by Marina Adair
“Then why did you send it?”
“Because my brothers wouldn’t shut up about more money until you shot them down.” And he would always have a small question burning in his gut, a curiosity that would be impossible to ignore. The past five years had taught him that. “I’d be happy to relay any message you have to them.”
“I will do the wedding here at Belle Mont House.” She stood and walked over to a small desk in the corner of the kitchen and grabbed a contract. “Rhett and Stephanie will have access to all of the approved vendors on my list. And any area that I don’t have covered, such as security, they can select their own company.”
“Should I be taking notes?”
“I already have a new contract made up.”
“Of course you do.” He smiled when she walked over to a small desk in the corner of the kitchen and grabbed a contract.
“As for the planner.” She slid the papers across the table. “I have put in there that I will be the exclusive designer and coordinator for the Stone and Easton wedding, but on the evening of the actual event, my assistant will run the show.” She folded her hands on the table. “I’m as eager to see your mother as she is to see me, so this seemed like the best solution for everyone involved.”
“It’s an extremely generous option,” Gage said softly, knowing that coming to that decision must have been hard for her. Agreeing to hold Rhett’s wedding in her backyard was one thing, handing over the reins to her business for an event that could put Belle Mont on the map would be difficult. “Will you be here at all?”
“I will plan everything up until the rehearsal dinner, then Kylie and I are going to Disneyland, which you will see is written in the contract.” He watched her flip to the third page and point at the coordinating section, but he was too busy wondering why he was unsettled by her proposed absence. “Not the actual location, but I will be charging a relocation fee for the inconvenience. But if you flip to the next page you will see that I have dropped my planner fee significantly.”
He did flip the page. And that smile of his grew. “It’s your normal hourly rate.”
“It is.”
“That’s a no to the extra hundred grand then?” he asked, and she lifted a single brow. “Right. That was the offensive part.”
“That’s my final offer, no changes or negotiations. That is what I am willing to provide, and what I am willing to offer. If they’re okay with it, I can set up a consultation and cake tasting for later this week, maybe Friday, since we are short on time. If my rules don’t fit within their idea of the perfect wedding, then we aren’t a fit.”
Gage closed the contract and rested his elbows on the table. “Wow, this is a bossy place.”
“It’s my place, Gage,” she said with the steel velvet to her voice that always managed to turn him on. “My rules. And renting Belle Mont for a night doesn’t change that.”
There were so many emotions packed into those words—anger, frustration, and a hint of a lingering heartache that had his chest slowly turning over.
Gage reached across the table and put his hand next to hers. He didn’t cover it, just got close enough so that he could brush her fingers. Even that brief contact ignited a spark that lit up his nerve endings. Darcy’s breath caught and her eyes dilated to oh my.
She felt the pull, and she seemed about as thrilled with the discovery as he’d been.
Interesting.
“No one is going to come in and shake things up, Pink,” he assured her. And in case she was worried about what was happening between the two of them, of his intentions, he added, “You have my word. I don’t want to make things any harder on either of us, I just want to move forward with my life.”
“Me too,” she said, a hint of naked vulnerability in her voice that kicked every one of his protective instincts into overdrive. “You have no idea how much I’ve wanted to do that since the wedding. And hearing you say that, knowing you want to move past it all too, makes talking about Kylie easier.”
He wanted to tell her everything would be okay, that together they’d get through this, but he’d said that before. And he was done making promises he couldn’t keep. Especially to Darcy.
It was clear she felt alone in all of this. A place Gage could connect with. He’d felt alone ever since Kyle passed. Standing in the middle of downtown, hanging with his friends at Stout, even surrounded by his family, there were times Gage felt the loneliness so deep it was a physical ache.
“There isn’t anything you can’t tell me,” he said.
With a wistful smile, she linked their fingers enough to give a gentle squeeze.
Just like old times, he thought.
“Thank you,” she whispered. “I’ve thought about this a lot, nonstop actually, and I want to do what is best for everyone involved.”
“Are you saying you’re open to us being a part of Kylie’s life?” He couldn’t help but sound hopeful.
“I’m open to you two getting to know each other.”
“What does that mean?”
“Honestly, I don’t even know,” she said, and the look of genuine distress twisted his gut into knots. “I never really got past the part in my head where I tell you that you have a niece. I know there are things I want for her and things I won’t stand to have her go through. Which is why I was thinking we’d start out slow, maybe meet at the park, see how it goes and take it from there.”
“That’s fair,” he said, trying to curb all of the questions that were demanding to be answered. He knew how Darcy’s mind worked. It started with worst case scenario and worked backwards. It was a leftover reaction to her unpredictable childhood.
Gage could attribute every successful negotiation he’d had to his ability to cut through the BS and zero in on what was important. And right then, the only thing that mattered was Kylie’s future.
And his family’s role in it.
He’d do whatever it took to secure that. Even if it meant using his history with Darcy to his benefit. Darcy was logical and functioned by making lists and charts, and eliminating potential problems.
Gage snagged a composition book that was on the windowsill behind him and opened to the first blank page. “Why don’t we start with what you’re comfortable with.”
“You.”
“Me?”
“Yes.”
He wrote down his name, then looked up for more direction. But she remained silent, her big brown eyes wide and almost lost. He couldn’t fathom the Queen of Lists only having one item on it. “Anything else to add?”
“Dogs.” She bit her lip and slowly shrugged, as if saying, that’s all she’s got.
“Okay. Me and dogs.” He flipped the page. “How about we move to things you’re uncomfortable with and we can circle back to this when you’re warmed up?”
“Good idea.” She sat up straight. “Kylie being unsupervised. Kylie getting hurt. Kylie becoming confused over the situation.” She looked down at his hand, which was not moving, and frowned. “Shouldn’t you write that down?”
“Unsupervised, hurt, confused.” He jotted them down. “Anything else?”
“Yes.” She held up a finger. “Someone bad mouthing me or her father to Kylie. Someone lying to me about Kylie or lying to Kylie about me.” Two more fingers ticked off the items. “Sleepovers, which I guess goes under unsupervised, but put it down anyway. Riding in the front seat, anything less than SPF 100 or with red dye number five in it, riding a bike—”
“Like a motorcycle?” he asked, wanting to hug her when her forehead puckered with intense concentration.
“I was thinking a pedal bike, but it would be wise to put down both,” she said. “Those fruit chewies that all the kids want but keep choking on, hot dogs, and rules that defy my rules.”
Gage waited for her to stop, wisely hiding his chuckle as she listed her concerns. “So no riding bikes through the park while eating licorice or fruit chewies. Anything else you’re uncomfortable having around Kylie?”
; “Yes,” she said, her voice so full of concern he felt his chest tighten. Because her concern wasn’t about Kylie right then—it was aimed at him. “The rest of your family.”
Chapter 7
Gage was the glue that held his family together—it was why she hated to put him in this situation. But she’d taken Jillian’s advice to heart, and didn’t want there to be any misunderstandings when it came to Kylie’s happiness.
“So you want Kylie to get to know us, but we can’t spend time with her?” Gage asked, his voice calm and terrifyingly controlled. “Explain how you expect that to work.”
“I want Kylie to spend time getting to know you,” she clarified. “Not the defender of the Eastons, or the smooth talking negotiations expert.” She waved a hand to encompass his slick tie and coat. “But the guy who wrote me that letter. The guy who’s sweet and thoughtful and I know I can count on. The guy you said you wished you’d been. That’s who Kylie deserves to have in her life, and that’s who makes me comfortable.”
“Darcy,” he said, and this time he took her hand, making her more than aware of how long it had been since she’d held a man’s hand. It felt good. Safe and warm. “I want to be that guy. For Kylie and for you. But she’s Kyle’s daughter and my family deserves to know her too.”
“Being family doesn’t give you automatic rights to someone’s world,” Darcy pointed out. “It is a position that has to be earned and respected. I’m not saying that I’m not open to eventually everyone meeting, later on down the road, but for now I want Kylie to meet the one uncle of hers that I know will keep her wellbeing at the forefront.”
Here came the part that had been stressing Darcy out. The one thing that she knew would play on all of her insecurities, the reason she’d wanted a little warning before she met with Gage. Darcy knew how deeply it hurt to be abandoned, how unsettling and scary it was to have strangers coming into your home suddenly, and she refused to let her daughter experience that kind of instability. If that made her come off as a snarling mama bear, she was okay with that.
“I think the hardest person for me to become comfortable with Kylie knowing is your mom.”
Gage let out a pent up breath. “I agree taking it slow is the best for Kylie, and my brothers would agree, but letting us all get to know her and leaving my mom out of it? That’s going to be rough, and you know it.”
“If it was just about me, I wouldn’t care. But after how your mom treated me, I can’t gauge how she’ll react to this. So, I’m not comfortable with her meeting Kylie until I know that she won’t do anything to make Kylie upset.”
He was quiet for a long moment, imploring her with his eyes to change her mind. Finally, he walked to the window to stare out at the rose garden. Even from the distance, she could feel the emotions building and turning inside him.
He wanted to say her demands were unacceptable, that he’d hurt his loved ones. He looked lost and ready to run, and she almost offered him the out. Told him that as long as he promised to keep Margo in check, she could meet Kylie. She could handle Margo’s snide remarks, as long as Kylie didn’t have to.
But she knew from experience that no one could keep Margo in check. And opening Kylie up to that kind of censure wasn’t a possibility.
Darcy stood too, going to stand beside him. They remained silent while watching Fancy prance around and entertain the Heirloom Bloomers.
“You’re asking me to tell my mom she has a grandchild, but she has to wait to meet her?” He stared blindly out the window. “She’s going to be crushed.”
Darcy’s firsthand experience with how Margo behaved when she was crushed was reason enough for her caution.
“I know how hard it will be,” she said, then waited for him to turn her way, and when he did the torn look in his eyes was enough to floor her. “But this isn’t about Margo’s timeline, or even mine. This is about Kylie, and when she’s ready to meet everyone.”
❀❀❀
Friday afternoon, Darcy lugged the picnic basket out of the truck, her body rebelling from what felt like an endless week. She’d spent the first half of it obsessing over Gage changing his mind, and when he didn’t call to cancel—or confirm—she distracted herself by eating her way through a batch of Jillian’s tester cakes. Vanilla bean cake with mango mousse frosting—the star for tonight’s scheduled cake tasting. And the reason her dress fit so tightly.
That Gage was scheduled to meet them here, at West Hills Duck Pond, only made it worse. The sun was high, there were a few scattered clouds overhead, and all of the flowers were in full bloom, making the main strip of town a shopper’s utopia.
She had been stubborn the other day, offering her demands and leaving no wiggle room. But she knew better than to cut an Easton any slack. You give an inch and they walk away with everything you hold dear.
“Did you remember to bring the duckies’ bread?” Kylie asked.
“It’s in the picnic basket.” Darcy unstrapped Kylie from the back seat. “Did you remember your windbreaker in case it starts sprinkling?”
“Ah huh. I brought a pillow too,” she said, clutching a small blue and white polka dotted beanbag from one of her tossing games. “For his doggie.”
Darcy took a deep breath and cupped her daughter’s cheek. They’d been over this a dozen times already that morning. “I don’t know if Gage is bringing the dog.” She wasn’t even sure he’d show at this point. “But no matter what, you and I are going to have a great time. We’ll picnic, play on the swings, and feed the ducks.”
“Don’t worry, Mommy, today will be perfect, just like you said.” Kylie patted Darcy’s hand in a maternal way that made Darcy wonder just how transparent her emotions were if a four-year-old could detect them. “See, Mister’s already here.”
Darcy’s stomach fluttered over the awareness of his presence—and that worried her.
This is a mistake, she told herself. The wedding, today, the whole thing was a recipe for heartbreak. Yet, she couldn’t imagine turning back.
She peeked over the hood of her car and suddenly her nerves quelled. The fear faded, and her world spun back to safe. Because under an oak tree, sitting on a park bench, looking calm and confident—like the safe harbor she’d been searching for—was Gage.
Today, the slick sales guy had traded in the slacks for a pair of worn blue jeans, a rock band tee, and a day’s worth of scruff. He looked warm and approachable, and like he’d really listened to her concerns and, most importantly, taken them to heart.
But what had her releasing a warm sigh was a ball cap. A simple, faded ball cap that was pulled low, the bill curved like he’d been worrying it with his palm. Darcy had given it to him on his birthday, years ago.
He hadn’t tossed it or burned it. He’d kept it, and that had to mean something. Something that gave her hope she’d made the right decision, and today would indeed be perfect.
“That he is,” Darcy said with a smile, helping Kylie out of the car. She took her hands as they crossed the street.
“Do you think he knows how to twirl?” Kylie whispered, her voice animated with excitement. “‘Cuz I brought my veil, just in case he wants to learn. Sometimes a twirl comes in handy.”
Darcy bit back a smile. “That was smart of you. You never know when you’ll need a veil.”
Kylie stepped up on the curb and then paused to look back wistfully at the car. “I should have brought my tutu.”
Darcy wasn’t the only one struggling with nerves. Ever since she’d explained that Gage was her uncle, Kylie had been looking through her Daddy Photo Album, and asking all kinds of questions. Where Gage lived, how old his dog was, if he was free for Christmas dinner, and if he liked cake as much as they did.
With Darcy’s dad unknown, and her mom passing before Kylie was born, her daughter had never met any relatives. Which wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, because it also meant that Kylie didn’t know deep disappointment.
Darcy had made a wonderful group of friends, who’d rallied around the
m, but at holiday time it was always just Kylie and Darcy. Which had been enough for Darcy, but it was clear that Kylie was ready to expand their circle.
“Maybe next time,” Darcy said optimistically, hoping for Kylie’s sake there would be a next time.
“He brought the dog,” Kylie squealed, dropping Darcy’s hand so she could wave the beanbag excitedly at the white ball of excitement. Fancy took one look at the “pillow” and went bridezilla, barking and tugging at his leash to get free—and get the pillow.
“He likes it! He likes it!” Kylie tugged on Darcy’s dress, which was cute enough for this monumental day, but not so dressy that it gave off a business vibe. This afternoon was about Kylie, about making friendships, not the wedding.
In fact, Darcy had told Gage to have Stephanie or Rhett contact her about the wedding. It was her way of keeping things simple. Making sure one relationship didn’t interfere with the forward momentum of the other. Now that she’d decided to let Kylie and Gage meet, Darcy was committed to making this work. And introducing the elevated emotions of a wedding into an already fragile situation wasn’t a smart move.
Darcy was determined to be smart about this, so she’d broken up the day. A quiet afternoon at the park with Gage and Kylie, then a late cake tasting with the couple of the hour back at Belle Mont House.
“I see that,” Darcy said. “Why don’t you run over and say hi. His name is Fancy.”
“Fancy!” Kylie’s feet picked up pace the second they hit the grass. She didn’t slow down until she was sitting on the bench with the dog in her lap. “Mommy said you might bring Fancy, so I brought this to play fetch. Does he play fetch? Because our old neighbor Ms. Kent had a dog and he didn’t like to play, but he was okay with pets. Does Fancy like pets?” Kylie said in one long breath with no pauses, her voice elevating with each word.
Gage sat speechless, taking in hurricane Kylie, with a look of complete shock. Maybe awe was a better word, because beneath the amazement was so much adoration Darcy could feel it. He was taking an inventory, putting every single feature and moment to memory, storing it for a rainy day.