Chapter 21
Em
Two weeks later
“Why are you nervous?” I ask Jude from the passenger seat.
“Because I’ve never done this before,” he mutters, fiddling with the radio for what I swear is the tenth time in the hour or so we’ve been driving.
“Wait.” I turn and stare at my husband, dumbfounded. “Don’t you think that's somethin’ you should’ve told me?”
“Whyyy?” he replies, somewhat cautiously. Smart man.
“The fact I’m the first girl you’ve ever taken home to your mom and dad is important information, hubby.”
He shoots me a wary side-glance. “Then we’d both be nervous, and it would undoubtedly end in disaster. Why would I put you through that?”
Now my head was threatening to explode. “As opposed to tellin’ me now when we’re almost there? Besides, why would it be a disaster? I’m awesome. Your parents are goin’ to love me.”
His shoulders drop down from around his ears and a slow-growing smile transforms his whole face. Lifting our joined hands up, he brushes his lips over my knuckles. “You’re right, they will love you. Heck, they already do. You and Mom were talkin’ for hours on the phone the other night.”
“It wasn’t hours,” I grumble.
“Sure felt like it.”
“She was tellin’ me about your grandfather and his father and–”
“Henley and Marion?” he asks.
“Yeah. She really wants to read the letters, too. Her and Cap had no idea they existed. Though she wasn’t surprised. She told me Ridley was like a squirrel, always huntin’ and gatherin’.”
“You have no idea. The bunker was filled to the brim with all sorts of stuff,” he says.
“What bunker?”
“Wilson Ranch doesn’t have an underground bunker?”
I scrunch my nose up. “No. Why would we? Aren’t they for doomsday preppers who think society is going to collapse and take the world down with it?”
Jude laughs. “In Gramps’s world, definitely.”
I shoot him a curious look. “What exactly is in your bunker?”
“Supplies, mostly. There are some old food stores we’ve kept for posterity’s sake. We’d only ever eat them if it was literally a last resort. Will and Case have also added some of Gramps’s belongin’s down there to keep for future generations. Family stuff, you know?”
I giggle, I can’t help it. “So, my dad wasn’t too far off when he called Riddles a bit eccentric?”
He chuckles. “Somehow I doubt that was the only thing Sully used to say about my grandfather, but yeah. He was a bit like that. He knew everythin’ about everythin’ though. He taught us as much as he could about livin’ on and off the land every time we’d visit.” Jude smiles at the memory.
“Dad was the same,” I say.
Surprisingly, it doesn’t hurt to talk about Dad anymore. Not since I realized that he may be gone, but it was a long time coming, and I don’t ever have to forget him.
“Sorry.” Jude squeezes my hand, offering me comfort. “Don’t want to upset you.”
“I’m OK. I like thinkin’ about him. It helps me remember the good times.
I may not know what it’ll be like the first time I go into the house again and I know grief can hit you without warnin’ sometimes, but he told us I was the one to unite the mountain.
He wanted me to go back home. Maybe leavin’ was what I needed to do to see that. ”
Jude’s lips twitch. “And maybe you needed a handsome, sexy husband to love you and help you along the way?”
The corner of my mouth quirks up. “Fishin’ for compliments, hubby?”
“Not goin’ to stop my wife from sayin’ she likes me.”
I laugh and give him a playful shove. “I already love every single thing about you, Jude Henley Wilson-Cooper. But I’ll puff up your ego whenever you need me to. Deal?”
“Already pullin’ out the future married name, are we?”
I roll my eyes. “We’re already married, remember?”
“I’m goin’ to marry you again anyway. Over and over if I have my way.”
Yep, I’m swooning. And I’m not even embarrassed about it. “You can sweet talk me like that any time you like, hubby.”
He turns into a gravel driveway leading to a pretty single-level house. Stopping outside the garage, he turns the engine off and releases his seatbelt, confusing me when he reaches over and does the same to mine.
I realize his motive when he tugs me over to the driver’s side and into his arms, before he kisses me like I’m the best thing to ever happen to him.
It’s not a hardship to kiss him back the same way either.
Not when I get lost in him the moment his lips touch mine, forgetting all sense of time, location… . location…
A knock at the window serves as an instant reminder of where we are. Turning our heads in slow motion, we’re met with the sight of a grinning Mr. and Mrs. Cooper.
“Oh my god,” I mutter, burying my face in Jude’s chest, hoping to hide my beet-red cheeks.
Jude wraps me up tight. “Not the first time they’ve caught one of their kids in a compromisin’ position and definitely won’t be the last,” he muses, rubbing a hand up and down my back as the car door opens.
Unfortunately for me, I’m stuck on my husband’s last words. I jerk my head up with a scowl. “Are you talkin’ about you makin’ out with other women when I’m almost sittin’ in your lap, Jude Henley Cooper?”
Jude’s dad chuckles. “She’s got you cornered, Jude. Lesson number one, don’t rile your woman up when she’s in a position to cause bodily harm.”
As hard as I try to hold my glare, my lips twitch before a snort escapes me, making Jude’s wicked grin grow even bigger.
Chancing a glance at my new in-laws–I find them watching us with what can only be described as joy in their eyes.
“You two sure know how to welcome your new daughter-in-law to the family, don’t you? You’re lucky it’s too late to scare her off, otherwise I might get mad at you.”
I glare at him. “You’re mine, Jude Cooper. There’s no scarin’ anyone off. Besides, if you can stand strong in front of my brothers, I think we’re good.”
His face goes soft and gooey and suddenly I want to kiss him all over again, in-laws I’ve barely met be damned. After a quick peck on my lips, he lets me go. “Yeah, wifey. We’re definitely good. No chance of me goin’ anywhere, not without you by my side.”
“Good answer, hubby. You’re stuck with me now.”
“Wouldn’t want it any other way, wifey.”
John–or Cap as everyone calls him–is a fascinating man. He’s a mix of all of the Cooper brothers rolled into one, but none more so than Jude.
Mary-Lou is delightful too, having claimed me as soon as I got out of the truck and laughing at her son’s grumbling under his breath about his mother stealing his wife. “Don’t worry, I’ll give her back…eventually,” she replied.
Now, I’m standing outside on the back deck while Cap grills steaks for lunch and Jude and his mom prepare the rest of the food inside.
“Sorry to hear about your dad, Em. I didn’t have much to do with him–for obvious reasons,” Cap says, eyeing me warily. “But despite whatever business there was between him and Ridley, the Wilson name has always held a lot of respect around Timber Falls.”
“Thank you. He’d been sick for a long time and his stubbornness didn’t help when it came time to get him the help he needed.”
Cap turns to meet my eyes, understanding filling his gaze.
“I know all about that. Dad lived with us for years before returnin’ to the mountain.
It was only after he passed that we learned he’d been unwell for a long time and was good at hidin’ it.
” His pointed look tells me he knows just how similar Sully and Ridley were, despite their grudge.
“They’re both in a better place now,” I say softly.
“Yep. And I bet they’re probably arguin’ up a storm at the bar in the sky.”
“You’re a lot more like Jude than I was expectin’,” I admit.
Cap’s head jerks. “I take that as a compliment,” he says, looking to where Jude and his mom are laughing at something in the kitchen.
“I’m glad the mountain brought you two together.
Jude’s always wanted to be surrounded by his loved ones.
” A lump grows in my throat. “He’s always been a thinker, that boy.
Feels deep and cares hard. Even when he was chasin’ around after the twins like a lost puppy. ”
I giggle at the imagery. “He’s one of the most thoughtful and considerate people I’ve ever met,” I say honestly. “When Dad asked him to look after me, he didn’t hesitate. Didn’t even think about it. He said he knew we were meant to be the minute he first saw me.”
“Said the same thing to us too, a few hours before you two were married.”
I go still. “Really?”
“Oh yeah. Could tell he was nervous–any man would be–but it wasn’t because he was about to pledge his life to you. He was worried about bein’ a good man for you, someone worthy enough to earn your love, and who could help guide you through your grief until you reached the other side of it.”
My breath catches and it’s my eyes that drift over to the window, where I find Jude watching me, the gentle expression on his face filling me with warmth as if he was holding me in his arms.
“You OK?” he mouths.
I smile and tilt my head to the side. “Yeah,” I reply silently.
Cap’s chuckle captures my attention and that’s when I catch him switching from Jude back to me. “I love seein’ him happy. Love seein’ that you are too.”
“But we’ve just met,” I blurt out.
Cap lifts his hand and taps it over his chest. “Kin recognizes kin, even if it's by the heart, and not by blood.” His gaze is intense but I feel his words as if they’ve been said to me by my own parents.
“What I’m lookin’ forward to most is watchin’ you and Jude soar together.
You’re kindred spirits, the both of you.
I knew as soon as he told us about you.”
“I love him so much. I can’t imagine a life without him now.”
Cap’s dark eyes sparkle. “Doesn’t take a genius to see my son feels the same way,” he replies.
I stare down at my glass of wine, spinning the stem in my fingers as I think about what I want to say next. It’s all I’ve been able to think about since making the decision to move back to Timber Falls.