by Marie Force
“And three days before Christmas, no less,” Hannah said. “I’m sorry you guys have to deal with this, Mols. Are you going to drive or fly?”
“We’re driving. The kids want to be there to support their father and, as Hunter put it so perfectly, to let their grandfather see what came of this marriage and life he was so opposed to.”
“That’s lovely,” Hannah said with a sigh. “Good for them.”
“I guess I should go home and pack.”
“Look at it this way—it’s a rare opportunity to get away with your kids. How often does that happen anymore?”
“Not very.”
“Try to enjoy it, because you know that mixed in with the emotion will be a lot of laughs.”
“Probably.”
“Definitely. We’re talking about your kids. They’re nothing if not funny.”
“They are,” Molly said with a smile.
“They’ll get you through this, and you’ll come home to Christmas. It’ll be fine.”
“Will he be fine? Linc?”
“Of course he will. He has you and your incredible family to get him through it. This is a blip. He’ll deal with it and go on with his life.”
“I hope you’re right.” Molly stood to leave. “Thanks for listening to me whine.”
“You’re not whining. You’re understandably furious.”
“I am, but Linc doesn’t need to see that.”
“That’s what sisters are for.” Hannah hugged her. “Hang in there.”
“Thanks, Han. Appreciate this so much.”
“Any time.”
Ray came over and handed her something warm wrapped in a paper towel. “Egg sandwich to go.”
Molly went up on tiptoes to kiss his cheek. “You’re the best. Take good care of my sister.”
“I’m trying, but she doesn’t make it easy.”
“Trust me, I know.”
“Hush, you two. I can hear you.”
“Come over after dinner on Christmas,” Molly said. “We’ll be home all day. And tell your kids, too.”
“We’ll see you at some point. Safe travels.”
Molly got in her car and ate her delicious breakfast on the way home to the barn, where she’d pack and put on a happy face for this trip, even if she was seething on the inside. Linc was the best guy she’d ever known, other than her own father, and when he hurt, she hurt. The call from his sister hurt him. The request from his father hurt him.
If they said or did anything else to hurt him, Molly wouldn’t be responsible for her actions.
Hannah shut the door behind her sister and turned to watch Ray move around the kitchen like a pro. Wanting to be self-sufficient, he’d learned to cook after his wife died, he’d told her. After more than twenty years on her own since her husband left, Hannah was still getting used to having a man around again. But Ray made it easy on her. He didn’t pressure her for more than she was willing to give or ask for things she wasn’t sure she wanted.
Rather, he was patient and kind and sweet and loving and everything she could ask for in a partner, which was why she was on the verge of doing something she’d once sworn she’d never do again—make a commitment to a man.
She went to him and wrapped her arms around him from behind, resting her head on his back. He was rock solid from years of working construction, and the first thing he’d done after moving to Vermont to live near his daughters and granddaughter was join a gym so he wouldn’t “go to hell in a handbasket,” as he put it.
“What’s up?” he asked in the gruff, New York-tinged voice she’d grown to love.
“Nothing much. What’s up with you?”
“Well, I’ve got this sweet, sexy lady clinging to me, so something else will be ‘up’ if this continues.”
And he was funny. Hannah had laughed more with him than she had since her kids had lived at home and kept her constantly entertained. “I’m happy you’re here.”
“Well, that’s nice to hear. Will you let me go so I can turn around and have this conversation face-to-face with you?”
“I’d rather do it this way.”
“We’re not hiding anymore, remember?”
Hannah reluctantly let him go and stepped back to give him room to turn around.
He caressed her face, a loving, tender gesture that made her knees feel weak. That happened a lot when he was around. “What’s on your mind, sweetheart?”
She looked up at his handsome face, weathered from years of working in the elements in New York City. “Thank you for being so patient with me.”
“You’ve made it well worth the patience,” he said with a suggestive grin.
Hannah felt her face go hot with embarrassment as she recalled their passionate nights together. He’d been a revelation to her, after having only been with her ex-husband. With Ray, she’d discovered that her marriage had been lacking in more ways than she’d realized.
He kissed her cheek and then her lips. “I love making you blush.”
“You do it far too often.”
“Because I love it so much.” He kissed her neck and gave a gentle bite that had her gasping from the sensations that lit up her entire body. “You know I love you, Hannah, don’t you?”
Hearing words that hadn’t been spoken before, she went completely still. Her first inclination was to pull back, to retreat, to run from the potential of being hurt even worse than she had been before.
“Don’t do that. Don’t go back into your shell and hide from me.”
“Old habits are hard to break.”
“You don’t need to do that anymore, Hannah. I already swore to you I’d never do to you what Mike did.”
“Leave me alone with eight kids to finish raising?” she asked with a small grin, looking for some levity as the conversation took a serious turn.
“Leave you ever.”
“You can’t know that.”
“I do know that. I was alone for a long time after my wife died. I never imagined anything like this happening again for me, but then there you were, and here we are, and this is what I want. You’re what I want.” He tipped her chin up. “Admit you love me, too.”
She shrugged. “Maybe a little.”
His brows furrowed into an expression that had probably made his daughters, Lucy and Emma, quake when he’d directed it their way as children. It only made Hannah want to giggle because she knew she had nothing at all to fear from him. “Tell me the truth.”
As she looked at the face that’d become the center of her life over the last year, she couldn’t deny how she felt about him. “Yes, Ray, of course I love you, but I promised myself a long time ago I’d never again risk more than I could bear to lose.”
“You’re not risking anything with me but a lifetime of happiness. That’s all I want for you—and for myself.”
Hannah wanted that so badly, but in the back of her mind—always—was the lingering damage Mike had inflicted when he abruptly left her after nearly twenty years of marriage. Even after all this time, it still rankled her that she hadn’t seen the end of her marriage coming until it was too late.
“I’ll never do to you what he did, Hannah,” he said again. “You already know that about me.”
She did know that. Ray was as true blue as it got. He meant what he said, and his word was gold.
“Our kids…” Her Grayson would soon marry his Emma, and a mess between her and Ray would be a mess for them, as well.
“Are madly in love and thrilled they led us to each other. You know that, too.”
“I do, but if things were to go wrong between us—”
Ray kissed her. “Nothing’s gonna go wrong.”
“You say that now.”
“I say that forever.”
“I won’t marry you.”
He feigned offense. “I’m not asking you to, but I did hear you whisper to your sister that you’re thinking about asking me to move in. So why don’t you go ahead and do that?”
“Why would I want you to move in
with me when you’re such a pain in the ass?”
“Because I’m a great cook and a god in bed?”
“Oh my Lord,” she said, rolling her eyes as she tried not to laugh her ass off.
“Am I wrong?”
“I refuse to answer that on the grounds you’ll use it against me forever.”
“You’re using the word ‘forever,’ which is a good sign.” He framed her face, kissed her again and compelled her to look up at him. “Ask me, Hannah. I promise you’ll never regret it.”
She already knew she wouldn’t regret it, but the fear loomed larger than it ought to. “I have to tell you something first.”
He looked at her warily. “What’s that?”
“Mike called me last week.”
“What’d he want?”
“To tell me that he’s in remission thanks to Gray donating bone marrow to him, and he’s been doing a lot of thinking and reflecting on his mistakes. The biggest of which, I guess, has to do with me and the children he left without a backward glance.”
“So he’s found religion after his life-threatening illness, has he?”
“Something like that. The kids have told me he’s reached out to them, too.”
“Why was he calling you?”
“To ask if I might be in a forgiving mood.”
Ray’s expression turned stormy. “Is he for real? More than twenty years after he split, he’s coming back to sniff around? I hope you told him to fuck off.”
She’d never heard him curse, let alone drop an F bomb. “I didn’t say it that way, but I let him know my door is closed and padlocked. To him, anyway.”
“Good,” he said, settling somewhat. “Takes some nerve to come back with his tail between his legs after all this time, just because he thought he was going to die and finally decided to take stock of his shit decisions.”
“You’re very cute when you’re pissed.”
“I must be downright adorable right now, then.” He put his hands on her shoulders and looked her in the eye. “Listen, Hannah. You already know I’m a simple kind of guy. I’m never going to overwhelm you with fancy words or grand gestures or romantic nonsense. What you get with me is as simple as I am: love, honesty, faithfulness, family, companionship, laughter and a promise that I won’t split when it gets tough, which it certainly will at some point. All I need to be happy is to wake up with you, see my daughters just about every day, get my baby girl Simone off the school bus every afternoon, help her with her homework and then come home to have dinner with you before we go to bed together. If that’s what every day for the rest of my life looked like, maybe with a few more grandkids thrown in at some point, it’d be way more than enough for me.”
“And you said you wouldn’t overwhelm me with fancy words,” she said, ridiculously moved.
He scowled. “There was nothing fancy about that.”
“And yet it was the fanciest thing anyone has ever said to me, because you mean it.”
“Hell yes, I mean it. It’s long past time you knew how terrific you are, how sweet, caring, loving, sexy and perfect. It’s a goddamned shame your husband ever made you feel anything other than cherished, especially after you gave him the incredible gift of eight beautiful kids. The man ought to be taken out to the woodshed and horsewhipped for what he did.”
“Your words are getting fancier.”
“Shut up and ask me to move in with you.”
“You’re being kind of pushy, aren’t you?” she asked, amused.
“Ask me, Hannah.”
She gave him a coy look she wouldn’t have thought herself still capable of before he showed her the many things she was still capable of. “You wanna move in?”
“Hell yes. I thought you’d never ask.”
“You promise you won’t make me sorry I did, right?”
“Swear to God.”
That, Hannah decided as she melted into his fierce embrace, was about the best guarantee she could ever hope to receive.
Chapter Sixteen
“Everything will be okay in the end.
If it’s not okay, it’s not the end.”
—John Lennon
After a busy morning in the office and in the store, with everyone making sure their areas of the business were covered for the time they’d be gone, the family loaded up a smaller bus than the one they’d taken to Boston in June. Car seats were strapped in for Callie and Caden, snacks were provided by Ella and Charley, and, as usual, Lucas and Landon were the last ones to arrive, right when Linc was threatening to leave without them.
“Sorry,” Landon said as he preceded his brother onto the bus. “It was his fault we’re late. I had to pry him away from Dani with a crowbar.”
“Oh my God,” Lucas said. “Shut up, will you?”
“Both of you shut up, and sit your asses down so we can get going,” Molly said.
“Mom said shut up,” Landon said, scandalized.
Those words had been on Molly’s list of felony offenses in the barn when they were growing up.
“You buffoons drive me to it,” Molly said, making everyone else laugh.
That’s good, Linc thought. The laughs will help me get through this, and there are sure to be plenty of laughs when this group goes somewhere together. Before he gave the signal to Bill, the driver, to depart, Linc stood and faced the people he loved the most. “I just want to say thanks for this. I know the timing is awful with Christmas this week, but it means the world to me that you all insisted on coming.”
“There’s no way we’d let you do this without us, Dad,” Hannah said, “so let’s get going so we can get back home to enjoy Christmas.”
“You heard the lady,” Linc said to Bill. “Let’s go to Philly.”
Hunter had ensured the movie system on the bus had their favorite holiday movie, Christmas Vacation, cued up for the ride, and as he listened to his family laugh and shout the iconic quotes, Linc could only smile at the way they always came through for him.
“Funny that the traumatic call from Philly is going to give us one of the most memorable Christmases in years, isn’t it?” Molly quietly asked him.
“I was thinking the same thing.”
“When was the last time, other than the wedding, that we all went somewhere together like this?”
“It’s been a long time,” he said, “and back then, we had to take two cars because you had so many kids.”
“Yes, that was all my fault.”
“One hundred percent your fault for being a fertile Myrtle.”
They’d had this “fight” for years about who was ultimately responsible for them having ten kids.
“Remember after we had Colton and we said seven was more than enough?” Molly asked.
“I sure do.”
“And then somehow, a few years later, you managed to knock me up again with twins. You’re lucky I didn’t murder you then.”
“I can’t help it that you’re powerless to resist me, or that your eggs were always so welcoming to my boys.”
Molly sputtered with laughter. “Shut up with your prowess and your boys.”
“Is it or is it not the truth?”
From behind them, Will leaned forward. “I have no idea what you two are talking about, and let me be crystal clear—I don’t want to know. But I’m hearing enough to plead with you, for the love of God, to change the subject.”
Molly rocked with silent laughter.
“It’s your mother’s fault, William,” Linc said. “She’s always been this way. I did my best to try to manage her, but you saw how that went. Ten children later…”
“Oh, stuff it, Lincoln Abbott.”
And so it went for seven hours full of family, fun, arguments over who initiated the most pit stops—Charley—and who farted—Colton, Lucas and Landon in a competition for volume and stink that had everyone screaming and opening the windows to frigid air—and in-depth discussions about where they ought to stop for dinner. They settled on a roadside steak house in N
ew Jersey.
They arrived at their hotel shortly after eleven. Hunter took care of the check-in using Linc’s credit card and returned with room keys.
“Hannah, you and Callie are with me,” Hunter said. “Will, you’re with Wade.”
“Thank you for not giving me Colton,” Will said.
“Max gets him,” Hunter said.
“What’d I do to piss you off?” Max asked to laughter from the others.
Hunter handed Max his key. “Sorry, pal, but someone has to take one for the team.”
“I made sure to double down on the beans at dinner,” Colton said.
“I have a child,” Max reminded his brother. “Who needs to breathe fresh air. Can’t we leave Colton on the bus?”
“There’s no law that says we can’t, right, Mol?” Linc asked.
“Not that I know of.”
“I’m not staying on the bus,” Colton said indignantly.
“Then I need a cork.” Max carried Caden as he followed Colton off the bus. “A very large cork.”
“Lucas and Landon are together, and Ella and Gavin,” Hunter said, handing them keycards.
Charley pumped her fist in the air. “That leaves me with my own room.”
“You get Gramps,” Hunter said, handing keys to her and Elmer.
“Sorry to disappoint you, Charley,” Elmer said, grinning.
“You’re the only one I’d want, Gramps,” Charley said, hooking her arm through his. “Best roommate ever.”
Hunter gestured for his parents to go ahead of him off the bus.
“Thank you for wrangling this unruly crew, son,” Linc said.
“My pleasure. For the most part, anyway.”
“We get it,” Molly said, smiling at their eldest. “We know how it goes.”
“In light of the reason for the mission, is it weird to think this is actually kind of fun?” Hunter asked.
“Not at all,” Linc said. “We were saying the same thing earlier. It’s a rare moment when the original twelve get to do anything like this. Even when we went to Boston, Wade wasn’t with us. I suppose we can thank my father for giving us a good excuse.”
“Nah, we aren’t giving him credit for anything other than your life,” Hunter said. “For that, we shall always be thankful. Otherwise, he can go fuck himself.”
