Taken by Storm by Kelli Maine Page B

and regret in his voice made MJ flinch. “Did she like angels?”
    “I don’t know. I didn’t know her very well.”
    Neither of them made a move to get closer.
    “I used to talk to her when I came here,” Merrick said. “I’d sit on the ground and just talk about whatever came to mind.” He turned his head slightly toward MJ. “I begged her not to hate me.”
    MJ closed his eyes. It was rushing in—the emotions—like a hurricane against a seawall. “She doesn’t hate you.”
    “What about you?”
    “No.”
    They stood in silence. Leaves rustled in the wind. “We should get back,” Merrick said.
    “Yeah.” He gestured down to his mom’s grave. “I’ll catch up.” MJ couldn’t leave without touching the angel. He had a dumb superstition that it brought him luck. So far, for the past twenty years, he didn’t have a lot of proof that it worked, but it was a habit he couldn’t break now.
    Kind of like Maddie. Just having her sitting in the golf cart beside him on the way to the guest cottage gave him strength. He wasn’t sure he would’ve been able to deal with today without her.
    At the bottom of the hill, he picked one of the fat, whitewildflowers that Maddie always loved. She called them Queen Anne’s Lace if he remembered right. He stepped up to his mom’s headstone and sat it beside the angel, touching her wing.
    A small bouquet of Queen Anne’s Lace landed beside MJ’s foot. He spun to find Merrick at the base of the grave. “I do know she liked these,” he said, gesturing to the flowers. “She’d take your aunt Heidi for walks and they’d come back with their hands full of them.”
    MJ finally knew something about his mom. He’d never known anything but her name and what the Old Man had told him—she was nice, sweet, kind—generic comments that could’ve been about anyone else in the world.
    “Come on,” Merrick said. He turned and walked slowly, waiting for MJ to follow.
    After a moment, MJ took a few deliberate steps forward. He wasn’t used to having someone to follow.

    Beside the cottage, Maddie sat beside Rachael, the two of them perched in Adirondack chairs barefooted, sipping iced tea. At the sight of her, MJ could breathe deeper. Having her here was keeping him sane… and making him crazy, but he’d take both if he could always see the smile blooming on her lips as he approached.
    Merrick leaned down and kissed Rachael. She reached up and took his hand. Standing beside Maddie, MJ stuck his hands in his pockets. Merrick smiled and nodded at Maddie.
    “Oh,” MJ said. “Sorry. This is Maddie Simcoe.” He feltstupid not giving context to why she was with him, and he didn’t want them thinking she was his girlfriend. “The house manager’s daughter.”
    Merrick reached out and shook her hand. “Merrick Rocha. Nice to meet you.”
    “You too,” Maddie said, beaming. “I’ve heard a lot about you over the years. I’m happy to say I believed none of it.”
    Merrick laughed. “I can just imagine.”
    Really? Was MJ really standing here in the sunshine with Maddie sipping iced tea, laughing with his dad? It was right out of
The Twilight Zone
.
    Rachael gave MJ a pointed look. “Before you got here, I was telling Merrick about Enzo’s offer to give you Rocha Enterprises.”
    “You can take my word for it on this one,” Merrick said. “I’m making sure it’s going to happen with or without your grandfather agreeing to it.”
    MJ wondered what he meant, but didn’t want to get into this conversation right now. Enzo was a poison that he wouldn’t let ruin this moment. “So, Turtle Tear,” he said, steering them in a new direction, “how long have you had it?”
    Merrick’s hand tightened around Rachael’s and he smiled down at her. “It’s Rachael’s. She’s had it for a few months now. She brought it back to life from ruins.”
    “We both did,” Rachael said, gazing up at Merrick.
    Their relationship couldn’t be that old. They were still too into