All Luke wanted to do was make everything all right for Sarah. He wanted to give her everything she’d never had with anyone else. What he’d never had with anyone else.

They had a connection that included a genuine affection and love he’d always wanted and never had with a woman. Just thinking about her made him smile. When she was away from him, he couldn’t wait to see her again.

And when she was unhappy, all he wanted to do was lighten her heart and put the smile right back on her beautiful face.

He wanted to give her everything, but all she wanted was him. And if she gave him a chance, he’d be the best husband and father to her kids she could ever want, because she deserved it.

Chapter Thirty-Three

Sarah walked out the back door simultaneously heartbroken because her son was crying and happy because she’d seen how Luke took care of him. Held him. Loved him.

She loved him right back for that and so much more.

With a heavy heart and a lot of reminders that this was for the boys, she greeted the woman she’d hated for years. “Hello, Trish.”

“Hi, Sarah. It’s been a long time.” The tentative words held a lot of trepidation. “I was surprised to hear from you. Well . . . your lawyer.”

“I can’t believe you didn’t say anything about being pregnant after the accident.”

Trish paused, then sighed. “The accident woke me up in a lot of ways. I realized I’d been doing a lot of things that I made excuses for because I wanted them. I didn’t think about how my actions affected other people.”

“Like me.”

“Yes. I told myself we loved each other so it was okay. I told myself he loved me, not you, so it was okay. I told myself that as long as we were together, everything would work out. That you’d be happy to move on because you wanted out of the marriage as much as Sean. I told myself a lot of things to justify my behavior. I just never looked at things from your perspective.”

“You didn’t think about me and the boys at all,” Sarah accused.

“No. I didn’t. Because then I’d have to think about how wrong it was to be with Sean even when he made me feel so good. Any doubts I had, he erased them with promises and romantic gestures. He showered me with the kind of love I’d never felt.” Trish paused. “But there was always something there, lurking in the background, that I couldn’t quite dismiss.”

“Me.”

“Yes. But it was more the attachment he had to you. He needed you. He refused to let you go, even while telling me how much he loved me.” Trish sucked in a ragged breath. “I’m sorry. I know you don’t want to hear that.”

Sarah had heard Sean’s pretty words of love and devotion and found them meaningless. She didn’t hold much stock in him having deep emotions for Trish either, but didn’t say anything about it. “Sean made it clear he wanted you, not me.”