Total pages in book: 73
Estimated words: 71843 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 359(@200wpm)___ 287(@250wpm)___ 239(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71843 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 359(@200wpm)___ 287(@250wpm)___ 239(@300wpm)
He shook his head as he closed in on us. “You were crying in the car.”
“That’s because I was so pissed off,” she admitted, taking his hand in both of hers. “I’m so mad at myself for losing focus. I should have been able to get out of that room no problem, but that one second of…” She growled loudly. “I just want a redo.”
“You’re sure you don’t think I let you down?”
She shook her head. “I let me down,” she told him, “because up to that point, I was awesome.” I watched the fear and tension run out of him. “You should have seen Eddie drop. I mean, he got back up, but not right away.”
“I––”
“Hold on,” she said quickly, “I just thought of something, and I gotta go talk to my dad super-fast.”
She left us then, and I was faced with Jake, who still looked a bit broken. “I just wanted you two to clear the air.”
He nodded. “It’s okay. I just—she called George.”
“He’s her bodyguard and her driver, Jake. That’s his job.”
“I know, but still, she called him.”
“I really wouldn’t worry about it, I promise.”
He tried really hard to give me a smile.
I squeezed his shoulder, and he told me he was okay, so I left him to go to the kitchen and grab the cupcakes, and went outside to the back deck. Across the yard, I saw that Sam was showing Hannah different hand holds before he grabbed her, clutched her tight, and she struggled against him for a moment before shifting her weight and twisting his wrist. Letting her go, he nodded and then faced her, showing her another grip.
“Everything all right?” Dane asked, taking the cupcakes from me.
“She just needs to reclaim a bit of her power and she’ll be fine.”
“Good,” he agreed, smiling.
“You could design a house for Mr. and Mrs. Holmes, you know.”
I got the patented Dane Harcourt scowl then, before he announced that Duncan and Aaron had arrived.
Turning, I charged toward Aaron even as Hannah flew by me, reaching him first, throwing her arms around his neck as he bent to embrace her. You would have thought they hadn’t seen each other in years. When she leaned back and Duncan took gentle hold of her chin, turning her head so he could see the bruises, I saw both of them frown.
Hannah waved a dismissive hand and showed Aaron her new handkerchief that she pulled from the back pocket of her jeans.
Later, as I was sitting on the stairs, watching her do the jitterbug with her grandfather, Aaron took a seat beside me.
“Lay off the Holmes clan, Sutter.”
“I’m sorry?”
“It’s over.”
“Kayden messed with her again tonight,” he reminded me.
“I think, from how it sounds, that he really misses her and wanted to talk, but his friends were there, and it went sideways.” I turned to look at him. “And George did whatever he did, and that’s the end of it.”
He nodded. “Perhaps.”
“What do you mean, perhaps?”
“Well…” He gestured around the yard. “I don’t see either of our husbands at the moment, so I wonder where in the world they could be.”
Christ.
Sam and Duncan miraculously reappeared when Hannah was blowing out her candles. Once people started leaving, and the group got smaller and smaller, I trapped my husband at the dessert table.
“What?” he barely got out around a mouthful of cupcake.
I shook my head.
He swallowed quickly. “Everything’s fine.”
“You went to see them.”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“And I promised that Aaron was done with his vendetta, and they promised that Hannah would never lay eyes on Kayden again. We agreed that she and Mira could forge whatever relationship they wanted, if any, and we’d all stay out of it.”
“And Aaron is fine with that?”
“Duncan is extracting the promise now.”
I glanced over in time to see Aaron, with crossed arms, nodding his reluctant agreement.
“And it looks like Hannah and Jake are good,” he said with a yawn.
They were sitting together, and Hannah was admiring the bracelet he’d carved her out of olive wood, turning it on her wrist, leaning against him. Jake was positively beaming.
“And things with Kola and Harper look like they’ve balanced out.”
The two boys were sitting as they always had, close, in one another’s space, both listening to Dane, Gentry and Robert there as well, both of them smiling at their father as he spoke.
“Hey.”
I turned to my husband.
“Everything’s good, except…”
“Except?”
“My girl is sixteen. How am I this old?”
I took his face in my hands. “You’ll never be old.”
I got a kiss for that.
That’s it. Have a great rest of December, all. However you celebrate, stay safe and healthy, and I’ll see you all in the new year.
DECEMBER 18, 2020
FICLET FROM FACEBOOK GROUP
Friday night, I had to stop at the Jewel on Lake Street on my way home because I forgot to get heavy whipping cream for a new recipe that Hannah wanted to try out. She was upgrading her grape salad dish for Christmas and wanted to make sure it worked before, as she said, showtime. As I walked out of the store and crossed the parking lot—freezing because I hadn’t put on my coat just to dart in—I was grabbed hard from behind and shoved roughly down onto the hood of a car.