by Soraya Lane
“So how about you guys tell me all about Harrison.”
His granddad took a sip of whiskey then coughed, holding up his hand to stop any of them from rushing at him. Chase slowly took his feet down, ready to move if he had to but respecting his granddad enough not to treat him like an invalid before he actually was one. It broke his heart to see him coughing, hacking away like it might never stop. They all stayed silent and waited him out.
“The boy’s just like you lot were,” Clay said quietly. “A heart like a lion and a mind so damn curious it’ll get him in trouble one day.”
“So there was no doubt in your mind he was a King, Granddad?” Chase asked.
“Not a doubt, son. Not a single doubt.”
Chase held his granddad’s gaze and then eased back into the sofa. From the moment Hope had told him, he’d never once doubted her, not for a second, but it meant a lot to hear his granddad reiterate what he already knew. Harrison was his son, and Hope was the woman he’d let get away once, and he sure as hell wasn’t going to let it happen again.
She wanted a grand gesture? Chase grinned to himself. Then he’d damn well give her one.
Chapter 19
“Chase?” The look on Hope’s face was priceless, a combination of confusion and what he hoped was happiness at seeing him. “What are you doing here?”
Chase shrugged. “Aren’t I allowed to just swing past and say hi?”
“No,” she said, leaning into the door as she watched him. “I’m already running late and I have to get Harrison to pre-K and…”
“No, you don’t.” He’d tried phoning her and she’d screened his calls, which is why he’d decided that coming by was the best option. Now that he was here, he wasn’t giving her an option but to come with him. Both of them.
Hope placed one hand on her hip, eyes narrowed. “What are you up to, Chase?”
“Let’s just say that your boss isn’t expecting you at work today.” Chase laughed. “And I may have called in and told Harrison’s teachers that he wouldn’t be in today, too.”
“You what?” She looked angry, and angry wasn’t the reaction he was going for today. “Chase, what are you playing at?”
“I need you to grab a day bag, Hope. Put whatever you need for you and Harrison for the day. We’ll be back before bedtime.”
“Chase…” She still had her hand on her hip, but her expression appeared less angry and more curious now. “Is this because of what happened the other day? Because I just needed some time to think.”
“Just trust me, darlin’,” Chase said with a wink. “It’s gonna be fun. And I’m not planning on holding the other day against you.” He’d been pissed at the time, but he got it. She was Harrison’s mom and she was super protective over her boy—it was frustrating, but it was also understandable. As far as he was concerned all it meant was that he had to work a little harder to prove himself.
Hope held her arms out and blocked the doorway. “Give me a hint or I’m not moving an inch.”
He leaned in and gave her a kiss, hands to her hips as he lingered longer than he needed to, smiling against her mouth as she groaned and kissed him back.
“Let’s just say we’re leaving, on a jet plane,” Chase said in a singsong voice, manhandling her aside as she protested.
“Chase, get back here!” she called, following him down the hallway as he jogged into the kitchen.
“Hey buddy!” he said when he saw Harrison, holding up his hand for a high five.
Harrison slammed his palm into Chase’s. “Whaddaya doing?”
“I’m here to take you and your mom somewhere fun for the day. What do you say to an adventure?”
“Chase, where are you planning on taking us?” Hope asked, standing behind him.
“Canada,” he said simply, like it was the most sensible answer in the world, even though he knew he’d as good as shocked the pants off her. “I’ve got the jet fueled up and waiting for us.”
“You have your plane waiting?” Hope’s eyes were wide, her hands back on her hips like she was about to tell him off.
“You have your own plane? For real?” Harrison asked, jumping up and down on the spot.
“Yeah, we have a plane. It’s pretty cool.” Chase held his hand out to him. “Want to come for a ride in it this morning instead of going to pre-K?”
“Yeah!”
Chase turned, hand in hand with Harrison and putting on his best sad-puppy-dog expression. “What do you say, Mama Bear? Can we go?”
“Canada?” Hope asked, like she was more stuck on where they were going than the fact he had his family’s jet waiting. “Why Canada?”
He let go of Harrison’s hand and crossed the kitchen, staring into her eyes as he reached for her. Chase touched one hand to her cheek, wishing he could tell her everything he felt for her and not even knowing where to start.
“Just trust me, Hope. I’m doing this for you.”
He watched her take a breath, her chest rising, then falling.
“Do you trust me?” Chase asked.
“Of course I trust you,” she replied, smiling up at him. “I just don’t understand why we have to go to Canada.” Hope laughed. “I mean, take us on your jet if you want to impress us, but couldn’t we have gone to New York or somewhere more exciting?”
“It’s not just about impressing you with the plane,” Chase told her. “When we get there it’ll make sense. Trust me.”
“I’m just not sure about going back, Chase. I don’t want to keep thinking about what we lost there.”
He looked into the only pair of eyes that had ever had the power to truly captivate him, and gave her what he hoped was a reassuring smile. For the first time in his life he was ready to give up everything for a woman, and it scared the crap out of him.
“Just trust me, Hope. You’ll be happy you did, okay?”
Harrison slapped at Chase’s leg just as Chase was about to kiss Hope.
“Hey, Chase? Do you mean like a real real plane or a pretend one?”
Chase looked at Hope and they both burst out laughing. “A real real plane, Harris. Now let’s give your mom a minute to get ready. You like video games?”
“Yeah!”
“Then how about I make a call and check we’ve got some good kids movies and games on the plane, huh?”
Chase ruffled Harrison’s hair, something inside of him turning to mush as the kid smiled up at him. He’d never been a soft touch, never, and all of a sudden he wanted to bend over backward just to make the boy happy. Not to mention the fact that he’d warned his brothers they might have to make some changes around the ranch. It’d break his heart to leave Texas, but if it meant keeping Hope and Harrison in his life, then there was nothing he wouldn’t do. He protected what was his and fought for what he wanted, and there was no battle too big when it came to family. Not one.
* * *
“I still can’t believe it,” Hope said, nose pressed to the glass as they landed at Grand Forks International Airport. “You didn’t have to make some grand gesture to impress me.” He didn’t have to, but he sure as hell had impressed her.
“It’s nothing.”
She resisted the urge to roll her eyes. “Yeah, ’cause just anyone could fire up their private jet and whisk a girl to off for the day.”
“Hey, if you want me to get the pilot to turn back around…”
“No!” Hope pried her eyes from the window and turned her focus on Chase. “I just can’t believe that when I woke up this morning I was prepping for a day at work, and now I’m here. The last time I was in GFK, I was a mess.”
Chase was sitting beside Harrison, who was too busy playing games on the screen that was attached to his chair to even notice that they’d just landed, and she was sitting across from him.
“These past couple of weeks seeing you again have been like…” Her eyebrows pulled together as she tried to find the right word. “Like a dream, I guess. Part of me still thinks I’m going to wake up one morning
and I’ll have just imagined it all.”
Chase leaned forward and took her hand in two of his, turning it over so he could stroke her palm. “And the other part?”
She shook her head, refusing to cry even as emotion bubbled up in her throat. Hope took a deep breath and smiled as Chase brought her hand up to meet his mouth and pressed a gentle kiss to her wrist.
“That part is telling me just to stop overthinking everything for once and enjoy life.”
“I’d listen to that voice, if I were you,” he told her.
She smiled as the flight attendant approached them now that they’d landed. “Mr. King, is there anything you need?”
“No, thank you. We’ll be wheels up before dark, so please be prepared to leave again within a few hours.”
“If you were me, Chase, what would you be thinking right now?” Hope asked, still completely at a loss to figure out why he’d whisked her away from Texas on such short notice.
“I’d be wondering if I was going to visit my family’s old ranch.”
Her heart started to beat faster than it should have. She’d sworn never to go back there, to never torture herself by dreaming about what she’d never be able to have again, and now here she was desperate to head straight there.
“And if I asked you that?”
Chase leaned over and carefully took the headphones off Harrison, and it made Hope worry all over again. She loved seeing Chase with their son. The only trouble was that Harrison still didn’t know and she was terrified of telling him in case it all turned to shit. After so long of everything going pear shaped on her, she didn’t have a whole ton of confidence about the world suddenly throwing her a lifeline.
“We’re here, little man,” Chase said.
Harrison looked up. “We’re home?”
Hope forced a smile when all she wanted to do was frown. “We’re almost back in Canada.”
She looked up at Chase. He’d never answered her question and she needed to know.
“It just so happens that we’re heading to Rocking R Ranch as soon as we get off the plane,” Chase was telling Harrison, but he was staring at her. “If your mom says that’s okay.”
“But the new owners…” she protested, torn between wanting to go back and hating the thought of seeing new owners on the property where she’d grown up.
“Were investors and have never moved in,” he told her. “There’ll be no one there.”
Hope’s heart started to pound again, heat spreading across her body. “So no one’s moved into the main house?” She wasn’t sure whether to be angry or happy.
“They’re all questions you can ask the realtor,” Chase said cryptically. “So I take back what I said before. There will be one other person there.”
If they’d been alone she would have leaped on him and begged him to tell her what the hell was going on, but with Harrison listening to every word they were saying, his eyes on theirs, she just squirmed in her seat.
“It seems like you know more than I do about the ranch,” she said, raising an eyebrow and reaching for her bag. “I presume the realtor is doing you a favor?”
“Everyone has a price, Hope,” Chase said. “Everyone.”
* * *
The drive from GFK to Rocking R seemed to take forever, but Hope didn’t want to give Chase the satisfaction of begging him for information. Harrison had fallen asleep, the journey on the plane taking it out of him. He was a great kid, but he was only four, and he was absolutely exhausted.
“We’re here,” Hope said, leaning forward as the property came into view. Two massive rocks marked the entrance a wooden sign hanging high and bearing the ranch name, a sign that her granddad had made for her dad when she was just a kid.
Chase grinned and took the turn slowly in the rental car, driving at a snail’s pace as they made their way toward the house. Tears welled up in her eyes as she watched the trees waving in the wind, the large specimens planted all the way up on either side of the driveway.
“It’s beautiful, Hope,” Chase said, taking his eyes off the drive and reaching for her hand. “I didn’t realize how amazing it would be.”
“You don’t have to be in Texas to see an incredible ranch.”
Hope blinked away tears and when Chase stopped the car he turned to face her, brushing away a few that had escaped before they could fall right down her cheeks.
“I know this is hard, but you needed to come back.”
She shook her head, biting down on her bottom lip. “So I could remember what I’d lost?” She was trying not to be angry with him, her excitement turning to dread now they were here, but it was hard not to be pissed off with him.
There was a tap on the window and she turned away so the woman standing there couldn’t see her tears. Chase never took his eyes off her, she knew because his body didn’t move an inch, and he reached for her hands, taking both of hers into his.
“Just trust me, Hope. I’m doing this for you, and it’s supposed to be a happy day, not a sad one.”
Hope nodded and let Chase kiss her. She craned her head to look at Harrison in the backseat, still asleep, and followed Chase’s lead, pushing open her door and stepping out. Familiar smells hit her straightaway; a rush of feelings that almost took the breath from her lungs.
She could hear Chase talking, but she wasn’t listening. Instead she was looking around her, taking in the house that still seemed like home to her. The wooden exterior was in perfect condition, but it was nothing fancy from the outside, just a beautiful ranch house full of beautiful memories. Farther away were more trees, their branches covered in vivid green leaves, the fields a more parched shade of yellow stretching farther than the naked eye would ever be able to see.
“Hope?”
Chase’s voice pulled her from her thoughts. “Sorry, I was a million miles away.”
She noticed the realtor had returned to her car, was standing beside it and tapping at her phone.
“You want to take a look around?” Chase asked.
“No,” she said, shaking her head and wishing to hell she’d never set foot on the place again. “I don’t think coming back was such a good idea.”
“Can I ask you something then?”
She let him take her hand and turn her around. “Sure.” She wasn’t in the mood to play, but Chase had obviously thought he was doing something nice for her in bringing her back. It wasn’t his fault she couldn’t deal with it.
“Come on, I want to ask you somewhere more private.”
The husky note of Chase’s voice surprised her. The last time she’d heard him sound like that they’d both been naked—it was his seriously sexy, deep-in-thought voice. The one that usually sent shivers down her spine, anticipating what might come next.
“I don’t want to go too far,” she said, glancing back at their vehicle. “Just in case Harrison wakes up.”
“Neither do I. Just come over here by this tree.”
She followed. “Chase, I…”
“Just stop talking,” he ordered, grabbing her hand. “This will only take a minute.”
“What will?” she asked.
“This,” Chase said, his face lighting up as he grinned and dropped to one knee.
“Chase…” Her hands were shaking, her breathing shallow as Chase looked up at her, his dark eyes tinged with gold as he watched her.
“Hope, I let you walk out of my life almost five years ago, and it was the stupidest thing I’ve ever done.”
She let him take both of her hands, tears filling her eyes again as he smiled and gripped her fingers.
“I don’t want to make that mistake again, which is why I have something to ask you.”
Chase let go of one of her hands to reach for something, but he never once broke their gaze.
“Hope Walker, I love you. I can’t believe it took me so long to admit it, but it’s true.” He laughed, and she realized he was nervous—it was the first time she’d seen him look even remotely unsure of himself before. �
��Hope, will you marry me?”
“Marry you?” If she’d thought she couldn’t breathe before, then now she was positively being strangled. A rush of warmth through her body made her hold Chase’s hand even tighter, worried she was about to faint.
But Chase had other ideas. He let go of her hand and held it out instead, slipping something cold against her skin, something … Oh my God. The something was the biggest diamond she’d ever seen, a single solitaire on a plain platinum band. She looked from the ring to Chase and back again.
“What do you say?”
“Chase, you don’t have to do this,” she mumbled, shaking her head, trying to wake up from what had to be a dream.
“I don’t have to do anything,” he said, his voice strong and confident, as self-assured as she was nervous right now. “I want to marry you, Hope.”
“If you’re doing this to try to stay in Harrison’s life, because you think it’s the right thing, because…” He silenced her jumble of words when he stood, staring down at her with a determined look on his face that she’d never seen before.
“Hope, forget all the crap you worried about when Harrison was born, okay?” he said, cupping her face with both hands and looking into her eyes, his touch so tender, so soft it was almost painful. “I love you, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. And with our son. Is that so hard to believe?”
“I’m not even officially divorced yet,” she muttered.
Chase’s eyebrows shot up. “Need me to track the bastard down and kneecap him so he signs the papers?”
Hope sighed, but she wasn’t even sure if Chase was kidding or not. “No.”
“You sure about that?” His eyebrows were raised, a determined look on his face as he waited for her reply.
“Maybe you could just hurt him a little,” she said with a laugh. “Although knowing you, you probably won’t stop at one punch.”
“Done. A black eye but no broken bones,” Chase said. “Now I’m gonna do this again, and this time you need to give me an answer.” The no-nonsense look on his face was replaced with a softer, more loving expression.
