Before she knew it, she was crawling through the shallow water hearing Jake splashing behind her. She turned and kicked water at him that only hit his knees and he flew through it landing on his knees and catching her ankle. She didn’t try so hard to get away this time as he crawled through the shallow water up her body and his lips crashed against hers.
“This is better sexy humor,” he said, lowering her back against the wet sandy beach and settling between her legs.
Sydney laughed. “Practice makes perfect.”
“You can practice with me any day.”
She liked the sound of that.
Chapter Thirty-Six
AFTER THEIR LOVEMAKING skinny-dip swim, they sat on the porch swing, fully clothed and Jake pushed them with one foot.
Sydney was exhausted and felt herself drifting in and out of sleep, while Jake, the night owl, was wide awake, stroking the side of her head.
Snuggled beside him with her feet tucked underneath her, she closed her eyes and listened to nature’s songs after he had told her all the stories of his life at the clubhouse. They were worse than Sydney could have imagined and each part he shared, she hoped she was taking some of his grief too. But now, after hours of listening, sleep was invading her.
Jake’s cell phone rang and he dug into his pocket and answered it. Hopefully, it was this Jason man giving them some good news. She didn’t mind being alone in a secluded cabin with Jake for one second, but she didn’t like the fear that accompanied their hiding.
Sydney felt Jake’s body stiffen before he sat forward and rubbed his face.
“Don’t do anything stupid, Mom. Where are you?” Jake asked, standing up and skipping down the stairs.
Sydney followed.
“Tell me where you are so I can come and get you.”
Panic arose in Sydney, a familiar horrible panic and there was no taming it back. Now that she knew the truth, the whole truth about these people there was no way she wanted Jake to go searching for his mother when there was a gang searching for him! Was he crazy?
“Are you at the club-house? Don’t go in that club house Mother!” She’s at the club-house!
“Just stay in your car. I will come get you.” Get her? It was a day drive, he couldn’t go get her. And what if it was a trap? It sure sounded like a trap.
“Then where the hell are you? Stop talking like that.” He paused. “Mom...Mom...” There was silence as he was listening to his mother speak and Sydney couldn’t hear a word, but from the way his shoulders sunk and his head dropped, she wasn’t sure that the conversation was good.
“Mom, I love you too, but stop please. Stop whatever you are thinking. It’s not going to help. Yes, alright you love Adalyn, but Mom I don’t even know where she is.” Another pause. “Call the cops Mom.” Another pause.
Sydney’s tired body was kicking into overdrive, waking her right up. What was happening?
“Yes, they did help last time, but you chose not to let them. Let them this time. Do not do anything foolish. Mom? Mom? Damn it.” He was charging for his bike.
He was going to leave them there. Panic arose inside of her in an uncontrollable panic that consumed her body. He was leaving them to walk into the very people he was hiding them from. He was going to end up dead. He wasn't going to come back. How had this gotten so out of control so quickly and now he was planning on leaving? He was walking away. He was literally walking away.
She had to stop him no matter what the consequences were because he was overtired and not thinking and she loved him and she couldn't stand losing him. Not now. Not when their lives were finally together and they were on the same page in the exact same paragraph, reading the exact same word! She couldn’t flip another page of her life without him.
***
JAKE LOST HIS reception, or his phone died. Did his phone die? He was walking toward the edge of the laneway when Sydney chased him down in a panic. “You're going to leave us here? Jake, you can’t leave us here.”
No, he wasn’t going to leave them here. He was going to call Jason and relay what his mother told him. He was also going to try to call her back and try to talk some sense into her. If she could just wait outside the clubhouse or anywhere with his promise to get her, Jason could send men much faster to pick her up. Beth was talking crazy about putting an end to everything and Jake didn’t like the sound of that.
“Syd, slow down. She is in trouble. I just have to figure out what is going on and...”
“Call this Jason guy, Jake. Don’t go running into something that could be a trap. Maybe this has something to do with Drake and maybe your mom doesn’t know the danger involved. Maybe she’s high.” Sydney was high on fear and Jake could see it revealing itself over every inch of her panicking body.
“Syd, I am going to call Jason...”
She didn’t hear him. “Jake, be reasonable.” He was being reasonable, it was Sydney that was going off the edge. “Jason is obviously involved with this so call him. It will take you hours to get to the clubhouse.”
He grabbed her shoulders hoping the contact would slow her down. “Sydney...”
It didn’t.
“Leaving us here is not the solution. We are alone here when you leave us. Do you need a reason?” She was his reason. He wasn’t going to go risk his life when he’d promised it to her. “Do you need a blood reason to make you stay?”
He had three blood relatives in the house but he knew that wasn’t what she was talking about. She wouldn’t. Would she? She had given her word.
“Would that make you stay? Would it? Tell me Jake.” Jake had never seen her filled with so much fear. He was regretting the hours of stories he’d just shared, maybe too soon. If he could just get a word in and assure her he was not leaving.
“You are overreacting...”
“I am not!” she yelled at him, cutting him off again and pulling herself out of his grasp.
She was so out of control over her own emotions. “I promise...”
“No, the only promises you keep are to your blood Adalyn and Beth.” Jake was going to personally spend the rest of his life digging that specific thought that he himself had planted in her head out until she knew that every promise he made to her he would stand. That family went deeper than blood.
“Sydney, you don’t have to be my blood for me to keep my promises to you.”
“They're not your only family, Jake.” She was hysterical, fearing he would end up like his father. He had to get her settled down because he saw exactly where this conversation was going and it was about to get complicated.
“Sydney, listen to me...”
“Haylee is your family Jake. Haylee is your blood. Haylee is your daughter, Jake.”
Jake stopped trying to calm her down and his eyes closed. She’d done it.
“Will you stay now?” she asked, sounding like the fear was leaving her.
He opened his eyes and a new fear had taken over her face.
“Do you think I don't know?” Had she really believed that all these years? “That Haylee was my daughter?”
She wore the surprise she'd been intending for him. “You know?”
“Of course I know. I was with you the night before I left. I can do that math. Do you really think I'm that stupid?”
She stepped back. “You knew? All these years? You knew when you got back? Why didn't you say anything?”
He wasn’t mad at her, well he was a little mad at her for going back on their promise at the boat, he’d been very clear, but if he truly believed she would never mention it then he was stupid.
“What was I going to say? I came home and you and Joan already had the word out that she belonged to Kyle. You wanted me to rip her away from her grandmother, who you both needed and step in as the dad that you told everyone had died?”
“You could have spoken up. We could have...”
“Been a family?”
She looked at him hurt. “Yes.”
“We are a family.”
“You were protecting her and I was protecting her. I was protecting you. I didn't know what my life was going to be after everything that had happened but I saw yours was good. Haylee’s was good. You were happy.”
“I might have looked happy, but I was miserable on the inside. I wanted you, Jake.”
“I wanted you. Now we have each other and I’m not going anywhere. I will tell you every day for the rest of our lives until you stop feeling like I am going to leave you. I don’t plan on chasing my mother into the clubhouse, but I have to call Jason and tell him where and what she is planning.”
She nodded, stepping back. He caught her and pulled her against his side while he scrolled for Jason’s cell number. He hit dial, then looked back at Sydney. “You and I are a team now, together. We will decide together.”
“What are we going to tell Haylee?”
With the cell phone still to his ear, he kissed the side of Sydney’s forehead. “The truth. She’s a smart kid and she loves us both. She will understand...eventually.”
She made a pouting noise, which he found adorable. At least they were on the same page.
The phone went to voicemail. He was leaving a message as the rumble of a vehicle coming down the road caught his attention and he stopped mid-sentence. Who was coming down the road at this time of night?
He straightened.
Were they coming here?
He pulled Sydney out of the driveway and into the bush just as the black car pulled in. Jake instinctively put his arm across her middle to protect her from whoever was in that vehicle.
Who was it? Drake? One of his men?
He was devising a plan in his head as he watched a tall, strongly built man emerge from the driver’s side. He would recognize that confidence from anywhere.
“It’s okay,” he whispered to Sydney, who was latched onto him so tight, he would rather turn and take her on the earth’s ground then acknowledge the vehicle.
He turned to her. “It’s Jason. It’s okay.”
He felt the weight of her relief against his body.
As they emerged from the bush, the passenger’s door opened and the younger version of his mother stepped out. Cautiously checking her surroundings, Adalyn found Jake.
He breathed her name into the heated night.
It was Adalyn. She was alright. She was alive.
Jake stared at his sister, the girl who was now a woman−beautiful, safe and alive. She stared at him and he wondered what she was thinking.
He felt Sydney nudge his side and he looked down at her.
“Go,” she said.
Jake did as she said, meeting Adalyn half way. He hadn’t seen her in years and she had aged beautifully.
She looked as unsure as Jake felt. “Hi Jake,” she said, her voice was so quiet compared to the days in the clubhouse.
“Hi.”
“You look good.”
“You look good.”
She smiled a shy smile that made her look younger. “I’m a mess,” she said. “I have wanted to call you every day.”
“I have thought about you every day.”
Her smiled widened and Jake’s heart melted. He reached over and pulled his sister into his arms noting she was skinny under her yoga pants and sweater.
Her arms gripped him tightly and she spoke into his ear as though she couldn’t do it to his face. “Jake, thank you for standing up for me. It was your courage that gave me the strength to walk away from that lifestyle. Your persistence forced me to look past my anger at Dad and see who Mom really was. It was my own pride that kept me away from you all these years.”
Pride? Screw pride! “You're my sister. Pride means nothing.”
“I know.”
“Are you alright?”
She nodded. “I'm okay”
They were finally together.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
SYDNEY BOILED ANOTHER pot of water for tea before peeking into the living room where Jake, Joan and Adalyn were talking. By the softened looks across their faces, it seemed they were moving in a positive direction, which was fantastic. There was a lot of love between them tumbling around with a lot of secrets and lies that were long past due of being exposed. Sydney loved each of them and hoped for their sakes that they would sort through everything and move forward together, as a family.
Jake glanced over his shoulder as if sensing she was watching him. She didn’t shy away and when he saw her, he stood and walked into the kitchen. He didn’t say anything, his eyes spoke volumes: happiness, relief, exhaustion, fear. All wrapped up in a crazy late hour.
Jake wrapped his arm around her and walked her backwards and out of view. He didn’t let go until her back touched the counter. “I want to get married right away.”
“What are you talking about marrying me for when you have all this going on?”
He looked at her. “If we could leave right now, I would take you away and marry you tonight.”
That was a sweet thought. “I wouldn’t do that to Haylee.” She’d already been left out of enough secrets that they would have to re-build.
“We will talk to her together and we will help her to deal with the news together.” She loved his sweetness. “Then we are getting married.”
“Are you sure you want to marry me? I’m not good at keeping secrets and under stress I’ve learned I’m not that level headed.”
“Yes.” He answered so seriously that she laughed. “Are you sure you want to marry me? I have family baggage and I don’t like to talk about my emotions.”
“Yes.” She matched his seriousness and he kissed her.
“I love you,” he said.
She loved hearing him say it. “You what?”
His low deep chuckle sounded almost as wonderful. “I love you.”
“I love the sound of that.”
He repeated the three words, playfully kissing her neck.
A knock on the front door interrupted them. At the late hour it was alarming, but when Jake opened it Jason walked through looking solemn. He had bad news.
The group shared a knowing look before Jason spoke. “There was a shootout at the clubhouse tonight. I’m coming here unofficially since the bodies haven’t been officially identified.” He shared looks between Adalyn and Jake. She remembered Jake telling his mother not to go in the clubhouse and from the somber look across Jason’s face, Beth hadn’t listened.
Sydney felt Jake’s squeeze her hand as Jason spoke. “There were casualties. Drake was shot and killed.”
It was over. Relief ran through Sydney, but there was more to come.
“Beth was in the clubhouse and she didn’t make it out. I’m sorry Jake. Adalyn.”
Adalyn made a sound as tears dropped down her face. Joan embraced her shoulder and Sydney knew these two Stow siblings and Joan would work through all their struggles.
“She’s dead?” Jake asked as if needing to confirm it.
Jason nodded. “By my understanding, again unofficially, she was responsible for Drake’s death.”
Sydney felt tears fall from her eyes for Jake and Adalyn’s loss.
Jason left shortly after and Joan and Adalyn retired to their rooms. Sydney could see Jake’s mind working across his rigid set face. He would need space. She started up the stairs to go crawl into bed with Haylee. In the morning, everything would be better. She was scared and excited to talk to Haylee, but with Jake by her side, she was stronger.
“Where are you going?” Jake called behind her.
She wasn’t hurt knowing he would need space to sort through whatever was playing in his mind and she sent him a smile to let him know. She loved him for all of him. “To bed.”
He met her at the bottom of the stairs and held his hand out. “My...our...bedroom is on the main level.”
Her eyes fell down the hall to the master bedroom. “It’s okay if you need some space.”
He reached up and grabbed her hand. “I don’t need
space from you. I need you.”
That was all she needed to walk down the stairs and follow him into the master bedroom and snuggle under the sheets beside him.
“I’m sorry about your mom.”
“Me too.”
“I’m glad Mia never has to meet this man Drake or worry about him finding her. Your mom must have had some Stow blood in her too, to protect all of you the way she did.”
His arm squeezed around her. “Thanks.”
Sydney couldn’t keep her eyes open another second and fell asleep in the arms of the man she loved.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
SYDNEY GRASPED THE gorgeous bouquet of fresh purple lilacs wrapped in vintage lace from Haylee and inhaled their wonderful aroma. Lilacs, her favorite.
“Mom, this is crazy. There are literally hundreds of these flowers everywhere. Along the fenced in area, under the tent, outside the church, inside the church.” Haylee inhaled her bouquet and the same smile from the sweet aroma found her lips. “Uncle Jake...” Haylee paused. “...Dad?” She sent Sydney a confused smile. “Do you think he wants me to call him Dad?”
Sydney smiled at Haylee and gently touched the side of her face.
It was all happening so fast, but they had already waited so long to be together.
“Sweetheart, Jake would be honored if you called him Dad. But it doesn't define his love for you or yours for him. He wouldn’t be offended if you didn't feel comfortable calling him Dad because he loves you unconditionally no matter what title you choose to use.”
Haylee had taken the news just as Jake as said. Understanding...ish. After the initial shock and two days of moping about, sending them glares, Joan had offered to sit down with Haylee. The private words they shared had softened Haylee’s outlook. Mid-week on a wonderful evening...every evening spent with Jake seemed wonderful, complete in a way Sydney had never felt before...while Jake and Sydney had been sitting on the back deck discussing the weekend that was only taking place when Haylee was ready, she’d come to finally talk to them.
Sydney almost grinned recalling Haylee standing in front of them, her arms crossed, her weight on one leg and staring down at them with that all too familiar Stow stare. She was still mad at them for lying to her all these years which she made quite clear, but that night under the stars she claimed to understand their reasoning. She forgave them and that was the start of the new bond between the three of them: mother, father and daughter. A family bond that Jake had taught her was strong like no other. Sydney had waited until the next day to bring up the plans she couldn’t wait to share with Haylee, who had been ecstatic to be her maid of honor.
Lakeshore Love: The McAdams Sisters (By The Lake Book 3) Page 23