Ralph stared at me. I could tell he wanted to argue.
I waited for him to say something, anything, that I could use to shut down any chance he had left of getting close to Megan.
To my surprise, though, he reluctantly nodded. “All right…all right. I’ll…I’ll do what you say. So long as you promise you won’t stand in Megan’s way if she wants to see me someday.”
I regarded him a long moment before releasing a long sigh. “I promise. I won’t stand in her way. And I promise that I will take excellent care of her.”
Ralph dropped his head, looking defeated.
“I know you will,” he whispered.
At that moment, I heard Sadie rushing back to us.
“The cops are on their way,” she gasped when she reached me. She looked between me and Ralph and then gave me a relieved smile. “I’m glad to see everyone is still in one piece.”
“Barely,” I grumbled.
She wrapped her arm around mine and hugged it.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
I smiled down at her, but I then caught movement out of the corner of my eye. Turning my attention back to Ralph, I realized he was turning as if he were going to leave.
“Not so fast,” I snapped. “You want to start making amends? You stay right there and wait for the police to get here. They’re going to take you, arrest you for violating the restraining order, and I’ll consider dropping the charges if you cooperate.”
Ralph released a huff of frustration, and I watched him open and close his hands at his sides. I didn’t know what he was going to do, but his decision in that moment would tell me just how serious he was about having a chance to have Megan in his life again someday.
“Fine,” he breathed. “Fine…I’ll go. I won’t resist or put up a fight. Just…just keep your promise. You don’t stop Megan if she wants to reach out to me someday.”
Swallowing, I said, “I give you my word. If it’s her choice, I won’t stop her. So long as you keep your side of the agreement and stay in line from here on out. I mean it. No drugs, no run-ins with the law, no trespassing or harassing my staff or loved ones. You keep that up, and we have a deal.”
Ralph slowly nodded. “I won’t run.”
I believed him. He had a look of determination in his gaze that I don’t think I’d ever seen before. He might have actually been serious about turning things around for Megan’s sake. I could respect the effort, but I wasn’t going to bend. He had a lot to do to prove himself, and I wasn’t certain he would be able to succeed.
But it seemed like he wanted to at least try, so I had to give him credit for that.
Sadie and I stayed with him as we waited for the police. I wrapped my arm around her shoulder, and she clutched my waist as we watched the police load Ralph into the back of a cruiser and drive off with him.
Once they were gone, my whole body slumped as the tension I’d been holding onto left me in a rush. Sadie tightened her hold on me, as if holding me up.
“Are you all right?” she murmured, gazing up at me with a furrowed brow.
I gave her a small, tired smile. “Yeah. Just drained.”
She nodded, her expression sympathetic. “I know. But it’s over now, right?”
Releasing a long sigh, I said, “I think it is. I think Ralph is serious about wanting to be in Megan’s life someday. I’ve offered him a path for that to potentially happen. If he’s smart, he’ll stay on it.”
“I think he will,” Sadie murmured. “For all the terrible things he’s done, I think he really does love her. Deep down, he wants the best for her…and that’s us.”
Us. When she said that, my heart constricted so hard, I thought I’d pass out. She wanted there to be an us, and I wanted that, too.
I wanted to tell her how much I wanted to be with her. However, given the circumstances of the moment, I thought better of it. I worried she would associate Ralph’s arrest with my confession of my feelings, and I couldn’t stand that thought.
So, I would wait. I would let things settle back down and return to normal before I made any heartfelt confessions or asked any life-changing questions of her.
“Let’s go inside,” she said softly, pulling me from my wandering thoughts.
I looked down at her and nodded.
“Okay,” I murmured.
Taking her hand in mine, I turned and we walked back to the house, side-by-side.