House of Payne: Tag

by Stacy Gail

  “Every night, every day, and everything in between, is memorable with you.” He took the bottle when she offered it to him, popped the cork, then poured the pale liquid into the glasses. “We celebrating tonight, tiger?”

  “As a matter of fact, we are.” She handed him a glass. “Though I should point out, we’re not celebrating with actual champagne. I hope you’re all right with that.”

  That made him glance at the label of the bottle. “Sparkling cider? What the hell is that?”

  “It’s the stuff pregnant ladies drink when they want to celebrate, but they can’t safely drink alcohol.”

  Tag almost dropped the bottle, while one word rang like a gong around the room.

  Pregnant.

  Pregnant.

  Holy fucking shit.

  “Tag?” Ivy’s smile dimmed as he turned to put the bottle down with more care than was probably necessary. But when he could barely breathe, that was how it had to be. “I know we haven’t really talked about starting a family, and it hasn’t been that long since we got married, but…”

  “How?” In the back of his mind he realized how stupid he sounded, but then again… “How?”

  “Do you remember our trip to Toronto for the unveiling of your project Open Borders? They lost my luggage, including my pills, for two days. We did talk about it at the time, and you said the chances of me getting pregnant was—”

  “One in a million.” Now he remembered. As if it had happened only five minutes ago, he remembered her realization that morning that not only did she not have any fresh clothes to change into, she didn’t have her pills. It would have been easy for him to have made a quick run down to the hotel’s convenience shop for a box of condoms, but he’d ignored the risk. Horny as hell and thoroughly addicted to the feel of his cock inside her with nothing between them, all he’d wanted was her, and to hell with the consequences.

  Hello, consequences.

  “We’re the one in a million,” he heard himself say faintly. “Shit.”

  “You’re not happy.” The tremor in her voice didn’t register with him until she pulled away, slamming the glasses down on the coffee table hard enough to make him wince. “I know we’ve never really talked about having a family someday, and now’s probably the suckiest time to talk about what your opinions are on the matter, but as of now we don’t have a choice. The subject is here, and it’s not going away, because I want to keep this baby. A lot of things are negotiable, but not that. Never that.”

  “Ivy—”

  “Another thing that’s not negotiable is how much I love you,” she went on, clearly not hearing him as she began to pace around the room. “I swear to you, I will do everything in my power to make your life as unchanged as possible, and heaven knows I’ll give you all the room you need so that you can keep on creating. If the baby’s fussing or crying ever bothers you—”

  “Ivy, listen to me.”

  “—then we can have your studio soundproofed so you won’t be disturbed. I would love to raise this baby the same way we made it—together. But if you’re not capable of—”

  “Ivy, just stop already. Jesus.” He planted himself in her path and grabbed hold of her when she would have stormed around him. “Will you calm the hell down and give me a fucking chance? I’m still trying to wrap my head around the fact that one in a million just happened, and you’re acting like I’m looking for the nearest exit.”

  Her eyes were huge as she looked up at him. “You’re not, are you?”

  “Jesus, of course not.” For half a second it pissed him off that she’d even think that, only to realize his less-than-spectacular response had caused her to panic. That, he thought grimly, was all on him. “I’ll be as honest as I know how by saying I’m pretty fucking floored, but that’s to be expected. I also don’t know how to parent, so that’s freaking me the hell out as well. I’d rather die than let you or my kid down, but I figure that’s got to be a good sign, worrying about whether or not I’ll be a good dad. Because that’s what I want to be, tiger,” he said, and for some reason his throat felt too tight to let the words out. “I don’t think I’ve ever wanted to be anything more in this world, which is crazy, because five minutes ago I didn’t even know I was going to be a dad. But I want to be the best dad for my kid that this world’s ever seen. I want that so fucking much I’m shaking with it.”

  “That’s not crazy.” There were tears in her eyes, and for a second they had him freaked until she laughed and they spilled onto her flushed cheeks. “I don’t know for sure, but I suspect that feeling is the start of becoming an awesome parent.”

  Happiness mixed with hope in his chest, because damn, what his Ivy said sounded like the truth. “You know how I was raised, so I don’t know a damn thing about being a parent. But then, I didn’t know anything about love until you came along. Come to find out, I’m a natural at it. Maybe the whole parenting thing will be like that, too. I’ll tell you this much—I can’t wait to find out.”

  “As long as there’s love, it’ll all fall into place.” With a gentleness that calmed him, Ivy cupped her hand against his cheek. “My goal is for us to raise this kiddo, and a little hell every now and again, while being wild and loud and creative and happy every single day of our lives. That’s what I want most in this world.”

  “I already have what I want most in this world,” he whispered, his mouth hovering over hers. “I have you. My woman. My wife. The mother of my child. With you, and this little surprise package here,” he added, curving an awestruck, reverent hand over her still-flat belly, “I don’t need anything else to be complete. Now, do you want to keep talking, or is it all right if I get down to the business of celebrating the start of our family?”

  Her whiskey-colored eyes sparkled. “It’s more than all right, honey.”

  “Good.” Smiling, Tag bent to her waiting mouth, and got down to business.

  Five years later

  “What’s the surprise trip, Daddy?”

  “If I told you that, it wouldn’t be a surprise, baby doll.”

  As Ivy watched from her place in the passenger seat, Tag’s expression softened as it always did when he heard the deceptively angelic voice of their four-year-old, Serena. It was an expression that had shown up the moment she was born, coming into the world with a furious screech that all the nurses swore they’d never heard a newborn make. That was when Tag decided on the spot that her name had to be Serena, in the hope that the name would somehow ward off the very real possibility that their daughter had inherited Ivy’s quick temper.

  It was a nice thought. It hadn’t worked, of course. But it was a nice thought.

  “I could be wrong, but it looks like we’re headed back to the neighborhood where Mommy and Daddy grew up.” Turning in her seat, Ivy smiled at Serena in her big girl car seat, her silky black curls pulled into two little pigtails. Beside her was her eighteen-month-old brother Adam, who was sleepily watching the world go by with onyx dark eyes, his dimpled hands clutching a bedraggled, one-eyed giraffe named Jeff. “Do you want to see where Mommy and Daddy lived when we were your age?”

  Serena giggled uproariously. “You were never my age, Mommy.”

  “There are days when I’d have to agree with that,” Ivy drawled, and turned back to see where Tag was guiding the full-sized SUV. They each had their own cars, but it was the family-oriented SUV that got the most use. More often than not, they chose to haul the kids with them wherever they went; life was simply more fun when all four of them were together.

  “So?” Tag’s mouth was still curved as he slowed for a light. “Any guesses about where we’re headed?”

  “Um.” Ivy did a quick glance around before realizing what was right in front of her. “Are we headed to Sherman Park?”

  He nodded, driving on when the light changed before turning the SUV into the sun-baked parking lot. “I thought it might be fun to take a trip down memory lane, especially since Malik’s retiring next month.”

  “I didn’
t know that.” It took only a second for the implications of not having Malik at the park to dawn on her. “What about your mural, Paradise? What can be done? Technically speaking, it’s not your property.”

  “Hm.” He didn’t seem overly concerned as he parked and pocketed the keys, then went around to her side of the vehicle to open the door for her. “Let’s go talk about it. Oh, and before I forget, happy anniversary, tiger.”

  In the process of sliding out of the SUV, she stared at him. “Honey, it’s the middle of summer. We got married on New Year’s.”

  “Yeah, but it was on this date when you went rampaging into House Of Payne, ripped off your shirt and dared me to do something about it.”

  Her mouth dropped open, but before she could go all gooey over her man caring enough about their first meeting that he remembered the date, Serena piped up from the back.

  “Mommy, did you take your shirt off? Why did you take your shirt off for Daddy, Mommy?”

  “I’m so going to make you pay for this,” she informed Tag, who chuckled under his breath before joining her in helping the kids out of their seats.

  “Malik.” With daddy’s girl Serena by his side, Tag held out a hand to his old friend once they reached the caretaker’s hut. “It’s good to see you.”

  “Same goes, my friend. Same goes. My goodness,” Malik went on, beaming, as Ivy joined them with Adam riding her hip. “Look at this fine family you’ve got here. I tell you what, Tag, this is living the dream. Who knew that when I first met you all those years ago, you’d wind up an old-fashioned family man?”

  “I just needed the right woman to make me an old-fashioned family man.” With an air of contentment, he pulled Ivy to his side. “I thought it’d be a good idea to bring the whole family out to take one last look, maybe take a few pictures with the mural. That all right?”

  Malik waved an inviting hand. “You don’t have to ask permission from me. Go on and take as much time as you like. I’ll be inside if you need anything.”

  “He’s been such a good friend for you, watching over Paradise.” Hitching Adam higher on her hip, she let Tag guide her around to the back of the building. “I hope everything’s okay with him. He seems on the young side to retire, don’t you think?”

  “He is. The thing is, he’s got just about the biggest private collection of Tag scale models and original art around, so he decided to sell a couple and move to the Bahamas.” He grinned at her stunned expression. “He’s actually been doing that for some time now—selling a few paintings and investing the proceeds while living off the paycheck he got from his job here at the park. And all the while, his portfolio just kept growing and growing. Hell, it wouldn’t surprise me if Malik’s actually bought himself an entire island down there in the Bahamas.”

  “You know the coolest people,” Ivy announced, impressed, before she caught sight of Tag’s mural. “There it is, honey. Your beginning.”

  “Yeah. And I finally finished it.”

  That made her glance up at him, shielding her eyes against the glare of the sun as she did so. “What?”

  “Remember when I first showed you this? I told you I’d left a spot at the end because I didn’t know how to finish it. Well, I figured it out. I finally finished it.”

  “Really?” Excited, Ivy followed his gaze to the far right side of the building, where there had once been a small blank area. It was blank no more. The famous logo for House Of Payne was the backdrop for the image of her, the same one he’d used in Ivy, Invictus. The glowing door that had been his mental escape at the beginning of the mural was there as well, and the light of it shone on another image of her, this time with a little girl playing dress-up—something that Serena did to the point where Ivy was ready to padlock her closet—and a cherubic boy with his stuffed giraffe. Tag was there as well, the first and only time his image had ever appeared in any of his work, and the magnitude of seeing that self-portrait rocked her all the way to her soul.

  Tag had depicted himself within his most intimate work, Paradise, standing with Ivy, arm around her while he held Serena in his other arm, while Ivy cuddled Adam.

  It was a family portrait, with the light of the doorway shining on them.

  The message was clear. He no longer needed a fantasy world to escape to.

  He was living his fantasy.

  It was the most touching self-portrait she’d ever seen.

  “Mommy, why are you crying?” Serena sounded worried as she tugged on her skirt.

  “I’m crying because I’m so happy.” Letting a squirming Adam down and keeping a sharp eye on him, she wrapped her arms around Tag. “I love it, honey. I love your world.”

  “It’s pretty damn awesome, now that it’s got you and the kids in it.” He gave her hair a gentle tug to raise her face to his before dropping a kiss on her waiting lips. “I see now that this was the only way to close this particular chapter in my life. At the time, there didn’t seem to be any point to this mural—it was just me trying to get all the shit that had built up in my life out of my system. But now I see what this mural is.”

  She saw it too, but she wanted to hear him say it. “What do you see, honey?”

  “Hope. This mural is frigging proof that things can get better. That things will get better. And that’s a message that everyone needs to see, tiger,” he added, letting her go just long enough to casually snag his boy back up when Adam began to wander too far afield. “Did you know that once Malik retires, this hut and the other buildings around it are going to be removed from the park?”

  Her heart shuddered to a halt at the thought. “No.”

  “Malik told me about it a few months ago, so I had Maude quietly look into it. She made an offer on all the buildings through a third party, and the city sold it to us for a song. We own Paradise.”

  “Oh, thank goodness.” With a squeal, she hugged him as best she could with Adam fussing to get out of his father’s arms, then laughed when Serena happily joined their group hug. “What are you going to do with it? It’s your most personal work, but I agree with you—it does need to be seen, especially by kids who think life will never change, and their world will never get better.”

  “I’ve given that a lot of thought, and I’ve got an idea that involves you.”

  Her brows shot up. “Me?”

  “I heard you talking with Minnie last week, about how you wish you had a time machine so you could go back and tell Teo that nothing lasts forever, and that life can get better if you can just hold out against the darkness. Why don’t we start some kind of a foundation that sponsors inner city kids like us to get into schools like CATE? You and I are living proof that talented kids are out there, but they’re so buried in the violent shit of their world that they don’t know how to express themselves, except through that same kind of violence. Maybe we could teach the next generation another way.”

  She never got tired of discovering just how wonderful her man was. “That’s beautiful, Tag. I’ve been wanting to do something along those lines myself and name it after my brother—to let his name be a cautionary tale, as well as a way to remember him in a good light. I just didn’t know how to go about it.”

  “We’ll talk to some people on how best to proceed, and we’ll get it done. The Teo Gemelli Foundation, if that’s what you want to call it, will support kids who need that little extra boost to find a better future for themselves. When they come to us, the first thing they’ll see is this mural, and they’ll see firsthand that life really can get better, as long as they’re willing to take that first step.” His arms tightened around their family. “We can help them find a better life like ours.”

  “Not just a better life,” Ivy whispered, reaching out to smooth a hand over Serena’s head, before squeezing her husband and son with her other arm. “Ours is the best life. Thank you for giving me the best life imaginable, honey.”

  He bent down for one more kiss. “Right back atcha, tiger.”

  Note From The Author

 
; Hi! I hope you enjoyed Tag and Ivy’s story!

  There’s so much going on at House of Payne right now—new recruits, new art and new stories everywhere you look. I’m writing as fast as I can so I can give every unique character a voice, mainly because they’ve all got a lot to say and won’t give me any rest!

  The next House of Payne book belongs to Ice—yay! Come to find out, there’s a lot hiding behind the glossy, Cali surfer-dude look. As I’ve been working on the outline for his book, I’m falling in love with the jarring dichotomy of his sunny good looks and what’s lurking beneath. The more I learn about Ice, the more intrigued I am. Look for Ice’s story in late December or early January (depending on how fast I write, heh).

  Next up, though, is the latest release in the Brody Brothers series, BRACED! Lilah and Fin were made for each other, and that’s something Lilah has always known. Fin had other ideas, at least at first, and when he loses her, he discovers the old saying is true—you never know what you’ve got until it’s gone. But he’s a Brody, a larger-than-life alpha male who’s as relentless and untamed as the Texas landscape that forged him into the man he is. He’s one rugged cowboy who’ll stop at nothing to corral the woman of his dreams. Look for BRACED November 5th, published by Harlequin’s Carina Press!

  I LOVE hearing from readers, just as much as I love interacting with them. Please feel free to drop me a line at stacygail1@gmail.com, or follow me on Twitter or Facebook. If you mention that you’ve read House Of Payne (or any of my books, heh), I promise to follow back and say hi!

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