C25

"Let's try...one more time, okay?" he suggested hopefully. "But this time we're going to be honest and open with each other...from now on...and we won't hold back or pretend that we're not hurting because we are. No more hiding our feelings or pretending that everything is fine between us...because it isn't!"

Madison shook her head adamantly while shaking off her lingering doubts and uncertainties as she stared back at him with hope in her eyes...hoping that he would finally agree to put their relationship above all else...just like she had wanted him to do ever since she'd returned from Seattle last week. He was finally listening to what she had been begging him to do ever since she arrived here from the West Coast...so maybe she'd finally made the breakthrough she'd been searching for...the one that would convince Blake to fight harder to keep his family together, especially since he seemed so determined to let go of the woman he loved so dearly.