Unchained

by Suzanne Halliday

  Steph? Steph? Who the hell was Steph? Nobody ever called her that.

  “Fifty,” he groaned. “God.” Shuddering for effect, he mugged for the camera and let everyone know how he felt. “I hope Drae remembered to install safety grips in your shower.”

  Stephanie nearly choked on the drink she was sipping when Calder leaned in close. “He means those fuck handlebars.” The amusement in his voice made her tummy flutter. Calder was an expert when it came to creative uses for those handy shower safety aids.

  As if the funniest thing ever had just occurred to him, Alex sat forward and slapped a hand on his knee as he chuckled. “Guess after this we should see about getting some wheelchairs, walkers, and a couple of those riding scooter things you see in Wal-Mart.”

  The sidesplitting, exaggerated visual Alex managed to create with just a few words was enough to send the entire room into an eruption of laughter.

  Holding up his can of Budweiser—that alone was funnier than hell because Alex did not enjoy a cold Bud as much as his crew did—he offered a snarky smirk and asked everyone to raise his or her drinks in a toast.

  “Stephanie Bennett. Happy birthday, girl. Here’s to turning fifty! The ultimate F word, right?” he joked with a wink, wink.

  Turning to Meghan, he asked, “Baby. You got anything to say?”

  It wasn’t until then that Stephanie keyed in on Meghan’s outfit. Her white t-shirt with the word Bride in bright pink script showed a black line drawn through the word with ‘wife’ scribbled beneath. She was also sporting an enormous hickey, visible when she pushed some of the tangled, dirty hair off her shoulder.

  “Happy birthday, Stephanie,” Meghan muttered.

  Alex growled. “Come on. You can do better than that. People expect more of my wife than two words.”

  Meghan’s head whipped to the side, and her glare was easy to read. “Oh, shut up,” she spit out.

  Alex’s hand shot out, grabbed her arm, and right before everyone’s startled eyes, yanked her hard until she flew over his legs like a bad child about to get an ass whupping.

  The laughter in the room turned to roars of approval. Alex and Meghan’s Shut-Up Game was the stuff of tongue-in-cheek legend around the compound.

  “And on that note, folks, got a wife to tame.” Looking directly into the camera as it zoomed in for a close-up of his face, her last view of Meghan was of her sputtering and wiggling as she sprawled across Alex’s legs. “Stephanie … much love, lady.”

  That seemed like it until Alex laughed and murmured low as if what he had to say was for her ears alone. “Oh, and I left you a present. In the barn.” He chuckled. “It’s up to you to find it, though! I suggest starting in the tack room,” he said with a wicked leer and a wink.

  And then the image of Mr. and Mrs. Marquez faded and the words Happy birthday, Stephanie appeared. It was a perfect greeting. One that was going to get a lot of people talking and laughing, and something she’d always remember.

  TORI WAS HAVING a cloud nine moment. Her mom was happier than she’d ever seen her. Calder’s over-the-top birthday rodeo was a huge success. From beginning to the almost end, the day had been memorable and damn near perfect. So far.

  She was strolling with Draegyn along the winding pathway leading to the back of the barn. Calder asked them to meet him and Stephanie for a private moment away from the crowd of partygoers.

  Their hands entwined, she focused on how small hers seemed within her husband’s powerful grasp. Her eyes drifted to the wedding ring he wore. She remembered the day he put it on and how Draegyn’s simple expression of his commitment to their marriage had made her feel.

  Shit. Not even a year had gone by since that day. Thanksgiving, it was. And all she felt now was turmoil and, yes, fear. Was she losing her husband’s affection? The very thought shook her up so bad she stumbled over her own feet.

  He caught her, of course. He always did. In many ways, he was still the cocky, arrogant mystery he’d always been although becoming a family man had certainly softened Draegyn’s cynical edges. In that respect, she trusted him with her life. With the life of their son.

  “Easy m’love,” Drae murmured. “Can’t have you face-planting in the dirt.”

  With a wan smile, she clutched his hand harder. “Thanks.”

  Taking her hand from his grasp, he moved it into the crook of his arm and kept his hand atop hers where it wrapped around his bicep.

  Always so attentive.

  Tori kept her sigh as quiet as she could. Dammit. Tears were starting to well in her eyes. What was wrong with her? Sometimes, she felt like the dialogue track on an out-of-sync movie. Frustrated and disturbed by her careening emotions, she internally acknowledged her recent propensity to laugh at the wrong things and just as easily cry for no reason.

  Maybe Lacey was on to something about the postpartum blues. Certainly might explain some of the weirdness she felt.

  Hmmm. Tori saw an Internet search in her future. But still, having some hormones out of whack didn’t fully explain the subtle changes in her marriage. Changes she was not imagining.

  Dismissing her worries, she injected a note of happy curiosity into her voice and asked, “What do you think this is all about? Seems kind of weird leaving the party to sneak off for lord knows what.”

  Draegyn patted her hand and pulled her closer. “Nobody’s gonna miss us for a little while. The Chixie Dicks can be the main attraction for a bit.” He snorted out a laugh. “Did you see Ria and Ben getting their freak on out on the dance floor? Dear god. Ben is a walking advertisement for men who have zero rhythm.”

  She chuckled. Talk about hitting the nail on the head! Poor Ben resembled every embarrassing dude-on-the-dance floor moment ever recorded.

  “Ria made up for it, though. Don’t you think?” she asked. “Her, Betty, Cheryl, and that hilarious biddy from Carmen’s group took a ballroom dance workshop together.”

  Her husband’s teasing chuckle warmed her insides. “What is it with women and that whole workshop and classes things? I mean, seriously,” he drawled. “First, Lacey and the damn pole dancing, and then, your mom and Carmen doing the watercolor class. What’s next? And if you say scrapbooking, we need to talk.”

  In a sardonic whisper, she told him, “Too late on that one, darlin’. Meghan’s already got that shit covered.”

  He surprised her by swiftly leaning down and kissing her soundly. “You gals can do whatever y’all want, but I’m drawing the line at woodworking ‘cause, honey, no way in fucking hell am I letting your lady posse anywhere near my tools.”

  “I had better be the only person any-goddamn-where near your tools, Mr. St. John.”

  Holy fucking shit. Had she just said that out loud? Tori grimaced. Luckily, he laughed off her snarky comment. Or did he?

  “Yeah, yeah, I know. You’re the only one licensed to thrill.”

  Arriving at the back of the barn, her husband let go of her and pulled the heavy wood door, bowing slightly and gesturing her in with a wave of his hand. The second they were inside, and the door shut again, the sound of her mother’s whoops of delight echoed throughout the barn’s interior.

  “Well, somebody’s having a good time,” Draegyn drawled.

  Hurrying along, Tori burst into the stable and picked up speed when she spied Calder with her mother wrapped around him like a clinging vine at a stall at the end of a row. He was swinging her around in circles as they laughed joyously.

  When her mom saw Tori approaching, she patted Calder’s chest, signaling him to put her down, and gestured her closer with an excited wave of her hands.

  “Victoria! Come see what Calder’s done. Oh, honey, look!”

  Her mom drew her close with an arm around Tori’s waist and pointed into the small stall.

  “Is that a pony?”

  Draegyn moved to her side and looked. “Little small for you, Stephanie,” he murmured.

  Calder opened the stall door and ushered them in. “Meet the newest member of the family
. This is Snowflake. She’s a dapple gray Welsh pony.”

  Not quite sure what to say, Tori looked the pony over but remained quiet.

  Her mom was gushing over the beautiful animal as Calder stood by and basked in her joyful praise. Tori glanced at Draegyn, who was looking at her with confusion. She shrugged. He shook his head, and they both turned to watch the Calder & Stephanie show.

  Finally, her mom rushed forward and hugged the pony’s neck.

  “Victoria! Don’t you get it? The pony is for Daniel! He has his own mount now, shugah! We can all ride together as a family.”

  The shock of her mom’s announcement quickly faded when Tori saw the look of pure adoration she bestowed on Calder. She and Draegyn looked at each other and rolled their eyes when the other couple started kissing.

  Oh, my god. Seriously? That’s my mother, for Christ’s sake.

  Stephanie was on a high. It just couldn’t possibly get any better than this! A pony. A Welsh pony! For Daniel.

  After oohing and ahhing over the wonderful surprise, they were on their way to the tack room with Tori and Drae pulling up the rear. Dancing along at Calder’s side, she was giddy with excitement and tittering on and on about all the riding gear she had to immediately get.

  Inside the tack room, she went into meltdown mode when the first thing her eyes landed on was a gorgeous hand tooled saddle with turquoise accents that had a tandem safety saddle for her grandson.

  Shrieking like a little girl, Stephanie leaped into Calder’s arms, wrapping her legs around his waist, and kissed him a thousand times all over his handsome face.

  “Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.”

  The reminder that they weren’t alone came in the form of Drae’s voice. “Ya did good, man,” he drawled. “Don’t see how you’ll ever be able to top this.”

  “Oh shush, you!” Victoria chortled. “Not everyone starts with a low ball.”

  Calder eased her back onto her feet, kissed her hand, and said, “Hold that thought,” when she beamed into his open expression.

  “Check it out, guys,” he said with a thumb pointing over his shoulder. “Gotta get something. I’ll be right back.”

  Tori ran her hand appreciatively over the gorgeous saddle. “Good lord, Mom. Turquoise and everything.”

  Pulling on the safety straps and pommel of the tandem seat, she looked up with a half-worried frown. “This thing is safe, right?”

  Drae’s amused snort said it all. “Don’t worry, hon. I’m sure Stephanie will duct tape the baby to her. That kid isn’t going anywhere while Mom Mom is on the scene!”

  Stephanie rushed forward and enfolded them in a group hug. “I’m so freakin’ happy I could …” She giggled. “Well, I could shit a Georgia peach.”

  Calder reappeared while they were still laughing. He had a bottle of Bollinger champagne and a white bakery box tied with a turquoise ribbon. Setting it all down on a table, he whipped four champagne glasses out of thin air and added them to the setting.

  “May I?” Stephanie asked as she eyed the turquoise ribbon.

  With a brief nod from Calder, she carefully untied the bow, lifted the lid, and peeked inside. Gasping, she looked up into the face of the man she loved with her whole heart.

  Victoria muttered, “Holy shit,” and started sniffing when Calder dropped to one knee.

  “Duchess,” he said as he reached for her hand. “You’ve wrecked my brain from the moment I first saw you. Do you remember? That day in the gym.” He chuckled and shook his head. “Alex knew right away. Gave me all sorts of grief right from the get-go.”

  “Oh god, Calder,” she managed to choke out.

  “Nothing has been more surprising or could possibly be more wonderful than falling in love at this stage of the game.”

  Tears. Lots of them. She couldn’t help it. He was so right.

  Her hand was shaking in his warm, firm grasp.

  “Stephanie Bennett, I adore you and love you so damn much it takes my breath away.”

  Turning to Victoria, he asked, “Honey, do I have your blessing?”

  Through the tears cascading down her face, Stephanie saw Tori jerkily nod and say in a voice choked with emotion, “Yep, yep.”

  “Thank god,” he drawled. “Now, stick your face in that box and hand me what you find.”

  Her legs were starting to get wobbly as Tori leaned over the box, laughed, reached in, and pulled out what Stephanie had seen when she looked inside. On a tiny white doily on top of a mini chocolate cake sat a distinctive turquoise colored box.

  “Open it,” he instructed Tori.

  Muttering, “Oh my god, oh my god,” her daughter dumped a black velvet ring box into her hand, cracked it open, gasped, and held it out to Calder. He took out the ring and held it up.

  “Stephanie. Love of my life. Will you marry me?”

  Simple man. Simple words. Simple ring. It was all so perfect.

  “Yes,” she choked out as he slid a beautiful round-cut solitaire with two side baguettes onto her ring finger. It was elegant and beautiful.

  The minute the ring was on her finger, he stood up and wrapped her in a fierce embrace, kissing her passionately until all the oxygen in her lungs had been spent.

  Coming out of the bear hug, Stephanie swiped her fingers beneath her eyes to help the tears dry. Leaning heavily on her fiancé’s body, she looked at her daughter and felt nothing but joy when she found Draegyn standing behind Tori with his arms wrapped around her neck as she held on with her head resting against the side of his.

  “Congratulations, you two. Thanks for including us.”

  Calder left her side and stepped up to her son-in-law. Stretching out his hand, he proudly proclaimed, “We’re family.”

  As they shook hands and went through the motions of a bro-hug, Stephanie let the marvel inside this special moment fill her up. Calder and Draegyn had known each other a long time. Alex was responsible for why each of them was standing together in this room.

  His uncle.

  His BFF.

  His assistant and her mother.

  The winds of fate had blown them all here to this magical corner of Arizona—like tumbleweeds looking for a resting spot. A spot they found at the Villa de Valleja-Marquez.

  They popped the cork on the champagne and drank to several toasts. They also hugged, laughed, and admired her ring.

  Out of nowhere, she was overcome with a Saturday Night Live moment and performed a spot-on Sally O’Malley impression complete with a leg kick and the exuberant chirping of, “I’m fifty!”

  After a good, hearty laugh and half an hour of really bad blonde and turning fifty jokes, they’d kicked the entire bottle of Bolly when Drae said, “Hold on. Didn’t Alex say something about leaving a present for you in the tack room?”

  Stephanie almost fell over from a severe case of champagne giggles when everyone’s head snapped up, and they all straightened like a mob of Meerkats.

  Might as well have fired off a starting gun ‘cause next thing she knew, each of them began tearing the tack room apart like they were searching for hidden treasure.

  From the corner of her eye, she saw Tori motioning to Drae. She was pointing at a rack hung with riding crops, specifically at an empty hanger. Drae whispered something. So did Tori. Then they started cracking up.

  What was so funny about a missing riding crop? Oh, wait. Riiiight. Alex and Meghan. A riding crop. She shrugged. Eh, why the hell not?

  “Found something,” Calder called out.

  All of them scurried to him. In his hand was a box about the size of a notebook tied with a ribbon.

  Curious and ridiculously excited, Stephanie tore into the box and found an envelope placed on top of a glossy folder emblazoned with the seal of Parker’s law firm.

  Envelope first, she slid a piece of monogrammed stationery from the vellum, noting Alex’s distinctive handwriting, and started to read.

  Dear Stephanie, Happy birthday from the both of us.

  Wond
erful words about friendship and family made her want to start crying all over again. Calder moved close, put his hand around the nape of her neck, and read along over her shoulder.

  When he grunted, “Oh, my fucking god,” and Tori and Drae asked what it was, she re-read the last paragraph a couple of times before she could say anything.

  “It’s a deed,” she murmured. Stunned and unable to process what she held in her hands, Stephanie’s eyes sought Calder’s.

  Sounding every bit as choked up as she was, he explained. “They gave her the two acres we’re building a house on. It’s in her name.”

  “Are you kidding?” Drae asked.

  She felt Calder’s shock at Alex and Meghan’s mind-blowing gift. Though Drae and Cameron had houses on the property, they didn’t own the land those houses sat on. Not so much as a stone on the Marquez property had ever been ceded to another. For more than a century, the land had been exclusively in control of the family.

  This. Was. Huge.

  Tori lifted the folder from the box and began going through the papers.

  “The property remains part of the Marquez trust. It’s deeded to you but can never be sold. Oh, my god. And it’s to be passed on to Daniel.”

  Hold on, hold on, hold on. Her mind was on overload, and she was having a hard time taking it all in.

  She was fifty.

  Calder threw her an epic birthday bash.

  There was a pony involved.

  And a saddle for her and her grandson.

  Then he asked her to marry him.

  She gazed at the ring on her left hand and swallowed the lump in her throat.

  And now, a man she respected and admired beyond measure, someone who’d changed the trajectory of her own and Tori’s life, did something for Stephanie so unique, it had never happened before.

  And talk about a ripple effect! Someday, her precious grandson was going to know about this occasion and feel the effects of Alex and Meghan’s generosity far into the future.

  SURE, IT WAS late, and they’d survived a long day of partying, but Tori was nowhere near feeling tired. The day had simply been too exciting.