Aflame

by Penelope Douglas

  She crashed into my side, clearly seeking cover, and I put an arm around her.

  The boys—both six—ran up and pulled to a halt, glowering down at her.

  “Leave me alone!” she shouted, kicking out her right foot to keep them at bay.

  Kade held up the plunger, and I shot my hand out as Dylan screamed. “Oh, no you don’t. Put it down,” I ordered him.

  Just then, Madoc ran in, breathing hard and looking pissed.

  “Madoc!” Jared barked, jutting out his pointer finger. “You keep your sons away from my kid. I mean it.”

  Madoc’s eyes rounded. “Keep them away?” he said, surprised. “Your little . . . ,” he gritted through his teeth but then stopped.

  Stepping up to cover Dylan’s ears, he whispered to Jared, “I love her. I absolutely do, but she’s a viper, dude,” he growled low. “She filled her water gun with toilet water and was shooting them with it!”

  Jared snorted and twisted away to laugh.

  I rolled my eyes and jerked my head, telling Madoc to take his madmen elsewhere.

  This was a classic example of how Jared and Madoc parented. Neither one would ever admit that their kid could do any wrong. Madoc took as much pride in his sons as Jared did in Dylan.

  And I’d warned Jared about not laughing at her antics in front of her. It only encouraged the behavior.

  No matter how funny it was. Or how much the twins probably deserved it.

  I pulled Dylan up onto my lap, her little yellow Chucks rubbing against my shins. “Hi, Daddy,” she chirped. “I miss you.”

  I smiled at her sweet little voice, loving her rosy cheeks and big smile.

  “Hey, Blue Eyes,” he greeted her back. “I’ve got some surprises for you.”

  “Jared,” I groaned, my ass starting to shoot daggers up my spine from the hard chair. “Honey, her room is full of your surprises. Less is more, okay?”

  He shot me his cocky little grin like I should know better.

  He always incurred extra fees for overweight baggage on his return trips. Always due to the presents he brought her. T-shirts, snow globes, stuffed animals, autographed pictures from drivers he worked with . . . the list went on. She was outgrowing her room.

  My old room.

  “Madoc!” I heard a shout and turned to see Lucas coming through the sliding glass doors from the pool with a Gatorade in hand and Quinn with her arms wrapped around his waist.

  Dylan and her daddy chatted as I watched Madoc walk back into the kitchen.

  But Lucas shot off his mouth before he could say anything. “Dude, get your sister off me, please.”

  Quinn tightened her arms around Lucas, and I smiled at how much grief she’d been giving him lately. At twenty, Lucas had no patience for an eight-year-old with a crush.

  “I love Lucas,” she said, giggling. “I’m going to marry him.”

  “The hell you are!” He looked down at her with intolerance . . . and maybe a little fear, too. “Dude, seriously,” he urged Madoc. “It’s creepy.”

  “Come on.” Madoc leaned down and pulled his sister off Lucas’s body. “You’re going to make Lucas run back to college.” He nudged her toward us. “Your mommy and daddy will be here soon. Go say hi to Jared.”

  Quinn—with her mother’s chocolate eyes and her father’s blond hair—came over and saluted Jared and then grabbed Dylan’s hand, both of them running back outside.

  Her relationship with Jared was one of few words. I think Quinn was closest to Madoc. She saw him more. And she had a lot of fun with Jax.

  But I think she was a little nervous around Jared. She looked for his approval and respect, even though her worry was unnecessary.

  Jared was in awe of her.

  He may not have been as easygoing as Madoc, but he loved teaching her things, and he made sure we were at every one of her recitals and birthday parties.

  “Did Jax say when he and Juliet would be home this summer?” I asked, finally alone with Jared.

  “Baby, I lose track of what country they’re in.” He sighed. “Bhutan or Bangladesh or—”

  “Brazil,” I heard Madoc chime in from the refrigerator, where his head was buried.

  I snapped my fingers. “Brazil. You were close,” I teased Jared. “It was something with a B.”

  “I wish he’d just stay home.” Jared looked aggravated. “I’d like to know my nephew more than by just pictures.”

  “Soon,” I appeased him, looking over to the wall in the kitchen with family photos. Jax was sitting in front of a waterfall, his head facing toward the camera, with Juliet hugging his back, both of them dirty and sweaty and smiling.

  And sitting, hugging Juliet’s back, was their son, Hawke, now seven.

  “I’ll call him today,” I told Jared. “The house needs to be prepared.”

  Jax and Juliet had finally decided to settle back down in Shelburne Falls in Jared’s old house next door to ours. It had been almost nonstop travel and work for them with nonprofit organizations setting up schools all over the world for the past several years. Hawke didn’t slow them down, either. When he was one, they carried him in their backpacks. Now he sped ahead, carving out the trail before them.

  However, they’d become more and more homesick and were determined for us all to raise our children together. Hawke loved his cousin Dylan and wanted to get to know Madoc’s boys more.

  So they were coming home, and Fallon, Addie, and I were taking it upon ourselves to get the house ready, since it hadn’t been cleaned in forever and needed to get stocked with food. All I worried about now was keeping a good eye on Dylan trying to make use of the tree to go hang out with her cousin.

  I wiped the sweat off my forehead and puffed out my shirt, trying to get air in.

  “I can’t wait until he’s born.” I groaned, talking about our son. “I’m dying to get back on your bike. I miss the wind.”

  Jared leaned down on his elbows, his eyes smirking at me. “Me, too,” he whispered. “We need a date night. And soon.”

  I fanned myself harder, thinking about our last date night. Jared and I jumped each other any chance we got, but once in a while we made time for just the two of us to get out for the night away from the house. It usually ended with us in the backseat of his car.

  Some things never changed.

  The sliding glass door opened behind me again, and I heard Dylan. “Kade, do you want to go swimming?”

  I turned around to see Madoc’s son walk off away from her. “Leave me alone,” he snarled. “I don’t hang with girls.”

  Her eyes fell, and my heart broke a little. I was about to go to her, but Hunter—Madoc’s other son—came up behind her. “I’ll go swimming with you,” he offered.

  She paused and then offered a little smile with a nod, taking one last look toward the hallway where Kade had disappeared before following Hunter back outside.

  I knew Lucas was out there with them, so I didn’t worry.

  I shook my head at Jared and breathed out a laugh. “You do realize that Hawke, Kade, Hunter, Dylan, and Quinn will all be in high school at the same time, right?” I said, foreseeing a very tumultuous future ahead of us. “For at least two years out of the four?” I reminded him.

  Quinn was the oldest at eight. Hawke was a year behind her, and Dylan, Kade, and Hunter were only a year behind him.

  “Relax.” He grabbed his jacket and slipped it on. “I don’t think anyone can get in as much trouble as we did.”

  Looking at him, I mused about all the years of ups and downs and how much crap we’d both put each other through.

  We got into so much trouble.

  High school would’ve been more fun for me if I’d met Jared’s challenge sooner, but who knows? Maybe we wouldn’t be here otherwise. I wouldn’t trade any of it, because no matter what happened before or what would com
e next, I would always choose him.

  Jared was my home.

  My throat ached as I swallowed. “I’ll love you forever, Jared Trent,” I whispered, my eyes pooling with tears.

  He reached out and ran a finger down the computer screen, and I knew he was tracing my face.

  “And I’ve loved you forever, Tatum Trent.”

  THE END

  Dear Reader,

  Jared, Tate, Madoc, Fallon, Jaxon, and Juliet represent a piece of who I am. I put so much of my heart into creating them, and they are not imaginary to me. It’s a difficult good-bye, but then I guess most good-byes are.

  The characters of the Fall Away series all represent a confused time in our lives when making fast choices is easier than living with them. Now, as adults, we understand that even though adolescence is hard, making mistakes is necessary.

  Parents, teachers, and mentors try to keep us on the right track and steer us away from poor decisions, but without those hard lessons, we don’t grow. The Fall Away couples were meant to remind us of that.

  My only hope is that you’ve come out of this series knowing that everyone has a story, mistakes are inevitable, and life goes on.

  Embrace your imperfections. Their lessons make you better.

  None of us are unique in our suffering. But we are unique in our survival.

  I am forever grateful that you’ve given me a forum in which to share some of my own life lessons, which I had to learn the hard way, and I cannot tell you how much your words of encouragement have meant to me.

  While the journeys of Jared, Tate, Madoc, Fallon, Jax, and Juliet will now continue off the written page, you may have noticed that I left a finger in the book, so that it doesn’t close completely. I may explore their children’s stories someday. There are no plans to do this, but I’m interested in leaving the possibility open.

  For now, though, other stories are wanting a life of their own, and I hope you continue to read my work long into the future. The adventures are just beginning.

  Thank you for reading these books. Thank you for giving me a chance to be in your lives. And thank you for joining me on this journey.

  Love,

  Penelope

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  To my husband and daughter, both of whom sacrificed to see these characters live. Now we can go to Disneyland!

  To my support system at New American Library, all of whom put up with my endless questions and work hard to protect my vision for the Fall Away Series. Thank you, Kerry, Isabel, Jessica, and Courtney for your trust, advice, and help.

  To Jane Dystel at Dystel & Goderich Literary Management, who found me, and thank goodness for that! You’re always working, and I always feel important. Thanks to you, Miriam, and Mike for staying on top of everything and taking care of me.

  To my street team, the House of PenDragon, who are a wonderful group of women—and one guy—who hold one another up and create a community of friendship and fun times. Thank you for helping me on this book!

  To Eden Butler, Lisa Pantano Kane, Ing Cruz, Jessica Sotelo, and Marilyn Medina, who are all available at the drop of a hat to look at a scene or provide quick emergency feedback. Thank you for walking with me through this process and being honest.

  To Vibeke Courtney. Plain and simple, this is all you. If I had never met you, I might never have tried writing a book. And without you, it would never have been successful. My writing was nearly all narration before you got your hands on it, and you helped create my voice. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

  To the readers and reviewers, thank you for keeping my work alive and showing your love and support! I need your words more than you know, and I thank you for taking the time to give me your feedback, thoughts, and ideas. I hope I can continue to give you characters you want to reread over and over again!

  Penelope Douglas was born in Dubuque, Iowa. She earned a bachelor’s degree in Public Administration, then a master’s of science in education at Loyola University in New Orleans. She and her husband have one daughter and reside in Las Vegas.