Chapter 41 Part Of The Family
PART OF THE FAMILY
“Jocelyn,” Carolyn Fierce said. “We are so glad you could make it. And you must be Chance. We are thrilled you could stop in.”
“Nice to meet you,” he said, shaking her hand.
He wasn’t so sure he was excited to be here. Way out of his league. But he’d been told it was a tradition that the Fierces took turns hosting a Christmas Eve open house.
People could come and go as they pleased. Jocelyn didn’t always come but said now that she was taking a more active part in the business, she had to show her face more.
“Chance Drummond,” she said. “This is Carolyn Fierce. Behind her, speed-stepping closer, is Diane Fierce.”
He reached his hand around and shook with Diane. “Nice to meet you too.”
“I have to say this one was boring,” Diane said. “No hand in it from us, but aren’t you such a cute couple?”
“Thanks,” he said. He didn’t know what Diane was talking about but saw Jocelyn frowning and moving him toward another group of people.
“Let’s go by Royce and Elise. You know Royce and can meet my sister-in-law. Have you ever met Royce’s wife, Chloe?”
“No,” he said. But he knew Chloe worked at Fierce Engineering. He found it funny that most of the people Jocelyn knew or talked about were couples and had ties to Fierce.
He supposed it made sense since she knew them so well and they were all business partners, or their parents were.
“Hey, Chance,” Royce said. “Didn’t know if you’d get roped into this.”
“Stop,” Jocelyn said. “I had to twist his arm as it was.”
She didn’t really, but he was uncomfortable. Not that he didn’t get along with those he knew here. Or that he wasn’t seeing more of Gabe, Jim, and Stacy McCarthy. They even made him feel as if he was part of the family.
But there was more wealth than he was used to. Added to the mess in his life with Maverick and Baylee.
After the first of the year, she’d be out on bond and he only hoped she kept her end of the bargain. It wouldn’t help her case if she didn’t and he had to put a restraining order on her.
Not something he wanted to do to have things get even messier.
Somehow Jocelyn was holding strong through this all.
Even after she asked if he was a jealous person.
Did she expect him to be possessive of her? Especially with the weasel that was her ex.
He felt no threat there.
The bigger threat was his mind. His actions.
His thoughts.
He doubted everything he did around her and Maverick.
He didn’t know how to be a father.
He didn’t know how to be a good partner, but he could bluff his way through it.
Slipping and acting like he used to and wanting to throw Jocelyn over his shoulder and carry her into her bedroom in front of his son made him feel like a cad.
She laughed it off. Told him it was normal.
Maybe it was, but it wasn’t anything he’d seen before.
“We all needed our arms twisted a time or two,” Elise McCarthy said. He’d met her once before when she was at a house he was inspecting with the homeowners going over a change.
“Not me,” Royce said. “And here comes my wife. This is Chloe. Now talk about twisting arms to show up places even though it was her employer.”
“You know why I kept my distance. You all do,” Chloe said.
“And yet everyone falls for it,” Gabe said, looking at Jocelyn.
She gave her brother a nudge with her elbow.
“What am I missing?” Chance asked.
He hated being left in the dark and that was happening more in his life than he cared to admit.
“Are you going to tell him?” Gabe asked. “You’re not going to be able to hide it here.”
He was losing his patience. “Tell me what?”
“I can’t believe you don’t know what the Fierces do,” she said. “Not once have you heard?”
“They are engineers,” he said.
There was laughter from the group to that response.
“Engineers of matchmaking,” Elise said. “That’s what they like to do. Set people up. Everyone in this room has been set up or at least on their radar.”
“I did it on my own,” Gabe said. “But I knew what they were doing.”
“I expected it,” Elise said. “I knew they had their hand in putting Royce and Chloe together.”
“I knew what they had planned,” Chloe said. “And got a jump start on it.”
“Why would they do that?” he asked.
“Because they are nosy,” Jocelyn said.
“It’s a hobby for them in their retirement,” Gabe said. “At least for the women. The men enjoy doing it just as much, don’t let them kid you. My father got in the middle of this with Richard Kennedy with Elise and I.”
Chance turned his head to look at Jocelyn. “Do they want to set you up with someone? Is that why you pushed for me to come today?”
“I pushed because we’ve been dating for three months and I had to be here and Maverick is at daycare. You’re going to the pub in an hour. There was no reason you couldn’t join me to say hi.”
He did it because it was her friends and family and she asked.
That she wanted him around her in front of those people helped ease him always feeling as if he didn’t belong.
“I just want to make sure I don’t have to run into someone else who wants you,” he said, closing one eye at her.
“Someone else?” Gabe asked. “Like who?”
“Hey,” she said, pinching his arm. “That was supposed to be between us.”
“Don’t tell me I have to track down one of your exes again,” Gabe said.
“I took care of it,” he said.
She slipped her arm through his. “He let me take care of it, but Victor was shaking in his boots in front of Chance too.”
“Might have gone back crying for his mother.”
She coughed at that statement that no one else knew about.
“Don’t be bad,” she said.
“I’m not sure what she saw in him,” Gabe said. “Jayce and I couldn’t stand him.”
Just great. Jayce didn’t appear to be so fond of Chance either. At least not at Thanksgiving. Tomorrow he’d see Jocelyn’s twin again. Maybe time would ease some of the tension.
His grandmother was coming to his house in the morning to open gifts with Maverick.
He might have gone overboard with presents, but his son had so little. He wanted to have a Christmas morning he would have liked as a kid.
Cookies out for Santa. The tree lights on in the morning when Maverick woke and ran out to all the gifts that were there.
Next year he hoped to have a fireplace and chimney to help tell the story better. Santa coming into the house that way.
Maverick was too young to understand now and it was just as well.
“I only listen to my brothers to a point,” she said.
“We aren’t wrong,” Gabe said. “Good thing we like you. Even if we didn’t, you’ve been given the golden seal of approval.”
What the hell did that mean?
“Let’s get some food,” Jocelyn said, tugging him to another room.
“What is everyone talking about?” he asked.
“Nothing. They are just talking.”
But he didn’t believe it.
“What do you think of Chance?” Stacy asked Diane and Carolyn hours later.
Her daughter had come and gone and she’d purposely made sure she and Jim came after.
Too many people staring at Jocelyn would make it more awkward.
She knew her daughter was in love with Chance. She saw it. She also knew Jocelyn was afraid to say the words because she didn’t know if they’d be reciprocated.
“They look great together,” Diane said. “Not someone I would have picked for her, but I have to say, she was more open and outgoing around him than she’s been in the past.”
“I know. That’s the daughter I know and love. She’s not reserved around Chance when she has been around other men. He’s good for her.”
“I’m sure she is going to have some explaining to do. I found out that there were a lot of comments made about what we do,” Carolyn said.
“Jocelyn was fully aware that was going to happen. I think deep down she was hoping for a way to break the ice. Not that Grant and Garrett had anything to do with this, but they thought they’d make a good couple.”
“They called it before it happened,” Diane said. “I think that counts. He wanted Chance paired with Jocelyn.”
“It does count,” Stacy said. “And Jocelyn knows anything you guys set your sights on works out.”
“And she wanted to make sure we felt that way?” Carolyn asked. “Isn’t that the sweetest thing, Diane? It tells us how good we are at this.”
“We had nothing to do with this,” Diane said, laughing. “But it’s the same thing when the guys are involved.”
“Chance has a lot on his plate, but it’s working,” Stacy said. “She’s there for him when he needs it, and he’s there to prove to her she’s stronger than she ever thought she was.”
A parent couldn’t ask for more than that.