by Ava Miles
“Are you two kissing in front of Chase?” Moira asked, racing over. “Please! It’s his first party with us. Out of everyone, I thought you two would behave.”
“Me too,” Jill Hale said, bouncing over with a bottle in her hand. “Get a room, guys. Chase needs a drink. I asked Andy if a beer was okay. He agreed that it was, so here’s one of my favorite micro-brews.”
“Thank you,” he said to Jill, taking the beer from her. He fought a wince when he read the label. Pumpkin ale? God help him.
Evan looked over and pointed furiously in the redhead’s direction.
“What’s he doing?” Jill asked, tilting her head to the side.
“I’m not sure, honestly,” Chase said.
Moira leaned close to his ear. “He’s warning you to beware of Jill. As if you don’t already know. I still can’t believe she invited everyone without asking me.”
“I’m sure she meant well.” Other than her abominable taste in beer, she did seem to have a warm heart if you could put up with her enthusiasm. Plus, he could handle himself. His biggest problem at the moment was his right leg. He shifted on his feet. He loved standing up again, but his ankle was swelling badly, and there was a line of pain throbbing up to his hip.
“You might want to sit down,” Andy said from behind him. Could he read minds like Ally? “You can’t go from zero to ninety in one day. Remember that for work too.”
Chase wasn’t so sure having his doctor present at his first party was a good thing. “Thanks for the advice.”
“That means, FU, Andy,” Jill said laughing.
Moira punched her brother in the arm. “Nice one, bro. Chase, come over and sit by Uncle Arthur.”
He’d been introduced to the man earlier in the evening. All of the Hales and honorary Hales had lined up in a crazy receiving line so Moira could make the intros. It had been a little weird. She’d never referred to him as her boyfriend or alluded to their relationship, but people knew why he was here.
As he approached the couch, he had to brace himself. Everywhere he looked, there were babies. Okay, only two, but it was a lot for a man who couldn’t remember the last time he’d been around one. Arthur was holding a baby dressed in green, and the woman Chase recognized as Rhett Butler Blaylock’s wife, Abbie, was holding the other, a girl dressed in a pink and white polka-dot onesie.
Arthur nodded to the vacant space beside him. “Join us, Chase. This is Jared Arthur McBride, my great-great grandson. My granddaughter, Meredith, and her husband wisely named him after me.”
Chase fought a sigh as he sat down and stretched his boot out. The baby looked slightly older than Abbie’s daughter from the way he was babbling, and his four front teeth were visible when he smiled at Chase.
“Your leg hurts like a bitch, doesn’t it?” Arthur asked.
“Arthur!” Abbie said. “Little ears.”
“Oh, bah! Their ears are too little to decipher words yet. Watch this, Chase. Jared, you’re a sweet little one. Did you know that there is horrible poverty in this world?”
The baby continued to smile at the man who was speaking to him in a sing-song voice.
“See, Abbie,” Arthur declared. “So long as you say things in a nice voice, babies still smile.”
Chase wanted to laugh, but Abbie seemed so put out, and he didn’t want to offend the new mother. “You have a beautiful baby,” he said instead, gesturing to the infant on her lap.
“Thank you,” she said, tucking the baby higher up on her shoulder. “This is Clara. She’s our delight.”
“Sure is, sugar,” Rhett Butler Blaylock said, appearing behind the sofa. The world-famous poker player was the kind of man who commanded attention. Topping out at six foot six, he had a lusty laugh and a Southern drawl that carried across the room. He and his elegant wife seemed like a textbook case of opposites attract.
“For years I thought poker was my life,” Rhett said, “and then these two angels appeared. Lady Luck seems a mite small in comparison now.”
Chase had heard the same from most of the other people he’d spoken with tonight—some of whom he’d already met. Every one of them—men and women alike—had been focused on their careers until they’d met their spouses. Moira’s brother-in-law, Blake Cunningham, had even retired from the NFL to give his full attention to his marriage before finding a new, more balanced career. It made Chase consider something he’d never imagined. Was it possible for him to find some kind of healthy balance between a career and a home life?
During his last energy healing session with Ally, she’d told him that he was at a crossroads in his life. Part of him didn’t want to keep working at such a punishing pace, but he didn’t know how to change. How to find a way to be fulfilled both personally and professionally. Right now, he had trouble envisioning what shape his relationship with Moira would take once he left Dare Valley, and he hated thinking that.
“If you’re going to hang around this motley crew, you need to be able to hold a baby,” Arthur said, transferring Jared onto Chase’s lap.
Alarmed, he immediately gripped the baby. “I only have one good arm,” he said, wishing the older man would take the infant back. “Maybe I shouldn’t—”
“Jared likes to cuddle,” Arthur told him. “Tuck him close to your body, and he’ll do the rest.”
Chase hadn’t held a child since his brother was little, but sure enough, the baby curled into his chest. Much like Barney did, he realized. Then the little boy turned his head and looked up at him. He grinned, his teeth showing, and grabbed Chase’s shirt.
“He likes you, and he’s as good a judge of character as his great-great grandfather,” Arthur said. “You ever think of having one?”
Shock rippled through him. “No. Never.”
But there wasn’t as much conviction behind that word as there would have been if someone had asked him the same question before the accident.
“It’s because of your work, right?” Arthur asked.
“Yes.”
“I managed to have an amazing career with a wife and a family,” Arthur told him, playing with his great grandson’s hand. “I tell these young people all the time that they overcomplicate life. Want to hear my secret?”
Chase leaned in closer. “Please.”
Arthur harrumphed. “You make time for what’s important. You decide you can have it all, and so you do.”
Chase wasn’t convinced.
“Bring in people you trust to work with you,” Arthur continued. “Then delegate what you can to give yourself more time for the personal stuff.”
Chase was already delegating. His time off had only shown him how many of Quid-Atch’s critical functions required his personal attention.
Arthur was looking at him over his rimless glasses. “If you have a great partner in life, you’ll have balance on the home front too. In my generation, I saw women burn out all the time from trying to be a full-time parent, homemaker, and career woman. Their husbands didn’t help at home, which is hogwash if you ask me. What man can’t handle a load of laundry and bathing his own kids?”
“You’re very forward thinking,” Chase told him.
“I’ve got sense,” Arthur said with another harrumph. “A true partner helps you have the time you need to do what makes you happy. And you do it right back for them. Hell, that’s what love is, son. Makes everything easier.”
There was that word again. Love. Chase fitted the baby closer when he lurched up on his lap. He glanced up to see the twin girls running toward them. Jared gurgled and clapped his hands.
“Mia. Violet. You slow down.”
The sternness in Arthur’s voice had them doing just that. “Okay,” they both said with toothy grins.
“Just like their mother, Jill,” Arthur said. “She was a handful, but some of the most fun you’ll ever have with a person. With this generation, we got two duplicates of her. And I love them like crazy. Come here to Great-Grandpa, girls. Have you met Chase?”
“Hi,” the twin o
n the right in purple said.
The one on the left in pink said, “Chase,” and waved at him with her little hand. “You hurt. Need Band-Aid. Mama has it.”
She looked so concerned, he said, “This boot is my Band-Aid.”
The little girl bent closer to look at his walking boot before clambering up onto Arthur’s lap and patting Jared, who giggled.
“This is pretty far away from the boardroom,” Chase said, wincing as a string of drool from Jared’s mouth soaked his pants.
“And yet it’s not a bad gig,” the older man said, scooting over to let the other twin sit between them. “I like knowing there will be Hales in the world after I go. I have high hopes that one of these little girls will have black ink in her veins.”
Chase smiled, loving the newspaper allusion. “You like the idea of your family continuing to run your newspaper.” He thought back to what Evan had said about wanting them to be a family business. To create a legacy.
“It would be nice, but it isn’t necessary,” he said, squeezing one of the girls in a hug. “I want them to be happy. I got lucky enough to have a few family members who love the newspaper business as much as I do. Who am I to ask for more? My legacy is set. It gives a man of my age peace.”
Chase thought of his own father. He’d talked about Chase and Boone ranching the same land his father and his father before him had ranched when they’d come West to stake their claim. “You seem to have gotten everything you’ve wanted.”
“There were bumps, but you get your shovel and fill them in. I expect this accident has been difficult for you. Not easy for a man to be limited. I have a damn cane to contend with and achy joints. But I don’t let them stop me.”
“No, I’m not the kind to accept limitations either,” Chase said, watching as the twin in purple touched the little boy’s face, making them both grin. “They really are cute.”
He felt weird saying it, but it was true.
“At this age, they’re even cute when they spit up,” Arthur said. “Doesn’t last long in a human lifespan. Moira has her eye on you, I see. She’s a doll. Can be sweet or tough as nails if the situation calls for it. Like all the Hale women, I’m proud to say.”
Chase looked over, and sure enough, Moira was watching him with a soft smile on her face. She was talking to her sisters and her mom, who were also surreptitiously watching him. The expression on her face was filled with an emotion at once soft, warm, and fierce: love.
It was still hard to accept. He’d been without it for so long, and he didn’t completely trust he wasn’t going to lose it again. He made the effort to give her an answering smile.
“You’re holding a baby?” he heard a familiar male voice ask.
He looked to the right and saw Evan and Margie. “Arthur forced him on me.”
“Bullshit,” the older man said. “You could have forced him right back.”
“Arthur!” Abbie cried out suddenly, breaking off her conversation with her husband, who laughed when the older man winked at her.
“That would have seemed rude,” Chase said, trying not to laugh himself. “But he’s easy. Rather like Barney actually.”
“You would liken a baby to a kitten,” Evan said, shaking his head. “Arthur, we need to talk Chase into staying in Dare Valley with us.”
Chase felt everything within him grow still. Evan hadn’t brought up his plans to move Quid-Atch’s R&D to Dare Valley again, but here was the proof that he was still thinking about it.
Chase glanced at Arthur, whose brow was cocked. “Evan’s got an active imagination. He’s spinning this tale about how we can remain prosperous if we move our successful defense contractor company outside D.C. to a small town in the West.”
His friend’s face fell. “I don’t think it’s a tale.”
“If you’re good enough at something, people don’t care where you work from,” Arthur said. “Everyone back East told me I couldn’t create a successful national newspaper out here.”
Evan started to smile.
“But no one was used to you being out East,” Chase argued. “And you don’t have clients or government counterparts like Quid-Atch does.”
“That’s true,” Arthur said, helping one of the twins off his lap when she started to climb down. “It sounds like you two have a lot to work out.”
Evan wasn’t smiling anymore. In fact, he looked downright grim.
“We always work things out,” Chase told Evan. “Right?”
He nodded, but the gesture lacked conviction. Evan looked worried, and suddenly Chase felt the same way. Their visions of running Quid-Atch had never been this different.
Looking around the room, Chase tried to remember that all of these people had careers, ones they cared about. But they didn’t run a global billion-dollar enterprise like he did. They didn’t have the weight of thousands of jobs and lives and careers on their shoulders. In that moment, icy dread filled his belly.
He didn’t believe another way was possible.
And then he caught Moira’s gaze on him, and the ice slowly began to dissolve.
She made everything feel possible.
The big question seemed to be: could he turn it into reality?
Chapter 31
Moira snuggled under the covers when her alarm went off. “Not yet,” she cried out. But her day-of checklist for the fundraiser was already rolling through her mind.
A warm hand touched her side, one she had come to know by heart, stopping the details.
“Good morning,” Chase said in a deep voice.
She opened her eyes, eager to get her first look at him. Like always. Waking up with Chase had become one of her favorite things. So had making love. Last night, she’d discovered a couple of new ones. She’d loved seeing him mingle with the other people she held dear, and while she didn’t know what to make of it, she’d loved watching him hold baby Jared. Darn it if she wasn’t glad Jill had invited everyone, after all. She planned to tell her cousin as much after the fundraiser was over.
“How long have you been awake?” He looked a heck of a lot more alert than she felt.
“A while,” he said, smiling when she rolled over to face him. “You know I only sleep four or five hours.”
And yet he’d been sleeping seven or eight hours since she’d started sleeping with him.
“I’ve been looking around your bedroom,” he said. “I didn’t notice it last night with the party and our after-party…”
She shivered as memories washed over her. He’d been more mobile with his new sling and boot. That, coupled with his typical creativity and determination, had quickly reduced her to a puddle.
“You like homey,” he said, pointing across the room. “I like the sayings you have sprinkled around your place. They suit you. Funny and sweet and a little…crazy. Especially the one over there that says, ‘I Kick Ass, And Then I Kiss It.’ I might have experienced that first-hand last night.”
She laughed. “Matt got that placard for me after I gave him the what-for for talking about joining a law firm he hated because it was ‘distinguished.’ I told him to choose a firm that made him happy. I’m happy to say he followed my advice.”
“I like your brother,” Chase said. “I expect he makes a good mayor. Easygoing on the surface, but highly watchful. He doesn’t miss much, does he?”
Chase had summed him up neatly. “That’s why we call him Matty Ice. I’m glad you…” Oh crap, she was getting a little emotional.
He rolled carefully onto his good side. “What?”
She found it difficult to meet his eyes. “It was nice to have you meet everyone.”
“I can see why Evan is so big on your family,” Chase said. “It’s a wonderful group of people. You’re lucky, Moira. Thank you for including me last night.”
She wanted to keep on including him, but she reminded herself to take things slow. Seeing him hold her cousin’s baby had given her a few flashes of a possible future down the road, one where he’d been holding their
baby at a family party. That vision had shaken her to the core, even though it only confirmed what she already knew.
She loved him and wanted to be with him forever, if he’d have her. She just didn’t see how that was going to work with his career in D.C. and hers in Dare Valley. She wasn’t going to quit a job she loved and follow him there. He wouldn’t want that either. And her family was here.
What the hell were they going to do?
“It’s a busy day for me,” she told him, refusing to get riled up by the future. “You going to be all right on your own?”
“I promise not to get arrested,” he joked. “Tonight is going to be perfect. I can’t wait to see you there after my meetings wrap up.”
“I am going to do great,” she affirmed. “After all, I kick ass, and then I kiss it.”
“Maybe you have a little time to demonstrate that for me again before you have to leave,” he said, his gray eyes staring directly into hers.
Desire filled her belly. She leaned in to kiss him. Their tongues danced, and she found herself growing urgent. Really urgent.
“I want you,” she told him, gently pushing him to his back. “Right now.”
He caressed the bare leg she threw over him. “Do your best.”
He’d said that before, and she liked that he’d made the saying positive instead of the negative, “Do your worst.”
She slid a condom over his hardness and then eased him inside her and arched her back. “God. It always feels so good.”
Rolling his hips under her, he groaned. “Yes. Move, Moira.”
She took them on a wild ride. By the time they were finished, panting and grinning at each other, she gave in to the sudden urge to tickle his belly.
He jerked at her touch. “Stop that!”
“Do you know how much I love you?” she asked, feeling joy explode through her. “So much I want to tickle you and hug you until we’re both laughing like crazy people.”
Taking hold on the hand on his stomach, he eyed her suspiciously. “Who’s feeling playful this morning?”
