A Love Surrendered (44 page)

“Yeah, I have, Joe, and I love her like my own.”

Sandy brows pinched hard in confusion. “But when? How?”

He squeezed Joe’s shoulder once more before letting go, then inhaled for strength. “It’s Annie’s little sister, Glory.”

Joe stared for several seconds, all air suspended, and then, body crumpling, he buried his face in his hands, elbows quivering as he wept.

Steven felt every single heave as if it were his own, and rising to his feet, he distanced himself to give Joe space, hip cocked against the railing and arms folded as he stared into the shadowed street. Moments passed before silence fell, and with the faint squeak of the swing, he turned to face his best friend. “Are you okay?” he asked quietly.

“Yeah,” Joe said with a hoarse chuckle, resting his head on the back of the swing. “Although a blow to the gut would have been kinder.”

Steven strolled over to sit, lips quirked. “Don’t think I didn’t consider it.” He huffed out a sigh. “So, what happens from here?”

A grunt tripped from Joe’s lips. “I’m going to meet my daughter, that’s what.”

“She doesn’t know, Joe. Maggie and I planned to tell her after we married.”

Joe nodded. “I know, it’s a delicate situation to say the least.” He glanced up, a steel glint in his eyes. “But she’s my daughter, Steven, my blood, and by God, I will be a part of her life.”

A smile flickered at the edge of Steven’s mouth. “Never doubted it for a minute.”

Drawing in a deep breath, Joe released it again with a shake of his head. “I’m sorry for putting you through this, for betraying you . . .” His chest rose and fell as the barest trace of a smile appeared. “But I gotta tell you, Steven, this might just border on being one of the best things that’s ever happened to me.” Tears glistened in his eyes and he leaned forward, elbows on his knees and body taut with excitement as he rested his chin on folded hands. “Kids are the greatest things God ever put on this planet, and to think he took the biggest mistake of my life and turned it into this . . .” He shook his head, throat convulsing with a hard swallow. He shot Steven a sideways glance. “I’ll tell you what, you have my word—I’m going to do right by Glory.”

“I know that, Walsh,” Steven said. His gaze met Joe’s. “But what about Maggie?”

A harsh chuckle erupted from his throat. “Yeah, like Maggie would ever consider me when she’s in love with you.”

“I think you’re wrong.”

Joe flashed him a sharp look. “Why?” His tone was terse . . . and yet held a thread of hope.

“Because Maggie’s in love with her little girl and wants to be a mom more than anything in this world. Which is why she was willing to go so far as to trick me and close her eyes to the hurt she might cause her sister. She was in denial, Joe, a woman so desperate to become a mom to her daughter, she was willing to do almost anything.”

The edge of Joe’s mouth tipped up. “Including marrying me, I suppose?” A grin hovered. “You saying a gal would have to be desperate to marry me, O’Connor?”

Steven grinned. “Pretty much.”

Joe’s laughter rang out into the frigid night, clouds of warm air swirling into the heavens above. Steven smiled.
Like my prayers . . .

“Well, heaven knows I won’t find the woman I love in a more vulnerable position.” He chuckled again, eyes in a squint. “You really think she’d consider marrying a clown like me?”

Steven slid him a sideways glance. “She’d be crazy not to, Joe. You already have a foundation of friendship and you like each other.”

A grin split Joe’s face. “Well, I do anyway . . .”

“She will too, Joe, in time. But you’re gonna have to woo her, lure her into falling in love with you.”

Joe cocked his head. “Yeah? And how do I do that, O’Connor, since you’re the all-fire expert when it comes to Maggie Kennedy?”

Sinking back in the swing, Steven folded his arms, studying Joe with a pensive smile. “A proper courtship, dates alone, dates with her and Glory, and all aboveboard, with you in control.”

“In control?” His grunt echoed in the stillness of morning. “It’s one thing to be friends with Maggie, but for me to date her? Not sure it’s possible to be in control in that scenario.”

“You have no choice,” Steven said with a weary sigh. “Your future, Glory’s, and Maggie’s depend on it.” He scratched the edge of his brow. “Maggie’s as tempting as that apple in the Garden of Eden, Joe. You want to taste it, you want to bite it, you want to swallow it whole, but if you do, I’m telling you right now, it will be the fall of man.”

“What do you mean?” Ridges popped in Joe’s face.

“I mean if you start dating Maggie, she’s going to do her best to tempt you in every way possible, because underneath that beautiful body is a very insecure woman who needs to know the man in her life finds her attractive. The more you turn her away, the harder she’ll try, which is why we had so many problems staying out of trouble.” He sighed, his smile going flat. “Trust me, I was raised in a devout family, so in the beginning I actually did have the morals to say no, but all it did was make her desperate to get me under her spell, which, regrettably, she did.”

“Ha! Maggie—desperate for me? Now that’s something I’d like to see.” He shook his head. “I don’t know, Steven, I don’t think I’m strong enough. I’ve always been over the edge
about Maggie anyway. God knows I won’t be able to say no to the woman if she starts kissing on me.”

“Yeah, you’re right, he does.”

“Huh?”

Steven angled to face him, arm draped over the swing. “God
does
know exactly how weak we are, Joe, but it doesn’t matter ’cause he’s strong enough for the both of us.”

Joe blinked, eyes in a squint. “Come again?”

“I mean that in order to win Maggie’s heart, you’re going to need God’s help—his strength, his guidance,
and
his confidence.” He fixed Joe with a firm gaze. “Ever since I’ve known you, Joe, you’ve always acted like second fiddle to me, like you’re not as smart as me or as attractive to the girls as you think I am.”

“Not think, Steven,
know
.”

Steven shook his head. “See? That’s what I’m talking about. You have this crazy idea you don’t measure up as a man, and the reason I know is because I had it too. When I was a kid, I killed myself trying to please my father, because I never thought I was good enough next to Sean, never felt like I earned Pop’s trust like Sean did. And then when I hit college, I flat-out didn’t care anymore, and any trust Pop may have had died on the vine.” He scrubbed his face with his hand, heaving a weary sigh. “So when I met Annie, I was scared to death I couldn’t trust myself to be the kind of man I needed to be—for her. Ironically, it was Annie herself who held the key—living for God instead of yourself.”

His hand dropped to the back of the swing once again as he stared at Joe through solemn eyes. “You need to turn to him, Joe, pray for him to change your heart and run the show, then pray for him to help you be the man he wants you to be. The man Maggie needs you to be. And the man Glory needs as a father. Because they’re too precious to risk doing it our way, a way that left both of us hollow and unhappy. Once you do, I swear to you on my life, you’ll never be the same.” A slow grin eased across his lips, bordering on cocky. “And
when your confidence is in him, he puts his confidence in you, and you mark my words, Walsh—that kind of confidence will draw sweet Maggie Kennedy like flies to honey.”

Averting his gaze, Joe stared out into the dark night, Steven’s words obviously rolling around in his brain. He finally glanced over. “His confidence, huh?” He huffed out a sigh. “I’ve never had all that much myself, Steven, so I’m not sure I’d even know what it feels like. I was just content hiding in your shadow, you know? A second fiddle who was never first with anybody except you, the best friend a man ever had.”

Steven gripped Joe’s shoulder. “That’s where you’re wrong, my friend. You’ve always been ‘first’ with God, you just didn’t know it. So give it a shot, Joe, put God first, talk to Maggie, and then go from there. Because whether your future is with her or not, God has a plan that’ll make your head spin. And then look out, Walsh, ’cause you’re in for the ride of your life.”

A sheepish smile crept across Joe’s face. “Not on a carousel, I hope. You know how I can’t stand those things.”

Rising to his feet, Steven rolled a kink from his neck. “Nope, on this ride you won’t be going in circles, buddy boy. But the speed at which your life changes for the better?” He grinned, groaning with a stretch of arms high overhead. “Trust me—you’re gonna be
real
dizzy.”

Annie stirred, awakened by a soft giggle floating from Glory’s lips as she slept, spooning in her sister’s arms.

Correction: her aunt’s arms. Annie wondered if she’d ever get used to the shock that Glory was Maggie’s daughter instead of her sister. Since Maggie had come home for good three weeks ago, she’d primped and pampered and played with Glory as if she were an oversize doll, taking her everywhere during the day and cuddling all night . . . except for the nights she was out late with Steven, of course. Like tonight.

Pure torture.

Annie sighed and shimmied close to Glory, eyes weighting shut with a heavy malaise that ushered in another lonely night despite the bundle of innocence snoring in her arms. She’d heard Maggie come in after midnight, and the faint click of the front door in the foyer reverberated through her as if it were the slam of her bedroom door, jolting her body despite the cocoon of Glory’s warmth. And all because she knew that on the other side, Steven O’Connor was walking away, out of her life, again and again, a serial nightmare that never seemed to end . . .

No!
Annie squeezed her eyelids tight, desperate to stem the flow of tears that inevitably swelled, whispering the Scripture from Jeremiah 29:11 that Faith had given her to memorize.

“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the L
ORD
, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.”

An expected end.

Tears seeped onto her pillow. Up till three weeks ago, she’d “expected” to fall further in love with Steven O’Connor and marry him, having his children. But not anymore. Her expected end had taken an unexpected turn, and now Steven would marry her sister to make a proper home for their child.

His child.

Glory. The little girl who slept in her arms, Steven’s blood and issue. With a quivering hand, Annie touched the wispy curls of Glory’s head, her heart breaking that this little girl and her mother would always belong to Steven while Annie never would. With a soft little snort, Glory turned over and scooted away, depriving Annie of the closeness they’d shared.

Just like her daddy.

Stop!
She shot up in the bed, hugging her legs to her chest and forehead to her knees, clinging to Faith’s words of wisdom to ward off the pain. “I will not feel sorry for myself,” she whispered through gritted teeth, “I will praise you in the face of this, God, and I
will
move on with my life. Thank you that you have blessed Glory with parents, Maggie with
a husband, and Steven with a wife.” The words spilled from her lips in a rush, her mind anxious to say them, confirm them,
feel
them. “Your Word says all things work together for good for those who love you, and I believe that, Lord. Not only for Maggie, Glory, and Steven . . . but for me.”

Stillness settled on the room as well as her spirit, and she marveled at the holy silence that prevailed, chasing away the shadows. A tranquility like none she’d ever known, unmarred by the soft breathing of her niece or the distant chime of Aunt Eleanor’s grandfather clock, heralding the hour of three. Silver moonbeams spilled across the floor in hazy ribbons of light like the grace of God pouring into her soul, flooding her heart with peace and promise. All at once, tears stung and gratitude swelled in her throat when joy surged like adrenaline, connecting her soul with his. “Oh, Lord, I would be lost without you . . .”

Weeping may endure for a night, Beloved, but joy cometh in the morning.

“Oh yes, Lord,” she breathed, that very joy trickling down her cheeks. “Your peace and your will forever . . .” Easing back on the bed, Annie lay there in a wonder, a faint smile on her lips while the steady beat of her heart stole her away to much-needed slumber.

Clink.

Her eyes popped open, and all breath stilled in her chest.

Clink.

She sat up, body trembling and pulse racing.

Ping.
Louder this time, thinning her air.

Lengthy pause.
Ping . . . thud.

Annie vaulted from the bed with a gasp, blood pounding in her ears as she flew to the window. Peering into the shadowed backyard, she saw the silhouette of a man bending to pick up a stone, and she stifled a scream. He rose to his full height while his gaze lifted to her window, and when moonlight revealed his handsome features, her legs nearly buckled beneath her gown.

Steven!

Her fingers shook as she heaved up the sash, the rush of cold air unable to thwart the warmth in her cheeks. “What are you doing here?” she whispered, her tone strained.