Butler, Vermont Series: Boxed Set, Books 1-3

by Force, Marie

  “I can live with that.” With his finger on her chin, he turned her toward him and laid a gentle kiss on her lips. “Today was amazing.”

  “For me, too.”

  For the longest time, he held her gaze, neither of them blinking as they drank each other in.

  Emma felt herself falling into something big, something so significant it had the power to flatten her if it went wrong. That scared the crap out of her. Simone relied on her for everything. She couldn’t afford to be flattened by a romantic disaster.

  “You want to come down for game night?”

  “I don’t want to leave her.”

  “Molly said to tell you there’s a baby monitor in the room next door for when Caden is here,” he said of his cousin Max’s baby son. “She said to move it in here if you want to come downstairs.”

  “Oh, um, I don’t know if I should leave her.”

  “Colton said she’s going to sleep all night because of the pain meds they gave her. It’s probably safe to come downstairs, but if you don’t want to, I’ll stay up here to keep you company.”

  “You don’t have to do that.”

  “I want to, Emma. I want to spend every second I can with you.” His hand made circles on her back that comforted and aroused her.

  She leaned into him, taking the support he offered so willingly. “Please don’t make me start to depend on you.”

  “Would that be so awful?”

  “It would be if it didn’t work out.”

  “We’re taking it a day at a time, remember?”

  “How could I forget?”

  “Want me to get the baby monitor for you?”

  “If you wouldn’t mind.”

  He kissed her cheek and then her lips again. “I don’t mind.”

  Watching him go, Emma was filled with longing for more of what she’d already experienced with him. In addition to the physical connection, he was easy to talk to, kind, supportive, sweet to Simone and understanding of the many challenges that stood in their way. It would be so easy to dive into this with no regard for potential consequences. And oh how she was tempted to take that dive, especially after the hours she’d spent in bed with him. A shiver traveled down her spine when she recalled the searing intimacy, the things they’d done, how he’d made her feel.

  Grayson returned with the baby monitor, which he plugged into the wall behind the bedside table.

  “Wow, that’s cool,” Emma said of the video monitor. “I had the old-school audio version when Simone was a baby.”

  He handed her the remote portion. “You can watch her sleep from downstairs while you have a much-needed glass of wine and some fun. What do you say?”

  Emma glanced at Simone, who hadn’t so much as stirred since Colton tucked her in. And then she looked up at Grayson, who was watching her with interest and desire he didn’t bother to try to hide. She reached out to him.

  He took her hand.

  “Let’s go have some fun.”

  * * *

  Chapter 8

  Where we love is home—home that our

  feet may leave, but not our hearts.

  —Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.

  The annual Abbott family game night was, in fact, utter chaos and nonstop laughter, most of it due to the antics of Lucas and Landon as well as a steady flow of beer and wine.

  “They really do this every year?” Emma asked Grayson as they sat off to the side watching the goings-on.

  “Two days after Christmas for as long as I can remember. Aunt Molly says that with ten kids on vacation and not a lot of disposable income back in the day, they had to be creative with how they entertained the troops. Game night became a holiday-week tradition.”

  “What’ve we missed?” Charley asked as she came in with Tyler.

  “Just Lucas and Landon being morons,” Will said.

  “Nothing new there,” Charley said.

  “Dad always said if you’re going to do something, be the best at it,” Landon said.

  “You took that advice a little too literally,” Hannah said from her perch on the sofa next to Nolan. She was so pregnant she could barely move, or so she said.

  “I’m here to defend my Scrabble title,” Ella said, arriving with Gavin.

  “No one wants to play with you anymore, honey,” Lincoln said.

  “Bunch of chickenshits,” Ella said, scowling.

  “It was the ninety-point word that did you in.” Linc pulled a piece of paper from the game box. “Here’s the petition signed by the entire family on game night last year.”

  “They actually signed a petition?” Emma asked Grayson.

  “Oh yeah. No one can beat her.”

  “I’ll play with you, babe,” Gavin said, patting Ella on the bottom.

  “I hope we’re still talking Scrabble,” Colton said from the floor where he sat with Max and Caden setting up Monopoly. “And not strip poker.”

  “I’m happy to play whatever games your sister dreams up,” Gavin said to moans, groans and flying game pieces.

  “Don’t mess up the games!” Linc said. “You’re all a bunch of animals!”

  “They always have been,” Molly said.

  Wade dabbed at his eyes. “I love when Mom and Dad get sentimental.”

  “I’m here to photograph the mayhem,” Izzy Coleman said when she arrived, camera in hand.

  “And I’m here to referee,” Grayson’s mother, Hannah, said as she followed her daughter into the family room, zeroing right in on Emma sitting close to Grayson on the love seat.

  Emma shifted ever so subtly away from him.

  He looked at her, raising a questioning brow.

  Should she tell him his mother seemed to disapprove of her for him? He’d deny that. Of course he would, but Emma knew disapproval when she saw it.

  “Okay,” Lincoln said, “Ella is the defender of the Scrabble title, which has been banned from game night due to lack of interest from challengers.”

  “Bunch of babies,” she said, glowering at the others.

  “Hunter is the defending Monopoly champion.”

  “Whatever,” Will said.

  “He totally cheats,” Lucas said.

  “Since he’s on his honeymoon and unable to defend his title, Hannah will act as his proxy,” Lincoln continued.

  Hannah flexed her muscles and pretended to crack her knuckles. “He’s had me in training for this moment for months. I’m ready for you losers.”

  “It’s not fair,” Landon said. “She’s got two brains to work with this year. That ought to be an automatic disqualification.”

  “Stuff it,” Hannah said. “I could kick your ass with half a brain.”

  “I see game night is off to a rousing start,” Elmer Stillman said when he came in, his cheeks red from the cold.

  “Hannah’s already swearing,” Colton said to his grandfather.

  “Business as usual,” Elmer replied.

  “I thought this was such a nice family,” Cameron said.

  “I know!” Lucy said. “I had no idea.”

  “Welcome to your first game night, ladies,” Elmer said. “This is where the truth comes out.”

  “Lucas and Landon are the team to beat in both charades and Pictionary,” Lincoln said.

  “Did we agree that they aren’t allowed to do any handstands this year?” Colton asked.

  “After they took out the Christmas tree last year, Mom made a no-gymnastics-of-any-kind law,” Lincoln said.

  “Go near my tree, and I’ll have you killed,” Molly said.

  Emma giggled uncontrollably.

  “The Colemans are positively tame compared to this crew,” Grayson said.

  “I wouldn’t go that far,” Izzy said. She moved around the room taking photos, zeroing in on Max, who held his sleeping infant son in his arms. “Most photogenic father and son I’ve ever shot.”

  “You may be a little biased,” Max said, smiling at his cousin.

  “Nope, it’s true. The two of you are going
to have the ladies beating down your door.”

  Max nuzzled Caden’s fuzzy blond hair. “We don’t need ladies. We’ve got each other, right, buddy?”

  Emma’s heart broke for Max, who now had sole custody of his one-month-old son after Chloe, the baby’s mother, brought him to Max during Hunter’s wedding, saying she wasn’t ready to be a mother. The family had rallied around Max, but it was obvious he was still reeling from the enormity of his new responsibilities. Thankfully, Caden was an easy, sweet baby who enjoyed being passed from one set of loving arms to another.

  “Here we go, lunatics.” Lincoln began picking names from a hat to face off against the defending champions in each game.

  Emma ended up with Grayson facing off against Lucas and Landon as well as Will and Cameron in charades.

  “I think this was rigged,” Grayson whispered to her.

  “He put us together on purpose?”

  “Of course he did. He and Gramps are tireless matchmakers.” He kept his voice low so he wouldn’t be overheard. “When they wanted to give Hannah a nudge in Nolan’s direction, they messed with her car on a day when the entire family was otherwise occupied so she’d have to call him for help.”

  “They did not!”

  “Oh yes they did. Remember the sex toy conference Colton went to in New York?”

  Emma stared at him, agog. “Seriously?”

  “It gave him an excuse to see Lucy. And they hired Cameron to build the website, hoping she’d fall for one of Linc’s sons. Look how that worked out.” He gestured to Will and Cameron, who had their heads together to plot their strategy to defeat the cocky twins. After she fainted during Hunter’s wedding, the family had found out Cameron was pregnant.

  “They’re diabolical.”

  “Gramps bought the diner and handed it over to Hunter to manage, forcing him to confront his feelings for Megan.”

  “Now they’re on their honeymoon.”

  “And the matchmakers are high on their own success,” Grayson said.

  “I’m feeling like a deer in headlights all of a sudden,” Emma said.

  He barked out a laugh that had everyone looking at them with thinly veiled curiosity. “Don’t make eye contact.”

  “Good advice.”

  “Oh my God, look.” Grayson held up the clue they’d been given to act out in charades.

  Emma laughed when she saw the words deer in headlights. “That’s too funny.” She made a face mimicking the words.

  “That’s perfect. You got this one, honey.”

  Emma’s insides went haywire when he called her honey and looked at her as if he wanted to drag her out of there for more of what they’d had earlier. She wondered if or when they’d get another chance to be alone together.

  Despite a noble effort put forth by Emma and Grayson as well as Will and Cameron, they were no match for the hijinks of Lucas and Landon, who ran away with another charades victory shortly before Hannah triumphed in Monopoly and Gavin quit the Scrabble game he was playing with Ella after she scored a one-hundred-point word.

  “Now you see why we all quit her,” Colton said.

  “I get it, and I’d like to sign the petition,” Gavin said.

  “You sign that petition, and you’ll be living like a monk for a year,” Ella said, glaring at him.

  Lincoln held up the petition. “What’s it going to be, Gavin? Are you with us or with her?”

  “Ummm, well… The monk’s life doesn’t really appeal to me.” He grinned at Ella. “I guess I’m with her.”

  “Pussy,” Lucas said.

  Molly shrieked. “Lucas Abbott!”

  “Sorry, Mom, but if the shoe fits…”

  “It totally fits,” Gavin said, winking at his future brother-in-law.

  “I’d like to completely unsubscribe from this family,” Molly said.

  “Sorry, love, but that’s not going to be possible,” Lincoln said.

  “You reap what you sow, my dear,” Elmer said to his daughter.

  “I did not sow them to use words like that in my house!”

  “It’s because you let them run wild, Mom,” Hannah said gravely. “We got all the rules, but by the time the babies came along, you were worn out.”

  “Ahhh, I love game night,” Colton said from his post, stretched out on the living room floor. “Every year it’s a big fat disaster.”

  “Spoken like one of the younger ones who got to run wild,” Will said.

  “Not our fault you guys wore them out,” Colton replied.

  Landon used his thumb to point to Colton. “What he said.”

  “Maybe they’ll get called into work,” Hannah said.

  “No such luck, sis,” Landon said. “We’ve got the whole week off.”

  “Awesome,” Charley said. “We need a petition against them for charades and Pictionary. Who’s with me?”

  All hands went up except for two.

  “I feel discriminated against,” Lucas said to his twin.

  “Me, too. Screw them. Let’s get drunk.”

  “With you, brother.”

  “This is when the drinking portion of the evening usually begins in earnest,” Grayson told Emma. “When people start quitting in protest.”

  “It’s amazing they all speak to each other the rest of the year.”

  “Isn’t it?”

  “Does your family do stuff like this, too?”

  “Not like they do. It was different for us after my dad left.”

  With the others engaged in conversation and friendly arguments, Emma had the privacy to ask, “Do you have any idea where he is?”

  “Nope. None of us have heard from him in years.”

  “So he tried to keep in touch?”

  “At first we got the occasional effort, but we were all so angry with him for what he’d done to us and Mom that he stopped trying after a while.”

  “Did you ever find out why he left?”

  “Not from him. Over the years, my mom has hinted at not being as surprised as she should’ve been when he bailed on the marriage. She never expected him to bail on us, though. Henry and Sarah, the youngest in our family, barely remember him living at home. They’re the lucky ones.”

  That last part said a lot about how much his father’s desertion had affected him. Not caring who might be watching—or who might disapprove—Emma reached for his hand.

  He glanced at her, seeming surprised by the public display of affection.

  “I’m sorry that happened to you.”

  Shrugging, he said, “It was a long time ago.”

  “Still…”

  “Yeah. Still.”

  Over the next few hours, Emma kept a watchful eye on the baby monitor and took several trips upstairs to check on Simone, who hadn’t moved. Emma ate a sandwich that Grayson encouraged her to have after reminding her she hadn’t eaten since breakfast. They’d been far too busy to think about food, and the shock of returning home to find Simone injured had soured her appetite earlier.

  At around eleven, Hannah stood to stretch. “Take me home, Nolan. I’ve had enough of this day and these people.”

  Before anyone could object to her comment, she let out an odd sound that was followed by a rush of fluid that formed a puddle around her feet.

  “Uh-oh,” she said, looking up at her husband with great big eyes.

  “Ewww, gross,” Colton said. “She’s leaking!”

  “Her water broke, you asshat,” Landon said.

  Hannah seemed frozen in place by the unexpected turn of events. Next to her, Nolan seemed equally frozen.

  “It’s too soon,” Hannah said frantically. “I’m only thirty-two weeks. It’s way too soon.”

  “Hannah,” Molly said, her hands on Hannah’s shoulders. “Breathe. Take a deep breath. Now do it again.”

  Hannah breathed the way her mother told her to, but she was ghostly pale and her big brown eyes were wide with fear. Her expression matched Nolan’s.

  Everyone talked at once.

&nbs
p; “Will the baby be all right?”

  “Is Nolan going to faint?”

  “He looks like he’s going to faint.”

  “Game night causes labor. Good to know for the future.”

  Molly pushed Nolan down to the sofa he’d only recently abandoned. “Put your head between your knees and breathe. Ella, get me some towels. Will, go warm up the Range Rover.”

  “Um,” Linc said. “They have their own car… Just saying.”

  “Does he look to be in any condition to drive?” Molly asked her husband while gesturing to her son-in-law, who had his head between his knees.

  “Maybe we could take their car?” Linc asked hopefully.

  “The Range Rover,” Molly said to Will. “Now. Charley, get their coats. Emma, you’re in charge of the dogs, if that’s all right.”

  “Of course. Whatever I can do.”

  “That would be a huge help. Thank you. Don’t anyone who’s been drinking even think about driving.”

  “Yes, mother,” Lucas said.

  Charley returned with the coats.

  Molly got Hannah’s on her and told Will to help Nolan. “Let’s get them to the car. Can you walk, honey?”

  Hannah clung to her mother. “I think so. It’s early. It’s okay if it’s early, right?”

  “I had you and Hunter at thirty-five weeks, and you turned out fine.”

  “Depends on how you define ‘fine,’” Lucas said.

  “I had them at thirty-four weeks,” Molly said. “You can see the difference.”

  “Hey,” Lucas and Landon said together.

  “That’s not nice,” Landon said.

  “Truth hurts,” Molly said, obviously making light to keep Hannah from freaking out.

  It seemed to take the entire family to get Hannah and Nolan into the Range Rover, which Lincoln drove with Molly riding shotgun. Despite the teasing and bickering, every one of her siblings left to follow them to the hospital. Thankfully, it wasn’t snowing tonight, so they’d have clear roads.

  “I need to be there,” Elmer said.

  “I’ll take you, Dad,” Grayson’s mother said.

  “Won’t say no to the company. It’s not every day a man becomes a great-grandfather for the second time.”