Page 70 of Love Everlasting

Jack sighed, arm limp over Lacey’s shoulder. “Mold.” His lips skewed with disappointment. “Which is more hassle than we want to deal with right now, plus cleanup would cost a fortune.”

Lacey sagged back into her chair, her tone as glum as Jack’s. “There’s just not anything decent on the water within our price range, Daddy, which means we either give up our dream to own a home on the water or move into an apartment for a few years.

“Or maybe you could rent to own …” Ben said slowly, idly reaching for Tess’s hand on top of the table, giving it a light press to signal the subject they’d already agreed upon.

“Ha!” Lacey issued a grunt. “As if those kind of opportunities grow on trees.”

“They do on family trees, sweetheart,” Tess said with a misty smile, shock registering on both Jack and Lacey’s faces when realization dawned in their eyes. She squeezed Ben’s hand back. “After all, your dad and I only need one house to live in, and Davey, the girls and I are rather partial to ours.”

Lacey sat straight up, saucer eyes trained on her dad. “B-But … but … when I was at your office last week, your colleague Dr. Morris said he made you an offer you couldn’t refuse,” she stuttered.

Ben grinned over the rim of his ice water, Adam’s apple glugging as he watched his daughter. “That’s what he thought, but turns out I could.” A muscle suddenly flickered in his jaw, and Tess knew he was battling the onslaught of emotion when his voice wobbled into a near whisper. “That house didn’t provide you with much joy in the past, sweetheart, but I’m determined it will in the future—if you and Jack want it.”

“If we want it?” Jack gaped at Ben, struggling with a few emotions of his own as he blinked hard to dispel moisture from his eyes. “It’s more than we ever dreamed possible, sir, but your house is worth a fortune, and this just wouldn’t be fair.”

Ben lost the battle when a sheen of tears glazed in his eyes. His jaw quivered as he reached to squeeze his daughter’s hand. “It wasn’t fair how I treated Lacey and you in the past either, Jack, but God’s given me the chance to try and make it up to you, so don’t deny an old man his one shot at making amends.”

“Amends aren’t necessary, Daddy,” Lacey whispered, flinging herself into her father’s arms. “Your love is all I ever need.”

“You have it, sweetheart, always, but I’m afraid amends are necessary for me,” he rasped, eyes closed as he held her tight. “That is, if you and Jack actually want the house, because I don’t want to twist your arm.”

“No arm-twisting needed, sir, I assure you,” Jack said with a hardy pump of Ben’s hand before coming over to swallow Tess up in a big hug. “Mom, we can’t thank you enough.” His voice cracked, and Tess clung with all of her might, throat too thick with emotion to do anything but cry.

Cat’s chuckle helped to temper the tears. “Gosh, Lace, this means I can keep raiding your closet.”

“Not after I change the locks,” Jack said with a grin. “With a key for Mom and Shan because at least I can trust them not to erase my scores on the Xbox.”

Cat delivered a mischievous smile with a toss of her hair. “No sense in keeping the lowest scores when a superior gamer is in the house, now is there, Jack?”

He grinned and pelted her with a balled-up napkin before facing Ben again, his smile fading into a determined clamp of his jaw. “Sir, Lacey and I can’t thank you enough, but the only way we would even consider this is if we agree on a fair-market price with interest.”

“Agreed,” Ben said with a counter thrust of his chin, reminding Tess that her future husband was no slouch in the stubborn department. “On the fair-market price, Jack, but not on the interest. The loan will be interest free or nothing.”

“No, sir.” Jack’s jaw rose to meet Ben’s. “I wouldn’t feel right about that, so I insist on interest of some kind.”

A faint smile shadowed Ben’s lips. “Now I know one of the reasons I always gave you so much grief over the years, Jack—you remind me of me.” He huffed out a sigh as he dragged Tess’s chair closer to his, draping an arm over her shoulder. “Fine. One percent interest, take it or leave it.”

Jack’s temple twitched briefly before he extended his hand, the determined glint in his eyes not unlike that of the man Tess was about to marry. “I’ll take it, sir—for now.” They shook in agreement. “But as soon as Lacey and I are financially able, we renegotiate the interest in your favor, agreed?”

“And if I don’t?”

Lacey joined the fray with a jut of her own chin. “Then we keep looking for a house.”

Ben shook his head, his smile veering off-center. “You two deserve each other,” he said with a chuckle, planting a kiss on Tess’s head. “All right, deal.”

“Eeeeeek!” Lacey squealed as she jumped up to hug her dad again and then Tess, finally plopping back onto Jack’s lap. “We have a house, Brye, can you believe it?” She settled in with a giggle, grabbing her Diet DP. “So I guess that brings us back to the question of the hour, you two—exactly when are you tying the knot?”

Ben’s satisfied smile told her he thought he had the edge for his choice of an immediate ceremony with a few family and friends rather than a more official December wedding for propriety’s sake. “The sooner, the better, as far as I’m concerned,” he said with a kiss to her cheek, deliberately brushing his mouth against her ear in a loud whisper. “You know, so the kids can finally be on their own with me out of their hair?”

Smile tipping, Tess shot him a narrow look out of the corner of her eye. “Why, how thoughtful, Dr. Doom.”

“You have no idea, Teresa Catherine,” he breathed softly, his low chuckle purling warm in her ear, “yet.”

Giving up the ghost, she shook her head, her laughter as soft as his. “All right, Dr. Carmichael, you win—the Saturday after Thanksgiving.”

“Yes!” Cat fist-punched the air.

“Nope,” Ben countered, “two weeks. That’s more than enough time to plan a small, catered affair for family in my backyard like we discussed, Tess, so there’s no reason to wait. It’ll be perfect.”