Read Online Home for Christmas by Kristin Holt - Free Book Online Page B

happy. Committed to you and eager to take you to wife.”
    She heard the tightness in his voice and wondered why the confession was difficult--was he embellishing the truth?
    His wistful smile twisted in her stomach. “At first, I didn’t know why he’d grown restless, what had happened to upset him. It took me awhile to realize why he’d thrown such an incredible gift-- you-- aside.”
    Miranda witnessed the agony on Hunter’s face and marveled at it. He knew a great deal, and whatever it was, it had hurt him. The realization stunned. Was he grieving….for her loss?
    He fell silent, lowering his gaze. He lifted Miranda’s hand to his lips, pressing a kiss to her knuckles. Her heart stumbled, racing and tripping.
    She witnessed something indefinable in his eyes, something she’d thought she’d never see again. She wasn’t certain Warren had ever looked at her with such appreciation. Or was it reverence?
    A moment passed before he spoke. “I’d never do anything to hurt you. You know that, right?”
    She drew in a tremulous breath, closed her eyes, and felt the comfort of his hold on her hands. An odd ache formed in the pit of her stomach. “Yes, of course.”
    “My brother made his promises to you and intended to keep them.” Hunter cupped the side of her face, smoothing a thumb over her cheek, leaving fire in his wake.
    “ Why, then?”
    “He met Viv again in late September. Their paths had crossed a couple times during the summer, but then when he met her again, something happened to him.”
    She noticed he wouldn’t look her in the eye. Her stomach felt weightless, falling, unable to right itself.
    “Warren fell in love with her. He fell hard and found himself in a great deal of trouble.”
    Miranda considered the final weeks before the wedding, seeing Hunter’s story fit perfectly over her memory, filling in the gaps and making perfect sense with Warren’s behavior.
    “He wrestled with it for weeks. I don’t think he slept much. He fought it, I assure you. But it tore him up inside, knowing he’d made promises he couldn’t keep. I suppose there’s nothing worse than realizing you must act or lose the right one forever.”
    Hearing the truth of Warren’s betrayal, after all this time, left her with an odd mixture of regret and overwhelming inadequacy. She supposed betrayal wasn’t the right description any longer. It was simply his choice. An agonizing, deliberate choice. The only right choice, for all three of them--himself, Vivian, and for her.
    She swallowed, trying to process the new information. “Why didn’t he simply tell me this?”
    He’d fallen out of love with her, and into it up to his eyebrows with Viv. All in the space of a few days. Until the terrible moment in the church, she’d believed he’d loved her. She’d believed he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her.
    “When I realized he’d finally reached a decision and canceled the ceremony,” he continued, “I figured he’d told you himself. It was the only honorable thing to do.”
    “I guess he couldn’t bring himself to tell me.” Hearing the truth from Warren, on the day of their canceled wedding would have been awful, but the ensuing years might have been, would have been so much easier.
    “He should have explained and begged your forgiveness. I know he regrets the way he handled it.”
    “I don’t suppose he could marry me, not when he loved Viv.” Her throat felt tight, strained with emotion. Whether relief at finally hearing the truth, or realizing she might have married Warren and lived a lifeless, loveless existence with him, she wasn’t certain. How awful it would’ve been, to have married Warren and never held his heart.
    For the last thousand-plus days, she’d assumed Warren had found her lacking in some elemental, critical matter. If she’d ever once considered he’d fallen in love with someone else, she had no recollection of it.
    The truth worked through the tightness about her heart.