Seaside Whispers: Matt Lacroux (Love in Bloom: Seaside Summers)

by Melissa Foster

  As they walked through the quiet suite, with the lights of the city shining in through the curtains, she wondered how she’d ever step back into her real life again, where nights were spent at different houses instead of separated by a short walk across the living room.

  In her bedroom, Matt pulled the covers up around Hagen, and she realized she was no longer a do-it-yourself woman patching holes with concrete. She was part of a team of two and a half, building a foundation out of love.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  AFTER A LONG drive home Saturday, Matt dropped Hagen and Mira off at their house and spent the next few hours trying to concentrate on work and feeling like he’d misplaced part of himself. The cottage was too quiet. The hum of energy Mira and Hagen added to his life were markedly absent. Matt had done laundry, gone for a run, hammered out a few pages of writing, and finally, after giving Mira time to reconnect with her brothers and Serena and get the million things done that she’d talked about on the way home, he picked her and Hagen up for dinner at his father’s house, but those few hours apart had felt like a lifetime.

  Matt and Pete carried plates of steaks and burgers across their father’s backyard to Hunter and Grayson, who were manning the grill.

  “Hey diddle diddle the Matt and the fiddle, Pete jumped over the moon,” Sawyer sang from his perch on a lawn chair where he was playing his guitar and making up silly songs for Bea and Hagen, both of whom giggled wildly.

  Jana, Parker, and Jenna were standing by the big shade tree, fawning over Jana’s new haircut, which didn’t look much different to Matt, but what did he know. Matt glanced across the yard at Mira, who was checking out the art studio their father had built for Sky when she was younger. She looked beautiful in a light green skirt and white blousy tank top. He swore she got more stunning with each passing day, and knew there was a direct correlation to his growing love for her.

  Sky noticed him staring and said something to Mira, who looked over her shoulder with a killer smile that made his IQ drop about a hundred points. He blew Mira a kiss as he handed the plate to Hunter and their father joined them by the grill.

  “She’s something, isn’t she?” his father said, draping an arm around Matt’s shoulder.

  “Pop, she’s everything. I’m giving my resignation and I’m moving back for good. I left a message for my boss earlier in the week.”

  Neil’s eyes filled up and he pulled Matt into an embrace, holding him tighter and longer than he had in years. “Thank you, son. Your mother would be so happy that the family will be together again.”

  “Hear that, Grayson?” Hunter said. “Matty’s been bitten by the love bug. He’s back for good.”

  “Seriously? Life just got ten times better.” Grayson slapped Matt on the back.

  “Yeah,” Matt said, his eyes landing on Mira again as she crossed the lawn toward the kids. “Best decision I’ve ever made.”

  “Sing about Poppi!” Bea squealed, grabbing everyone’s attention with her high-pitched voice.

  Sawyer glanced at Neil and began strumming out another tune. “Poppi be nimble, Poppi be quick. Poppi jump over a candlestick!”

  The kids laughed and laughed.

  “Maybe you can sing at the wedding,” Jana said, and grabbed Hunter’s hand, dancing around him. Hunter, who was not a dancer, pulled Jana against him and swayed to the beat of Sawyer’s silly song.

  Sawyer sang out another verse. “Pete! Row, row, row your boat gently down the stream.”

  “Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,” Sky sang as she came to Sawyer’s side. “Life with Sawyer is a dream.”

  They took turns making up silly songs, and just as Matt got his arms around Mira, his cell phone rang. He dug it out of his pocket and squeezed Mira’s hand. “My boss. Excuse me, sunshine.”

  He headed inside and answered the call. “Hi, John. Thanks for returning my call.” John listened without interruption as Matt paced his father’s living room, explaining why he was submitting his resignation.

  “It’s a hell of a book deal, Matt, and I know how important family is to you. But before you make any rash decisions, you need to know that Jacob’s wife has just been diagnosed with stage four cancer. Jacob is stepping down as dean of the School of Social Sciences to be there for her, and we’re considering you for the position.”

  “EVAN, BELLA’S STEPSON, is an aspiring cinematographer, and he’s videotaping the wedding, and Lizzie is taking care of all the flowers,” Sky told Mira. “And her friend Brandy is catering. Brandy just moved here from Virginia, and Lizzie’s helping her get her wedding planning and catering business up and running.”

  Mira and the girls were standing on the patio talking about their upcoming wedding, and Mira was trying not to focus on the fact that Matt had been on the phone with his boss for more than half an hour. She knew how big a decision it was for him to resign, and she imagined his boss begging him to reconsider. They’d talked about it on the long drive home from New York, and although Matt had been adamant about having made the right decision, she knew there were many aspects of his job that he loved and that he was proud of his accomplishments. She also knew that it was a lot to walk away from and not something many people would do.

  “Wait until you taste the wedding cake,” Jenna said. “It’s to die for.”

  “I wish I could cook like Brandy,” Parker said. “I’m really good with the microwave.”

  Everyone laughed.

  “She’s talking about giving cooking classes,” Jana said. “If she does, I think we should take them.”

  “After the honeymoon, of course,” Sky said.

  Hagen tugged on Mira’s shorts. “Mom? What’s a honeymoon?”

  She crouched beside him and brushed his hair from his eyes, noticing that he needed a trim. “Remember when we talked about how when people get married there’s a ceremony and a party?”

  He nodded.

  “Well, after the big party, the bride and groom go on a special vacation with just the two of them to celebrate. That’s called the honeymoon.” She saw Matt step outside, heading in her direction with a serious look in his eyes, and her thoughts stumbled.

  “Oh,” Hagen said. “Like when Molly’s daddy got married and she stayed at her grandma’s for a week?” Molly was a little girl in Hagen’s class.

  “Yes, exactly.” She rose to her feet, and Matt put his arms around her from behind and kissed her cheek.

  “How’d it go with your boss?” Grayson asked him.

  He glanced at Hagen and said, “Jacob’s wife received some very bad medical news, and he’s stepping down. They want to consider me for the dean of the School of Social Sciences position.”

  Mira’s heart nearly stopped. Matt’s family began peppering him with questions, and in Mira’s head, worries took flight, turning everything else to white noise. She was elated and concerned. This was the chance Matt had worked for. It would be his greatest achievement. The pinnacle of his career, and she was so very proud of him, and happy for him. But would this change his decision? Was he going back to Princeton after all? Would she and Hagen upend their lives and go with him? She wanted to be with him, and one look at the way Hagen was hanging on to Matt’s shorts told her he did, too.

  She turned in Matt’s arms, and he smiled, an easy, sexy smile that was miles away from the swarm of bees swirling inside her and silencing her voice.

  “Matt?” Hagen said.

  “Yeah, buddy?”

  “When people love each other, they get married and they go on a special vacation.”

  Mira’s mind spun. She was vaguely aware of her son’s voice, of Matt crouching beside him. She searched Matt’s face for a clue of what he was thinking, but he was completely focused on her little boy, intent and thoughtful. Where is the worry? She looked around at everyone else, none of whom seemed to be choking on worry, as she was. Was she alone in this whirlwind of concern? Maybe she shouldn’t worry. They had options.

  She glanced at Neil, who was looking at
Matt with pride in his eyes. She’d already received two email confirmations from her meetings with business owners who wanted to move forward with the co-op. She couldn’t just dump that on Neil. That wasn’t fair, and he wouldn’t know how to run the co-op. She loved Matt to the ends of the earth and back, but she loved his father in a different, though equally as important, way. Neil needed her here more than Matt needed her in Princeton. At least to get him through the co-op setup and find someone to help him run it.

  “A honeymoon?” Matt asked, bringing Mira’s thoughts back to his conversation with Hagen.

  I’m getting too far ahead of myself again.

  Hagen nodded. “I love my mom, but I can’t marry her because she’s my mom.”

  “That’s right, buddy,” Matt said. “But one day when you’re older you’ll meet a woman and fall madly in love. A woman you can’t imagine living without for a single day.” Matt’s eyes found Mira’s, warm and loving. “That’s the woman you’ll marry.”

  “So?” Hagen said matter-of-factly. “When are you going to marry my mom?”

  “Hagen.” She shook her head. “Honey, that’s not the type of—”

  Matt reached for her hand, repositioning on one knee, and said, “As soon as she says yes.”

  Ohmygod. Mira felt dizzy. “What…?”

  He unfurled his other hand, presenting a light blue Tiffany’s jewelry box, and draped his other arm around her little boy, who was looking at Matt like he was his whole world.

  She reached for Matt’s shoulder to steady herself. She was completely flummoxed by the new information about his dream job and this proposal. A collective gasp surrounded them, but all Mira heard was the thundering of her heart.

  “Your brass ring,” she said in a shaky breath.

  “Never even a consideration,” Matt said confidently.

  A sob escaped her lips, and as she went to cover her mouth, Matt took her hand in his. The smile she’d fallen in love with during that amazing day at Parker and Grayson’s engagement party almost a year ago spread across his handsome face.

  “You and Hagen are my brass ring. My gold ring. The pinnacle of my life. You have become my whole world. I want to carry Hagen on my shoulders until I can no longer manage it, and answer his litany of questions until he knows every fact there is to know. I want to know he’s safe and loved, and if you’ll let me, I want to adopt him so he knows he’ll have a father who will always love him, through good, bad, and frustrating days. A father who will build boats and read about anything his heart desires.”

  Tears tumbled down her cheeks.

  Matt rose to his feet. “And I want to love, honor, cherish, and adore his beautiful mother. I want to follow your whims and chase your dreams until every one of them has been achieved—and then I want to make more and continue chasing them until Hagen has to push us around in wheelchairs and chase them for us. I love you, sunshine. You and Hagen. Will you marry me?”

  Sobs stole her voice, and all the girls said, “Yes!” as she nodded.

  “I’m not marrying the girls,” Matt said.

  “Oh yes you are,” Hunter mumbled, and everyone laughed.

  Matt opened the Tiffany’s box, revealing a gorgeous canary yellow diamond ring. “I need to hear your answer, baby,” Matt said, stepping closer and curling his hand around hers. “I want to remember this moment forever. Are you ready to start our next adventure together, as a family?”

  She fell even harder, which she didn’t think was possible.

  Hagen tugged on Mira’s skirt. “Say yes, Mommy! I helped pick out the ring when we were at the apple.”

  More sobs burst from her lungs.

  “I swear I didn’t ask him to keep it a secret,” Matt said. “I know how you feel about that.”

  Matt had become her anchor, her lover, her partner, and a father to her son, but not once had he tried to become her savior, and she was madly, passionately in love with him.

  She nodded vehemently, forcing her voice past the lump in her throat. “Yes, Matt. I’ll marry you. We’ll marry you.”

  He slipped the sparkling diamond ring on her finger, and she threw herself into his open arms. Their friends and family cheered as they were passed from one set of loving arms to the next.

  “A quadruple wedding!” Sky yelled.

  “Yes! Please!” Jenna bounced, which started a flurry of hopeful coercion.

  Neil embraced Mira and said, “Looks like the business will stay in the family after all. Maybe you’ll consider letting Poppi watch Hagen when you and Matt take your honeymoon?”

  Fresh sobs engulfed her. “Of course.” She hugged her future father-in-law again, the man who had treated her and Hagen like family since the very first day they’d met.

  “May I?” Matt drew Mira from his father’s arms and gazed into her eyes, making her body melt and thrum at once. “Are you ready to begin our next adventure, sunshine? Want to join the Lacroux wedding party?”

  “More than you’ll ever know.”

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  A GENTLE BREEZE swept off the bay as the sun began its slow descent from the sky, leaving ribbons of colors in its wake. The perfect backdrop for the quadruple wedding. Matt pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, a secret smile tugging at his lips as he waited for his future bride to appear on the crest of the dunes. He’d worn the glasses just to catch that brief moment of surprise, followed by the entrancing lust he knew so well in his bride-to-be’s eyes. It had been five weeks to the day since Matt had asked Mira to marry him, and one week since she and his father finalized the preliminary paperwork with their new business partners for the co-op. Matt and his siblings each put in an equal share and bought a stake in their father’s business to further ensure it would never leave the family.

  Matt was about to become a husband and a father. Wow, did that thought hit him square in the center of his heart. Standing beneath the driftwood arbor Grayson and Hunter had built for the wedding, Matt had no qualms about his decision to leave teaching. His writing was going well, and his editor was making noises about a second book deal if the first sold well. More importantly, he was back among family and starting a family of his own with the woman and child he adored. He’d snagged his brass ring and so much more.

  Theresa, who was officiating the wedding, stood at the head of the altar wearing a simple and elegant navy dress. Matt had never seen her in a dress. She was even wearing makeup, and she looked beautiful.

  Beside him, donning matching tan linen slacks, rolled up at the ankles, and a button-down short-sleeved shirt the color of each of their bride’s dresses, Grayson, Hunter, and Sawyer waited anxiously for their beautiful brides to make their way down the candlelit aisle. The girls had spent the last few nights filling mason jars with sand and decorating them with shells and rocks they all had gathered from the beach. In the center of each jar was a candle, illuminating the path leading from the dunes to the altar. Pete and Neil stood with them as Matt and his brothers’ best men, while Sawyer’s father, who had Parkinson’s disease, sat proudly beside his son in his wheelchair with his wife at his side.

  “I wish Mom could have been here,” Grayson said to Matt.

  Matt nodded, emotion pooling inside him. He gazed at his father and imagined he was thinking the same thing. He looked up at the stunning sunset, which seemed to suddenly get brighter and more vivid.

  Their mother had strived for one thing their whole lives, to see her children happy and loved. Today was her birthday and it was only right that they honored her with the best gift of all—by marrying their forever loves.

  Matt put a hand on Grayson’s back, and his brother’s lips tipped up in a thoughtful smile. “I think she is here, Gray.”

  “Yeah,” Grayson said. “I imagine she is.”

  “Can you believe we’re getting married?” Sawyer asked.

  Matt, Grayson, and Hunter exchanged a knowing glance. “Yes,” they all said, and laughed.

  “I never thought it would happen to
me,” Hunter said with a smirk. “But Jana’s…” He shook his head. “Man, she’s like no other woman on earth.”

  “I think we could each say that about our woman,” Sawyer said.

  Matt knew he could, but he wasn’t in the mood to debate whose future bride was hotter, smarter, funnier, and whatever else they could think of. He was ready to say the two words that would make Mira his forever. He looked out over the group of friends and family who had come to celebrate with them. All of their friends from Seaside were there, including Jamie’s grandmother Vera, who had known Matt for many years. Mira’s family, Jana’s brothers and parents, Parker’s grandmother, and the rest of their friends were chatting by the tables, while the Seaside girls, as well as all the kids, were somewhere over the dunes with the brides-to-be. Matt wished he were up there with them. He couldn’t wait to see Mira in her wedding dress and Hagen in his tan linen pants and blush-colored linen shirt, which matched Matt’s.

  “Cue the music!” Evan hollered from the far end of the candlelit aisle, where he stood with a video camera in his hands and Serena and Jana’s sister Harper by his side. Matt hadn’t even seen the two women come over the dunes.

  His heart rate sped up as the “Wedding March” rang out and Serena and Harper took their places on the brides’ side of the altar. They’d modified the procession to suit their group, and Bea, Summer, and Hannah appeared at the crest of the dune in their pretty seafoam-green dresses, each carrying a basket. Matt hoped to one day have a little girl who looked just like Mira. Their mothers stepped up behind them and reached for their hands. Jenna, Bella, and Amy wore similar knee-length dresses. As they made their way down the aisle, the little girls threw rose petals into the sand.

  Sloan and Dustin, both two years old, appeared on the dune in their tan pants and white button-down shirts. Leanna and Jessica took their little boys’ hands and led them down the aisle. Each little boy also carried a small basket, which they’d deemed safer than a pillow with a ring on it.