Chapter 40
Offseason
[Cadence]
I never consider concerts grueling but the time ticking for this one to finish was brutal.
Lana and I had a long talk while on the road about what might have happened back when Ford called me from Arizona.
How she answered my phone and been the one to tell him to lose my number, not knowing it was Ford.
Her romantic heart was full of guilt. We also discussed how adding on these concert dates had been a rash decision and I needed a break.
I wanted to focus on the remixes and producing a new album, but the drive to perform live needed a rest. However, I had concerns about slowing down.
“Why? You’re the boss, Cadence. It’s your business, and no one else’s.”
In theory, I knew this but hearing her spell it out, it finally sank in. I controlled my future.
“You can do what you want, when you want.” Essentially, my time was my own and I was giving it to Ford, Zelle, Winnie, and June. And they were giving it right back to me.
Lana’s support meant everything to me, and her encouragement came with a compassionate smile. She wanted whatever would make me happy.
Ford was my happy place.
He and I talked every day and night.
Sometimes the conversations included Facetime with the girls. Ford told me how he’d talked to them about me living with them.
“I thought Cadence already was,” Zelle had replied.
“Can she braid my hair every day?” Winnie wondered.
“My woom,” June asked again.
Ford told the girls that he and I would be sharing a room together, and that one day soon, I’d be joining their family as his wife. I wanted them to accept me as a loving, supportive female role model who they could come to as a friend and rely on like a mother. Not their mother, as she was gone.
And I couldn’t wait to get home to Ford and the girls.
Home. A once foreign concept that was now my future.
I was giddy every time I considered how Ford and I worked out that Sterling Falls would be our home base.
Ford found an old farmhouse to renovate and suggested we build a recording studio for me on the property.
My production company will stay in Nashville, and I’ll plan trips accordingly, but my schedule will center around my family.
Separating at times wouldn’t always be easy, but we’d make it work.
He didn’t want to stifle my active career and he was looking forward to being a more interactive father, available for the girls while building his own future with the baseball camp.
I missed him so much, especially on nights when our conversations were private and then turned to dirty whispers and acting out how much we loved one another, trusted each other.
It had taken some time for me to feel comfortable trusting Ford again.
He’d made promises he broke in the past, but he’d been proving himself every day as we talked and learned more about each other.
We accepted that love sometimes has field errors, like a dropped ball or a missed hit, but together we could play the game any way we wished.
Together, we were a winning combination.
+ + +
After the final concert, I land in Charlestown, West Virginia’s airport, where I’m greeted by four smiling faces and four sets of hands holding up signs. All my darling ducks are in a row.
Zelle smiles knowingly wide while holding her little poster.
Winnie bounces on her toes, gripping her sign between clenched fingers.
And June drops hers to run toward me.
But I’d read the words.
Will. You. Marry. Dad.
The final sign is held by Ford, and after scooping up June, I spin us around and set her on the ground so I can rush Ford, leaping into his arms and crushing the poster between us.
“Quack,” I cry out, tipping back my head before lowering my feet to stand and look directly into Ford’s eyes. “That’s duck speak, for yes, yes, yes.”
Ford laughs, his head tilted back before he reaches into his pocket and lowers to one knee. With a giant square-cut solitaire diamond on a white gold band, Ford stares up at me. “I planned to do this later, but the girls wanted to be part of the asking.”
“As they should,” I turn to them, hardly noticing Ford slipping the ring on my finger. But when he lifts my hand and kisses my knuckles, I’m drawn back to him.
“I love you,” I tell him as I say every day.
“Love you, too, Cait.” He’s taken to calling me by my given name to remind me he isn’t in love with a superstar, but a woman who loves to sing, and does pretty well at it.
He isn’t in love with the mogul running a production company or the bad ass taking back her music.
He loves me. The woman who loves him and his girls.
He stands and kisses me, not a care that the girls are watching. We want them to see what a loving relationship should look like. Too soon, we break apart, and Ford slides his hand into mine. I hold out my other arm for the girls.
“I need some Sylver duckling hugs, ladies.”
They clamber into me, a mob of an embrace, and the feeling is better than being center stage under bright lights in front of thousands of fans.
This four-pack is my family, and they’ll be the center of my world from now on.