Page 150 of Somebody's Watching Me
Leaving Hillary to do what she did best, he took the waiting helicopter to the private airstrip. Worry wasn’t something he did when she wasinvolved, and hopefully, these dirty deeds of theirs would be wiped clean from their slates one day.
“Everything in me is rotten. Everything I touch suffers. I’m like a poison that’ll take you down if you get too close,” he tried to tell Laura Jean not long after she and the girls returned from their vacation after the hurricane. Guilt had nearly eaten him alive by then, and he’d convinced himself that no matter how much he wanted her, she could never be his. Not only because of Albie, but because he wasn’t worthy of her. “I love you more than I know how to put into words, but I’m not a good man.”
But Laura Jean believed in him like no one else. “You can be a good man for me.”
“And if I can’t?”
“Then I’ll gladly drink your poison any day, Fairweather.”
But he didn’t want her to drink his poison. The idea of that darkness coming anywhere near her was unacceptable. His only choice was to change. Fairweather Holdings would become an upstanding company without an ounce of dishonesty to it.
Mostly.
The plane landed twenty minutes later than expected, thanks to turbulence, and he’d driven like a maniac to get to Haven House. He refused to call the place home, only agreeing to live there because of how happy it made Laura Jean.
They would begin building their own place soon, and it would rival Haven but sit right on the beach Laura Jean loved. A castle on the sand just for her.
Parking out front, he exited the Rover and took a deep inhale of the cool evening air. Haven House stood straight ahead, its bright white facade in sharp contrast to the dusky sky. She glared at him in her cold judgment. It might not be a living thing, but he would swear the place understood he was a Fairweather and despised him because of it.
“Dad!”
Selah shot off the front porch and down the path. It was an amazing feeling to be able to come home to his oldest. A privilege he’d never had until now.
Ben grinned at the slices of paint across his son’s mouth and eyes. “What’s on your face?”
“We went to a festival in Port Michaelson and got our faces painted.”
Taking off his suit jacket, Ben nodded at Miranda’s van parked next to them. “Did Sammy go with you guys?”
“Yes,” a disgruntled voice came out of the shadows of the porch. Stepping forward, Samuel trudged down the stairs, hands in his pockets. “I look stupid.”
Ben pressed his lips together because the poor kid kind of did. “Selah is Spiderman, but what are you supposed to be?”
Josie and Miranda materialized from Haven’s front door. “He’s an adorable scarecrow,” Josie said. “And what’s more fun than being a scarecrow?”
“Not being a scarecrow,” Samuel replied as the three of them approached. “Can I stay the night?”
Ben grinned, excited by the idea. Samuel hadn’t stayed over since the summer.
“Of course.”
Shaking her head, Miranda turned on mother mode. “It’s a school night.”
“Mooooom.” Samuel stuck out his bottom lip to pout. “I can miss one day of school.”
“Come on, Miranda.” Ben stuck his bottom lip out to match his son’s. “Please.”
“You two even beg the same way.” Miranda nudged Selah’s shoulder. “Thank goodness you don’t sound like that.”
Resting his head on her shoulder, Selah batted his eyes. “Pretty please?”
“We’re surrounded.” Josie took Samuel’s hand. “If your mom says no, then it’s a no, but when we get home, I’ll let you chase me around Parkland looking like that.”
Pacified by the thought of terrorizing Josie, Samuel hopped into the van.
“I’m supposed to tell you that you’re next in line for a shower,” Miranda said to Selah. “Everyone else is done.”
“Ugh, okay.” Selah grabbed the van’s door handle. “Hey, Sammy! Guess what?”
