Chapter Twelve

God, that voice, Mason thought with a barely contained groan. That whiskey-rough, bedroom voice…

Hold it together, man.

He moved quickly to rig up the holder, then took the pole from her and fashioned it into place.

“There,” he announced. “Now, we wait.”

An expanding silence threatened to take hold, and Maddie shifted her weight nervously.

“So, Mason. How have you been?” she began. “We haven’t seen each other since…”

“Graduation night,” he finished. “Been a long, long time.”

“I have to ask – when did you get taller?” she blurted out, then said, “sorry. I just… I remember you and I were about the same height.”

***

Mason laughed, and the sound turned her to warm jelly.

“Yeah,” he replied, running a hand self-consciously through his hair. “I had one last growth spurt while I was going through basic training.”

Well, it looks good on you, she caught herself thinking.

Behave, Madeleine.

“Army, right?”

“Yep,” he confirmed as he sat down cross-legged on the dock. “What about you? Last I knew, you were headed off to college.”

“I did,” Maddie answered as she sat down beside him. “Wound up getting my MBA.”

“Nice! What do you do?”

She ducked her head and stared out into the night.

“Nothing. At least, not yet. But I have a plan.”

“What’s wrong?” he asked before he could stop himself.

Maddie sighed heavily.

“Everything.”

“Was it the news broadcast?”

She blanched.

“Saw that, huh.”

“Talk to me, Maddie,” he said gently. “I want to help.”

And his tenderness undid her.

Before Maddie even realized what she was doing, she’d scooted over so close that their thighs were touching, leaned her head on his shoulder, and began to cry.

Mason responded by pivoting his torso and picking her up with no effort at all, swinging her over into his lap then folding his arms around her and holding her as she wept.

“Hey,” he whispered against her hair. “Whatever it is, it’ll be okay, Maddie.”

She clung to him, face pressed against his chest, and cried even harder as he stroked her hair. He fell silent, letting his actions soothe and comfort her in a way that words could not.

After a while, she lifted her head and whispered, “Sorry.”

“Don’t be, Maddie. Don’t you ever say sorry, honey. Not to me.”

“You probably don’t want to hear about my troubles,” she sniffled.

“I absolutely do,” he responded. “Whatever you feel comfortable sharing. Might help to talk it out.”

“Okay,” she said shakily after a long silence. “But not out here. It’s getting cold.”

He nodded, and gently set her off to the side again, then stood and helped her up.

“The pole’s not going anywhere,” he pointed out. “No need to stay out here with it.”

She nodded.

“Let’s go.”

They trudged up the dock toward her cabin.

“Want something to drink?” Maddie said. “I’ve got wine.”

“I’ve got whiskey at my place,” Mason offered. “And a fireplace. We could dry your wet clothes.”

“You know what? Yes,” Maddie decided. “My cabin doesn’t have one, and I think this is gonna call for something stronger than wine.”

She paused at her cabin long enough to scoop her wet clothes up into a plastic bag, and said, “Lead the way.”

***

Within ten minutes, Mason was building a nice fire in the grate and arranging the screen so that she could drape her wet garments across it.

He moved to the small kitchen, then joined her on the couch, handing her one of the tumblers containing four fingers of amber-colored liquid over ice.

“Share whatever you’d like,” he prodded gently.

Maddie took a small sip, and then a deep breath.

“I met Eric in college when I was going through grad school,” she said. “Saw him walking across the quad, and he took my breath away. And I was completely shocked when he asked me out. At first, I thought he’d lost a bet. Eventually I realized he was serious, and I said yes.”

“Why would you think he’d lost a bet?” Mason asked, genuine confusion on his face. “I mean, look at you. You’re gorgeous.”

A slow blush of pleasure worked its way across her features and made her green eyes sparkle.

“Anyway,” she continued, once she was sure her voice wouldn’t convey the deep want for him that she was suddenly overwhelmed with, “we dated for six months, then got married. And for a while, it was nice.”

“I hear a ‘but’ coming up,” Mason commented.

“And how,” Maddie agreed. “It started with little things, and it was so gradual that at the time, I didn’t notice. I see it all so clearly now, of course, but back then…” her voice trailed off, and she shrugged.

“Nothing I did was good enough. Nothing. Not the way I talked, not the way I dressed, my goals, my ambitions. None of it. And he… wore me down, after a while. I did what he wanted when and how he wanted, so I wouldn’t ‘embarrass him’,” she snarled as she set down her drink long enough to make air quotes with her fingers.

“I gave up on children, because Eric didn’t want them. I gave up on owning my own business – an animal shelter – because Eric had a problem with it.”

She scooped up the tumbler and took a healthy drink this time.

“May I have another?”

“Sure,” he said, and refilled her glass.

“Thank you. And that’s the way it was, for years,” she continued. “Finally, I decided I’d had enough, so, I went and retained a lawyer. I was planning on leaving. But the cops showed up at the house the next morning to tell me he’d been killed.”

Maddie rose to her feet and began to pace.

“But wait, it gets better. Two days before his funeral I got a packet in the mail, Mason.”

“What kind of packet?”

“It had all sorts of stuff in it. Page after page after page of irrefutable proof.”

“Of what?”

“Proof he had not only been unfaithful during our entire marriage, but that he definitely preferred men – which explains why we only had sex maybe six or eight times in fifteen years.”

“Eight times… in how many years now? Fifteen? Did I hear you right?”

“You heard me correctly.”

“Wow. Just… wow,” he managed. “Sorry I interrupted. Continue.”

“There were also documents proving he’d been embezzling from Dad’s company. Proof that he was an all-around shit of a human being, and that the last fifteen years of my existence was a complete and total lie. Looking back, I think the only reason he ever looked twice at me was to worm his way into my father’s company so he could steal from it,” she finished.

Mason’s jaw hung open.

“I…I don’t know what to say, except you didn’t deserve that, Maddie. Any of it.”

“You’re right, I didn’t,” she nodded in agreement then took another drink that emptied her glass again.

“And to top it all off, evidently whoever killed him sent copies of what I got to at least one news station, and it’s blown completely up. Everybody in the freaking world now knows all about his activities, and I’ve had reporters literally camped out at my doorstep ever since.”

Mason winced.

“Ouch. That must be awful.”

“Yeah,” she chuckled mirthlessly. “I had to pretend to catch a plane to throw them off long enough to be able to come here without any of them following me.”

“So not only are you having to deal with being widowed,” he said gently, “but processing the fact that he was a fraud, as well.”

“Exactly!” she slurred slightly. “You know how hard that is?”

“About being widowed, yes, I know all too well.”