Chapter 18
Chapter Eighteen
brOOKS
Ihaven’t felt this light, this optimistic in … ever? Maybe not ever. Juliet knows everything now, all the secrets I’ve carried around all these years, and we’re working our way through it. Everything that happened in the house just about ripped my heart out, but we’re okay.
We’re going to renovate our house together, and I’ll make sure it’s exactly what she wants. Hell, she could turn it into a bed-and-breakfast, and I’d go along with it.
We left through the back door, so we could check out the three-car garage, a little vegetable garden that hasn’t been tended to in years, and a shed, and now we’re circling around the side of the house toward the street just as a car pulls into my driveway.
“Who’s visiting?” Jules asks, frowning.
“I believe that’s Dani.” I kiss her cheek as we cross the street, and Birdie comes bounding out of the back seat of the SUV.
“Hi, Uncle Brooks!” She runs to me and leaps into my arms. “We’re here.”
“I see that, peanut. Do you remember our friend Juliet?”
“When are you opening your restaurant back up?” Birdie asks Jules, who smiles softly at my little niece.
“As soon as possible. I miss it, too. The construction people tell me about two weeks.”
“That’s so far away,” Birdie says, acting like her life is over.
Dani and Darby join us, both with their arms full.
“Hey, guys,” Jules says. “What in the world are you doing?”
“Operation make-the-kitchen-safe-for-Jules is officially here,” Dani says with a smile. “We’re replacing everything today. I have plenty more in the car. Brooks, do you mind being the muscle?”
“I never mind being the muscle.” I flex one arm, and Dani and Darby roll their eyes. Jules bites her lip, which was what I intended.
Birdie climbs across me to hang from my biceps.
“We went shopping,” Birdie announces. “Because you have tummy stuff like me.”
Jules blinks rapidly, keeping tears at bay. “You didn’t have to—”
“Yeah, Wildfire, we did. Come on, guys, let’s go inside.”
I set Birdie down and open the back of the SUV, pull out a large tote full of what looks like dishes and cutlery, and follow the girls inside.
“We’ll donate everything that’s already here,” Darby says, looking around with her hands on her hips. “There’s a new women’s shelter looking for donations.”
I nod in agreement, but Jules is shaking her head.
“I’ve been just fine,” Jules insists. “I’ve been eating here without an issue. This isn’t necessary.”
“Yeah, you’ve been fine getting by with the few things that I have on hand, and that’s not good enough.
I want you to be able to relax and feel safe here.
Eat whatever you want from whatever surface, dish, or pan you want without worrying.
As of today, this and any other kitchen you and I have is a clean kitchen. ”
Dani and Darby share a smile as I pull Jules in for a hug.
“You live here,” I remind her softly. “This is your home, baby.”
“And here just a few hours ago, I was trying to figure out how I was going to come to grips with the fact that I had to move back into the attic.”
I pull back and narrow my eyes at her, cover her throat with my hand, and lean in to whisper in her ear.
“You’re going to get spanked later for even thinking that, Wildfire.”
She pulls in a sharp breath, then licks her lips as I pull away.
“I kind of love this whole situation. They’re mushy, but not disgusting about it like you and Bridger are,” Darby tells Dani, as if we’re not standing right here.
They’ve already started pulling my old stuff out of cabinets, filling totes with it, and I take the full ones and put them in Dani’s car.
“No touching the old stuff,” Dani tells Jules when my girl reaches for the pots and pans. “I want to be sure that you don’t have a reaction. No getting sick on my watch, friend.”
“Flares suck ass,” Birdie announces from the dining room table, where she’s set up with her iPad and a snack. She nods knowingly, like she’s forty.
“Birdie,” Dani says, her pretty blue eyes wide with surprise. “You don’t say that word. I don’t know where she gets this language. I don’t swear. Ever.”
“Have you heard your husband talk?” I ask her. “He has a filthy mouth.”
“I’m not wrong, though,” Birdie replies with a shrug.
This kid is hilarious.
“Where’s the baby?” Jules asks as she starts to unpack the new pots and pans and sets them by the sink to wash. Then she starts to unpack a brand-new toaster.
“He’s with Holden and Millie,” Darby answers. “Holden is obsessed with the little ones. It’s a bit … alarming.”
“He’s always been good with kids,” Dani reminds her sister. “Okay, I think that’s the last of the old. Time to sterilize.”
The four of us spend an hour with bleach and sponges, wiping down every cabinet, every drawer, even the fridge and oven. The microwave. Dani tosses a special tablet into the dishwasher and runs it on the sanitize cycle.
Then we all work together to put the new stuff away, after giving it a good wash in the sink.
“You’re a lifesaver,” I say to Dani as I pull her in for a hug. The Lexingtons are like siblings to me. All of them. Having these girls here to help me ensure that my wildfire is safe means the world.
“Now we can eat here and not have bad tummies,” Birdie says to Jules.
“That’s exciting,” Jules agrees. “You let me know what kinds of things you want on the menu when I’m ready to reopen Sage & Citrus, and I’ll make sure I have those for you, okay?”
“Anything I want?” Birdie asks with wide eyes.
“Pretty much anything,” Jules confirms.
“Mac and cheese,” Birdie replies immediately. “I miss that the most.”
“Psh. I can totally do that for you. I can do that today. Do you guys want to come over later for dinner?”
And just like that, my heart has exploded outside of my chest. Because my woman, the one person I’ve wanted to have here with me from the beginning, just invited my family over for dinner. To our home.
Our. Home.
Dani grins, and Birdie nods.
“We’d love that. Bridger gets off work around three. What can I bring?”
“Just yourselves,” Jules says and hugs Birdie back when the little girl wraps her arms around Juliet’s waist. “I’ll make … hmm … how about fried chicken with mac and cheese and some salad?”
“I can bring baked beans,” Darby offers. “Alex has Mom’s recipe box, and there’s a really good beans recipe in there.”
“I’m down for that. And tell all of the others, too. Everyone is welcome,” Jules replies. “How does all of that sound, Miss Birdie?”
“Can we have it now?” Birdie asks, making us laugh.
“If you want, you can stay and help me cook.” Jules raises her brows at Dani in a silent is that okay look.
“Can I, Mom?” Birdie asks Dani.
“I don’t mind if you stay,” Dani says, kissing Birdie’s head. “We’ll be back later this afternoon, after your dad is off work.”
We walk Darby and Dani out, and then when we’re alone with Birdie, who’s happy at the table with her tablet again, Jules turns to me, nibbling her lip, looking uncertain.
“What’s up, Wildfire?”
“I should have asked you before I blurted out an invitation to have your family for dinner.”
I pull her in for a hug. Christ, I can’t stop hugging her. “You don’t have to ever ask permission for anything. This is your home, remember? Do whatever you want. But for what it’s worth, I love that you asked them to come for dinner.”
“You do?”
“Sure. I’m close to my family, baby. Having them here is never a hardship. Birdie is, behind you, my favorite person in the world.”
“I don’t know, I think she ranks above me. She’s awesome.”
I laugh and kiss the top of her head, breathing in her flowers. “Make me a grocery list, and I’ll go get whatever you need.”
“Oh, I don’t mind going. There will be certain gluten-free—”
“I’ve got this,” I tell her. “Trust me.”
Her eyes soften, and she smiles up at me. “Thank you.”
I wake up with a start, not sure what might have pulled me out of sleep, but definitely aware that I’m alone.
And I should never wake up in the middle of the night alone. Not now that I have Juliet in my bed.
The sheets are cool, telling me she’s been gone for a while. It’s just before four, and I want her here with me, so I climb out of bed and tug on some sweats to go searching for her.
She’s not in the living room or the kitchen. Just when I’m about to panic, I glance out the front window and see my wildfire bundled up in my old red hoodie, sitting on the top step of the porch. She has her arms wrapped around her knees, just staring out into the night.
Stepping outside, I shiver a little. It’s cold, but I don’t give a shit. I need to make sure my girl is okay.
Jules glances over her shoulder and smiles softly at me as I sit next to her and tug her against me. She immediately melts into my side, nuzzles my shoulder, and wraps her arms around me.
“I wanted to let you sleep,” she whispers.
“I don’t like waking up without you,” I tell her, kissing the top of her head. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing at all is wrong. Everything in my world is pretty much perfect.”
I grin and tip her chin up so I can kiss her. “Good. Just couldn’t sleep, then?”
“My brain is moving a mile a minute,” she confesses with a sigh and then looks away again. “That’s our house, Brooks.”
“Yeah, baby. It’s our house.”
“I have so many ideas already. I don’t know if you’re ready for this because I basically want to take everything in there down to the studs and start over.”
“It pretty much has to be that way. Did you see it?”
Jules chuckles and nods. “Yeah, I saw it. It’s amazing. It’s better than I ever imagined when we were kids. We’ll make it really special.”
“You can have anything you want.”
“I’m using the money.” Her voice is quiet, and before I can argue, she keeps talking.
“He owes us so much more than he could ever pay. He took time. He took you from me, and now he’s going to pay for it in the only way possible.
I’m not afraid of using that money anymore. Connor’s right, it’s not personal.”
“Sounds personal,” I mumble.
“It’s not any better to be stubborn and let a fortune rot in an account where it doesn’t do any good to anyone.
I’m going to use it for my business, first and foremost. Because he always said I couldn’t do it.
That it wouldn’t work. Well, it’s fucking working.
And then, I’ll use it for some of the work on the house. It’s mine, Brooks.”
“I don’t love the idea of anything that came from that piece of shit making its way into our home, Juliet.”
She sighs and gives it some thought. “It’s going to be expensive to make it all happen, and we can do it without loans. It’ll be all ours.”
“We’ll talk about it some more. I’m not exactly poor, you know.”
She laughs and reaches up to brush her fingers down my cheek. “No, you’re not. You have a kick-ass business, and I’m so damn proud of you. If you just want me to use that money for the restaurant, I will. I understand.”
“We’ll discuss it,” I say again and kiss her nose.
She’s quiet again, snuggled up in my arms, taking in the night.
“Remember earlier when you said you’d marry me today?”
My heart stills. My whole body seems to pause.
“I remember.”
“Okay.”
I pull back and take her face in my hands, staring down into the most gorgeous blue eyes reflecting the moonlight. “Okay what, Wildfire?”
“Okay to marrying me. Today.”
Now the blood rushes through my ears, and my heart’s beating in overdrive. My skin is hot, oblivious to the cool night air around us.
“You want to get married today?”
She nods and smiles up at me. “Yeah. Can you take the morning off work so we can go to the courthouse?”
“Baby, I own the business, so yeah, I can take the day off. But I need to make sure that this is what you really want. Not because of the house, or because of all of the emotions of the past couple of months—”
“No, I want to be your wife, Brooks. It’s all I ever wanted. If I’d only known—” She shakes her head sadly. “Well, like you said, we can’t dwell on that. I don’t want to waste another day. Another minute. I want to be Juliet Blackwell today.”
Well, that’s a punch to the gut.
“They’re not open quite yet.” I smile softly and ghost my fingertips over her jawline. “A quick visit to the justice of the peace isn’t the wedding you deserve, Juliet.”
“I don’t honestly care about the hoopla. Don’t get me wrong, I plan to be very loud and obnoxious about announcing to anyone who will listen that I finally got you to marry me.”
I snort, but she keeps talking.
“And we can have that party with close friends and family, which means it won’t be a small party at all.”
“Not in the least.”
“But I want it to be today. I don’t want to wait months to plan something. I’ll hire Charlie Lexington to plan our reception.”
I take a long, deep breath and nudge her lips up to meet my own. “I love you so much, Wildfire.”
“I love you, too.”
I stand and pick her up, then walk us inside and back to the bedroom, where I set her gently on the side of the bed and then cross to the dresser and pull a black velvet box out from under my socks.
When I turn around, her eyes widen, pinned to the box in my hands, and I move slowly back to her, then kneel in front of her. Her hands are clenched tightly together in her lap, and she’s chewing so hard on that bottom lip that I’m surprised she’s not bleeding.
I pull the ring that I’ve held on to for all these years out of the box, then set the box aside and reach for her hand.
“I’ve held on to this for you. It was always supposed to be yours.”
Tears spill down onto her cheeks as she stares at the small diamond ring.
“I would buy you something bigger now—”
“I want this one,” she says, shaking her head, and I can’t help but smile and lean in to kiss her cheek, then down to her neck and breathe her in.
“You’re the sweetest thing, Wildfire. God, I fucking love you.”
“I love you, too. Do I get to wear that now?”
I chuckle and pull back to do this right. “I have to ask a question first. Will you—”
“Yes.”
“—please do me the honor—”
“Absolutely.”
“—of marrying me—”
“Without question.”
“—and being my wife?”
“A million times yes. Yes, yes, yes.” She sticks her shaking hand out, and I slip the ring on her finger. It fits perfectly. I bring her hand up to my lips and press a kiss there, and then she’s in my arms, laughing and crying and holding on so tight, she might strangle me.
I don’t mind.
“We can do it today?” she asks.
“We can be waiting when they open,” I confirm as I shift us onto the bed and roll us so she’s beneath me. “Now, since we have several hours to kill before I can make you my wife, I’m going to fuck you like I hate you, then make sweet love to you.”
“Oh, that’s the best news I’ve ever heard.”