Page 101 of Love, Lies, and Celtic Knots

He takes a step closer, his hand gesturing toward the couch. In a softer tone, ignoring my snark, he says, “I want to hear it. I want to know why you didn’t tell me.”

I cross my arms over my chest, glaring at him. “Would it have mattered? You made your decision. You left.”

“That’s not an answer,” he says, his voice tightening with frustration. “It was my baby, too.”

“It’s the only answer you’re going to get,” I snap, the heat in my chest building.

He runs a hand through his hair, pacing the small space between the couch and the door. “You think it wouldn’t have mattered? You think I wouldn’t have dropped everything to come back if I’d known?”

I laugh bitterly, shaking my head. “Come back for what, Ryan? To play the hero? To fix everything with a grand gesture? That’s not how life works. You left, and I wasn’t going to chase after you like some lovesick girl.”

His jaw tightens, and he stops pacing, turning to face me fully. “I didn’t leave because I didn’t care,” he says, his voice low but filled with a quiet intensity. “I left because I was barely holding myself together. I was trying to protect you…”

“Don’t,” I cut him off, the word sharp and final. “Don’t you dare try to spin this as some noble act. You didn’t protect me. You abandoned me. And you left me to deal with the fallout alone.”

His shoulders slump slightly, the fight momentarily draining out of him. “I know I screwed up, Candace. I know I wasn’t there when I should’ve been. But I’m here now. And I need to understand why—why you didn’t tell me. Why you’ve spent all these years hating me instead of letting me help.”

I clench my fists, the weight of his words more than I can bear. “Because it was too late,” I say, my voice breaking. “By the time I realized I was pregnant, you were gone. By the time I lost her… by the time I almost died… you weren’t reachable, and your father indicated you didn’t want to know and didn’t want me. I wasn’t going to beg you to come back. I wasn’t going to beg for anything.”

“I should have known my father was at the root of all this,” he mutters bitterly.

The room falls silent, the only sound the distant crash of waves against the shore. I can feel the tears threatening again, but I refuse to let them fall. Not now. Not in front of him.

He takes a step closer, his hand reaching out as if to touch me but stopping just short. “I didn’t know,” he says quietly, his voice filled with something that almost sounds like pleading. “If I’d known…”

“But you didn’t,” I say sharply, cutting him off again. “You didn’t know because you didn’t stay. Because you made your choice without telling anyone. In my case, your choice didn’t include me.”

His hand drops, his expression tightening as my words land. “You think it was that simple? That I didn’t care? God, Candace, I’ve spent every day since I left regretting it. You think it didn’t tear me apart to walk away from you? From us? I thought… I believed that after basic training, I could come back for you.”

His words hit me like a blow, the raw emotion in his voice breaking through my defenses. I turn away, my arms wrapping around myself as though I can shield against the storm raging between us.

“I don’t know what you want from me, Ryan,” I say quietly. “You can’t change what happened. You can’t fix this.”

He steps closer, his presence warm and overwhelming behind me. “Maybe not,” he says softly. “But that doesn’t mean I’m going to stop trying.”

I turn to face him, my chest tight with a mix of anger and something I don’t want to name. “Why?” I demand. “Why now? Why do you even care?”

“Because I never stopped caring,” he says simply.

The words hang between us, heavy and unspoken for years. And then, before I can respond, he closes the distance between us, his hands cupping my face as his lips crash into mine.

The kiss is hard, fierce, and filled with all the anger, frustration, and longing we’ve both been holding back. My hands shove at his chest, but he doesn’t let go, and slowly, the fight drains out of me.

I kiss him back, my fingers tangling in his hair as the years of hurt and anger melt away, replaced by a heat that consumes us both.

“Candace,” he murmurs against my lips, his voice rough and filled with need.

I don’t answer, my hands pulling him closer as the weight of the past fades into the background. Right now, in this moment, nothing else matters.

I shake my head. This can’t be happening. I can’t fail myself again. The storm outside mirrors the one within me.

I don’t need a man. Not now, not ever. I can handle life on my own terms, without leaning on anyone. Men? They’re distractions I’ve learned to avoid, complications in a life already complicated enough. But Ryan? He’s different. That infuriating grin of his, those eyes that seem to strip away every layer of my defenses and see straight into me. Even after all this time, even after everything we’ve been through, they’ve got me craving him in a way I can’t explain, can’t control. It’s maddening, wanting someone I’ve convinced myself that I hate and that I don’t need.

“Come on, Candace, what’s it going to be?” He murmurs against my lips.

My breath catches, and I realize the air in the room feels heavier now, charged with a tension I can’t quite name.

I force a smile, hoping it’s enough to mask the chaos inside me. “Dream on, Ryan,” I say, my voice laced with defiance. But the heat in my tone betrays me, exposing the lie in my words. Even I can hear it.

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