She nodded against his chest. “I don’t know what I would have done. And I couldn’t get to him. I wasn’t fast enough. If it wasn’t for you…”
She trailed off again, but he didn’t need her to finish the sentence. She couldn’t lose Bodhi like she’d lost her husband. She couldn’t say the words, but the fear written across her tear-stained face said everything.
He tightened his grip. “I’ve got you.”
She smiled up at him through her tears. “I know you do, Cam.”
The trust in her eyes hit him like a punch to the gut. He glanced over at Bodhi’s upturned bike. Its handlebars twisted and front wheel spinning, and he knew one thing for sure. He hadn’t lied to Cadence. The adrenaline coursing through his veins and that primal drive to protect Bodhi at whatever cost surged through him. He’d do anything to keep them out of harm’s way.
From the moment he’d heard her scream on his first night back in Denver—even before he found out she was Daisy—he’d felt this need to keep her safe. This connection telling him to watch over her.
“Can Cam come with us to see Daddy,” Bodhi asked as Cadence released a relieved breath.
“Bodhi, sweetheart, I’m not sure if Cam—” she began, but he stopped her.
“I’d like to join you, if that’s all right.”
She pulled back and he wiped a tear from her cheek.
“Are you sure?”
He’d never been more sure—certain that the only person who could have cared for Bodhi and Cadence as much as he did was buried near his parents in that cemetery, and he wanted to pay his respects to the man whose wife and child had given him a summer to be more than just the runaway Bergen heir.
He nodded. “It would be an honor to pay my respects to the kind of man worthy of you and your son.”
Camden flicked on the blinker of Cadence’s truck then turned onto the road leading up to the cemetery. There were more cars in the parking lot today than when he last visited—which wasn’t a big surprise since it was Father’s Day—but something else was different.
He was different, and it wasn’t just his appearance. He pulled into a parking spot and glanced in the rearview mirror at Bodhi, hugging his Teddy bear to his chest and leaning his head against the window.
For ten long years, he’d only cared for himself. Now, he couldn’t sleep at night unless he’d made sure every door to the house he shared with Cadence and Bodhi was locked and secure—just like his father had done when he was growing up.
After Bodhi’s near collision with the distracted driver, he’d carried the boy’s bike back to the house. They’d set it on the porch, and he’d checked the frame and wheels for damage but only found a few scrapes to the handlebars.
They’d gotten damn lucky that was the only sign of what could have been a tragedy beyond measure.
Cadence had grown quiet, watching him as he went over all the parts of the bike with Bodhi, her hand going to her neck.
She hadn’t put on the necklace with her husband’s ring since she’d taken it off that first night they’d made love. He hadn’t asked about it. It wasn’t his place. She’d probably put it back on after he’d left. But after what had transpired on the street—that near miss, when they could have lost Bodhi—the thought of leaving them, of not watching her drift off to sleep in his arms, of not spending his evenings working on the cardboard boat with Bodhi seemed unthinkable.
He’d found his focus, but could he keep it? Could he trust himself to be that kind of man? And did Cadence even want him to stay?
They’d agreed on the summer, and she wasn’t the kind of woman to push for more. She’d become a widow in her twenties. She was the sole provider for her son. She knew the hardships life could dole out. But when he held her close, when he was buried deep inside her, when words didn’t matter, his heart knew what did.
It was her. It was her son. It was this perfect temporary life they’d created.
Could it be more? Could he come clean with her about Mountain Mac?
“Can I run down the hill, Mommy?” Bodhi asked, cutting into his spiraling thoughts, but Cadence didn’t reply.
“Mom, can I take Mr. Cuddles and run over to see Daddy?” the boy tried again.
Cadence blinked as if she were waking from a trance. “Yes, but if you see people slow down. Remember, there are lots of moms and dads buried here, and we need to be respectful of all the people visiting their loved ones.”
“Okay, Mom.”
The boy took off his seatbelt, scooted off his booster seat, and opened the door. He skipped down the path leading from the parking lot and into the cemetery, dotted with trees and rows of flowers with the curved headstones and grave markers filling the emerald sea of rolling grass.
“Is Bodhi going to be all right on his own?” he asked.
She smiled. “He knows the way to his daddy. But you’re right, we better catch up with him.”
They got out of the truck and started down the path.
He rested his hand on the small of her back. “Are you all right?”
“I’m still just a little shaken.”
He glanced down the path and caught Bodhi jumping over the cracks in the pavement.
“He’s safe, Cadence. Just look at him. There’s not even a scratch on him.”
She stopped but kept her gaze trained on her son. “I keep wondering if that’s what it looked like when Aaron was hit. I keep seeing that Jeep drifting, and Bodhi right in its path.” She turned to him. “Thank you, Cam.”
He tucked a lock of golden hair behind her ear. “Just a day in the life of a Flower Ninja.”
She released a sweet chuckle. “I think you mean Flower Fairy and…”
“What?”
She gasped. “I forgot the flowers. They’re still in the car.”
“Want me to get them?”
She waved him off. “I could use a minute to get myself together. Would you mind catching up to Bodhi?”
He handed her the keys to the truck. “Sure, take your time.”
She reached up and cupped his cheek—a sweet, gentle touch so familiar it was like he’d never lived without it. Like they lived in an alternate universe where days equaled years.
She set off back to the car, and he scanned the vast expanse of green and found Bodhi standing not far from where his parents were laid to rest. He’d set Mr. Cuddles on the headstone and gestured wildly with his hands.
Cam grinned, listening as the boy finished singing one of their camp songs then stilled at the mention of his name.
“Camden is my new friend,” Bodhi began. “He’s the biggest one out of all his brothers, and he taught me how to ride my bike, and he’s helping me build my cardboard boat for the big regatta at Smith Lake. He makes Mommy smile, and I wish he didn’t have to go back to Switzerland, but Mommy says you keep a little part of everyone you meet in your heart. So, I’ll always have a little bit of Cam just like I’ll always have a little bit of you, Daddy.”
Cam took a step forward and cracked a twig and Bodhi looked over his shoulder then waved him over.
“Cam, this is my dad, Aaron Lowry,” he said, taking his hand.
“It’s nice to meet you,” Camden replied, his voice thick with emotion.
“Where does your dad live?” Bodhi asked.
Cam pointed across the cemetery. “My dad lives here, too. Right over there. See those two big granite stones?”
Bodhi nodded.
“That’s where my parents live.”
Bodhi looked up at him. “Your mom is here, too?”
“Yeah, she is.”
Bodhi scrunched up his face, thinking hard, then gasped. “I know! I could share my mommy with you.”
“You’d do that, B?”
Bodhi nodded. “Yeah, you make her laugh a lot, and you’re always smiling at her. She’s an easy mom to love.”
The breath caught in his throat. “She sure is.”
Bodhi frowned. “She is going to make you eat vegetables and o
atmeal with bananas.”
He chuckled. “Do you think carrot cake counts as a vegetable?”
Bodhi leaned into him and sighed. “I already tried that. Mom says no.”
He gazed down at the boy with emerald green eyes.
“I’m glad you’re here, Cam,” the boy said then squeezed his hand.
Three distinct little pumps.
I love you.
“Now, it’s your turn,” Bodhi said.
He glanced down at the boy’s little hand curled around his and knew there wasn’t a damn thing he wouldn’t do for him. There wasn’t a car he wouldn’t jump in front of or a boat he wouldn’t build.
Gently, he squeezed the boy’s hand four times.
I love you, too.
And he did.
“Hey, you two,” Cadence said with tears in her eyes.
“I’ll do the flowers, Mom.”
She handed Bodhi the bouquet of daisies, and the boy set to work arranging them in the vase at the base of the headstone.
He swallowed past the emotion in his throat. “Do you want me to give you a minute alone?”
She shook her head. “Remember, we agreed, this is our time when we don’t have to be alone.”
She turned to Aaron’s headstone. “Hi, babe, I’m sure Bodhi let you in on all the excitement. He’s riding his bike without training wheels, and he’s still here with me thanks to the angel you sent into our lives.” Cadence looked up at him and smiled. “I like to think that Aaron has a hand in all the good things that come our way. Last year, on the anniversary of his death, I went on that mountain biking forum, and that’s when I met my friend, Mountain Mac who helped me find the courage to get back on a bike and gave me the strength to help Bodhi learn. And then, he sent us you.”
Camden glanced at Bodhi, who’d retrieved Mr. Cuddles and was whooshing him around in the air like the bear could fly then met Cadence’s sky-blue gaze.
“You think Aaron sent me?”
She nodded as something sparkled over her shoulder, and he looked on as the rays of golden Colorado sun shined on his parents’ headstones. The light splintered off the onyx-colored granite just as it had off the water when he and his father had climbed into his cardboard boat and set off across Smith Lake with his mother cheering and waving to them.
Look at where you want to be. Find that spot and focus on it.
Cadence turned and looked over her shoulder. “Do you want to go visit your parents?”
“I think they know I’m here,” he said as the weight of his shame and anguish melted away with each ray of sunlight glinting off the polished surface.
He took Cadence’s hands into his. “Do you mind if we take a little detour on the way home?”
“Not at all. What were you thinking?” she asked then called Bodhi over as they started back to the car.
They made it to the parking lot, and he opened the car door for her then helped Bodhi into his booster seat in the back.
“I’d like to go by my house.”
“Your house? But you live with us,” Bodhi said, hugging Mr. Cuddles.
He ruffled the boy’s hair. “I grew up not far from here. I haven’t seen it in a long time.”
“Does your family still own it,” Cadence asked, securing her seatbelt.
He shook his head. “No, they sold it.”
He started the truck and pulled out of the parking spot—the wheels in his head turning faster than the vehicle’s. They drove in silence down the winding boulevard, past the streets and landmarks he’d never forget when he glanced into the rearview mirror and caught Bodhi, blinking his eyes, fighting to stay awake after the long, action-packed day. He reached over and rested his hand on Cadence’s knee, and she set hers on top of his as he navigated the Denver streets.
“Your childhood home was near your grandparents’ place?” Cadence asked as he turned onto the boulevard that led to Ray and Harriet’s estate.
“Yeah, it wasn’t as fancy as my grandparents’ place. With three boys born so close together, my mom always said we should live in a barn.”
Cadence chuckled. “Oh, I couldn’t agree more—and I only have one.”
He stopped at the intersection, turned, then slowed as the hazy light diffused by the grand beech trees lining the street led him home.
“That’s it. The Tudor style home with the…”
“The one for sale with all the daisies growing next to the porch?” she asked.
“Yeah, that’s it.”
“It’s a beautiful home, Cam.”
It was just as he’d remembered. But the daisies. Those were new.
She sighed. “I always pictured Bodhi and I living in a house like this.”
He wasn’t expecting her to say that.
“What about Glenna and Gertrude’s place—the paired homes? You’ve put so much work into them?”
She sat back and stared at the Tudor. “Those houses were Aaron’s dream. Of course, I supported him, and I loved the idea of renovating them—but not alone. Not on my own.”
“I can understand that,” he answered, and he knew what he wanted to do.
It wouldn’t be easy. He could lose her, or he could get everything he never dreamed possible. But he had to try.
14
Cadence
“Are we still pretending that Camden is just your neighbor?” Elle asked with a smirk.
Cadence glanced around Ray and Harriet Bergen’s backyard. It had been transformed into a summer evening wonderland with a live string quartet, twinkling lights, and tables dotted with votive candles. Wildflower bouquets scented the cool night air as people mingled and danced at Brennen and Abby’s joint bachelor and bachelorette party.
“Are you sure that’s just sparkling apple juice in your champagne flute?” she asked.
Elle downed the liquid. “Oh yes, because if this is Dom Perignon, then I’m Lady Godiva.”
Cadence chuckled, and Elle set her empty juice flute on the table.
“We need to discuss your Man Find,” she said, snagging another sparkling apple juice from a passing waiter.
Oh, not this again! She could almost kill Abby for making up those cheeky little monikers. Brennen was Abby’s Man Fast. Jasper was Elle’s Man Feast, and whoever Mountain Mac was—Abby had coined him into being her Man Find.
Cadence took a sip of champagne. “You mean my online mountain bike friend? The one you’re sure is either in jail or living in his mother’s basement?”
“Or a secret agent, unable to reveal his true identity,” Elle added, her expression growing serious.
Cadence cocked her head to the side, and Elle gave a little frustrated shake of her head.
“Sorry, I shifted gears from travel books and started writing a thriller a few days ago. Blame it on all the pregnancy hormones. So, bear with the drama. And no, I’m not referring to your internet pen pal. I’m talking about my brother-in-law. You seem to have found yourself living next door to quite a find. He cleans up quite nicely,” she added with that perfect Elle Reynolds-Bergen smirk back in place.
“What would make you think there’s something going on?” Cadence asked, stealing a glance at Camden, who looked like a mountain of yummy wrapped in a suit.
But something was going on, and it wasn’t the something Elle was referring to.
After Bodhi’s close call with the distracted driver and their visit to Aaron’s grave, Camden had started acting differently. It wasn’t like he ignored them. Besides the few times he’d borrowed her truck to run to the store, the only time she wasn’t with him was that first hour of the day when she’d wake with a daisy on her pillow.
Bodhi’s Daisy Fairy.
Her literal live-in sex god.
But something was different. He’d checked in with Carrie everyday at camp, confirming she could still babysit for Bodhi so they could attend the party and had even gone as far as checking with Carrie’s camp counterpart, Luke, to see if he could be their backup sitter in case Carrie couldn’t w
atch Bodhi at the last minute. At first, it was sweet. But by Thursday, she’d asked if he had something up his sleeve.
And what had he done? He’d gone all Bergen bobblehead, shaking his head when she’d asked if he was up to something.
And then there was the texting and the furtive phone calls. Unlike ninety-nine percent of the civilized world, Camden Bergen had hardly glanced at his phone for the first two weeks she’d known him—until this week.
Elle gripped her forearm. “Scrub the Man Find intel,” she said under her breath. “Bergen One and Bergen Three are at ten o’clock, and they’re coming in hot.”
Cadence glanced up to see Cam and Jasper headed their way and laughed. “Will you be talking like a secret agent all night, Elle?”
Elle pinched the bridge of her nose. “Damn! Am I doing it again? It’s all the research seeping out into my real life. Last night, I found an old grocery list I’d written and set it on fire in the sink to destroy the evidence. Jasper thought I’d lost my mind.”
“Speaking of losing your mind,” Jasper said, then pressed a kiss to Elle’s cheek. “I’ve checked the perimeter, per your request, and haven’t identified any foreign operatives infiltrating the party.”
Elle gestured with her chin, not so subtly, toward the cake table. “What about the French pastry chef? He was all sweaty and jittery when he arrived. What’s he supposed to be doing?”
Jasper bit back a grin. “One, he brought the cake. And two, I think he’s just afraid of Cam.”
Camden blew out a tight breath. “I tried to apologize to the guy. I feel terrible about ruining his cake.”
“Pierre gets a little edgy anytime he sees Cam walk by,” Jasper added with a bemused smirk that matched Elle’s.
“Edgy?” Camden echoed. “More like borderline homicidal. The guy throws out his arms in front of the cake like I’m about to hurl myself at it every time I walk by. I hope he’s not making the wedding cake, too.”
Elle shook her head. “I don’t think so. Abby and Bren are having the wedding cake flown in from some bakery in Kansas City.”
Jasper nodded. “Yes, Brennen is friends with the chef who flew out to cook for us tonight. They met at the Aspen Food and Wine Festival a few years ago. His wife is quite an accomplished baker, and she’ll be making the cake.”
Man Find (Bergen Brothers Book 3) Page 18