by Marie Force
“Are they dating?” Tyler whispered to Charley after dinner left most of the Abbotts in a turkey coma. Bodies were scattered throughout the great room, on every piece of furniture and the floor while a Christmas movie that no one was watching played on the TV.
“I don’t know. I have to ask Cam.”
Lucy’s dad, Ray, had spent much of the afternoon chatting with Charley’s aunt Hannah, while Emma and Grayson were huddled together on one of the sofas with her daughter Simone between them. Lucas Abbott was out cold in the middle of the living room floor. His twin was asleep on the floor of the den, where Hunter and Megan were snuggled in front of one of the two fireplaces that Colton had kept fed with wood all day.
Gavin’s parents had come for dinner and were still at the dining room table with Molly, Lincoln and Elmer long after the others had headed for sofas and floors and other horizontal surfaces.
Stepping over bodies, Max walked the floor with Caden, who’d been fussy all day. Molly said the baby was overstimulated by the noise and chaos of the holiday, so Max was trying to soothe him. Tyler wanted to offer to help the poor guy but didn’t feel it was his place. Not yet anyway. Maybe someday he’d be an official member of the Abbott family and Max would be his brother-in-law and Caden his nephew. Then he could offer to relieve the tired dad for a while, but for now, he held back, not wanting to overstep.
Last night, on the sofa, he’d felt Charley’s surrender. He’d actually felt her let go and give in to the relationship she hadn’t wanted until it happened, but their accord was still fragile, and he had a long way to go in convincing her that his love for her would last a lifetime.
He couldn’t wait for their trip to Boston tomorrow where he’d have her all to himself for a night—maybe two if he could talk her into staying longer. Tyler had spent hours planning their night away down to the last detail, and he couldn’t wait to leave in the morning.
“Poor Max,” Charley said softly from their perch on the sofa. “He’s so exhausted.”
“I was going to offer to relieve him for a while, but I didn’t know if that would be weird.”
“That would be really nice. You should.”
“Oh, okay.” Tyler kissed her cheek, got up and stepped over Lucas to cross the room to where Max was standing in front of the biggest Christmas tree Tyler had ever seen.
“Hey, Max, you want to take a break? I’d be happy to help. I’ve got lots of niece and nephew experience.”
Max seemed surprised by the offer, but the surprise was soon replaced by gratitude. “Wouldn’t say no to that, Tyler. My arms are asleep, but he’s wide awake.”
“Let me take a whirl. My sister Paula used to call me a baby whisperer because I was the only one who could get her older daughter to sleep.”
“Work your magic,” Max said as he carefully transferred the tiny bundle into Tyler’s arms.
“Go get a drink. You look like you need one.”
Max laughed. “I need about ten.”
“Start with one. We’ll be fine.”
“Thanks.”
“Any time.” After Max had walked away, Tyler looked down at the big eyes looking up at him. “Hey there, little man. I’m Tyler, your aunt Charley’s boyfriend.” He walked through the big rooms that made up the first floor of the Abbotts’ barn, talking softly to the baby as he went, ending up in the mudroom where each of the ten Abbotts had a hook with their name on it. The hooks were laden with coats today.
“I hope maybe someday I’ll be your uncle, but I shouldn’t say that out loud. Your aunt Charley isn’t like other women. She’s very, very special, and I have to be really patient with her. Someday you might love someone the way I love Charley, and you’ll know what I mean.”
“So it’s love, huh?” a voice behind him said.
Tyler turned and found Elmer smiling widely.
“You heard that?” he asked, embarrassed to have been caught when he thought he had found the one unoccupied corner of the house.
Charley’s grandfather smiled broadly. “I heard it, and I’m delighted. I had a feeling about you two kids.”
“I know that feeling. I’ve had it for a while myself.” Tyler kept watch over Caden, whose eyes were beginning to get heavy.
“So I’ve noticed, but our Charley . . . She hasn’t made it easy for you, has she?”
Tyler suppressed the urge to laugh out loud so he wouldn’t disturb the baby. “You could say that, but she’s worth it.”
“I couldn’t agree more. Ever since she was as tiny as this fellow, she’s marched to the beat of her own drummer. Couldn’t tell her anything when she was a kid, so she had to learn every lesson the hard way. Used to pain me to see her hurting, but after a while I realized that’s just how it’s meant to be for her.”
“I picture her with skinned knees and elbows and tear tracks on her freckled face,” Tyler said.
“You’re not that far off,” Elmer said with a chuckle. “It took a lot to make her cry.”
“Still does.”
“And when it happens, it breaks your heart because you know she has to be really hurting.”
“Yeah.”
“I want to let you in on a little secret that has to stay between us.”
“Sure,” Tyler said, intrigued.
“Before Charley started talking about training to run a marathon, Vivienne told me you were in training with a local running club. So when Charley told me about her plans to train over lunch one day, I told her about the club. I might’ve forgotten to mention that you were already a member.”
Astounded by Elmer’s confession, Tyler said, “I’ve heard you were good, but wow. That’s . . .”
“Shameless?”
“A little bit,” Tyler said with a laugh.
“Did it work?”
“Hell yes, it worked. Although we both could’ve done without the plunge off the side of the mountain.”
“That was not part of my plan, in case you were wondering.”
“Good to know you’re not completely diabolical.”
Elmer snorted with quiet laughter. Placing his hand on Tyler’s shoulder, Elmer said, “You, my friend, have stepped up admirably for my granddaughter. We all appreciate what you’ve done. But I have to ask what your intentions are where she’s concerned.”
“Isn’t that rather old-fashioned?”
“You may not have noticed, but I’m rather old.”
“Don’t play that card. You’re old like I am.”
“I’m young at heart, but old-fashioned just the same, and I want to see all of my grandchildren happily settled before I go.”
“Where’re you going?”
“Don’t get smart with me, young man, or I’ll have no choice but to report you to your mother.”
“You wouldn’t dare.”
“Try me,” Elmer said, his eyes twinkling with delight. He clearly lived for this shit.
“My intention is to spend the rest of my life with your granddaughter, if she’ll have me. And that’s still the great unknown. We’ve made progress, but we’re not quite there yet.”
“Does she know you love her?”
“She does.”
“And how does she feel?”
“Your guess is as good as mine. I think she feels the same way, but she’s not ready to say so, which is fine. I’m not going anywhere.”
“That’s good,” Elmer said, nodding in approval. “That’s what you’ve got to do. Show her you’re in it for keeps, no matter what.”
“That’s the plan.”
“And when it all works out, you’ll be sure to tell my son-in-law that I was instrumental in bringing you two together, right?”
“You two are competing against each other?”
“I’d call it more a friendly wager than a competition.”
“You really are diabolical.”
“And you’re really good with babies.”
Tyler looked down and saw that Caden was asleep.
“You’ll make a fi
ne father someday, Tyler.”
The compliment was bittersweet for Tyler, who’d meant what he’d said to Charley about being fine with her not wanting children. But he was still getting used to the idea that if he married her, he wouldn’t be a father. Kids had been something way off in the distant future, like an idea of what might happen rather than anything definite. If the choice was a life with her and no kids or kids with someone else, he chose her. He’d always choose her.
“I’d better get him back to his dad.”
“I’m glad we had this chat. If I can be of any help to you, I hope you’ll let me know.”
“You already have, Mr. Stillman. More than you know.”
“Call me Elmer, son. I have a feeling we’re going be family before too long.”
Though Charley’s grandfather’s words gave him hope, Tyler wouldn’t relax until he was hearing them from Charley.
Hours after everyone else had gone to bed on Christmas night, Grayson lingered at his aunt Molly’s because he’d yet to run out of things to talk about with the beautiful, shy and funny Emma Mulvaney. They sat on the sofa closest to the fire in the den that he’d kept stoked for hours while they chatted about their lives in Boston and New York, her adorable daughter, her sister’s romance with his cousin and their jobs.
He learned that she worked as the office manager for a dentist, and the rest of her life was devoted to Simone. Until recently, his had been devoted to work. That had led to their current conversation about balance and how to find it.
“So what made you decide to make the move now?” she asked.
He’d discovered she was an excellent listener, which made him want to tell her things he normally kept private. Most of the people in this world were accomplished talkers. Few were as good at listening. Emma was a true exception. “I had this case assigned to me . . . We have these A-list clients, you know? The ones we pander to, no matter what disgusting thing they might’ve done. The senior partner calls them the ‘gravy’ clients. So this guy, a bigwig in the local business community, beat the shit out of his wife, and it was my job to get him off even though we all knew he did it. He put her in the hospital with broken ribs and a broken jaw—and it wasn’t the first time.”
Emma gasped and her hand covered her heart. “Dear God.”
“I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t make myself defend him when I knew he was guilty. All the money in the world just isn’t worth it. I submitted my resignation, my partners bought me out and here I am.”
“You did the right thing.”
“This time. There’ve been other times when I successfully defended the scumbags, and I’m not proud of that. But after a while, it gets harder to wash off the scum. It stays with you. I made a lot of money in that job. The kind of money I used to dream about having back when we were scrambling to make ends meet after my dad left. But when I saw the police photos of the injured wife, something in me just said, Enough of this crazy shit. I can’t do it anymore.”
Her hand on his arm was intended to be comforting, but it stirred something else he hadn’t experienced in far too long—pure desire.
“I’m sure you’ll make a very nice living here, without having to sell your soul to the devil to do it,” Emma said.
“I hope so. It won’t be the living I was making in Boston, but I worked so much I didn’t have time to spend half of what I made there. It’ll be okay. Anything is better than what I was doing there.”
“What did your partners say when you told them you were leaving?”
“They tried to talk me out of it. A few said I was making a huge mistake, committing career suicide by moving home to the boonies.” He shrugged. “Nothing they said convinced me to change my mind.”
“Your gut was telling you it was the right move at the right time. I’m a big believer in following my gut.”
“What kind of things has your gut told you to do?”
She thought about that for a second, which gave him time to study the sweet face and the cheeks made rosy by the heat of the fire as well as several glasses of chardonnay. “It told me not to marry Simone’s father or allow him to be in her life.”
Grayson immediately sensed from her hesitation that this was not something she talked about often. “How come?”
“He wasn’t always nice to me.”
“Did he . . . Did he hurt you?”
“Once.”
How was it possible, when he’d only just met her, that he wanted to find the guy and kill him for hurting her even once?
“When I told him it was over between us, he . . . he didn’t take it well.”
“What happened?”
“It was a long time ago. A lifetime ago.”
“But you’ve never forgotten it.”
As she stared into the fire, all the life in her eyes seemed to go dull. “No, I haven’t.”
Grayson didn’t think before he reached for her, wishing he could take away the pain of someone he barely knew. That was certainly a first. She flinched, ever so slightly, but he saw it and realized the damage ran deep from the one time the man she’d loved hurt her.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
“I’ve never talked about it,” she said with a shaky laugh. “Are you sure you’re a lawyer and not a shrink?”
“Quite sure,” he said with a chuckle, “although sometimes I think the two professions aren’t all that different.”
Emma took a drink of her wine and continued to stare at the fire. “When I told him we were done, he flipped out. He . . . He held me down and forced me to . . .” She blew out a deep breath. “When it was over, I told him to leave or I’d call the police. I said if I ever saw him again, I’d report what he’d done to me.”
“Christ, Emma. You’ve never told anyone that? Not even Lucy?”
Shaking her head, she said, “No one knows how Simone came to be. Except for you now.”
“Emma,” Grayson said on a long exhale. Though he had no right, he drew her in closer to him, needing to hold her.
“My dad was so mad when he found out I was pregnant. He didn’t speak to me for the longest time. I hated that he was so disappointed.”
“Why didn’t you tell him, sweetheart?”
“Because I didn’t want Simone’s life to be colored by how she was conceived. I couldn’t bear that for her. As soon as I knew she was coming, I was in love with her. I didn’t care how she came to be. Somehow I’ve managed to keep those two things very separate in my mind. There’s him and what he did, and then there’s her—perfect in every way and no reflection whatsoever of the man who fathered her. In fact, she’s a perfect reflection of my sister. I love that.” Emma wiped away a tear that had slid down her cheek. “I love that she looks like Lucy. I thank God every day that she doesn’t look like him.” She released another of those shaky laughs. “What is it about you that has me spilling my guts to a total stranger?”
“I’m not a stranger. Not anymore. I’m a friend, and I’m glad you finally told someone. What he did to you, Emma . . . It was a crime. You know that, right?”
Nodding, she said, “I’ve had counseling, and I’ve come to terms with what happened that night. As much as one ever accepts such things.”
“And he doesn’t know about her?”
She shook her head. “I’ve never seen him again, thank God. I used to be so afraid of him coming back and doing the math . . . But she looks nothing like him, and she’s always looked young for her age. There would be no reason for him to suspect she’s his.”
If he were thinking like a lawyer, Grayson might have something to say to that. But he was thinking as a man who’d been profoundly moved by a woman for the first time in his thirty-six years. “You’re amazing.”
“Don’t say that. I did what any mother would’ve done to protect her child.”
“At tremendous personal expense.”
“The payoff has been the most wonderful little girl that anyone could hope for. I’ll never regret a thing because I
have her.”
“She’s very lucky to have you, too.”
“We’re both lucky. We’ve made a nice life for ourselves, and I never think about this stuff anymore.”
Grayson didn’t know if he totally believed that, but he wasn’t about to question her. “You must be beating the men away with a stick.”
“Right,” she said, laughing. “Between work and homework and dance class and birthday parties and soccer, I’m a regular dating machine.”
“So there’s no one special in your life?”
“Just Simone, my dad, Lucy, Colton and a few very good friends, including Cameron.”
“Do you ever want more for yourself?”
She shrugged. “I’ve learned to be very satisfied and thankful for what I have.”
“I want to see you again, Emma. I want to spend more time together.” The words were out of his mouth before he decided to say them because the thought of her getting away, of never seeing her or Simone again except for at family events, was unacceptable to him. Here he’d just taken steps to simplify his life, and one night with her had made everything complicated again. And that was fine with him.
“Oh, um, you do?”
“I really do. I haven’t talked to a woman the way I’ve talked to you tonight in, well, ever. I don’t want to stop talking to you, even though I should let you get to bed so you’re not exhausted tomorrow. Something tells me Miss Simone won’t be too forgiving of an exhausted mother.”
“You’re right. She’ll take full advantage. But I’m not quite ready to go to bed just yet.”
“No?”
She shook her head as she returned his gaze, never blinking as they drank each other in. Once again, Grayson acted before thinking, leaning in to kiss her. He was careful not to move too fast or take too much, but he could not let this night end without tasting her. As soon as he processed that first taste, he knew it wasn’t going to be anywhere near enough.
The slight mewling sound that came from her throat made him instantly hard. He drew back to look at her, slightly stunned by his reaction. Her eyes were closed, her lips parted and damp. He dragged his fingertip over her bottom lip.
