The Marine's Red Hot Homecoming (20 page)

“A lot has changed since that day.” Shannon crossed the living area’s floor to look out the window, which gave an excellent view of the historic main street square. “The grand re-opening is set for next Monday. The mayor and the business owners are excited. You’ve made your dream for Sweetbriar Springs historic downtown district a reality.” She glanced over her shoulder at Hannah, her eyes full of questions. “When are you moving back? Or should the better question be
are
you moving back?”

“I don’t know,” she admitted, not sure how to answer her mother when she didn’t know the answer herself. “But what really matters is that I get my inventory restocked and the shop ready for Monday’s big event before all my furniture and stuff is delivered.”

“Sweetie. This is your mother you’re talking to.” Shannon crossed the room, then held Hannah’s shoulders, her gaze firm. “Everything is under control. Your assistant is on top of the boutique’s needs. You’ve got me to help sort through your stuff to make sure your place is ready to live in by tonight. But you’ve been living with him for almost a month. From where I stand it looks like you don’t want to leave.”

She lowered her lashes to hide her thoughts from her mother’s scrutiny. “There’s more to this situation than getting what I want,” she said through a tight throat. “I have no idea if he’s on the same page. No real clue about what he wants except...” except the nights they had spent together. Then she’d felt more connected to him than she’d ever thought possible.

“I know I haven’t been here in over a week, but the last time I saw you together it sure looked like he wanted you.” Shannon smoothed her hand over Hannah’s hair and played with the tips between her fingers. “Anyone with half a brain can see that he adores Jason.”

She swallowed hard. “He’s a good father, and he’s been wonderful to me, but he only proposed because I’m the mother of his child. Plus, after what happened with Brandon, I swore off dating military men. I can’t ask him to give up his duty to his country, but now that I know how much he cares about us, I’m not sure I can give him up. Even with all the uncertainty that comes with being a military wife.”

“The two of you have been playing house for three weeks. After that last barbecue I went to with your dad I’d bet good money that Caleb cares deeply about you.” Shannon smiled and tilted her head, still playing with the strands of hair she held in her hand. “Can you honestly look me in the eye and tell me you haven’t slept with him again?”

“Mooooom, I am so not having this discussion with you.” Her face heated. “Honestly, now I know where Michael gets his lack-of-verbal-filter gene.”

“So I’m right.” The sound of a truck pulling up to the curb cut through the room. Shannon released Hannah’s hair. “You ready to unload?”

Hannah glanced around the empty room, her home for so long, then down at the floor below her. “The idea of moving again makes me escape to the mountains. We’ve finally gotten settled at Caleb’s. I don’t know how Jason will take another move, especially when he loves his new room.”

“He loves his daddy, too.” Shannon wrapped her arm around Hannah’s shoulders. “If you need someone to sublet this place, I heard Zoey and her son are in the market for a furnished place.”

“I thought Zoey had a room at the resort,” she said.

“Her son goes to Sweetbriar Springs Middle School and is on the swim team,” Shannon said. “Your place is much closer to both locations.”

Every muscle ached. Every bone felt as if she’d climbed a thousand miles of stairs. “I’d love to offer her this apartment,” she said, especially when every beat of her heart couldn’t fathom returning to the tiny space she had once called home. Not when every fiber of her being longed to stay with Caleb. Not when every part of her believed that they had a chance for a future together.

Still, nothing had been promised. The mountain house was Caleb’s rental home. Not a permanent residence. The only reason he’d kept the lease had been because she’d asked him to provide Jason with a stable home as part of their shared custody agreement. That made her hesitate about giving up everything she had worked so hard to build.

“But I’m not sure it’ll be available,” she said.

“Do you have faith that he cares enough to want you to stay with him?” Shannon asked.

Hannah’s nose itched and she rubbed it. “Yes.”

“Does he know you love him?”

“I haven’t kept that a secret.” Caleb hadn’t expressed words of love to her. Still, he had shown her he cared in multiple ways, not only with his body during the stolen hours of the night, but by his dedication to ensuring that everything she’d set into motion before he had returned would culminate into a successful re-opening of the historic district.

“Does he love you?”

“He hasn’t said so, but I know he cares.”

“Men.” Shannon shook her head. “Your dad was just as stubborn before he proposed to me. He had some misguided belief that everything had to be perfect—the resort, the finances, his education—before he could ask me to be his wife.”

Surprised, she pressed her hand against her chest. “I always thought you and dad had a storybook marriage.” She’d yearned for that kind of love her entire life, almost losing herself to the wrong man’s demands because of it.

“Oh, darling,” Shannon said, laughing. “If you’re waiting for a storybook marriage, you’ll be alone for a very long time.”

“I might end up alone again,” she said. “He won’t talk about it, but I know he’s not committed to staying here even though he’s got the board of directors’ support against allowing his father to return full time to Gibson Technologies.”

A worried shadow crossed her mother’s face. “So there’s a chance he’ll sign on for a fourth tour of duty? Those missions are dangerous. We’re lucky your sister survived that bomb explosion. I can’t imagine losing Caleb, or if he came home with the same issues as Jessie had when we brought her state side.”

“Jessie got better.” Hannah hugged her waist.

“Brandon didn’t,” her mother said. “I know that’s why you were afraid to commit to Caleb.”

“True. But I’m trying to have faith that he’ll be okay. That we’ll be okay no matter what happens. Right now, all I know is that he has everything in order for Gibson Technology so the company will be safe from corporate raiders if he decides to leave.”

“You’re willing to let him go?”

“Yes,” she said. “I’ve made my peace with whatever he decides.” As long as he wanted to come home to her, she wouldn’t ask him to walk away from the Marine Corps. Somehow, someway, they’d get through whatever hurdle life threw at them.

“Does he know that?”

A tear slipped from her eye and she sniffed. “Not yet. To be honest, I was terrified of what could happen to him if he left for another two year tour of duty. I just hope I’m strong enough to let him go.”

“You’re one of the strongest people I know.” Shannon wrapped her arms around Hannah. “I don’t know all the answers, but I do know this. You brought a child into the world and loved him with all your heart by yourself while building a successful business. You raised him and made sure he’d know his father even though you had no guarantee that Caleb would come back alive. Now that he’s here, you’ve opened your heart to the possibility of a future with him. Because you are strong enough and brave enough to love him.”

Hannah inhaled her mother’s familiar scent of cookies and chocolate and wished she could turn back time long enough to be back in her parents’ kitchen, surrounded by her family when she’d believed the world was a safe place. She’d nearly lost herself when her love didn’t convince Brandon that he needed professional help, or stop him from hurting her in the process. Then she’d risked her heart again, but at what cost to her? To Jason? “What if my loving Caleb isn’t enough?” she asked.

Her mother stroked her back, tracing hearts on her back in a long held act of comfort so often given late at night or after a particularly bad day. “Love isn’t perfect. It sure as heck isn’t blind. God knows that your dad and I have had our ups and downs throughout all the years we’ve been together. But there’s one thing we always hang onto when the going gets tough—we know that we’re in it together. That we can rely on each other no matter what.”

The air in the room seemed to sparkle with light and a sudden feeling of hope bloomed in her heart. “I can rely on him. He got me through a tough time, and he wants what’s best for us. If he had known about Jason before his father’s stroke forced him to come home, I’m sure he would have made every effort to get here.” For a long time, Hannah had been afraid to trust that allowing Caleb to be the man he’d been called to be wouldn’t end up leaving her with a shell of a man who had lost the capability to love.

How would that impact Jason? Her?

But Caleb wasn’t Brandon. If she were honest with herself, Brandon had been her second choice. Caleb had always been first in her heart. Once, she’d lost faith in love’s ability to heal, but she couldn’t let the past define her future. Or Caleb’s. They deserved a second chance no matter what he decided to do. Not only because they shared a child, but because she was his partner, his friend, and his lover.

Shannon straightened and brushed a stray tear from Hannah’s cheek. “You stay here and think about what you want to do, but I know where I’m needed most.”

“Where?” she asked.

“With Jason,” Shannon said. “Your dad and I have missed him so I’ll pick him up from the sitter now. We’ll keep him for the night.”

“You’re right. Tell the truck driver and his team to hold off unloading.” Hannah walked to the door that opened to the stairwell that led to the boutique below. “I need to go to Caleb and let him know how I feel about everything. Maybe then he’ll realize that even if he decides to go, he always has a home with us in Sweetbriar Springs.”

###

Two hours after she had waved goodbye to her mother, Hannah drove into the mountain house’s garage and parked. Quickly, she exited her car and rounded the vehicle to the trunk she had popped open. Withdrawing the bags of goodies she had purchased from the local organic grocery store, she felt a shiver of excitement skim through her.

She climbed the stairs, unlocked the door, punched in their security code to disarm it with her free hand then carried her sacks into kitchen.

Her cell phone vibrated in her back pocket and she withdrew it. Caleb. Texting her to ask about her day and to let her know he had been held up with some local business, but he’d be home within the hour.

Hannah smiled, then replied, telling him all had gone well and not to worry. She had dinner taken care of and would have everything ready when he got home.

Sounds good as long as there’s more than salad and mushrooms on the menu.

She zipped him a smiley face emoticon and added
you won’t starve.

While he might not go for the vegetarian treats she had purchased, Hannah fully expected him to enjoy the buffalo steak she had asked the butcher to trim for him. He’d never give up meat for her, but then that was what being a couple was all about: give and take. Acceptance of each other’s differences while celebrating the common bonds that tied them together.

Family. Love. Their son. Even the simplicity of bantering via texts made her feel closer to Caleb, safe and secure. The hope that had bloomed in her heart earlier that day blossomed into a field full of joy.

After securing the groceries and going outside to set the patio table, she leaned against the deck’s railing, raising her head to catch the sun’s rays. Contentment warmed her inside and out. This was where she belonged. In Sweetbriar Springs, waiting for her man to come home for dinner after a long day at work, and sharing the minute details of their separate worlds. Then they would come together as one, united by mutual respect, trust, and love.

Love. She loved him so much that she couldn’t imagine ever saying goodbye to him again. But because of that love, she had the strength to let him go. Because she had confidence that he loved her equally as much and that he’d walk over coals to return to her. If the ravages of war changed Caleb, hurt him from the inside out, then she had faith that the strength of their love would be enough to get them through it.

Sighing, she pushed away from the railing and walked back into the house. While she had grown accustomed to living here, she had no clue about where they would end up once his lease expired. Another problem they would have to work out together.

Together. As a couple. Planning and dreaming and hoping and living with ups and downs, highs and lows, good times and bad. A team.

With thirty or more minutes remaining until Caleb got home, she had plenty of time to hop into the shower, and get dressed into something far prettier than jeans and a T-shirt for tonight.

And into something super sexy for him to discover when he undressed her again.

Anticipation tingled at the base of her neck. Humming, she walked down the hallway towards her bedroom. As she reached it, the doorbell chimed and she quickly turned on her heel to answer and send whoever had come to interrupt her away.

She reached the door, opened it and saw their usual delivery man walking back to his brown truck. Looking down, she spotted the package he’d deposited. “Thanks,” Hannah called, waving at the man.

“No problem.”

He climbed into his vehicle and drove away while she knelt to pick up the folder and scan the recipient’s name. To Caleb. From Gibson Technology’s legal department. The final piece of his commitment to Gibson Technologies as it’s CEO most likely resided inside this small folder. But did this mean he intended to stay? Or would he ask the second in command to act in his interests, a man he’d handpicked for the job, should he go back overseas?

Tucking her hope and her ill-advised jumping to conclusions into a mental do-not-go-there compartment until she had a chance to talk to Caleb about their future, Hannah stood and stepped back inside. She closed the door and carried the folder to his office, her heart thudding, and quickly crossed the hardwood floor to drop the company’s message onto his office desk.

Turning to leave, she spotted more paperwork on his desk. This time there was no doubt as to the information it contained. A government seal, the Marine Corps letterhead, and the carefully constructed words that offered him another full commission. And a promotion within his ranks should he return to lead one more dangerous undercover op overseas, details to follow, should he agree to lead his men again.