Fated Bliss (Bliss #2) Read Online Free PDF

worst nightmare.
    “I don’t expect it to, Mags,” I confessed. “I only wish it would.”
    “You’ll be okay. I promise.”
    My laugh was bitter and cynical. “I hate that phrase, I promise .”
    Maggie flinched. “I despise that for you.”
    Immediately, I felt like a dick. I reached for her and gently clutched her shoulder, giving it a brief squeeze. “Don’t. There’s nothing any of us can do.”
    Tears welled in her eyes and spilled down her cheeks. “She’s my sister, Ben – my twin sister – and I’ve watched from the sidelines, unable to do anything as she tore you and Lincoln apart. She’s torn all of us apart.”
    My lids fluttered closed, the dagger that had been digging in my chest for over sixteen years twisting further. “She did,” I admitted, steeling myself, and met her gaze again. “But you’re not to blame, Mags.”
    “I know,” Maggie murmured, wiping her cheeks.
    I leaned in and kissed her temple. “This is a new beginning for all of us, Mags. She can’t hurt us anymore. They can’t hurt us anymore.”
    “They hurt us every day, Ben.”
    It was my turn to flinch. “Maybe so…” I reached over and ran my hand down her protruding belly. The baby kicked under my touch, lifting my spirits. “But we have a lot to look forward to. It’s time to build new memories and move on with our lives.”
    Her hands covered mine as a watery smile graced her lips. “That’s true.”
    We stayed like that for a moment, both of us reminiscing. Like I did many times, I wondered what my life would have been like if I hadn’t married Gwen and married Maggie instead…like Maggie and I had planned and dreamed.
    Maggie released my hand and tucked a strand of her long red hair behind her ear. She cleared her voice, asking, “How’s your grandfather?”
    I was glad for the change in topics…and the break in uncomfortable feelings.
    I took a seat on one of her ornate couches. Hell, this whole house was lavish, so much like the houses we grew up in back in Oregon. I never thought I’d see Maggie living somewhere like this. I envisioned a small cottage in the woods or a little house in the country. However, this house felt like a home, not a cold and eerie tomb filled with expensive things.
    “Great,” I answered, grinning. “It was nice to spend time with him while I got everything settled at the new house. I still can’t believe the old man is retiring.”
    I chuckled at that.
    Pops calling it quits was somewhat mindboggling, but his health was failing him and he didn’t move around like he once did. When I did see him, though it had been rare over the years, the man could barely sit still for longer than five minutes. It pained me that he ached and grimaced with every step. I prayed God would bless me with more time with him now that we lived closer.
    “I’m so happy for you.” Maggie turned and rested against the window sill, a smile curving her lips. “You’ve wanted to take over his clinic since I met you.”
    She was right. Walking in my grandfather’s shoes was why I became a doctor, the reason I studied emergency medicine instead of something as grand as neurosurgery like my old man had wanted.
    It had been my dream to live and work in that small town nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains since I could remember. Bliss, North Carolina signified a time when life was free and easy. Last week was the first time I’d been since I was ten, but, other than Lincoln, memories of that town and my hopes to live there one day had kept me sane since my world turned upside-down. I still couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that it was finally happening.
    “It’ll be good for Linc,” I murmured.
    “And you,” she added with a sly look. “I’m sure there’s a local or two that’ll catch your interest.”
    Samantha’s face flashed in my mind’s eye, and with it came the debilitating disappointment that I’d never see her again.
    “What’s that look for?” Maggie searched, with