Cory put his hands up in defense. “Don’t look at me. I haven’t either. You need to talk to someone who has. Aren’t some of your brothers married?”
“Yeah.”
“So ask them.”
“You’re not freaked out by this?”
“Are you?”
“Kind of.”
Cory grabbed another piece of pizza and took a bite, chewing thoughtfully. Once he’d swallowed, he said, “You were out of control, before. I’m not surprised you crashed and burned. Whoever she is, it’s obvious she made a difference in your life. She’s important enough and special enough that she cut through your bullshit past and got to you. I can’t wait to meet her.”
“She and I talked about this before I left. How would we make a relationship work when we’re always on the road, bouncing around from town to town? She’s involved in a lot of causes and charity organizations in Houston that she doesn’t want to leave behind. Our lives are literally incompatible.”
“We can’t keep up this pace forever. It’s no way to live, man,” Cory said. “I always thought of it like we’d do the crazy life on the road until we got established and had a solid fan base, then we could settle and have a saner touring schedule.”
Jaxon didn’t know why he hadn’t thought about that. He sort of figured they’d go full force until their fame burned out, but how did the bands with staying power do it? They couldn’t keep up the kind of pace Raising Caine had set, so why should Raising Caine?
A tiny spark of hope came to life in his mind. Maybe, just maybe he could have his career and have Lily, too.
While Cory worked on his pizza and beer and went back to his game, Jaxon texted Hunter, Xander, and Damian, asking if they were available for a Skype call. Damian was out of the country somewhere on a super-secret SEAL mission, but Hunter and Xander signed on.
“Hey, bro, what’s up?” Xander said, his face tiny on the phone screen.
“Hang on,” Jaxon said, then to Cory—who had just lost his game and sworn about it while slamming his controller on the table—he said, “I’m switching to the TV. You’re done, right?”
“Yeah. Stupid fucking game,” Cory grumbled.
Jaxon switched the Skype call to the TV, and his brothers’ faces suddenly filled the screen.
“Hey, guys,” Jaxon said. “You remember Cory?”
“What’s up?” Xander asked. “When are you going to come see us?”
“You sound like an old grandmother,” Hunter said, smirking.
“Shut up, asshole,” Xander said.
“I was actually in Houston for a month in August. That’s part of why I’m calling.”
“Wait, you were in town and didn’t visit any of us?” Hunter asked.
“Jesus, you guys. We saw each other at Christmas.”
“What were you so busy with in August you couldn’t even call?” Xander asked. Jaxon knew they were just giving him shit, but he hoped Xander didn’t find out he’d taken Lily to the Outpost and hadn’t told him. He’d never hear the end of that.
“I was on a retreat. We were scheduled to be in the studio to record a new album in October, but I couldn’t write. So I needed a break. Anyway, the reason I called is…”
He didn’t know how to tell them he’d fallen in love without it turning into a shit-fest. At Damian’s wedding they’d all been merciless when he claimed he’d remain a bachelor forever.
“What?” Hunter asked, typically impatient.
“He fell in love,” Cory said.
“Say what?” Xander asked. “I’m sure I didn’t hear that right. It sounded like you said my little brother, who swore not six months ago that he’d remain a bachelor forever, has fallen in love. But that can’t be right. Can it Hunter?”
“Fuck, no.”
“Damian is going to love this. You know he’ll never, ever let it go, right?” Xander asked, snickering as he spoke.
“Okay, fine, get it out of your systems,” Jaxon said. “But can you do it later? I seriously need your advice.”
“It must be bad if you swallowed your pride and said those words,” Hunter said.
“What do you need, bro?” Xander asked.
The best thing about having five brothers was that even though they could be a pack of ruthless dickheads, when the chips were down they’d always have his back, no matter what. It might cost him, but he didn’t care. They needed each other.
“I guess I don’t know what to do about it.”
Hunter snorted. “Well, when a man loves a woman, they get naked and the man puts his…”
“Shut up,” Jaxon said, interrupting him. “You know what I mean. How do you integrate another person into your life? I mean, we did talk about it, but she doesn’t want to leave Houston because she has work there she’s dedicated to. And my career has me travelling all over the country. How do we do it?”
“Do you love her?” Xander asked.
“Yes.” Jaxon didn’t even pause. He didn’t even have to think about it.
“Then you compromise,” Xander said. “If you can’t have things the way you want, and she can’t have things the way she wants, you find something in the middle. Look at Damian and Elena. They both have careers that take them all over, but they’ve adjusted their expectations of marriage and relationship.”
“You know how much I hate compromise,” Hunter said. “I haven’t continued to grow the business by giving in, but sometimes it’s necessary to get what you want. Especially in marriage.”
“And the single most important thing is always remain faithful to her. If you love her enough to marry her, you don’t want to lose her because you’re an asshole with shitty judgment,” Xander said. “Always remember she’s the best thing that will ever happen to you, so don’t fuck it up.”
***
Lily groaned as she shifted her fat pregnant body on the couch. To be fair, she was only somewhere between five and six months pregnant, and not nearly as fat as she would be, but her changing body freaked her out.
Summer came to check on her often. They had dinners together, and sometimes they did movie night, but mostly Lily was alone.
Tonight they watched Thirteen Going On Thirty. It made her cry. Everything made her cry now, as if her emotions were just so big they spilled over into tears at the drop of a hat.
“Could you get me a glass of water?” Lily asked, giving Summer her best pregnant puppy-dog face.
Summer paused the movie and stood up with Lily’s glass in her hand. “Jaxon should be here doing this. He’s that baby’s daddy. He deserves to know about it, but he should also get his rich rock star ass back here and participate.”
“It’s not his fault,” Lily said. “I don’t know how to tell him.”
“Oh, for crying out loud,” Summer said. She put the glass down and snagged Lily’s phone off the table.
Panic slid like a cold, hard lump into Lily’s gut. “What are you doing? Give that back.”
“Nope,” Summer said. She fiddled with the phone, then put it to her ear and waited. After a moment, she said, “Hey, Jaxon? This is Summer.”
Lily rolled herself off the couch and grabbed at Summer, trying to retrieve her phone. “Give me that,” she said. Summer danced out of the way.
“Listen…Lily’s almost six months pregnant with your baby.” Lily froze, terror gripping her every nerve, as Summer handed her the phone with a big grin on her face. “That’s how you tell him.”
Lily took the phone. “Hello?” Her voice came out as a tiny squeak.
“Lily? Is it true? Are you pregnant?”
“Yes.”
“Why the hell didn’t you tell me?”
“Well, I meant to, but then the further along I got the harder it seemed to be to call and explain why I waited.”
“Why did you wait?”
“I don’t know. All the reasons don’t seem logical now.”
“Wait, did you know before I left?”
She winced. He’d hate her, but she o
wed him the truth. “I didn’t know for sure, but I suspected.”
“Jesus, Lily. It’s my baby, too. You know I love you. I’m going to love our baby, too.”
He actually choked on the words love and baby. Her eyes filled with tears.
“I’m sorry, Jaxon. I never should have let you go,” Lily said.
“Leaving was a huge mistake. I love you, Lily. I love you. So much that I wrote an entire album of songs about it. The guys even asked about it. I’m sorry I left you behind.”
By now tears slid down her cheeks. The baby fluttered in her belly and her heart swelled with love for it and Jaxon. “I love you, too, but how are we supposed to make this work? I’m not going to raise a baby traipsing all over the world. I want a home. But I won’t demand you give up what you love to do, either. You’ll resent me if I do that.”
“We’ll figure it out. We’ll cut down the band’s touring schedule now that we’ve built an audience, and you and I will have a home. We may not have a traditional relationship, but we’ll do what works for us. That’s all we can do”
“Okay. Will you come home now?”
EPILOGUE
One Month Later
“Summer, this food is amazing, as always,” Jaxon said.
He fiddled with the new wedding ring on his finger, and grinned. He’d come a long way in the last year. Never, ever had he imagined himself married, much less facing impending fatherhood. But that was only because he hadn’t experienced it. At the moment he was so happy he might just burst with it.
Lily floated into the kitchen of Dixon Run estate, looking like a fairy princess in her lacy, chiffon dress. She wore her coppery hair piled up on her head with pearls and flowers, and she glowed, radiating bliss.
She sidled up to him, her pregnant belly a ridiculous turn-on. “Hey there, handsome,” she said, leaning up on her toes to kiss him. His hand went to her belly. He loved the tightness of it, and the little person inside rolling under his touch. He leaned down to kiss her belly.
“Looks like Bishop was right,” Xander said, leading the parade of brothers and some of their wives, who all piled into the kitchen. At Damian’s wedding Bishop had predicted Jaxon would be the next to marry, despite Jaxon’s protests.
Bishop looked even more hermit than usual with his long blond hair pulled up into a man-bun, and his long beard hanging halfway down his chest. But he’d at least put on a suit and left the forest. He held onto his beer bottle like his only lifeline.
“Whatever,” Jaxon said. “This is one time I’m happy to be wrong.”
Damian snorted. “Better get used to it. You’re married now. You’ll always be wrong.”
Damian’s wife Elena shoved him from behind. “Be nice.”
“I’m always nice.”
“Oh, yeah, right,” Colton said.
“You poor little thing,” Summer said. “You look like you could hardly defend yourself against the big man, either. Here, have a cookie.”
Everybody paused for just a moment, not sure how to take her comment, then Lily tittered and Jaxon snickered, and everyone else burst out laughing. Summer beamed. She loved being the center of attention.
“I saw your song, ‘Loving Lily’ hit number one on the charts, Jaxon,” Elena said. “Congratulations.”
“Thanks. Of course, I have Lily to thank for it.”
“Darn right,” Lily said.
Hunter’s wife, Allison, stuck her head into the kitchen and said, “Lily, you’re being asked to come throw the bouquet.”
“Okay,” she said, and headed out into the sea of people in the foyer.
They’d only invited family, his band mates, and friends, which still constituted a lot of people. Jaxon’s father, Dalton stood apart from the rest of the guests talking with Lily’s uncle. Probably some business thing. Jaxon had met Lily’s parents and although she’d claimed they were boring, he liked them. Definitely stiff and formal compared to his crazy clan, but they seemed nice.
Lily climbed up a few steps of the west wing staircase. There were surprisingly few single women—Summer, Lily’s sister Emily, Jaxon’s stepsister Cassie. “Everybody ready?” Lily asked.
“Wait,” Jaxon said. “This isn’t fair. Get all the single guys out here, too.”
Damian snickered, but shoved Colton out in front of him, and even grabbed Bishop by the arm and dragged him out of the shadows, pushing him out in the open. Bishop snarled at him and Damian actually flinched, which made Jaxon chuckle. It took some prodding, but Jaxon’s band mates finally joined the rest of the singles.
“Much better,” Xander’s wife, Gracie said, bouncing a toddler on her hip.
“Okay, go for it, Lily,” Jaxon said.
Lily turned her back on the group. “One, two, three.” She counted down then tossed the bouquet backwards over her shoulder. A dozen sets of hands scrambled for the flowers as they bounced in the air like a person in the mosh pit. Finally, two hands closed on the bouquet. When the crowd parted, both Colton and Cassie stood staring at each other over the flowers. Colton blushed and released them, then turned on his heel and headed for the kitchen.
“What’s that all about?” Lily asked as Jaxon helped her down the stairs.
“Not sure.”
“Ask me, Colton’s got the hots for Cassie,” Damian offered.
“What?” Xander asked. “That’s crazy.”
“Dad will shit himself,” Jaxon said.
“Which should make it a lot of fun,” Hunter said.
“What do you think, Bishop?” Damian asked.
Bishop shrugged, but he followed it with a smirk, which Jaxon read as yeah, Colton’s fucked big time.
Summer had returned to the kitchen. As official caterer for the reception, she’d brought a handful of her employees to help. Lily had told Jaxon that much of the food on the menu had been rescued from dumpsters around Houston the night before. Jaxon asked her not to tell his father or the other guests. They might not be as open-minded about eating food out of the garbage.
Now, Summer popped her head out of the kitchen to announce that dinner foods had been added to the buffet line. Guests shuffled into the dining area to refill champagne and fill their plates, leaving Jaxon and Lily in the foyer for a few moments alone.
Jaxon sat on the second step. Lily sat on the first step, between his legs and leaned back into him.
“This is where we made baby Caine, you know,” she said, rubbing her belly.
Jaxon remembered that moment fondly. “I have a wedding gift for you. I’ve been waiting for the right moment to give it to you. I think this is a good time.”
She turned to see him better. “You don’t have to give me anything, Jaxon. I have everything I could ever want right here with you and the baby.”
“Me, too, but I wanted to give you something special.” He reached into the inside pocket of his jacket and pulled out an envelope, and gave it to her.
She opened it, unfolding the page inside. A key tied with a bow of yellow ribbon fell into her hand. As she read the paper, her face transformed. Her brows went up and her mouth fell open in surprise. “This is a deed. To this house.”
“It is. When we decided to get married, I knew one of your biggest concerns was to have a home and roots, and I thought, what better place? It’s already your home. It’s where we met and fell in love. So I asked your uncle if I could buy it from him, and he said yes.”
Tears welled in her eyes and she launched herself into his arms. “It’s the best gift I could ask for.”
“I’d do anything to make you happy.”
“You already have.”
“I have one favor to ask, though,” he said.
“Oh?”
“I’d like to rename the estate to something that’s ‘us’.”
“Like?”
“I’d like to call it Harmony House.”
She grabbed his tie and pulled him down into a kiss, then said. “It’s perfect.”
THE END
ACKNOWL
EDGEMENTS
To Wren, LeTeisha, Niki, and Liv: Thank you for your sharp eyes and spot-on suggestions and attention to detail. You helped polish the story and whip it into shape!
To the Relentless Writers: Thank you for helping me with all my out-of-the-blue panic when scenes don’t work, and for always being there to listen to my whining and still offering your help anyway! You guys are my homies.
To Wren: Thank you for commiserating, for making me laugh, for tolerating me, and for sparking the idea that has grown into the Caine Brothers.
To my family: As always, thank you for being there for me. I love you.
To my readers: Thank you for your support and for your enthusiasm for my books. I’d be nowhere without you!
To Deena and eBookBuilders, the formatting wizard.
BOOKS BY MARGARET
HUNTER
By Margaret Madigan
He had a billion reasons to be happy…until he met her. Then only one reason mattered.
When Hunter Caine takes over the CEO position at his father’s multi-billion dollar real estate development company, he also inherits his father’s sexy blonde personal assistant, Allison McDowell.
Allison doesn’t appreciate being passed around like property, but when she meets Hunter, sparks fly. Sure, he’s gorgeous, but if Hunter’s anything like his misogynistic father, Allison’s ready to resign.
Hunter’s considering the purchase of a resort in Costa Rica. It’s currently a couples-only resort, so he asks Allison to go undercover with him, posing as newlyweds. Allison’s skeptical, but it’s a free trip to Costa Rica, and Hunter’s easy on the eyes, so why not?
Those sparks turn into raging hot flames as Hunter and Allison explore the resort—and each other—and discover that what happens in Costa Rica may or may not actually stay in Costa Rica.
XANDER
By Margaret Madigan
Falling for the daughter of his sworn enemy means making a choice between passion and peace.
JAXON (The Caine Brothers Book 4) Page 12
