Coming Home (Copper Creek Book 1)

by Wendy Smith

  “Are you sure I can’t distract you for a little while before Max comes home? I’ll finish the garden.”

  There’s a moment when I want to push him away, make him wait until I’m finished. I can’t neglect real life for this fairy tale he’s offering. But then again, he’s been trying so hard to help.

  “Fine. For just a little while.” His lips trail down my neck and I lose all concentration. “I think I should warn you of something,” I whisper.

  “What is it?” He’s pressed against my body, and I know how much he wants me.

  “I’m not a fan of carrots.” Laughing, I give him a little push, separating myself from him and running back toward the house.

  If I could just stop worrying for just a little while, life would be perfect.

  “Adam?”

  “Hmmm?”

  We’ve been lying in the afterglow for I don’t know how long. Now, I know it’s time to get back to reality. “Your parents don’t want us to be together. How are you going to deal with that?”

  He shrugs. “I’m a grown-up. I’ve lived my life away from them for twelve years. I don’t need their approval. You and Max are family enough for me. We’ll work out what we’re going to do with our future together.”

  “Is that what you really want?” I tilt my head to get a better look at him.

  “I want us. It’s what I’ve always wanted. Mum stood in our way for so long, and I don’t care anymore. Not when she withheld so much that I would have wanted to know. If I’d had any inkling of what you’d gone through, I would have been by your side in an instant.”

  Stroking his bicep, I run my finger down his bare arms. When he grasps my arm in return, his touch is gentle, loving—everything I missed. I’ll never get enough of this.

  Even the small amount of time we’ve had together has changed my life. I’m no longer as stressed and tired. Having Adam’s support has given me time to take a breath while someone else takes the reins. Someone I can trust.

  “I love you more than anything, Lily. I can’t even begin to tell you how much my heart missed you.”

  There are tears in my eyes as I meet his gaze, and I run my thumb down his cheek. “I think I know,” I whisper. “It’s like the other half of my heart is home.”

  He curls around me as we snuggle under the sheets. I feel safe, protected from all the bad things in the world.

  I need to get back to planting, but I treasure these moments we have. They’ve been a long time coming.

  He’s what I’ve always needed.

  27

  Adam

  Some nights Lily has dreams—dreams that leave her struggling to breathe, dreams that leave her clutching the sheets and crying out.

  It breaks my heart. I’ve had times in my life when I’ve felt helpless, unable to stop what’s happening before me. Those situations happen all the time in a war zone. None of it compares to this.

  I think of that day—the day I went to her house looking for her. I can’t help but feel I didn’t try hard enough, that I needed to look harder. She was right under my nose the whole time, and if I’d found her then the months of being under her mother’s control wouldn’t have needed to happen. Guilt sits as a weight on my chest that just won’t go away.

  Meanwhile, Lily is everything. She’s my morning, she’s my night, and she’s every single moment in between.

  It’s clear that she’s struggling with my arrival. We both want this to work so much, but she’s so used to doing everything alone and it causes unnecessary tension between us. We’ll get there.

  We lost each other once. It won’t happen again.

  I head over to Mum and Dad’s. I lost it last time and left, but Mum still needs to explain to me why she did what she did. She owes me that much. She owes Lily and Max so much more.

  To my surprise, the rest of my brothers are there, all four of them.

  “Adam.” Drew stands from his seat on the deck and walks toward me. We shake hands before I pull him into my arms and embrace him.

  “It’s good to see you. Were you planning to drop in on me and Lily?”

  He nods. “On the way back tomorrow. I’m here overnight.”

  “What are you all doing here?”

  Drew speaks up first. “We all came over for lunch to try and talk out what happened to you. I think I speak for all of us when I say we’re pissed. Corey tried to speak with Mum about it, but she’s not saying a word.”

  “She will when I speak to her.”

  “Dude, she’s not well,” Drew says.

  I look my brother in the eyes. I know she’s ill, it’s why I came home, but before anything further happens I need to know the truth. “I need her to talk to me, to explain why.”

  He nods. “I can’t pretend to understand. I’m sorry we didn’t do better. We should have chased you down regardless.”

  I know he’s genuine, that they all feel that way. They’re as torn about it as I am. “Well, I’m going in to talk to her.”

  “Beer’s here when you’re finished.” He grins. “We have lots to catch up on.”

  “We do.”

  I push open the door and step into the kitchen. There’s no sign of Mum or Dad, but the TV’s on in the living room.

  She sits on the couch, watching Family Feud and drinking a cup of coffee.

  “Mum.”

  She looks up. Her skin is pale, and I’m not sure if it’s at the thought of facing me or if she’s just having a bad day.

  “Do you want a coffee?” she asks, standing.

  “I’m just here for some answers.”

  She swallows. It’s now I see how much she’s aged. I hadn’t noticed it that much at first, but her hair, slightly silvery when I left, is now almost completely that colour.

  “You kept everything from me. What happened to Lily. That I had a son. I’m your son, Mum. What about me?”

  Her nose twitches, but her expression remains calm. “I was protecting you. You had a new life, and you didn’t need to be dragged down by being a young father.”

  “Shouldn’t I have made that decision? What did you ever do to help her? Max is your grandson.”

  “I know,” she snaps, and for the first time I see tears in her eyes. “Who do you think told Ada Murphy where to find her?”

  I catch a breath and stare. She set this whole thing up? Then told me all about how Lily had moved in with Eric?

  “She understood, and she always had a soft spot for the girl.” Mum sits down, folding her shaking hands in her lap. “I saw that baby, Adam. All tubes and wires. I didn’t know if he’d survive, and I didn’t want to put you through finding out only to lose him.”

  I run my fingers through my hair. “You still should have told me. If he’d died, I’d have never been able to hold my own son, my flesh and blood.”

  She stares at me, tears rolling down her cheeks. All this time she’s acted as if she didn’t have a heart. “Lily couldn’t be a part of this family. You two would have ended up back here while you worked out your life, and I didn’t want her in my house.”

  Anger takes hold of me, and I shake as I narrow my eyes. “I asked you this before, Mum—what did Lily ever do to you?”

  “Nothing. It was her mother,” she yells, and I take a step back. “Her mother nearly broke this family apart, and I did not want a repeat of that with her daughter.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  She closes her eyes. “We came here because Corey was acting up, and because we were in trouble. Your father and I had been through some rough stuff, and I thought this place would be better for all of us. I made him apply for the transfer.” Opening her eyes again, she reaches out and touches my arm. It tears me up as I’m so angry and yet I can see how hard this is for her to talk about. “When we got here, your father had an affair with Lily’s mother. When you took up with Lily, it broke my heart. I couldn’t lose both of you to her.”

  My mind reels at the revelation. How on earth was this possible? We never
got a whiff of anything being wrong between Mum and Dad.

  “Mum, I love Lily. I’m sorry for what Dad did, but she did nothing, and she’s the one who’s suffered for it.”

  “I know.” She looks down.

  “I don’t know what hurts more—the fact that you kept this from me, or that you deliberately let Lily and Max struggle. Don’t you see? Even if Max had died as a baby, Lily would have had me, and we would have had a chance. You left us with no hope.”

  She swallows. “I had to protect my family.”

  “You sacrificed my family to save yours.”

  I leave her there. She’s crying, but I can’t comfort her. I’m so angry I can’t stay—I’ll just end up saying more things that maybe I’ll regret one day.

  But there’s one thing I’ll never regret.

  Coming home.

  I might have my answers from Mum, but there’s one more thing I need to do before I leave.

  Drew greets me with a beer when I come out.

  “What happened? That was quick,” Corey says.

  “I need to process it.” I crack open the beer and smile. “Did you guys want to come over for dinner? Lily’s cooking one of Corey’s pork roasts.”

  “That’s a great idea,” Owen says. “I was about to leave anyway. We’ve just had lunch.”

  I pinch my forehead. “So they invited all of you over, but not Lily, Max, and I?”

  Owen looks at his feet. Corey just rolls his eyes. “I thought this would be the last place you’d want to be. Especially with Lily and Max.”

  I shrug. “I thought maybe now it’s all out in the open, they might make an effort. Then again, after the conversation I just had with Mum …”

  “How did that go?” James asks.

  “Like I said, I need to process it. I’ll tell you later.” I let out a breath. There’s so much I need to think about from the conversation I just had with Mum before I can tell anyone else. “I do have one more mystery to solve. Which one of you has been dropping off supplies at Lily’s place?”

  The brothers exchange glances.

  Owen shrugs. “I drop off bread and cookies from time to time.”

  I shake my head. “No. Clothes for Max. Lily says she gets up some mornings and finds boxes on the doorstep.”

  “No idea, little brother,” Corey speaks up. “I’ve dropped meat off for her before when I’ve been hunting, as you know. I’m pretty sure she knows about anything we’ve delivered. Maybe she has a secret admirer?”

  “Or Max has a grandfather who couldn’t be part of his life, but didn’t want him to go without.” From behind me, the soft voice of Dad comes, and I turn to face him.

  “You?”

  “I made sure Lily didn’t have to spend money buying him new clothes. It wasn’t always easy to get to the city to find things, but when we made the odd trip I’d leave your mother shopping and sneak pieces of clothing into the car. Max’s mother had other things to worry about.”

  I look around. “Why don’t any of you ever stand up to her?”

  “She’s dying, Adam. Has been for some time. She hasn’t been easy to live with for so long, and once we knew about her health issues, it made it that much harder. How could I upset her?” Dad says.

  “We all had Lily’s back,” Drew says.

  “That’s not the point. Why did none of you try to contact me?” Every single face is guilty, Owen avoiding my eyes completely. It is such a simple question with a simple answer.

  “Mum said she did. That you’d moved on and weren’t interested in coming home.” Corey gulps. “We decided that if you weren’t prepared to take care of Lily, we would help where we could. We’re her family.”

  If my heart had been broken before, it shatters now. That my mother had been the source of all of this, had kept me from knowing about Lily and Max, had turned her back on them …

  “You’re the worst.” I shift my focus back to Dad “I’m your son. Did you know she lied about me knowing?”

  Dad drops his gaze. “You were young and impulsive. I thought …”

  “You didn’t even know me,” I growl. “How could you if you thought I’d stay away from my family for a second?”

  “Adam—”

  “Screw you, Dad. I know why she rejected Lily now. You always fall into line with her, even when she’s wrong. Grow some balls.”

  I turn and walk toward the gate.

  “Where are you going?” Corey asked.

  “Where else? Home. You guys coming?”

  Home is anywhere Lily and Max are waiting.

  28

  Lily

  I check the oven again, breathing in the smell of roasting meat. Wild pork has such a strong taste, and it’s a rare treat. Even Max enjoys it, and he drives me nuts he’s so particular when it comes to food. I’ve never had all the Campbell brothers over for dinner at once, but then life has been filled with a lot of new things lately.

  I’ve got Adam back, and he loves me just as much as he did all those years ago. He’s squashed my fears of being abandoned again, but him returning to the army still haunts my thoughts.

  “When’s dinner?” Max mopes around the house, waiting for his father to come home. He only called me five minutes ago to tell me we were going to have a full house.

  “I just have to put the potatoes in and sort out the vegetables.”

  He frowns. “I don’t want vegetables.”

  “Not even carrots?” They’re his favourite, closely followed by peas, despite his protest.

  Max rolls his eyes. “Carrots are okay.”

  “Good.”

  “Where’s Dad?” He’s asked that question a million times since Adam left for his parents’ place.

  “He’s gone to see his mum and dad.”

  Max looks up at me from under his fringe. He needs a haircut, but that’ll be a drama in itself. Maybe Adam can get him to sit still long enough to get it done. “Is that Grandma and Grandad?”

  The question breaks my heart. While Adam’s dad is pretty harmless, his mother is a cranky old bitch.

  Now I know the years apart were unnecessary. Nothing can make up for the heartache and tears I dealt with on top of what happened with Mum and then Max. I don’t even know if I would accept an apology from Adam’s mother.

  Now Max has Adam in his life, I guess he should know he has grandparents. “I guess so, honey.”

  “That’ll be why Grandad dropped off the boxes in the mornings.”

  I study him closer as he returns to his book. The boxes of clothes? “What do you mean?”

  “I saw him a couple of times. He was here really early. I thought it was zombies at first.”

  “You didn’t open the door.”

  He grins. “I did once. He said ‘Max, I am your grandfather.’”

  It’s my turn to roll my eyes. “Are you sure that wasn’t you watching Star Wars?”

  Max shrugs. “It was still him.”

  Could that be true? All the while Adam’s mother was cutting ties, pushing me away, her own husband had been working to help support their grandson. Sometimes I’d wished the packages had contained money—that would have really helped. But in the absence of that, I’ve not had to buy new clothes for Max since he was little. Something always appears.

  “Are you sure?”

  “I’m never wrong, Mum.”

  I smirk at my son’s confidence. He’s rarely wrong, he doesn’t speak up until he’s sure. If what he said is true, we’ve received more support from the Campbell family than I ever realised.

  Part of me wonders what Adam will think about that.

  I hear them all before I see them—the rolling laughter, Corey’s booming voice. Max’s head shoots up, and he races from the table to the door.

  “Dad,” he shrieks.

  Adam crosses the room, Max hanging off his arm, and pecks me on the lips. The others might be having fun, but I can tell from his eyes that he’s troubled.

  “Are you okay?”

  He nods
. “We’ll talk later. Right now, I want to spend time with my two favourite people in the world. And these other hobos I brought home for dinner. Need any help?”

  I shake my head. “Nope. Everything’s under control. I don’t know if I have enough drinks …”

  “We stopped and got some beer.” Corey opens the fridge and starts piling the bottles in.

  “Just as well the living room is a decent size. Plenty of floor to sleep on,” I tease.

  “I wouldn’t sleep on that floor. Never know what’s on it.” Corey winks.

  Drew makes a beeline for me as soon as Adam sits down. Wrapping his arms around me, he squeezes my arse and buries his nose in my neck. “How’s it going, Lily-bell?”

  Adam’s growl can probably be heard from the city, and I chuckle as Drew gives me another squeeze.

  “You took way too long to come back. I tried to talk her into hooking up with me, but for some reason she wasn’t keen on marrying a doctor.” Drew beams.

  I shove his shoulder as he lets go and heads toward the table, sitting next to Adam.

  Adam looks between us, an expression that’s way too serious for this situation all over his face. “Really?”

  “No, he’s talking crap.” I laugh.

  “I always knew my love would never be requited.”

  Rolling my eyes, I take a step and hook my arms around Adam’s neck. “Meet your brother, the big tease.”

  Drew pokes Adam’s shoulder. “It’s okay. I always knew Lily-bell only had eyes for you.”

  Adam meets my gaze, and I smile back, my heart filled with so much love for all of them. In my lonely years, they’d become my brothers. He slips his arms around my waist and leans his head on my chest. Closing my eyes, I stroke his hair. I don’t know what happened with his mother, but whatever it is, it isn’t good. His disappointment seeps from his every pore.

  “I’ll turn the potatoes over,” Owen says, and instead of insisting I’ll do it, as I’m apt to do, I just hold Adam. When I open my eyes, Drew gives me a little smile.

  “It’ll be okay,” he mouths. I nod, and bend to kiss the top of Adam’s head. It’s been a rough day for him.