Chapter Three #2
Iris made it clear to him and any man she dated that she was not interested in ever marrying again, which hadn’t seemed to bother any of them.
They hadn’t wanted marriage either. But Karlton decided, after they’d dated for almost a year, that he’d changed his mind and wanted a wife.
She hadn’t been hesitant about cutting him loose.
A few years later, she had met Warren on a business flight to London.
Like her, he had lost his spouse years earlier and had no intention of ever marrying again.
They had hit it off immediately. What she liked about her relationship with Warren was that, since he resided in Philadelphia, he wasn’t constantly underfoot.
After dealing with Karlton, who would show up at any time, she found Warren to be a breath of fresh air.
She and Warren had seriously dated for a little more than a year before she’d ended things and blocked his number.
Another thing she refused to do was to get involved with a man with a dangerous occupation or hobby.
She had lost a husband to the former and her father to the latter.
She refused to go through that type of pain again.
Karlton had been an accountant and Warren a CEO.
Both were what she considered safe jobs.
Matt Caulder, the attorney, might be just the man she needed…if she were interested. There had been instant attraction between them, conversations with him had definitely been easy, and she’d certainly enjoyed the time she’d spent with him at Cheyenne’s birthday bash.
Although she was looking forward to seeing him at the gender reveal party, she had to stick to her decision not to become involved with anyone for a while.
Now that her son Garlan was in his second year of college at Harvard, she had gotten used to being an empty nester and had more free time on her hands to do whatever she pleased.
She spent that time visiting museums, shopping with friends and traveling to locations to check off her bucket list. She also spent a lot of weekends at her Hermosa Beach house.
It had been Garlan’s primary home before they married, and he’d decided not to sell it.
Instead, it had become their private retreat, and they always looked forward to the weekends they’d spent there together.
After Garlan’s death, it had been hard for her to go back there without him.
Then, after Garlan Jr. was born, the beach house became a place they’d both enjoyed. He’d grown up loving it there.
Smiling, completely satisfied with her present agenda, she glanced at her watch. It was time to get back to work.
* * *
“How is the Gaskins case going, Dad?”
Matthew Caulder glanced up from the papers spread out on his desk and smiled at the young woman who’d entered his office.
She was his heartbeat. Since she’d been born, he’d been determined to be the best parent to his daughter and vowed never to give his heart to another woman.
That’s the reason why, for years, his best friend, Dominic Saxon, had referred to Matt as the king of one-night stands.
He had long ago shed that type of reputation.
When Deena became of dating age, he needed to set an example for what to expect from a man. One-night stands weren’t it.
“The case is going okay. We’ll be taking it to trial in a few weeks,” he said, tossing his ink pen on his desk and leaning back in his chair.
The law firm of Caulder and Stallings had been in business for over fifteen years and employed nearly thirty people.
He was looking forward to the day when another Caulder would be added as a partner. Namely, Deena.
From the first, she had told him she wanted to earn that right.
That meant working hard to set herself above the other associates in terms of her expertise and her ability to not only take on cases but also win them.
She didn’t want being the daughter of the founding attorney to have anything to do with it.
He had agreed but doubted it would take her five to seven years to become a partner.
Already she had won every case she’d taken on since coming to work for him a year ago.
He believed that traveling abroad for a year after passing the bar—compliments of her godfather—had a significant impact on her success. When she returned to the States and came to work, she had done so with her sleeves rolled up, ready to tackle the cases assigned to her.
Another thing she’d done was to move into her own apartment.
He understood her need for independence and knew it had been time.
Even so, he hadn’t been ready for it. She was no longer his little girl.
She was a young woman he was proud of. They’d always had a close relationship and he hoped they would always continue to have one.
He was glad he had named her after his mother. She’d always looked just like her. The older she got the more she favored her grandmother and had inherited her outgoing personality, too. His mother had been beautiful and so was his daughter.
“What about the one you’re working on?” he asked, motioning her to the chair in front of his desk.
“A medical malpractice lawsuit. I’ve got a lot of files to go through, so I’ll be busy for the next few weeks.”
“Does that mean you won’t be attending the gender reveal party with me?” he asked.
“Of course I will. A girl has to have fun sometimes. Enjoying life keeps the mind sharp.”
He chuckled. “I agree.” Like he didn’t know the main reason she was looking forward to going was that she hoped to see Alisdare Westmoreland.
He was aware that because they both had demanding jobs—hers as an attorney and his as an FBI agent—they had made what he thought was a wise decision to just be friends.
“Will Alisdare be there?” he asked.
“I hope so. For the past six months, he’s been working undercover. What about you, Dad? Are you hoping to see Iris Michaels?”
He knew the reason Deena was asking. The night of Cheyenne’s birthday party two years ago, when he and Iris had returned to the ballroom, everyone had come from the veranda to gather around, sing “Happy Birthday” and cut the cake.
He was certain it hadn’t gone unnoticed that he and Iris had remained in each other’s company for the rest of the night.
He accepted she was in a serious relationship with someone, and he would never encroach on that.
But he saw no reason for the two of them not to enjoy the evening talking.
Besides, she hadn’t seemed any more eager to part ways with him than he’d been to part ways with her.
She was a woman he’d sincerely liked and enjoyed talking to—even when he had seen her at Jaxon and Nadia’s wedding last year and she’d been with her steady guy.
Matt tried really hard not to be quick in judging anyone, but he knew he wouldn’t like Warren Forsythe the moment they were introduced. His lawyer jokes had hit a nerve.
Another thing Matt would admit was that in addition to being attracted to Iris, he desired her, with a depth he’d never felt before. He had honestly thought that at forty-six, he’d been beyond feeling that degree of passion for a woman. Obviously not.
“I told you Iris and I can only be friends. She is involved with someone.”
“Not anymore.”
He sat up straight in his chair. “How do you know that?”
“I’d rather not say. Just trust me when I say my source would know.”
Matt stared at his daughter. Although he attended most of the Westmoreland events he was invited to, Deena participated in all of them.
She felt a part of both the Westmoreland and the Steele families, which made her quite the traveler these days.
She had attended the Christmas with the Steeles’ event in the Smoky Mountains.
From there, she had flown to Denver to attend the Westmoreland Charity Ball, the day before New Year’s Eve.
More than once, she said she felt as if she had the best of both worlds, and he was happy for her.
Personally, he was still trying to navigate being Sid Roberts’s son.
If Matt thought the Westmoreland triplets had gotten emotional that night they’d first seen him, he figured nothing could compare to when he met Chester.
That had been more emotional than he’d been prepared for, and it had been a turning point in his life.
He and Deena had been invited to Clint’s Golden Glade Ranch in Austin, Texas, to meet Chester. All three triplets had been there to witness the older man’s reaction. He had taken one look at Matt and his eyes had unashamedly filled with tears, saying it was like seeing Sid alive again.