by Marie Force
Bending at the waist, hands to knees, Max closed his eyes as he tried to breathe through the panic. He was twenty-two years old and in no way ready for any of this himself, but what choice did he have when a beautiful, helpless baby boy was relying on him for everything?
Caden . . . He needed to see his son. Standing upright, he walked through the kitchen and dining room, to the great room where the wedding reception had carried on, the guests none the wiser to the fact that his life had just been permanently altered in the scope of a few minutes. His cousin Ally was holding Caden when Max approached them.
“May I?” he asked, holding out his hands for the baby.
“Awww, Daddy ruins all our fun.” Ally kissed the baby’s forehead before she handed him off to Max.
“Thanks.” He took the baby and left the room, heading for the stairs to the room he still used whenever he was in Butler, which was going to be all the time now, he supposed. Other than his mother’s sewing machine on the desk that used to be his and the bassinet by the bed, not much had changed in this room since he moved to Burlington for college.
Sitting on the bed and holding the sleeping baby tight against him, he rocked him back and forth. “I’ll take care of you. I’ll always be there for you. I promise.” Tears burned his eyes and slid down his cheeks. He buried his face in the baby’s soft blanket.
After knocking on the door, his parents entered the room. They closed the door behind them and came to the bed to sit on either side of him, putting their arms around him and Caden and making Max feel less alone.
“We’re right here with you, son,” Linc said gruffly. “We’ll do this together.”
Max wiped his face with the sleeve of his suit coat, embarrassed by the tears. “You guys have already raised ten kids.”
“So what’s one more?” Molly asked with a cheerful smile. “We love him, we love you and we’ll figure it out together one day at a time.”
The tears continued to come faster than Max could wipe them away. “I’m so sorry to do this to you.”
“You have no reason to apologize to us,” Linc said. “It’s been a little too quiet for our liking around here anyway. You two will stay here with us until you figure out what you want to do, and we’ll help you. We’ll all help you, Max.”
“Despite how it seems right now, it’s going to be okay.” Molly wiped away some of his tears. “If Chloe’s heart wasn’t in it, she did you and Caden a favor by bowing out now rather than waiting until he was old enough to know her. That would’ve been much worse.”
Leave it to his mother to find the bright side in an otherwise dismal situation. “Thank you,” he whispered. “Thank you both so much. I’ve always known how lucky I was to be part of this family, but after the way Chloe’s family abandoned her, I’m even more aware of how fortunate I am.”
“We’re the lucky ones to have such a wonderful son and grandson to love,” Linc said.
“You guys should go back to the wedding,” Max said. “It’s Hunter’s big night, and you should be with him. I’m going to stay here with Caden for a little while longer.”
“You come down whenever you’re ready,” Molly said, kissing his cheek as she got up.
Lincoln squeezed his shoulder and then followed his wife from the room.
Long after they were gone, Max gazed down at his son, vowing to be the kind of parent to him that he’d been lucky enough to have. Nothing less would do for his son.
“What’s going on?” Charley asked her parents when they came downstairs after following Max up there earlier. Several of her other siblings stood with her, equally curious about what had happened.
“Chloe came to see Max and signed over full custody to him,” Molly said. “She brought the baby’s things.”
“So this is like permanent?” Ella asked, sounding as shocked as Charley felt.
“Yes.”
“Holy shit,” Wade muttered. “Is he okay?”
“He will be,” Molly said, “but needless to say he’s a bit shocked and overwhelmed.”
“We’ll all help,” Ella said. “Of course we will.”
“And I told him that,” Molly said, “but I’m sure it would mean a lot for him to hear it from you guys, too.”
“We’ll tell him,” Charley said as the others nodded in agreement.
“What we all need to do now is get back to this joyous celebration,” Molly said, forcing a smile, “because, as Max said, it’s Hunter’s big night.”
Charley took a look around the big room for Hunter, who was blissfully oblivious to the drama playing out behind the scenes as he and Megan visited with friends and drank champagne.
Tyler approached carrying two glasses of champagne. He handed one to her and drew her away from the others. “Everything okay?”
“Um, well, Caden’s mother showed up and signed over full custody to Max, and I guess he’s kind of freaking out.”
“This just happened?”
“Uh-huh. She came here and brought the baby’s stuff.” Charley’s stomach ached when she thought of the challenge her brother now faced in raising his son alone—or as alone as anyone ever was in the big Abbott family.
“God, Max has got to be reeling.”
“I think he is, but we’ll support him. We’ll help. It’ll be okay.”
Tyler put his arm around her and kissed the top of her head. “Still, it’s rather upsetting, to say the least.”
“Yeah. I mean who does that to their own kid?”
“Let’s dance.” He took their glasses, put them on a nearby table and led her to the area that had been designated for dancing, sweeping her into his arms and making her forget all about the anxiety she felt on her brother’s behalf. When he held her this way, she could only think of him.
Grayson poured three fingers of his uncle’s best scotch and took a seat in the corner, away from the wedding fray. The first sip traveled through him like liquid fire, heating him from the inside and giving him something to think about other than the rage that Chloe’s decision had resurrected in him.
It had been twenty long years since his father walked away from his wife and children, leaving Grayson and his mom to pick up the pieces for the others. Until then, he’d loved being the oldest in his family and had wallowed in the privileges that went along with being the eldest. Until he became the man of the family almost overnight, responsible for his distraught mother and seven younger siblings who were looking to him to make sense of something that still didn’t make sense all these years later.
Here he was now, a man of thirty-six, an accomplished lawyer, and the scene in his aunt Molly’s kitchen had taken him back to the long ago night that marked the official end of his childhood. He could still remember the panic, the despair, the fear, the rage . . . all of it congealing into a hot knot of anxiety in his gut that he’d carried with him for years afterward.
How anyone could walk away from their own kid, let alone eight of them, was beyond him. He actively hated Chloe, a woman he barely knew, for what she’d done to her son tonight. For someday, in the not-too-distant future, Caden would find out that his mother had rejected him, and he’d never be the same.
Grayson had never been the same. He took another deep sip of the scotch, letting the searing heat soothe him.
“What’s that stuff?” a little voice next to him asked.
He looked over at the girl with the red curls who’d sat next to him in his quiet corner that wasn’t so quiet anymore. “It’s scotch. You ever had it?”
She wrinkled her adorable nose. “Of course not. I’m a kid. Kids don’t drink scotch. My grandpa likes it, though, so that’s how I know what it is.”
“What do you drink?”
“I like apple juice, but Mommy says it has too much sugar, so it’s a special treat.”
“Your mommy is very wise.”
“She’s very pretty, too.” Pointing, the girl said, “That’s her right there.”
He followed her finger to the blonde he’
d met the night before, and had to agree that Lucy’s sister, Emma, was indeed gorgeous. Her daughter took after her aunt Lucy with her red hair and pale white skin, whereas her mom was a willowy blonde with big blue eyes.
“Do you have a girlfriend?”
“Who wants to know?” he asked, amused by the girl’s blatant matchmaking.
“I do.”
“And what’s your name?”
“Simone.”
“That’s a pretty name. Do you have a boyfriend?”
“No! I’m nine. Nine-year-olds don’t have boyfriends. You’re like Colton. He knows nothing about kids.”
Grayson knew more about kids than any childless man his age, but he didn’t share that information with the girl. “What kind of stuff should I know?”
“Well, you should know that nine-year-old girls don’t drink scotch and have boyfriends.”
“I guess you don’t smoke then either, do you?”
She lost it laughing, and he lost a tiny piece of his heart to her. What a cutie. “No! I don’t smoke. Smoking is gross and it kills you.”
“That’s exactly right. Stay away from that stuff.”
“What do you want for Christmas this year?” she asked.
God, what a sweet question, and what did he want anyway? How about some peace and a whole new life? That’d be a great place to start. “I want a pair of socks. What about you?”
“Socks? Who wants socks for Christmas?”
“I do, and it’s my Christmas list, so you don’t get to make fun of it.”
“That’s true. Sorry.”
He nudged her with his elbow. “I was only kidding. You can make fun of me. Socks are a dumb thing to want for Christmas. What’s on your list?”
“I asked for a new American Girl doll, but they’re kind of expensive. Not sure that’ll happen. But it’s okay if it doesn’t. I always get lots of cool stuff.”
“I’m sure you’re spoiled rotten.”
“Not really. It’s just me and Mommy, so we have to watch our pennies. That’s what she says anyway.”
Grayson wanted to buy her the doll and any other damned thing she wanted to make up for the fact that her father wasn’t in her life. He was drawn out of that thought by the arrival of Emma, who’d come to claim her daughter.
“Are you bothering Grayson?” Emma asked.
“Your name is Grayson?” Simone asked, giggling. “What kind of name is that?”
“Simone!”
“It’s a smart, distinguished name, I’ll have you know.”
Simone covered her mouth, as if that could contain her laughter, and he was utterly beguiled by the glee in her mischievous eyes.
“I’m sorry about her,” Emma said. “The charm school wouldn’t have her, so I’m doing the best I can on my own.”
“I’d say you’re doing a pretty great job,” Gray said, looking up at her. She had a body that wouldn’t quit and absolutely stunning blue eyes.
“You should ask my mom to dance,” Simone said. “She loves to dance, and she doesn’t get to very often ’cuz of me.”
“Simone, honestly.”
For Gray, however, the thought of dancing with Simone’s sexy, embarrassed mother was far better than sitting in the corner drinking scotch alone while old memories resurfaced to prove they could still hurt him all these years later. “That’s about the best idea anyone’s had all day,” Gray said.
Simone’s expressive eyes widened with joyful pleasure. “Really?”
Gray stood and extended his hand to Emma, who blushed madly. “Really.”
“Oh, um, you don’t have to,” Emma said haltingly.
“I’d love to. Shall we?”
As she looked up at him and took hold of his hand, Grayson felt like he’d been struck by lightning or gut-punched or something equally unpleasant, except there was nothing at all unpleasant about it. In fact, it was the best feeling he’d had in longer than he could remember.
CHAPTER 23
“Let’s get out of here,” Hunter whispered to Megan after they’d eaten and cut their cake and she’d tossed her bouquet right into Lucy’s outstretched hands.
“We can’t go yet,” Megan said. “Everyone is here for us.”
“They expect us to go as soon as we possibly can. Let’s get this honeymoon started.”
“Our honeymoon doesn’t start for six days yet.” They were leaving the day after Christmas for Bermuda.
“Baby, our honeymoon starts right now. I want to be alone with my wife.”
“Your wife,” she said with a sigh. “I do like the sound of that.”
“I love the sound of it, and that other sound you make, you know the one when you—”
She squished his lips with her fingers. “Stop it.”
“Take me home where I can talk dirty to you all I want.”
“If you’re going to be that way about it.”
“I’m going to be that way. I absolutely am.”
“What’ve I gotten myself into here?”
He smiled and waggled his brows at her. “You know exactly what you’ve gotten yourself into.”
“The best thing ever.”
“Glad you think so. Now take me home and make a decent husband out of me.”
“If you insist.”
“I do. I insist, and I’m the husband.”
The withering look she gave him only made him laugh. Nothing could get him down on the best night of his life. Their simple wedding at his parents’ home had been everything they’d hoped it would be, and now he was ready to get on with the rest of their lives together, beginning with the all-important wedding night.
Hand in hand, they went around the room to say their good-byes and took the expected ribbing about leaving early from his siblings, cousins and friends. Whatever. Let them have their laughs. He got to sleep with the exquisite Megan Abbott every night for the rest of his life. The last laugh was all his.
He’d never in his life seen anything more perfect than she’d looked tonight, glowing with happiness and smiling nonstop. Hunter loved her like that, free from the sorrow of the past and looking forward to the future with him. And he planned to make sure that she never again had reason to be sad about anything if he had anything to say about it.
His mother hugged and kissed him. “So proud of you tonight, my love,” she said. “Such a handsome groom and what a stunning bride.”
“Couldn’t agree more about the bride.”
“Love you, son,” Lincoln said when he hugged him. “And we love you, too, Megan. Happy to have you in the family.”
“Thank you both so much for letting us do it here, especially this week when there’s so much else going on,” Megan said. “But I pictured it here, and it was exactly what I wanted.”
“We loved doing it,” Molly said. “Our home is your home.”
Megan hugged them both. “It’s so nice to have parents again. I’d forgotten how lovely it is.”
She reduced his parents to tears with her sweetness.
“You okay to drive, son?” Linc asked, brushing at his eyes.
“I’m fine. I quit drinking hours ago.” To Megan he said, “Ready, sweetheart?”
“Ready.” They put on coats and hustled into the cold winter night to discover his brothers had decorated his Lincoln Navigator with strings of cans and had written Just Married in foam on the back window. Good thing they didn’t get any of the foam on the paint or he’d have to kill them.
Megan laughed at the spectacle they’d made of his vehicle.
“It’s not funny,” Hunter said, though he was deeply amused. He expected nothing less from his moronic brothers, especially Lucas and Landon, who were no doubt the ringleaders.
“Yes, it is.”
He held the door for her and helped her—and her dress—into the car before seat-belting her in and stealing a kiss. Lingering was not an option, however, because it was freezing and he didn’t want her to get cold. So he put his desire for his new wife on ice for the m
oment.
Megan giggled uncontrollably at the racket they made as they drove through the sleepy town of Butler on the way home. He’d wanted to take her somewhere special for their wedding night, but she’d said their home was special to her and that was where she wanted to go.
He loved that she was easy to please, and the happy sound of her laughter was a huge turn-on for him. When he thought about the edgy, distrustful woman she’d once been, it was hard to reconcile that woman with the joyful person he’d married tonight. She’d changed a lot in the time they’d been together, had rediscovered her joy and her ability to laugh, both of which had been stolen by the deaths of her parents her senior year of high school.
Hunter had changed, too. She’d lightened him up and shown him what really mattered in life. Though he’d been crazy about her for a long time before they ever went out, he’d discovered the reality of her was even better than he’d expected. He took hold of her hand and held it tightly as he drove them home.
“The neighbors are going to think they’re being attacked when we drive up,” he said.
She laughed again, harder than ever.
“I’m going to kill those stupid idiots,” Hunter muttered. “I should’ve done it years ago when I had the chance.”
“You love those idiots.”
“Not right now, I don’t.”
“Yes, you do.”
Hunter squeezed her hand and let her win this round, because she was right. He loved all his siblings—even Lucas and Landon when they were being idiots. They arrived at home and he killed the engine, thankful to quiet the clattering racket behind the car before it woke the whole neighborhood.
“Hi, honey, we’re home,” he said.
“I think everyone in a one-mile radius got the memo that we’re home,” she said with more helpless laughter.
Maybe his brothers weren’t total idiots if their hijinks had given Megan such a good laugh. “Stay there. I’m coming around for you.” Hunter jogged around the front of the car, watching out for black ice as he went. Ice and dress shoes did not make for a good match.
Megan had removed her seatbelt and was waiting for him.