Young Truths (Young Series) (51 page)

“About time,” Claire grumbles, grinning as I place the plates on the table. “Though
t Matt was going to come in and drag you out by the hair.”

My husband snorts a laugh. “Nah, we’ll save that for when everyone’s gone,” he says, leering at me. Claire throws a chip at him to shut him up.

I roll my eyes and sit down beside Diane as she hands me the six-month-old boy in her arms. Harrison David Young. Just like his siblings, he came as a surprise. Matthew calls him a souvenir from our honeymoon cruise. For once, my pregnancy was uneventful and nothing but excitement surrounded the impending arrival of our third child. There was some debate on what we would name him. I tried once to convince Matthew to give our son his father’s name, but the look on his face when I suggested it said it wasn’t an option. I could understand his side of things; despite coming to terms with his father’s suicide, Matthew still hasn’t quite forgiven Paul for his selfish decision. In the end, we chose Harrison in tribute to Bonnie Harris and David for my father. Harrison is a sweet, happy little boy with a mop of brown hair and brown eyes just like mine.

Though it shouldn’t surprise me in the slightest, Matthew was made for fatherhood. He’s never happier than when he gets home every evening and can spend hours doing nothing but playing with his children. He gives each of them equal attention and I still don’t know how he does it. Between working at the bookstore and keeping everything at home in line, it seems I barely have time to take a breath, let alone find enough energy to roll around on the floor with three kids.

The last two years haven’t been perfect, though Matthew and I have finally accepted that nothing could ever be perfect, not when we’re both such stubborn perfectionists. There are times, fewer and farther between these days, when I think about that night at the travel agency with Frank Marone and Mark Reilly. I think about how differently things could have gone, how one or both of us might not have made it out alive. I know the only reason we’re both here now is because of what I did. It took months of nightmares and visits with Dr. Morris to accept the fact that I shot a man I considered a close friend, but I think I finally have. My biggest concern was that my friends and family might look at me differently if they ever found out, that they might be afraid of me or something. Not that I’ve ever had the inclination to tell them what really happened that night. The only person I confided in, aside from Dr. Morris, is Claire; she told me she would have done the same. Matthew said he’d never been more grateful to have me in his life. And he’d said it with such sincerity that I actually burst into tears and fell into his arms with relief and gratitude.

I didn’t know it was possible, but with every day that goes on, I find myself falling deeper in l
ove with my husband. The same is true for him; I see it in his eyes whenever he looks at me. I’m still trying to figure out how either of us ever believed we could survive without the other. Those five years apart seem like an entirely different life now. Which they were. It was a life spent in limbo, nothing more than going through the motions in an attempt to find the happiness I’d so carelessly thrown away.

It doesn’t matter anymore. I’m back where I belong with the people I love the most and there is no point in livin
g in the past. That’s an incredibly liberating fact.

“Penny for your thoughts?”

I look away from Harrison’s sleeping face to find Matthew sitting beside me with sparkling eyes and a knowing smile. “Nothing new,” I whisper, smiling back. “Just thinking how lucky I am to have you and our babies, and how desperately in love with you I really am.”

His smile turns soft as a dozen emotions pass through his eyes. “It’s not luck,” he argues gently. “It was fate. And if anyone here is desperately in love, it’s me.”

I laugh a little as he leans in for a kiss and it still amazes me that he can take my breath away after the thousands we’ve shared over the years. Personally, I hope it never stops amazing me.

“Get a room!” Claire calls out in disgust. “Seriously, you two, we’re trying to eat.”

“You’re eating my food,” Matthew snaps playfully at her. “Deal with it.”

Laughing, I sit back, only now noticing
a plate of food on the table in front of me. Matthew takes Harrison from me, kissing his forehead almost reverently as he places our son in the swing we set up on the deck. Though a table has been set up for the children, Olivia doesn’t hesitate to climb into her father’s lap. I roll my eyes when Matthew doesn’t even blink, smiling to myself. That girl already knows the effect she has on him and doesn’t even hesitate to use it to her advantage. I dread her teenage years.

Behind us, Tyler and his cousins are laughing as they eat. He truly has become a carbon copy of Matthew—looks and personality. He’s already a charmer and despite his small stature, by the time he hits middle school, he’ll h
ave girls flocking all over him. I try not to shiver at the thought; he’s still my baby boy and that will never change. Matthew has been trying to convince me that all little boys grow up sometime so I might as well accept it. I keep finding new things to throw at him whenever he takes this line of argument.

From the very beginning of our relationship, I knew Matthew was hesitant to be a father. His own was only home a few months every year and during those times, Matthew painted Paul Young as an overbearing, over-strict man who seemed to prefer working to spending any real time with his children. Given Matthew’s line of work, I know he was concerned that he might inherit that bad father gene and his children would grow up resenting him just as he’d resented his father. He couldn’t have been more wrong. Our children worship him, Tyler in particular. There is no doubt in my mind that Tyler will follow in his father’s footsteps in every sense of the idea. Actually, it makes me a bit nervous, but in the best way possible.

The afternoon passes with nothing more dramatic than Olivia tripping in the grass while trying to keep up with the older kids, which caused Matthew to baby her when she started crying. I swear if he wasn’t here, she’d have been up and back playing without shedding a tear, but she seems to enjoy the coddling she gets from her father. She spends the next hour or so curled up in his lap until she falls asleep and he takes her inside for a nap.

“You two are so screwed when she hits thirteen,” Claire snickers as she sits down beside me.

I roll my eyes as Matthew goes inside. “Tell me about it,” I murmur. “He’s constantly got the blinders up with it comes to her. Her lip trembles even slightly and he’s offering to buy her an entire toy store.”

Laughing, Claire nods. “You love it, though,” she observes quietly.

I nod back. “I really do,” I say softly. I have no idea how to expand on that, so I don’t. Diane, after insisting on doing the cleaning up, has headed back down to her house while Danny stands near the lake supervising Tyler, Gabe, and Olly while they try and fail miserably at skipping rocks. Abby is sitting against a tree reading.

Claire takes a breath and I look over at her expectantly. “When you and I first met,” she begins quietly, staring out at the lake, “I didn’t know what to make of you. It only took me a second to realize you were completely head over hills for Matt and he seemed to feel the same for you, but I was a little worried
. For both of you, really.”

My brow furrows. “Why?”

“Because Matt was different than the last time I’d seen him,” she says simply. “I was worried because I knew what he was like—he wasn’t the token playboy, but he hadn’t had anything resembling a steady girlfriend since college. Then out of nowhere, here you come. I was worried because I thought there might be a chance that the two of you were moving so quickly that he might burn out on you or something and would only end up breaking both your hearts in the process. Not to mention, you and I were becoming friends, even though I should have known better than to be friendly with one of his conquests.”

I snort a laugh. “Conquests? Gee, thanks,” I mutter with playful sarcasm.

“You know what I mean,” she chides, knocking her shoulder against mine. “You were good for him, Sam. And I think he was really good for you, too. I’m just glad the two of you managed to get your shit together.”

“So am I,” I agree. “And yes, Matt was—
is—
really good for me.” I hesitate for a moment. “I thought he’d burn out on me, too. It took me years to figure out what it is he sees in me and I still have moments that I’m uncertain. The thing is, he feels the same way, even if he doesn’t actually admit it. I catch the looks he sends me sometimes, like he’s the luckiest bastard in the world.”

“Well, he is,” Claire says bluntly, grinning. “What more could he possibly ask for?”

I don’t have an answer for that. All I know is that I’ve come so far from being the lonely, depressed farm girl I was when I was nineteen years old and waiting tables at Chet’s Diner. Before Matthew Young walked into my life, I’d given up on the romantic dreams little girls tend to have where their soul mate sweeps in and gives them more than they thought possible. I was resigned, willing to settle for a life I didn’t particularly want, but until I met him, I didn’t know what it was I really wanted. He’s made me see how much potential I have; he’s made me stronger. Without him, I don’t know where I’d be, and after I stopped living in the past, regretting decisions I made when I was younger, I realized that’s not even a thought worth considering. I do have him. I have his unconditional love and support, and with every day that goes on, we’re that much closer to our happily ever after.

After a long day of entertaining family, Samantha and I get the kids in bed and I head into my home office for a couple hours to get some work done in the hopes of avoiding a week-long business trip looming in the not-so distant future. When I finally finish, I go in search of my wife. It doesn’t take long to ascertain that she isn’t in the house, but when I look out the backdoor, I smile, finding her sitting at the end of the boat dock and looking out onto the lake.

I don’t hesitate to join her and she doesn’t look at me as I slip off my shoes and socks before sitting down beside her, letting my feet skim the cool water. We sit in contented silence
for several minutes, our shoulders touching as we’re both thoroughly lost in our thoughts. With anybody else, I’d be struggling to search for something to talk about, but with Samantha, there are times that nothing needs to be said. She knows me better than anyone else in the world, better than I know myself, and she can tell with just a look what I’m thinking or feeling. I like to think I have the same effect on her, but with every day that passes, I find myself learning some tiny new detail about her that makes me fall for her all over again.

It’s been nearly eleven years since that day at Chet’s Diner when my biggest concern had been a meeting with an Iowa senator about some project I can’t even remember now. The only noteworthy thing that happened on that trip was seeing the young waitress with a tear and gravy stain on her uniform, and realizing how empty my life had been before her. Never in my wildest dreams would I have ever imagined I’d be here with her like this all these years later, and I wouldn’t change a single detail about our lives. Everything we’ve been through, everything we’ve done has brought us to this point. There have been times I thought I’d lost her completely—more times than I want to admit to, knowing most of it had been my fault—but in the end, her love for me outweighed everything, even the times I’ve hurt her.

“I love you,” I whisper, staring out into the water.

I can feel her gaze and smile as she turns to look at me. “I love you, too,” she says quietly and sweetly. “More than you’ll ever know.”

“Oh, I think you’d be surprised,” I say with a grin, wrapping an arm around her waist to pull her closer. “Did you have an enjoyable day?”

She nods, resting her head on my shoulder. “I love when we can get everyone here,” she says wistfully. “It’s too b
ad Liz and Mike couldn’t come.”

Now there’s a phrase I never thought she would ever utter. Since Holly showed her true colors, Elizabeth has turned over a new leaf. It’s been slow going, but as the days pass, my older sister and my wife have actually managed to get along with one another. Last month, Samantha and Claire even joined Elizabeth on a shopping trip to get her oldest child set up for his first day of college. Part of me is still waiting for the revelation that I’m living in the Twilight Zone, but I have to admit, it’s been much easier on me not having to stress out about them being in the same room.

“Mike invited us over next week to make it up to us,” I tell her. “I think Liz is going to need the support once they drop Dylan off at school.”

Samantha sighs a little sadly and I look at her questioningly, an eyebrow raised. “It’s not going to be long before we’re dropping Tyler off at college,” she says reluctantly.

I smirk, inwardly rolling my eyes. “Sammy, we’ve got another nine years before that day,” I say patiently.

“That’s no time at all,” she exclaims, then smacks me in the shoulder when I can’t hold back my laughter anymore. “You’re such an ass.”

I nod, still laughing. “I know. But you wouldn’t have me another way.”

She glares. “I think I’m going to have to disagree,” she grumbles, her lips twitching finally. A moment later, she’s laughing along with me. “Are you really telling me you won’t be sad to see our children leave us?”

“Of course I will be,” I respond honestly, pressing a kiss to her forehead. “But it’s going to be at least eighteen years before the last one is gone and by then, I think I’ll just be looking forward to having you to myself again.”