Making You Mine – the Bradens & Montgomerys (Pleasant Hill – Oak Falls)

by Melissa Foster

  “They’re older, and Troy, the oldest, has a little girl, Danielle. She’s almost three, and we call her Dani. She is a little firecracker. I was a total tomboy and she’s a girlie girl, but she copies everything I do. It’s the cutest thing, and my brother is an amazing father, which is good, because her mom isn’t in the picture. Dani loves the loud get-togethers, and all our family’s friends adore her. Our house has always been the gathering place. When we were kids we had friends over all the time. I swear every team member my brothers ever had called my mom Mama Stewart. I’ve been helping her prepare feasts like this for as long as I can remember.”

  “You’re lucky. Your family sounds amazing. I’ve never done anything like this with my mom, and our house was pretty much like dinner was the other night. We attended parties as a family and sometimes my mom and I would shop for fancy dresses, but she was so busy keeping up with my father’s social schedule, we didn’t have much mother-daughter time. Although she did little things for me when I was younger. When I was home from school on break she’d come into my room just before bed and brush my hair and tell me stories about my grandparents. I wanted to know everything about them.”

  “You never knew them?”

  “They were older when they had my mom. I knew them as a toddler, but I don’t remember them.” She popped a piece of cinnamon bun into her mouth and said, “I would have loved growing up in a loud, busy house. When we were young, Knox used to drag me places that we shouldn’t go. Sometimes we’d wear baseball hats and hang out at the inn’s pool. He’d tell everyone we were the Joneses or some other made-up name. He said I needed to experience being a regular kid.”

  Aubrey’s heart warmed. “He loves you and Landon.”

  “I know. He saved my life, although he’ll never tell you that.”

  “He told me about your eating disorder. I’m so sorry you went through such a hard time.”

  “Thanks, but we all have hard times. Mine just manifested in the only thing I felt I had complete control over.” She paused, and then she said, “The funny thing was, it had control over me.”

  “Knox said you’re in a better place now?”

  “Much,” she said earnestly. “Thanks to him. He’s always been there for me, but when I went through treatment, he also saw a counselor and got Landon and my parents to as well, so they would know how to help me. He worried that he was the cause of my issues, because he was so rebellious. But it wasn’t him. It was a mix of my own insecurities and trying to fill a hole by becoming what I thought was perfect. But I know better now.”

  “I’m glad to hear that. Is it hard for you to be around all this food?”

  “No. It would have been at first, but I have a healthier relationship with myself now and with how I treat my body. More importantly, my relationship with my parents is getting better. And Project ME helps a lot.”

  “Project ME?”

  “Project Mindful Eating. Knox didn’t mention it?”

  Aubrey shook her head. “No.”

  Paige smiled. “I’m not surprised. I swear his heart is bigger than anyone’s, but he doesn’t like to let people know that. Project ME is a nonprofit that Knox founded when he realized what I was dealing with. It provides support for people with eating disorders and their families—treatments, education, the whole nine yards. I spend tons of time there helping others, and doing so has helped me, too. I think that’s the real reason he started it, to give me something of my own to focus on. Not that I own a piece of it—it’s a nonprofit—but you know what I mean.”

  “I do. And you’re right. He has a very generous heart, but he covers it up with cockiness sometimes.”

  “He’s always been good at acting like a bad boy.”

  As Paige went on about Knox, Aubrey thought about their time together. She was enjoying her time with him and his family. Even dinner had ended on a happy note. But that was only part of what was drawing her to the big-hearted, cocky man. Knox was so loving toward her, she felt herself not only responding, but also intensely aware of her feelings blossoming into something much bigger than anything she’d ever known. He’d touched parts of her that she’d kept walled off for a very long time, and she wondered if he’d been that loving toward her all the time and she’d just been too protective of her heart to see it, or if it was new. While the changes were a little frightening, she liked the way it felt to finally accept, and return, his affection. She liked giving their relationship the depth and strength she’d come to realize it deserved, and she would be sad to leave their time together behind and go back to real life when the snow let up. But she was still a realist, and she wondered if they would last when they returned to their lives. Knox lived in New York City, and she lived in Port Hudson. They were only a little more than an hour apart, but what would their relationship become? Would they be weekend lovers? Would that be enough after this? Would it be too much and have a negative effect on her business life?

  “Aubrey? Hello?” Paige waved her hand in front of Aubrey’s face, snapping her out of her thoughts. “Daydreaming about Knox?”

  “Something like that,” she confessed, and returned her attention to the pigs in blankets. “Let’s roll up the sausages and get these in the oven.”

  The kitchen doors flew open and Elizabeth breezed in, walking swiftly toward them in her designer dress and high heels. Her hair was perfectly coiffed, and her slanted brows made Aubrey’s nerves prickle. The kitchen staff shifted into a line, their hands behind their backs, shoulders square, chins up in greeting.

  “Good afternoon, Mrs. Bentley,” Clyde said with a smile that Aubrey could tell was more strained than the ones he’d been sharing with her and Paige.

  “Hello, Clyde. It smells wonderful in here,” she said as she strode toward Paige and Aubrey.

  Clyde turned to the staff and nodded, and they went back to work.

  “Paige,” Elizabeth said with a question in her voice, eyeing Paige’s apron.

  “Hi, Mom. We’re cooking for the Super Bowl,” Paige explained. “You should try one of these.” She offered her a cinnamon bun.

  Elizabeth waved it away. “No, thank you. I don’t want to get all sticky.”

  Paige’s shoulders sank, and Aubrey felt so bad for her, she couldn’t keep quiet. She handed a napkin to Elizabeth and said, “They really are delicious. Paige did such an amazing job on the cinnamon spread and the dough, it’ll melt in your mouth. I’m sure Clyde won’t mind if you wash up in his sink afterward.” She was being pushy, but she cared about Paige. She didn’t know what might send her over the edge with her eating disorder, but Aubrey would be heartbroken if her mother negated her efforts like that.

  “I guess you’re right,” Elizabeth said kindly.

  Paige’s eyes brightened as her mother took the cinnamon bun with the tips of her fingers and thumb and lifted it to her mouth, pinkie extended. She bit daintily into it, and her entire body seemed to exhale as she chewed. Her eyes fluttered closed, and she moaned. Moaned!

  “You like it!” Paige exclaimed, full of pride.

  Elizabeth’s eyes flew open, and she dabbed at the corners of her mouth. “It’s delightful. Sweet and light and simply perfect. You made this, Paige?”

  Paige nodded. “Aubrey is showing me how to make everything. You should join us. We’re doing pigs in blankets now. It’s fun, Mom. Please?”

  “Oh, I don’t know…”

  “Yes, please join us.” Aubrey took off her apron and said, “You can wear my apron so you don’t get dirty. I’m sure you have some old family recipes you can share, and I’d love to know about Knox’s favorite dishes.”

  Elizabeth looked at the apron like it was something so foreign she didn’t know what to make of it.

  “Please, Mom?” Paige pleaded. “Aubrey has great memories of cooking with her mother, and I feel like I missed out.”

  “I’m sorry,” Aubrey quickly interjected. “I didn’t mean to make you feel bad about that.”

  Elizabeth set the cinnamo
n bun and napkin on the counter and touched Aubrey’s arm. “Don’t ever apologize for the things you enjoyed with your family, sweetheart. I’m sure you didn’t mean to point out the areas in which I was lacking as a mother.”

  “Oh, no. I didn’t mean—”

  “It’s okay.” Elizabeth looked at Paige with an apologetic gaze and said, “Our priorities weren’t always in the right place for making memories. But it’s never too late to start.” She slipped the apron over her head and reached behind her back to tie it.

  Paige’s eyes teared up, and she embraced her mother. “Thank you.”

  Clyde came to Aubrey’s side and handed her another apron with an approving nod before going back to work.

  “I was actually looking for you, Aubrey,” Elizabeth said. “The storm has shifted. Leon said the transportation crews have been plowing all night. He took the Rover to see if he could make it into town. You might just make it to your party after all.”

  “Really?” The excitement she felt at joining her family was dampened by the idea of leaving Knox’s family. She looked at Paige and saw the same mix of emotions.

  “I hope you can,” Elizabeth said. “We should know if the roads are clear shortly.”

  “Oh, Paige, we’ll miss watching the game together if I leave.”

  “I know,” Paige said solemnly. Then she smiled and said, “Can we watch the next game together if I come down to Port Hudson?”

  “This marks the end of football season, but how about if we watch a baseball game together?”

  “Perfect!” Paige exclaimed. “I know nothing about baseball either, though, so you’ll have to teach me.”

  “Stick with me, girl. I’ll teach you all the sports lingo you could ever want to know.”

  “Sounds like you two have become fast friends.” Elizabeth looked at the dough and said, “I don’t know anything about sports, but I do know a little something about rolling sausages.” She laughed softly and said just above a whisper, “That sounded dirty.”

  Paige and Aubrey laughed.

  “And as for my son’s favorite dishes, have you ever heard of Goober sandwiches?”

  Paige and Aubrey exchanged surprised glances.

  Elizabeth held her finger in front of her mouth and whispered, “Shh. Boys like to think they hold secrets, but really it’s the moms who hold them the closest.”

  “Did you know all of my secrets, too?” Paige asked.

  “I thought I did,” Elizabeth said. “But it turned out I didn’t know the most important one of all.” She exhaled loudly, as if to push past that sad memory, and said, “Aubrey, did Knox ever tell you about the talk Leon had with him about girls when he was fifteen?”

  “You knew about that?” Holy cow.

  “Who do you think sent Leon down to the cellar?” She winked and said, “Let’s get cooking, so you can get home to your mama and she can pretend she doesn’t know your secrets, too.”

  Chapter Eleven

  AFTER THE LONGEST goodbye Knox had ever experienced, he and Aubrey headed back to Port Hudson. Leon and Joyce had fawned over them, and Joyce sent them home with Goober sandwiches and a six-pack of Perrier, which Aubrey was thrilled about since she’d devoured all of her Cheetos and drank all the orange soda Knox had given her. Paige and Aubrey must have hugged a dozen times with promises to text and call and God only knew what else. Knox heard mumblings about a baseball game and a girls’ night out. He was glad they had hit it off so well. He still didn’t know how Aubrey had convinced his mother to wear an apron, much less cook with them, but when she’d said goodbye, she’d embraced Aubrey for what seemed like forever. And then, as if he couldn’t tell how fond of his girlfriend his mother was, when she’d hugged him goodbye she’d whispered, “She’s beautiful, inside and out, just like you.” His father and Landon were the only two who said their normal goodbyes, hugging them briefly with no added fanfare beyond how nice it was to see them.

  Aubrey was quiet for the first few miles, giving Knox space to think about how their time together had felt more like a month than a weekend. He wondered if Aubrey felt that way, too. But she’d been thrust into so much Bentley drama, he didn’t ask. He was sure she needed time to decompress.

  “Hey,” she said a little while later. “Can you believe your family is going to watch the Super Bowl?”

  “No,” he said honestly. “I’m hoping they do, for Paige, but I’m not counting on it.”

  Paige had suggested they open the media room to the guests and host their first annual Bentley Super Bowl Party with all the food they’d made. Elizabeth, who Aubrey had said seemed drunk on fun by the time they were done cooking, had heartily agreed. Clyde offered to make even more food for the event, and his mother had said she wanted more of the same foods Aubrey and Paige had made. Knox had never seen Paige so happy.

  “Oh, they’ll do it,” Aubrey said. “At least your mom and Paige will. Your mom wanted to see what all my family’s excitement was about.”

  “Sounds like you made quite an impression.”

  She smiled, relaxing against the headrest, and said, “It goes both ways. Hey, since we’re dating now, does that mean you’ll go to a party with me?”

  He reached for her hand. “Whatever you want, you know that.”

  “Good, because I told your mom we’d go to the Gratitude Ball.”

  “Why would you do that? I’m not going to that dog and pony show.”

  “Well, I’m going, and you’re my boyfriend, so if you don’t want to attend with me, then I should probably rethink this whole dating thing we have going on.”

  He gave her a deadpan look.

  “What?” Her brows shot up with her grin. “You guys are trying so hard to change old habits. Don’t you think it would be a nice gesture to show them you’re willing to make changes, too, and support their endeavors? Besides, Paige said they’re doing a Great Gatsby theme, which I love. But if you want to deprive me of seeing you as Gatsby and you have no interest in seeing me in a sexy little flapper dress, I’m sure I can find another date.”

  “Playing dirty?”

  She leaned across the seat and ran her finger along his thigh. Her eyes flamed, and his cock twitched behind his zipper as she said, “I can play as dirty as you’d like.”

  “Jesus, Aubrey. You keep looking at me like that and I’ll pull over in the snowbank and take you up on that offer.”

  She giggled. “And I’d be all over that if I hadn’t already texted my brothers to let them know we were on our way. They’ll worry if we’re late. Go with me to the party, Knox. Let your parents show you off. You’re an impressive guy, and even if things weren’t what you’d hoped when you were growing up, they had a little something to do with the way you turned out.”

  “Yeah, they fueled my fire. I’ll go for you,” he relented. “I really hate these things, but I was planning on circling back to Landon then anyway about your using the inn for the movie. This will allow me to do it face to face. But you’ll see that party is just an excuse for my father to flaunt his wealth and show off his family.”

  “I don’t care if that’s all it is. I’m glad we’re going. Your mom was happy when I said we’d be there.”

  “I guess she knows me better than I thought.”

  “Why?”

  “Because she must know I’d do anything for you.” He laced his fingers with hers and said, “So, what do I need to know about your family before meeting them?”

  “Nothing,” she said lightly, but her secretive smirk told him to be ready for anything.

  When they entered the quaint college town of Port Hudson, fifty miles north of Manhattan on the Hudson River, Aubrey gave him directions to her parents’ house.

  “I just realized something,” Knox said as they drove along the main drag, passing a host of cute shops.

  “That you have wrangled an awesome chick to be your girlfriend when you said you just wanted me to date you? You sure pulled a fast one on me, Bentley. You got me all swept up in your
family dynamics and wowed me with the snowmobile, then romanced me in the moonlight.”

  “There was no moon, babe. It was snowing. I romanced you in the Knox light.”

  “Cheesy. I like it. What did you realize?”

  “That this is our second real date.”

  “Have you always been this high school?”

  “Not a day in my life,” he said as he turned off the main drag toward her parents’ house. “But I like it. I’m going to have to give you my letterman jacket.”

  Her head fell back with a laugh. “And I’ll doodle your name on my notebooks.”

  “Don’t pretend you haven’t been doing that for months,” he said as they turned onto her parents’ street, which was lined with bumper-to-bumper cars. “Guess your parents’ neighbors like football, too. Where should I park?”

  “Joey said he saved us a spot in the driveway.”

  She pointed to the end of the street, and sure enough, in the driveway of a modest two-story Colonial with a partial front porch there was an empty parking spot. He parked and came around to open Aubrey’s door.

  “Nervous?” she asked as they walked up to the door.

  “About watching a football game?” He scoffed. “Hardly.”

  “You’re nervous about meeting my family.” She lifted their joined hands. “You’re about to break my hand.”

  He released her hand. “Shit, babe. Sorry. I didn’t realize…”

  “It’s kind of cute.” She pushed open the door and hollered, “I made it!”

  As they stepped inside Knox was shocked at how many people were packed into the surrounding rooms. There was standing room only.

  “Hummer!” Deep voices boomed through the house, followed by thunderous footfalls.

  Everyone turned toward them as Aubrey’s brother Troy, a wide receiver for the New York Giants, burst through the crowd to their right and lifted her into his arms, spinning her as the crowd began chanting, “Hummer! Hummer!”

  Aubrey’s laughter was as loud as the chants as her other brother, Joe, the starting quarterback for the New York Jets, barreled in and hauled her out of Troy’s arms, hugging her tight.