Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 94624 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 378(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94624 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 378(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
His breath caught, and I smiled and left the room, closing the door behind me, locking it from the inside before I did.
At the top of the stairs, I stopped, seeing my husband at the bottom.
“Why are you crying?” he asked, scowling up at me.
“Because Kola was.”
“And now?” His arms crossed as he waited.
“Now we’ll see. Your son is worried about things.”
“Finn, right?”
“Yes,” I said, taking the steps slowly as he came up, the two of us meeting in the middle.
He shrugged. “He has to just wait and see. I mean, that was all I could do when I got back after three years. I had to wait to find out if Aaron Sutter was the guy for you and then to see if you would forgive me for leaving.”
“Some say I forgave you too easily.”
“Yeah, well, they have no idea the toll it took on my heart every time you said no.”
I smiled as I reached him, standing a step above. “I don’t remember saying no.”
“I do,” he assured me, putting his hands in my hair, moving it out of my face, holding me still. “But I deserved it.”
“You thought leaving me was the right thing to do.”
“I did, but it hurt. And all the times we broke up and got back together were torture. I don’t want that for my son.”
“I don’t either. I want him to dive into the deep end and not worry about sharks.”
Sam smiled before he drew me down to him, wrapping me in his strong arms, clutching me tight and kissing me deeply. I was lost in the heat and pull of the man, feeling the need to surrender immediately, ready to be under him.
“Pa, where are the garlic knots?”
Sam broke the kiss, and I turned my head to find Hannah.
“Why’re you all flushed?”
“It’s hot in here,” I told her.
“It is not. It’s thirty-five degrees outside and probably about the same in here with the stupid door open.”
Sam cleared his throat. “I thought this is what you wanted, all these people here.”
“I did. And I do, I just—wait,” she said, studying me. “Why are you all blotchy? Were you crying?”
“I was,” I said, letting Sam steady me back on the stair so I could take the rest down to her with him following.
“How come?”
“Because your brother was.”
She nodded. “He’s being an idiot, but he’s being a logical one.”
Which was exactly what he’d said to me. She knew him so very well.
“Hello,” Jake called from the kitchen, leaning out from behind the half wall that went just a bit farther than the refrigerator. It had always been a weird setup, as the room was L shaped. “Garlic knots, yea or nay?”
“In the bottom oven,” I told him. “Behind the bread.”
“Okay,” he replied with a grin and was gone.
“You’re letting him heat something up?” Sam asked his daughter.
She waved a dismissive hand. “He’s serving, not heating. They’re just staying warm in there, right?”
I nodded.
She turned away and then turned right back around. “I have things to say.”
“That sounds ominous,” Sam informed her.
“Yeah, well, come talk to me outside really quick.”
There were people in the living room, in the dining room, and in the kitchen. There were more on our back deck, in the yard, as we had tables set up out there with portable heaters, and there were people milling in the driveway. The only place that was empty was the front porch, and that was where we went.
“Speak,” Sam commanded his daughter.
She took a breath, shivering slightly. “Okay. So, like, a month ago I had my lawyer get in contact with my birth parents.”
It took us both a moment, but Sam always recovered faster than me. “Why didn’t you tell us?” he asked, clearing his throat at the end.
I could tell he was hurt; I could see it all over his face.
“Because I didn’t want it to be like how it was when Kola’s parents visited. I wanted to do it quietly, away from you both.”
“May I ask why?” I chimed in.
“Because I don’t want to be on the hook like Kola is with his biologicals. They write him now. They check in to say hello, and he has a standing offer to visit whenever he wants.”
I didn’t know that, but it made sense.
“And you’re not interested in that kind of relationship,” Sam concluded.
“I’m really not,” she told him. “I never was. You know that. How many conversations have we had over the years about this?”
“Many,” I agreed.
“Yeah, so I’ve never been anything but vaguely curious, but the thing is, if I’m going to be the one in charge of Sutter someday, then there can be no secrets about me anywhere.”
I expected that kind of logic from her brother, but not from Hannah.
Sam squinted at her as he crossed his arms, his daughter mirroring him, both of them, I suspected, starting to get cold. I certainly was.