In Case You Didn’t Know

by Samantha Chase

  “Sorry,” she whispered, wiping at her face.

  “Baby,” he cooed softly, “please don’t cry.”

  “I swear it’s almost as bad as the vomiting,” she said, hoping to joke herself out of the tears. “These pregnancy hormones are going to be the death of me.”

  “Nah. They’re not so bad.”

  “We still have months to go, Bishop. By the time our due date comes, you’re going to be thankful I can go back to normal.”

  She wasn’t going to mention the postpartum hormones would kick in at that point…

  “There’s nothing wrong with you right now, Scarlett, and you need to stop freaking out about crying.”

  “Easy for you to say,” she murmured.

  “If I cried, would that make you feel better?”

  Laughing softly, she shook her head. “Hell no. That would get on my nerves fast!”

  Now he laughed with her. “Wow. Thanks.” Pulling her in close again, he kissed her.

  “Oh, stop.” Sighing, Scarlett rested her head on his chest. “Are we crazy for doing this?”

  “For what? For being in love? Starting a family? Planning a life?”

  “Well…yeah. It is still so fast.”

  “Scarlett, we’ve been over this. We’re not strangers. We’ve known each other since forever. It just took us a while to get here.”

  “I guess.”

  “Oh, my God, why are you always looking for problems?” he whined dramatically. “Seriously, I am a great catch and you’re carrying on like I was the last guy on earth you had to choose from.”

  “You’re not going to cry now, are you?” she teased and then squealed as Mason rolled her onto her back and tickled her. “Stop it!” she cried breathlessly, wiggling beneath him. “Stop! Uncle! Uncle!”

  “Say it! Say I’m a great catch,” he teased, his fingers barely touching her.

  “I’m a great catch,” she mimicked, sticking her tongue out at him.

  And instantly regretted it when he started tickling her again. “Okay, okay, okay! You’re a great catch!”

  His hands stilled. “And you’re lucky to have me.”

  “Seriously?” she deadpanned. “Someone thinks awful highly of himself.”

  “With good reason,” he said, giving her a loud, smacking kiss on the lips.

  “I’ve created a monster.”

  “Well, I wouldn’t say you created…”

  “Oh, that’s right. You were a bit of an egomaniac before we met,” she teased and loved the pout that crossed his face.

  “I don’t like this game anymore.” The pout grew.

  “Aww…poor baby,” she said softly, moving over so she could straddle his gloriously naked body. “Does someone need me to kiss him and make him feel better?”

  “Well…I wouldn’t say no if you wanted to…”

  “I really want to,” she all but purred as she moved over him. Mason’s hands came around and rested on her waist before slowly skimming around to grab her ass.

  She loved when he did that.

  Suddenly, playtime was over.

  “I probably should let you get some sleep,” he said, even as he lifted his head and began softly kissing her breasts. “But I’m not.”

  “Good,” she said breathlessly. “Because I really love when you do that.”

  “I’d do this all day and all night if you’d let me.”

  And for some reason, she didn’t doubt it.

  She also tried to figure out a way to make that happen.

  But once his mouth started to wander along with his hands, all thoughts of anything except wrapping herself around him escaped her. “Mason…” she panted.

  Slowly, he rolled her onto her back once again and licked and kissed and touched every inch of her.

  And that was okay because she was more than willing to do the same for him. Again and again.

  For always.

  Epilogue

  Two weeks later…

  “And then the doors will slide open here–I’m thinking the kind that sort of fold up against the wall so it’s even more wide open–and the deck will run along the entire expanse of the back of the house. What do you think?”

  Scarlett’s eyes were wide and she looked at him as if he were crazy. “That sounds…it…I mean…”

  “Use your words, Scarlett,” Mason prompted, even though he found it adorable when she got all flustered. “Then, over here will be a set of French doors that lead to the master bedroom. You’ll need to tell Jake how big of a closet you want. I know about your shoe addiction and I want you to have plenty of space for all of them.”

  “It’s not an addiction,” she argued lightly. “Not really.”

  “And on the lower level will be a two-car garage and a workshop for you if you want to have a space to keep building the dog houses.”

  Her entire face lit up with delight. “Seriously?”

  He nodded. “I told you–I thought of everything.” And he had. He was honestly pretty impressed with himself about how he’d sketched out a design the day after he found out about the property and even now had an architect and his cousin Mallory’s fiancé, Jake, working on the blueprints.

  “How long will it take to build?”

  “I’d like to say it will be done by the time the baby’s born, but…I can’t make any guarantees. We have a meeting with Jake next week so you can ask him then.”

  Hand in hand, they walked through the overgrown property. It had to be cleared, permits had to be secured, and it was going to be a very lengthy process, but they had their whole lives ahead of them. They walked down closer to the water and he was careful to point out the uneven areas and for her to be careful.

  “We’ll build a dock down here and maybe have a gazebo down at the end so we can sit out there whenever we want and have a bit of shade.”

  “That would be nice.”

  They reached a clearing and Mason stopped to admire the view. It was perfect. The sun was just starting to set and there was something he needed to ask her before they went back to his place.

  “So what do you think?”

  “Hmm?” Her head was thrown back and she was smiling up at the sky.

  “Do you like all of this? The plans, the property?”

  “Mm-hmm…it’s perfect. Absolutely perfect.” Turning to him, she smiled. “I still can’t believe it’s yours.”

  “Ours,” he corrected and laughed when she rolled her eyes. “What’s mine is yours. You know that, right?”

  She nodded.

  They were silent again for a long moment, watching the boats go by on the Sound. Glancing at her, he playfully nudged her shoulder. “Hey, Scarlett,” he began in a tone he knew was bound to get a reaction out of her.

  “Oh, no…”

  “If I had to choose between breathing or loving you, I would say ‘I love you’ with my last breath.”

  The smile she gave him was so beautiful even as she shook her head. “That one wasn’t too corny.”

  “C’mon, you love it when I’m corny. Admit it, you wouldn’t change a thing about my corniness.”

  “You’re right. And you wouldn’t change a thing about my reaction to it, right?”

  “There's only one thing I want to change about you, and that's your last name.” Then, dropping onto one knee, Mason pulled the ring he had purchased out of his pocket.

  “Change my…oh!” she gasped, her hands instantly covering her mouth. “Oh, my gosh! What’s happening?”

  “Scarlett Jones, there is no one else in this world I want to have on this journey with me. You make every day better than the last. You make me strong and you inspire me. I love you and I love our baby and I love the life we are sharing. And nothing in the world would make me happier than having you as my wife. Will you marry me?”

  “Of course!” she cried and as Mason stood and lifted her into his arms, they sealed it with a kiss. When they finally came up for air, she cupped his face in her hands. “Promise me one thing.�
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  “Anything.”

  “Promise me this time next year we’ll be standing here laughing together.”

  “Baby, you have my word.” He put her down on her feet and placed the ring on her finger. “Forever.”

  “Forever,” she agreed.

  A Preview of Remind Me

  Go back to where the Magnolia Sound

  Series began with

  Remind Me

  Prologue

  Six Years Ago…

  Mallory skipped down the steps and breathed in the ocean air and smiled. No doubt she was going to miss all of this, but it had been a good summer – a great summer! And the memories of it would get her through until she could come back.

  Things between her and Jake weren’t the best. After their wild romp on the boathouse roof almost a week ago, things were strained and he was distant. They said their goodbyes last night. He said it would be for the best if he didn’t come by this morning.

  She had to agree.

  Looking over her shoulder toward the path that led to his house, she was tempted to run over and see him one last time, but she knew he wasn’t there. He was going to Wilmington today to visit some friends. And again, she had to remind herself that it was for the best. She already cried all night. There was no sense in making herself cry more while she drove.

  Like that’s not going to happen anyway…

  Grabbing her phone, she ran back up to the house and straight to Pops’ office. After another round of hugs, kisses, and promises to call when she got home, Mallory made her way down to her car and gave the big house one last look.

  A long breath whooshed out as she started the car. “I’m coming back,” she murmured. “This isn’t goodbye and it isn’t forever.” And with those words, she slowly drove around the large, circular drive and made her way up to the road.

  She hadn’t gone more than a mile when she groaned.

  “Dammit!” Immediately, she did a three-point turn and made her way back to Pops’ house. “Darn phone charger.” Berating herself for forgetting it, she shook her head. “As organized as I am, how could I have left it behind?”

  The answer was simple – she’d brought it down to the boathouse yesterday and left it there by mistake. All morning she kept reminding herself to go down and get it, but between breakfast with Pops and saying goodbye, it slipped her mind.

  Rather than going to the front door, Mallory pulled the car around to the Sound side of the house, since it was closer to the boathouse. No need to go inside and go through another round of goodbyes, right?

  It took less than five minutes, but as she was heading back to her car, she spotted Jake walking up the back steps of the house and going into the kitchen. Was he coming to say goodbye to her before she left? Her heart skipped a beat and she giddily went after him.

  Just one more kiss, she told herself. One more kiss and I’ll be able to handle anything.

  When she walked into the kitchen, he wasn’t there.

  Through the dining room, and he wasn’t there.

  Nope, not in the living room. What in the world?

  In the distance, she heard voices. Jake was talking to Pops. She heard her name mentioned and while she felt a little bad about eavesdropping, she was a little curious if Jake would profess his love for her to her great-grandfather or – at the very least – say how much he was going to miss her.

  “I hate this, Zeke. You know that.”

  “I know you do, but you’ll do it because you know it’s the right thing.”

  Silence.

  “It shouldn’t be like this…I hate lying.”

  Lying? What was he lying about? She thought.

  “You’re not lying, son. You’re doing what you need to do.”

  “Am I? Because it feels like a lie. I should have talked to Mallory…”

  “Leave Mallory out of this!” Pops snapped. “This has nothing to do with her and everything to do with you and your future. And if you actually want a future – a chance to make something of your life – then you’re going to take this and go.” He paused. “Don’t look back, Jacob. You know this is what you need to do.”

  Her stomach clenched and she felt like her breakfast was about to make a reappearance. What was she supposed to do? What were they talking about? What was Jake lying about?

  “Take the money and go,” Pops said.

  Oh, God! Pops was paying Jake to go away! How…why…?!

  The little voice in her head kept telling her to move – to go confront the two of them – but she couldn’t move, was almost paralyzed where she stood. And just when she thought she’d go mad, Jake stormed out of Pops’ office, walking right toward her. Only…he didn’t see her. He was looking at the ground and it wasn’t until he bumped right into her that they both seemed to snap out of their inner thoughts.

  “Mallory?” he cried, seemingly horrified at seeing her there. “What…I thought you were gone.”

  Her throat burned and she took a step back. “I was. I…I forgot my phone charger and came back for it.” She paused and glared at him. “And I thought you were going to Wilmington.”

  He glanced away guiltily. “Yeah, well…I had to…um…”

  “You know what?” she said with disgust. “It doesn’t matter. Really. Clearly you’ve got your secrets and I don’t mean enough to you to share them.”

  “Mallory…” he reached for her but she moved away.

  “It’s better this way,” she said, hating how her voice shook. “Now I finally know where I stand.” Taking another step back, she gave him one last look. “I think under these circumstances it would be best if we just called this what it was – a summer fling. Nothing serious, right?”

  “Mallory, just give me a minute to explain!”

  But she couldn’t listen. Didn’t want to. She had to leave. Now. Now, before she broke down and made even more of a fool out of herself than she had all summer long. “I need to go.”

  Then she was running down the hall and out the front door. She heard Pops call her name as she ran by his office but she didn’t stop. Down the porch steps and across the gravel driveway, she didn’t stop. Even when she got in the car, she quickly started it, threw it in gear and sped away.

  This time she didn’t look back at the big plantation house.

  This really was goodbye.

  And maybe forever…

  The Next Morning…

  * * *

  “I expected more from you than to have you run away like that.”

  It was pointless to argue. Mallory had expected more from herself too. “I know,” she replied softly.

  “You heard a small portion of a conversation and reacted rather than getting the facts. Are you willing to sit and listen to them now?”

  She nodded.

  “Mallory?”

  Oh, right. Pops couldn’t see her nod through the phone. “I am.”

  “Jake didn’t get his financial aid for school and he didn’t want to burden his parents with helping him. I offered and he accepted,” Pops explained in his usual no-nonsense way.

  “Why didn’t either of you tell me?” she demanded quietly, knowing better than to be disrespectful and yell at her great-grandfather.

  “I can’t speak for Jake, but I didn’t think it was any of your business.”

  Yup. No-nonsense.

  “Pops…”

  “It’s true, Mallory. If you had known there was an issue with Jake’s tuition, are you telling me you wouldn’t have tried to change his mind about going so far away for school?”

  “Well…”

  “You would,” he said before she could answer. “I know how close the two of you were all summer and if you would have asked, Jake would have caved and done what you wanted to make you happy.”

  Was it wrong that she saw it as a good thing rather than a bad one?

  “You and I both know it would have been wrong, Mallory,” he said, as if reading her mind. “Jake lost out on a lot due to the financial str
uggles of his family. He’s not a kid going away to college. He’s a twenty-four-year-old man and he’s waited long enough. I’ve offered him help in the past and he’s always turned it down.”

  “Then why did he suddenly accept?” And yeah, her tone was a bit bratty, but she couldn’t help it.

  There was a weary sigh from the other end of the phone and she knew there was a bit of a lecture coming.

  “The Summerfords have always been prideful, Mallory. All the years Jake’s father was out of work and they hated getting a handout from anyone—no matter how much they needed it. That’s what Jake learned growing up. He would have kept right on working for me at Coleman Construction and he might have even been happy doing it, but there’s a lot more to that man and he deserves to discover that for himself.”

  “I know, Pops, I just wish…”

  “No,” he quickly interrupted.

  “You don’t even know what I was going to say!”

  “You would have said how you still wished someone would have told you,” he replied and dammit, he was right. That was exactly what she was going to say. “And I’m here to tell you that Jake needed to go with a clear conscience and to have his chance to finally do what he wants to do and make what he wants of his life without anyone’s interference.”

  She was about to point out that by Pops giving Jake the financing, he was interfering.

  But she didn’t.

  “So you can be mad and you can pout all you want, missy,” he scolded, “but the only one in the wrong then is you.”

  Again, it was on the tip of her tongue to argue, but she didn’t.

  “Now the way I see it, you need to call Jake and apologize. He was a damn wreck after you left and I had to stop him from getting in his truck and chasing after you!”

  “You…you did?”

  “What good would it have done for him to get in the car when he was that upset? Someone would have had an accident with the way he was behaving!”

  Oh, God…what have I done?

  She’d been home for less than twelve hours and had ignored any calls and texts that came through on her cell phone for the entire eleven-hour drive back to her home on Long Island from Magnolia Sound. When she’d come downstairs this morning for breakfast, however, her mother handed her the house phone because Pops had been calling all day yesterday and all morning.