Page 29 of Renewal After Dark

He’d tipped his head and given her the charming smile that had made her knees weak before she found out he was just another scumbag. “Why do we have to ruin a good thing?”

“The good thing was ruined the minute I found out you’ve lied to me about everything.”

“I didn’t lie. I never said I wasn’t married.”

“Please go and don’t come back.”

Stepping toward her, he’d put his hands on her hips and kissed her neck. “Come on, baby. You know I care about you.”

It’d taken every ounce of fortitude she could muster to push him away. “Get. Out.Now.”

“You need to grow up and get with how the real world works, little girl.” He’d put his coat on. “See ya around.”

McKenzie had stood perfectly still as the door slammed shut, as he went down the stairs and as the door to his truck had closed. When the engine had started, she’d dropped to her knees and sobbed.

Many difficult days followed that confrontation, leading up to their son’s birth seven months later. Heartbreak and fear had been her constant companions. Her mother had urged her to end the pregnancy or to give the baby up for adoption.

But a funny thing had happened on the way to the maternity ward… She’d fallen madly in love with the little being moving around inside her. From the first second she’d heard his strong heartbeat, she’d vowed to do whatever it took to make them a family. They didn’t need anyone else.

But then he’d arrived along with a healthy dose of reality. She couldn’t do it alone, after all. She couldn’t work and take care of a baby and pay for daycare and diapers and the endless supplies newborns needed. She couldn’t work if she didn’t sleep, and she’d hardly slept for the first two months.

Her life had quickly become unmanageable, especially after she’d been forced to move back in with her mother because she couldn’t swing rent on top of all the other new expenses.

Once again, her grandmother had thrown her a lifeline.

Two years after her passing, Rosemary’s estate had finally cleared escrow, along with the cabin she’d left to McKenzie, the only family member who’d loved the island and the cabin as much as Rosemary did. Her mother had come home one day with keys that she’d dropped into McKenzie’s lap while she breastfed the baby.

“Taxes and insurance are paid for three years,” her mother had said. “The rest is your problem.”

From that second on, McKenzie’s only goal had been getting the two of them to that cabin. She’d planned to figure out the details after she arrived.

The entire ride from Coventry to Point Judith, she’d listened to her mother tell her she was a fool to take a baby to a remote island with God-knows-what for medical care or jobs or basic supplies.

McKenzie had tuned her out. This was the right move for her and Jax. She’d known it in her heart, until Hurricane Ethel had hit, and she’d been convinced for hours that they were going to die.

After she’d fled the cabin, she’d tried going next door to the home she now knew belonged to Duke, but he hadn’t been home. Thank God Chief Taylor had found her hunkered down by the side of the road, because who knew what would’ve become of them if he hadn’t come along when he did?

So far, her independent adventure to Gansett had been anything but. Two men had come to her rescue, and without them, she would’ve been dead and/or homeless. They both seemed like nice guys, but who ever knew that for certain? They were all nice at first.

She couldn’t stop picturing Duke sitting by the firecross-stitchingfor relaxation like an old grandma. She laughed to herself every time she thought of him in all his long-haired, tatted glory pushing a needle through the sampler like it was the most normal thing he could be doing.

Despite his appearance, which gave off a tough, untouchable vibe, there was something so sweet and almost pure about him. It was an odd contrast, and she wasn’t sure which version was the real him. One thing she knew for certain, however, was that he hadn’t had to offer her a free place to live while she figured out her next move with the cabin. He hadn’t had to drive her around or offer to help her navigate insurance claims and reconstruction.

She refused to stick him with the sins other men had committed. So far, he’d been nothing but a good friend to her, and she looked forward to getting to know him better, comforted to know her grandmother had obviously adored him.

Duke tookhis morning coffee outside to call Mac McCarthy. “Hey, Mac, it’s Duke Sullivan.”

“Hi, Duke. How’s it going?”

“Hanging in there. Getting back to normal. How about you?”

“Same. Still on cleanup and eyeing some rebuilds.”

“That’s why I’m calling. Remember Rosemary Enders, my next-door neighbor who passed a few years back?”

“Of course. She was a good friend of my parents’.”

“Ah, that’s right. She thought the world of them.”

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