“You’ll be mad at me.”
“Darling, we’re not going to be mad,” Tara insisted. “Please, we need to know.”
Marley patted Daisy’s head and hesitated. Sam wasn’t sure she was going to answer until she finally muttered, “I remembered everything the night we were playing games at the beach.”
So she’d known for several days. That would explain why she’d been trying to get them talking and alone. She wanted her parents together. If he hadn’t been so concerned about her health, he’d have been impressed by her tactics. She was one smart five-year-old.
“I need to call the doctor.” Tara stood and raked her hands through her hair. “This is wonderful news, Marley. I just wish you would’ve told us sooner.”
Tears spilled down Marley’s cheeks. “Please don’t break up again.”
Sam dropped to his knees and hugged his daughter. He pulled up every bit of self-control not to burst into tears himself. Just this morning he’d been so optimistic about their future, but now none of that mattered. He’d once again destroyed his family and having his daughter fall apart in his arms was all the proof he needed that he was toxic to her.
Tara immediately had jumped to the conclusion that he was lying, but that pain was nothing in comparison to seeing Marley’s tears. The second-chance fairy tale might be over, but he was going to do everything in his power to slay his daughter’s dragons.
* * *
The doctor assessed Marley and gave her the all clear. Tara had never been so relieved.
Unfortunately, she was reeling from all of the mayhem with Sam. He’d been there for the doctor’s appointment, but there had been such a thick wall of separation between them since he came home earlier that she didn’t even try to penetrate it.
She still had no clue where he’d been. All she knew was that he’d left telling her he was going to work, and when she and Marley had shown up, Tara had been shoved right back into the past. What had happened to all of his promises and the guy who swore he’d never hurt her again?
Lies and betrayal hurt.
Tara closed the door on Marley’s room after tucking her daughter in for the night. The poor girl was terrified her father was going to leave and she’d wake up without him. Sam had promised her he wasn’t leaving, but the “yet” had hovered in the air regardless.
As she crossed the hall to her bedroom, she rubbed her eyes and prepared herself for a confrontation. There was no way around it.
But when she stepped into the room, Sam was changing his clothes and the sight of his bare chest had her stilling in the doorway. Once again, her eyes were drawn to the mysterious dark ink.
“Why do you have a tattoo of a door on your chest?” she asked before she could think better of it.
Sam’s mouth thinned, his nostrils flared. “I’d think you of all people would understand that.”
Tara stepped closer, her eyes on the image of an open door leading to a hallway that appeared to be filled with...stars?
“I broke the door that last night I left,” he stated, as if she could ever forget.
“You broke lots of things that night,” she replied. “Why the door for a tattoo?”
“Look closer.”
She took a step, then another, until she came within inches of him. Staring at the artwork, she finally saw it...and her throat filled with a whole new host of emotions. Those weren’t stars at all, but initials. Her initials and Marley’s.
“Sam,” she whispered, her eyes darting up to his.
“That door means more than the broken one.” His eyes filled and she knew he wasn’t far from breaking, either. “I needed a symbol to remind me what I could still have, what I could fight for. I needed something...damn it, I had to believe there was a future for us. That’s all that got me through those rough days. I lied to myself and said I could have it all again.”
She couldn’t help herself. Tara reached up and traced her fingertip over the details. His taut skin stiffened beneath her touch. When he stepped away from her, Tara dropped her hand to her side.
“Where were you today?” she asked, shifting to keep her eyes on him.