“Sorry,” Angel whispered. “I didn’t mean to wake you. I just couldn’t resist snapping a photo of the three of you.”
I blinked through the darkness to find Angel. “What time is it?” I asked with a croaky voice. My back ached, and my neck was stiff, so I guessed I must’ve fallen asleep a few hours earlier.
“It’s a little after three. I got up to get a drink and saw you asleep on the sofa. I came around and saw that”—she nodded toward the girls on my lap—“and knew I needed to get a photo.”
I dropped my gaze to my lap, where the girls had shifted until they were cuddlin’ together, across my lap. Their hands were linked, and they were facin’ each other.
“Did ya get a good one?” I asked.
“I think so.” She raised her camera, and the flash went off. “If not, I should have one now.”
“D’ya think ya can help me get ’em into bed?” My arms and legs were numb from havin’ the girls lyin’ on them.
“Sure thing.” She dipped down to run her hand under Emma’s back.
As soon as Emma was in Angel’s arms, Abby stirred, and her mouth twitched as her breath hitched. Abby opened her eyes, and a cry found its way to her lips.
“Shh, li’l darlin’. You’ll be in bed soon.” I lifted her into my hold.
I followed Angel into the nursery. She placed Emma into the crib and moved aside so that I could put Abby in as well. Once I’d popped Abby beside Emma, they both reached for each other, linkin’ their hands before settlin’ themselves again.
“Are ya feelin’ okay, sweetness?” I asked Angel when I caught her starin’ at me.
“How long is Cass coming here for?”
“I don’t know. She just said she was comin’ ’cause she needed help.”
Angel focused on the girls, twistin’ her body away from me. “What sort of help?”
“Your guess is as good as mine.”
She walked to the door before turnin’ back to me. “Why didn’t you tell me she was coming?”
“Declan and I got talkin’, and it slipped my mind.”
“Did you want me to give you two some privacy while she’s here? I’m sure there’s a friend I can stay with until she’s gone.”
“What? No. I don’t wanna kick ya outta your room, and Cass wouldn’t want that neither.”
She chewed on her bottom lip and narrowed her eyes at me.
“She’s comin’ over here because I’m the one who can help her. I know ya ain’t had much time to get to get to know her well, but she’s a real sweetheart.”
“Well, I’m mighty glad ’bout that,” she snapped before walkin’ off.
As she charged away, I chased after her. “Sweetness, what’s wrong?”
She entered her room and pulled the door closed behind her.
I knocked on the door. “Angel?”
When there was no answer, I debated just openin’ the door anyway, but I couldn’t intrude on her privacy that way. Not after everythin’, I’d been through with Phoebe.
I’d have to leave it be and talk to Angel in the mornin’.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: GOTTA HAVE HOPE
THE NEXT MORNIN’, Angel was already gone when I woke up. There was a note on the kitchen counter lettin’ me know she’d gone out and didn’t know if she’d be home in time for me to go to the airport. It was the first time she’d let me down, and the thought made my stomach sink. Somethin’ had happened, but I had no idea what.
To try to find out, I called her cell phone but got no answer. I left a message for her to call me.
By the time I’d given the girls their lunch, Angel still hadn’t returned. I rang her again and again got no answer.
When the time that I had to leave to collect Cass from the airport came, I had li’l choice but to pack the girls up and take them with me.
I tried callin’ Angel again from the road. When it went to her voicemail again, my worry bubbled over. “Angel, sweetness, please call me as soon as you get this. Please? I just wanna know that you’re all right.”
My stomach twisted as visions of Phoebe’s disappearance raced through me. Tremors overtook my hands as I tried to focus on the road. I reminded myself that everyone who hurt Phoebe was gone.
Except one.
Jase.
It’d been more than four years since his attempt to blackmail Phoebe. After our weddin’, he’d been convicted of a number of offenses and locked up, but I hadn’t followed his history after that. Now with Angel missin’, all I could hear was Phoebe’s panic that Jase was gonna come after Angel.
I called her again.
This time, she answered. At least, I assumed it was her when I heard a slurred hello, a thump, and a giggle.
“Angel?”
“Hey, cowboy!” She dragged the first word out so that it took three times longer to say than necessary.
“Where are ya?”
“Umm. I’m not sure. In the city maybe.”
“How can you not know where ya are?”
She giggled again, and in the background, there was a number of voices—both male and female. “I went out with a friend from school. Then I don’t know. We went back to his place for a while, then we got in a car, and now we’re here.”
“Can ya find out where ya are? I’ll come and pick you up.”
“You can’t pick me up, Beau. I know you don’t really want to.”
I frowned that she could think that. “Of course I wanna, sweetness. I care about ya.”
“Really?”
“Course. You’re my best friend.”
She groaned. “Yeah, of course. Anyway, I wanted you to know I’m okay. I’ll be home when I can. I guess. I might crash at Logan’s tonight though.”
She disconnected the call before I could say or ask anythin’ else.
Logan? The name was familiar, but I couldn’t think where it was from until Phoebe’s stories about her first kiss with Angel . . . in the back of Logan’s Commodore. The sudden reappearance of this man in her life was confoundin’. How had they reconnected? Or had he always been around and she just hadn’t introduced us? The revelation at least wiped away concern that maybe Jase had somehow returned. I made a mental note to check in on him later on and make sure he wasn’t gonna become a threat to us.
I clenched my fists around the steerin’ wheel. How could Angel have let me believe she was in trouble?
Tryin’ to push it outta my head so that I didn’t ruin Cass’s visit, I pulled into the airport short-term parkin’ lot. “Come on, li’l darlin’s, we need to go find Cass. Y’all are gonna love her, and she’s gonna love ya too.”
I loaded the girls up into the stroller and pushed them through the airport to find my friend among the crowd.
By the time Cass came through customs, the girls were restless and cryin’. The noise around us was probably too much for them to deal with. I was tryin’ to keep calm and soothe them the best I could, but between the late night, bad sleep, change in plans, and the man that Angel was talkin’ about, I didn’t have much patience. It was like bein’ back in the place where Phoebe and I were fightin’ when she first came to the States. Frustration surged through me without an outlet.
“Beau!” Cass waved to me as she passed through customs. In one hand, she dragged an oversized suitcase with her. In the other, she held the hand of a little girl who looked more like Cash than she did Cass.
I picked up the toy that Abby had pitched from the stroller for the fourth time and then headed to meet Cass. When we were closer, she released her suitcase and swung Hope up onto her hip.
“How was your flight?” I asked Cass. “And yours too, little Miss?” I tickled Hope’s stomach in a way that both of my girls liked, and Hope gave the same puckered lip laughin’ expression before buryin’ her head against Cass’s neck.
Cass’s free hand brushed back the hair on my face and then her thumb trailed a gentle path under my eyes. “It looks like I mighta got some more sleep than you did.”
“It’s nothin’. I’ve just had a lot goin’ on lately.”
She gave me a one-armed hug. “I’m so sorry about Phoebe. I know how much she meant to ya.”
I turned my gaze downward, unable to take more sympathy. The crowd bustlin’ around us pushed and shoved which gave me an excuse not to acknowledge her words.
Hope’s head almost appeared to be on a swivel as she looked left and right at the sights and sounds around her. How long had she been awake on the flight?
“How’re ya doin’?” she asked.
“I’ve been doin’ okay,” I said. “I’ve even gone back to work, as a favor to Mr. Reede.”
“I’m glad to hear it. After seein’ the way you were when she left ya . . .” Cass trailed off again. “Never mind. I was worried you’d slip into yourself is all.”
“I nearly did. Angel stopped me.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Angel . . . that’s, uh, Phoebe’s stunnin’ friend, ain’t it?”
I thought of Angel’s long, loosely curled blonde hair, the emeralds in her eyes, the full pout of her lips. My mind wandered down familiar paths as I pictured her in my mind, and came to a grindin’ halt as I thought about the faceless man she was with at that moment. “That’s the one. She reminded me I needed to pay attention to the world, and ’specially to these two.”
Abby pitched the toy outta the stroller again, causin’ a frustrated grunt to leave me.
“It gets easier,” Cass said with a small chuckle. “Course, I’m still waitin’ for that time myself.”
“Ya sound like you’re in a better mood than when ya called me.”
She grabbed her suitcase. “Lead the way, and I’ll tell ya what’s been goin’ on.”
After pickin’ up the toy—again—and returnin’ it to the stroller, only to have Abby giggle at my frustration, I pushed the girls back in the direction of the car.
I fell into step beside Cass. “So what’s goin’ on?”
“Joe asked me to marry him.” Her tone indicated that she didn’t think it was a good thing.
“How terrible for ya. I never expected him to be such an asshole.”
“Beau!” She chuckled. “Livin’ here has really changed ya, hasn’t it?”
“Probably. It’s impossible to spend too much time ’round Phoebe and her family without some o’ the sarcasm and language rubbin’ off. Now, will ya explain to me what’s so bad about Joe proposin’?”
A group of people pushed between us, but as soon as they’d passed, I moved back to Cass’s side.
“It terrified me,” she admitted.
We arrived at the car, and I popped the trunk. “What is it that terrified ya?”
“Am I makin’ a mistake?”
I helped her load the suitcase into the car. “Why would ya think that you’re makin’ a mistake? Joe’s a great guy.”
Cass sighed and then loaded Hope into the booster seat in the middle of the two baby seats. Once Hope was secured, Cass drew out of the car. “He is a great guy. That’s the problem.”
“I can totally understand why that’d be a problem.” I got the girls into the car while Cass made her way toward the driver door before realizin’ her mistake and roundin’ the car to the passenger side.
Once I’d loaded both girls up and put the stroller in the trunk, I jumped in the driver seat and started the car.
“Okay, now explain to me why Joe bein’ a good guy is a bad thing,” I said to kick start the conversation again as I pulled the car out of the parkin’ garage and onto the motorway.
“You were a good guy, Beau.”
I frowned at her across the car, unsure what she was talkin’ about.
“I woulda married you.”
The conversation was takin’ a turn I wasn’t sure about.
“But it woulda been a mistake for us both.”
“Yeah, it woulda. But what’s that gotta do with Joe?” I glanced back to find Abby and Emma playin’ with their feet and the toys across the front of their child seats. Hope had fallen asleep with her head restin’ against Emma’s seat.
“Would I be marryin’ him just because he’s a nice guy? I started to ask myself that question over and over after he’d proposed. Even his response when I couldn’t say yes straight away just proved how sweet he is.”
“How d’ya feel ’bout him?”
“That’s the problem—I don’t know. How am I supposed to know?”
“I think ya just do. With Phoebe, I . . .” I trailed off as memories assaulted me. “I just knew. At least, I knew that I needed to find out more.”
“I know. I remember the phone call after you spent just a few hours with her.”
“I never meant—”
She held her hand up. “Ya don’t need to apologize ag’in. I know why it happened, and I’ve put it behind me. It wasn’t like that with Joe and me though. That’s why I don’t know if it’s right.”
“How was it for you then?”
“It was different. Creepin’. Like he wasn’t on my radar and then all of a sudden, he was. I started to miss him when he wasn’t ’round. And then it felt like I smiled more when I was ’round him than anyone else. Before long, I found myself wakin’ up thinkin’ ’bout him. Then I couldn’t imagine gettin’ through a day without seein’ him or speakin’ to him.”
“That sounds like love,” I said.
“It is, I guess, but is it enough love? What if I meet someone in six months’ time who makes me feel like you did with Phoebe? I don’t wanna hurt Joe later on, and I don’t want him to hurt me.”
I glanced at her across the car. “And this is the crisis that sent ya over here?”
“Not exactly. I’m pregnant ag’in.” Once more, her tone suggested she wasn’t over the moon about it.
“Oh. Is, ah, um—” I struggled to find the right words to ask the question I wanted to know without offendin’ her.
“Yes, Beau, Joe is the father. He asked me to marry him after I told him about the baby.”
“And you’re feelin’ like that’s the reason he asked?”
“A li’l. What if I wasn’t pregnant? Would he even wanna get married?”
“Ya know I’m the wrong guy to ask, don’t ya?” I joked.
“Yeah. I know. It’s not just that, I just needed some time away. From everythin’ familiar. I’ve been panickin’ ever since he asked.”
“Did he have a ring?”
“Yeah. Why does that matter?”
I grinned as I pulled the car into my driveway. “D’ya think that maybe he’s been plannin’ for a while but was waitin’ for the right time?”
“Ya really think?”
“Cass, you’re a beautiful woman. Far prettier than that mountain man ever expected to catch.”
“What are you sayin’?”
I turned to face her and leaned in close. When she mimicked my action, I brushed her hair back off her face with my hand before caressin’ her face. “You intimidate him.”
“Don’t be silly.”
I grinned at her. “I ain’t bein’ silly. D’ya know how long it took me to work up the courage to ask ya out when I first saw you? And Joe ain’t got half my confidence.”
“Don’t lie. I know your reputation before we started datin’.”
“I ain’t lyin’. I mighta liked followin’ the pretty faces, but askin’ you out, that was the first time I really put myself out there to someone I cared about.” I glanced out the windshield and caught sight of Angel standin’ near the house starin’ at the car. I dropped my hands away from Cass and gave a small wave to Angel.
In response, she spun on her heel and stormed straight back inside.
“What was that about?” Cass asked as she climbed from the car.
I hopped out of the car as well. “I think she’s still upset with me for not tellin’ her that you were comin’.”
She opened one of the passenger doors, and I opened the other. She unbuckled Emma while I unbuckled Abby. Then she unbuckled Hope.
; “But you didn’t even know until yesterday,” Cass said.
“I know. That don’t seem to matter though.”
“That’s hardly fair. I thought she was supposed to be your friend.”
“She is,” I said. I didn’t add that I’d definitely come to think of her as my best friend. More than ever since Phoebe’s passin’.
“And the way you and Phoebe talked about her, I thought she was super sweet.”
Cass’s words rubbed me wrong, and I felt the desperate need to defend Angel. “She is.”
“It don’t sound like it.”
“She’s dealin’ with a lot at the moment. She’s been the biggest help to me, practically raisin’ the girls until I was ready to step back into the world. Even now, she’s been watchin’ over them durin’ the day so I can go to work and help Phoebe’s daddy.”
Cass gave me a skeptical look. “If ya say so.”
“I do. And I ain’t gonna make things harder for her when she’s done so much for me.”
“Did you want me to talk to her? Let her know that I didn’t give ya much notice and that it ain’t fair for her to take it out on ya?”
“Thank ya, but I don’t think so. I have a feelin’ it’ll only make things worse.”
“It worked with Phoebe.”
“You were lucky it worked with Phoebe. Plus, I was already workin’ my charms on her, so ya didn’t have much work to do.”
Cass chuckled. “You’re probably right.”
She woke Hope and helped her out of the car. “Wait here, okay, baby girl,” Cass said as she placed Hope on the driveway.
“Yes, Mama.”
“Good girl.” Cass leaned back into the car and grabbed Emma. “This one is Emma, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, that’s the one.” I lifted Abby from her seat.
“Feefeedada,” Emma gurgled in response.
Abby’s words changed a little. “Ememem.”
“It’s such a sweet age,” Cass said, pullin’ Emma into a proper embrace. After a moment, she gave a li’l grin that told me she wasn’t gonna be stressin’ over bein’ pregnant much longer. No doubt, she was recallin’ the earlier years of Hope’s life. “They’ve got Phoebe’s eyes,” she added.
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