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Hell, yeah, he’s a Hartley, all right.
“Wait…” Raffi ponders. “That means… Matty will be my uncle?”
We burst out laughing. We’d thought about it, but hearing it from him, it sounds hilarious.
“Nah. He’s your brother,” Clayton says. “He loves being your brother.”
“Do I have to call you ‘Dad’?”
“Not if you don’t want to.”
“I’ll decide later,” Raffi says lightly.
“That works, too,” Clayton replies.
“But I see you as my dad. You know that, right?” Raffi looks up at him, then me. “I’ve never seen my mom this happy before.”
“Thanks, pal.” Clayton rubs his eye.
“Go and play with Matty,” I tell Raffi. I want time alone with my husband now, my husband who’s—I study him. “Are you crying?”
“I’m just happy.”
“Thank you for everything,” I murmur. “Thank you for taking me here, again and again.”
“Baby Moon Belle, you don’t have to thank me for our wedding. I know how much you love this place,” he acknowledges with a soft touch on my hand. “I told you my father initially built that cottage for my mother?” His gaze shoots up to the top of the hill.
“Uh-huh.”
“I was never close to either of our parents. Rob was extremely close to our mother, but he had a love-hate relationship with father. This place used to be just a holiday home. But you know, being here with you, I feel something has just been brought to life—a connection of some sort.”
I nod, telling him that was exactly what I felt when I first set foot on this place, and continue to do so. It’s not just the beauty. It’s the spirit around it.
“Do you want to live here, Baby Belle?”
“No, not really. I love your Beverly Hills home. It’s not a lonely house anymore. In saying that, this place will always be part of us.”
In the distance, Simon Blake raises a glass to us.
“He’s been quiet,” I comment.
“He’s always quiet at parties.”
I was honored that the man agreed to give me away, but right now, I realize how little I know about him. “I didn’t realize he was single. Was he ever married?”
“More than married, baby. He was utterly devoted to her.”
“What happened to her?”
“She was killed.”
“Oh, God. In Alaska?”
“Yeah. He was a PI with one of the diplomats there—a controversial one. Things got ugly. Flo, Blake’s wife, was shot in revenge gone wrong.”
“That’s so tragic.”
“You know, you’re the only person he investigated who found him out—in his whole PI career with Hartley Marine. Let alone shot at his windscreen!”
