In My Heart: a sweetbriar hearts novel

by Everly, Nora

  Luke smiled down at me as Calla tugged on his beard and giggled. “You got it, baby. How about a picnic in the park? I’ll pick up lunch and meet you and the kids there.”

  “Perfect. I’m so happy, Luke. I almost can’t stand it.”

  He leaned down and kissed me. That intense, on a mission look was back in his eyes.

  “I’ve been dreaming of you for so long, Lily, I’m not sure I’m awake. I love you.”

  “Love you back, Luke.” Then I pinched his behind and grinned when he jumped. “See? We’re awake, even though this feels like a dream come true.” I watched his swift intake of breath, his shoulders tense and relax as he nodded and grinned back at me.

  23

  Lily

  I watched Jane jump in her seat at the kitchen island as my dad’s booming voice shouted hello from the living room. She turned to me with a nervous giggle.

  “Want me to come with you to show him the safety deposit stuff?” I asked through a mouthful of cupcake. My mother hadn’t been lying about the “nibbles,” food was everywhere.

  She nodded and we got up to greet my dad at the door.

  “Jane! Hey, darlin’,” my dad said as he hugged Jane. He’d always treated her as if she were another daughter. She hugged him back. Then we headed to the couch to sit while Jane went to get her purse.

  “Jane emptied her family’s safe deposit box today, and there was a package in there for you, from Will,” I blurted. Jane went to the foyer to get her purse, and Dad sat on the couch with an expectant look on his face. “What if it has to do with all this weird crap that keeps coming up lately,” I said.

  “Maybe. Hopefully.” He took the large manila envelope from Jane and emptied it onto the coffee table. It contained a bunch of papers and a flash drive—holy crap, a flash drive. That weird guy had been asking about a flash drive the other day in front of Violet’s. Dad started sifting through the papers and shaking his head. He looked frustrated. “I wish he would have left a note or something instead of just my name on the envelope. This is a bunch of nothing; maps and lists of street names. Lily, grab my laptop, and we can check out this flash drive.” I opened the drawer on the coffee table and pulled out the laptop, then I snatched the flash drive and booted it up. I stared in confusion at what appeared to be rows of numbers, more street names, and even more maps. I scrolled through the information and stopped when I saw a picture. It was a man, good looking, with long blond hair tied back in a ponytail. I had no idea who it was, but at least it was something besides lists of seemingly random information.

  “I have no idea who that is,” Jane said from over my shoulder as she stood at the side of the couch.

  Dad shrugged.

  “I’ll see what I can do to find out who this is, then go from there,” Dad said.

  “Maybe Trevor knows what this is about,” I said and looked up as Dylan bounded down the stairs. Jane was standing, so he hugged her, then hopped onto my dad’s lap and hugged him.

  “I don’t like that guy. He’s mean,” Dylan said. He was looking at the picture on the laptop. We all glanced at each other at Dylan’s announcement.

  “When did you meet this man?” I asked. I was trying to remain calm and not freak Dylan out.

  “I was at the park with Daddy.” He meant Will. I had noticed he had started referring to Will as “Daddy” and Luke as “Dad.”

  He stopped to think. “We were at the swings. That guy yelled at Daddy to mind his own business. He had another guy with him, a big, tall mean guy. That other guy didn’t say anything though. I was scared for a minute because they were all mad. But then the two guys left, and Daddy said I shouldn’t worry. I remember him because he had a ponytail and a flowery shirt like in this picture, and the other guy was big and hairy like Hagrid in the movie.”

  “Did your dad say the man’s name?” Dad asked. Dylan tilted his head and made the scrunchy face he always made when he was thinking hard.

  After a moment, he looked at me and said, “The guy called Daddy a bad word. Can I say it?”

  “Yes, go ahead and say everything you remember, Dylan,” I answered quickly.

  “He called Daddy a nosy asshole.” Dylan’s eyes were big. “And Daddy called him Rick, no it was Derry Rick, I think. Daddy didn’t say any bad words though.”

  “Derrick?” I asked

  “Yes, that’s it. Derrick,” Dylan said, smiling.

  “Do you remember anything else?” Dad encouraged.

  “Not really,” Dylan said. “I want to go play again.”

  I nodded, and he took off back up the stairs.

  “I don’t like this at all. This freaks me out,” I said.

  Jane sat down and side hugged me, and I leaned into her. Dad looked worried too, and I could tell he was annoyed that Will hadn’t left any useful information.

  “What’s going on?” Luke asked as he crossed the foyer and entered the living room.

  “We’re not exactly sure. But I am totally sure it’s not good,” I answered, and Dad nodded as he removed the flash drive and shut the laptop.

  “I’m going to the station. I’ll be back soon.” He gathered all the papers and the envelope and headed out the front door.

  “Well, that was clear as mud,” Jane said with a grimace. “I vote for letting your dad handle it. I’m going to go back to drinking wine with your mom.” She got up, leaving me with Luke.

  “Calla’s down. I rocked her in the chair, and she went right out,” he said as he sat next to me and pulled me close.

  “You must be a natural.” I could tell that he was excited about his nap time success. He smiled at me. The light in his eyes was mesmerizing. I stared up at him and returned his smile. Even though something weird and possibly dangerous was hanging over me, I was happy. I finally had my family close again, and now I had Luke back—all the way back.

  “Kiss me,” I ordered, and he quickly obliged. When his lips touched mine, my thoughts left my head. I wrapped my arms around his neck and scooted onto his lap to sit sideways across his legs. We were so into each other that we didn’t hear the front door open; we didn’t break apart until I heard gagging sounds. I looked up and saw Rose standing there.

  “My God, you guys. Did I step into a time machine?” She grinned at us, and I felt the déjà vu as well. “This is like old times. This house—me walking in on you guys, interrupting your make out-sesh. I’m sorry I gagged at you. Old habits die hard.” She laughed and flopped down into the chair across from us. I laughed and tried to move off Luke’s lap and back onto the couch, but he held me tight. I shrugged and smiled back at Rose.

  “I’m happy for you guys. But I smell food, so later.” She stood up as the front door opened and Trevor and my dad walked through.

  “Rosalie,” Trevor said.

  My sister froze in her tracks. Her back stiffened, then she all but ran past them as she called out that she had to go. Trevor turned and watched her leave. Something was going on—or had gone on—between them. It was obvious. First, no one was allowed to call her Rosalie aside from my mother. Second, I knew she had met Trevor, but the look he gave her was more than friendly. It was stricken and hopeful. It appeared that I had another mystery to solve.

  My dad, oblivious to the mini-drama that had just unfolded, announced, “I’m on my way, to the station. I forgot my keys.” Then he crossed over and entered the kitchen.

  “Before you ask me what I know you’re about to ask—I don’t want to talk about it,” Trevor said to me and followed my dad into the kitchen.

  “Well. That was rude,” I said, and Luke chuckled.

  “Let’s worry about that another time,” he whispered in my ear, then kissed me again. I melted back into his arms, so we could continue our make-out sesh.

  The rest of the day passed without any news from my father regarding the flash drive or Hawaiian shirted Derrick in the picture. I couldn’t understand why this was this happening now? Over a year after Will’s death. It proved that whenever I got a little
bit of happy something had to come along and threaten it.

  24

  Lily

  I rolled over and stared at the clock on my mom’s guest bedroom nightstand. For once, the blaring, beeping, annoying alarm on my cell hadn’t woken me up. I stretched and sighed there was no crying baby, no Dylan standing at my bedside staring at me, nothing in this room but me and the sunshine shining through the window.

  I smiled to myself, soon the ring would be back on my finger to stay, and I couldn’t freaking wait. Luke and I had planned to take the kids to the park and tell Dylan we were engaged, but with my wackadoo stalker still stalking about, and two more potential bad guys, we’d decided ti stay at my parents’ house. Luke would stop by with sprinkle donuts for breakfast, and we’d break the news first thing.

  After breakfast, I was going to work at Violet’s for the last time. Summer was almost over, and some of Violet’s stay-at-home-mom employees were peacing out on their summer vacations early and going back to work. Violet was would make a big deal out of my last day, I knew it. I didn’t really like parties or being the center of attention, but I was hoping for cake. And maybe some good punch. If I got lucky, maybe a few presents. I kicked the quilt off and got up to stick my head into the hallway to see what was going on in the house. I heard my mother cooing to Calla, and Dylan talking to Asher and his kids, so I headed into the bathroom to shower and change. I knew this wouldn’t last, and I felt a little bit spoiled as I stepped under the spray of the shower. I decided to think of this stay at my parents’ house as a mini-vacation. When all this craziness was over, and I was back into my own place, then I could have my frantic, crazy, rushing-all-around mornings back. Until then, I would enjoy the help. And right now, I was about to take the longest, hottest shower of my life. I would blow-dry my hair, do up my makeup, and dress in something pretty. No bun and half-assed mascara and lip balm today. I turned on the tap and stepped under the hot spray.

  The bathroom door opened, and I jumped in surprise.

  “Baby, it’s just me. Don’t slip and fall.” Luke laughed as he rolled the shower door open and grabbed my waist to steady me.

  “Be careful. I’m all wet.” I gasped as his big, warm hands slid up my waist and around my back. He gripped my hair and gave me a quick kiss.

  “I can feel that. I’m going to love waking up to this every day.” He grinned at me, then released me. “I’ll go find Dylan, but first …” He reached into his pocket, took my hand, and slipped his mother’s ring on my finger. Before he left, he kissed my palm and winked at me. My knees went weak. Luke winking at me was my weakness. Well, one of them anyway. When it came to Luke, I had a lot of weaknesses.

  I felt a chill, even though I was in a hot shower, when I realized that this could be my life. Luke and me, Dylan and Calla—every day. It was happening already. Everything I’d ever wanted was within my reach. But no matter how hard I kept trying, I couldn’t erase the fear that something would ruin it all.

  Luke

  I couldn’t wait to put the ring back on Lily’s finger where it had always belonged. I had rushed straight upstairs to do that, leaving the donuts in my truck to bring in after I saw her. As I walked back through the house, I passed Dahlia feeding Calla in the kitchen and Asher sipping coffee at the counter. I spied Jude and Levi through the kitchen windows, sitting on the patio that surrounded the pool, also drinking coffee. But no Dylan yet. I crossed through the kitchen into the living room and saw Rose eating a donut, with a weird look on her face.

  “You left donuts in your truck,” she said. “So many donuts.”

  “Yeah, I got enough for everybody. Is something wrong?” I prompted.

  “The kids found them. I guess they saw you drive up through the window, and I guess you rushed off to see Lily. Is she in the shower, Luke?” She smirked and looked down at my shirt. It was a little damp in front.

  I pulled it off. It was a plaid button-up; I had a T-shirt on underneath. “Yeah, I saw Lily. We’re going to have news later. Stick around, okay?”

  “Good news? I almost feel bad about what you’re about to find in your truck.” She laughed and darted past me to the kitchen. “I need coffee. You’re gonna need it too.”

  I rushed outside to my truck. I heard giggling and saw tiny people sitting in the bed of the truck. Dylan sat in the back seat, passing donuts through the rear slide window to the kids in the truck bed. They were covered in chocolate icing, and whatever the other white kind of icing is. God, the sprinkles were everywhere. I had bought five boxes of donuts, a dozen in each. Icing smeared my seats, the steering wheel, the windows, it was everywhere.

  “Donuts good?” I asked.

  Maddie whirled with big eyes, Dylan turned from his knees to stare at me, the rest of them froze, except for Mikey, who was the only one brave enough to answer.

  “They’re good. But you forgot the kind with the cream inside,” he said.

  I was thankful for small favors by that point. What kind of mess would they have made with cream-filled? We all looked up as Rose walked up to the truck armed with a package of baby wipes and a roll of paper towels with a bottle of cleaner hooked on the waistband of her jeans.

  “Never leave donuts unattended in these parts.” She grinned. “You’ll learn.” She passed me the baby wipes. “You’re on sticky hand and face duty. We can’t let them in the house like this.” I took the wipes as Rose started giving orders. “All right, donuts down, get your little behinds out of the truck and line up.”

  They all did what she said, no hesitation, all lining up in front of her like tiny soldiers. Maybe it was because she was a kindergarten teacher. “You’re up, Luke,” she ordered, then climbed into the truck.

  I handed each kid a wipe for their hands, then went down the line wiping their silent, guilt-ridden faces before doubling back to check their hands.

  Was I supposed to laugh at this? Or was I supposed to give a time-out or something dad-like? Finally, I cracked and let out a laugh. I couldn’t help it; they were all so cute with their hang-dog expressions. “I’m not mad,” I said.

  Dylan hugged me. “I’m sorry. We came out to say hi, but you weren’t here, then we saw one million donuts and we wondered if they had sprinkles. We just meant to peek at them, I don’t know what happened,” he said.

  “Yeah, you really shouldn’t leave that many donuts around without a grown-up to watch them. Kids can be unpredictable when it comes to sweets,” Mikey added.

  “We’re sorry,” Mike and Mara chimed in.

  Little Madison was still just staring at me. I smiled at her, and she gave me a tiny grin. Rose hopped out of the back of the truck and tipped up Madison’s chin. “How come the littlest kid always makes the biggest mess?” she asked and brushed sprinkles out of her pigtails. Madison shrugged. “Maybe you’ll be in my class when school starts,” Rose said, then she looked at me.

  “Bad news, Luke. Every box was opened, and every donut was tasted or licked.” She grinned. “Luckily, all the truck needs now are a whisk broom and a vacuum. And we’ll have to be on tummy ache watch for a few hours,” she added.

  “Thanks, Rose. I’m going to steal Dylan for a bit and find Lily.”

  He took my hand. “Okay, Dad.” I was a dad—it was beginning to feel real. The more time I spent with Dylan and Calla, the more I felt myself getting comfortable with it, and as soon as Lily was my wife, it would be irrevocable. Everyone would know they were mine. My heart burst with pride and love. I felt like he could fill my truck with a million sprinkles and get sticky handprints on everything I owned, and I wouldn’t care because my heart melted every time he called me Dad. This boy and his baby sister owned my heart right along with their mom.

  “Let’s find your mom. We have something to tell you.”

  “Okay, she was asleep when I got up. Let’s go upstairs. Are we going to go live with you? Can I have my own room? Can I bring my Xbox One? Can I have a Nintendo Switch? Mikey has Mario Kart and the new Zelda. They are so fun. We can play
together. I’m sorry we messed up your truck. I kind of knew it was a bad idea. But seeing all the different donuts, all lined up in all the boxes, made it hard to make a good choice. We wanted to taste them all. I’m pretty sure we were all crazy for a few minutes.”

  When I was sure he was finished talking, I attempted an answer, something fatherly and adult. My father had been a shit dad, so I thought of Ben. What would Ben say?

  “I forgive you. I can understand being tempted by something you think you can’t resist. But it could be dangerous to get into a vehicle without an adult. Did you think about that?”

  He shook his head.

  “Next time try to think before you do something. Can you promise me you’ll try?” I asked.

  “I pinky promise,” he said and held out his hand. After locking pinkies, I swung him up into my arms. He was so innocent and cute, and could ramble on and on when he spoke, but he was also astute and self-aware.

  “Hey, guys!” Lily shouted from the top of the stairs with Calla in her arms. She wore a yellow-flowered sundress and high heels that did things to her legs that made me wish we were alone. She was like the sun—she brought the warmth back to my heart. The ring sparkled on her finger, shining like a little sunbeam, telling me she was mine. “Everyone is outside. Let’s talk up here.” We followed her the rest of the way to settle on the sectional couch.

  “What’s going on?” Dylan demanded. “Are we going to live with Luke now?”

  “Would it be okay if I marry your mom?” I asked.

  “Yes!” he shouted, then hopped up to face Lily and me. “We can be a family together. You won’t have to live in that huge house all by yourself. Oh, and can Rocky sleep in my room? I saw you guys kissing so many times when you thought I wasn’t looking. I guessed this would happen, and I was right!”