Chapter 10
Ten
“There’s nothing you can know
that isn’t known.”
—John Lennon
Ella was already home and enjoying a cup of decaffeinated tea when Gavin came in from work, his face flushed from the cold and his thick dark hair tousled. He was, without any doubt, the sexiest man she’d ever met, and some days she still wanted to pinch herself to believe he was actually hers.
“What’s up with your parents?” he asked, his brows furrowed with worry that reminded her of how he’d often looked before she made him fall in love with her.
“How do you know something’s up?”
“I saw Lucas.”
“Where’d you see him?”
“I can’t tell you that because it involves Christmas presents.”
Gavin came over where she was seated on the sofa, kissed her and took a long studying look at her face, as he did every night to make sure she was all right.
She teased him about treating pregnancy as if it were a potentially fatal illness.
But after what he’d been through losing his brother and closest friend, she indulged him in whatever he needed to find the peace of mind that had been so elusive for him since Caleb died.
“Luc said there was a family meeting, but I should get the deets from you. So give ’em to me.”
She reached for his hand to bring him down to sit with her.
“They’re okay, right? I’ve been in a panic trying to figure out what’s wrong. We just saw them, and they were fine.”
“I love you so much for the way you love my family.”
“Of course I do. They’ve been part of my life for a long time.
” His family had moved to Butler when he and Caleb were in middle school.
They’d been friends with her brothers from the start, and she’d been in love with Gavin for almost as long as she’d known him.
She could barely remember a time when she hadn’t been in love with him.
That she got to be with him every day now was the greatest blessing in her life.
“My parents are fine, but something happened with my dad’s family.”
“I don’t remember ever hearing much about them.”
“Because he never talks about them, and now we know why.” She shared the story she’d heard for the first time earlier, still finding it hard to believe even after having had a couple of hours to process it.
“We’re going there with him tomorrow so he can see his father and show him what’s come of the marriage he was so opposed to. ”
“Wait. You’re going where?”
“Philadelphia.”
“You can’t do that, El. You’re nine months pregnant.”
“We’re not flying. We’re taking the same bus we used to go to Boston. Hunter said it’ll be just as long as it would be to fly from Burlington.”
“That’s like six hours or something.”
“Seven. I checked online.”
“Ella… Fourteen hours on a bus when you’re nine months pregnant? You can’t do that. What if you go into labor or something happens or…”
She put her finger over his lips. “I’ll be fine. I’m not due for three more weeks.”
“Neither was Cameron, but she went weeks early.”
“That’s very rare with first babies. I don’t think we need to worry. It’s down and back in two days.”
“I don’t like it.”
“Why don’t you come with us so you can be right there if I need you?”
“You wouldn’t mind that?”
“I’d rather you come than be wound up in knots the whole time I’m gone.”
“Sign me up.”
She caressed his handsome face. “Figured you might say that.”
“You were all ready for me, weren’t you?” he said with a hint of a smile.
“Maybe just a little.”
“What did I ever do without you to keep me calm?”
“When are you ever calm?”
“Haha, I’m a lot calmer with you than I was without you, and I’ll be back to what counts for normal for me after our baby arrives safely.”
She rested her head on his shoulder, knowing for sure he’d worry obsessively about their baby once he or she arrived, but that was okay. She’d be there to keep him sane. “That’s good to know. I don’t like to see you so spun up.”
“I can’t help it. You’re the most important person in my life. The thought of you being in any kind of danger makes me crazy.”
“I’m not in danger, Gav,” she said, laughing. “I’m pregnant.”
“Don’t act like shit can’t go sideways with having a baby, because it can.”
“I’m fine. I’m going to be fine.”
“You can’t know that for sure.”
“No, I can’t, just like we can’t know for sure that we’ll be okay every time we get into a car or leave the house or walk down the street.”
“Great, now I have all that stuff to worry about.”
She laughed and elbowed his ribs. “I understand the reason why you worry the way you do, but it makes me ache for you. I want you to find a way to relax and enjoy the life we have together.”
“I enjoy every second of our life together, which is why I worry so much about something happening to ruin it. Somehow I survived losing Caleb, but if anything ever happened to you…”
“It’s not going to. We just have to believe that everything will be fine. Have faith.”
“I’m working on that. It’s your fault for making such a mess of me that I can’t stand the thought of being without you for even a day or two.”
She arched a brow. “How is that my fault?”
“You relentlessly pursued me and made me fall in love with you.”
Flashing a satisfied grin, she said, “I was rather relentless, wasn’t I?”
“Thank God for that, because I was too stupid to see what was right in front of me, waiting to make me the happiest guy in the world.”
“I’m glad you’re happy. That’s all I’ve ever wanted for you.”
“I never could’ve gotten there without you.”
“I know! That’s what I tried to tell you for so long.”
Laughing, he drew her into a soft, sweet, lazy kiss that made her so, so thankful that he’d finally come around to seeing things her way.
She’d always known, in her heart of hearts, that they could have something special.
The only one who hadn’t been convinced was him, until she showed him the error of his ways by loving him as fiercely as she possibly could.
“I was thinking we ought to get married over Christmas,” she said. “Just us and the families, no fuss, no big deal.”
He leaned his forehead against hers. “When I marry you, my sweet Ella, it’ll be the biggest deal of my life.”
Smiling, she kissed him again. “Mine, too, but we don’t need the fuss of a big production.”
“Every girl dreams of the big production.”
“Not me. I only ever had one dream when it came to my wedding, and it’s already come true because I got the groom I always wanted. So yes to a small wedding at Christmas?”
“Yes to whatever you want. Anything at all.”
“I’ve got everything I’ve ever wanted already. This’ll just make it official.”
“I’m all for making it official so you can’t get away from me.”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
Charley was as tense as she could recall being in a very long time.
Hearing what her poor, sweet dad had gone through with his father…
It made her furious. And sad. She banged around the kitchen, getting out pots to make pasta and sauce, her go-to dinner when she hadn’t given a thought to what to make until it was time to eat.
Tyler was home all day, working from his office, and made dinner most of the time, but on days he got too busy, it fell to her to make something when she got home. It was a good thing that pasta was one of his favorite things to eat.
She continued to clatter around, taking her frustrations out on the pots and pans until he appeared in the kitchen, his brown hair standing on end, dark-framed glasses making him look sexy and smart, earbuds still in place and a perplexed look on his face.
“I could hear you over my meeting,” he said, removing the wireless buds, “and I had the volume turned up.”
“Sorry.”
“It’s okay. We were done. Mostly.” He took a closer look at her. “What’s wrong?”
“Everything. Every single thing is wrong, and people suck.”
“You’re just finding that out now?”
“I’m just finding out that people in my own family suck.”
He was taken aback by that. “Your family is awesome. Who are you fighting with?”
“It’s part of the family you don’t know. Hell, I don’t know them because they cut my dad out of their lives when he decided to marry my mom and run her family’s business rather than theirs.”
“Whoa. And you just found this out?”
“We all did. He told us the story for the first time today.”
Leaning his hip against the counter, he gave her his full attention as usual. No one had ever seen her quite the way he did, which had annoyed the shit out of her before he showed her that being seen and loved by him was rather sublime once she stopped fighting it. “What brought this on?”
“His dying father, who’s apparently grown a conscience all of a sudden.”
“How so?”
“He asked to see him—and he’s going. We’re going. Tomorrow. All of us.”
Tyler processed that news in his usual thoughtful way. “That’s good. He shouldn’t have any regrets.”
“What regrets would he have when he was the one banished by his own family?”
“Your dad is one of the kindest, most decent people I’ve ever met. If his father asked him to come and he didn’t, he would regret that.”
“It’s preposterous to me that he’s been put in this position after four decades of complete silence from them.”
“Yes, I can tell you’re upset by the clattering.”
“It’s infuriating!”
Tyler took a step forward and put his arms around her, even though she didn’t want him to.
She wanted to continue to rant and rage and clatter the pans, which strangely made her feel better.
“Take it easy, sweetheart. Your blood pressure has to be through the roof.”
“I hate mean people, and finding out I’m related to one…”
“I know,” he said, rubbing soothing circles on her back that made her want to purr.
How did he do that? How did he take her from the red zone to purring in a matter of seconds?
It was his superpower, because no one else in the history of Charley Abbott had ever been able to do what he could.
She knew her brothers referred to him, behind her back, as the Charley Tamer, which would piss her off if it weren’t so true.
“Not sure how you do that.”
“Do what?” he asked.