Page 30 of Dragon Daddy's Second Chance

“You deserve a lot more than that, but I don’t want to waste any more of my energy on you,” he said. “I’m going to hang up now, Mother; I’m done letting you ruin my life;don’t try to call me, don’t try to text me; I don’t want anything to do with you ever again.”

There was no remorse, no sadness when he hung up the phone, just a profound sense of freedom, and a smile slowly spread across his face as the future slowly spread out before him. Wren and Theo popped into his mind, and he was tempted to leave the rest of his paperwork until later but he forced himself to go back to work; he was almost done dissolving his old life. He was ready to make real plans with Wren, and if that meant a move to Dublin, he wanted to be prepared to take that next step in their lives together.

A knock at the door interrupted him a few minutes later, and he remembered that Max wasn’t there. After getting to his feet, he went to the door and opened it. “Are you Blake?” a young man asked, then held out an envelope when he nodded his head. “Then this is for you.”

***Wren***

Wren closed the bedroom door, then tiptoed down the hallway to the living room, where Susan was just setting down a tray with coffee and a plate of cookies on a table by the couch. “He’s sound asleep, I think the last few days finally caught up with him,” she said, flopping down on the couch. “I think I’m as exhausted as he is. I could use a nap, but I keep thinking Blake is going to come home and talk. I acted like a jealous baby last night; I hope he’s not still mad.”

“Give yourself a break. This has been a lot, Wren,” she said. “You two will work it out, so stop worrying, he said he was working on your life together today. That doesn’t sound like someone who’s mad at you.”

“I know you’re right, I have some insecurity problems,” she said. “I’m trying to work on them.”

Before Susan could say anything, there was a knock onthe door, and Wren got up to answer it, wondering who it could be. When she opened the door, a young man was standing on the porch, a bouquet of flowers in one hand and a white envelope in the other.

“These are for Wren,” he said, holding them out.

“Oh, I’m Wren,” she said, taking the flowers and card. “Thank you.”

She looked down at the flowers, a smile slowly spreading across her face, then ripped open the card still standing in the door way. “Who was it?” Susan called from behind her. “Is it from Blake?”

“He sent me flowers,” she said, turning and closing the door. “And he wants me to meet him later. He even put in a map for me to follow. Isn’t that sweet? I don’t know what I was worrying about.”

“I bet he’s going to propose,” Susan said, grinning at her. “What are you going to say?”

A thrill went through her at the thought of marrying Blake, and she didn’t even have to think about her answer. “Yes, yes, yes,” she said, then laughed. “I can’t believe this is really happening. Will you stay with Theo? I don’t know how long I’ll be gone, but it would…”

“You don’t even have to ask,” Susan said, tears in her eyes. “I’m so happy for you, Wren. It’s nice to know that true love still finds its way even in this crazy world we live in.”

She rushed over to Susan and gave her a hug. “You’ll be my maid of honor, won’t you?” she asked. “I can’t imagine having anyone else there with me.”

“Let’s let Blake ask you before I agree,” Susan said, hugging her back. “We don’t want to jinx it.”

“I have to figure out what I’m going to wear,” she said, starting for the bedroom, but a knock on the door stopped her. “Wow, we’re popular today.”

Her excitement instantly vanished when she opened thedoor to find her parents standing on the porch, and her first instinct was to slam the door in their faces. Remembering Susan’s advice, she controlled herself but didn’t say anything. She wasn’t going to be the first one to speak. If they had something to say, she listened, but that was it.

“Wren, please let us in. We need to talk to you,” her mother said. Your father and I want to apologize for the night we kicked you out. It was wrong. We should have stood by your side.”

Silently swinging the door open, she stepped back and let them in the house, still not saying a word, then gestured to the empty couch. “Can I get you some coffee?” Susan asked, jumping to her feet. “We were just having a cup.”

“No, that won’t be necessary,” her mother said. We just want to talk to Wren. We want you to come home, sweetheart. We want to be a family again. We know what we did was horrible, but can’t you find it in your heart to forgive us? We’ll never do anything like that again.”

“Was your reputation really that important to you?” she asked, unable to stop herself. “You threw me away because I made a mistake. You abandoned me because I embarrassed you. I thought you loved me, I thought I was important to you, but I was wrong, and I don’t know if I can move on from that.”

“We were wrong, Wren. We knew it almost as soon as you left,” her father said. “I’m ashamed to admit I was too stubborn to go after you. I guess I thought you’d stay with Susan. I never dreamed you’d move to Dublin.”

“It wouldn’t have been hard to find me,” she said. “It’s been six years since I left, and I haven’t heard a word from you. Why did you suddenly decide that you needed to see me so badly that you flew halfway across the world and spent a small fortune to get here?”

Her mother looked over at her father and then back ather. “It was really your sister’s idea,” she said. “She’s tired of the town talking bad about us. Honestly, it hasn’t been easy since you left, and now…well, Lisa wants to marry Bruce Collingsworth, and you know how she is when she wants something; there’s no stopping her.”

“Because you never did, you gave her anything she wanted even if you had to take it away from me,” she said. “What does any of this have to do with me?”

“We no longer have the best reputation in town, and Bruce refuses to marry Lisa with this little stain on her name,” her father said. “But the good news is we figured out a way to make everything right so Lisa can have her man.”

“This should be good,” she said. “I’m listening.”

“It’s really quite simple, sweetheart,” her mother said. “You come home and join the community again. We’ve found a very nice man for you to marry and an excellent boarding school for Theo; I’m sure he’ll be very happy there.”

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