The Gift

by Heather Slade

  “I can’t again…” she murmured.

  “I beg to differ,” he said as he rolled until she was straddling him.

  “You’re right.” Peyton moaned again as she ground her body into his.

  2

  “Where are we going?” Finn asked when Brodie turned the car in the direction opposite of Peyton’s house.

  “There’s a place your mother told me about a long time ago, where I’ve wanted to go since.” Brodie looked over at Peyton and smiled. “Best garlic knots for miles.”

  “Mama’s Meatballs!” yelled Finn from the backseat. “Yes!”

  Peyton reached over and took his hand. She didn’t say anything, but when their eyes met, he knew she was remembering the same thing he was.

  They’d walked by the restaurant the first day they’d spent together, before either of them could admit to their overwhelming attraction.

  “Don’t you have to get back to pick tonight?” she asked.

  Brodie shook his head. “I called in sick.”

  “But you aren’t sick,” Finn piped up from the seat behind him. “Did you lie?”

  “Absolutely not. I am sick. Sick in love with your mother.”

  Both boys groaned, but soon were talking about what they wanted to order for dinner.

  “I thought we could stop at Ecobaby after we eat.” Peyton had mentioned the store that specialized in natural products for babies and children a couple of times.

  She smiled, both with her mouth and her eyes, and his heart did a set of somersaults.

  There was another place on the way, where he wanted to take her and the boys. He hoped he’d timed it so the sun would still be shining, low over the ocean. He got off the highway at San Luis Bay Drive and took the turn to See Canyon Road. At the same time, he hit the button on her sound system, and a familiar voice started to sing.

  “Syd,” she murmured. “We still need to go see him play.”

  Brodie nodded, but he’d had a better idea, one he couldn’t tell Peyton about just yet. “The first time I heard his music was on this very drive. It was the perfect soundtrack.”

  Peyton rested her head against the seat, closed her eyes, and rubbed her hand over her belly. Brodie rested his hand on hers, and she turned to look at him.

  “I love you, Peyton.”

  “I love you, Brodie.”

  The boys were making gagging noises from the backseat, but stopped when Brodie pulled the car off the road and turned down a heavily-wooded driveway.

  “Where are we?” Jamison asked.

  “You’ll see,” Brodie answered, smiling at Peyton who had a puzzled look on her face.

  The drive meandered through towering Eucalyptus trees until they got to a fork in the road. Brodie went left and up a hill, toward the ocean. When the hill crested, views of the sea opened up in front of them. He stopped momentarily before turning down another drive, and then pulled up near a house that faced the Pacific.

  “Who lives here?” Finn asked, leaning over the seat.

  “No one—yet,” Brodie answered. Construction had come further along than he’d expected. The last time he saw it, the house had only been framed.

  “Can we look at it?” Jamison asked.

  “Only the outside for now, okay? I want to talk to your mom for a minute, and I don’t want you to go inside without me.”

  Both boys nodded and got out of the car, running.

  “It’s beautiful,” Peyton said, not taking her eyes off the house, even to look at the view.

  “It has two bedrooms, a study, and a family room off the kitchen on the main level. And then three more bedrooms and a loft upstairs.”

  “What’s down there?” she asked, pointing to a third level that had a walkout at the back of the house.

  “Space for another large family room, a wine cellar, and over on that side,” Brodie pointed at what looked like another wing of the house, “a solarium we can use however we like.”

  “We?”

  He was worried for a minute, but when he saw her smile, he knew he didn’t need to.

  “Wanna go inside?” he asked.

  “Of course I do.”

  The boys were sitting on the porch that wrapped around three sides of the house, similar to the one at his parents’ house.

  Brodie pulled the key out of his pocket and opened the front door. Inside was nothing but framed walls, but he wanted Peyton to see it at this stage. They still had time to make changes if she liked the house, but not its configuration.

  Jamison and Finn were hanging out of openings where windows would eventually be. “You can see Morro Rock from here,” said Jamie.

  “And the lighthouse.” Finn pointed farther north, toward Piedras Blancas, another place he and Peyton had visited before they got to know each other and fell in love.

  The land the house sat on was level enough that they could plant a garden or even put in an outdoor living space if they wanted to, and there’d still be plenty of space for the kids to play.

  He looked over and saw Peyton wandering from room to room with a look on her face that gave him the impression she liked what she saw.

  “Is this for us to live in?” asked Finn.

  “Maybe,” Brodie answered. “We have to decide, first, if we like it.”

  “It’s close to our new school,” Jamison said, looking at his mom hopefully.

  Brodie knew Peyton wanted the boys to go to the Mission Classical Academy once Jamison finished fifth grade. It was the same school she’d graduated from. There was only a small elementary school in Cambria, and after that, the kids who lived in the village were bussed a half hour south for middle and high school.

  Finn was standing near the staircase, waiting for either him or Peyton to give the okay to go upstairs. “As long as it’s okay with your mom.”

  Brodie had learned the hard way that, while Peyton appreciated the relationship Brodie had with her boys, she was their mother, and she made the decisions where they were concerned.

  She smiled. “It’s okay with me. Be careful, though.”

  “I’ll go up, too,” Brodie told her. “Did you want to…”

  “No, I’ll look around down here a little while longer.”

  He wanted to see the look on her face when she found the master bedroom with an adjacent sitting room that could double as a nursery, but he didn’t want the boys traipsing around upstairs alone.

  “I’ll be right back.”

  Peyton smiled and waved him away. When he looked behind him, she was walking toward the front windows. Maybe she’d wait for him to come back downstairs before looking at the rest of house.

  By the time he caught up with them, the boys were arguing about which bedroom would be theirs when it must’ve dawned on them that maybe they’d have to share. They both looked at Brodie with worried expressions.

  “The rooms are identical, boys,” he told them. Both bedrooms sat near the front of the house, with views of the ocean. Brodie had made sure the rooms were the same size, with walk-in closets and en-suite baths. “You can flip for who gets which one.”

  “But they’d be for us?” Jamie asked.

  “Remember, though. First we have to decide that we…like it.” Brodie had almost said they needed to make that decision as a family, but again, he had to follow Peyton’s lead where her boys were concerned.

  “I think they’re both spectacular, don’t you?” Peyton had stepped inside the room they were in. Brodie hadn’t even heard her come upstairs.

  He worried he’d gone too far getting the house started in the first place, but every time they talked about where they’d live, Peyton got overwhelmed by the prospect of looking.

  The boys wandered through the other rooms upstairs, and Peyton put her arms around Brodie’s waist.

  “You’ve been busy,” she said.

  “If you don’t like it, or if it’s—”

  She put two fingertips on his lips. “Shh, and I’ll tell you what I think.”

  Br
odie nodded.

  “I love it. Everything about it, and so do the boys…our boys, Brodie.”

  Even if he could talk, which he was too emotional to do, he wouldn’t know what to say. It meant a lot to him that she’d said, “our boys.” Brodie loved them so much, and wanted to be a father to them. Their biological father, Lang Becker, had never been part of their lives; he’d walked out on them when Finn was still a baby.

  “This is a wonderful thing you’ve done, Brodie.”

  “I’m glad you think so. I was worried—”

  This time, instead of using her fingers to quiet him, Peyton brought her lips to his.

  “I love it, and I love you,” she whispered.

  “I just have one question,” she said once they were in the car, on their way to Mama’s Meatballs.

  “Go ahead.”

  “When did you buy the land?”

  He was afraid she’d ask that. The truth was, he’d seen the for-sale sign on the same day they’d walked past the restaurant where they’d be having dinner, which was the first time he and Peyton had taken a drive on See Canyon Road together. He’d made a call, and then, a few days later, made an offer on the property. Something had told him to buy the land, just like something—or someone—told him that Peyton would one day be his wife.

  “Brodie?”

  “March,” he mumbled.

  “When did they start the house?”

  “Not long after I got back from Argentina.”

  “You knew, didn’t you?” she asked.

  “That we’d be together?”

  She nodded.

  “I can’t explain it, Peyton. But, yeah. I guess I did know.”

  “I knew, too.”

  Other than when Peyton said, “I love you,” those were the three sweetest words she’d ever said to him.

  “When can we move in?” Finn asked at dinner.

  “We haven’t decided yet,” Jamison scolded.

  “I think we have, don’t you, Brodie?” Peyton smiled.

  “I do, and as far as when we can move in, that’s up to your mom.”

  “Why does Mom get to decide?”

  “Well, Finn. Your mom might not want to move until after your baby sister is born.”

  Finn’s smile drooped, and Brodie saw Jamison smack him under the table.

  “I think our baby sister would rather come home to the new house instead of the old one,” he said, smacking Jamie back.

  “I do, too,” said Peyton. “But it might not be ready for us to live in by then.”

  Three sets of expectant eyes focused on him. “They promised it would be done before Thanksgiving.”

  The boys were too worked up, and Peyton said she was too tired to stop at Ecobaby after dinner, so Brodie drove them straight home.

  “I should put the house on the market.” Brodie barely heard Peyton, she spoke so softly.

  “There’s no hurry,” he said, squeezing her hand with his.

  She turned to him and smiled. “I have a lot of work to do.”

  “There’s no hurry for that either.”

  “You’re kidding, right?”

  “Yes. No. I don’t know. Do you want to have a lot of work to do?”

  “If we told my mom about the house tonight, which I don’t plan to, she’d be on our doorstep at dawn tomorrow, wanting to hit the furniture stores.”

  “Grandma loves to go shopping. Ugh, it’s so boring,” Finn groaned.

  “I guess you won’t mind then if Grandma picks out the furniture for your bedroom.”

  Instead of the argument he’d expected, Brodie saw Finn smile in the rearview mirror.

  “There’s one other thing we need to figure out, Brodie.” They were in bed, and Brodie was rubbing Peyton’s belly.

  “Only one?” To him, there were so many things they needed to figure out. he had no idea which one she might be referring to.

  “Okay, two.”

  “And they are?”

  “When and where we’re getting married. That’s one, not two.”

  “Okay.”

  “And what we’re going to name our baby girl.”

  “Any ideas about either?” he asked.

  Peyton smiled. “I have a couple.”

  “Yeah? Wanna fill me in?”

  “Soon,” she said before covering his lips with hers.

  II

  Maddox

  October

  3

  “Hey, Mad-man. What’s happenin’?” Alex came up behind him and put her arms around his waist. Maddox turned his head, leaned back, and kissed her.

  “Taste this,” he said, holding the long glass tube, called a thief, up to her mouth.

  “Ew. What is that?”

  “Smoke taint.”

  “I thought you couldn’t taste it this early.”

  Maddox shrugged. He’d heard that too, but obviously, the juice he had intended to send into fermentation today was garbage.

  “How much do you think is affected?”

  “A lot more than I’d hoped.”

  When he sat down, she sat on his lap, put her arm around his shoulder, and kissed his cheek.

  He didn’t want her lips on his damn cheek; he wanted them on his mouth. He gripped her neck with his hand and took the kiss he wanted from her.

  “Hmm. Fiesty,” she murmured.

  Maddox put one arm behind Alex’s knees and lifted her when he stood.

  “Where are we going?”

  “I need you, Al,” he grunted, kicking the winery door closed behind him.

  “Clothes off,” he said once they were in the bedroom. He waited, like he always did, with his arms folded, until she stood naked before him.

  When she went to lay on the bed, he grabbed her arm. “No. I want to look at you.”

  His eyes traveled down the length of her body, taking in every inch of the skin he knew so well. “Turn around,” he demanded, and she did. He got close enough that he could touch her, but didn’t. He waited until her breathing accelerated and her body slowly writhed in anticipation of his touch.

  “Don’t move,” he growled.

  “Maddox—”

  “Don’t speak, either.”

  When she stilled and settled into the rhythm of their intimacy, he reached down and tapped her leg.

  “Open for me, baby.” He breathed onto her neck, stopping just shy of touching her skin with his lips. He reached between her legs with one hand and drew her body against his with the other, tightening his grip when she started to writhe again.

  “What do you want, Al? Do you want my fingers? Or my mouth?” He brushed against her bottom with his hardness. “Or do you want me inside you?”

  “I want it all, Mad.”

  “Is that the way you ask?”

  “Please, Maddox.”

  He scooted her closer to the bed and eased her down onto her stomach. She shifted farther up toward the pillows.

  “Did I tell you to close your legs?”

  “No,” she whimpered, opening herself to him.

  “Turn over, and show me what you want, Alex.”

  He stood and watched as she pleasured herself for him. Her eyes remained fixated on his, and when he saw them droop, he moved her hand away and unzipped his jeans, letting them fall to the floor before he climbed on the bed and rested between her legs.

  “I want to make a baby with you.” His lips covered hers, and she nodded.

  “I want that, too.”

  Ever since they thought she was pregnant and it had turned out to be a false alarm, he wished it hadn’t been. More than anything, he wanted to see her body change, her stomach protrude, and her breasts to grow fuller, all because of their child. He became obsessed with it.

  It’s what they both wanted, and so far, it hadn’t happened. She’d stopped taking birth control pills after the surgery she had to remove the cyst they’d thought was a baby, and he didn’t want her to ever take them again. He didn’t care how many kids they had; he’d still want more, s
till crave knowing that she was his, and the life growing inside her was from the marriage of their two souls.

  She knew better than to tease him now, but later she’d call him her caveman, and he’d let her. He wasn’t ashamed of craving her.

  Last month, he’d found her in the bathroom, crying, and when he’d asked what was wrong, she told him she wasn’t pregnant.

  He’d held her tight and promised that, while he was as disappointed as she was, they’d keep trying as long as it was still what they both wanted.

  “Come with me, baby,” he said, thrusting into her again and again, until he saw that look on her face, the one that told him she’d let herself go and was lost in the pleasure he rained on her body.

  Alex slept, like she often did after she’d wrested every bit of pleasure she could out of him. Usually he did too, but not today. The things she’d said to him the night before were echoing in his head.

  It had started with a simple conversation about Naughton and Bradley’s wedding and turned into something he didn’t understand.

  “When are you going to ask me to marry you?” he’d teased, but instead of teasing him back, Alex got out of bed. He’d given her some space, but when she hadn’t come back after fifteen minutes, he went looking for her.

  He’d found her standing in front of a window, tears running down her cheeks.

  “Come on, Al. It was a joke. I’m sorry.”

  She shook her head.

  “Come back to bed,” he’d coaxed, but she wouldn’t move. He’d picked her up, then, and carried her back into the bedroom.

  “We can’t get married,” she’d whispered.

  “Of course we can. I’ll ask you the right way, Al. I’m sorry I made a joke of it tonight.”

  “What if we can’t…”

  “Oh, yeah? Who’s gonna stop us?”

  “Not that. What if we can’t have a baby?”

  He’d held her tight until she finally slept, soothing her but unsure whether he should tell her she would get pregnant in time, or if instead, he should tell her it didn’t matter if she didn’t, that just being with her was all that really mattered.