Hoping for Love by Marie Force Read Free Book Online Page A

it open. “Hey, guys, come in.”
    When Tiffany put Ashleigh down, the dark-haired toddler waddled over to her cousin and threw her arms around him. Thomas returned the embrace with equal enthusiasm. Watching them, Tiffany’s eyes swam with tears.
    “Could they be any cuter?” Maddie asked, slipping an arm around her sister.
    For some reason, Maddie’s usual show of affection undid Tiffany today.
    “Hey,” Maddie said, “what’s this?”
    Tiffany turned into her sister’s embrace as weeks of horrible stress and upheaval and uncertainty finally became too much for her. And then there was the matter of their wayward father showing up thirty years after he took off without a single thought for the wife and daughters he’d left behind.
    “Sweetie, what is it?”
    “It’s all just too much.”
    Maddie ran a soothing hand up and down Tiffany’s back. “What happened?”
    “Jim moved out of the house and took everything that wasn’t nailed down. Luckily, he left us each a bed and Ashleigh’s toys. Good of him, huh?”
    Maddie’s mouth fell open. “Are you
serious
?”
    “He reminded me, on his way out with everything we own, that the house belongs to
his
family, and I’m
lucky
he’s not kicking me out on my ass.”
    “He
said
that?”
    “Those were his exact words.” Tiffany dropped onto the sofa. “While I was here the other day, helping you with the kids, he took it all. I got home just as the truck was pulling away with my plates and towels and silverware. I never imagined he could be so rotten.”
    “Wow. Neither did I.”
    “I just wish I knew what happened to us. It used to be great, and then all of a sudden it wasn’t. Something happened, but damned if I know what.” Tiffany stared off into space, remembering all the good times. There’d been a lot of them before it went very bad.
    “Do you think there’s someone else?”
    “I can’t imagine who.” Tiffany turned to her sister. “Who does he know that I don’t know, too?
Who?
”
     “I can’t think of anyone.”
    “The best part is he’s convinced—absolutely
convinced
—that I’m having an affair. You ought to hear him ranting and raving about how it’s okay for me but not for him. I don’t even know what he’s talking about, and every time I try to talk to him, he takes off and won’t listen. He won’t
listen
to me, Maddie.”
    Maddie reached for her hand. “Maybe it’s time to let him go, honey.”
    “I don’t know how,” Tiffany said, blinking back new tears. “He’s my husband and Ashleigh’s father. I’ve loved him for so long. Hell, I put him through law school working two jobs and this is the thanks I get? As soon as he starts making some real money, he manufactures a reason to toss me aside?”
    “It’s not fair.”
    “No, it isn’t. I hate the idea of Ashleigh growing up the way we did with her father more or less out of the picture.”
    “He won’t be totally out of the picture the way ours was. He loves Ashleigh.”
    “Yes, he does.”
    “You have to think of yourself, too, Tiff. If you’re not happy, she won’t be, either.”
    Tiffany glanced at her sister through watery eyes. “I don’t have what you have with Mac. Even on our best day, it was never what you have. I want that.”
    “Aww, baby.” Maddie drew Tiffany into a hug. “I want you to have that, too. There’s nothing like being madly in love with the guy you get to live with and sleep with and do everything else with.”
    Tiffany laughed through her tears. “I’m sure.” She drew back from her sister. “How do I go through with a divorce when I feel like I didn’t do everything I could to save the marriage?”
    “What else could you do that you haven’t done?”
    “I don’t know. I’m thinking about that.” She glanced at Maddie. “What about Dad?”
    “What about him?”
    “You never told me what happened when you saw him.” Since Maddie had just had the baby, Tiffany hadn’t wanted to ask her sister about the