Invincible- The Complete Set

by Michelle MacQueen

  “Morning dad.” I leaned in to kiss him on the cheek. We’d been living with him for the past eight months. I would have felt bad, but I thought he secretly liked us all here, and his house was definitely big enough.

  “Hi, darlin’.” He smiled. “Heard you up bright and early on the phone.”

  “A and P again.” I rolled my eyes and started cutting up a pancake for Declan. “I told them I already had a buyer for Emma.”

  “You would if you’d actually let me buy it.”

  “I thought we were done with this conversation,” my brother, Colby, said, walking into the room. “She says it took her nine years to finish the darn thing - her word, not mine. And you said that’s why you should handle it and no one else. Did I miss anything or can I go play with my nephews?”

  He shot me a wink as he plucked Declan from my arms and took his plate from the counter.

  It was always strange seeing Colby in L.A. He felt like home, but not this home. I’d been in California for almost ten years now. One marriage, three kids, and a book later, I didn’t feel much different from when I came here. I was still scared, sarcastic, and aimless. Now I just had more responsibility.

  When Colby came to visit, it reminded me of all of that, but of good things too. He was always telling me to relax, to have fun. Sometimes I forgot to do both. Kat and Jay were regular visitors over the years, but I never went to them. Kids were my excuse, but I had my other reasons.

  Too many memories. I still woke up some nights and listened for footsteps outside the door or saw the faces from that locker room out on the street. The shooting was ten years ago, but some things never faded from memory.

  While the kids ate, I scrolled through emails on my phone. A and P again. When were they going to stop? It took me nine years of starting and stopping to produce a finished book. My mother’s story. The beginning of mine. The mystery of Emma Bay was now solved for the world. I wrote it under the name C. Bay, but many who knew my father made the connection.

  I refused every interview request, and my publisher hated me for it at first. Then the sales numbers quieted them down. It turned out, the people wanted to know the truth behind one of Hollywood’s big mysteries.

  I was eighteen when I found out my mother was the Hollywood starlet who disappeared from prying eyes. Emma Bay wasn’t her real name, allowing her to melt into a small town in Florida to escape the father of her boyfriend, my grandfather. It was such a mess, and every time I thought about it, I felt so sad for her.

  But she had a good life with us before she died. I think. We were twelve - old enough to remember her as happy.

  It wasn’t until I got to know my dad that I realized everything she’d left behind.

  Now it was me walking away from the man I thought I’d loved. Only this time, he didn’t love me back.

  I shoved Dylan from my mind and joined the boys at the table. He didn’t stay gone for long when I looked into their faces.

  He didn’t love them enough either. That fact broke my heart more than anything. He didn’t even fight for them.

  I stood on the edge of the water at Venice Beach with the pier looming nearby. It was crowded as it always was on a Saturday. Heck, it was packed pretty much every day of the week. Such was Los Angeles.

  When I arrived ten years ago, it was all so new, exciting. I’d come as a scared and broken girl and let the thrill overwhelm me. My dad turned out to be more than I was expecting, and my grandma took me under her wing.

  Then there was Dylan. I met him the day I met my father, and that time was all such a blur. I’d used him to make me feel better; to ground me in this unknown city. I’d used him to forget.

  I never meant to fall in love.

  Glancing back to where the boys played in the sand, my eyes stayed on Jackson’s face. I hadn’t meant to get pregnant either. That came before the love. Way before. But it was the part I didn’t regret. If it hadn’t been for him, I might have gone home.

  Home. That was what Florida was. Never L.A. I didn’t fit here. It was Dylan’s city. I guess that was one of the many reasons he forced me to walk away.

  The saga of the divorce was over. I’d gotten over Dylan’s affair. I had full custody. My book was out. Now was the time. I’d been preparing to take my boys away from here for months. That was why Colby came. My brother. My twin. Always there when I needed him. It was time I returned the favor. He wanted me back.

  I felt a presence beside me before I saw him.

  “You’re here,” I said, harsher than I’d intended.

  Before he could respond, Liam came running. “Daddy!”

  Dylan dropped his board and scooped Liam up. “Hey, little man.”

  “I miss you, Daddy.”

  A tear escaped from my eye, but I chalked it up to sweat from the hot sun.

  “I miss you too, buddy.” He put Liam down and gestured to the other boys. “Go tell your brothers I’ll come over in a minute. I need to talk to mommy.”

  Liam flashed a smile and darted off.

  “I’m always here surfing on Saturday mornings.” Dylan turned back toward me. “You know that. We used to come together.”

  “I must have forgotten, you know, with taking care of three kids and all.”

  He raised a tanned hand to scratch his chin. “Jesus, Cal. Don’t be such a-”

  “Such a what? Girl? Wife? Mother? Which term were you going to use to tear me down?”

  Silence stretched between us before he laughed. “Gosh, I’ve missed that tongue of yours.”

  “I’ll bet.” A smile formed of its own accord. “Look, Dylan, I did know you’d be here. I thought you’d want to see them before we leave this week. I’m not here for you. This is for them.”

  “You’re really going, huh?”

  “Already finished my work at Hendrick’s. We’re packed. My brother came to drive with us.”

  “I don’t know why anyone would leave this city.”

  And that was one of the many reasons we didn’t work out. He didn’t understand a thing about me.

  “I left all the info on your desk at work. Address. Phone numbers for my people there. I may not want the boys growing up here, but they’ll still need their father.”

  “I’ll always be here, Cal,” he said.

  I know. That’s the problem. You’ll always be here. Not where we need you to be.

  After I’d left him, I waited for him to come after me, after us - even after I found out he’d been sleeping with an extra on a movie he was working on. When I told him months ago that we were leaving, my eyes had begged him to ask us to stay; be the family we were. He’d nodded, knowing before I did that we weren’t meant to last forever.

  I left him to spend time with the boys, gesturing for Colby to join me. He hooked his arm through mine.

  “Colby and Callie McCoy, together again.” He grinned. “It’ll be good to have you back.”

  I looked back over my shoulder at Dylan, who was wrestling the boys in the sand.

  “It’ll be good for you too,” Colby went on.

  “I just hope it’s the right thing for them.”

  “I’m sure going to miss you around here, sweetie.” Grandma hugged me tightly. “And those boys of yours. They do tend to put the life in you.”

  “I know what you mean,” I said. “Thanks for everything. I’m expecting you to visit. Both of you.” I turned to my father and hugged him as well.

  “Christmas in Florida,” he said. “Sounds perfect. I will need some face-to-face time to convince you to give me those movie rights.” He winked.

  “For that, you should be talking to my agent. Then you won’t have to come so far for another no.” I smiled, patting his arm. He knew that if I let anyone tell mom’s story, it’d be him, but writing the book was hard enough. I wasn’t ready for it to be on screen.

  When I’d set out to find my father all those years ago, I wouldn’t have even hoped for it to turn out like it did. We missed a lot of time, and we still had a l
ot to make up for, but we were working on it.

  They both hugged Colby and then the boys. Most of our things were being shipped, so we all crammed into a single car and left the city behind us.

  I fiddled with the radio as Colby drove, settling on NPR.

  “Senator Daniels was a well-respected man in Washington,” the man said.

  “Turn that up.” Colby didn’t have to tell me twice.

  “Such a tragedy,” a woman spoke this time.

  “For those just tuning in, Senator Mark Daniels was in a car accident yesterday evening that claimed his life. His services in Washington will take place in two days’ time. In five days, there will be services in Gulf City, Florida. Our condolences go out to his family. He leaves behind a wife and two sons.”

  I turned off the radio and didn’t speak.

  “Mommy,” Jacks called from the back seat.

  “Yeah, honey?”

  “Are we there yet?”

  “Not yet, but can we be quiet for a minute? Mommy needs to make a phone call.”

  How did you call your best friend right after they lost their father? Especially when your first thought was that the world was better off? I looked back into Declan’s sleeping face, Liam’s inquisitive eyes, and Jackson’s warm smile. Guilt at that thought melted away. I felt better raising my sons in a town without that man.

  Jay answered on the first ring. “We’re on our way,” I told him.

  That was the only thing I could do. I wouldn’t be there to mourn Senator Daniels, I’d be there to comfort his son. Sons? No, I knew Jamie wouldn’t come. I wasn’t sure I could handle it if he did.

  Four days later we pulled into the driveway of the house I’d grown up in. It belonged to me now, well to me and Colby, but he didn’t want to live there. Kat lived with her husband, Noah, about an hour away. She’d come to meet us and came running out of the house with such a huge smile it made me forget about everything else.

  I met her halfway and let her hug squeeze the air from my lungs.

  “It hasn’t been the same around here without you, Callie.” There were tears in her eyes as she spoke.

  “I haven’t been the same without you,” I responded, knowing just how true that was. Kat raised me through my teenage years. She’d been everything to me when I felt like I had nothing.

  “Let me at those nephews of mine!” She pushed by me as Colby released the boys from their seats.

  “Aunt Kat,” Jacks yelled.

  “And just who would you be?” She bent down to look him in the eye. “The Jackson Ryan I know is at least a foot shorter.”

  “It’s me, Aunt Kat.” Jacks bounced nervously. “Can’t you tell?”

  “Come here.” She pulled him into a hug, reaching her other arm out to snatch Liam into the hug as well. Liam didn’t know Kat quite as well as his brother because she hadn’t been out to California in a year or two, and he was almost too young to remember. But she’d win him over.

  Declan toddled over. “The last time I saw Dec, he wasn’t even walking.”

  “Hello there,” Declan said in his serious way.

  Kat muffled a laugh and picked him up. “Hello, I’m your Auntie Kat.”

  We walked inside to where Noah was preparing dinner and it was as if I’d never left.

  3

  Jamie

  I never thought I’d be back in Gulf City. That first year gone, all I’d wanted was to come back and regain what I’d lost. My friends. My girl. Then I got used to being away. It became easier with each passing day until it lost its power over me.

  I became a part of a new family. Had new friends. Even a new girl. My platoon. They were the ones I wanted to be with now, but they were back on base in Georgia, and I was here.

  It was the first leave I’d taken where I’d gone home instead of on some trip. Now, I had no choice. There was a funeral, and no matter how I felt about it, this was where I was supposed to be. And it wasn’t like I could go back. My hand cramped as if sending me a reminder. I massaged it until it loosened up.

  The church was packed with mourners, but I paid little attention to any of them. They didn’t recognize me. They wouldn’t. My once scraggly blond hair was buzzed short. My lean frame had bulked up considerably. I wasn’t the Jamie Daniels they knew. This new Jamie had seen things, done things, that changed a person.

  I kept my head up, catching the attention of quite a few people with my dress uniform, but managing not to be pulled to the front.

  I watched as my brother, looking just as he always had, sat in the front pew. His mother, having had a service in Washington D.C. wasn’t there. Two people joined Jay, and I recognized them at once. Colby, dressed in a stylish suit, was greeted by each person he saw. His face had grown leaner, losing the softness of youth. Callie stood beside him, standing tall in her elegant black dress. Her hair was different - dyed dark chocolate and sitting just above her shoulders in soft layers. Gone was the simple long braid. This version of Callie was older, yet still mesmerizing.

  The confidence I’d been cultivating for ten years slipped.

  She put her arm around my brother, and I wanted nothing more than to feel her touch, see her smile.

  I slid out the back after the funeral, needing to drive around for a little while to regain control before I saw all of them.

  Control. It got me through my missions. I became a Ranger because I wanted to do something big with my life. I was good at it. We ran into the situations everyone else ran from.

  How did Florida feel more like a mine field than that?

  He’s dead, I told myself. My dad was gone. So, why did the thought of him still make me feel so inadequate?

  After a while, I pulled to the side of the road in front of a house that held too many memories and a street that was overflowing with cars. The place looked the same as it always had. That porch was the first place I’d ever gotten my heart broken when Cal and I recognized our different futures. My face had been broken by my father’s fist in that entryway. Hell, pretty much every room held a memory like that. His anger felt like it was seeped into the walls.

  I stood by the open door, watching the people who only knew the face my father put on, not the real man.

  A young boy sat on the bench by the door, and I stopped, not quite ready to go in.

  “Hello,” I said, stalling the inevitable.

  He looked at me with wide eyes. “Are you a soldier?”

  I laughed, the sound seeming foreign in this place. “I am. What’s your name?”

  “Jackson.” He puffed out his chest. “You can call me Jacks. I’m nine!”

  “Well, hello Jacks, I’m Jamie and nine is a very good age.”

  “Jackson, your mother is looking for you” a familiar voice called, coming outside. Kat looked at me in astonishment. “Jamie Daniels.” A grin formed. “I didn’t know you were coming.”

  I stood to give her a hug. “No one did.”

  “Oh, this is going to be good. None of them have talked to you in ten years. Boy, you have some explaining to do.” Her face softened. “It’s so good to see you. I’ll handle Jacks. You go on in.”

  I breathed deeply, pulling open the door. The place was packed, but as I walked through, only one person caught my eye.

  She stood in the kitchen, putting out dishes of food with the help of a few other ladies from town. Grabbing a pot of coffee, she glanced up, letting out a yell as she dropped the pot to the floor. The glass didn’t break, but coffee spilled everywhere. One of the other women immediately started cleaning it up as Callie stepped out of her way.

  I rushed forward, crushing her to me. In my dreams, I’d held her so many times over the last decade. But now, here, this was real, and for the first time, I knew coming home was the right thing to do. The only thing to do.

  Callie sucked in a shaky breath, pulling away as she did. Before I knew what was happening, I was kissing her, and her fist connected with my jaw. I fell back against the counter and saw Colby and Jay nearby
with matching stunned looks on their faces.

  “We’d do the same if she hadn’t beaten us to it,” Colby said. “Ten years, man.”

  Callie looked from her brother to Jay to me. She shoved me once more and stalked away.

  “Mom,” Jacks yelled, trailing behind her. “Why are you beating up the soldier?”

  4

  Callie

  My hand stung with the reminder of what I’d just done as I pushed through the doors to the back deck, leaving the sounds of the wake behind.

  I sucked in the fresh air, hating myself for my shaky legs.

  Jamie f-ing Daniels.

  It took me a long time, but I’d finally been able to stop thinking about him. When I married Dylan, it’d only been a year since I said goodbye to the first boy I’d ever loved. The boy I still loved. But my son needed a father - if that was what Dylan was.

  Oh man. I sat on the edge of the deck and buried my face in my arms.

  Why did he think he had the right to kiss me? That right ended when we both walked away, and I didn’t hear from him for ten freaking years. An entire decade. He was just gone, abandoning me, Jay, and Colby in the process.

  Jerk.

  Little arms wrapped around my shoulders from behind. “Are you okay, Mom?”

  I smiled despite the overwhelming desire to cry. Clasping Jackson’s hand in mine, I pulled him around to sit beside me and put my arm around him.

  “I will be.”

  His warmth soaked into my side. Since I left Dylan, Jacks had seen himself as my protector. Even when my father was around, he acted as man of the house.

  “Can you teach me how to hit like you?” he asked.

  I barked out a stunned laugh. “Sweetie, you shouldn’t be hitting anyone.”

  “But if I could, then you wouldn’t have to. Girls shouldn’t hit people.”

  “I don’t know who has been spinning tales, but girls can do whatever boys can. Remember that.” I paused, thinking about what I was teaching my son. “But neither boys nor girls should be hitting people.”