He nodded. “When I got to the bottom of the mountain, Bren pointed out a rundown antiques shop. He said he’d spoken with the owner back at the beginning of the summer and that there was a chance he’d have your daisy doorknobs.”
She nodded. “I remember him mentioning it.”
He ran his index finger across the glass surface. “I stood outside the shop and silently called on my parents and your husband to show me the way. I just knew if the knobs were there, it was a sign—just like the daisies and the initials on your handlebars—that we were meant to be together.”
Her heart hammered in her chest. She’d told herself finding this last set of daisy doorknobs would be the key to starting over—the key to the next phase of her life with her son.
She parted her lips to speak but paused when a young man in a suit came running toward them, waving a folder above his head.
“Sorry, Mr. Bergen. I’ve got the papers right here. The house is all yours,” the man said on a winded breath, handing Cam a folder.
Cadence stared at him. “Who are you?”
“I’m an attorney from Bergen Enterprises legal department, ma’am,” he replied, then mopped his brow with a handkerchief.
“And why are you here?”
The lawyer looked to Cam.
“Thanks for your help. I’ll take it from here,” Cam replied to the man who gave her a polite nod before walking back to a car parked on the street.
“Cam, what’s this about a house?” she asked.
“After I found the knobs, I knew there was one more thing I wanted to do for you and Bodhi. So, I bought my house for us.”
“Your house?”
He smiled. “The house I grew up in. The house I showed you with the daisies growing in the front yard. The house filled with so many happy memories. Remember, it was for sale.”
She shook her head. “I don’t need you to buy me a house.”
“Cadence, I want to give you and Bodhi a good life. I want a place for us—a place for our family. I know you’re thinking of selling the paired homes. Bren told me that, too.”
“Yes, I am, but there’s a good possibility that I’ll be coming into quite a bit of money thanks to those squirrels and you crashing into my life.”
He cocked his head to the side. “What do you mean?”
“Do you remember when you found that box behind the secretary desk on your first night back in Denver? After we trapped the squirrels?”
“Of course, I remember that night.”
“Abby, Elle, and I opened it today. It contained a pocket watch. A Patek Philippe watch from 1914 that was owned by Gertrude and Glenna’s father. Elle has an antiques expert friend who thinks it’s worth over a million dollars.”
“A Patek Philippe, like my dad’s watch,” he repeated.
She nodded.
“That’s crazy,” he said with a stunned expression as two sharp foghorn honks got their attention.
“Is it time?” she asked, then glanced at the shoreline and the families preparing to launch their cardboard vessels.
“That’s the two-minute warning,” he answered.
Two minutes.
She had two minutes to decide her future. She glanced at the doorknobs and then to her son.
“If you get in that cardboard boat with Bodhi, that’s a promise more powerful than any words. That’s you showing him—and me—that you’ll never leave us again.”
Cam didn’t say a word as he took her hand, kissed the diamond daisy ring on her finger, and led her to the lake.
“Are you ready, Cam?” Bodhi asked as Brennen adjusted her son’s life vest.
“I’ve never been more ready for anything in my entire life,” he answered, his gaze locked with hers.
Bodhi stretched out his hand. “For luck, Mommy,” he said, giving her hand three quick pumps.
She held back tears and returned the secret I love you, too handshake reply.
“Cam,” he said, reaching for his hand.
They exchanged the squeezes as Cam brushed a tear from his cheek.
He turned to her. “Do you know how much I love you?”
She smiled up at him through tears. “I do.”
“I found you, Mountain Daisy, and I swear, I will never let you go.” He glanced down at Bodhi. “I’m going to kiss your mom, and then we’re going to go win this regatta. Is that all right with you?”
Bodhi smiled up at Camden. “Mom said I could call you dad. Can we start that today?”
“Do you think Aaron would mind?” Cam asked, emotion lacing his words.
She pictured the boy she’d grown up with and the kind man she’d married. He never had a jealous or vindictive bone in his body. And then she remembered the scrap of paper that led her to the mountain bike forum and to Mountain Mac.
“I don’t think he’d mind at all. He chose you, Cam. He picked you to help raise his son.”
Camden nodded then blew out a slow breath. “Yeah, B, I’d love it if you called me dad.”
Bodhi grinned then pulled a taped piece of cardboard with Cam painted in sloppy six-year-old letters off the boat to reveal the word Dad hidden beneath.
A loud honk—but not a foghorn—pulled their attention to Elle, sobbing a few feet away.
“Can you just kiss her? This is like ten times more touching than the bagel guy telling me to have a nice day,” she wept then blew her nose again.
Bodhi pressed his hands to his eyes. “Okay, I’m not looking.”
Cam ruffled her son’s—no, their son’s hair. “Thank you, Cadence Daisy for giving me the kind of life I never dreamed possible.”
“It looks like my Man Find is all mine,” she replied when Elle blew her nose again.
“Camden Bergen, help a pregnant woman out and kiss your fiancée!” Elle said, dabbing at her eyes with a tissue.
“Seriously, Cam, can you speed things up a bit. My wife’s having a moment here,” Jas added, but he was holding back a grin.
“Oh, I can do that,” Camden answered then cupped her cheek in his hand, tilted her head, and pressed his lips to hers.
She’d never believed in fairy tales, but that kiss was the closest thing to magic she’d ever felt. This kiss sealed the promises Cam had made to her and to Bodhi with the approval of everyone who’d ever loved her. This beautiful, caring man was her future. She sighed, relief and love and joy washing over her in sweet, rippling waves when a real wave, albeit small, splashed her heels and a foghorn blasted through the air.
“Come on, Dad! It’s time!” Bodhi cried.
Cam smiled against her lips at Bodhi’s words. “I better go. My son and I have a regatta to win.”
“Good luck! I’ll find you after the race,” she said, taking a step back, but he reached for her hand and gave it three gentle squeezes. She responded back with four.
He smiled, and the whole world disappeared. “Don’t worry, Mountain Daisy, no matter what, we’ll always find each other.”
Epilogue
Camden
“Good morning, Mrs. Bergen.”
Cadence nuzzled into him, her body warm and loose from a night spent sleeping in his arms.
“Good morning, Mr. Bergen,” she said with a sexy sigh.
He smoothed back her hair and stared out the window as a gently falling snow blanketed Bergen Mountain, but his thoughts were diverted from the weather the moment his wife’s hand trailed down his chest. Her warm fingertips drew a lazy line past the plane of his abdominal muscles and teased his now rock-hard cock.
That was the thing about being married to a goddess. Each day, he woke up to the woman of his dreams—and that meant a lot of morning wood.
A hell of a lot.
Thank Christ, it wasn’t for nothing.
He slid his hands down the length of her naked torso, every curve and every sweet stretch of soft skin, turning his thoughts more carnal by the second.
Cadence stretched like a cat, arching into him and doing absolutely nothing to calm h
is raging hard-on.
“Do you think everyone is still asleep?” she asked, tightening her grip on his hard length.
“I’m not thinking of anyone but you at the moment,” he whispered into her ear.
His entire family had gathered up at the Bergen Cottage to celebrate Thanksgiving. His grandparents, Bren and Abby, and Jas and Elle were all here, not only to celebrate the holiday, but to have some time to relax before Elle’s scheduled C-section next week.
Change was on the horizon for the Bergen brothers.
Once splintered and scattered, the bond between them now couldn’t be stronger. Jasper had talked Cadence into leaving the classroom to head up the Bergen Mountain Education Department—along with him.
They were a team working together, just like his parents.
It hadn’t been an easy decision for his wife to leave the traditional classroom, but once she learned Carrie Mackendorfer, one of their lead counselors, was the top contender to be hired on and take over her class, she knew the students at Whitmore would be in good hands.
And speaking of good hands…he knew exactly what his wife wanted him to do with his. Because as much as he would love to come by her touch, he had other plans this morning.
“Turn onto your stomach,” he growled.
She released his cock, and for a split second, he questioned his plan until the curve of her sweet ass and her breasts pressed to the mattress reminded him it was damn good to plan ahead. All Cadence’s to-do lists had rubbed off on him in the best possible way.
He’d also become a pretty amazing Laundry Ninja—to go along with his title of Flower Ninja.
When it came to Cadence Daisy Lowry Bergen, he had all the ninja skills to make her body writhe with pleasure.
She reached up and held on to the iron rods attached to the headboard then looked over her shoulder and bit her lip.
“Like this?” she asked with a sultry bend to her words, knowing damn well it was.
He prowled the length of her body and dropped kisses and gentle nips to her supple ass.
Holy hell! Monuments should be made to commemorate its perfection.
He brushed her golden hair to one side and kissed her neck as he straddled her body, pinning her beneath him. He lowered himself, careful not to crush her with his imposing six-foot-five frame and slid his hands along her arms to where she gripped the iron rods attached to the headboard.
His cock pressed between her thighs, and she released a breathy moan, muffled by the pillow. A great trick they’d picked up in the world of parents trying to get it on without their kid being any the wiser.
They’d moved into his childhood home which had given them quite a bit more space and a butler’s pantry to add to their naughty time location line-up in addition to the laundry room.
Options were good—and in a six-bedroom five thousand square foot house, they had plenty.
But they’d decided not to sell Glenna and Gertrude’s paired home. At Cadence’s suggestion—and after they’d refurnished the units and de-doilyed the place—they’d created a Bergen residency. Anyone having just graduated from college in Colorado and starting a career in a field that served the community was welcome to apply. And they couldn’t have been happier to choose Carrie and Luke Parker, the other lead counselor who had chosen to begin his law career in legal aid, as recipients of the two awards which included free housing.
Not a bad gig.
And all this husband and wife business? Well, they’d followed Bodhi’s lead, and he’d officially became Bodhi’s stepdad, sopping wet, right after he and his son had kicked ass and won the regatta.
It had been an impromptu ceremony just inside the boathouse overlooking Smith Lake. With rings made out of twists of wet cardboard from the SS Daisy, Harriet and Ray had procured the services of their dear friend, a former Colorado State supreme court judge, who’d been attending the regatta with his family to marry them in a lightning-quick ceremony and make their union official.
And he had to admit, despite years of trying to forget who he was, it wasn’t half bad being Colorado royalty—especially when you want to marry the girl of your dreams and become a father to a child you loved more than your very life right on the spot.
“Cam,” Cadence breathed, and he grinned against the shell of her ear. Cadence was one of the most kind, giving people he’d ever met, but in bed…he liked his wife greedy.
“Do you need something, Daisy?” he purred in her ear.
She lifted her hips and rubbed her sweet ass against his thick cock.
It was time to take care of his wife. This stunning, driven woman who’d taught him what love, commitment, and forgiveness looked like each day he was blessed to call her his own.
And now, he was ready to own her pleasure.
With one hand gripping her wrist, he slid the other beneath her hip and found her wet and so damn ready for him. He thrust inside her from behind, working her throbbing bundle of nerves with his hand as heat built between them. Christ! He’d never tire of the delicious slide of their bodies coming together and the feverish pace they’d reach, climbing higher and higher.
And just when he thought he couldn’t last a second longer, she laced her fingers with his, squeezed hard, and met her release, flying over the edge. Her body belonged to him and him alone, to love and worship and ravage. And all it took was hearing her sexy heated breaths, and he was there, too. Flying, falling, riding the wave of their intense connection so deep it pierced his soul.
He gently rolled off of her and gathered her into his arms. “I like making love to my sugar mama,” he said with a low, teasing tone.
She chuckled. “I’m no sugar mama.”
“How much was the last offer for the pocket watch?”
“Oh, something a little north of one point five million,” she answered, stroking the scruff of his beard.
“And all because of a pair of damn squirrels.”
The watch had caused quite a kerfuffle—a word he did not use lightly or really ever—in the world of antique timepieces. Glenna and Gertrude had left Cadence quite a prize, but they’d decided not to sell the mint-condition pocket watch. It was an heirloom bought with the riches from the days of the Colorado gold and silver rush which they’d agreed to loan to the Colorado History Museum. But the offers to purchase the pocket watch continued to roll in, giving him ammunition to tease his generous wife.
“What do you want to do today?” she asked.
He glanced out at the mountain. “It looks like there was quite a storm last night. There’s probably six inches of fresh powder, and the snow’s still falling. We could hit the slopes.”
“Bodhi’s a little speed demon out there,” she said, still stroking his scruff.
“He’s caught the Bergen bug. And with a name like Bodhi Lowry Bergen, the kid’s destined to be a ski legend. Bren, Jas, and I will have him skiing triple black diamond runs backward any day now.”
Cadence pushed up onto her elbow and grabbed a pillow. But just before she could smack him with it, a knock came at the door. Like professional parent ninjas, Cadence grabbed her robe, and he pulled on his pajama bottoms in two-seconds flat.
She twisted her hair into a bun. “Is that you, B?”
“No, it’s me,” came Jasper’s voice. “I think we’re having the babies.”
“Are you just now realizing this, Jas?” he asked, but his brother’s worried expression had him up and at the door in an instant.
Cadence tied the belt on her robe. “Where’s Elle? Have you called the doctor?”
“She’s in our closet, and yes, I made the call.”
“Why is she in the closet?”
“That’s where she was when the contractions started, and she told me she wasn’t moving.”
“Okay, let’s go,” Cadence said as they rushed down the long hallway to Jasper and Elle’s room.
“What’s all the commotion?” Abby asked, opening the door to the room she shared with Bren.
“Elle’s having contractions,” Cadence answered as Abby and Brennen followed them down the hall.
“But she’s scheduled to have a C-section in a few days,” Abby said.
Jasper shook his head. “Yeah, don’t tell her that. I tried and let’s just say she had some colorful language as to where I could stick my comments.”
“What time is it?” Harriet asked, opening the door.
“Early, Gram. But Elle’s started having contractions. She’s in Jasper’s closet,” he answered.
“The closet?” Ray said, joining his wife.
“It’s a walk-in closet,” Jas replied as if that made her location any less weird.
“Let’s just get to her,” Harriet said with a nod.
“How about I make sure Bodhi is all right while you all tend to Elle,” Ray offered.
“Good idea, darling. There’s strudel in the kitchen.”
“Yes, thanks, Ray,” Cadence said as the party of six made their way to Jasper and Elle’s walk-in closet.
“Cam, is this really happening?” Bren whispered.
“Sounds like it,” he answered.
“How are you doing, Elle?” Cadence asked, rushing alongside Abby and Jasper to her side.
“I’ve been better. I’ll be much better when we get to a hospit—” she cut off as a contraction hit and his sister-in-law tensed.
“I’m just going to check you,” Jasper said calmly.
“I know you were an EMT, Jas. But that was a decade ago,” Elle said through clenched teeth.
“Well, it doesn’t take an EMT to see that the first baby is crowning.”
Holy hell! This was happening.
He shared a glance with Cadence as Elle endured another contraction, and his wife took his sister-in-law’s hand.
“You’ve got this, Elle. Just breathe.”
Quick footsteps padded down the hall, and a woman dressed ready to hit the slopes entered.
“Dr. Anderson? What are you doing here?” Elle huffed on a shocked breath.
“Didn’t Jasper tell you?” the doctor asked, shedding her ski coat and opening her medical bag.
“You can never be too prepared,” Jas said.
Man Find (Bergen Brothers Book 3) Page 26
