The Love of Her Life: A Christian Romance (The Callaghans & McFaddens Book 3)

by Kimberly Rae Jordan

  She was surprised at how quickly skating had come back to her once she’d gotten on the ice. Not that she’d ever been all that great, but she’d at least been able to stay on her feet. With Gabe’s help, she’d been able to gain confidence after not skating for over a decade.

  And once again, Maya was feeling like this was the best day ever. Well, aside from the day when the doctors had told her that her cancer was in remission for the second time. She didn’t know how to process all the new feelings and experiences she was having. At times like these, as she watched Gabe fly across the ice with his hair blowing in the wind and a broad grin on his face, she felt like she might explode from it all.

  He was coming to mean so much to her. Too much? What if he wasn’t feeling the same way. After all, these weren’t new experiences for him. He was taking her out into the world in a way she’d never experienced before, and he didn’t even know it. He didn’t know the impact he was having on her life in so many ways. The thought of him leaving, even for just a month, made her heart ache if she allowed herself to dwell on the thought too much.

  They still had a week together, and she planned to enjoy it as much as she could. And maybe, when he got back, they could have a conversation about their…relationship. Maya found that she didn’t want to go on much longer without knowing how he felt about what was developing between them. If she was the only one feeling this depth of emotion, she needed to know sooner rather than later because her heart was already full of feelings for Gabe. She just needed to know that she wasn’t alone.

  As she watched them skate, her gaze was always drawn to Gabe. Something began to dawn on her as the game progressed. Gabe was by far the most aggressive of the skaters. He took risks, skating around the other players, ducking and spinning. But it wasn’t just the risks Gabe took, but the expression on his face as he took them. Clearly, he thrived on it. His smile was huge as he slid between Bennett and the wall, snagging the puck from his older brother.

  An uneasy feeling formed in the pit of Maya’s stomach. She already knew from Gabe himself how much he liked adventure, but Maya was beginning to think that while she had thought it might be him liking to bungee jump, he might, in fact, prefer BASE jumping. That was more than just liking a little adventure, and that worried her.

  If she’d been there with someone else, she might have just watched Gabe for a few minutes, noting the way he liked to play aggressively but then looked back to whoever she was there with. However, she was there with Gabe—couldn’t take her gaze off him—so she saw what others might not have. He needed the thrill. She could see that now. While he’d been happy when he’d been skating with her, it was nothing compared to how he looked now as he played hockey with his friends and brothers.

  Maybe this was the answer she’d been looking for. If Gabe thrived on the excitement of adventure, there was no way she could compete with that. With her lack of experience of life in general, Maya knew she was the exact opposite of exciting and adventurous.

  “I’m always surprised that these games end without any broken bones,” Makayla said as she came to stand next to Maya. “Especially Gabe. The only time it’s worse than this is when Kenton is here. He and Gabe really go at it.”

  “Did Gabe ever want to play in the NHL like Kenton?” Maya asked.

  “No. He wasn’t interested in the practice schedule that he’d have had to keep in order to be good enough.” Makayla backed up a bit as a couple of the guys crashed into the boards in front of them. “I think he probably had the talent—and he definitely had the nerve—but it wasn’t something he was interested in. I think it was too restrictive. Set season. Set dates for games. Set places to be. That’s just not Gabe.”

  Makayla’s words just reinforced what Maya had been thinking. But now what did she do with the realization? Did she pull back? Or did she stick it out and hope that maybe Gabe would decide that being with her was more important than the adventures that pulled him away from his home and family in Winnipeg?

  Not wanting to allow her thoughts to cast a shadow over the day, Maya pushed them aside. She wanted to recapture the feelings she’d had when Gabe had been holding her hands and guiding her around the ice. So she cheered with the other women who were standing along the side of the boards with her. Cheered and hoped that she was wrong in thinking Gabe wouldn’t settle for a life that didn’t include dangerous adventures.

  It was no surprise when Gabe’s team won. He’d scored three of the four goals his team had gotten during the game. Mitch had managed to stop all but two of the shots on goal. Maya couldn’t deny that it had been an exciting game, and Gabe appeared super pumped that his team had won.

  “Why don’t we head into the house for some food?” Steve Callaghan suggested as the guys began to come off the ice. “We can come back out afterward. If you want.”

  The group returned to the log benches and began to remove skates and put boots back on. Gabe was there once again, helping Maya get her skates off, chatting about how the game had gone.

  “That makes five years,” Gabe said with a huge grin.

  “Five years?” Maya reached for her boots and tugged them on.

  “I’ve been on the winning team for five years now.”

  “Do you stick to the same teams?” Maya asked as Gabe pulled her to her feet.

  “Nah. We never know who will be here, and my dad is usually the one who decides the teams.” Gabe took her hand as they followed the others into the house.

  A wall of warmth greeted Maya, the scent of rich spices heavy in the air. There was a huge table set up in the dining room, and people settled into seats around the table. Gabe led her to a seat and then disappeared into the kitchen along with Makayla and Ethan. Soon they reappeared carrying large bowls that they set on the table. Dalton and Danica appeared with smaller bowls.

  Maya found it such a contrast. If this had been a meal at her parents’ home, they would have been served by people they had hired. Her mother wouldn’t have dared serve a meal herself. Elisse served them their meals when it was just the three of them, but as soon as they had more than two extra people, her mom hired extra help.

  When the food was all on the table, the rest of the group found seats, Gabe dropping down onto the chair next to her. “Hope you like chili.”

  Maya smiled but didn’t say anything since she had no idea if she liked chili or not. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d actually had it. Her mom had something against ground beef and usually forbade Elisse from using it when she cooked for them. Even their sauce for pasta was made with ground turkey or chicken. And chili? Given her mom’s heritage, they were more likely to have sushi than chili.

  Once everyone was seated, Steve said a prayer of thanks for the meal, and then they all dug in. Maya found the chili to be very tasty and enjoyed the buns that Emily said she and Danica had made earlier. There were chili toppings of grated cheese and sour cream as well as crackers.

  It was all new to her, but Maya wasn’t about to confess that. She could only imagine how they’d look at her if she told them that she couldn’t remember ever having eaten chili. That would lead to too many questions that she wasn’t really ready to answer just yet. Those questions would have to be answered soon, though, if she continued to socialize with these people. Something was going to slip. Something was going to get awkward.

  These people were so down to earth and easy going. She wondered what they would think if they knew the extent of her family’s wealth. That jetting off to New York or Paris was something her family could do without much thought. And it wasn’t just her dad. She was wealthy in her own right thanks to her trust fund. That was why she’d gone after a job, so that she could be part of a group of people who were contributing positively to the world.

  She could have just chosen to donate money to organizations that helped people and then spent her time traveling and buying everything she wanted. Instead, while she did donate to shelters and other non-profit organizations and volunteered at
a couple of them, Maya had decided she wanted to get a job. To be in a position where she was part of a group of people working toward a common goal.

  After having worked at C&M Builders for five months, Maya knew that she would do what she could to keep her position there. She loved the work there and the people she worked with.

  “Are you glad you came?” Gabe asked as he took a second helping of chili.

  “Definitely.” And she had enjoyed herself, aside from the moment of realization she’d had. “I’m just glad I didn’t break a bone.”

  “You’d be in good company if you did. I think most of us have broken bones because of skating at one time or another over the years.”

  “Really?” Maya had spent a lot of time in the hospital but never for a broken bone.

  “Yeah. I’ve had a few broken bones. Not all related to hockey.” He lifted his arm. “I broke my arm in two places while skiing in Switzerland. That was not fun.”

  Maya didn’t want to be reminded of the adventures he’d been on and was likely still going to go on.

  “Gabe is definitely the one who has been injured the most,” Mitch volunteered. “Even worse than Kenton.”

  Gabe shrugged. “I do my best to not get hurt, but stuff happens… It’s the price I have to pay sometimes in order to have these experiences.”

  “You’re still nuts,” Mitch said. “That’s the bottom line. You have to be more than a little crazy to do what you do sometimes.”

  “I think when our genes split, I got your dose of nerve.”

  Mitch just shrugged like Gabe had earlier, apparently not concerned about his brother’s comment. “Well, if I don’t have to deal with broken bones, I’d say that’s no loss.”

  “One of these days I’m going to get you to go with me.” Gabe pushed his empty bowl and plate away. “You really shouldn’t knock it til you try it.”

  Maya looked back and forth between the brothers to see if there was really any animosity in their jabs at each other. She was not used to the type of banter among siblings like she was seeing with Mitch and Gabe. It didn’t appear that they were truly upset with each other, so Maya figured this must be an old discussion between them.

  Once the meal was over, they discovered that the sun had gone down, but it appeared that people were still planning to go skating again. Maya wasn’t so sure she wanted to go back out there. If she was being honest with herself, she was feeling the need for a break. Given what she had learned about Gabe during the course of the day, she was beginning to think that spending a little less time with him might be a good thing. Her emotions were already so engaged in him that it was only going to get worse if she spent much more time with him.

  Maybe it was a good thing that he was leaving for a little while. It would give her a chance to pull back from the intense emotions she was feeling.

  “You want to go out and skate a bit more?” Gabe asked as he started to stack up the dishes that were around him at the table.

  “I think I’ve skated enough for today.” Maya handed him her plate and bowl. “Tomorrow I’m probably going to be feeling muscles I haven’t felt in a very long time.”

  Gabe chuckled as he got to his feet. “Sadly, you are probably correct about that.”

  They carried stacks of dishes into the kitchen and set them on the counter.

  “Can I help you clean up?” Maya asked Emily when the older woman turned toward them.

  “Sure. Thank you for offering.” Emily motioned to where Danica and Dalton were at the sink. “You can dry, if you’d like. Danica lost the toss so she has to wash and Dalton is rinsing.”

  Gabe went back into the dining room while Maya took the dish towel Emily held out to her and lifted a plate from the dish drainer and began to dry it.

  “Did Mom say you could go to the party?” Dalton asked as he put another dish in the drainer.

  “No,” Danica said with a frown. “At least Sierra’s not going either. Ethan and Makayla said no.”

  “Are you really surprised?” Dalton asked.

  “I suppose not, but Devon is going.”

  “Jealous?”

  Danica let out a sigh. “No. Well, I don’t know who else is going to be there.”

  “Devon is my friend, but seriously, you know he’s a little too impressed with himself sometimes.”

  “Hah. Like you aren’t?” Danica said with a snort.

  “I’m not too impressed with myself. I don’t expect girls to throw themselves at me because I can sing or play an instrument.”

  Maya smiled as she listened to two more siblings in the Callaghan and McFadden family go back and forth. As she looked at them, she realized that Dalton was close to the age she’d been when she’d gotten her first cancer diagnosis. The things they were talking about were things she had ended up missing out on. Not that she would have gone to many parties. She’d been attending an all-girls school to start with, so there weren’t many opportunities to meet boys. Then as she’d gone through treatment, she’d been tutored to minimize her exposure to germs while her immune system was compromised, so her contact with teenagers had been narrowed even more.

  “Was your mom strict?”

  It took a second to realize that Danica had been asking her the question. “Oh, yeah, she was probably more strict than your mom.”

  Danica turned to look at her, her hands still in the soapy water. “More strict? I didn’t realize that was possible.”

  “Oh, it’s possible. I’m pretty sure that my mom would win the title if there were a strict mom pageant.”

  “Can you imagine? Like seriously.” Danica laughed. “So you didn’t go to a lot of parties as a teen?”

  “I went to no parties.” Maya hoped her admission didn’t lead to more questions, but she was so enjoying the conversation with the teens.

  “Okay. Yeah. You win,” Dalton said with a smirk. “Danica is usually allowed to go to parties if they’re kids from the church, and Mom and Dad know their parents.”

  “Do you go to parties?” Maya asked Dalton.

  “Nah. I’m not interested in parties, to be honest. There are a million other things I’d rather be doing than hanging out with people whose only goal in life is to try and out-cool each other.”

  “Give it a rest, Dalton.” Danica rolled her eyes. “You just know that no one would want to talk to you.”

  While Maya had thought the teen boy would get defensive at his sister’s jab, he just said, “You’re not wrong about that, but then I don’t really want to talk to them either. Or excuse me…they would actually want to talk to me but only because they’d want to be in my videos. Devon has already tried to get me to let some of his friends into the videos, but that’s not gonna happen. If they want to impress the ladies, they’re going to need to go to a different channel for that. Ours is about music and sharing our songs with the world.”

  “So does it bother you that Devon is going to the party instead of hanging out with us here?”

  The pause before Dalton answered his sister’s question spoke louder than the words he eventually said. “I’m not in charge of his social calendar. He can hang with whoever he wants.”

  Maya wondered who exactly Devon was and how he fit into their lives. She knew that if she’d had the opportunity as a teen to hang with kids like Dalton and Danica, she would have skipped the party for sure.

  Gabe set the dishes he’d carried in from the dining room next to Danica then looped an arm around each of their shoulders. “Well, Devon has pudding for brains if he’d rather hang out with anyone but you two.”

  Maya smiled at his words and the sincerity behind them. It was so interesting to her how they could take digs at each other, but when push came to shove, they were there for one another. For some reason, she’d thought that exchanging those types of words with someone meant that they didn’t like each other. Given that she’d never had a sibling to joke around with, she’d been unaware of how the dynamics could play out.

  “You have to
say that,” Dalton grumbled as he lifted a couple more plates from the rinse water. “You’re our brother.”

  Gabe straightened. “I am your brother, true, but I don’t have to say that. I do happen to like hanging with you all. Why else do you think I stay here instead of with Mitch?”

  “Because you don’t like sharing a bed with him?” Danica asked and then jostled Dalton’s arm with a laugh.

  Maya enjoyed watching Gabe interact with his younger siblings as she dried the dishes Dalton was putting into the rack. What would her life have been like if she’d been part of a family like this one? On the one hand, she was glad that she hadn’t had siblings while going through treatments. Her mother had been absolutely devoted to her, rarely leaving her side when she’d been in the hospital. If there had been other children, her mom might have been torn about where to focus her attention. Or she’d have focused on Maya, and the other children would have suffered. So maybe it was best that she’d been an only child, but at moments like these, she sure wished she’d had a brother or sister.

  There was a steady flow of people through the kitchen, most making their way out the back door once again. Maya momentarily wondered if she should stay to skate again, but then remembered why she had decided to leave. The teasing between siblings continued, some of it in passing as they walked past the ones doing the dishes on their way out the back door. Emily chided a few when it got a little too pointed, but for the most part, the older woman was silent as she handed off stacks of dishes to Gabe and Tristan who had come into the kitchen to help.

  “I think I’m going to head out,” Maya said once the kitchen had been cleared up.

  Gabe frowned. “Already? You don’t want to stay for dessert? I know you don’t want to skate anymore, but we can just sit down and talk.”

  Maya was tempted, but she knew it was best for her to head for home. She had work the next day anyway. Gabe’s brow furrowed when she shook her head. “It’s been a great day, but I really need to get home.”