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He jerked on her car door’s handle and reached in, grabbing the pink diaper bag and a sift when the roads were quickly beco a sheet of ice? With a baby to boot?

Max slid back behind the wheel of his rental, cranked the heat as high as it would go and eased back out onto the road

“Where a you?” he asked

“UmI was on my way to see your mother”

Max jerked in his seat “My mother?”

Raine barely looked his way before she focused her eyes back on the road, a place he should keep his

“I swear I had no idea you were co in today,” she quickly told hi, but I didn’t know exactly when that would be If you’d rather I not goI can come another time”

She was going to see his ed since the last time he’d been in Lenox with Raine and his parents The way he and Raine had fought to be together, defying both sets of their parentsand it all was for naught

He cast a quick glance her way, noticed how she kept toying with the threads fraying off the he out theWhy was she so nervous? Was it hiether, just like he was? Was she reht they’d made love, and the promises they’d made to each other? Pro she’d never hold up her end of the deal Is that what had her so on edge?

“Why are you visiting my mother?”

Raine’s soft laugh filled the car “A lot has changed since you were in Lenox, Max”

Apparentlyand since she had pointedly dodged his question, he assuht Whatever she was doing was none of his concern Once upon a tile detail about one another, but that chapter had closed They were all but strangers at this point Could this last ht

“I didn’t know you had a baby,” he said, trying to ease the thick tension, but once the words were out, he realized he sounded like an idiot “I mean, I assumed you had a life I just never So, how many kids do you have?”

“Just Abby She’s three months old”

“Do you need to call your husband?”

Way to go Smooth, real smooth Could I be any less subtle?

“No,” Raine replied “I’ll call et to your mother’s house He can come pick me up”

He? She was calling a male friend and not her husband

Max mentally shook his head and scolded himself Still this was none of his business

He turned into the long, narrow drive Straight ahead sat his childhood ho inside recovering froin radiation treatments in town Thankfully the doctors discovered the lump very early, and chemo wasn’t needed

Max had no clue how she’d look, but he knew he needed to be strong, and being thrown off by seeing Raine couldn’t hinder his plans His ht now God knows his dad wouldn’t man up in this situation

The sprawling two-story colonial-style horeens Max loved growing up here and had been fortunate to have been adopted by Thoical parents, and, even though he’d rarely seen eye to eye with his father, he knew there were much worse scenarios he could’ve entered into as an orphaned baby

Max pulled in front of the house and killed the engine “Why don’t I take your diaper bag and gift?” he offered “I’m not comfortable with that carrierunless you can’t maneuver it in the snow”

Raine glanced over at hi just fine for a few ”

She got out and closed the door Her quick jab wasn’t lost on him, but he had no idea why she was bitter She was the one who’d dissed hi his life with her And in his rage, after realizing she didn’t want hiot himself killed

When he stepped fro the carrier out, and also had the gift tote and her diaper bag dangling from her arm Apparently this Raine was a bit more independent and stubborn than the old Raine Who was he to argue?

He followed her up the steps, careful to stay close in case she slipped By the ti the snow off their feet Maxher in ahead of him

If she was going to insist on carrying everything even though he’d offered, the least he could do is get the door and be soentlemanly

The grand foyer looked exactly the sahteen There was never a need for him to return to this home, because, as soon as he’d left for LA, his parents had hightailed it to Boston

His father had always loved the Boston area and thought it woulda second in a larger city Now his father had a chain of restaurants, and Max still wanted no part of the family business

The wide, curvaceous staircase do visitors to see all the way up to the second-floor balcony that ran the width of the entryway A vast chandelier suspended down fro a kaleidoscope of colors onto the pale

Raine was just unzipping the blanketthe carrier when his mother came into the foyer Max didn’t knohat to expect when they finally caery, but relief quickly settled in when Elise Ford rushed forward and launched her petite little frame into his arms

“Max,” she said, looking up at hilad you’re here I hate to pull you away froh”

He was careful how he returned her eery

“I would drop anything for you, Mom Besides, I don’t start another movie for a couple ofin the fact that his nosed with breast cancer, but, had not only fought it, she’d beaten the odds and won “I can’t believe how great you look”