Chapter 25
Twenty-Five
As he followed her downstairs, Dan realized he felt more “at home” in this house where he’d lived for years than he ever had before.
The only thing that’d changed was Kara. She’d changed everything.
Every aspect of his life had been altered by her in the best way possible.
He couldn’t wait to introduce her to his parents, sisters, brothers-in-law, nieces and nephews at dinner.
They would love her as much as he did. He had no doubt.
They hadn’t liked Jamie.
Sure, they’d been polite, but the Torringtons were polite only to people they didn’t like. When they were comfortable with someone, that person became part of the family jokes, the ribbing, the banter.
Jamie had never been one of them. He’d realized that after he’d caught her riding his best man. His mother had expressed relief rather than remorse when he’d told her the wedding was canceled.
Kara stopped short at the bottom of the stairs. “Once again, I have to say it. Holy shit. The downstairs is even more impressive than the upstairs.”
“I can’t take any credit for the decorating. It was like this when I bought it.”
“You were smart to not change a thing and to keep the focus on that dazzling view. It’s perfect.”
“I thought so, too.”
Everything was done mostly in neutrals with splashes of color here and there to keep the neutrals from becoming boring. That’s what the Realtor had said when she showed it to him.
When they entered the kitchen, Kara stopped short. “Oh. My. God.”
“That’s exactly what I said the first time I saw this kitchen.
” Lorraine stood watch over something on the stove.
At sixty-two, she had a full figure and a big smile.
She would say she loved to eat as much as she loved to cook.
“Hell, the whole house left me speechless. Never knew people lived like this until I met Dan the Man.” She wiped her hands on a dish towel.
“You must be the famous Kara, who changed his mind about marriage.”
Kara shook her hand as she cast a curious glance at Dan. “Changed his mind?”
“After the one who shall not be named…” Lorraine shook her head. “We don’t speak of her.” She pretended to spit. “She’s dead to us.”
Kara laughed.
“Lorraine is a tad loyal,” Dan said as he poured coffee for them.
“You’re damned right I am.”
“Whatever you’re making smells delicious,” Kara said.
“You’re smelling the French toast casserole that’s in the oven. I also made eggs, potatoes and the turkey sausage Dan likes. There’s fruit in the fridge and stuff for lunch, too.”
Dan kissed Lorraine on the cheek. “You’re the best, Lolo.”
“Anything for you, pal.” Lorraine plated their meals and placed them on the island. “I made enough to cover you for a couple of days. I’ll come back when you need more.”
“Thank you.” He held a stool for Kara. “Join us, Lo.”
“You don’t need me underfoot when you’ve got your fiancée here.”
“We want you,” Kara said. “Please stay and tell me secrets about Dan.”
Lorraine released a deep laugh. “Oh, I like this one.”
“I do, too.”
The Torringtons also loved Kara. Dan could tell right away when they included her in their teasing.
His parents, Dave and Nancy, and sisters, Barb and Belinda, as well as their husbands, Chris and Don, immediately included Kara in a way they never had with Jamie.
They’d held her at arm’s length, as if they didn’t trust her. Turned out they were on to something.
Like him, his sisters had dark hair and eyes. His friends had told him his older sisters were “hot” since the minute the other kids knew what that meant. He’d concede that they were pretty, but he drew the line at hot.
Mostly, they’d driven him and Dylan crazy by acting like the bosses of them.
As Dan sat back and watched the show unfold over dinner at a restaurant in Santa Monica, his six-year-old niece, Helen, crawled onto his lap.
“Is she your girlfriend, Uncle Dan?” Helen whispered loud enough for everyone to hear her.
“She’s going to be my wife next summer.”
“I bet there’s a lot of kissing.”
“Helen!” Belinda said to her daughter. “Don’t start that.”
“What the heck, Bee?” Dan asked, amused.
Belinda looked mortified. “She’s obsessed with kissing.”
“Mommy likes to kiss Daddy.”
Don winked at his wife. “And Daddy loves to kiss Mommy.”
“Make it stop,” Belinda said as everyone else made kissing noises that delighted Helen.
“I apologize for my family, Kara,” Nancy said. “They weren’t raised this way.”
“Sure we were,” Barb said. “Chris says we were raised by wolves.”
Dad’s laughter was cut short by an elbow to the ribs from his wife.
“That’s not funny.”
“Even if it’s true?” Dad asked Mom.
Dan was thrilled to see them laughing and joking.
For a long time after Dylan died, he’d wondered if they’d ever get back to the lighthearted fun that had been so much a part of who they were as a family.
Dylan’s absence was never more glaring than when they were all together, but at least they’d gotten to the point where they could have fun again.
The kids had helped. Barb had three and Belinda two.
He wondered if Dylan would be married with kids by now. His longtime girlfriend had gotten married about five years after he died. The family had attended the wedding, which would always rate as one of the toughest days he’d had since he lost his brother.
Even though he loved Lori like a sister, seeing her marry someone other than Dylan had been brutal.
“How’s Lori?” Dan asked his mother.
“She’s doing great. They’re expecting their third any time now.”
“Does she know what she’s having?”
“A boy this time. They’re excited.”
For Kara’s benefit, he said, “Lori was Dylan’s girlfriend.”
“Oh, I see.”
He could tell she had questions, which he’d answer later.
The kids wanted dessert, so they asked to see the menu.
Helen stayed on Dan’s lap while they ate chocolate cake and vanilla ice cream from the same plate.
“Can you come to my play, Uncle Dan?” his nephew, Jed, asked.
“When is it, buddy?”
“Next weekend.”
Dan glanced at Kara, who nodded. “We’d love to.”
Six-year-old Jed flashed a toothless grin. “I’m playing Doc.”
Dan looked to Barb for explanation.
“Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.”
“Ah, okay.”
“They said I’m perfect for him ’cause I already had glasses,” Jed said.
Dan laughed. “That’s handy.”
“I know!”
They parted with hugs in the parking lot. Barb said she’d send the info about the play and to plan on dinner after at their house in Pasadena.
“So that’s my family,” Dan said when they were driving back to Malibu in the two-seater BMW he kept at the house.
“They’re delightful.”
“They’re a lot.”
“Compared to mine?”
“True,” he said with a laugh. “I forget about the ten siblings.”
“We’re not like you guys. When we bicker, there’s an edge to it. It’s not funny like your family is.”
“We’ll create our own family, and we’ll make it just the way we want it, with lots of love and laughter and happily ever after.”
“That’d be nice,” she said with a sigh.
“It’s all good from here, babe. I promise.”
She covered the hand that was holding hers with her other one. “I like it here.”
“I’m so glad you do.”
“Can we stay until the spring when I have to go back to work?”
“We sure can, but we have to go back to Gansett for Jenny and Alex’s wedding and then for the McCarthys’ anniversary party before Christmas.”
“Right. We can’t miss either of those things.”
“I want to take you to Riverside tomorrow. There’s someone there I want to introduce you to.”
“Who?”
“My brother.”
“Oh. Okay.”
He glanced over at her. “Is it?”
“Of course it is.”
“I go every Sunday when I’m here.”
“We’ll go every Sunday when we’re here.”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“I know I don’t. I want to. I want Dylan to be part of us.”
“Thank you,” he said gruffly.
“You don’t have to thank me.”
“Yes, I really do.”
“I was invited to my future niece Abigail’s fourth birthday tea party next weekend. Will you give me a ride?”
He smiled as he glanced over at her. “I’d love to.”
Before they returned to Gansett for Alex and Jenny’s wedding, Dan made the decision to turn over the managing partner duties at the innocence project to one of his longtime colleagues. Dan would still be consulting on cases, but someone else would have the day-to-day responsibilities.
“I want to be on Gansett with you in the summer and free to pursue a practice there as well as anything else that might come our way. Maybe I’ll even venture into fiction now that I’ve figured out this book-writing thing.” His editor had raved about the book that was now in production.
“That sounds exciting.”
“I worked a hundred hours a week for years when I was in corporate law. It was no way to live. That’s for sure. But I made enough to give us the freedom to take life as it comes and plot our own path.”
“I like the sound of that.”
“I do, too. It’s a relief to be out from under the daily management of the project, but still able to keep a hand in.”
“Perfect solution.”
He’d packed up his LA office and had most of it shipped to Gansett, where it had landed in the space he’d rented over Rebecca’s Diner in town.
Two weeks after the shipment arrived, he still hadn’t unpacked, so Kara decided to see if she could help.
She entered Dan’s office and found him sitting with his feet on his desk, pen in his mouth, papers in hand, brows knit in concentration.
He was so flipping sexy, not that she could ever tell him that, because it would go straight to his already overinflated ego.
But she loved that overinflated ego, just like she loved everything else about him.
Leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed, she cleared her throat.
When he saw her there, his smile lit up his whole face. She loved that, too, the way he was always so damned glad to see her, even when he’d just woken her with slow, sultry morning lovemaking two short hours ago.
“Why, hello there, young lady. Are you in need of legal counsel?”
“Not at this time, but it appears you’re in need of unpacking help. This place is a disaster.”
“You’re not spending your day unpacking my office.”
“Why not? I don’t have anything else to do, and this way I get to spend the day with my fiancé. It’s a win-win.”
Dan held out his hand to her. “Come over here and see me.”
She went to him, took hold of his hand and let him guide her onto his lap.
He nuzzled her neck, his whiskers abrading her skin. “I have a bone to pick with you, my love.”
Shifting on his lap, she felt his erection settle between her cheeks. “I thought we already picked that bone this morning.”
“Ha-ha, very funny. I’m talking about the male-stripper bone.”
“Oh. You heard about that, huh?” Lighthouse keeper Jenny Wilks’s bachelorette party was that weekend, and the women had been driving the men nuts telling them they’d hired strippers.
“You’re goddamned right I did, and I’m none too pleased that I didn’t hear about it from you.”
“I was going to tell you.”
“When?”
“Sunday?” she said with a grin.
“So we’re going to keep secrets in this marriage of ours? Is that how it’s going to be?”
“We’re not technically married yet.” She loved to wind him up, and judging by the stormy look he gave her, the comment was a direct hit.
“You’re actually going to get me on a technicality?”
“I’ve learned about such things from the best lawyer I’ve ever known.”
“No strippers.”
“Yes, dear.”
“I mean it, Kara. No one touches this sweet body except for me.” To make his point, he cupped her breast and teased her nipple.
“Do you really think I’d let anyone else touch me the way you do? Especially knowing what happened to you the last time you were engaged?”
He sighed deeply. “No, I don’t think you would, but the thought of it… It makes me crazy, Kara. I don’t want to be like that, but I can’t help it.”
She brought her lips down on his and ran her tongue over his bottom lip. “You have nothing to worry about where I’m concerned. I’m all yours. Forever and always yours.”
Cupping the back of her head, he dove into the kiss like a man who’d been starving until she came along. Another thing she loved about him was how much he wanted her. She kept expecting their ardor to wane, to burn itself out, but it only burned brighter the longer they were together.
“I don’t know how I’ll survive until June when I can put a second ring on your finger,” he said when they came up for air.
“That’s a formality, Dan. As far as I’m concerned, we’re already married in all the ways that matter most.”
“I thought you said—”
“Forget I said that. I’d never, ever want you to feel insecure about me or us.”
“I don’t. Not really.”
Those two little words he added on at the end exposed the truth.
She took him by the face and stared into his glorious eyes. “I will never, ever, ever do to you what she did.”
“And I will never, ever hook up with one of your sisters the way he did.”
She smiled since both her sisters were married now. “Please don’t have those worries until June. I’d hate to think of you feeling like that between now and then.”
“I’ll try not to.”
“I know I’ve said this before, but it bears repeating—I’m sort of glad now that Kelly hooked up with Matt and that your ex did your best man before the wedding. Both of those awful things led us to exactly where we belong—with each other. And nothing has ever been like this for me.”
“Me either, baby.” Burying his face in her hair, he held her tight, seeming to breathe her in.
“Now that we have that resolved, can we please do something about this office of yours?”
“If you insist.”
“I do.” Kara got up from his lap and tugged at his hand to bring him with her. Dropping to her knees in front of one of the open boxes, she started taking things out.
“Thanks for the help, babe.”
“Happy to do it.”
“Now, about those strippers…”
“Shut up, Dan, and get to work.”