Chapter 11
Eleven
While Jill was talking to Kate, Ashton placed a big, warm hand on her belly.
Annoyed, aggravated and concerned after the conversation with her sister, Jill tried to squirm out of his embrace, but he pulled her in tight against him so he was tucked up to her back. “Stay. Talk to me. What did she say?”
“You heard enough to put two and two together.”
“So they’re engaged.”
“Yes.” All at once, Jill stopped thinking about herself and turned to gauge how he was feeling. His expression was completely blank. “I’m sorry you had to hear it that way.”
He shrugged. “I figured they’d probably head in that direction this time around.”
“Are you okay?”
“Don’t worry about me.” He brought her hand to his lips and pressed kisses to the inside of her wrist that short-circuited all her brain cells, making her briefly forget her dismay over Kate’s refusal to do the interviews. “What else did she say?”
“She won’t do the interviews,” Jill said with a sigh as she reluctantly withdrew her hand. She couldn’t think when he was doing that.
“I thought she might say that.”
Surprised, Jill looked over at him. “Yet you advised me to set them up?”
“You did your job. What she does next is up to her.” He paused and then looked up to meet her gaze. “I noticed you didn’t tell her you’re with me.”
“I didn’t think it was the time.”
“It’s not because you’re afraid she’s going to blow a gasket over us, is it?”
“No, of course not,” Jill said with less conviction than she felt.
“You’re sure of that?”
“Mostly.”
He smiled, but it wasn’t the full-face event his smiles usually were.
“Are you hurt that I didn’t tell her?”
“Not really. I haven’t told my dad or anyone else about us, so why should you?”
“I will tell her. When she gets back. I’ll tell her then.”
“And when will that be?”
Jill turned back onto her side, and Ashton cuddled in close behind her.
There was something about having his strong arms around her that made her feel safer and more secure than she’d felt with any other man.
“I guess they were going to leave today, but the weather isn’t great, so they’re aiming for tomorrow. ”
He nudged her hair out of the way so he could get to her neck. “Looks to me like you have another day off.”
“Looks that way.”
“However will you spend all that time?”
“I’ll probably go shopping or something,” she said with a teasing grin he couldn’t see. “I could use a couple of new suits.”
He let out a growl as he slid his hand straight down the front of her to cup her sex. “That’s not what you need.”
Jill pushed her bottom against his erection, drawing a groan from him. “No?”
“Nope.”
“What do I need?”
“This,” he whispered in her ear as his fingers delved between her legs. “Me. You need me.”
“Do I?”
“Mmmm.”
As he set out to show her just how much she needed him, Jill’s worries over her sister’s career faded into the background.
“Thank goodness you finally called me back,” Clare said when she answered Kate’s call.
Kate winced at the worry she heard in her mother’s voice. “It’s been a rough couple of days.”
“I can imagine.”
“I’m sorry for causing you embarrassment.”
“Forget that, Kate. I want to know how you are.”
“Sex tapes aside, I’m very, very happy—happier than I’ve been in ten years. I know you don’t approve—”
“Don’t put words in my mouth, Katherine.”
The use of her full name startled her, since her mother rarely pulled out the big guns anymore. “Sorry,” she muttered. “I should’ve told you where I was going—and why.”
“I would’ve liked to have known, but you’re not under any obligation to report in to me about your every move.”
“Still, I wish you’d heard the news from me.”
“So, tell me… Tell me your news.”
“We’re back together. For good this time. Among other things.”
“What other things?”
“I… We’re… We’re getting married.”
“Oh, Kate… Wow. That’s… Wow.”
Her eyes flooded, and her throat closed tight around a wedge of emotion. “I know I don’t need it, but I so want your approval.”
“Oh, honey, you have it. Of course you do. You’re a grown woman, free to make your own choices, and if this man is the one you want—”
“He is. He’s always been the one I wanted. I never got over him.”
“I often wondered if that was the case.”
“You did?”
“You couldn’t seem to make it stick with anyone else. It wasn’t hard to put two and two together.”
“Dad won’t understand.”
“Maybe not at first, but he’ll come around.”
“He can’t stand Reid.”
“He can’t stand what Reid did ten years ago. Before that, he thought of him as a friend.”
“Still…”
“The advice I’d give a friend in this situation is to follow your heart and hope for the best where everyone else is concerned.”
“That’s very generous advice to give a daughter who just told you she’s going to marry a man nearly thirty years older than her.”
“I’d like to think my daughter is also my friend.”
“I am,” Kate said, blinking back tears. “Of course I am.”
“Does he love you, sweetheart? Honestly and truly love you?”
“Yes. He never stopped loving me.”
“Then what more could any mother want for her daughter?”
“I didn’t expect you to be so understanding.”
“You know how I love to be unpredictable.”
Kate smiled as a million memories of her mom siphoned through her mind, stopping at the fateful moment in which a car had struck her in a parking lot, changing all their lives forever.
For the ten-millionth time since her mom recovered from the long coma, Kate was thankful to have her back in her life. “Mom?”
“Yes?”
“Will you bring Aidan and the boys and Grandma Anna and Grammy O’Malley and any of Aidan’s family who want to come to Nashville for Christmas? I want the whole family there. Maggie’s already said she’ll come. I’ve got plenty of room for everyone.” She didn’t, really, but they’d make do. Somehow.
“We’d love to.”
“I’m going to invite Dad and Andi, too.”
“I had no doubt.”
“You’re sure that’s okay?”
“Do you know the first Christmas I ever spent alone—”
“When you first moved to Stowe?”
“Right. All I hoped for then was that the time would come when we could all spend holidays together without it being awkward.”
“You and Dad did that for years when Maggie was still at home.”
“Right, but you’ve never been there, and it’s been a long time since Jill was home for the holidays, so it wasn’t quite the perfect Christmas I envisioned.”
Kate had spent most of the last ten Christmases performing somewhere in the world while yearning for her family and home. The last five years, her sister had been with her, too.
“So I’d love nothing more than to spend Christmas in Nashville with you and your sisters and your father and the rest of our family.”
“Do you think Dad will come?”
“It might take some cajoling, but he won’t let you down.”
“He never has before. I guess I’d better call him now.”
“Best of luck with that.”
Kate laughed at her mother’s droll comment. “He never changes.”
“Thank goodness for that.”
“How’re Aidan and the boys?”
“Good, busy as all hell. The usual. The boys are playing hockey this fall and keeping us hopping. I don’t remember being this frantically busy when you girls were their ages.”
“They’re boys, and you’re a lot older than you were when we were their age.”
“Thanks for the reminder,” Clare said dryly. “Speaking of the boys, I have to run to pick them up at their friend’s house. Let me know how it goes with Dad?”
“I will. And Mom, thanks.”
“What for?”
“For being you, for understanding, for loving me no matter what.”
“I do, Kate. I’ll always love you no matter what. Don’t forget that, okay?”
“I never could. Talk to you soon.”
“Bye, honey.”
Emotionally drained after the conversation with her mom, Kate wanted to postpone the call to her dad, but that wasn’t fair. He was probably frantic with worry by now. Bracing herself for his anger and his disapproval, Kate placed the call.
“Kate.” The single word conveyed a world of relief. “I’m so glad you called.”
The familiar sound of his voice brought tears to her eyes. “I’m sorry to have worried you.”
“Tell me you’re not really back with him.”
She closed her eyes tight, trying to contain the flood, but was unsuccessful. “I can’t tell you that.”
His silence spoke volumes.
“I know it’s not what you want for me—he’s not what you want—but he’s what I want.” She recalled what her mother had said about wanting to know her daughter was loved. “He loves me, Dad. He really does, and I love him, too. I never stopped loving him.”
“Surely there has to be someone closer to your age—”
“Maybe there is, but I spent ten years thinking about Reid every single day. That has to mean something, doesn’t it?”
Again he was silent.
“Dad?”
“I guess so,” he said grudgingly.
“I know this is hard for you to understand.”
“It’s impossible for me to understand. It always has been. I know that’s not what you want to hear.”
“No, it isn’t.”
“If he loves you so much, how could he have led you into a situation that ended up all over the internet?”
“Dad, I’m twenty-eight years old. He didn’t lead me anywhere I didn’t want to go, and besides, I’m the public figure. Not him. I should’ve known better.”
“He should’ve known better.”
“Why? Because he’s older than me?”
“Among other reasons.”
Kate rested a hand over her stomach, which was rejecting the breakfast she’d recently enjoyed. “There’s something else I need to tell you,” she said haltingly. “I don’t want you to hear it on the news.”
“What?”
“He… Reid and I… We’re getting married.”
“You have to be kidding me, Kate! Why in the world would you want to marry a man so much older than you? You’ll be a widow when you’re barely married.”
At that, Kate began to get angry. “That’s an awful thing to say, Dad.”
“Are you going to sacrifice your chance to be a mother so you can marry this older man?”
“Who said anything about not being a mother?”
“He’s actually interested in having kids at his age?”
“He’s considering it, and you’re one to talk. Your youngest kids are only ten.”