“How did you know what I needed?” she asked. “Everything you just did was… perfect. It was like you could read my mind. I didn’t ask for anything, but I needed it all.”
“I don’t know.” I brushed my nose against hers. “I just did what felt right.”
Her eyes glistened with tears. “Thank you. I needed that so badly.”
“Baby, what’s wrong? Did something happen?”
She nodded, and my chest tightened with concern. I pulled out of her and quickly dealt with the condom, then gathered her in my arms.
“Tell me.”
“I saw my family today,” she said, her voice almost breaking. “I didn’t know they’d all be there, but it was quiet at the Big House, so I guess my mom called everyone down to sample one of the new spring wines.”
I was afraid I knew where this was going. Damn it, we were supposed to tell them together.
“I didn’t want to talk to them without you, but they were there, and Leo saw my ring, so I sort of blurted it out. And then everyone jumped all over me about it.”
“What did they say?”
“Cooper asked if I was pregnant.”
Anger coursed through me and I fought to keep it out of my voice. “Are you kidding me?”
“No, it was the first thing he said. And that I’m too young and rushing into this. Zoe stuck up for me, but that’s basically what they all said. Leo even asked if this was because of my dad.”
I squeezed her and kissed her head. We’d both known her family would be surprised. But what the fuck was Cooper’s problem? Apparently it was stupid to have hoped this would change his mind. That he’d see I wasn’t fucking around. It wasn’t why I’d proposed to her—that had nothing to do with anyone else—but I’d thought it might make Cooper realize how wrong he was about me.
“They weren’t happy for you at all?”
“Zoe was. But the rest of them just ganged up on me.”
I stared at the ceiling, trying to keep my breathing even. But this fucking hurt. I’d grown up with this family. I’d thought they knew me. Had they let me hang around all those years out of pity? Was I just a stray they’d let in? Good enough to feed once in a while, but not good enough to let into the family? Certainly not good enough to be with one of their own.
Yeah, Brynn was young. But she wasn’t a child; she was mature and put-together. She’d always known what she wanted out of life and had never been afraid to go for it.
What was so wrong with finding love young, anyway? Did they want her to go through a string of losers who would break her heart before she settled down? How much baggage did a person need before they were ready?
Looking back, I wished I could tell my old self to calm the hell down and stop all the meaningless flings. What had that done for me? It had been fun in the moment, and to be fair, I hadn’t really known better. I’d had no idea what loving someone felt like—the sheer power of it. What I had with Brynn was so much more than great sex. And the sex was fucking insane, so that was really saying something. But I didn’t look back on my past and feel like it had been necessary. She wasn’t missing out on anything by finding love now.
“You know what?” I rolled to my side and propped myself over her. “They’ll come around. I don’t know what it will take, but we’ll prove them wrong. Someday they’re going to look back on how they reacted and wonder what they were so worried about. We’re in this together, baby.”
She brushed her fingers across my jaw. “I love you so much.”
“I love you too. Don’t worry. I’ve got you.”
Wrapping her arms around my neck, she pulled me close. I didn’t want her to be upset, but I felt like I might burst. Brynn needed me. No one had ever needed me like this before and it was so overwhelming—so incredible—it almost brought tears to my eyes. This was what I’d always been missing. This was why I knew we were meant for each other.
This was why I’d never let her go.
Twenty-One
Chase
Brynn’s phone kept buzzing with texts until late that night. She didn’t tell me what they said, but she didn’t have to. As much as I wanted to march over to her mom’s house and set everyone straight, I didn’t. Brynn needed time to calm down, so we turned off her phone, put on a sappy movie, then went to bed early.
The next day, I knew exactly what we needed to do. I wasn’t going to let this stretch out, or make Brynn face it on her own. Like I’d told her, we were in this together.
Of course, I wasn’t ruling out just flying to Vegas to elope. If Brynn said the word, I’d book the tickets. But I was pretty sure she wanted a real wedding, and I was going to make sure she got everything she wanted.
After breakfast, we went over to her mom’s house. I could tell Brynn was dreading it, and in a way, I was too. I wasn’t sure how this was going to go down. Was I about to hear they didn’t want me to marry Brynn? I didn’t know how I’d handle it if that was what they said.
I took Brynn’s hand as we walked inside. We found her mom sitting with Zoe in the living room. Zoe looked pale again. She had a thick blanket wrapped around her shoulders and a big bottle of water in her lap.
Mrs. Miles stood when she saw us. The tension in the room heightened and I fought down a flare of anger. Mrs. Miles had been good to me—not just good, she’d been great. She’d been more of a mother to me than my own in a lot of ways. I needed to keep my anger in check until we’d both said what we needed to say.
“I’m glad you’re here,” she said. “Do you want coffee? Tea? Breakfast?”
“No, Mom, it’s okay. You don’t have to play hostess,” Brynn said.
“I feed people,” Mrs. Miles said with a shrug. “It’s what I do. Especially when I’m worried.”
Her gentle smile put me more at ease. Maybe we weren’t in for a lecture about why we shouldn’t get married.
“She’s been trying to get me to eat something all morning,” Zoe said.
Mrs. Miles glanced at her. “I’m just trying to find something that won’t upset your stomach. Roland said you haven’t been eating enough.”
“My doctor says I’m fine, all things considered,” Zoe said. “The baby is growing. I just puke a lot. The cure is giving birth, but unfortunately I have to wait until July for that.”
“Where’s Roland?” Brynn asked.
“He had to go out of town for two days, and god forbid I be unsupervised,” Zoe said with a roll of her eyes.
“He’s just making sure you’re taken care of,” Mrs. Miles said. “Which is exactly what he should be doing.”
I didn’t think any of us missed her meaning. There was a certain satisfaction in her tone. She was proud of Roland for his concern—for making sure his wife was cared for. Something she’d probably lacked in her own marriage.
“Well, come in, you two,” Mrs. Miles said, beckoning for us to sit.
Brynn took a deep breath. I squeezed her hand and kept her close as we sat on the couch across from Zoe.
I’d already decided I needed to take the lead on this. It was Brynn’s family, but it felt like my place to explain. “I’m just going to come out and say what I need to say. I love your daughter. I love her more than anything. I know our engagement came as a surprise to everyone. But I want to assure you that I plan to take good care of her and do everything in my power to make her happy.”
“I’m sorry for reacting badly,” Mrs. Miles said. “You’re right, it was a surprise. It’s not because there’s anything wrong with you, Chase. I didn’t expect Brynn to want to get married so soon.”
“I don’t know how to say this without sounding like I’m being a brat,” Brynn said. “But I’m not a little girl. I’m not playing house or getting into something I don’t understand. I love Chase. He’s good for me, Mom. This won’t change anything about school or what I do afterward. So you don’t need to worry about that.”
“That’s good to hear,” Mrs. Miles said.
“I don’t think he’d let me marry him if I said I w
asn’t going to finish school,” Brynn said, nudging me with her elbow.
“That’s actually true,” I said. “I don’t know how else to reassure you that we’ve thought about this and we know what we’re doing. Except to say that I love her. She makes me want to be a better man and when you find someone like that, I think you have to hold onto them. Brynn is amazing. I swear to you, I’m going to love her for the rest of my life.”
Zoe had the blanket up over her mouth and nose, but I could see that she was crying again. Damn it, she kept freaking me out when she did that.
“We would have said all this when we told you,” Brynn said. “I didn’t know you were all going to be there yesterday. I don’t think me blurting it out like I did helped the situation, but Leo saw my ring and I panicked.”
“Of course he noticed,” Mrs. Miles said with a slight shake of her head. “I’ve said this before, and I have a feeling I’m going to keep saying it. Having adult children is hard. It’s so difficult not to project your own mistakes onto your kids. But Brynn, what you said yesterday was right. Chase isn’t your dad. I have to go on record saying I’m nervous that you’re moving too fast, but if you’re sure about this, I’ll support you.”
Brynn and her mom stood, her mom wrapping her in a hug.
“Thank you, Mom.”
Mrs. Miles let go and gestured for me to get up. I stood, and she hugged me. “You’ve always been like a son to me, Chase. I want you to know that.” She pulled away and put her hands on my arms. “And now we get to make it official.”
Well, shit. Now my eyes were misting a little bit. I cleared my throat, hoping to god I didn’t actually shed a tear in front of the three most important women in my life. “Thanks, Mrs. Miles.”
“Oh, honey, now you really have to start calling me Shannon.”
I let out a long breath. I didn’t know why, exactly, but this felt like a big deal. “Okay… Shannon.”
Brynn was sniffling hard, Zoe was full-on crying, and Mrs. Miles—Shannon—swiped the corners of her eyes.
“We need to celebrate.” Shannon disappeared into the kitchen and when she came back, she had a bottle of wine and three glasses. She poured and handed us each a glass of sparkling white. “To Brynn and Chase.”
We held up our glasses—and Zoe held up her bottle of water—to toast.
Shannon sat back down on the couch next to Zoe, her wine glass in her hand. “Have you thought about the details at all, or are you going to wait?”
Brynn glanced at me. “Well, it has to be here.”
She was so right. There was no better place for us to get married than her family’s winery. “I agree.”
“It’s such a relief to hear you say that,” Shannon said. “I was a little bit afraid the next thing you were going to say was that you were eloping in Vegas so you didn’t have to deal with your obnoxious family.”
I didn’t mention I’d been thinking about that very thing earlier.
“No, I’ve always wanted to get married here,” Brynn said. “It doesn’t need to be a huge wedding. Just family, really.”
“And I don’t have a big family, so that won’t add a lot of people,” I said. In fact, I hadn’t even bothered to call my parents to tell them I was getting married yet. I’d have to do that soon.
“So I guess the first thing to do is set a date,” Shannon said.
“I don’t mean to add fuel to the fire,” Zoe said. “And if you’re thinking long engagement, I’m not trying to pressure you to get married sooner. But I did have a cancellation for early June. Otherwise, we’re all booked up on weekends for most of the year.”
“June?” I asked. “I guess if we have to wait until June, that’s okay.”
“If we have to wait?” Brynn asked. “When did you think we’d get married? Next weekend?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. Sooner is better, but I can live with June if you can.”
Zoe laughed. “Goofball, you’re such a guy.”
“What?”
“June is close to when the baby’s due, though,” Brynn said.
“If you take the June date, I’ll have a month until the baby is due,” Zoe said. “Between me and Jamie, and you and Shannon, I don’t think it’ll be a problem.”
June seemed like a long time to wait, but I didn’t know anything about planning a wedding. Four months? That had to be enough time. I certainly didn’t want to wait until next year. Now that I’d decided, I was all in. I wanted to make Brynn my wife.
“I think we should do it,” I said.
Brynn’s eyes were bright, her smile lighting up her face. “Really?”
“Yes, really. I didn’t propose because I want to be engaged forever. I want to get married. Let’s do this.”
Shannon looked between Brynn and Zoe. “I guess we have another wedding to plan.”
Twenty-Two
Brynn
Adding plan a wedding to my to-do list felt a little bit insane. I was already busy with school and working weekends at the winery. Chase was busy too, with more jobs than he could handle most weeks. Zoe’s knowledge, and connections, did help, and things were coming together. But the last couple of months had been crazy.
I’d also started helping Chase at his shop a few afternoons a week. Accounting was his least favorite part of business ownership. He’d been doing all right, but he wasn’t as organized as he could be. And he had to force himself to get through things like invoicing.
I loved that stuff. Numbers and spreadsheets and reports. I’d started by helping him get caught up on some paperwork, then reorganized his filing system. Pretty soon, I was handling most of his accounting.
It gave me so much satisfaction that I could work with him like this. He told me constantly how much he appreciated my help. But I loved doing it. Crunching numbers and organizing things gave me a little buzz.
I glanced at the ring on my finger as I drove out to the shop. I did that at least a thousand times a day. It was so pretty, and just looking at it gave me all kinds of warm fuzzies.
With my mom and Zoe on Team Wedding, Roland and Leo had quieted down with their protests. They’d still both felt the need to point out that we could opt for a long engagement, rather than getting married in June. Chase had shut them both up by saying if a guy wasn’t sure he wanted to marry a girl, he shouldn’t give her a ring in the first place. They didn’t have anything to counter that.
Chase wasn’t the least bit interested in a long engagement. He’d said more than once that he didn’t ask me to marry him to get engaged. He asked me to marry him to get married. I was pretty sure he’d been serious when he’d said June was a long time to wait. He didn’t give two shits that most people took a year or more to plan their weddings. To him, that was a silly waste of time.
Cooper remained on my shit list. Fortunately for him, I hadn’t been there when Zoe told him Chase and I set the date for June. He’d apparently gone on a tirade about all the reasons we shouldn’t get married. If he’d have subjected me to that nonsense, I probably would have punched him in the nuts. My desire to maintain my maturity only went so far.
I got to the shop and went inside. Chase was beneath a large tractor, his booted feet sticking out.
“Hey,” I said, tilting so I could look under the huge engine. “How’s it looking under there?”
“Dirty.” He rolled out and grinned at me. “And not the sexy kind.”
“Bummer.”
“I’m glad you’re here.” He stood and gave me a quick kiss. “I have something to show you.”
I followed him back to the office. Stopping in the doorway, I looked around. He’d rearranged the furniture and added a second desk. Now one faced each wall, with two chairs sitting back to back.
“What’s all this?” I asked.
“I got you a desk.”
I walked over to the new desk and traced my finger along the wood. He’d bought matching desk organizers, all in a pretty shade of blue.
“This is so sweet.�
�
“I figured you should have your own space,” he said. “This place is yours as much as it is mine.”
This meant so much to me, I didn’t know what to say. “Thank you. I love it.”
“Yeah? You sure? I know you like blue, but if you want another color, we can order anything.”
“It’s perfect.”
He smiled and pulled me close. “I’m glad you like it. School is still the priority, obviously. But I love having you here, so this is pretty great.”
“It’s so great.”
“I even left you a spot to put a wedding picture on your desk. Not that you can’t just swivel your chair around and look at me. But that’s a thing, right? Putting pictures on your desk?”
I laughed. “Yes, that’s a thing.”
“Awesome. I have room on my desk for pictures, too.”
God, he was so cute. “Speaking of wedding, can you make it to cake tasting this afternoon?”
He pulled away. “Shit, baby, I can’t. I have to get this thing running before I can leave. It’s being a bastard. I’m sorry.”
“That’s okay. As long as you don’t mind me choosing without you.”
“Yeah, whatever you want is fine,” he said. “But it’s kind of killing me that I have to miss cake.”
“I’ll bring some home, how about that?”
He hugged me again and kissed my forehead. “Thanks, baby. You’re the best.”
Before I went to the bakery, I stopped by the winery. Since Chase couldn’t make it to the cake tasting, I figured I’d see if my mom was around. She might like to go.
I found her in the Big House, back in the kitchen. “Hey, Mom. I’m about to go sample cakes. Want to join me?”
“Oh sweetie, I’m sorry. I can’t get away. Zoe had to go home, and we have a big group coming in less than five minutes. Jamie needs my help.”
Cooper’s voice carried from the hallway and Mom raised her eyebrows.
I knew exactly what she was about to suggest. “Mom, no.”
Forbidden Miles Page 15
