Road to Peace (27 page)

Ryan joined me and gave me a gentle hug, thanking me for my help.

“Where’s her husband, or whatever he is?” I asked.

“Merrick said he saw him in the bathroom drinking from a flask. I thought about going and getting him, but, honestly, I just don’t give a shit,” he admitted in a whisper.

“I don’t blame you.” I glanced around. “Is Alison’s dad here yet?”

Ryan shook his head. “I don’t know if he’s coming.”

“Oh,” I breathed out. “Okay.”

“It’s fine, Maisie. People are going to be arriving soon, though. Not sure what I’m going to do with her.” He nodded toward Phyllis when he said “her.”

“Get your cop friends to escort her out if she becomes a problem, Ryan. Seriously, don’t feel bad. I’m surprised you called her.”

“Her daughter’s dead. I couldn’t keep that from her.”

“No, this is true.” I sighed, feeling like a bitch. Even though I knew Alison couldn’t stand her mother, Phyllis was still her mother. No one should lose their daughter. You weren’t supposed to bury your children.

I joined Hatch and Poppy, close to where Grace and Merrick sat with their grandparents, and we muddled through the service, then onto the procession to the gravesite where we watched Alison lowered into the ground. The whole thing was just
wrong
.

There were less than twenty of us there, but I didn’t miss the support of the Dogs and their bikes at the gravesite when we pulled up, along with several of Ryan’s coworkers dressed in their finest Police Blues.

By the time Hatch wrapped his arms around me and Poppy, and we started back toward the car, I didn’t know if my legs could support my weight… and we still had to head back to their house to feed the guests.

I leaned heavily against Hatch as we walked away from the gravesite and by the time I fell into bed that night, I had nothing left, so I wrapped myself around Hatch and fell asleep almost immediately.

Maisie

A
BOUT A MONTH later, Poppy had been out of school for a week or so and she and I were up at Kim’s place for a riding lesson. Well,
she
was having a riding lesson, I was watching. As was Kim, considering she’d just given birth a week ago. Jagger Aidan Quinn was currently sleeping in the house, as was Cambry, both under the watchful eye of a nanny, so Kim could come down and check on the horses.

“Are you coming over to Payton’s tonight?” Kim asked.

“I think so.” I checked my watch. “Hatch should be here in about an hour. We were going to go from here.”

“Perfect.” She gave me a conspiratorial grin. “You know the house across from them is for sale.”

I laughed. “Oh,
really
.”

Poppy and I needed a proper house, and I’d been tossing around the idea of selling the business for a while, but especially now that neither Alison nor Niall were there to do it with me. It just wasn’t the same. With Poppy’s love of art, I liked the idea of applying for the art school in Vancouver and moving away from the memories. I’d mentioned this to Kim and it sounded like she’d said something to Payton.

“And Carter and Cassidy live right next door to Hawk and Payton,” Kim continued.

“I did know that, yes.”

“Payton’s determined to have her own Dogs’ commune.”

I grinned. “That sounds perfect.”

“Kimberly,” an irritated growl came from behind us.

Kim smiled and turned to face Knight who was walking angrily toward us. “Hi, honey.”

“What the hell are you doing on your feet?” Knight demanded.

“Checking on Fozzie, making sure Poppy got set up with Mary for her lesson, getting out of the house before I go insane,” she retorted. “Oh, and giving my boobs a rest from being sucked dry by the moose I just gave birth to because his dad is a giant.”

I bit back a laugh as Knight wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. “Someone didn’t get a nap today.”

“Suck it,” she said, lifting her head for a kiss.

“Hey Maisie,” Knight said once he noticed I was there.

I smiled. “Hey Knight.”

As Knight and Kim talked quietly, I turned back to watch Poppy. She slid off the horse and the instructor walked her through a few things from the ground. I was so focused on watching her, I jumped when strong arms wrapped around me from behind and a scruffy beard landed on my neck.

“Excuse me, sir, but if my man finds you here, you’ll be in a world of hurt.”

Hatch chuckled, kissed me in the sensitive spot behind my ear, then turned me to face him. I looped my arms behind his neck. “How was your day?”

“Good. How about yours?”

“Not bad.” He’d left his hair down, so I slid my fingers into it. “I’m going to do it.”

He leaned back. “Yeah?”

I didn’t have to explain. I’d been bending his ear about selling the business for weeks now, and he said he’d support whatever I decided.

I nodded. “I told Bill to put the paperwork together today. Jeremy Marville made an offer… Bill’s making the counter offer to him next week.”

“Does that mean you’ll be at my beck and call all day?”

“For what purpose?”

“Sex slave sounds good.”

I laughed. “That’s kind of a win-win, darling, so sure.”

He grinned, kissing me deeply. “Hawk says the house across from them’s for sale.”

“Kim told me.”

“You wanna look at it?”

I raised an eyebrow. “Do you?”

He stroked my cheek. “Yeah.”

“Are you asking me to move in with you?”

He shook his head. I frowned.

“Askin’ you to marry me, Sunshine.”

I gasped. “Seriously?”

“Yeah, but this is not your official proposal.”

“Connor,” I whispered. “I love you.”

He grinned. “Is that a yes or what?”

“I can’t say yes… this isn’t my official proposal.”

He laughed. “Fair enough.”

“We do need to talk to Poppy, though.”

“I already talked to her.”

“I’m sorry?”

He slid my hair behind my ear. “Talked to her about how she’d feel if I made this permanent and she wanted to know if I could be her dad. So we had a conversation that she asked I keep between her and I, and we have a plan.”

“So I don’t get to know the plan?”

“Not yet.”

I wrinkled my nose. “I don’t think I like that.”

“She’s safe, Sunshine.”

“I’m not worried about that. I trust you.”

“Good to know.”

“I just want to know what the conversation was about.”

“And if she wants to tell you, she can,” he said, patting my bottom.

I slid my hands under his T-shirt and up his chest. “Bet I can get it out of you tonight.”

He kissed my nose. “You can try.”

“Challenge accepted.”

“Mum, did you see me?” Poppy asked as she rushed toward us. “I jumped the logs on the ground.”

“I saw, Poppet.” I pulled away from Hatch and hugged her. “You looked amazing.”

“Thank you.” She smiled. “Hi, Hatch.”

He smiled. “Hey, baby girl.”

“Your stuff is in Kim’s downstairs bathroom so you can shower and change here instead of going all the way home,” I said.

She handed me her helmet. “Okay.”

“We’ll meet you back there,” I said, and she skipped off to the house.

Hatch wrapped an arm around my waist and I slid my hand in his back pocket. “So what did you guys decide?”

“Nice try.”

“Damn it,” I breathed out.

“Gonna do it right, baby.”

“Glad to hear it, Connor.”

He chuckled. “Gonna be a surprise, though.”

“I’m good with that.”

We walked back to the house and chatted with Knight and Kim while we waited for Poppy to finish getting ready. Once she was, everyone piled into cars and we convoyed up to Hawk and Payton’s home in Vancouver.

The crowd was smaller tonight, just us, Booker and Dani, Hawk and Payton, Ace and Cassidy, and Knight and Kim. Admittedly, I was glad, because I wanted to eat, drink, then get my man home and naked.

I was in the kitchen with the other women, Poppy and Lily were in the basement playing pool with Maverick and the guys, and Kim’s nanny, Emily, was watching the little kids upstairs.

Payton poured everyone another Margarita and grinned. “Elyse said you could come and look at the house tonight.”

“Seriously?” I asked.

Payton nodded. “Want to? Huh, huh? Wanna? Wanna?”

I giggled. “If we can pry Hatch away from whatever he’s doing, I’m open.”

Payton glanced at the ladies. “Do you mind if we leave you for a little while?”

“Um, no. I want to go,” Kim said.

“Yeah, me too,” Dani said.

“She won’t care,” Cassidy said. “I’ve seen it, so I’m happy to hang here with Emily and the kids.”

Leaving our margaritas in the kitchen, we headed downstairs and I put my finger to my lips as I approached Hatch. He was getting ready to make his shot, so I slid up behind him, but before I could grab his ass, he said, “I know you’re there, Sunshine.”

“Bloody hell,” I snapped.

He chuckled, made his shot, sinking a stripe into the side pocket, then turning to pull me in for a quick kiss. “Give me a second here, babe, gotta take Hawk’s money… again.”

“Oooh, yay, we get to send Poppy to a fancy college,” I retorted. “Thanks, Hawk.”

Hawk laughed as he wrapped an arm around Payton and waited for Hatch to finish up the game.

“Poppy, do you want to come look at a house across the street?” I asked.

“Like to live?”

I shrugged. “Maybe.”

“Sure,” she said.

 Game won, Hatch agreed to look at the house, but the other guys begged off, so Hatch, Poppy, and I followed the rest of the ladies across the street.

Cassidy was right, Elyse couldn’t have cared less that everyone converged upon her home. She was a lovely woman in her early fifties, and the only reason she was leaving was her husband had been relocated. The home had just been finished six months ago, so it was essentially brand new.

Hatch, Poppy, and I broke away from the rest of the women and followed Elyse around the house. I kept my expression neutral, however, I’m pretty sure I squeezed Hatch’s arm black and blue.

Five bedrooms, four bathrooms, plus a den. A large kitchen and family room, and there was a basement with yet another bedroom, bathroom, movie room, and large area that could be anything. The house was ridiculously large, over four-thousand square feet, so that was a concern, but if we were going to do this, I kind of wanted to go big.

Once the tour was over, we thanked Elyse, and headed back to Payton’s. “They don’t want to list it with a realtor,” she said. “Which is why they’re offering it so low.”

“It does seem really low,” I said.

“Mack can help with the paperwork,” Hatch said. “Make sure everything’s legal.”

“Do you like it?”

“Do you?” he asked.

“I love it,” I whispered. “What do you think, Poppy?”

“I really like it and we’ll be close to Lily.” She frowned. “But we’ll be really far from Grace, Mum.”

Grace was now back home with Ryan and Merrick, and Poppy was missing her. I cupped her cheek. “I know, Poppet, but she’s going to a different school next year anyway, so you’ll still get to see her just as much if we move up here.”

She chewed on her bottom lip. “Do you promise?”

“I promise.”

“Then I love it, too.”

“Okay, Hatch and I’ll talk about it tonight and see if we can swing it.”

She nodded and headed off to wherever Lily was, and Hatch pulled me down on his lap in an overstuffed chair while we watched the rest of the guys finish up their pool game.

Hatch had gone suddenly quiet… well, quiet for him… which I didn’t like, but I figured he was processing the house information and next steps.

An hour later, we said our goodbyes and took off for my place. We pulled into my garage and Hatch turned to me, leaning over to kiss me. “You okay with me sleepin’ at my place tonight?”

“No.”

He sighed. “Babe.”

I glanced at Poppy in the backseat and then focused on him again. “Come up and we’ll talk.” He frowned but I reached over and squeezed his knee. “
No
,” I repeated.

Hatch turned off the engine and we walked up to the condo in silence.

After meeting Poppy in her bedroom and doing our night time ritual, I joined Hatch in the kitchen. He grabbed a beer and I cornered him by the fridge. “If you don’t like the house, just tell me.”

“Liked the house, Sunshine.”

“Then why are you all grunty?”

He raised an eyebrow. “Grunty?”

“Connor, what the hell, love? Just talk to me.”

He moved away from the fridge and leaned against the island, continuing to sip his beer. I shook my head and threw my hands in the air, but I didn’t let him off the hook. “I’m not buying that house without you, Hatch.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” I snapped.

“It’s a lot of money.”

“I’m aware. And I’m only paying half. So you better figure out how to come up with the other half, because I’m not paying more than that.”

I saw his lip twitch and I
knew
I’d hit on what was bothering him.

“What if I can’t come up with the money?” he asked.