One Warm Winter

by Jamie Pope

  “You’re so beautiful!” She stepped away and studied her. “Are you having a baby? I’m going to be a grandmama? I would like to be a grandmama. I always thought I would make a better grandmama than mama. I could just love and kiss the babies and then you can take them home because I don’t like it when they cry.”

  “I have three babies already. Two girls and a boy. This is my fourth child.”

  “Are you married?”

  “Yes, ma’am.” She looked back at Julian and reached her hand out to him. “This is my husband Julian.”

  Wynter felt overwhelmed in that moment. She had to look away from them, from Sunny’s moment with Grace. She was ashamed to admit that she felt disappointed that Grace didn’t recognize her when she saw her. But she shouldn’t have expected that.

  Grace was clearly fragile. The last time she had seen Wynter was when she was ten. It made sense that she didn’t recognize her, but there was still a little bit of hurt there.

  A strong arm wrapped around her and then she was enveloped in Cullen’s embrace. He kissed the side of her face and smoothed his hand down her back. “I wish I knew what to say to you, love. But I’m here. I just want you to know that I’m here.”

  She had missed him. It had barely been twenty-four hours, but she had missed his closeness. “I’m sorry, Cullen.”

  “For what?” He kissed her forehead. “For making me realize that things changed between us and I can’t keep treating you like I work for your father?”

  “I’m pretty sure you don’t work for my father now. He’s not happy about us.”

  “I knew that was going to happen. You make me do things I never thought I would do.”

  Wynter felt a hand on her back and turned to see Grace standing behind her. “You’re my other baby, aren’t you?” She looked into Wynter’s eyes and studied her face.

  “Yes.”

  “I tried to come get you once, but you didn’t know about me. Warren said I scared you. I’m sorry I did that. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

  Wynter nodded. “I’m sorry I didn’t know who you were.”

  “I did it because I love you.” She placed her warm hand on Wynter’s cheek. “I couldn’t take care of you. I have a hard time being a mama. Don’t be mad at your father. He knew better.”

  “Can I hug you?”

  “Yes.” She smiled beautifully. “I would like that very much.”

  Wynter hugged Grace. Her mind went blank. She felt something settle inside her. She finally knew where she had come from. She didn’t have to search anymore.

  Chapter 21

  They had spent the day with Grace at her mountainside retreat. They had lunch and they talked, Sunny leading the conversation with all the questions she had wanted answered her entire life. They were mostly about Grace’s family. Where were they? How could they let her pull Sunny out of school and take her across the country? Grace’s mother died in childbirth. Her father had died when she was twenty. There was an elderly aunt who was in her life, but she had passed away too. Grace had been alone.

  There was a point in the day when she got overwhelmed and tired and abruptly got up and left the room. Wynter’s father followed her, along with her two nurses and made sure she got in bed. He came back to tell them that they weren’t allowed to talk to Grace anymore for that day. That it was all too much for her.

  It really brought home the fact that her birth mother was sick. But it made her realize that her father truly did care for her. There was no romantic love when he looked at Grace, but there was love there and if it weren’t for him, Grace would be alone. No one would care for her. It made her feelings for her father more complicated. He wasn’t all good or all bad. He would forever be this giant gray area in her life.

  “She was having a good day,” he said to Wynter and Sunny as they were leaving the house. “They’re not all good. We seemed to have finally gotten the right combination of medicine.”

  “I wish you would have told me,” Wynter said. “I would have understood. I could have known her sooner.”

  He shook his head. “You don’t know how long it took for us to get to this point. There were times when she wasn’t safe. She would go into deep, dark places in her mind and it was impossible to pull her out. I don’t know how Sunny survived and when I found out that Grace had left her, I knew that she couldn’t be around you. I had to protect you. You are my greatest asset.”

  She went home, thinking about that conversation. Sunny and Julian checked into a hotel and she and Cullen returned to her home. Wynter was exhausted by the day. Meeting her birth mother and her sister in the same day was something she would have never thought would happen. She was still processing the enormity of it all. She was happy to have extended her family and yet the person she wanted to hear from the most was her mother. She called her that night as soon as she got home.

  Her mother picked up on the first ring. “Hello, darling.”

  “Hello, Mom. I’ve missed you.”

  There was a pause. “I missed you too. I’m surprised that that is the first thing you said to me.”

  “What did you think I was going to say?”

  “I thought you would be very angry with me.”

  “I’m not angry. I’m sad. I wish it didn’t have to be like this.”

  “I wanted to tell you a thousand times. I begged him to tell you, but it was his story to tell. He was afraid to admit things to you, because he thought you would think less of him as a man.”

  “But finding out from the media was better?”

  “We were both knocked backward by that one. He needed to protect you, but we also had to protect Grace. I’m not saying we handled things the right way, and I’m not saying I’m not extremely angry with your father for closing you out during this time, but Grace was a very large priority. We didn’t want her identity exposed. We didn’t want her mental illness to be splashed across the media and her to be painted as some crazy woman your father had an affair with. She’s more than that.”

  “She said you visit her.”

  “I do. I like her. She’s fragile. There’s not good care in this country for people like her. The system is broken and institutions put bandages on these people’s problems and kick them out on the street like they aren’t human. I went with your father to pick her up from the hospital when she was taken there by the police for acting erratically. She called him because she had no one else. She had no shoes on and just a thin hospital gown and they were going to release her like that. It was disgusting. I knew we had to step in.”

  “You’re the one who designed her house, aren’t you?”

  “Yes. I always want her to feel at peace there.”

  “You don’t hate her at all? There’s no anger there?”

  “None. She gave me my baby. I never thought I was going to be a mother, but because of her I got to be and it has brought me my greatest joy.”

  “I love you, Mom.”

  “I love you too. Now, what’s this about your bodyguard I’m hearing?”

  “Dad told you already?”

  “Your father tells me everything. Believe it or not, there are no lies between us. It’s not a relationship for everyone, but for us it works. We love each other. I don’t expect you to understand it, but we do.”

  “I’m in love with Cullen,” she admitted to her mother.

  “I’ve always liked him. He was very attentive to you whenever I saw him. His gaze never left you, his hand lingered on your back just a moment longer than was necessary. I pushed your father to hire him. You needed a younger man in your life.”

  “What?”

  “Wynter, my darling, you are a person who was in desperate need of some fun. Please tell me you have fun with him.”

  She thought back to their time on the island. To their skinny-dipping in the waterfall, to his birthday party, to their sightseeing in Europe, to those quiet nights they just sat around the table and played cards. She enjoyed him. His smile, his quiet presence, his str
ength. “We have fun.”

  “Good. You have my blessing. I’ll work on your father.”

  “Thank you. Can I come see you soon?”

  “Of course. Come tomorrow. Bring your sister. I would like to meet her.”

  They said their good-byes and disconnected. Wynter left her bedroom and walked down the hall to her guest room, where she found Cullen sitting on the bed with his packed bag beside him. She froze for a moment by the door.

  He was leaving. Of course, he was. This was all over. There was no reason for him to stay. He had a home with his friends on an island and she knew as much as she enjoyed it, that that life just wasn’t for her.

  “Can I come in?”

  “Please do.” He patted the bed beside him. She sat next to him, close enough so that their arms were touching. “I didn’t want to bother you while you were on the phone with your mum. Did you have a good chat?”

  “Yes. She made things clearer for me. I wish my father was able to say things like she can.”

  “We men are not often good at that. There’s a million things I want to say to you, but most of the time I can’t find the right words. Or there are things that I think you already know, but you don’t because but you can’t read my mind.”

  She rested her head on his shoulder, holding back her tears. She had cried enough today, but it was hard to hear that the man you love was ready to walk out of your life. “What do you want to tell me? What do you think I should know?”

  “I often think I’m not good enough for you. That I don’t deserve to be with you.”

  “That’s ridiculous.”

  “Don’t interrupt me, love. I’m trying to tell you things.”

  “I’m sorry.” She smiled. “Go ahead.”

  “You have a doctorate. I dropped out of school.”

  “But—”

  “Hush. I don’t need you to make me feel better. I need you to listen.”

  “Okay.”

  “I know you won’t be happy living on the island. I know you need to work to be fulfilled. I know you want your own home and family. I know you want a normal life.”

  She opened her mouth to speak, but shut it when he looked at her.

  “I don’t know how normal life would be with me. What is an ex–intelligence agent supposed to do with his life? I have some money saved. Sometimes, I think I would like to go to university.”

  “I like that idea. What would you study?”

  “English, I think. I would like to write my story down and I don’t want it to be a jumbled mess.”

  “Would you publish it?”

  “Maybe. You think anyone would want to read about me?”

  “Yes. I find you fascinating.”

  “Would you be okay with a husband who went to school? I can work part-time as a consultant for security firms as well. I don’t want you to think I won’t be contributing.”

  She shook her head, not sure she heard him correctly. “What?”

  “I’ve always turned down consulting jobs before, because I thought I would be better in the field, but I can work from home.”

  “Not that. The husband part.”

  “See? I keep forgetting you can’t read my mind. I’ve loved you for a long time. I think it started happening the moment I shook your hand for the first time. I had gotten so used to loving you in silence, so used to hiding my love that I don’t tell you I love you. But I do love you. I love you more than should be possible.”

  “Cullen . . .”

  “I want to marry you. I want to be the father of your children. I want to create a home with you.” He pulled a ring out of his bag and went down on his knee before her. “That is, if you’ll have me.”

  “I thought you were about to leave!”

  He frowned. “Why?”

  “You were sitting here with your bags packed.”

  “I was hoping to move into your room tonight. I missed you. I’m afraid you’re stuck with me, love.”

  She grabbed him by the collar and pulled him in for a kiss. “I love you.”

  “I love you too. Now don’t keep me hanging. Will you marry me?”

  “Oh, I had forgotten you can’t read my mind.” She smiled. “The answer is yes.”

  “Thank God, because I wasn’t taking no for an answer.”

  Epilogue

  “I wasn’t sure you would come,” Wynter said to Jazz as they sat together on the porch swing at her sister’s home a few months later. Sunny lived in a large, rambling oceanfront home on a little island in South Carolina. It turned out it was the perfect place to have a private beach ceremony.

  “You asked me. I came,” Jazz responded. “You make my friend happy. I owe you for that.”

  A lot had happened since Cullen had proposed to her. They had left her life in D.C. and they moved to Charleston. She had been open to moving anywhere, but she and Cullen had gone down for a visit to check out the university and he had fallen in love with the city. They had put an offer down on a house before the end of their trip. Wynter had already had a job lined up for her, but it was Cullen who went back to work first. Just part-time, but he was an instructor at a military school there and he loved working with the young men. He had already enrolled in his own college classes. He was happy. Wynter loved seeing him that way.

  “You’re not mad at me for keeping my identity from you?”

  “No. I was miffed that you didn’t tell me yourself, but I figured out who you were far before any of the men did.”

  “You knew?”

  “Yes. That day we went for manicures, I saw your last name on your credit card and then it clicked. How many people are named Wynter Bates? I wanted to hate you, but your father was real shitty to you.”

  “So if my father hadn’t been shitty, you would not be here now?”

  “I would. I got to know you. You became my friend. I don’t have very many of them. I can’t afford to lose you.”

  “Thank you,” she said, taking Jazz’s hand. “You look very pretty.”

  She looked down at herself. “This bridesmaid dress is not my style, but it’s all right.”

  “You’re supposed to say thank you when someone gives you a compliment.”

  “Thank you. Why did you pick me to be your maid of honor? I was sure once you learned you had a sister that you would forget about me.”

  “Sunny is very special to me, but she just had a baby and she has three other kids.”

  “Are you saying you didn’t want to burden her with this stupid job?”

  “Precisely.” She grinned. “Plus, I knew I could count on you to help me to throw together this wedding quickly. You are extremely resourceful.”

  “But your parents are billionaires. You could have had a huge wedding with a planner and a million guests.”

  “That’s not what we wanted. You know us better. I knew I could trust you to make everything beautiful and you did. You got to work as soon as you landed and you’ve been a whirlwind ever since.”

  “I met your birth mother today,” she said softly.

  “She was with your other mother. She was clinging onto her. Do you think she’ll be all right?”

  “I think so. We’ve been talking to her about it for two weeks now. That’s why we chose to have the ceremony here at Sunny’s. It was private enough and it was close enough to fly her home, just in case it’s too much. She hasn’t left her home in years. This is a lot for her, but I’m happy she’s here.”

  “I’m happy things worked out for you, but why did you have to throw this wedding together so fast? If you had given me more time, I could have made things even more beautiful.”

  “Cullen wanted to rush.”

  “Why?” Jazz looked over at her, puzzled.

  Wynter took her hand and placed it on her belly. “You’re going to be an aunt in six months.”

  “What!”

  “Hush. You’re the only one who knows, besides Cullen.”

  “Why are you telling me this?”

&nbs
p; “Because . . . You’re my best friend and I wanted you to know.”

  Jazz’s eyes began to tear. “Thank you. I appreciate that.”

  “Love?” Cullen walked up to them. He was looking dashing in a blue chambray summer suit. “Everyone’s here. And I’m growing impatient to call you my wife.”

  “I’m ready.” She smiled up at him and reached for his hand as she stood.

  “Isn’t it bad luck for the bride and groom to see each other before the wedding?” Jazz asked.

  Cullen laughed. It was hard to think that a year ago she had never heard him do that. She had never seen him smile, but now it was constant. Now she couldn’t imagine a life where she didn’t get to see his smile every day.

  “I don’t believe in bad luck, Jazz. How could I? My life has gotten better every day since I met Wyn.”

  “I feel the same way,” Wyn said.

  Cullen leaned down to kiss her, setting his hand on her belly. “Let’s go, love. I can’t wait to start my life with you.”

  If you enjoyed ONE WARM WINTER, don’t miss

  Sunny and Julian’s story

  in

  MOSTLY SUNNY

  by

  Jamie Pope

  Available at your favorite retailer or e-retailer

  Turn the page for a peek at

  Sunny and Julian’s romance!

  Chapter 1

  It had been so dark in the closet that Sunny couldn’t see her hand in front of her face. She didn’t know how long she had been in there. Mama had made her get in again.

  Stay where you’ll be safe, baby.

  It was the same thing she had always told her before she made her go in there. But this time Sunny had been in there for a long time. So long that she had lost track of the days. So long she thought her eyes had stopped working and she couldn’t see anymore. She could still hear things. The muffled noises coming from the next-door neighbors, the ambulance sirens that went by the apartment every so often. She could hear herself breathing and her heart beating. She could hear her stomach growl because she ran out of the food Mama had left for her. She could smell herself, and feel the stickiness of her skin.