Shane came and sat beside her on the glider swing. The game had gentled a bit as they all had a few aches and pains. Many of the others had gone for an after dinner walk.

Shane reached out and squeezed her hand. “Hey, Maggie, congratulations. I hope you and Kyle will be very happy together. He’s a very lucky man to have a woman like you. I’m jealous.”

“I think she’s out there. The one for you. Waiting for you. When you find her, I hope you can open your heart enough to let her in.”

“You think?”

“I really do.”

He smiled and kissed her cheek and then yelped when the football Kyle had been throwing hit him in the head. “HEY!” He came up off the glider and headed down the steps.

“Hey yourself, loverboy. Keep your lips off my woman,” Kyle taunted and then got tackled.

“Excuse me! What am I? A chew toy or something? Shane get up off of him. Kyle…oh nevermind!” she snapped and turned and stomped back into the house.

“You’re in trouble,” Marc taunted and got tackled in turn.

She was shoving her clothes into the overnight bag when he came upstairs. “Hey, are you really mad at me?”

“Last night you made that crack to Shane when we were playing cards. And I know you and your brothers joke a lot but the whole history between Shane and me is uncomfortable enough. When you make comments like, ‘you had your chance’ or you tell him to keep his lips off me—when, by the way, he was congratulating me on our engagement—it just makes me feel like a thing instead of a person. You guys are competitive enough. I don’t want to feel like I’m something to be fought over. And I don’t want you disregarding what I have to say because you feel like you need to get even. It’s not fair and it’s not respectful.”

He was quiet for a few moments, thinking over what she’d said. “I’m sorry, Red, I hadn’t thought of it that way. I don’t mean it like that. Although I do suppose I like to rub his nose in the fact that I could see you for the fabulous woman you are when he acted like a dick. I’ll try hard not to do it any more.”

She looked at him and let go of the smile she’s been holding back. It was nearly impossible to stay mad at him. “Fine. See that you don’t. Now, I was thinking that I’d go and swing by my house. I haven’t been there in a week or so and I want to make sure everything is all right. We’ve had such cold temperatures that I want to be sure the pipes are okay.”

“Maggie, you and I need to have a discussion about the house and our living situation. I’d like to set a date for the wedding, too.”

“Okay. But not here.” She held up her hands to quiet him. “No, it’s not negotiable. I love your family but this is something I want to talk with you about alone. Why don’t we talk about it tonight at your place.”

“Our place. Move in with me, Maggie. You’re practically living with me now. Sell your house and we can buy a place together. It’s silly to have that great big house just sitting there empty and my place is going to be too small for us in the long run. We could live in your house but you seem to be a lot happier when you don’t live there.”

“It’s true. I suppose that house has a lot of bad memories lurking around inside of it. Let’s talk about this later all right? Honestly, you know someone is bound to come in here within the next three minutes and I don’t want this to be a discussion by committee.”

“Okay, sugar. Take my car over to your place and come back by to get me when you’re done. I’ve got a game to finish with my brothers. Unless you want me to come to your place with you?”

“No, it’s no big deal. I’m three minutes away, for goodness sake. I need to grab some more clothes and check the pipes. I’ll be there and back in less than an hour.”

“Okay, Red.” He kissed her and they walked out to the car.

Chapter Ten

She whipped into her driveway and gave a quick look around the outside of the house. The pipes looked fine but she got the insulation out of the garage and wrapped them, anyway. Especially as she’d already made the decision to accept Kyle’s invitation and move in to his place so she wouldn’t be around.

That done, she went inside and ran upstairs to grab some more clothes. She was zipping the garment bag when she heard steps behind her.

“Jeez, it’s only been half an hour, couldn’t live without me?” she teased and turned around. Only it wasn’t Kyle, it was Alex standing there and a chill of dread slid through her gut.

“I can’t live without you, Maggie. You’re mine and I’m yours. Can’t you see that? Why aren’t you home anymore?”

“What the hell are you doing here! Get out of my house now or I’ll call the police.” She tried to edge her way closer to the phone on the bedside table.

“I’m here to take back what’s mine,” he said in a strange sing song voice, inching toward her. “What is that?” He grabbed her hand and stared at the ring. “NO!” He pulled it off and threw it on the bed.

“Stop that!” She reached for her ring and the world went black for a moment. When she came to he was dragging her out of the room. A surge of strength and will to survive surged through her and she grabbed the wall near the door and tried to hold on but he yanked her loose. He half dragged her, half carried her down the stairs. Reaching down he slapped her across her face, hard, when she kept grabbing the spindles on the banister to stop him. Her head hit each stair, and her world hovered gray as she fought to keep conscious. She tried to yell but all she could do was moan and hoarsely whisper at him to stop.