Chapter 21
YARA
“Do you think we brought enough presents for your family?”
As Ace looks up from his phone, I add, “We have the handbag and scarf for your mom, the carved tackle box for your brother, the charm bracelet for his wife—she goes by Carol, not Caroline, right?—and for the twins, we’ve got the matching tiaras and fairy wings.
Oh, and the stuffed dragons. Should we have brought more? ”
Ace laughs. “Tink. That’s plenty. Trust me. The adults never do a ton of gifts. And the twins will have so many presents, they’ll get lost in them.”
I pull out my own phone and open the photo of the sparkly fairy wings we bought. Spence and Carol’s twins—Ellis and Ella—are apparently huge fans of fairies, which is why Ace and I spent hours trawling the toy stores of Portland to find the perfect fairy-themed gifts.
Personally, I’ve never been a fairy type of girl, despite my nickname.
As a kid, I was more interested in inventions and Inspector Gadget and building my own little workshop.
But I have to admit, the fairy wings we bought are adorable.
They’re handmade, with intricate designs woven throughout the lacy film and adorned with semi-precious stones in all the colors of the rainbow.
Sparkly fabric trails from the bottom of them, so when the little girls run, it’s supposed to look like they’re flying.
“Maybe we should get something else for your mom,” I suggest. “Like a gift card for a spa weekend or something.”
“Yara.” Ace’s hand comes over mine. “My mom will love the gifts.” His lips twitch. “And really, we could show up with nothing and she’d still be thrilled.”
The flight attendant stops beside us, offering drinks and snacks, so I wait until she’s gone before replying, “Why? Because she gets to see you for Christmas?”
“Nope.” He grins at me. “Because I’m bringing you home for Christmas. I’ve never brought anyone home for Christmas before. Well, aside from some of my teammates. But a woman? Never.”
“Never?”
“Never. And let me tell you, she’s beside herself with excitement. Her oldest son, who she long-lamented would be single forever, bringing home a woman. And not just any woman, but a woman he’s living with.”
“She doesn’t think we’re moving too fast, does she?
” I hate feeling so insecure about meeting Ace’s mom, but I want her to like me.
Not that he’s said anything to make me think she wouldn’t, but still.
It’s been a very long time since I met a boyfriend’s family.
And I’ve never cared this much about it going well.
“No,” Ace replies firmly. His gaze holds mine. “She doesn’t think that. Because she trusts my judgement. So when I told her that the brilliant, gorgeous, brave woman I’ve been friends with for the last year finally agreed to live with me, she didn’t question it at all.”
Because we are living together, officially, despite all the craziness of the last few weeks. First planning our op in Iran, the mad rush across the world to rescue Malik, five days afterwards in Bethesda so we could spend time with him, and then finally back to B and A.
But somehow, in all of that, we managed to move most of my things to Ace’s apartment and coordinate with my work so I’ll only need to go into Seattle on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
Plus, I spoke with the enrichment coordinator at the community college where I teach, and they agreed to schedule my robotics class for Tuesday nights next semester so I’ll be able to continue working with my students.
When Ace isn’t traveling for work, he’ll come with me on those days and work remotely.
“I know you can go to Seattle on your own,” Ace explained.
“But I want to go with you. Being home without you doesn’t feel right.
” With a sheepish smile, he added, “I miss you even when you’re doing girls’ night with Eden, Bea, and Noelle.
So two and a half days without you feels like much too long. ”
I’m not complaining. I want Ace with me, too. It’s funny, after living on my own for so long, coming to value the solitude and privacy, I’ve found I don’t enjoy it as much anymore. Now, I like having people around me. Especially when that person is Ace.
“Tink.” Ace rubs his thumb across my palm. “Don’t worry. Everyone is going to love you. Just like I do.” He stops. Chuckles. “Okay, they’re not going to love you exactly like I do. That might be strange. But they’ll love you like you’re part of the family.”
A lump swells in my throat.
Family. It’s something I’ve avoided thinking about ever since I left the Army. But now it feels like I’m surrounded by it. Embraced by it. The Blade and Arrow team, my old teammates—Saint, Kai, and Ford all came to Bethesda for a long-overdue reunion—Ace, and now, hopefully, his family, too.
The plane hits a spot of turbulence, making it jerk. A little boy a few rows ahead of us worriedly asks his parents, “The plane isn’t going to crash, is it?”
“No,” the boy’s father reassures him. “It’s just a pocket of air. That’s all.”
“A pocket?” the boy asks. “How can the air have a pocket?”
His mother jumps in. “Not a real pocket. What your dad means is it’s like a bubble. So when we run into it, it bumps us a little. But it’s fine. We’ll be landing in Austin in less than an hour, and then—”
“More presents?”
Several people around him chuckle.
“Yes,” his mom replies patiently. “More presents at your gran and gramp’s.”
Ace rubs my shoulder, and I turn to find him watching me with concern. “You okay?” he asks.
I look at him in confusion. “About the turbulence? Of course.” Considering the number of flights I’ve been on in my life, a little spot of turbulence doesn’t faze me.
“Not the turbulence. Visiting my family for Christmas.”
“Well,” I tease, hoping by making a joke of it, it’ll settle my nerves. “If I’m not, it’s a little late now. Considering we’re”—I check my watch—“less than two hours from arriving at your brother’s house.”
Ace grimaces. “Shit.” A beat later, he casts a guilty look in the little boy’s direction. “If you’re having second thoughts, we can figure something out. Tell my family our plane was delayed. Cancelled. We both got food poisoning. Something.”
“I’m not having second thoughts. Really. I was just joking.”
“But you’re feeling anxious about it.”
I look into Ace’s worried eyes. “I’m nervous, yes. But I think that’s normal, being nervous before meeting your boyfriend’s family. If you could have met my parents, wouldn’t you have been nervous?”
Ace nods immediately. “Of course. I’d be scared shi—” He stops to flash a guilty look around the airplane cabin before continuing, “Yes. I’d be terrified that your parents wouldn’t approve of me.”
“They would, you know.”
His expression turns thoughtful. “I hope so.” Lacing his fingers between mine, he adds, “I was nervous about seeing your teammates. So I guess it’s sort of like that.”
“But you’d met them before. On base. In trainings.”
“That was different. Back then, I was just another guy. And when we’d run into each other, all we talked about was stuff like sports and the weather.”
“How was that different?”
Ace’s brows arch in an are you being intentionally dense expression.
“Because now, I’m your boyfriend. Which means they’re going to be on the defensive.
Wanting to make sure I’m good enough for you, that I won’t cause trouble, shi—stuff like that.
They’re protective of you, as they should be.
And I wanted to make sure they all knew that I wasn’t going to hurt you. ”
I squeeze Ace’s hand. “I know you won’t hurt me.”
“They didn’t know that, though.”
“I think they do now,” I reply. “Especially after what you did for Malik.”
“We did for Malik,” Ace corrects. “It wasn’t just me. It was a team effort.”
“Still. They approve. I could tell.”
A sweetly eager expression moves across Ace’s face. “Really? How?”
“Because Saint said you were one of the good ones. Kai and Ford didn’t say anything, which means they approve. If they didn’t, they would have pulled me aside and told me. And Malik… he’s going to come to Blade and Arrow this spring for a visit. He wouldn’t do that—”
“Maybe he wants to make sure you’re doing okay?”
“No.” I nudge Ace’s arm. “Because he likes you. He likes everyone on the team. And he wants to get to know everyone better.”
It was hard leaving Malik after waiting so long to see him.
But once he was released, there was no point staying in Bethesda any longer, not with Malik headed off to Baltimore to stay with his parents.
But he’ll be fine, I keep reminding myself.
He has the support of his family, who are over the moon to have their son back again.
They’ll help him through counseling and the upcoming surgery on his hands.
“I won’t lie,” Malik admitted to me the day he was released. “It’s fucking hard. Even though I prayed for this, it feels kind of surreal. Like I keep waiting to wake up, only to find out my rescue was just a dream.”
“I know,” I told him. Not to the same extent, but I understand just the same. “It is hard. But you have people who care about you. Who want to help, if you give them the chance.”
Like Ace’s teammates, who were beyond supportive when Ace finally told them the truth about why he left the Army.
During their weekly team meeting last week, he invited me to join them, and I sat by his side while he revealed the secret he’d carried for far too long.
And just as I suspected, they didn’t judge him for a second.