Chance crashed to his knees beside the brother of his heart. Sam’s hands were still clenched around his head, but he was no longer making those horrific, keening cries. He was unconscious.
Chance checked his pulse and found it racing. Sam dripped with sweat. He needed the shot of pain killer and muscle relaxant he took when he had a bad episode. And this was the worst episode that Chance had seen.
What the hell had Sam been thinking, chopping wood?
Running to their house, Chance found the medication in the cupboard beside the kitchen sink and filled the syringe with the maximum dosage allowed. He’d give it to Sam and then carry his stupid ass inside.
He found Sam curled into a fetal position. Chance pulled out his left arm and administered the medication, dropping the syringe by the stump to pick up later. First, he was going to get his friend into the house and make him as comfortable as possible.
It might have been a few years since they’d worked together as volunteer firefighters down in San Clemente, California, but Chance easily hefted his friend over his shoulder and took him into the house. Actually, he was able to do it a little too easily, he thought. Chance hadn’t realized just how much weight Sam had lost, damn it. He’d been so focused on the Josie project he hadn’t been taking care of Sam.
He carried him down the hall to his room, and there Chance found the problem. Sam had been working on his computer. The military doctors specifically said that with his type of head injury, Sam needed to stay away from computer screens for at least a year, or he would end up with severe migraines. Apparently, Sam was paying as much attention to that advice as he was to Chance’s advice to take it easy and rest. Hence the wood chopping.
Chance laid Sam down on his bed and couldn’t help a small grin. No matter how bad Sam’s world was, he couldn’t help being an anal son of a bitch. His bed was made to regulation standards.
Chance opened the windows to get a breeze going but closed all the blinds to make sure the room stayed dark. Then he checked Sam over. He breathed easier and he looked like he was sleeping deeply. Chance shut down the computer and left his friend’s room. He went out and scooped up the syringe from the backyard, put away the medication in the kitchen, and then pulled out a bottle of Scotch. Fine, it was only one in the afternoon, but sometimes you needed something stronger than a beer.
He went out to the back deck and looked out at the evergreens lining the other side of Lake Snomish. He ruminated on how much he loved his property as he took a long sip of Scotch. When Betty and Butch retired here from Southern California, he’d come for a visit, and fell in love with the area. After the company he was working for went public, and the eighteen-hour workdays had substantially paid off, he reevaluated his life.
The fact that he had an ulcer at twenty-six that the doctors said was only going to worsen made him really take stock of his choices and their consequences. When he reviewed his life choices, he realized all he had done was make money, gotten a great title, and a cushy office. He hadn’t built anything that he was personally proud of.
When Butch had his cancer scare, Chance had come here to support Betty, and it all became crystal clear. Life was fragile and precious. People were important, relationships mattered, and family was the heart of everything. With the money Chance had made, he could now focus on building his family, and that started with making time for the two people who had raised him.
Betty and Butch Hutchins had fostered over twenty children in the sixteen years that Chance had lived with them. They worked magic—no matter how abused, how hateful a child acted when they first came to live with them, Betty and Butch usually turned them around. Many kept in touch with Betty and Butch, and some came back to visit. That gave Chance a large extended family.
Two others really made the difference in Chance’s world. Josie already lived with the Hutchins when social services first placed Chance with them. Josie had been six or seven and he’d been three. Josie captured his heart right off the bat. Then when he turned four-and-a-half, she’d gone back to her “birth” mom, breaking his heart. Zee was also heartsick and scared. She clutched at Betty and Butch and at Chance when it came time for her to leave them. She told them all how much she loved them and would keep them in her heart forever. Chance never saw or heard from her again.
Sam was the other foster child who made up the rest of Chance’s heart. In all ways that mattered, they were truly brothers. When Chance was six years old, five-year-old Sam moved in. He came with a black eye and a broken arm, and he wouldn’t go near Butch, but he was fine around Chance and Betty.
It took Butch five months of gentle coaxing before Sam would accept a hug from him. Sam stayed for three years before he went back to his mom. Chance overheard Betty and Butch saying that Sam’s dad was in prison so it was safe for the little boy to go home.
Chance was ten years old when Sam came back. This time he looked fine, but he could barely stand up straight. When Chance asked Sam what was wrong, Sam took off his shirt and Chance saw terrible bruising and tape around Sam’s chest. “What’s that for?” Chance asked, pointing at the tape.
“It’s what they do for broken ribs,” Sam answered.
“How did your ribs get broken?”
“A friend of my mom’s had too much to drink and didn’t like the way I was looking at him.” Sam pulled down his shirt.
“Jesus,” Chance breathed. Then he looked around to make sure that Betty hadn’t heard him swear. Sam looked at him and smiled.
“You still afraid of Betty?” Sam asked.
“I just hate it when I disappoint her,” Chance explained sheepishly. “It’s good to have you back here.”
“Yeah, it’s good to be back,” Sam admitted reluctantly.
Sam was two grades behind Chance in school, even though they were only a year apart. That happened a lot with the kids in foster care. Betty and Butch did a great job working with the kids on their homework so that they could catch up. Chance worked with Sam as well, and the following year, Sam skipped a grade and caught up with his age group in school.
Since Sam was big for his age, even before he caught up academically he always played on the same extra-curricular sports team as Chance. Chance and Sam were a force to be reckoned with on every basketball, baseball, and football team. Both were very protective of the smaller, weaker kids, and never let others pick on less popular or non-athletic kids.
Sam was twelve and a half when he left to be with his mother for the last time. He came back a year and a half later. This time, there were no signs of injuries—at least, not outward signs.
Chance asked him if his dad had been released from prison again, and all Sam said was yes. When he asked what happened, Sam lashed out and told him to mind his own business. It took an entire year for Butch and Betty to get Sam to start playing on teams again. When the social workers came for Sam to return to his mother after he turned fifteen, Butch and Betty hired lawyers and Sam never left again, until he enlisted in the military.
Sam was a train wreck since coming back from Afghanistan, but Chance had seen that before, back when Sam was a kid. He was confident that with the right motivation, and some well-timed ass-kicking, he could get his friend back to where he needed to be.
Chance knew Josie’s sealed court records contained things, bad things, that Chance could only speculate about. But she’d managed miracles in her life with her sisters and herself, and whatever else there was, they could handle it. What’s more, with Josie’s help, maybe Sam could finally confront the demons he’d bottled up from his childhood, which Chance was positive still festered.
Chance took another sip of Scotch and smiled when he saw an eagle soar over the lake. Fate Harbor was a beautiful place to heal and start a new life. He knew to the bottom of his soul that the family he wanted to create was the right one, and that it included both Sam and Josie.
Okay, yeah, maybe he wasn’t one-hundred-percent sure that his plan would work out. But a little fear was good for you, r
ight? It made you work harder. Chance downed his Scotch and went in to check on his friend and call the scholarship offices down in Florida.
Chapter 3
Josie giggled at the sight of the sky-blue mailbox with the salmon painted on the side. Betty had told her about that, but she had to see it to believe it. Butch still loves his fishing, she thought. She pumped her fist in the air. This was it, she’d found them. She’d found a piece of her past. Secretly, in a spot deep in her heart, she felt like she might have found the rest of her family.
What had it been, twenty-one or twenty-two years since Betty Hutchins has last hugged her?
“Yay me!”
She’d wanted to surprise them, so she was here three weeks earlier than when Sweet Dreams Bakery was due to open. She had told them she would be in town next week. This way, she could have a lot of quality time to visit with them. It’s going to be wonderful! she thought. It would also help assuage the empty feeling she’d had since Sarah and Becca left for Florida State University.
Josie turned down the gravel driveway to their house. She loved all the houses here in Fate Harbor. They hid far down from the road, surrounded by evergreen trees with ferns and other emerald greenery spilling around them.
As she pulled her car up to the front of the house, she was surprised to see a large black truck in the driveway. Butch and Betty were both in their late sixties and she had trouble visualizing them in such a high truck. Maybe they were having visitors. Good thing she’d made extra cupcakes.
Making treats for people made her happy. It was a quick and easy route to other people’s acceptance. One of her counselors had shamed her for her need to be accepted, and Josie stopped seeing her. Instead, she found someone else who better understood her.
With the help of her second psychologist, she’d gained confidence in her business sense. She realized that her love for people and desire to please them through her baking was a good thing. The psychologist said the world needed more love, and he also reminded her that people who went into business doing what they loved were usually more successful than those who didn’t follow their passion.
Josie got out of her car and stretched, then went to the backseat to get the Tupperware container of cupcakes she’d brought with her from Florida. She’d made sure to bake a moist recipe, since she knew it would be a long drive and she’d be taking plenty of rest stops.
She bent over too fast, then gasped for breath. She’d bound the corset pretty tight today, because she woke up with her back hurting from the fourth day of driving. She liked using corsets instead of braces. She slowed down and bent again.
When she turned around, she came face-to-face with a broad chest in a blue flannel shirt.
“Butch!” she squealed in delight.
She looked up and took an immediate step back. It wasn’t Butch. Instead, a blonde hotty confronted her. She took another step back and started to fall into her packed back seat. One big hand reached around her waist, while the other grabbed the container before it hit the ground.
“Welcome to Fate Harbor, Zee. I’ve missed you.”
He pulled her in for a hug. Sparks flew out to every nerve ending in her body. She stared up into familiar blue eyes that tugged at her memory. The handsome man looked down at her, his gaze intent as he brushed his fingertips down her cheek.
She pushed back from his chest, and that broke the spell.
“Who are you?” Her voice didn’t sound like her own. She’d meant it to come out forceful, not breathy. She tried again. “Who are you? And give me my container.”
He laughed.
“Still a spitfire,” he said. He gently placed the plastic box back into her waiting hands.
She cocked her head. Do I know him from somewhere? He seemed so familiar.
“Nobody calls me Zee.” She looked at him again. “How do you know my name?”
“We used to live together with Betty and Butch back in San Clemente. I’m Chance Reynolds, do you remember?”
Josie stared at the big man in front of her with the blue eyes, curly blond hair, and stubborn jaw with a little bit of blond stubble. He smiled back at her, and then he reached out and stroked a wayward lock of unruly black hair behind her ear.
“Little Chance?” Josie couldn’t stop the tears that clogged her voice. That little boy had been one of the best memories of her life. Looking him over, it was definitely possible. The coloring was the same and so were the straight nose and high cheekbones.
“Not so little anymore, huh?” And then he smiled. His eyes lit up and sparkled exactly like she remembered.
“Chance!” She bent down and placed the Tupperware on the ground, gasping a little as she drew herself back up. She opened her arms wide to take him in a hug, but he gripped each of her hands, holding them out from her body, and looked down at her. “Are you hurting, Zee?”
“It’s nothing. I have a bad back and sometimes it acts up. Stop stalling and give me another hug, you big lug.” She laughed up into his face. She couldn’t believe that she was standing next to Chance. She hadn’t even realized how much she’d missed him until she was a second away from holding him close. She pulled at her hands so she could embrace him, but he didn’t let go.
“What do you mean a bad back? How bad? Did I hurt you before?”
She rolled her eyes. “Seriously? Little Chance has turned into a Neanderthal? Just hug me for goodness sake.”
“Answer the questions.”
“A hug will make me feel better, and it will make me more likely to answer your questions.” No way was she going to put up with his sass right out of the gate.
Still looking at him, she saw some of the mischief fade from his eyes, to be replaced by determination and concern.
She saw the moment he was going to agree, before he reared back.
“Don’t think you’re always going to be able to wrap me around your little finger,” he warned.
Then he enveloped her in a gentle hug, and the intense pleasure coursing through her body amazed her. For goodness’ sake, this was Little Chance!
Reluctantly, he let her go, not wanting to come off too strong. He pulled back and grabbed her hands, unable to stop himself from staring at her.
Chance couldn’t believe how beautiful Josie was in person. And tiny. She was just a little thing. She couldn’t be much more than five feet tall. She wore leggings and boots, and some god-awful sweater that had to be at least three sizes too big for her. But every time she moved, the sweater pressed lovingly against her bountiful curves, showing off everything that Josie apparently tried to hide.
What’s more, when Chance had first caught her around the waist to steady her, he could have sworn he felt a corset underneath the sweater. But when she mentioned a bad back, he recalibrated his thinking to consider a brace. What had happened to his Zee?
“What are you doing here? Do you live with Betty and Butch? Betty didn’t mention you in any of our Skype conversations the last few months.”
Chance saw the wheels turning. He realized that the omission was a big deal. Damn, he wasn’t going to get away with much of anything where she was concerned.
“No, I don’t live with them. I recently moved to Fate Harbor to work on a couple of projects. I mostly telecommute, I just wanted to be close by in case Butch or Betty needed me. I ended up living with them until I was eighteen. They’re parents to me, and I want to be there for them now, like they were always there for me.” Chance watched as her pretty golden-brown eyes softened.
“Oh, that must have happened recently, otherwise Betty would have mentioned it. What kind of telecommuting do you do? Where are they? Did you know I bought the bakery in town?” Chance would have thought she was nervous, but he remembered her rapid-fire speech from when they were children. Whenever Josie was happy or excited, words and sentences just tumbled out. It was when she was quiet that you had to worry.
“They took off on one of their motorhome road trips yesterday. They went to visit Lake Chelan. I
know they intended to be back in time for your arrival.” When the Fate Harbor banker had casually mentioned that the new owner of the bakery had arranged for the utilities to be turned on a week early for her arrival, he figured out she was planning a surprise visit. He had talked Betty into taking a quick trip to Lake Chelan in Idaho. He had bribed her with a three-night stay at a fancy resort and promised that Josie would be well taken care of.
Betty’s only question was to ask how Sam was doing. Apparently, nothing got by his foster mother. Chance had told her that Sam’s migraines were down to twice a week, and he was actually seeing all the doctors that he was supposed to be seeing. Satisfied, she took Chance up on his offer and convinced Butch that a vacation was in order.
“Oh…well, I guess I can spend my time getting the shop more in order. I was really hoping to spend this week catching up with them. My time with them—” She stopped short.
“What, Zee? Your time with them was what?” Chance squeezed her hands.
“Well, my time with them was the best part of my childhood,” she admitted reluctantly.
“Even better than your time with your sisters?” he probed.
“You know about my sisters?”
“Betty’s been talking about your arrival nonstop. She’s so proud of all that you’ve accomplished. I would have thought that growing up with your sisters would have been the best part of your childhood,” Chance stated.
“After Sarah and Becca were born, my childhood kind of came to a halt.” Josie pulled away from Chance and started to bend down toward the box. He stopped her and picked it up.
“What’s in here?”
“Some treats for Betty and Butch. Do you want them?” Chance saw that she was already turning to get back in her car, and he was having none of that. Apparently, asking about her childhood away from the Hutchins’ was not the way to go. He deftly grabbed her elbow and steered her toward the house.
Theirs To Treasure: Happily Ever After (Fate Harbor Book 1) Page 2
