AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She smiled softly, watching the puppies and kids wrestling and rolling on the grass. “I wish I could say that were true. But you found her all on your own. I wasn’t much help this time. More of a hindrance, I’d say.”
A weight seemed to have been lifted with the confession she’d made over a month ago during that long phone call. Yet he feared his mother was sti
ll walking under her own cloud.
Raising their clasped hands, he kissed her knuckles. “That’s what I really wanted to talk to you about. You seem to be under the mistaken impression that it was a bad thing to allow me to grow up thinking all marriages had to be perfect.”
“It made your expectations far too high.”
“Do you remember what you said the day you told me I was a twinkle in your eye before you and Dad got married?”
She pursed her lips, but he sensed the smile there. “What a lovely way of describing my indiscretion. But I said a lot of things during that phone call.”
“Ah, but the most important thing you said was that you loved me just the way I am. That if you hadn’t gotten pregnant with me exactly when you did, I would have been someone completely different.”
“You’re right. You wouldn’t have been my Daniel.” She cupped his cheek, moisture glistening in her eyes. “And I would have missed you so much.”
“Don’t you see that’s exactly the way I feel about Tasha? If my expectations about the perfect marriage, the perfect relationship, and the perfect wife had been any different, I might have missed finding her. I might have taken another path that didn’t lead me to her. So what you taught me, Mom, is that everything happens exactly the way it’s supposed to.”
“Oh sweetheart.” She leaned her head on his shoulder as Tasha saw them and waved. “I’m so glad you finally know everything. And that you’ve found the love you deserve.”
“Tasha completes me, Mom.”
“I know exactly what you mean.”
“Because it’s the way Dad completes you?”
“Yes. And Will and Harper, Sebastian and Charlie, Matt and Ari, Evan and Paige. I’m so happy for every single one of my boys.”
“I love you, Mom. I always have and I always will. You never did anything wrong. You never needed to feel guilty, so I want you to promise me that you will forgive yourself for whatever mistakes you think you made. And I don’t want you to ever feel like you need to hide anything from me either. Because I will never judge you. In fact, knowing what you and Dad went through, I admire both of you even more. If anything, I feel more loved because of what you sacrificed to keep me with you.”
“Oh honey, thank you. I love you so much.” She sniffed, then she looked past him to her big brood of Mavericks. “I love all of you. Every single one of my boys and the wonderful families you’re building.”
He kissed the top of her head. Then he smiled across the lawn at the woman snuffling her face into the fluffy, furry belly of a squirming puppy. The beautiful, perfect woman with whom he would spend the rest of his life.
* * *
Sitting under the canopy covering several lounge chairs, Gideon Jones nursed a beer, watching.
They were a cheerful bunch, these Mavericks. He was happy that Ari had found Matt and Noah. Matt was a good man, worthy of her, and she was as radiant as the child she’d been when Gideon had left her behind to join the Army.
The two would be married by the end of the summer, and she would truly become Noah’s mother. Her love for the kid shone right out of her, like a beacon for all the world to see.
She’d grown into a beautiful woman, and he was so damn proud of her. But it was something he could never seem to find the words to tell her. He’d lost the ability to express the things he felt. He’d seen too much during his eight years in the service.
But he didn’t think about those lost years. He didn’t think about the past.
He simply watched other people living their lives. Sometimes he even smiled. Like now.
Sebastian Montgomery had actually talked Francine Ballard into the water. Charlie’s mother was a dear old soul, crippled with arthritis, but always with a kind word, even for him.
“Oh my goodness,” she trilled as Sebastian carried her down into the water. She wore a flowered bathing suit with a high neck and a skirt that covered her thighs.
“The water will be good for you, Mom. We should have thought of this years ago.” Charlie held her hands and danced her along the edge of the shallow end while Sebastian hovered close by in case he was needed.
“She’s a darling, isn’t she?” Susan Spencer had come to sit beside Gideon. In her mid-fifties, with a cap of gray hair, she was vital and dynamic, moving so softly he hadn’t heard her. Daniel had flown his parents and sister in from Chicago for the July Fourth celebration.
“Yes, she is,” Gideon agreed.
