McKenna was right. This was kidnapping.

He’d only been out of jail one day and he’d already broken the conditions of his parole.

Trey exhaled in a low, slow rush, sickened, aware that he’d just proven Judge McCorkle and Karen Welsh and all the other skeptics that they were correct: he was a loser. A bad seed.

Leopards didn’t change their spots.

It didn’t matter now that he’d left Deer Lodge determined to make amends and be the stand up father TJ deserved. Good intentions were just that—intentions. What mattered was actions. And just look at his actions…

McKenna’s stillness only made his regret worse.

He glanced at her from the corner of his eye. She was rigid, staring out the window, her expression one of shock. And horror.

He’d failed her, again. Ruined one of the most important days in her life.

Damn all.

But TJ was oblivious to the tension. He’d buckled his seatbelt as they’d pulled away from the curb and now he was sitting tall, trying to see over the dash, curious about where they were going, but not afraid. From his bright eyes he looked excited. This to him was a great adventure.

McKenna must have her hands full with him. TJ didn’t just look like a Sheenan, he seemed to have inherited the Trey-Sheenan-Chaos DNA.

Not good. For McKenna, Marietta, or TJ himself.

Trey struggled to think of something he could say to her. He wanted to apologize, and yet at the same time he knew that if he was truly sorry, he’d turn around right now and take her back. Take them both back.

Taking them back now, before they traveled any further, would at least allow her to salvage today…marry and have her party and cake and dancing.

But he wasn’t that sorry.

He didn’t want her to marry Lawrence. He understood why she wanted to get married, why she wanted stability, but Lawrence…? Really?

McKenna deserved a real man. A strong man who’d love her deeply, passionately for all of his life.

The way he loved her.

The way he’d always love her.

He glanced at her again, the deepening twilight swallowing her profile. “McKenna—”

“Don’t say it.”

“I’m—”

“You’re not. And I don’t believe it. I know you.” Her voice was hoarse and it shook, trembling with emotion. “I once thought you were a dream, but I was wrong. You’re not a dream. You’re a nightmare, a never ending nightmare—” She broke off, shook her head, turned her face away, her white veil gleaming in the lavender-purple light.

He winced.

He deserved it, though.

“An Enderman,” TJ said brightly, breaking the silence. “You’re an Enderman, Dad.”

Trey glanced at him. “A what?”

“An Enderman,” TJ repeated. “An evil guy from Mine Craft. He’s all black kind of, like you.”

“What’s Mine Craft?”

“My favorite game. But I can only play on the weekends when I don’t have school and Mom lets me use her iPad.”

“Is there a good guy in Mine Craft?”

“Yeah, Steve. But I like Endermen better.