Chapter 33
Thirty-Three
SLOANE
We were allowed into the grading room so long as we were quiet. Walker, Regan, Thane, and I took a few seats on the bleachers of the huge gymnasium where Callie and Lewis’s first tae kwon do grading would soon be underway.
Walker had smartly advised we take seats near the front because our kids’ grading was up first, and we’d be leaving after that.
In all the time Callie had been going to classes, I had been unable to watch one.
She’d shown me her moves in the house, but it wasn’t the same, and I’d been carrying definite mom guilt about my lack of presence in this part of her life.
It was the weekend after our trip to Edinburgh with Walker.
All of our friends now knew we were dating.
Monroe was ecstatic, Brodan needed to stop teasing Walker or he might lose an eye, and Regan had been throwing me gleeful looks all morning.
The woman was a year older than me, and yet you’d think she was thirteen from the way she was acting.
Walker was on my left, Regan on my right, and Thane on Regan’s right. She nudged me with her knee, and I met her gleaming gaze. She wiggled her eyebrows.
I gave a huff of laughter. “Will you knock it off?” I whispered.
“You and Walker. I knew it,” she whispered back.
“Anyone with eyes knew it,” Walker murmured from my left as he surveyed the grading before us.
Thane muffled his laughter, but I couldn’t hide my grin as Regan smirked and faced the front.
One thing I loved about Walker was that he didn’t hide from much. Even though he hadn’t wanted to be attracted to me, he hadn’t hidden from the fact that he was. Even though he’d never wanted to be in a relationship, he hadn’t hidden from the realization that he wanted to be in one with me.
He didn’t often offer information about himself, but if I asked, he’d tell me.
So the fact he wouldn’t tell me about the older woman we bumped into in Edinburgh bothered me. It wasn’t like Walker to avoid a truth. And the truth was, she had a remarkably similar pair of vivid blue eyes to Walker.
He didn’t want to talk about it, and I was trying not to be bothered that he never talked about his family. His past.
The sight of Callie and Lewis stepping onto the mat in their little white doboks drew my focus.
Their jackets were closed with a white belt, signifying they were tenth gup.
I had no idea what that meant, other than that they were beginners, but I knew today, they’d be tested to see if they could advance to ninth gup.
Yellow tips would be placed around the ends of their belts if they advanced.
Nervous butterflies filled my belly, and I squeezed my hands between my knees at the sight of my little girl standing on that mat in a line with her peers. Lewis stood at her side. It suddenly occurred to me I was going to have to watch her fight.
Walker’s big hand covered both of mine. “She’ll be fine.”
I took in the tender understanding in his expression. Leaning into him, I slid my fingers through his, and he held my hand as grading started. An instructor yelled out words I couldn’t understand, and then Callie, along with her peers, moved.
I watched in awe as she punched and kicked the air, the gliding movements almost like a dance.
“It’s called a pattern,” Walker murmured in my ear. “They include offensive and defensive maneuvers, and they have to memorize the pattern.”
I’d seen her rehearse this but hadn’t known what it was called. Pride filled me as I observed a few of the other kids stumble and forget their moves. But not Callie and Lewis. In fact, they moved in perfect synchronicity because they’d practiced over and over together.
“They’re amazing,” Regan murmured beside me. “Our kids are amazing.”
“When did Lewis get so tall?” I asked.
“He just had a growth spurt. We had to buy him new jeans, pants, shoes, everything.”
The pattern ended and I wanted to surge to my feet and clap, but Walker squeezed my hand with a sexy smirk and a shake of his head.
Okay. No clapping at gradings.
“She did good, right?”
He nodded. “She did very well.”
Pride was practically bursting out of me, and Walker leaned in to press a quick kiss to my lips.
There were more parts to the grading, but the worst for me was sparring.
Callie was called up to spar with another girl, who looked a little older.
I might have cut off Walker’s circulation by squeezing his hand as the girl flew at Callie.
But my girl blocked and defended and got through the other girl’s lazy defense with an impressive kick to her side and a punch to the chest. The sparring went on for too long for my peace of mind, especially when the girl kicked Callie in the upper thigh, causing her to stumble.
But when it was over, Callie was announced the winner.
“She’s good,” Walker told me quietly. “A natural, in fact.”
“I’m proud and terrified by that.”
He chuckled and kissed my temple in reassurance. The man was surprisingly affectionate now that we were officially dating. I loved it.
Lewis’s sparring went just as well. His opponent wasn’t as sloppy as Callie’s, but Lewis was fast and precise. For beginners, they really were impressive.
“Look at that intense determination on his face.” Regan’s dimples flashed. “My savage little guy. I could just squeeze him, he’s so cute.”
“I think he’d rather you didn’t at this precise moment,” Thane said dryly.
I choked on a chuckle. Even though Lewis wasn’t Regan’s biological son, you wouldn’t know it. She’d been Lewis and Eilidh’s nanny before she fell for Thane, and she’d loved those kids from day one. It was clear that love had grown as deep as any mother’s love could.
Lewis won, and no one could hold Regan back from jumping up in her seat and whooping her delight. Thane shook his head in amusement while Lewis grinned up at his stepmom from the floor. He gave her a wave and then headed off the mat, straight for Callie, and they high-fived.
A little while later, we all watched, all of us bursting with pride we couldn’t hide, including Walker, as our children advanced to ninth gup.
Callie and Lewis were hyper, swinging their belts with their new yellow tips, as we led them out of the sports center toward the parking lot. I had texts from Aria and Monroe asking how the grading went, and I quickly texted back to let them know.
Thane insisted on taking us all out to lunch to celebrate, and since it was kids’ choice, we found ourselves in a fast-food restaurant again. I knew Walker, despite his sweet tooth, didn’t eat junk food normally and appreciated him doing so for the sake of the children.
I watched him praise Callie until she practically glowed.
I observed the way Callie chose a seat next to Walker and how he bent his head to hear her as she chatted away easily to him.
His patience with her was one of my favorite things in the world.
Walker would never be the most talkative man.
That wasn’t who he was. But he was one of the best listeners ever, and he engaged with Callie. He cared.
My heart beat a little too fast as a mammoth swell of emotion overwhelmed me.
The way Lewis was with Callie only compounded it. He teased and joked with her, but he also told her that her performance was “totally lit.”
“Did you see us during the pattern?” he said to her after barely swallowing a bite of burger. “We were completely in sync.”
“You were,” I agreed. “It was very cool.”
“And the way you blocked Amy and then landed that kick on her side.” Lewis beamed at Callie like she was a superhero. “It was amazing.”
Callie smiled so big it surprised me her cheeks could handle it.
And I loved every second for her.
Finally, after years of struggling, my daughter had the life I’d always wanted for her. It wasn’t perfect. I still might not be able to give her some material things, but the things that mattered … she had those now.
My eyes flicked to Walker, who observed the interaction between her and Lewis, and I felt a shiver of fear cut through my joy.
Walker was such a big part of what I’d found here.
In so many ways, he was solid and safe.
But there was a kernel of uncertainty within me. I shook it off.
I didn’t want my insecurities to ruin this day.
Later, Walker took us home and we watched a movie. At Callie’s bedtime, he waited until she was upstairs and tucked in before he got up to leave.
I asked him to stay instead.
“Are you sure?”
I nodded.
We hung out downstairs for a little longer and then I led him up to my bedroom, where Walker Ironside proved once again he could make love. Slow and tender. And quiet, even though that last part was very difficult for me.
Afterward, I lay in his arms, my cheek resting on his strong pecs. I touched the scar on his upper chest that looked like the one on my arm. “Who shot you?” I whispered.
“Sniper. Afghanistan,” he answered quietly, his fingers stroking lightly across my shoulder. “Not a very good one.”
“What do you mean? He hit you.”
“And yet I gather he was aiming for my head.”
Walker said it so casually, but the thought made me sick to my stomach. “Was it awful there? Stupid question, I guess.”
“It was pretty bad. They deployed us on operations, but it wasn’t long after I joined 43, the protection fleet. I didn’t see as much action in Afghanistan as others did.”
Thank God. “And this?” My fingertips trailed over his largest scar, a gash that ran down his ribs.
“Bar fight. Sometimes moron drunks like to pick a fight with soldiers.”
“Oh my God,” I muttered, annoyed at the idiocy of people. “It looks bad.”
“Aye, he slashed me pretty good, but I survived.”
“And these?” There was a cluster of small red scars on his side.
Walker scowled. “Shrapnel. I was lucky and wasn’t close enough to take much of the blast. My mate, Harry, he took the worst of it.”
I swallowed past my emotion, thinking about how close Walker had come to dying. Several times. “Is your friend okay?”