Healing the Single Dad's Heart

He lowered his voice almost to a whisper and looked up at her from under hooded lids. ‘Is that really the kind of guy you think I am?’ He looked wounded.

Her heart twisted inside her chest. She was confused. What he was saying to her confused her. As she stared into those green eyes she felt as if she could see right down into his soul. He’d told her the part of herself she’d thought she had to hide from so many people, and it didn’t matter to him. And for that part she believed him.

But her heart still ached. While he might say he loved her, he’d still been looking at Esther’s picture. She might know now that the house back in Scotland didn’t hold memories of another woman, but she still felt she was in her shadow. She still felt as if Joe weren’t truly hers. She might ache to have a life with him and Regan, but it still didn’t feel right. Not really. Not when her heart was still here.

She shook her head. ‘I love you, Joe, and I’ll miss you. But I can’t come with you to Scotland. There isn’t a place for me there.’ She put her hand to her chest. ‘Not in here. Not where it matters most.’

Tears slid down her cheeks. ‘Please don’t make this any harder than I’m already finding it. I’d like to see Regan. I’d like a chance to spend some time with him over the next few days.’ She gave a soft smile. ‘I want him to take happy memories of Vietnam home with him.’

She tried very hard not to let her voice shake. ‘And that’s what I want for you too, Joe. I want you to take away happy memories of your work here, your time here. Because we’ve loved having you. You’ve played a huge part in the hospital over the last six months and we’ll miss you when you’re gone.’

She wiped a tear from her cheek and straightened her shoulders. ‘Goodbye,’ she whispered, then she turned away and walked on shaking legs out of the room.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

HE UNDERSTOOD EVERYTHING that she’d just said to him.

Alongside Regan, she was the first person he thought about every day. Somehow, when he blinked he saw her perfect skin, straight, shiny hair and cheeky smile, as if they were ingrained somewhere deep in his soul.

He hadn’t come here looking for someone, but that was what he’d found. And he couldn’t pretend it hadn’t happened.

Home for him had always been Scotland. For the last four years he’d never looked any further. He’d never wanted to. But what if home could actually be somewhere else?

His life had turned upside down in so many ways. What if home wasn’t the country he’d always lived in but instead where his heart lay?

Vietnam, and the woman in it, had captured him in so many ways. She’d woken him up in ways he hadn’t expected.

When he’d got on the plane to come here, he’d fully expected to turn around in six months and head back to the home he owned, and the job he’d postponed back in Scotland. He hadn’t really considered anything else.

And the truth was part of him was scared.

Could he live his life in another country?

Could he change his future plans for himself and his son?

He hadn’t considered those things as part of his future. But now, discovering how much he loved one woman was making him reconsider his future in so many ways.

Part of the little seed of doubt inside him depended on a conversation he needed to have with his parents. He loved them both dearly. They expected Regan and him to fly back to Scotland and start anew.

Both of them were getting older. He wanted to be there for them, just like they had been there for him when he’d needed them most.

But his world had changed.

Places that had been smoky around the edges had sparked to life in a rainbow of colours he wanted to embrace.

And the person holding the key to those changes was Lien.

Of course she would have doubts. He hadn’t even asked her the real question yet. Did she have room in her future for a Scotsman and his son?

All he knew for sure was that he loved her. Any plan that formulated in his head from here on included her.

Vietnam was a land of discovery for him. He wanted to stay here. He wanted to spend the rest of his life here.

And that realisation was everything.

It was the one option he hadn’t given her. That they would stay here, with her. He smacked his hand to his head. Was he really that dumb?

He’d been asking her to upend her life for him when he hadn’t offered to do the same for her. He knew that in her heart she felt she had so much work to do here. If he loved her, why on earth would he ask her to leave?

Lien was scared to trust him with her heart. He couldn’t take back what he’d already lost to her.

He understood those fears. He understood that her whole future might look different from what she’d planned. Would she really be willing to share her future with him and Regan?

The fog that had enveloped him for so long had finally lifted. He wanted to reach out and grab the future, for himself, for Regan and for her. He just had to hope that her future looked a lot like his.

He pressed a button on the computer in front of him. He had to be honest and it started here.

* * *

Her legs were still shaking even though she’d lain down on her bed half an hour ago, curling up into a ball.

So much of her wanted to turn back and just say yes.

Joe and Regan made her happy. She was being selfish. One person couldn’t have everything their way. She’d found love and family, maybe it was reasonable to have to sacrifice some of her career ambitions. But even just the thought of that made her stomach churn.

The knock at the door was something she truly wanted to ignore. She was always ready to work at the drop of a hat, but why today couldn’t they find someone else?

The knocking continued, more insistently this time.

She rubbed her face, wondering if she should wash it before answering. But just as she swung her legs from the bed she heard the door open.

The footsteps were pensive.

‘Lien?’

Her heart jumped.

Joe stood in the middle of the room with his hands at his sides.

‘What are you doing?’ she asked, staying at the doorway of her bedroom. ‘I don’t think my heart can take much more of this.’

‘Neither can mine,’ he said softly.

This time when he moved towards her she didn’t object when he reached out to cradle her cheek in his hand.

‘I’m sorry,’ he whispered. ‘I’m sorry that it’s taken a broken heart for me to realise what was the first thing I should do.’

She frowned. ‘What do you mean?’

She could tell he was nervous. His thumb brushed underneath her eye. ‘I thought home was Scotland,’ he said. ‘I had never considered anything else. And I should have. Of course I should have. I don’t want us to be apart. I want to spend my life creating happy memories with you, Lien. With you, me and Regan. If you’ll have us.’

She shook her head. ‘I don’t get it.’

He smiled softly. ‘Neither did I. But I do now. If we leave now, I leave my heart behind in Vietnam. I don’t want to do that. This place?’ He held up both hands. ‘It’s opened up a whole new world for me and Regan. We love it. The place, the people, the work, and—’ he met her gaze ‘—one very special lady.’

His voice trembled. ‘I don’t want to go back to Scotland, because Scotland doesn’t feel like home any more. Here, with you, feels like home.’

She held her breath. This was different. This was different from what he’d said before.

‘If you’ll have us—’ his voice was still shaking and there were tears in his eyes ‘—we’d like to stay. For good.’

She let out a gasp. ‘What do you mean? I thought you had to take Regan home for school? What about your mum and dad?’

He nodded thoughtful

ly. ‘Regan can stay in school here. He’s learned so much already at the international school and he loves it. I’d be foolish to take him out now. As for my mum and dad...’ He paused for a second, then reached up and cradled her cheek again. ‘They told me to grab love with both hands and hold on tight. They love you already, Lien, and can’t wait to meet you. They’re probably booking flights as we speak.’

She blinked, tears flooding down her cheeks. ‘But your job, your house...’

He shook his head. ‘My house can be sold. I’ve rented it to the doctor and his wife who’ve been covering for me at the GP practice. It could be that they want my old job and my old house on a permanent basis.’

‘You’d sell everything?’

He nodded. ‘What do I have to go back for? We can visit my mum and dad whenever we choose.’ He took her hand and put it on his chest. ‘I want my life to be here, with you.’

‘But...’

He pressed his lips together for a second. ‘Maybe I’m reading all this wrong. Because if you don’t want me to stay, I won’t. I’m not trying to push things on you. But somehow I think that you love us, just as much as we love you.’

‘You want to stay?’ She almost couldn’t believe her ears. Her heart felt as if it was swelling in her chest. ‘You really want to stay?’

He nodded, and now a smile formed on his lips. ‘Of course, Lien. We want to stay with you.’

Her hands started to shake. It was like the pieces of her life, and her heart, were finally falling into place.

‘You’re sure?’

He put both hands around her waist. ‘You don’t need to ask me that. I’m sure. Surer than I’ve been of anything. I won’t change my mind. You don’t need to worry about this. I love you, Lien. I asked Hoa and Khiem if I could stay. You know what they said? They asked when the wedding was.’

Her mouth opened. ‘They, what?’ She was shocked. It seemed like her colleagues knew her better than she did.

He moved a little closer. The solid warmth of his body was reaching out to hers. She wrapped her arms around his neck. ‘So, what did you say?’

He smiled. ‘I said it was all up to you. Pick a date.’

The love that she’d tried to fight for in the last few days finally bubbled over. She could love this man, and his son, all on her own terms.