Swept Into Love: Gage Ryder (Love in Bloom: The Ryders Book 5)

by Melissa Foster

Gage started after him, but Sally bolted out to stop him. “Hold on. Let me talk to him first.” She took off down the walkway, the frigid morning air stinging her face, cold concrete burning her bare feet as she ran after her son. “Rusty! Wait!”

  He descended the steps at a fast clip, but there was no faster runner than a mother in fear of losing her son. She caught up to him in the parking lot and grabbed his arm. He spun around with fire in his eyes.

  “Wait—” She bent over at the knees, her stomach churning, dizzily trying to catch her breath. “We need to talk.” She was shaking from cold, and her stomach lurched again. She turned away just as she threw up, barely missing his sneakers.

  “Mom! Are you okay?” His voice was filled with concern. He took off his coat and put it around her shoulders.

  She held up a hand, afraid to speak for fear of puking again. She took a few steps away from the mess and sank down to her heels.

  “Mom, I’m sorry. Are you sick? Is that why you were in the room with Gage?”

  She shook her head, afraid of sending him into a fit of anger, but all this stress was tearing her up. The truth came weakly. “No.”

  She pushed to her feet, dizzily grabbing his arm to steady herself, and looked into her son’s confused eyes. “I’m not sick, honey. This is just stress or something I ate.”

  “Bird,” Gage called as he ran across the parking lot. He handed Rusty his coat and wrapped Sally’s around her. He set her boots down beside her and held her as she stepped into them. “Are you okay?”

  She nodded, though she was anything but okay. Her stomach felt like the ocean after a storm, unsure if it would rise up again or calm. But it was the worry in her son’s eyes that was breaking her heart.

  “You need to sit down.” Gage guided her toward a bench in the grass.

  “Rusty—”

  He came to her side. “I’m here. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you sick.”

  “You didn’t make me sick,” she said, lowering herself to the bench, flanked by the two of them.

  Rusty leaned his elbows on his knees, rubbing his hands together.

  Gage kept a hand on Sally’s back. “You sure you’re okay? Want me to get you some water?”

  “No. I think all this secret keeping is eating away at my stomach.” She sat back, knowing she’d brought this on herself. It was no wonder Rusty thought he should keep his arrest a secret. He was his mother’s son after all.

  “Rusty, we have something to tell you.” She reached for her son’s hand, and he reluctantly allowed her to hold it.

  “I think it’s pretty clear, Mom. You and Gage are hooking up.” The dark stare he pinned on Gage and the way he squeezed her hand told her he was not okay with it.

  “No, honey. We’re not hooking up.”

  His brow wrinkled, a softer look rising in his eyes.

  She drew in a deep breath and sat up straighter, taking Gage’s hand in hers. “We’re married.”

  Rusty’s eyes widened. “Married? As in, married?”

  “Yes,” she said. “It was an accident, but it’s not anymore.”

  “An accident? How do you accidentally get married?” He pulled his hand from her grip.

  “It turns out what happens in Vegas doesn’t stay in Vegas,” Gage said with an air of let’s-lighten-the-mood, but Rusty’s jaw was tight, his eyes stern. He looked as annoyed as ever. “Rusty, nothing will change. I love your mother, and I love you.”

  “No shit,” Rusty snapped. “Everyone in the fucking town knows you love her, but this changes everything.”

  Oh God, here we go. “That’s enough, Rusty. You don’t need to get nasty. This is hard for all of us.”

  “So…what? You got drunk and ended up married?” Rusty pushed to his feet and paced. “You were in Vegas three weeks ago.”

  “I know, and I’m sorry.” Sally stood, swaying on her feet, still mildly dizzy. Gage’s arm came around her waist, and she was thankful for the support—both physical and emotional.

  “After all you’ve been through, your mother wanted to be sure about us before we told you,” Gage explained.

  “This explains a lot.” Rusty pushed a hand through his hair, staring at the ground. He stopped pacing and lifted a challenging gaze at Gage. “What else have you told her?”

  “Rusty.” Sally stepped forward. “I know you trust Gage—”

  “Trusted,” he said icily.

  “Rusty,” Gage said, “even if I weren’t in a relationship with your mother, I would have had to tell her about your arrest. That’s not like a bad grade or a car. Nothing has changed between you and me,” he insisted. “You and your mom have both been, and remain, my priorities.”

  “Wait,” Sally said, wondering what else he was keeping from her about her son. “A bad grade?”

  “It was just an example,” Gage reassured her.

  “Who are you kidding?” Rusty snapped. “Everything has changed. The two people I trusted most in this world have been keeping the biggest secret of all from me. How can that possibly not change things?”

  Sally felt him slipping away, just like she had after Dave died, and she realized that she hadn’t even begun to touch the hurt she’d caused. She was doing what his father did to him all over again, springing a secret relationship on him. She sank down to the bench in shock.

  “Sally?” Gage knelt beside her.

  “Mom?”

  She looked at them both with tears in her eyes. “He’s right. This changes everything. How could I be so stupid?”

  “Baby…?” Gage took her hand with imploring eyes.

  “We’re Dave all over again,” she said flatly. “After Dave died, we found out that he had been secretly seeing Chase and his mother, building a relationship with them before he revealed the truth to us. He thought he was protecting us, and it tore me and Rusty to pieces.” Tears streamed down her cheeks, and she turned to Rusty, hoping with all her heart that she hadn’t ruined their relationship beyond repair.

  “We were doing the same thing, building a relationship to make sure it was solid before telling you. I thought it was the only smart choice. Gage wanted to tell you right away. But my biggest worry was that if things didn’t work out with me and Gage that you would lose him as your confidant. He promised me that would never happen, but I needed to know in my heart that I wasn’t risking your relationship with him for my own happiness. And on top of that, I was so afraid of losing your trust, I didn’t realize I was putting you in a position where I couldn’t help but lose it.”

  Rusty clenched his jaw.

  She pushed to her feet again, her gaze moving between the two men who owned her heart. “I love you both so much. Rusty, this was my mistake, not Gage’s. The only thing he did to break your trust was to tell me about the arrest, and honestly, if he hadn’t, and I found out, it would have ruined the relationship you have with him anyway. And Gage…” She swiped at her tears, but more followed. “I did this to us, and I’m so sorry.”

  “Babe.” He gathered her in his arms. “You did what you thought was right for Rusty.”

  “Jesus,” Rusty ground out.

  Sally pushed from Gage’s arms. “I’m sorry. I know that’s probably hard for you to see.”

  Rusty rolled his eyes. “Obviously he makes you happy.” He stared at Gage and motioned to Sally. “And clearly you’ve been in love with her for years.”

  “Yes.” The unwavering love in Gage’s voice calmed and worried Sally at once. She hoped it didn’t set Rusty off again.

  “Fuck.” Rusty sank down to the bench and covered his face with both hands. His long legs stretched out before him and his arms fell heavily to his sides, his gaze moving between the two of them. “This is fucking weird.”

  “Can you please stop saying that word?” Sally asked. “I know it’s weird. It was weird for me, too.” She slid an arm around Gage’s back. “But then I realized it was only weird because I’d fallen in love with my best friend.”

  “This makes you my
stepfather,” Rusty said uneasily as he pushed a hand through his hair. His bangs fell right back down in front of his eyes.

  Gage sat next to Rusty, bringing Sally down beside him. “You’re a man, Rusty. Legally, yeah, it gives me that title, but I don’t want to replace your father. Hell, I don’t want our relationship to change at all, although I can see how it has to, in some ways. This is a lot for all of us to adjust to.”

  “You think?” Rusty scoffed, but a hint of a smile followed, giving Sally hope that they could eventually move past this. “So, what now?”

  Sally and Gage exchanged an uneasy look, and she read his silent question. Do we go for it and tell him about the house?

  “Whatever it is, just spit it out,” Rusty said. “There’s not much you can do to top this.”

  “We could get arrested,” Sally said with a smile.

  Rusty scowled. “That sucked, and as soon as my friend is back from his cruise with his parents, he’ll clear it up.”

  “I was just trying to take the edge off.” She guessed they’d be dodging sharp edges for a while, and that was okay, as long as it didn’t sever any ties. “Honey, it’s about the house. I’ll keep it as long as you want me to, but I’m going to be moving in with Gage.”

  “Dad’s house?” Rusty asked solemnly.

  “I’m sorry. It feels wrong to try to start over there.”

  Rusty looked at Gage for a long moment, as if he was trying to envision him in their house, and sighed heavily. “I guess that makes sense. When are you moving?”

  Sally looked at Gage. They’d agreed she wouldn’t move until after the holidays so Rusty could spend one last Christmas with her in their house. “After the holidays, when you go back to school.”

  He nodded sullenly. “But don’t sell it yet.”

  “We won’t.”

  “As your mom said, we’ll hang on to it as long as you want us to. There’s no rush,” Gage reassured him. “And I want you to know that you’ll always have your own room at our house. And by our house, I mean yours, mine, and your mom’s.”

  Sally watched Rusty with worry, hoping he wouldn’t lash out again.

  Rusty held Gage’s gaze, squared his shoulders, and nodded curtly.

  It was such a manly affirmation, it took Sally by surprise. She’d watched as her son’s world was turned upside down and he’d struggled through and found his footing. Her boy had grown up right before her eyes. He was no longer a kid on the cusp of manhood watching his friendship unravel through broken trust and breached confidence. He was a young man staking claim as such in his new reality.

  And Sally knew in her heart, no matter what else came his way, he would be okay. They would be okay.

  Chapter Nineteen

  “YOU SAID YOU wanted to travel,” Gage called out to Sally from the bedroom in Allure as he changed his clothes. By the time they’d left Harborside, things with Rusty were mildly comfortable, but Gage knew the underlying tension would probably last a while.

  “Bailing my kid out of jail in Massachusetts in the winter wasn’t my destination of choice,” she said when he joined her in the living room. “But at least now he knows the truth.”

  Her phone vibrated with a call, and Gage picked it up off their new mosaic table and handed it to her. “It’s Rusty.”

  She put the phone to her ear with a tentative expression. “Hi, honey.” She paused, listening, her eyes widening along with her smile. “That’s great news. Hold on.” She lowered the phone and told Gage that the police had reached his friend, who’d admitted the pills were his. “The attorney told him he’d probably get the charges dropped.”

  “Thank God,” Gage said.

  She lifted the phone, listening again. “Thanks, honey. I love you.” She handed the phone to Gage. “He wants to talk to you.”

  Surprised, Gage put it to his ear. “Hey, buddy.”

  “Hey. I need a favor.”

  “Sure.”

  “I want to surprise Mom and come down next weekend so she can move before the holidays. I mean, I assume you want her to move in sooner?”

  “Are you sure?” Gage wanted to do a fist pump, but he had to choose his words carefully so as not to clue Sally in to Rusty’s surprise. “You know why that was the plan, right?”

  “So I could spend the holiday in my dad’s house, I assume. My father’s been gone a long time, and I’m glad Mom is finally moving on. She doesn’t need to drag her ass on the move because of me.”

  “Man, I really appreciate that, Rusty.”

  “I figure I owe her after the whole arrest thing. Think you can keep it a secret so I can surprise her, or does that break some sort of marriage code?”

  Gage chuckled, relieved that Rusty was reaching out to him again. “I think I can manage that.”

  “Thanks. If I come in Friday, can you pick me up, or should I call someone else?”

  He watched his beautiful wife scrolling through the Internet on her laptop, blissfully unaware of her son’s plans. He wished he could tell her just to see the thrill in her eyes when she realized how big a step Rusty was taking for her, but this was one secret he would keep. “Text me the details. I can handle it.”

  “Thanks, and, Gage?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Is Mom right there?”

  “Mm-hm.”

  “Can you put me on speaker?”

  “Sure.” He pressed the speaker button, and Rusty’s voice came through the phone. “Hey, Mom?”

  Sally startled and turned. “Yeah? Hi, honey.”

  “I just wanted to say congratulations to you both. That kind of got lost in our conversation. I know I didn’t act like it, but I’m glad you two are finally together.”

  Sally came to Gage’s side. “Thank you. I’m sorry we sprang it on you like that. But honestly, we kind of sprang it on ourselves, too.”

  “Just for the record,” Rusty said with a teasing tone, “next time I do something stupid, I’m totally holding your drunken marriage over your head.”

  Gage hugged Sally, all of them laughing.

  They talked for a few more minutes, and after they ended the call, Gage tipped up Sally’s chin and gazed into her relieved eyes. “I told you everything would be okay.”

  “Shut up and kiss me, Mr. Know-It-All.” She went up on her toes, and he met her halfway in a series of slow, drugging kisses.

  “You know what we have to do now?” he said in his most seductive voice.

  She slid her hands into his back pockets. “I can think of a lot of things I want to do right now.”

  “Slow down, Salbird.” He pulled his phone from his pocket and sent a group text to his family. Family Skype. Urgent. “We have a few things to take care of first.”

  He took her hand and led her out the front door and into the cold, dark night. He drew in a deep breath and hollered, “I married Sally Tuft!”

  Sally’s laughter filled the air, and he pulled her into his arms. He gazed into her smiling eyes and said, “You’re my beautiful wife, and I’m never, ever, going to let you go.”

  He lowered his mouth to hers, holding her shivering body tight against him, and kissed her until she stopped shivering and melted against him.

  “That wasn’t a rooftop,” she teased.

  “If we didn’t have a foot of snow, I’d be on the roof. Come on. We have a couple more things to take care of.”

  Back inside the warm house, he set the laptop on the coffee table in front of the couch and navigated to Skype. He pulled Sally down beside him, unable to stop smiling. “Smile pretty, sweetheart.”

  “Who are we Skyping?”

  “My family. Do you want to try to reach your parents?”

  Her expression turned serious, and she shook her head. “No. They’re not very good with technology. I’ll call them later.”

  “Do you want to call them first?” he offered.

  “No. Let’s call your family before you burst.”

  He chuckled, wishing her parents were more involved in
her and Rusty’s lives. He hoped to help facilitate a mending of those relationships, but it didn’t have to start today. He began the group Skype call, and one by one his family members’ faces appeared on the screen, each looking concerned. His mother, Andrea, sat at his father’s desk, and his father peered over her shoulder. Jake must have been outside, because he was bundled up in a parka, and his phone bobbed up and down, giving them glimpses of snow-covered trees. Duke, Cash, and Blue appeared one after the other.

  “What’s going on?” Duke asked.

  “Hi, Sally. Gage,” his father said. “What’s wrong?”

  “What’s up?” Blue asked.

  They spoke in such quick succession that Gage didn’t have a chance to respond. Jake smirked smugly, as if he had one up on everyone. He did, but there was so much more to tell.

  “Nothing is wrong,” Gage said as Trish signed on.

  She was sitting on a couch with her husband, Boone, holding their cat. “Hi, you guys. What’s going on?”

  Sally looked nervous, and like everyone else, she wore an expectant expression. Gage had waited so long for this moment, and now that the time had come, he didn’t know how to share their news. Simply saying “We’re married” seemed too insignificant for what he felt.

  “Gage…?” his father urged.

  “Sorry,” Gage said. “I’m a little nervous.”

  “That’s a first,” Jake chimed in, making Blue laugh.

  “Just spit it out,” Cash said. “Whatever it is, I’m sure we’ve heard worse.”

  “But you probably haven’t heard better news.” Gage put his arm around Sally, and gazed into her eyes. Heat pulsed between them, and he didn’t care that everyone could probably see it, because in that moment, even with his family staring on, Sally was all that existed. His wife.

  “Gage,” Sally whispered, urging him on.

  He leaned in and kissed her. “I love you, Sally Tuft-Ryder.”

  There was a beat of silence. Sally’s gaze widened with surprise, then warmed with love, claiming his rapt attention.

  “Did you just say…?” Trish’s voice trailed off.

  “Oh my gosh!” his mother exclaimed.

  “The son of a bitch did it!” Cash whooped. “You two got married?”