happening inside Alice.

“Say something,” she said to Hunter, who just stood there, his weight on his cane and his dark eyes storming in a way she’d never seen before. Hunter experienced emotions deeply, she knew that.

They’d fallen in love in a single summer, and the joy he could broadcast from his eyes was like beholding heaven.

Unfortunately, his anger and stubborn streak ran just as deeply, as she was being reminded now as she stood in front of him. The silent soldier she’d been thinking about for years. And years.

“Alice,” her mother said, finally drawing her attention. Alice didn’t want to deal with her mother’s wrath and disappointment right now either. Her lunch break was minutes from ending, and then she’d have to get back to work.

Her heart felt like someone had tethered it to a live wire, and electricity was zinging it every few seconds.

She looked into her mother’s brown eyes, so much like her own, and back to Hunter. “She needs to take Westin, Hunter.”

“Maybe he can take me,” Westin said, surprising Alice.

“What?” she asked at the same time her mom said, “No, Westin.”

“Why not?” Westin and Hunter asked at the same time, further baffling Alice.

“He’s clearly here for an appointment,” her mother said, looking at Hunter.

“I could go with him.” Westin turned and faced Alice. “Right, Mom?”

Alice looked into her son’s eyes, so much like his father’s. Her heart constricted, and she didn’t want to deny him anything.

“How old are you?” Hunter asked, and Westin spun back to him.

“Eight,” Westin said. “I’ll be nine in March.”

“A few months,” Alice said, watching Hunter as he did the math. Would he ask for a paternity test? Couldn’t he see himself in his son? Alice certainly could, and sometimes she wondered why she’d never said anything to Hunter about the baby. Then the toddler. The little boy. The child.

Deep down, she knew why. She wanted Hunter Magleby to return to Hawthorne Harbor of his own accord, not because she’d drawn him back against his will. A part of her wanted him to return to town for her, too, not because he had to.

But because he wanted to.

wantedHowever, it didn’t take her nursing degree to see that Hunter didn’t want to be here.

“I do have an appointment in a couple of minutes,” he said, his voice softer than it had been a moment ago. He bent down to look into Westin’s face. “And they’re long, so you can’t really come with me.”

“But—”

“But we’ll see each other again soon.”

“Promise?” Westin asked, and Alice’s heart folded itself into a tiny box. She knew what it was like to make a promise to her son and then have to break it. She didn’t want him to get hurt by Hunter, and immediate guilt flooded her. She was the one who hadn’t told him about his son. Hadn’t given him the opportunity to be a father for eight, long years.

She“Of course,” he said, straightening. Pain flashed across his face, and Alice’s keen nurse’s eyes saw it all. His gaze bored into hers, all that fury and frustration returning in a single heartbeat. “I’ll call you.” Without another word, he turned and limped down the hall toward the physical therapy unit, somehow an angry stomp in his steps even with his injury.

“Go on, Westin,” she said, her voice barely more than a whisper and her eyes refusing to let go of Hunter’s broad shoulders and long legs.

“Come on, baby,” her mom said, gathering Westin into her body. She also met Alice’s eyes, and Alice sure hoped someone would look at her with less than contempt that day. “I can’t believe you.” She shook her head, curled one arm around her grandson, and guided him to the elevator.

Alice felt like someone had filled her veins with ice water, and she rubbed her hands up and down her arms as if cold. Realizing she was late, she hurried back to her station and signed in.

“Who was the handsome man you were talking to out there?” Sadie Benjamin picked up her soda and took a long drink.

“Do you have one of those for me?” Alice sighed and rubbed her forehead though she still had six hours left in her shift.

Sadie nodded toward a Styrofoam cup with a bright red straw. Relief spread through Alice, and she reached for the drink.

“Oh, he must be someone special,” Sadie said.

Alice almost choked on the cold diet cola, the carbonation burning her throat in all the best ways. She sighed again and looked back the way she’d come, though the atrium was down two hallways and couldn’t be seen.

“That was Hunter Magleby.”

Sadie wasn’t from Hawthorne Harbor, but she’d heard enough stories about Westin’s father to know to gasp, eyes wide, and cover her mouth with her hand. “You’re kidding? He’s back in town? Did you know he was back in town?”

“I did not,” Alice said, picking up a chart she needed to read. The letters blurred, and she couldn’t focus at all.

“And you told him about Westin?”

“I had to. My mother showed up and started throwing around words like family reunion.” She took another drink of her soda, hoping the caffeine would jumpstart her brain into thinking properly. She started to move out from behind the desk when Sadie stepped in front of her.

family reunion“But you would’ve told him anyway, right?” Sadie looked down at her, and Alice wished she wasn’t always looking up into people’s faces. “Right, Alice? I mean, Westin is his son.”

his son“I know who Westin is,” she said, so exhausted she could drop onto a cot in the dark room and sleep for hours. Well, probably not. Her mind would probably circle and obsess and never let her drift off.

No one understood why she hadn’t told Hunter about Westin. Alice wasn’t sure she understood it either. But no one understood Hunter the way she did. No one knew him the way she did.

Which is all the more reason why you should’ve told him, she lectured herself. Because she did know he’d be furious. And he wouldn’t call. He’d find out where she lived, and he’d stop by her house. Heck, he’d probably be waiting on her front porch when she got home.

Which is all the more reason why you should’ve told him“So now what?” Sadie asked, running her fingers through her wavy, blonde hair.

“He’s going to call me,” she said. “But I’m going to try to catch him after his physical therapy appointment.”

“Physical therapy?”

“He was walking with a cane.” Concern ran through her, making her heart skip one beat, then two. He’d been injured in his service overseas—exactly as she’d feared he would. Alice didn’t want to get into all of her weaknesses today, so she pushed against the emotions rising through her and squinted at the chart.

“Okay, I’m off to little Teddy’s room.”

“I was just in there,” Angela Harding, another nurse, said as she approached the nurse’s station. “I gave him the meds. I’ll note it.” She plucked the chart from Alice’s hands with a smile. She scratched a note onto the chart and handed it back to Alice. “Okay, what did I interrupt?”

“Nothing,” Alice said, shooting a glance at Sadie.

“Her ex is back in town. Westin’s dad. Has a cane and is going to physical therapy.”

Ang blinked a few times as she took in all that information. Alice wanted the floor to open up and swallow her whole. Ang’s green eyes seemed to draw secrets right out of Alice.

“So we’re going for hot chocolate after work,” she said.

“I can’t,” Alice said immediately, thinking of Hunter out in the cold Washington January, waiting for her and Westin to come home.

“Oh, yes, you can.” Ang reached over the counter and picked up her phone. “I’ll text your mom right now.”

“Ang,” Alice warned.

“Come on,” Sadie said, looping her arm through Alice’s. “Come check on the baby twins with me.”

“Oh, that’s not fair,” Alice said, walking away with Sadie but watching Ang over her shoulder. She loved the twin boys who’d been born premature and had spent the first seven weeks of their life in her wing. She loved holding one or both of them during her graveyard shift as they ate. Loved the baby soft feel of their skin. The baby powder scent of their hair and clothes.

But today, even the twin babies couldn’t distract her from the thought of coming face-to-face with Hunter again.

* * *

After an hour at the hot chocolate bar, and after she’d asked her mom to keep Westin for a little longer, Alice drove slowly down the dirt road that led to one of the Magleby houses. Specifically, the one Hunter had moved into a couple of days ago.

Her headlights cut through the darkness, and she flexed her fingers on the steering wheel. A pit in her stomach told her this was a very bad idea. Hunter had never liked surprises—at least when he was on the receiving end. He loved giving surprises, and the biggest one of all had come when he’d announced he’d joined the Marines after they’d been dating for a couple of months.

The engine idled while she peered at the house on Forgotten Road. It looked more like a log cabin than a house, but it fit in perfectly with all the trees, bushes, and undeveloped land surrounding it. The Magleby Mansion sat on the bluff above the house, and the family owned all the land surrounding it, including the hills, and several houses on this lane and across the highway.

Alice didn’t care about any of those houses. She just cared about this one. And not even the house, but the man inside it.

“Go on,” she whispered to herself. She’d made the arrangements with Westin so she could talk to Hunter alone. She’d been right; he hadn’t called. Maybe he wasn’t as resourceful as he’d once been. He’d matured since they’d met at the Lavender Festival in high school. His shoulders had filled out, and his hair had carried a hint of gray when she’d seen him in the hospital.

His thirty-first birthday had come and gone last fall, so he wasn’t that old, but he’d definitely had silver hair. He could hide it if he wanted to—the Hunter she’d known and loved could do anything he wanted. He’d asked around until he’d found someone who would give him her phone number, and he’d kept it in his pocket for weeks before calling her.

So why hadn’t he called today?

Horrible, traitorous thoughts about how he didn’t want to see Westin paraded through her mind.

Please don’t let that be it, she prayed as she got out of the car. Her feet ached after her long shift in the children’s ward, but she’d endured worse pain. She climbed the steps and employed every ounce of bravery she possessed to knock on the door.

Please don’t let that be itShe leaned close to the wood, trying to hear anything behind it.

“Answer it, Clara,” she heard, and her pulse bounced like a basketball. Hunter was home, but she had no idea who Clara was. Alice almost bolted. It was dark. He didn’t know her car. She didn’t know any Clara’s, and she was a Hawthorne Harbor native.

Maybe he’d gotten married while he served in the Marines. Maybe that was why he hadn’t called. Why he didn’t want Westin in his life.

Scratching sounded against the door, and in the next moment, it opened. It slowly drifted inward, and she saw a beautiful golden retriever sitting there.

“Come, Clara,” Hunter said, and the dog immediately trotted over to where he sat in an armchair next to the fireplace. A beat passed, and then he added, “You might as well come in too. It’s cold out there.”

Alice felt the sting of his words all the way down in her toes. The only reason he wanted her to come in was to keep out the cold. Doesn’t matter, she told herself as she entered and closed the door.

Doesn’t matter“Hello, Hunter. Your dog can open the door?”

He simply looked at her, his fingers stroking his retriever slowly. Alice rubbed her hands together and looked around the house. Definitely more of a cabin, with red and blue checkered curtains above the windows and black bear figurines on the mantel.

“Do you even want to see Westin?” she asked, deciding to get right to the point.

“Of course I do,” Hunter said, his voice soft but not concealing the undercurrent of anger there. He rose slowly, balancing himself with the armrests of the chair. He stood at his full height, his gaze filled with lasers. “I can’t believe we have a child, and you didn’t tell me.”

Everything inside Alice quivered. Tears sprang to her eyes. She couldn’t speak past the huge lump in her throat.

“I’m so angry with you,” he said, his quiet fury worse than if he’d yelled. Hunter said so few things, that what he did vocalize actually meant something.

“I know,” she said, the tears in her voice as they splashed her face. “I’m sorry, Hunter. I’m so sorry.”

He pressed his right hand against his thigh and stepped first with that leg. In stuttering and yet graceful movement, he limped over to the door, giving her a wide berth. “I’d like to take him to breakfast in the morning.”

“That’s fine,” she said. “I usually work graveyards, and he stays with my parents. I was just on the day shift for today, because I have the weekend off.”

Hunter opened the door and held onto it tightly. “Is nine o’clock too early?”

“No,” she said, wondering if she’d ever feel normal again now that Hunter was back. If she was being completely honest with herself, she hadn’t felt normal since he’d left. Her pregnancy hadn’t been particularly easy, and she’d lived with the constant fear that Hunter would never return to Hawthorne Harbor. She wasn’t sure if she’d worried more about that or if the fact that he could come back had eaten at her more.

No matter what, the last nine years of Alice’s life had been a constant roller coaster for her emotions.

“I’ll pick him up then. At your mother’s?”

“I have my own place.”

He reached into his pocket and withdrew a slip of paper. “Text me the address.” He extended the paper to her, and she took it, this conversation clearly over.

She moved to go outside, pausing close to him. Too close. Close enough to smell his cologne and see the flecks of blue in those stormy gray eyes. “I’m really am sorry.”

He nodded once, his jaw hard and square. He looked somewhere past her, and Alice didn’t know what else to do. She’d imagined the moment she’d tell Hunter about Westin, and it had never happened in the hospital atrium.

He had been angry with her, but he’d forgiven her so quickly. She had whole speeches prepared, but all of those words had fled as soon as she’d seen his face. She certainly couldn’t spill all her irrational reasons for why she’d never said anything about Westin.

She stretched up on her toes and swept her lips across his cheek. Horrified at what she’d done—eight years ago and now—she scampered out the door and down the steps, leaving Hunter inside his cabin and wishing her heart didn’t still beat with excitement at the mere thought of him. And being in the same space? An exquisite kind of t*****e she wanted to repeat as soon as possible.