Walker Revenge (The Walker Family Series Book 5) (12 page)

“Go,” Lucas ordered.

“Hold on tight,” Russell whispered in his
ear as he wrapped his arm around him.

His father took them down the ramp as slowly
as he had the first time and Lucas giggled, which caused everyone
to laugh along.

“Again. Again.”

“You heard the man, Dad. We need to go
again.”

And just as any good grandfather would, as
if Lucas were his grandson, his father obliged and gave them
another ride.

Chelsea promised herself she wouldn’t cry,
not until she went to bed, but watching Everett Walker push his son
up and down the ramp they’d built for Russell was tugging at her
heart. And then when Russell put Lucas on his lap, she had to turn
around. It was nearly more than she could handle.

Glenda slipped her arm around Chelsea’s
waist. “Why don’t you go inside and gather yourself. They’re going
to take him up and down all the ramps, and Lucas seems to be fine
right where he is.”

She would have protested, but Glenda was
right. She needed to gather herself and Lucas didn’t need to see
her cry.

The moment she walked back into the kitchen,
the tears began. Perhaps the scenario would have been different,
but in her head, she’d seen Lucas play with Russell and his father
many times. Even when he’d written her off, and she’d married
someone else, she still had dreamed about him.

The dreams had become more vivid once
Dominic was out of the picture. Of course, the moment she’d seen
Russell in the hospital—well, she’d dreamed of him every night
since.

They were going to be friends. They’d
agreed. It broke her heart to think that’s all that was left, but
it was enough. Above all else, Lucas was happy. That was all that
mattered.

She could hear them all move to the garage
and Lucas was still laughing.

Chelsea walked into the living room and took
a moment in front of the Christmas tree. A new ornament caught her
eye, and she reached out to touch it. It said Lucas, and it had a
place for a picture of him and Santa, which was left empty.

She covered her mouth as more tears streamed
down her cheeks.

Slowly, she turned to the fireplace to see
two more stockings had been added on the end next to Russell’s.
There was one with Lucas’s name, and it was next to the stocking
with her name which had once hung there many years ago. She pressed
her hand to her chest. That was simply one of the best Christmas
surprises she’d ever had, and she wasn’t even sure Glenda had
planned it to be.

Her knees could hardly hold her now. She
moved to the nearest seat and fell into it just as Glenda walked
into the room carrying two mugs, with tea bags hanging from the
sides.

“Let those tears out. Every mama has
them.”

“Oh, Glenda. I don’t know how to accept all
of this. Seeing him with Lucas and then the ornament and the
stockings,” she said as she sobbed. “When it’s all over, it’s going
to break Lucas’s heart to leave here—to leave you.”

Glenda set the mugs on the coffee table and
sat down next to Chelsea. “I believe in fate. They all give me a
hard time about it, but I do. I hate to say it, but I think that’s
what all of this is. It’s fate that you’re a nursing student, he
got hurt, and you needed refuge.”

Chelsea chuckled through the tears. “You
don’t think that’s stretching it a bit?”

“No, not at all. So fate made you take a
detour, and you got Lucas. You wouldn’t give him up would you?”

Her heart sank. “No. Heavens, no.”

“See, everything for a reason. Look at Susan
and Eric. She was in the cards to cater for me. And Dane and Gia.
Well, had he not moved away, Gia would have just been another woman
in town, not the woman.”

“He doesn’t want anything more than
friendship from me, and I think that’s pushing it. He's cordial,
but…”

Glenda patted her hand. “He doesn’t know
what he wants yet. I know my son. I saw the way he looked at Lucas
when you set him on his lap. That wasn’t a look of just friendship,
Chelsea. And when he looks at you, well, I’ve see him look at you
like that before, honey.”

“What if you’re wrong?”

“Well then, I’m wrong. But for now, you’re
here, and it’s Christmas time. We’re going to make the best of
it.”

“I saw the ornament on the tree that says
Lucas.”

Glenda smiled wide. “He’s not afraid of
Santa, is he? He’ll be dropping by on Christmas Eve.”

“You’re kidding, right?”

“I don’t kid about Christmas. I have that
there so when he sits on Santa’s lap you’ll have a memento.”

The tears, which had dried, fell again.
“You’re too good to us,” Chelsea said as she wiped at her
cheeks.

“We love you and Lucas. All of us do,” she
said as she handed Chelsea one of the mugs she’d set on the
table.

For the first time in a long time, Chelsea
felt that love Glenda talked about. And as she listened carefully,
she could hear her son laughing from beyond the back door, and she
knew he, too, felt the love they were spoiling them with.

Chapter
Thirteen

Glenda had offered to give Lucas his bath,
read him a story, and sit with him until Chelsea was done helping
put Russell to bed.

Without protest, Russell had allowed Chelsea
to drain his catheter bag, take his vitals, give him his medicines,
and even agreed to let her take a warm cloth over his body so that
he’d feel refreshed. Though that had been the hardest part of the
night, Chelsea thought as she started.

As he sat on the edge of his bed, she
removed the sling on his left arm. Carefully she pulled his shirt
off of him, and her body temperature began to rise. All she could
hope for was that he didn’t see the heat rise in her cheeks. This
was too familiar, and much too intimate.

Gently she took the cloth over his shoulder
and down his arm. For a moment she lingered on the tattoo. It was
once a C for Chelsea, but he’d had it added to, and now it was a
beautiful, ornate band that encircled his well-formed bicep.

She licked her lips and cleared her mind as
she took the cloth across his chest to the other shoulder. Even
though his right arm wasn’t injured, she took equally as much care
to wipe the cloth from his shoulder to his fingers.

His eyes had closed, she noticed, as she
worked the cloth around the back of his neck and then over his
broad chest and firm stomach. Her breath hitched as she moved in
closer to him so that she could reach around him and run the cloth
down his muscular back.

She jumped when his hand came to her waist
and held her where she was, extremely close to him.

Chelsea looked down at him, and his eyes
were wide now looking up at her.

“It’s hard to have you this close to me,” he
said. His voice was full of gravel and heat.

“That’s why you should have Karen here full
time.” Her voice cracked, but she kept her body close, afraid to
move.

“That isn’t what I meant.” His hand slid up
her back, and she found she had to rest her hand on his right
shoulder to keep her balance. “I’m mad at you. I’m mad down to my
core.”

“Russ, I’m…”

“You’re sorry. You’ve said that. I’d be fine
if you never said it again.” She felt the lightness of his
fingertips through the fabric of her shirt, and it sent a tingle
down the length of her spine. “I lied when I said we should just be
friends. I thought I could do it.”

Chelsea felt her hand begin to shake. The
messages she was getting were mixed. Here he was, holding her close
to him, but he didn’t want to be friends. She wasn’t sure she could
go on like this.

Russell lifted his chest and pressed his
hand to the center of her back bringing her closer to him
still.

“Chelsea, I remember the day I fell in love
with you. It was Christmas, too.”

She managed a weak breath. “I remember.”

“I fell in love tonight, too.”

She swallowed hard. “You did?”

“With Lucas.”

The tears she’d promised herself for bedtime
rushed to the surface and fell just as quickly. “Russ…”

“He’s a fantastic kid, Chelsea. I thought it
would be hard to see him and know where he came from. But he came
from you. And…” His chest expanded as he took a deep breath and
locked eyes with her. “And I’ve never stopped loving you.”

Chelsea took her free hand and covered her
mouth as the sobbing continued.

“Don’t cry,” he said as he brushed away the
tears on her cheeks.

“Russ, I can’t help it. I don’t know what to
do with it. I don’t deserve it.”

“My mother would kill me if I said someone
didn’t deserve a second chance. She thinks like that.”

That caused her to chuckle. “She puts a lot
of stock in fate.”

“Yes, she does.” He lifted his hand into her
hair. “I hate that I can’t stand up and lay you in this bed with
me.”

“You’ll heal quickly. That’s how you
work.”

He gently brushed his thumb over her cheek
again. “I’m sorry I accused you.”

She stepped back from him and turned to put
the cloth away. She couldn’t look at him.

“Chelsea?” His voice lost the heat, but
she’d noted the panic that had risen in it.

“I should go relieve your mom,” she
sniffed.

“You should turn around and talk to me.
What’s going on?”

Chelsea turned to him. “Do you think I would
ever want to see you physically hurt? You asking me where I was
that night says that you do.”

“It was stupid. Chels…”

“It’s not stupid. It’s honest.” This is
where truth and feelings always hurt the worst. “That truck was in
my garage for the past two years, Russ. The night before you were
hit, it was stolen.”

His eyes opened wide, and the soft demeanor
had vanished. “You didn’t mention that.”

“I know,” she shouted and then turned to
close the bedroom door. “I didn’t want it. You don’t know how many
times I’d thought about letting it roll into the lake. So when it
was stolen, that was better.”

“Until it ran me off the road.”

“And showed back up across the street.”

“You didn’t tell Smythe about this did
you?”

She shook her head. “No.”

“Call him. Call him right now,” he ordered.
“I can’t tell you why they ran my ass off the road, but that means
they were on your property before this all happened.”

Chelsea wrung her hands in front of her.
“You’re not mad at me?”

“Oh, I’m starting to get that way. Chels,
you’re in danger. Does the ass have a family? A new girlfriend?
Some old debt someone’s trying to collect on?”

She thought for a moment. “His brother was
in jail in Jersey. His mother…” She thought for a moment. “I just
never saw her again. She never came back around after they’d
kidnapped Lucas.”

“They?”

She moved to him and sat on the edge of the
bed next to him. “She’d put Dominic up to taking Lucas in the first
place. She didn’t think I deserved full custody.”

“That’s not okay. Why wasn’t she
arrested?”

“She was, on accessory charges. She would
have been out by now,” she said and the thought scared the hell out
of her. “What if she’s in contact with Dominc?”

“This is a lot of information. Get my phone.
Call Phillip and tell him all of this.”

“He’s going to have to drive out here,
and…”

“He will, too. Just do it. I’m right here by
your side,” he said taking her hand and giving it a squeeze.

“You always should have been,” she admitted,
and her gut tightened at the pain of what she’d done to him.

Russell lifted his hand into her hair again
and pulled her to him until their lips nearly touched. “I will be
now,” he promised as he pressed his lips to hers.

The familiarity of it came back as if not a
moment had passed between them. She leaned into him and sank into
the kiss he offered.

She was careful not to move him too much,
but she wanted to feel him—wrap herself around him.

Neither of them heard the door open, nor did
they realize anyone was there until Dane cleared his throat.

Chelsea jumped from the bed and wiped her
lips.

“Mom never did let us have girls in our
rooms. I wonder why,” he joked and then looked at Chelsea. “Gia
sent this,” he said holding up a little box for her. “She brought
it back from Lucca for you. She said you’d had your eyes on
it.”

Chelsea walked to the door and took the
wrapped box from him. “I’ll save it for Christmas.”

“I don’t think that was the point,” Dane
said with a laugh. “Open it.”

She slid her finger under the paper and
opened the box. Inside was a small snow globe, just like the one
she’d seen in Gia’s store. It was a Christmas scene, and there was
a mom and a little boy looking up at the Christmas tree, and it had
reminded her of herself and Lucas.

Another tear escaped and slid down her
cheek, which she quickly brushed away. “Thank her for me.”

“She’ll be here for Christmas. You’ll see
her then.”

She held it to her chest. “I’d better go
check on Lucas,” she said, and slid past Dane.

The look in his brother’s eyes said it
all.

“You’re surprised to see me kissing
Chelsea,” Russell offered, as he nodded to invite Dane in.

“You could say that. Though, I expected that
it would come, in time. We all do.”

“Maybe that’s why I did it. I’m not sure
it’s the best thing for me. Not a good time to get involved with
her.”

“Any other time would be better?”

“When her ex wasn’t out on parole and the
truck belonging to him hadn’t run me off the road. Oh, and when
people weren’t breaking into her house. Am I missing anything?”

Dane chuckled. “It’s messed up, man.”

“No kidding. I guess it’s a good thing I
didn’t steal Gia from you then, huh? That would have made this
messy.”

“Yeah. I’m glad my charms won over. So what
do they say about your recovery?”