Almost Home (34 page)

“I don’t know how he thought anyone could have gotten their hands on that much cash in a few short hours,” she said, “unless it was in a wall safe or under a mattress.”

“I don’t think he was thinking of the logistics. All he was thinking was ‘Hey, rich movie-star aunt will fork over the money.’ ”

“Rich movie-star aunt would have.” Dallas gently stroked the sleeping boy’s back. “In a heartbeat. No one’s going to take him away from us. He’s our little guy.”

She patted her brother’s shoulder and said, “We’ve missed you this week. You and Austin both. It’s not right around here without you. Cody’s been very unhappy.”

“We’ve missed you, too. As a matter of fact …” Wade appeared about to say something else, but Austin stirred in his arms. “I’m going to get this guy changed and into bed. Stef, want to give me a hand?”

Stef, who’d wisely kept out of the family discussion, nodded. “Sure,” she said, and followed Wade up the stairs.

“He sleeps in here.” Wade pointed to the door, three down from the second-floor landing. Wade changed Austin and got him into his pajamas by the faint light of a lamp on Wade’s bedside table. When Austin stirred, Wade picked him up and held him for a moment to settle him, then placed him in his crib and covered him.

He turned to find Stef sitting on the side of his bed.

“You didn’t need me for that,” she whispered.

“I needed you to be here with Austin and me so I could just savor the fact that we’re together. I came very close to losing him. It’s just starting to sink in how close. This day could have ended in a total nightmare, but instead, I’m here with my girl and my son,
and I can’t remember ever feeling that my life was more right than it is at this moment.”

“I can make it righter.” She played with the buttons on his shirt.

“I’m counting on it.” He pressed his lips to her throat.

“But not here,” she said.

“No, not here. Dallas will be in to check on Austin, and when Berry gets home from her dinner date, she’ll check in.”

“Berry has a date?”

“Archer Callahan. Her old boyfriend.”

“I know that name. Archer Callahan.” Steffie sat up. “The book. Alice wrote about them in her book.”

“What book? Who’s Alice?” He frowned.

“Alice Ridgeway. She lived in Vanessa’s house for about a hundred years and she left these journals.” Stef caught herself before elaborating. Did she really want to get into all that?

“What kind of journals?”

She debated whether or not she should tell him about Alice.

Nah.

“Just journals about people she knew in St. Dennis back in her day.”

“Like a diary?”

“Sort of.” If one kept a diary full of spells and a list of names one taught them to.

“And she wrote about Aunt Berry and Archer? What did she say?”

Stef shrugged and tried to appear nonchalant. “I don’t remember the particulars. I just remember that I noticed the names there.”

“So Alice knew Berry before she went to Hollywood? I’m intrigued. Where are those journals now?”

“I think Ness gave them to Miss Grace.”

“I’ll ask her about them the next time I see her.”

Since Wade was moving to another state, Stef didn’t think this was likely to happen anytime soon. But that reminded her to ask, “So I guess you’ll be moving this weekend.”

“That’s something we need to talk about.” He took her hand. “I think Dallas is in for the night, and she’s good about listening for Austin, though he almost never wakes up at night. Any chance we could go to your place? I don’t want to wake up Austin, and we have a lot to talk about.”

“If Dallas is okay with it, sure.”

Wade was softening her up for the news, Stef could feel it. Well, she supposed it had to be done. Sooner was better than later, and she did want one more night with him. He’d say something like,
We can still see each other. You can come visit us, and we’ll be home from time to time. We’ll be back for holidays. Blah blah blah
. Nothing he hadn’t said before.

And then she’d say—

“Stef?”

She looked up and he was standing at the side of the bed, holding his hand out to her.

“Oh.” She took his hand and he pulled her up and put his arms around her. They were a step away from Austin’s crib, his breathing sweet and even in sleep.

“You did the right thing,” Stef whispered. “There’s no way you could have let Hugh take him, regardless of what the law might have said.”

Wade nodded and reached a hand into the crib to cover the sleeping child, and Stef’s heart melted.

“Come on.” She tugged at his hand. “Let’s go see if Dallas feels like babysitting …”

“Stef, we need to talk.” Wade had his hand on her bare back.

She tried to pretend to be sleeping, but he apparently wasn’t buying it. He’d been trying to have his say all night and she’d been finding ways to divert him. When they arrived at her apartment, he’d headed for the living-room sofa—she assumed for “the talk”—but she pulled him straight into the bedroom before he could get a word out and she’d kept him well occupied for most of the night, attacking him with a fervor that had probably had his head spinning. She knew hers had been.

When he said, “Stef, we need to talk,” she’d mumbled, “Later. I’m exhausted.” and he’d let her sleep, or pretend to.

Now, with dawn closing in, she couldn’t keep him at bay any longer. She rolled over, braced herself for what he was about to say, and said, “Okay. I guess you want to talk about your move to Connecticut.”

He nodded.

“Everything sounds so perfect.” She sat up and pulled the sheet with her and tried to be supportive. “The job. The child care. And you found a house, right?” She tried to brighten. “You found a house that’s as perfect as the job and the child-care situation?”

Wade nodded. “Actually, I saw several I liked, but I did find one that would be perfect.”

“Tell me about it. What’s it look like?”

“It’s light gray clapboard and it has black shutters and a red door. The previous owner did a lot of renovation and it’s just been painted inside and out. Even the hardwood floors have been refinished and it has a new deck. It’s in that terrific neighborhood I told you about on the phone.”

“It really does sound perfect.” Even to herself, she sounded wistful.

“That’s exactly what I thought the minute I first walked through the front door. We went into the backyard and Austin ran around for a while. Then we went back inside and went from room to room, just trying to get a feel for the house, and all the time I was thinking, ‘This could be it. This could be home.’ And it almost was. It was almost home, Stef. But there was something missing, and as soon as I realized what it was, I knew if I bought that house and moved there, it would never be more than
almost.
”

“So what was missing?” She frowned.

He raised her hand to his lips and kissed her palm. “You were.”

She tilted her head to one side, not sure she was understanding.

“If you’re not there with us, any place is always going to be
almost
. That’s not good enough for me, and it’s not good enough for Austin.”

For a moment Stef was certain that her heart had stopped beating. Had he just said …?

“What exactly are you saying?”

“I’m saying that there’s no home for me—not there, not here in St. Dennis—without you.”

She took a deep breath and tried to slow the rapid
beating of her heart. “Just because I helped you today doesn’t mean that you have to change your plans. You’re not obligated to me because of anything that happened here tonight.”

“I changed my plans before I left Connecticut, Stef. I already told Ted that I was passing on the job.”

“Huh?” She wished her response had been more gracious, more eloquent, but her mind had gone mostly blank. She recovered enough to protest, “But … but it was all so perfect for you there.”

“The perfect job for me is having my own brewery. I can start over. It won’t be KenneMac, but it can be damned good. Actually, it can be great. Clay mentioned he was interested in working with me if I ever wanted to start up again. I called him last night to see if he still thought it was a good idea, and he does. He’s got the fields to grow whatever we need and he has a large unused barn that can be retrofitted with equipment. Clay’s interested in organics, so we talked about what he’d have to grow next year—barley, hops, and so on—and what we’d need in finances. Then I called Dallas because she’d said once before that if I wanted to go into business for myself, she’d fund it as an investment, so we talked that out.”

“So you’ll be back in business?”

“It’s going to take a while to get set up, but yes, I’ll be back in business.” He nodded happily, then added, “But the best part is that I’ll be back in business right here in St. Dennis.”

“That’s really good. Great. I’m sure Dallas and Berry will be happy to hear that you’re staying.”

“And how ’bout you, Stef. Are you happy that we’re staying?” He pulled her to him.

“Oh, well, yeah. Sure. If that’s what you want, if you’re sure. But you’re passing up on a lot. I mean, what about Angela Lansbury? And the perfect house in the perfect neighborhood?”

“I’m sure we can find some good child care here in St. Dennis. And as far as the house is concerned … Stef, did you hear anything I said about that house? About why we couldn’t live there?”

“You said … you said it wasn’t home …” She could barely get the words out. Had he really said such a thing?

“I said it wasn’t home because …” He prompted her.

“Because I wasn’t there.” She thought it over for a moment. “You really meant that? That it wasn’t perfect because I wasn’t there?”

“I can’t believe it took me all this time to figure it out, but there it is. There isn’t anyone else for me, Stef. I think it’s always been you.”

“Oh.” The small word squeaked out.

“Aren’t you going to say something? Like, ‘Wade, it’s always been you for me, too.’ ”

“I … I can’t seem to get … I mean, you were. You are. You always have been. But hearing you actually say it …” She pinched herself. “Ouch. I guess I’m not dreaming.”

“We have a lot of time to make up for, you and I.” He nuzzled the curve of her neck.

“Let me get this straight.” She tried to ignore the little flame that was igniting inside her again. “You passed on the job because of me.”

“Right.” His lips moved across her throat.

“You gave up perfect child care and the perfect house because of me.”

“Right again.” And across her shoulder.

“Any chance that someday you’re going to regret—”

“None,” he said adamantly. “Not gonna happen. As soon as I realized it, I knew it was right. I know this is where I belong. I know that I want Austin to grow up here and I know that I want to make my home here.”

“With me,” she said dreamily. “You want to make a home with me.”

“Yes,” he replied solemnly. “I want to make a home with you. If you’ll have me.”

“Oh, well. I’ll need to think about that. After all, I already have my own home.” She tried to appear solemn, thoughtful. Inside, she was positively giddy. “I’ve lived by myself for a long time, you know. I’m going to have to think long and hard about whether or not I want to give up my independence.”

“Well, while you’re thinking …” His lips found their way back to her skin.

“Stop.” She tapped him on the back. “If you want me, you know what you’re going to have to do, don’t you?” Finally—finally!—she’d hear the L-word from his lips. Finally, she could tell him exactly how she felt.

“I’m trying to but you keep interrupting me.”

“Not that.”

“All right.” He laughed. “I get it.” He paused. “Should I get down on one knee?”

“As long as you don’t take the sheet with you.” She grinned and started to sit up, then realized what he was about to do, and her smile faded. One knee …?
Did he really say, “One knee”? The thought took her breath away.

It was the moment she’d waited for since she was thirteen years old.

He took her hands in his and she held her breath.

“Stef, I’ve been falling in love with you for more years than I can remember. You’re the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with. I’ve never thought of saying those words to anyone else, because there’s never been anyone like you. I want to marry you and—”

He stopped.

Damn. Just as he was getting to the good part. “What?” she asked. Was he having second thoughts?

“I don’t have a ring.” Even in the dark, she could see that he was frowning.

“Don’t stop now,” she told him. “You can get a ring later. Keep going.”

“Okay, where was I?”

“You want to marry … oh, you’re teasing me.”

“I am.” He laughed softly. “I want to marry you and live a long and happy life with you. I want to spend every new morning and every new night with you in my arms. I want to plan vacations with you and worry over our kids with you. I want to celebrate birthdays and Christmases with you. I want to have brothers and sisters for Austin. Here, in St. Dennis, where we both belong.”

“That’s all I ever wanted, Wade.” She was almost too overcome to get those few words out.

“You didn’t say yes,” he pointed out.

“You didn’t ask me.”

“Oh. Right. Will you marry me, Stef?”

“Yes, of course I will marry you,” she squealed, and threw her arms around his neck. “I don’t remember a time when I didn’t love you. I would marry you tomorrow. I would marry you right now, this minute.”

She felt tears running down her cheeks, but she didn’t bother to wipe them away.

“This minute might be tough to pull off,” he whispered. “Tomorrow … that might be tight, too.”

“But we can’t get married before Dallas and Grant anyway,” she told him.

“Why not?”

“It’s the rule. They got engaged first.”

“So?”

“So they get first shot at choosing their date.”

He shook his head. “I don’t want to know where that rule came from, but when I get back to Berry’s, I’ll ask Dallas if they have a date. And since the sun is just about up, I will need to get going.” He looked out the window at the light that was just starting to spread across the bedroom floor. “But I think we might have just enough time …”