Dad for Charlie & the Sergeant's Temptation & the Alaskan Catch & New Year's Wedding (9781488015687)
Page 23
“You have indeed,” Paige agreed. “Twyla, strawberry shake for Abby, please.”
“You got it!” came a voice from the crowd.
Plates of onion rings, French fries, jalapeño poppers and burgers bigger than a person’s head kept flying through the serving window at Ursula speed. As Paige led the way toward the back of the kitchen, she felt her body tighten back up as Leah joined her, Holly and Luke. “Holly, this is Leah Ellis. She’s taken over her uncle’s law practice here in town.”
“Oh, you must be Benjamin Ellis’s niece.” Holly reached out to shake her hand. “He was one of my best customers for years. I hope he’s enjoying his new job.”
“He is, thanks.” Leah reached into her bag and pulled out the large manila envelope. “On the house, Paige. And so’s any advice you might need in the future.” She tucked a stray strand of blond hair behind her ear. “I’ll let you all talk.”
“Abby filled us in on the last year,” Luke said with nary a glimmer of resentment in his eyes. “I wish you’d told us what was going on. We could have helped.”
“I know.” Paige gave a weak smile. Now that she had this in her hands, she couldn’t seem to stop shaking. “I made some deals with the universe while Charlie was in that cave. You know, mom deals,” she said to Holly, who nodded. “I’d already asked Leah to draw these up, but now I know it’s for the best. I’m heading back to New York tomorrow afternoon. I’m going to turn myself in, accept whatever consequences they deem appropriate. I’m, um, not sure when I’ll be back.” She handed Holly the envelope. “I know this probably isn’t the best thing to spring on someone, but I’ve named you and Luke as Charlie’s legal guardians. I want—I need her to stay here. With people who love her. With her family.”
Holly’s eyes watered instantly as she took the papers. “Paige, no. This has to be overthinking things. Surely it isn’t necessary—”
“I’ve never had the best of luck with these kinds of things. But I ran from this because I couldn’t bear the thought of Charlie being caught up in the foster care system. All I’ve ever wanted was for her to feel safe and protected, loved. And most of all wanted. That’s something I never had. I know she’ll have that with you. She’ll have everything she’s ever wanted here. Please tell me you’ll take her.”
Holly opened her mouth, no doubt to protest again, but Luke took hold of her hand. “If this is what you want, of course we accept.”
“I want her to have a relationship with Fletcher, too,” Paige said. “However much he wants. They deserve that. I’ll tell her the truth before I leave, so you won’t have to deal with that. If she’s going to be angry with someone I need it to be with me.” She wiped the tears off her cheeks and backed away when Holly moved forward to hug her again. “No, please. I need to take some time to myself for a while. Just…take care of my baby.”
Before either of them could say a word, she hurried around them, back out into the diner, and, before she could change her mind, she walked out the front door to start packing.
* * *
IT TOOK HER until two hours before her flight to New York the next day to get up the courage to tell Charlie what was going on. Being the center of attention all of yesterday had worn her little girl out, and now, as Paige zipped up her to-go bag, she knew it was time.
Expecting to be booked and processed as soon as she turned herself in at the police station, she’d chosen the simplest of clothes; packed only the bare necessities. Shoes laced up, hair locked down in a braid, she knocked on Charlie’s bedroom door before she pushed it open. There her daughter sat at her small desk, drawing what had to be the tenth picture she’d made of the butterfly treasure box she was convinced had given her all she ever wanted.
“Charlie? I need to talk to you about something.”
“Sure, Mom.” Charlie colored faster so she could finish, then held up the paper. “Good one?”
“It’s perfect.” Paige held out her hand. “Come out here with me, please.”
Charlie frowned, picking up on the grief in Paige’s voice, certainly. “Is something wrong? I’m not in trouble again, am I? I didn’t do anything else, I promise.”
“No, you’re fine. There’s something going on that I need to tell you—”
Someone knocked on the door. Paige sighed. She didn’t have time for any interruptions. “Whoever it is, can you please come back…” She pulled open the door. “Later. Fletch. Luke. What are you doing—” Her voice broke. She reached back and grabbed Charlie, holding her against her as she started to shake. The dark-haired man with the familiar piercing, accusing eyes stood off to the side. “Detective Diaz. What are you—”
“Mom?” Charlie started to sound as scared as Paige felt. “What’s going on?”
“Hey, Charlie.” Luke held out his hand. “Simon’s downstairs at the diner. Why don’t you go keep him busy for a while.”
“Mom?” Charlie turned her freckled face up at Paige.
“Um.” She looked to Fletch, who gave her an encouraging nod. “Yeah, go ahead. I’ll come get you in a bit.”
Charlie stepped away, walked down the stairs, looking over her shoulder as she went. Paige stepped back and waved them inside. “Please, come in. Sorry it’s such a mess. I’ve just finished packing.” She couldn’t seem to stand still. “I’m sorry, but what are you doing here? I don’t understand.” He wasn’t going to arrest her here, was he? In front of everyone in Butterfly Harbor? In front of the town Charlie was going to live in? “Please don’t do anything in front of my daughter.”
“Please, Ms. Cooper.” Detective Diaz glanced to Luke. “Sheriff Saxon called me yesterday afternoon. After speaking with both him and Deputy Bradley, it seems I owe you an apology. Which is why I’m here. They insisted I take the red-eye out to San Francisco last night so I could talk to you in person.”
“The red-eye? An apology? What is going on?”
Fletch must have taken pity on her as he walked around to wrap his arm around her shoulders in support. “The charges against you have been dropped, Paige. Detective Diaz was able to make his case without your testimony. Something, it turns out, he actually did months ago. The Brennan kid is going to cut a deal for early parole.”
“But, I checked just last week. My arrest warrant was still active.” She looked up at him. “How is that possible?”
“I made a mistake, Paige,” Detective Diaz said. “When my partner was shot all I wanted was to make the person who had done it pay along with anyone who helped him. I was out of bounds threatening to take your daughter away. I let my anger get the better of me and let things go on longer than I should have. By the time I could drop the charges—”
“Sometimes it’s hard to let go of certain cases,” Luke explained. “You not reporting the gunshot wound was a misdemeanor, Paige, and while it technically violated the oath you would have taken upon getting your nursing license, you were still in school at the time. We’ve made a few calls, called in a few favors and, with Detective Diaz dropping all the charges against you, you’ll be allowed to finish your classes and earn enough credits to graduate. It’s over, Paige. You don’t have to give us custody of Charlie. You don’t have to go back to New York and turn yourself in. It’s over.”
Paige couldn’t believe her ears. “And you flew all the way out here to tell me in person?”
Detective Diaz said with a wry smile, “I wasn’t exactly given a choice. But yes, I owed you that much at least. I never expected you to run, Paige. And I’m so sorry you felt as if you had to.”
“I appreciate that.” She pressed a hand against her chest. The breath she’d been holding for the past sixteen months escaped and, with it, all the fear and worry over what was to come. “How’s your partner doing?”
“Better.” Diaz nodded. “He’s been chosen as part of a case study on spinal injuries. There’s a good chance he
might regain partial movement in his legs. Thank you. For asking.”
“Of course.”
“Let’s get you that burger we promised you,” Luke said as he backed up and opened the door. Before he left, he walked over to Paige, drew her into a hug and set her back in Fletch’s arms. “When this all hits you later, just go with it. And when you’re ready to decompress and celebrate, we’ll be here.”
He closed the door behind them.
“How is this even possible?” Paige couldn’t move. All these months and…it was over? Just like that? She looked up at Fletch, too afraid to think…too afraid to hope.
“Holly and Abby went on a bit of a rant yesterday after you left the diner, told us everything. And this time I do mean everything. That you were willing to give up Charlie—”
“Don’t.” Paige’s knees wobbled. “Oh, please, don’t remind me.” She dived for her couch and sank onto the edge. “My little girl. I get to keep my little girl.” The tears started again, but this time she didn’t even try to stop them. “I got her back twice in the span of a day. Both times thanks to you.”
“Well, me, Luke and Jason.”
“Jason?”
“Who do you think flew him out here? Sent a car for him and everything.”
“I’m going to bake him the biggest banana cake he’s ever seen.” Paige laughed. But the laugh turned into a sob. “Oh, Fletch. I’m so sorry for everything. For lying to you, for not trusting you—”
“Stop, Paige.” The way he said it, the way he looked down at the floor as he stepped toward her. Was she going to regain her life, regain her freedom, only to lose him? “You don’t owe me anything. Not an explanation, not an apology. If anyone owes anyone anything it’s me. For not being the kind of man you thought you could trust. I’d like to change that. If you’ll let me.”
“If I’ll let you? Fletch, of course… I mean I…” She couldn’t seem to get the words out. She held out her hands, waited for him to take them. “I love you, Deputy Fletcher Bradley. I love every honest, frustrating, stubborn bit of you. And if you’ll have us, Charlie and I would very much like to be part of your family.”
“Yeah?” There was that grin, that silly crooked grin that she now realized was all for her.
“Yeah.” She jumped to her feet and locked her arms around his neck, reveling in the feel of his arms wrapping around her, holding her close. “With everything that happened, the running, the lies, everything, I wouldn’t change any part of it.” She pulled her head back far enough to look into his eyes. “You know why?”
“No.” He kissed her on the tip of her nose. “Tell me.”
“Because I never would have come to Butterfly Harbor. I wouldn’t have found you.” She curled her fingers into the thick curls of his hair and kissed him gently. “I wouldn’t have found my home.”
“In that case, Paige Cooper…” He spun her in circles until she couldn’t stop laughing. “…welcome home.”
EPILOGUE
“YOU CAN STOP staring at it.” Fletcher chuckled at the way Paige couldn’t take her eyes off the ring on her finger. “I can promise it isn’t going anywhere.”
Paige hadn’t been able to wipe the smile off her face for the past week. It had taken that long to come to terms with getting her life—her entire life—back. With a very nice bonus. “It’s beautiful.” She loved how the sparkling diamond caught the light through the car window.
“It’s small,” Fletch said and not for the first time.
“It’s simple. Like me.” She turned and looked at him, placed her hand on his arm and squeezed. “I don’t need fancy jewelry, Fletcher. I just need you.”
“And me!” Charlie bounced forward from the back seat as Fletcher parked in front of Mrs. Hastings’s house. “Thank you for my engagement present.” She clasped the butterfly pendant accented with two tiny diamonds in its wings between her fingers and slid it across the thin gold chain. “It’s so pretty!”
“A special occasion calls for a special gift,” Fletch said and kissed the back of Paige’s hand. “Can we discuss wedding dates now?”
“I thought it was the bride who was supposed to be anxious.” Paige laughed. She was still trying to figure everything out. Where did she finish school? Did she get a job at a hospital? She loved working at the diner, and for Calliope, but the idea of being a nurse filled her with more hope than she’d had in years. The possibilities were endless.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw the front door open and Mrs. Hastings step onto the porch to wave to them. “Charlie, why don’t you—”
Charlie shoved out of the car and slammed the door behind her, but she didn’t get much farther. Not when her attention appeared to be snagged by something across the street.
“Mom!” Charlie motioned over her shoulder, her eyes wide with something akin to panic. “Mom, look! The sign’s gone.”
“What…sign?” Paige followed Charlie’s gaze to the cottage home with the butterfly glass window above the door. Her stomach dropped.
Not only was the For Sale sign missing, but the front yard had been tamed, the trellis painted and the weeds removed and replaced with thick, lush sod. “Oh, no.” Paige jumped out and joined Charlie at the newly painted fence. She rested her hands on Charlie’s shoulders and hugged her. “It looks like it’s been sold.”
It was silly, Paige thought, given all the good that had happened to her, to be sad about a house that was by all rights never going to be hers. She didn’t want to be greedy, not after everything she’d been given recently. She pressed a hand against her chest. It was still the most beautiful house she’d ever seen.
She blinked moist eyes up at the vintage stained glass window.
“Who bought our house, Mom?” Charlie asked.
“No one bought it.” Fletch slipped an arm around Paige’s waist and held tight. “The owners decided to keep it in the family.”
“Oh.” Charlie sighed and rested her chin on the top of the fence post. “I guess that’s okay.”
“I certainly hope so.” Fletch dug into his back pocket and pulled out a set of keys. He dropped them in front of Charlie’s face and jingled them. “Welcome home, Charlie.”
Charlie gasped, grabbed at the keys and spun around, the huge smile on her face exposing her back teeth. “Really?” She squealed so loud Paige flinched. “Really and truly? We’ll get to live here?”
“Really and truly.” He reached around her and pushed open the gate. “Go on inside and check it out. Especially upstairs, the second door on the left.”
“You bought us a house,” Paige whispered. “You bought our house.”
“Not exactly.” Fletch drew her in front of him, wrapped his arms around her as Charlie’s squeals echoed from inside. “This was my grandfather’s house. He built it himself. It was his pride and joy. My grandmother made the window.” He pointed to the brilliant monarch butterfly shimmering in the sun. “All these years I wondered why none of the offers ever felt right. Now I know. It’s been waiting.” He pressed his lips into her hair. “For you and Charlie.”
“And you,” Paige whispered as she stared at her new home. “There’s nothing left, Fletcher. You’ve given me everything I’ve ever wanted.”
Charlie squealed again, prompting Paige to think it was time to join her daughter. And then she heard something else. Something that sounded an awful lot like a…
“Was that a bark?” Paige glanced over at a suddenly innocent-looking Fletch. “That was a bark. Fletcher Bradley, you did not.”
He grinned. “Now is probably a good time to remind you just how crazy you are about me.”
The second-story window slid open and Charlie leaned out, her arms filled with puppy. “Thank you, Daddy! He’s perfect!”
“She!” Fletch called out, as a laughing Paige dropped her head forw
ard. “Be back in a sec.” He hurried over to Mrs. Hastings to say they would be by for tea in a little while.
Paige waited for him at the front door, and when he joined her, she held out her hand.
So they could walk inside.
Together.
* * * * *
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ISBN-13: 9781488012334
A Dad for Charlie
Copyright © 2017 by Anna J. Stewart
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