Always (Family Justice Book 1) (68 page)

“So, Cameron wasn’t part of this?” Lacey questioned.

“I didn’t know until just now that he even knew about it. Guess Drae told him after he ran from the barn.”

“So the red rope is what?”

“Well, besides a thoughtful and well-meaning way of reminding me of an embarrassing moment—it’s a length of jute that’s used for bondage.”

“Bondage?” Tori shrieked.

Meghan told her to shut the fuck up when Stephanie looked over at them when she heard Tori’s yelp. Cam, Drae, and Alex all looked like they were about to fall down laughing.

“We are one seriously fucked-up bunch of clowns,” she muttered aloud to no one in particular.

Lacey and Tori hugged her from either side.

“Aw, come on, Red,” Lacey cooed. “It’s Christmas. Let’s at least try for elves instead of clowns.”

They stood there in a sisterly hug and laughed. This was what made their family so unique.

IT HAD BEEN A LONG day for everyone and was getting late when talk finally turned to the significance of the New Year on the horizon and what that meant for all of them.

Lacey, everyone discovered, had decided to start taking child development classes online and work toward a degree in early childhood. She gushed enthusiastically about the shed at the edge of the side yard at the cabin that Cameron was renovating. He was creating a small office that she could ‘go to’ when she studied so it felt more like attending class than squeezing in study time.

Stephanie was pleased to hear how contented and fulfilled Lacey was. She was a calming influence on Victoria. It was good that her daughter had a close friend nearby who was also a first-time mother trying to figure it all out.
Good for Lacey
, she thought. Expanding her world was only going to make her a happier wife and mother.

The boys were like a bunch of excited kids at space camp, excitedly rambling on about their new vision for the agency. Calder was the lead geek in charge, babbling enthusiastically about his part in the venture. They decided to call his division Tech ‘n Toys and unilaterally decided in Brody’s absence that he was responsible for organizing the monthly poker game—with the ladies permission for a guys’ night out, of course.

It really was gearing up to be a helluva year.

Tori and Drae shared that after the upcoming wedding, they were planning a belated honeymoon and that Carmen had agreed to tag along as Daniel’s nanny since, with the Villa empty while Alex and Meghan also honeymooned, she wouldn’t have anything to do. Besides—who’d turn down a luxury vacation in a private estate on Maui?

When Meghan and Alex started talking about the wedding and how they couldn’t wait for Alex’s little sister, Angelina, to arrive from Spain, it dawned on Stephanie that once the new year began and things returned to normal—it’d be time for her to leave. Hearing that Angie was due for an extended stay leading up to the big day only drove the point home further.

She glanced at her daughter. Tori was nestled against her husband’s chest, with their precious son in her arms while Drae’s arm stayed protectively around her shoulder. They’d weathered the storm and come out the other side stronger and happier than before.

Stephanie had achieved what she came here to do. Her daughter and husband were on solid ground. Daniel was strong, healthy, and growing like a weed. That was what it had all been about. It was time to think about leaving.

But every time she heard Calder laugh, or felt his arm brush up against hers, or smelled his cologne—she struggled.

As the group left and it was time to say their good-byes, there were a lot of hugs and kisses to go around. This had been a Christmas Stephanie was likely never to forget.

Calder asked if she wanted to return to the casita with him, but she couldn’t face any of that right now. Luckily, she had the excuse of Daniel’s first Christmas for duck and cover, but she couldn’t ignore the bummed out way he’d accepted her refusal.

She needed time to think. To put things in perspective and start making plans. In four months, she’d be fifty. There was a little boy in her life now that one day would call her mom mom. That she’d begun to lose her heart to the handsome surfer-nerd was a complication she hadn’t seen coming and didn’t know how to deal with.

“WHAT THE FUCK IS UP with you, Unc?” Alex asked.

Calder heard the unmistakable sound of genuine concern beneath the sarcastic question.

“Stephanie’s leaving soon,” he muttered.

Alex tossed the prospectus he was reading onto the desk and joined Calder at the wet bar just as he was pouring Maker’s Mark into a tumbler. He caught his nephew’s quizzical look and probably shouldn’t have been surprised when he drawled, “It’s serious, then, I take it,” as he looked pointedly at the distinctive bottle with the red wax drip. “Converted you, she did,” he quipped. “Taken the Dirty Bird to the dark side, she has.”

Humph
. It was true. Shit was serious. She’d most definitely converted him. And as far as that dark side stuff? If the seething anger he was feeling over his powerlessness in this situation was any indication, then—yes.
Yes.
There was some dark side shit going down.

Alex reached for the Glenfiddich and poured a couple of fingers out then fixed him with a mocking smirk. “Now you see with me and Red? I didn’t pussy out like someone else I know did and start changing my ways.”

Her knocked back a healthy slug of the golden liquid then banged the glass on the bar for emphasis. “But unfortunately,” he admitted in a conspiratorial tone, “the lady can drink my ass under the table so that’s a bit of a problem. But I’ll be damned if I’m going to give up my whiskey so she can housebreak me into drinking that Jameson shit.”

“Fuck you, Alex,” Calder muttered with a chuckle before he took an enormous mouthful of his drink, swallowed it, and tracked the slow burn all the way down his throat into his stomach.

“Feel better? Want me to get you a blankie? You’re not gonna cry, are you?”

“No. No, and fuck no, you little shit. Stop making fun of me. This is serious, dude.”

“As someone who at one point lost his damn mind and drove the best thing that ever happened to him away, I have to ask you this.
Why
is she leaving?”

“
Jesus fucking Christ!
I don’t know. Some bullshit about needing to know where her life’s going and a bunch of crap that has nothing to do with anything that she insists she has to take care of.”

“
Humph
,” his nephew grunted. “Sounds like she’s running. What did you do?”

Calder flinched. What the fuck did that mean? “I didn’t
dooooo
anything,” he bit out.

Alex studied him for a moment and shook his head. Was that sympathy he saw in his expression? “You haven’t told her, have you?”

“Told her what?”

“That you’re in love with her, of course.
Stupid ass
.”

Calder groaned. “Aw shit, Alex. Come on. Cut me a break. We’ve only known each other a month. Am I in love with her? How the fuck do I know? It’s all so new and fucking confusing as hell.”

“I guess it’s harder as you get older, and I don’t mean that like a jab. There’s so much more to consider when you have two successful grown-ups. Houses, careers, families. Is that what’s causing the bump in the road?”

Snorting in disgust Calder jeered, “Bull’s-eye, dude. I can take care of her till the wheels come off, y’know? But it’s not about money. I get it. I do. She has a career she fought for and built over many years.”

“Yeah,” Alex agreed, “but that kinda leaves you fucked, right?”

“A month, Alex. I’ve known her for a fucking
month
.”

“That’s a shitty argument. Get a better one.”

Calder glowered at his nephew but knew he was right. Love didn’t have a calendar or a stopwatch. It came when it came and could leave that way, too.

“Look, Unc,” Alex said. “All I know is this. If you don’t tell her how you feel and she gets on that plane, you’re a damn fool and get what you deserve. If you tell her and she still gets on the plane…”

Calder had trouble breathing at the mere thought

“Then you have to decide what you’re willing to do to get her back.”

TORI WAS BESIDE HERSELF. HER mother was upstairs packing to leave and nothing, none of the well-crafted arguments she and Draegyn had come up with to persuade her to stay, seemed to be having any affect.

With every day that ticked on by, her mom became more tense and anxious. Adamant that it was time for her to go. Tori could sense her reluctance. Suspected it had a lot to do with Calder but didn’t know how to broach the subject. No daughter ever expects to get involved in her mother’s love life so she didn’t know what to say.

New Year’s Eve was a quiet, stay-at-home affair. She and Draegyn invited her mother and Calder to join them for a late dinner. They’d agreed and came as a couple, but it was easy to see there were cracks in the relationship. When her mom started making departure noises less than a week later, Tori figured some sort of personal Rubicon had been crossed.

Bottom line—she didn’t want her mom to go. Calder or no Calder. At first, it was just great having her around, but now that Daniel was here, Tori viewed a lot of things differently. The baby was six weeks old and she couldn’t believe how much he’d grown and changed in so short a time. She didn’t want her mom to miss out on any of that and knew in her heart of hearts those feelings had a lot to do with losing her dad at such a young age. Time was precious and not to be wasted.

A thought exploded in Tori’s mind, sending her dropping into a chair like a lead weight.
This isn’t about her.
Or what
she
wanted. This was all about her mom. About Stephanie Caswell Bennett, the woman.
Shit.
She’d been approaching the whole thing the wrong way.

The deep, sexy laugh of her husband came from behind and got closer. “Look Big D, we caught Mommy all by her lonesome. Let’s sneak a kiss, shall we?”

The sight of Draegyn St. John swaggering about with a baby sling across his broad chest never failed to give Tori a case of the giggleswoons.
God, he just gets sexier and sexier.

He leaned down and kissed her sweetly. They started calling these stolen moments, Mommy and Daddy kisses—quick but effective. Tori looked forward to those lovely kisses. Soon, they’d get the official go ahead to resume being fully intimate. Though they’d indulged in every imaginable intimacy that didn’t involve actual intercourse, she was kind of over all the easy does it gentle stuff.

She’d been giving this subject a lot of thought lately. It had been quite some time since she and her oversexed husband had let loose. When it came time, Tori figured a warm-up session to test out the equipment, see if any adjustments were necessary—would be a good thing. After that? Balls to the pounding. She wanted him to claim her the way he had at the beginning—something she suspected he wanted, too.

“Big D, hm
mmm
?” she teased quietly. “That’s an interesting nickname.”

He smiled with that arrogant smirk he did so well.

“Where’s Mom?” he asked, glancing around looking for her. “I want to show her something out in the shop.”

Hmmph
. “She’s upstairs packing,” she muttered through gritted teeth.