Home for Love (An Adult Contemporary Romance)

by Price, Aneesa

  “What’s that smile about?” Todd asked, nosily.

  In the past, her automatic response would’ve been something like, “Nothing much.” Now, she felt secure enough to share. “I’m just thinking back to when I first sat in this kitchen and how far we’ve come. All of us - you and I have a great relationship as co-parents and friends, I couldn’t ask for a closer bond between you and Amber, my relationship with my grandparents remains strong and I’ve even reformed old friendships.”

  Todd’s eyes sparkled with sincere happiness for her. “That’s really great to hear, Bree. I’ve noticed it too, but to hear you say it makes it more concrete. And, I’m very glad that you and I have resolved our differences. We’re true friends again and I like it. I missed you all those years, so it’s good to have you back home for good. So, I hope your happiness remains cast in stone.” He raised his mug of coffee at her in salute.

  Bree’s lips curved at his sweetness, “Thank you. It means a lot to me that you feel that way. And may I return the sentiment. May your happiness, Todd, be real and true for you and may you have longevity and vitality.” Bree clicked her mug against his.

  “My pleasure,” Todd responded. “And thank you.”

  “I have a confession to make,” Todd admitted, “I’ve lured you here with the bribe of my superb coffee so that I could find out what we’re doing for Halloween.”

  “I appreciate the coffee,” Bree held up the mug. “But, you could’ve just asked or called. Frankly, I should’ve discussed this with you earlier, but I got a bit distracted with all the Halloween arrangements. I admit that I’m surprised that Amber hasn’t spoken your ears off about the plans already.”

  “No problem,” Todd shrugged, “my time is yours anyway. Amber did speak a lot. In fact she spoke so much that I’m kinda confused.”

  “The short version is that Amber is going trick or treating with the kids on your street. So, we’ll get ready at your place. Then afterwards, the regular folk are coming over to the farmhouse for a party for the kids. We’re also including the kids from the youth program, and of course, the entire bunch from Devil’s Peak Cares will be there also.”

  “Sounds good,” Todd nodded, looking thoughtful. “There’s just one obstacle though.”

  “Oh?” Bree probed.

  “I have to be back at my place by nine for a party,” he clarified.

  “Are you throwing a party?” Bree asked, waving her hand to stop his response. “No, don’t worry. You’re doing so much already by having us invade your home for the trick and treating. If you want to have a party, go ahead. That’s okay. The main thing is that you see Amber and gush all over her princess costume.”

  “I’m delighted to host the trick or treating, as you put it, from my place,” Todd stated. “But, I’ll be coming to the farm, too. I’ll just have to leave by eight.”

  Bree smiled broadly at him, “Thanks. That would be great and Amber would probably be close to asleep by then anyway. Who am I kidding?” Bree thought better of that wish. “Amber will be too fixated with her friends and high on candy to be concerned with any adult. Unfortunately, that includes us as her parents.”

  “I figured that,” Todd returned. “But, I was hoping that you’d join me as my guest.” When she looked at him in confusion, he clarified, “I was hoping that you’d come to my party.”

  Inside Bree was jumping up and down like a kid on a trampoline; she’d had some horrific Halloween imagery of Todd getting to up close and personal with a hot vamp-attired guest. With her being on the invitee list, at least she’d get her fair shot. Maintaining a semblance of outward calm, Bree responded with a broad smile, “I’d love that.”

  “Great,” Todd grinned, looking as though he’d won the lottery. “We can leave the farm together.”

  Chapter 19

  The Ramsay farm was a joyful, noisy center of activity as the Halloween party venue. Despite the late hour, the children were even more active than they’d been earlier when they’d been trick or treating. Given that that activity had been colored with eagerness and chatter, it wasn’t a small feat to best it. Yet, little girls screeched as little boys teased with ghoulish stories and scary pranks, and some of them played and ran around the garden. In the living room, decorated to rival even the toy store, a horde of fascinated young faces listened attentively as Daniel embellished telling the tales of his homeland to them. Scary treats made of classics like ‘witch finger’ biscuits, ‘mummy dogs’ and ‘ghosts in the graveyard’ competed for tummy space with modern experiments such as brain jello and meatballs made to look like realistic looking eyeballs with sweet-chili sauce disguised as blood. And of course, there were loads and loads of candy in a variety of ghastly shapes and colors - the reason why the children were still running around as though it was early morning.

  Bree found Amber and her grandmother and greeted them before moving on through the crowded dining room to wave at her grandfather. Worrying that Todd wouldn’t find her; she decided to wait for him on the porch. Todd had excused himself earlier to fetch the food platters he’d ordered from The Lodge. Bree had raised a brow at that, thinking that he could just as well have helped himself to half the food at the farmhouse and he still wouldn’t have made a dent in the supplies. She’d used the time though to change into a more adult Halloween, though decently covered, costume.

  The gasps from the little girls playing in front of the house and the hoots from the little boys drew Bree’s attention to the massive, beautiful white horse that entered the property. Squinting to get a better look, Bree noticed that the person riding the horse was dressed as a knight. Giggling at the reactions of the children and the difficulty the knight had in securing the horse while keeping the children at a safe distance, Bree decided to lend a hand. “Amber,” she called out as loud as she could, “come quickly.” Fortunately, Amber was in the dining room listening to Daniel’s tales so she was close enough to hear her mom holler.

  Amber knew that when her mom called to her in that excited tone that it was worth leaving whatever she’d been doing and run. “Wow,” Amber exclaimed, flying down the stairs, very unlike a princess, to join her mother as she crossed the lawn. “That’s a real prince and his horse.”

  Bree, giggled. Thank goodness, fairytales and knights in shining armor still existed in the minds of little girls. She’d believed in that fairytale too, but now she was ecstatic with a guy who flew a plane and made a living out of hosting Alaskan adventures. Come to think of it, Bree grinned, that sounded so much sexier.

  “I think our prince is in trouble,” Bree said to Amber. “It looks like the village children are swarming him, preventing him from venturing into the Ramsay castle.”

  Amber giggled, rolling her eyes for good measure. “Mom, we don’t live in a castle.”

  But, Amber didn’t say that the prince wasn’t real, Bree thought, grinning at the selective attention of children. “Okay, well let’s help the prince out anyway.”

  Hand in hand, Bree and Amber made their way to the Prince… Todd?

  Todd, dressed as a knight, a prince to Amber, came towards them grinning widely and looking embarrassed. Amber, delighted, squealed, and ran to her father, jumping into his arms. Amber then placed a sweet kiss on his cheek and confessed, “I always knew you were a prince, Daddy.”

  “Of course,” Todd puffed for her enjoyment, “how else could you be a princess?” After a number of appreciative kisses from Amber, Todd settled her on the ground and hand in hand with his daughter, approached Bree. “Our transportation awaits, milady.”

  Bree burst out laughing. When Todd continued to hold out his hand and remain silent, she realized that it wasn’t a prank. “Really?” she checked.

  Todd nodded before leaning down and kissing Amber goodnight. “I’ll see you in the morning princess.”

  “Good night Prince Daddy,” she curtsied before giggling and running to hug Bree. “Good night, Princess or Queen Mom.” Then Amber dashed to the porch, laughing as though she
were being tickled and chattering away about her daddy being a real prince to her great-grandparents.

  By now, all the party guests, adults and children alike, were gathered outside or on the porch. Smiling with embarrassment, Bree took Todd’s hand and allowed him to help her get on the horse. When he donned the knight’s helmet, she couldn’t help joining in the laughter as Todd expertly turned the horse around and rode away from the farm.

  “Where did you get the horse?” Bree shouted to him, not sure if he could hear her through the helmet.

  “The helmet’s not real armor, so no need to shout,” he replied laughing. “And, I loaned it from The Lodge,” Todd replied.

  “You’ve made Amber’s night, Todd. Thank you.”

  “Did you enjoy it too?” he asked.

  “It was adorable and cute,” Bree replied. “It’s definitely an experience I won’t forget. I must say though that you definitely go all out for your parties.”

  “You have no idea,” Todd shot back.

  xxx

  “What time is everyone arriving?” Bree inquired when they arrived at Todd’s house.

  “Everyone is nearly here,” Todd responded, cryptically.

  After Todd had secured the horse in the makeshift shed, he placed a call to The Lodge and asked them to bring his car back and fetch it in the morning. Bree saw that Todd had prepared the shed with hay, blankets, buckets of food and water so that it resembled a real stall.

  Even though the ride from the farm to Todd’s house was relatively short, Bree found that it took a few minutes until she felt as though she was walking normally again. Todd had been so gallant about the whole, sweet gesture that she didn’t have the heart to tell him about it. He, on the other hand, having experience in riding horses, suffered no such side-effects.

  “How did you manage to convince Jack to let you hire out his horse?” Bree wondered.

  “That’s between us,” Todd teased. “Long story short, we’re entering into a business agreement and I asked for a favor.”

  “Okay,” Bree shrugged, Jack was rather generous but then again, Todd’s skills in the outdoors were legendary in this part of Alaska and if Jack wanted to keep his guests safe while offering an adventure of a lifetime then Todd was the right one to help.

  “Who put the lights on? And, why are we going around the front?’ Bree asked.

  “Because it’s prettier,” Todd explained.

  He sure is talkative, Bree thought sarcastically. But he was also right. It did look ready for a Halloween party. Jack o’ lanterns lined the path to the front door, where fake cobwebs, hollow bones and plastic spiders were ready to creep out eager trick or treaters. Tiny, plastic pumpkin tea-light holders were placed on the porch along the balustrade and a huge sign had been placed on the door, a boney finger pointing to the words, “Enter Please."

  Expecting more of the same, Bree let out a gasp as she entered the house. Baffled, she looked at Todd, the house, and back again.

  “Welcome to the party,” Todd smiled down at her, delighting in her reaction.

  “I don’t understand,” Bree whispered.

  “Isn’t it obvious?” Todd grinned. “This is for you, milady.” He bowed and held out his hand to her.

  Fascinated and touched, Bree took his hand and allowed him to lead her. When she entered the living room, it was even more beautiful. The hallway had been decorated with rows of glowing white candles, illuminating the space and casting a warm glow throughout the room. The glow from dozens of candles accentuated the colors of the profusion of flowers placed on every surface in the living room. Bree had always loved country flowers, preferring them to the more predictable rose and the more colorful and unusual, the better. The room held every country flower she’d ever seen and colored the room in hues of bright blues, pinks, yellows, and every color imaginable on a flower.

  In the middle of the room, space had been created for a small two-seater table, which was draped with a long, white tablecloth on which stood a tall simple vase with a few sprigs of flowers. Wine glasses and an ice-filled bucket with a bottle of champagne stood sentinel, flanked the vase.

  “I couldn’t give you the flower-filled meadow you deserve," Todd said seating her, in all her witchy regalia, at the table. “So, I thought I’d create one for you.”

  Taking off the pointy black hat, she looked at him in the chair that he’d pulled up next to her. The feel of her hand in his, the room, and the thought and preparation it had taken to create this masterpiece, left her breathless and in a mild state of shock.

  Todd grinned, he’d never seen her speechless before and he was going to take full advantage of it. “When we had ‘the fight’,” Todd began.

  “No, please don’t go there,” Bree requested.

  Todd shook his head, “I want to mention it so we can wipe it away for good. Let me explain please?” When she nodded, he continued, “When we had that argument,” he amended, “you said that you want and deserve a man who will want to be with you, look for you when you’re not around, cherish you, and love you.”

  Bree bit her lip and nodded. Taking a breath, Todd declared, “You were right to ask for it and I was wrong to think that we could have a marriage of convenience. You see, such a marriage between us wouldn’t work.”

  At her sharp intake of breath, he smiled gently and carried on. “It wouldn’t work the way I foresaw it then, because I hadn't fully realized how much I love you.”

  Bree couldn’t speak because what she was feeling was so overwhelmingly wonderful. The shock slowly wore off and she started to regain her breath, excitement, relief, joy, and most of all the love she felt for him and felt from him flooded her senses.

  “This isn’t coming out of nowhere, Bree,” he confessed. “After you told me about the depression, I did a lot of thinking and went to see Doctor Roz myself.”

  “And of course, as it’s confidential, no one knew,” Bree interjected.

  “Yes,” Todd agreed. “After I’d completed the therapy, I paid a visit to my mom’s grave and then travelled to Ketchikan to visit my dad’s grave too. The therapy made me realize that I needed to forgive them before I could move on. More importantly, because I hadn’t forgiven them or myself, I wasn’t able to forgive you for keeping Amber a secret from me.”

  “Oh Todd,” Bree stroked the side of his face, mixed tears of sorrow and happiness sliding down her cheeks. “I’m so sorry for what I did.”

  “I know,” Todd replied, taking her hand and kissing it. “And we already had this conversation and what I said then still stands true. I’m proud of how you’ve raised Amber and I’m happy that you’re both in my life now. When you told me about the depression, I decided to go for therapy and work on the issues I had with my past. It wasn't an easy decision to make, but I figured that if you could do it and it was obviously helping you, then maybe I’d benefit from it too.”

  “Going to therapy was easy. It took a while longer for me to work around to forgiving my parents and myself. I realized very early on though that I still loved you. In fact, I loved you more because you’ve evolved from the vivacious, gorgeous girl I worshipped to a beautiful woman with a kind and generous soul that I adore, respect and love even more.”

  “So why did you wait so long?” Bree ventured. “I didn’t know if you were being friendly or if you were interested in me.”

  “I wanted to journey into the next part of our relationship at my best, which to me meant that I needed to let go of the past with my parents. That took a bit of time. I also wanted to make sure that you were okay, and to give you the chance to focus on you and what you needed to do to work through what you were going through. So, I offered friendship first and then when that got too unbearable because it just wasn’t enough, I decided to slowly woo you.”

  “Woo?” Bree raised a brow.

  “I Googled romance ideas,” Todd confessed, smiling sheepishly, “and they used that word often.”

  Giggling, Bree leaned in for a kiss. It was a so
ft, sweet kiss, drawn out to relish in the sensation of being kissed by someone who loved you completely. Gently pushing Bree away, Todd cleared his throat. “If we carry on doing that, I won’t be able to stop, and I need to tell you something first.”

  “Okay,” Bree sighed, playing with the armor he still had on, “although I’m happy with what you’ve said. I love you, you love me, and you want us to be a couple again. Now, can we get to the juicy parts please? My knight needs to rescue me from this sexual frustration I’ve been experiencing for longer than I care to remember.”

  Todd leaned in and clamped his lips on hers. Sighing in relief, Bree matched his passion and sank into the kiss. It was hot, brutal, and all-consuming. Then just as she ran her fingers through his hair to pull him closer, he pulled away.

  He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I second you on the sexual frustration theory, but I do need to tell you something.”

  “Okay, Mr. Hunter, make it quick,” Bree ordered, leaning back into her chair to put some distance between them before she grabbed him and changed his mind. He obviously had something important to say, she wanted to give him the opportunity, and whilst her hormones raged, she was in fact dying to know what it was.

  “You said you loved me,” he stated. “Why?”

  Bree’s lips curved slowly, savoring the emotions that flitted through her when she thought of the way she felt about him. “I love you because you’re my best friend. You always were, and getting to know you again, I find that I respect and appreciate the changes that I see in you. I love how you’ve taken on the challenges that life’s thrown your way and have risen way above them, more than anyone could’ve expected. I love how all that I believed that you were capable of, you’ve done and more. Not necessarily professionally, although that’s impressive in and of itself, but in the way, you interact with others, the way you are generous, and tolerant. I love how I can act like a kid with you and how we laugh together. I love that our philosophies of life and parenting as well as our values match or complement each other’s. I love how you are with Amber. Most of all, I love you just because. I can’t explain it, but I feel as though there is a part of me missing when you’re not near me and when you are, I feel drawn to you. I just plain love you, although I love you so much there’s nothing plain about it really.”