Page 138 of Stay for Me

His voice was firm suddenly. “We do, and once it’s done, we bury it, yeah?”

“Okay, babe. Whatever you want,” I whispered.

“Never want to talk about it again,” he pressed.

“Never, Mags.”

A sigh left him then. “Told you when I met you that Mags is the only name I got and what I’m about to give you, Diana, I haven’t given anyone else aside from Grayson. Not even Denver knows.”

I stopped breathing.

“My birth name is something you’ll never know, baby. The boy who had that name died when he was eighteen,” he confessed.

My hand slapped over my mouth, my soul crying out now.

…died when he was eighteen.

…died when he was eighteen.

…died when he was eighteen.

“Mags,” I croaked.

“That’s my name. That’s myonlyname. Understand?”

I nodded even though he couldn’t see. “I understand.”

“Now that’s cleared up, my father stepped out on my mom—often. He had multiple women on the side, and when I was sixteen, I found a letter from a woman named Camille in one of the kitchen drawers.” He paused for a second. “My father had gotten this woman pregnant, and when she refused to get an abortion, he threatened to kill her, so she fled. By the time she’d written that letter, my half-brother was seven and she was demanding child support.”

“But he threatened her life,” I noted.

“She was desperate for money, baby,” he said. “I didn’t do anything with the letter. I didn’t ask my parents about it. I kept my head down, and when I was eighteen, I enlisted in the Marines with my birth name and left everything behind me. One night, Grayson and I were shooting the shit while waiting at an extraction point, and I told him about my half-brother. After I saved Gray’s life a few months later, he vowed he would find my brother for me.”

My mind wouldn’t let me move on from Mags’ birth name. “I-I have a confession,” I winced.

“Chase looked into me, I know.”

I blinked. “H-how did you—”

“Firefly, you and Chase are close. I knew he looked into me years ago and when I came to your house that night, I knew it would get brought up again.”

“He didn’t find anything.”

“Know that too. Grayson has powerful friends, and because of that, I was able to get my military record sealed,” he explained. “No one in my current life will know my old name, Diana. That isn’t who I am anymore. I’m just Mags.”

“And if you want to get married?” I prompted.

A soft chuckle filled my ear then, sending shivers down my back. “When I marryyou, I have no issues taking your last name, Firefly. I don’t have one to give you.”

When I marry you.

I closed my eyes, tipped my head back, and silently thanked God for this cowboy.

“Settin’ a boundary, gorgeous. I need you to understand that,” Mags murmured.

“I won’t cross it,” I vowed immediately.

“Good.”

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