For Their Child's Sake

Was this how she’d be living her life so long as she had to fake this marriage? Each time she got a glimpse of Sam, would she continue to have that hitch of emotions?

He wasn’t even looking in her direction. In fact, his back was to her. But seeing him all muscular in those swim trunks was flat-out playing dirty. Damn that man, he probably didn’t even realize what he was doing. Oh, she fully believed he would use every weapon in his arsenal because he had conceded too easily on the balcony. But right at this moment she knew he was getting ready to take their daughter to the beach.

He shifted slightly and she caught another glimpse of the tattoo. Before she could fully process the image, he headed out of the room.

Tara grabbed her own suitcase and sat it on the trunk at the end of the bed. She unzipped the case and flipped the top up to find her one-piece suit. She hadn’t been brave enough to pack that blue bikini Sam had loved on her. She needed every ounce of material covering her during this vacation. Because there was no way around it. Someone was going to get hurt when Marley’s memory returned and this charade was up.

Chapter Eleven

“No, Daisy!”

Sam laughed as Daisy plowed through the sandcastle he and Marley had just finished. Sam didn’t know who was having more fun, the dog or his daughter. They had been out most of the evening and the sun was starting to set. If he could wrap this day in a box and keep it forever, he would.

Seeing his daughter play made him smile and lifted his heart in a way therapy never could. Spending time with his family again, with everything he had missed and everything he thought he had lost, was the blossom of hope he so desperately needed. Maybe he hadn’t screwed things up beyond repair. Maybe he could find a way to start over and create an even better life.

Because he had lost it all. He’d lost every ounce of this happiness, and maybe this was but a fleeting moment. That didn’t mean he couldn’t try, couldn’t fight for what he’d let slip from his grasp. He wasn’t even sure he deserved this moment, but he wasn’t going to turn it away or sulk over the past. All he could do was control the present and build for the future.

Sam vowed to enjoy these days with his family and he would let fate take care of itself later. Marley might be missing a year of her memories, but he was determined to give her new memories to override the bad.

“I’m going to head to the house to start dinner,” Tara stated as she pulled on her cover-up.

That flimsy, sheer white material did nothing to hide the curves of her body and her black one-piece swimsuit. She could try to shield herself all she wanted, but he knew every square inch of her body, and nothing could erase that image burned in his mind.

Sam slid his fingertips against his palms, recalling exactly how she’d felt in his arms the other night. He wanted to touch her again, to pleasure her, but he’d promised not to make things more difficult. He was a patient man. All he could do was show her how much he still loved her, how much he had changed.

“I’ll go start dinner,” Sam said as he came to his feet. “You guys stay here and play.”

“Are you sure?” Tara asked.

Sam picked up his towel and looped it around his neck. “Positive. I need to return a call for work and I have something special I wanted to make tonight.”

He turned on his heel and headed toward the house, leaving Tara staring at him with her mouth wide.

Good. He wanted to keep her on her toes, keep her wondering what he would do next. Because she was going to learn there wasn’t anything he wouldn’t do for them. He knew she had had a less than stellar upbringing and unstable parents, so his betrayal and abandonment had only added to that wariness. All he could do at this point was to make their lives better any way he knew how.

And if wearing a coconut bra made his girls laugh again, then bring on the ridiculous costume. He was comfortable enough in his masculinity to pull that outfit off...so long as he was in the privacy of his own home.

Once Sam got inside, he quickly showered and grabbed his cell phone, which he’d left charging on the nightstand in the bedroom.

With the phone in hand, he stared at the bed. Sam’s gut tightened at the thought of lying next to his wife once again. The other night when he’d reached for her hand, it had shifted something inside him, something he’d missed and wanted back with every bit of his soul.