From Duty to Daddy. Sue MacKay

hollowed him out. Made him realise how much he’d been hoping she was free and available. Great. Now he knew, what did he do?

      ‘You could just say hi.’

      Sure. Now that he had admitted he’d been fooling himself all along, it hurt big time. His heart rolled over, cranked up enough energy to pump some much-needed oxygen around his body. Disappointment flared, mixed with the pain and despair, underlining the whole stupidity of coming here on a whim.

      Getting reacquainted with Charlie again was not an option.

      The reality struck, blinding him. He’d wanted to get to know her properly this time, to learn what made her tick. The doctor side of her, the serious Charlie, the loving, caring woman who enjoyed having a good time. All the Charlies that made up the woman who’d caught his attention when he hadn’t been looking.

      Another movement snagged his attention. Someone was walking towards the back of the house from under a big, bushy tree. Tall, thin, and, even from the back view, definitely male. Marshall’s stomach dived. His arms tightened in on each other, holding himself together.

      Damn it. He’d thought about worst-case scenarios and taken a punt anyway. But Charlie was now a mother and there was a man in her life. Marshall could no longer deny the obvious.

      ‘You, Marshall Hunter, have to walk away. Now. Before she sees you and the trouble starts.’ It would be so unfair to knock on her door and say, ‘Hi, remember me?’

      No way did he want to hurt her. And he surely would if he stayed now. Truthfully, he’d hoped for another fling, something he could walk away from. So now he’d have to suck it up and walk away sooner than he’d expected. Get on with life and put Charlie out of his head permanently.

      But his boots remained stuck to the tarmac, going nowhere. He’d come too far just to walk away without a word.

      ‘Oh, buddy, did you really think Charlie was sitting around, waiting for the day you might step back into her life?’

      An image of her standing outside the hospital, blinking back tears and saying the sun was in her eyes as she’d waved him goodbye, slapped across his brain.

      A little bit, he had. Okay, make that a big bit.

      He needed to get over it. He’d had an absolutely sensational fling with her. One that he’d willingly walked away from with few qualms. And then she’d emailed. A month after Rod had been killed. Two days after he’d visited Rod’s wife and kids and seen the anguish caused by Rod’s passing. He’d deleted Charlie’s message without reading it, knowing he never wanted to be responsible for causing her the same pain Karen suffered.

      As Marshall watched Charlie and the little girl chasing around the lawn he thought of the hurt she’d been saved from by finding another man to share her life with. No doubt that man wouldn’t miss birthdays and Christmas, would be around to fix the car when it broke down or to dig the garden, take her out to dinner. Things no woman would ever get from him. The army regularly sent him off to some hellhole in a bleak part of the world where he had to be strong for his men, not worrying about how he might be letting down the woman in his life.

      ‘Time to go, buddy. You made a mistake coming here.’ He blinked. Took one last, long look at the woman who’d unconsciously drawn him to Taupo, saw the things his memories hadn’t been particularly clear on. The way she held her compact body as though ready to leap into his arms at any moment, except now it was her child she seemed ready to leap after. The gentle tilt of her head to the right as she concentrated on whatever the little girl was saying.

      ‘Get the hell out of here,’ he croaked around the blockage in his throat. Dropping back inside the car, he reached trembling fingers to the ignition. Blinked rapidly as the heat inside the car steamed up his eyes. Damn it to hell. He was too darned late.