by Elena Aitken
“Good to see you, too, brother.” Cal punched him playfully on the shoulder. “Seriously, who’s going to be an—ahh, I see.” Cal laughed and rephrased the question. “Okay…so who is going to be a daddy?”
“Better, smart guy,” Declan said with a shake of the head.
“So?” Cal ignored him in favor of getting the information he wanted.
Ian hitched a thumb in Mitch’s direction and Cal’s eyes got wide. “You haven’t changed a bit, have you? Are you even dating—”
Mitch shut him up with a punch to the mouth that sent his brother reeling backward.
“Whoa.” Ian grabbed Mitch through the arms and pulled him backward. “What the hell has gotten into you?”
“Shit, Mitch.” Cal brought his fingers to his mouth and pulled them away with blood on them. “I just got a job. What the fuck is your problem?”
“It’s not like that,” Mitch said. His brother still had his arms on him, but Mitch wasn’t going to hit him again. “I’m not like that anymore. And Jade is…well, dammit, I love her.”
“You love her?” Ian dropped his arms then, and looked at Mitch incredulously. “What did I say? I knew you loved her. It’s about time you realized it.”
Mitch nodded and dropped his head before he slumped to the floor.
Declan sat down next to him. “You love her? This pregnant mystery woman?”
He nodded again. “I do and I’m afraid I fucked it all up.”
He told his brothers everything. All about what an asshole he’d been and how instead of realizing how much he loved her and telling her that, he’d gotten angry and left. They didn’t say anything while he was talking. When he was finished, it was Ian who slapped him on his back and helped him to his feet. “Well, it looks like you have some work to do, little brother. But the first thing you’re going to do is settle down. No matter what, you cannot go after her guns blazing. You need a plan.”
“Agreed,” Dec said. “And we’ll help. Won’t we, guys?”
Mitch looked at each of his brothers in turn, his eyes landing on Cal last. When his youngest brother nodded and smiled, bloody lip and all, Mitch breathed a small sigh of relief. It was a long way from being fixed, but for the first time in days, he felt as if he’d be able to make it okay again. “Thank you.”
But the relief was short-lived when the door to the shop opened, Gwen stepped in and pointed directly at him. “You have a lot of explaining to do.”
Chapter Fifteen
Ten missed calls. At least twice as many text messages. Two voicemails.
All from Mitch.
Jade held the phone in her hand and tried not to shake. She’d just spent the last few hours talking through everything with Gwen and coming to terms with how she actually felt about Mitch and the baby and everything that was going on.
She couldn’t control what Mitch’s reaction was to the baby. Like Gwen said, there was no doubt he was taken off guard by it all. How could he not be?
Regardless, the only thing she could control in the entire scenario was her reaction to everything and that was exactly what she was going to do. She was going to control her reaction. And that meant she couldn’t let any of his anger in. Not yet. She’d deal with him and his feelings. Of course she would. But for the time being, it hurt too much to know he was angry with her when all she wanted was his arms around her telling her it would all be okay. Telling her that he loved her.
That’s what she really wanted to hear.
She pressed the button to delete the messages without listening to them and then swiped her fingers to delete the text messages as well.
There would be time for that later, but for the moment, she needed to give herself some time.
Besides, Gwen was right. She could have it all. Maybe that didn’t include Mitch, but it would include her career and her baby. Her mother had been wrong. She could have it all, and she would. But that meant she needed to start by taking charge of something she could control.
She made herself a tea, changed into her comfy clothes and settled into the couch with her laptop to get some work done. Jade wrote the email she’d been waiting to write all day and hit Send. Not even ten minutes later, her phone rang.
Jade answered it with a smile. “You love it, don’t you?”
“Love it?” Peter’s voice boomed over the line. “Absolutely. This is exactly what we wanted. It’s exactly what the viewers are going to eat up. It’s real, it’s raw and it has the makings for a perfect love story.”
“I knew you’d love it.” Jade beamed. If Peter was happy with the script, it was going to make her life so much easier. At least when it came to the show. And that’s what her focus was. Control the things she could.
“Peter, you’re absolutely going to love the next few episodes as well,” Jade said. “They get even better. I can send them right now if you like.”
“No. I trust you. Wait to send them in the morning. I’m sure that if they’re anything like this one, then we’ll have a hit on our hands. And with a cast full of up-and-comers, it will be unstoppable.”
That’s right. Jade had totally forgotten about the screen test for Bridget. “I assume Bridget did well then?”
“Yes and no.”
“What does that mean?” A flicker of unease lit up her stomach. Jade took a sip of tea and forced herself to remember that she could only control the things that were in her control. At this rate, it was going to become her new mantra. She took a breath. “Is everything okay with Bridget? Or are we looking for a fresh face?” Secretly, she hoped they could look for a completely undiscovered talent that would take the world by storm. This type of show really needed something special, to make it stand out. And although Bridget was good, for a lot of people, she’d always be “that Australian Baywatch star.” Never mind the connection to Cal that could get contentious. But she would defer to Peter’s judgment if she had to.
“I haven’t made up my mind on her yet,” Peter said. “Something about delaying her flight to take care of a few things for the season on her current show. And I’ll tell you what, Jade, I don’t like that. She’ll have to fully commit to Mr. Summer if she gets this role. That means she will be Gwen Henderson. No more running around in bathing suits on the beach. This is a serious role and it will require a full commitment.”
“Agreed,” Jade said. “And you’re not sure Bridget is up to the job?” She secretly hoped he didn’t, although Jade had no idea why. She had nothing against the woman. In fact, besides a few pictures and magazine articles, and of course the fact that she used to date Cal McCormick, she didn’t know anything about her at all. “But I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.”
“We will. But besides that, it’s all coming together. We can begin filming as soon as the last few details are sorted out.”
Including the lead actress. Jade shook her head in wonderment. She didn’t know how people who always worked in the industry managed it without going crazy. Working primarily with authors was a much more laid-back job.
“I’ll trust you to pull it off, Peter. And in the meantime, I’ll keep working with Gwen on the scripts and handling any details on this end.”
“You’re doing a great job, Jade. Keep it up.” Compliments from Peter were rare and Jade relished it.
It was still early when she hung up with Peter, but she didn’t care. She turned her phone to silent and crawled into bed with a book. The sooner the day was over, the better. Maybe tomorrow she’d be able to handle her life. But there’d be no harm in waiting until then to try.
“It’s got to be big,” Gwen said.
They had moved from the Dockside to sitting around a table at the Grizzly Paw, where all of Mitch’s brothers, with the help of Gwen, were helping him decide what he was going to do to convince Jade he loved her and wanted to be with her and the baby.
After Gwen had returned from her day with Jade and filled him in on the fact that Jade was an absolute mess with the way things were left, and that she�
��d confided in Gwen how much she loved Mitch and wanted more than anything for him to want to be with her, Mitch knew he had to do something big to fix the mess they’d gotten themselves into. Clearly there’d been a communication breakdown, but as far as Mitch was concerned, it would be the last time that happened.
He would fix it.
“I’m going to ask her to marry me,” he announced to the group. The idea had been formulating since Declan had mentioned his sister-in-laws, but it all crystalized in that moment. And it was a good one. Where even six months ago the very idea of marrying anyone would scare the hell out of him, now, it just felt like the most natural thing he could do.
Because he couldn’t imagine his life without her. Not now, not ever.
“Well, I guess a marriage proposal is big.” Declan laughed. “It must run in the family, huh?” He gestured with his mug toward Ian, who had proposed to Gwen after their big fight that had almost broken them up forever.
“Maybe so,” Ian agreed. “But maybe it’s just because we McCormick boys know what we want.”
“Or maybe it’s because we all screw up our relationships so badly that we need something grand to fix them.” Cal shrugged but Mitch could tell the comment hit home, at least a little for his younger brother as well.
“So you’re really going to ask her to marry you?” Chelsea appeared with a tray of drinks. She’d obviously heard his declaration.
“Do you think that’s crazy?”
“Hell no.” Chelsea put the drinks down and gave Mitch a quick hug. “But you have to make it big. Don’t just ask her. I mean, make sure you’re ready.”
“Hey.” Ian tossed a paper coaster in Chelsea’s direction. “Are you saying I didn’t do it big enough?”
Ian’s proposal to Gwen had been pretty spontaneous, and as far as anyone could tell, totally unplanned. He didn’t have a ring or any real intention to do it at all. It had just happened. And that had worked out perfectly for them. But Chelsea was right; for Jade, it needed to be big. She was so uncertain of his love for her that there needed to be no room for doubt. He took a sip of his beer and let an idea percolate.
“Okay.” It was Declan who interrupted his train of thought and got right to the point. “So how are you going to do that? You want to marry this woman?”
Mitch nodded. There was no doubt in his mind.
“And you want to be a father to this baby?”
“Absolutely.”
“Okay.” Declan gave it some thought. “Where are you going to live? Have you given that any thought?”
“It’s funny you should ask,” Mitch said. “I didn’t even have a chance to tell everyone, things have happened so fast—”
“You didn’t tell them yet?” Cal shook his head and smiled into his beer.
“Tell us what?” Ian demanded.
“Oh, you don’t know.” Gwen put her hand to her mouth, looking very guilty, but Mitch just laughed.
“You know?” Ian asked Gwen, who nodded. He turned to Mitch. “Tell me. Now.”
Mitch laughed again. “I bought a house.”
“No way!” Declan slapped him on the back. “Here? In Cedar Springs?”
Mitch nodded. “Right down the street from the cabin.”
“That’s great.”
It was great. Especially now that it looked as if there would be a family living in that big house.
Don’t get ahead of yourself, he chastised himself. First he needed Jade to see that he loved her and wanted this with her.
But he would. He had no doubt.
Because he couldn’t imagine it any other way.
“Wow,” Ian said. “I think it is great. Especially since we all seem to be here. We take up a whole lot more space now that we’re bigger.”
“And there are more of us.” Cal waved his hand in Gwen’s direction. She smiled and raised her glass in a toast.
“And there will be more in our family soon.” Mitch raised his glass as well. “I have to believe that.”
“I have no doubt.” Gwen clinked glasses with him. “Now, let’s get down to details.”
“The first thing you need is a ring.” All eyes turned to Declan, who shrugged. “What? You think just because I haven’t met the right woman yet, that I don’t know a thing or two about romance and doing it right?”
For the next few minutes, the McCormick clan huddled their heads together and came up with a plan. It would involve a lot of work, and more than a little cooperation from some friends in town, but they were all confident it could be pulled off. As far as Mitch was concerned, it had to work. Because the more time that went by without Jade by his side, the more nervous he got that it might never happen.
“It’s the only place in town that might have one,” Mitch said to Declan.
After Chelsea insisted that he couldn’t propose without a ring, much debate had ensued as to whether he should go into the city to buy a ring or whether one might be located in Cedar Springs. There was no time to go into the city; besides, there was no way Mitch was going to get that far away from Jade without things being settled between them. The only place he could think of that might have a ring of some kind was the Live, Love, Lake boutique.
Mitch led his brother Declan down Main Street. Of course, Chelsea had wanted to come and help with the ring, but with the dinner hour upon them, the Grizzly Paw was too busy and she needed to work. He promised to text her pictures and let her know when he found one. It was crazy to him how his little sister had become such an important part of his life so quickly. But then again, everything about the summer so far had been unexpected and moving at the speed of light. He might as well just relax into it and enjoy it.
“When did this store open?” Declan asked as they walked up to the door. “It’s new, isn’t it?” He laughed. “Not that I should be surprised. Everything is new around here. But it’s good to be back in town.”
“I agree.”
“There’s just something about Cedar Springs,” Dec said. “No matter where I go in the world, it’s always been the only place that’s ever really felt like home. Is that crazy?”
To anyone else, it might have. But not to Mitch. He knew exactly what his brother was talking about. “Not at all,” he said. “I’m glad you’re here, Dec. It’s important to me that everyone is here for this.”
“What about Mom?”
Mitch froze, his hand on the door. What about Mom?
Of course he wanted his mother there. But was she ready to come back to the lake? She hadn’t been very happy with Ian going to open up the old house. She’d made that clear to Mitch as well when he’d stopped into see her when school ended. “Did you see her?”
Declan shook his head. “Not yet. I wanted to surprise you all first. But I’ll go and get her if you want me to. It’s important, Mitch.”
He nodded. It was important. “I’d love nothing more than to have her back here with us.”
His little brother’s smile split his face and he slapped Mitch’s back. “Consider it done. I’ll drive through the night if I have to. But first, let’s go see what we can do about a ring.”
The bells over the door jingled as they entered and Evie’s voice called out from the back. “I’ll be right with you.”
“Take your time,” Mitch responded.
“Who’s that?” Declan looked at him with wide eyes when he heard her voice.
Mitch laughed. “That’s Evie Rose. She runs the store and she’s just about the sweetest woman you’ve ever met.” It seemed like a million years ago that Mitch thought he might be able to date her. Evie was absolutely a wonderful person, but she was never the woman he needed. It had always been Jade. It was just too bad he hadn’t seen it earlier.
Not that it mattered. He would make up for it. He’d spend the rest of his life making up for it.
He wandered to the back of the store where Evie kept a glass case of jewelry and other small items. At first glance, he didn’t see what he was looking for, but he had patience.
“Hey, Mitch. Catch.”
A child’s voice grabbed his attention and he turned around just in time to see Jonah throw a tennis ball toward Declan, who turned around at exactly the right moment to get hit in the face with it.
“Oops!” Jonah ran through the store to Dec. “You’re not Mitch.”
Declan rubbed his face. “No,” he said good-naturedly. “I’m not. But you have a heck of an arm.” He held out his hand for the boy. “I’m Declan, Mitch’s brother.”
Mitch watched the scene with a chuckle when Evie appeared beside him. “Please tell me Jonah isn’t causing trouble out here. I was just putting away some stock in the back and—who is that?” She whispered the question in Mitch’s ear.
“That’s Declan. My younger brother. He just got in from…well, I can’t remember exactly where he was. Out saving the world somewhere.” Mitch was just about to call Declan over to introduce him when he saw the look on Evie’s face and decided it might be better to do what he came into the store to do before making the introduction. He may have not been the right man for Evie, but judging by the way she was eyeing Dec, there might just be a different McCormick in town who was. “I need your help, Evie. I need a ring.”
That got Evie’s attention and he very quickly explained the situation and what it was he needed.
“I think I might just have what you need.” Evie clapped her hands. “Wait right here.” She disappeared into the back room.
“Does she have something?” Declan appeared at his side, Jonah next to him.
“Hi, Mitch.”
“Hey, buddy. Have you been keeping up with your work?” The boy nodded dutifully. “I’ve tutored him a few times,” Mitch explained to Dec. “But he’s a smart boy and he didn’t need too many sessions before he was more than caught up, did you?”
“That’s right,” the boy said. “I’m going to be the smartest kid in my class next year. I wish you could be my teacher. It would be so much better than having Mrs. Enderby next year. She’s so—”