Chapter 29
twenty-nine
“Cordelia! Cordelia Grace Johnson, you open up! Right now!”
Cordy’s heart slammed into her throat when she heard the shouting outside. She peered out the living room windows and saw the truck parked at a strange angle on the lawn.
Chance . He was here, finally.
And he was panicked.
She fumbled with the doorknob, her fingers trembling. Chance shoved it open before she could.
He caught her and Madeleine before they fell, closing the door behind him. His eyes were feral, his breath coming in sawing pants. He’d lost his hat somewhere, and his hair was wild. He looked like he’d run all the way from the hospital.
“You’re still here.” Chance sagged against the door. “You haven’t left.”
“You told me to stay put.” She hugged Madeleine to her. “But I got the keys today. So if you want?—”
He shoved off the door. “Don’t tell me what I want. After all this time together, you still don’t know.” Chance shook his head like she was hopeless. “I’ll tell you what I need —I need my wife and my kid with me in my house. Our home.”
Cordy’s mouth worked like a dying fish’s. “But… but we’re not married.”
She recognized the words as silly, but nothing else was coming to her. Her brain had shorted out, along with her heartbeat. Nothing in her was in sync.
Chance dropped to one knee. “Then marry me. I haven’t got a ring, but I can get one tomorrow. Or today. You tell me yes, that you’ll be my wife and my family, and I’ll do anything you want.”
This must be the famed Kessal madness. Chance was absolutely savage—it was everything Cordy had been expecting and hadn’t seen back in Lovers’ Cavern.
Oh Lord, he really was in love with her.
Behind them, Iggy barked. It clearly said, What the heck is happening? Pard lifted his nose and whined the same question.
Cordy wasn’t entirely sure herself. Just this morning, she’d thought Chance was asking her to leave. And now he was proposing. What had happened?—
“Oh my God!” She smacked a hand over her mouth. “How is your dad?”
“Okay. Considering.” Chance stayed on one knee.
“Considering what? What exactly happened?”
“He had a massive heart attack. He’s lucky to be alive.”
“Chance.” She pulled him to his feet and put her arms around him, careful not to squish Madeleine between them. “How awful. How are you feeling?”
“Feeling?” He said the word like he didn’t understand it. His hands came to rest at the small of her back. “I… I thought I’d be relieved if he died. But I’m not. I want him to stay here, even if I am still pissed at him.”
Poor Chance. “Of course you do. He’s your dad, after all.”
There was a lot Chance needed to work out with his dad, but since Holden was still here, he’d have the chance to. There was a gift in that.
“Waiting in the hospital was one of the worst experiences of my life,” Chance said. “The only thing that kept me going was knowing you and Madeleine were safe at home.”
Cordy bit her lip. “It hurt my feelings you didn’t want me there.”
“Oh honey”—Chance cupped her face—“I never meant to. But Madeleine’s so little, it wouldn’t have been safe. I always want you with me, but I want to protect you two more.”
“I understand that now. But after this morning?—”
Chance’s thumb rubbed slow circles over her jaw. “I thought you wanted to move out. So I raced back here to convince you not to.”
That explained why he looked like he’d been blown in on a hurricane. “I thought you wanted me to move out. So I got started. But then Jaycee came by?—”
“She did?” Chance asked. “Good, I figured someone would come sit with you.”
Because that’s what people did in Star Crossed Springs and Cordy was part of the town now. “We talked, and I realized I needed to convince you to let me stay.”
His smile was gently amused. “So we’ve both been at cross purposes this entire time?”
She nodded. “I should have told you I loved you the moment it happened.”
His beautiful brown eyes shone with emotion. “When was that?”
“When Madeleine was born.”
“Me too.” He laughed softly. “So we fell in love at the same time and never said anything?”
“I think the lesson here is to talk more.”
“Speaking of talking, you never gave me an answer.”
Cordy’s heart thrummed against her sternum. Madeleine had to feel how hard it was beating. “Yes. Yes, I’ll marry you. We’ll marry you.”
Nothing had ever felt so right, except when Madeleine was laid in her arms. Or the first moment Cordy had seen Chance hold Madeleine.
Chance kissed her as he held her face until Madeleine started squirming in protest. He set his forehead against Cordy’s, giving the baby space while still holding them.
“I don’t know what to say or how to describe how I feel,” he confessed. “I’m wild for you. I’ll get anything you want. Just name it.”
“What if I want a zebra?”
He swallowed hard. “I guess I’ll have to build a stout pen then.”
Cordy kissed his temple. “I don’t want a zebra.”
“What do you want?” His hands skated over her back. “I’ll get it for you.”
She already had everything she could need. “I want a father for my baby. I want a husband for myself. I want… you.”
“You’ve got me. Forever and always.”
“And I want your mess.” She took a deep breath. “We’re in this together. I want to be by your side through everything, even if it’s bad. That’s what love is—being up in each other’s messes.”
“What mess do you have?”
Cordy laughed and held up Madeleine. “This. This right here!”
Chance snorted. “She’s not a mess; she’s perfect. But if you want into the family drama, there will be a lot of it coming up.”
“I can handle it,” she assured him.
“I know you can. You’re the strongest woman I know. Anything else you want?”
Cordy carefully considered that. Asking a Kessal man for something was a tricky business, she was realizing. If she wasn’t careful, she’d end up with a zebra.
“I’d like to travel again. Once she’s older,” Cordy said quickly, “and not as much as I used to, but there’re so many places I still want to see. And I want her to see them too.”
“Wherever you want to go, we’ll go. You ever traveled in an RV?”
“Nope.”
“We’ll get one then. We’ll travel and take home with us.”
It sounded lovely. And perfect for doing with a baby.
“Have you eaten yet?” Chance asked.
Cordy stepped back. “I’ll make us something. You must be tired.”
“I am, but I’m still going to feed my woman,” he growled. “You’re nursing our girl. You need to keep your strength up.”
“How about I help?” Cordy wanted to do something for him since his day had been awful.
“How about you keep me company in the kitchen and tell me what this little girl got up to today?” He kissed Madeleine's soft hair. “I missed you guys.”
“We missed you too.”
For a moment, Chance’s face went stark. “If you’d left, I would have followed. To the ends of the earth. To hell and back. Wherever you go, I’ll be right there behind.”
A weight settled in Cordy’s chest—the weight of that commitment. Loving a Kessal man wasn’t for the weak—he’d do exactly what he’d threatened. She had to be careful what she asked of him.
She put her hand to his jaw, studied his beloved features. Thank God he’d answered her ad. “We’re staying here. No going to the ends of the earth. Or hell. Or into a blizzard together. We’ve got too much to live for.”
“Damn right.”
They walked hand in hand to the kitchen, the dogs following. And it was then that Cordy truly understood they’d both come home.