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Charlee met his gaze again. “As far as living in your brothers’ shadows—I have never once compared you with them. I don’t believe anyone has. You are you. The way you’ve gone through life is different than your brothers, but that’s okay. You’re successful, too, and you’re intelligent, you’re funny, and you make me feel good.”
She rested her head on his shoulder and a shuddering sigh left her. “You’re all those wonderful things, and that makes it hard to say goodbye.”
A knot in Ace’s throat choked him. He couldn’t speak.
She raised her head. “I do want to go home now.”
He slowly nodded. “I’m sorry.”
She caressed his hair over his ear. “I know.”
He faced her and reached up to rub some of the black beneath her eyes from the mascara. “I made a mess of your makeup.”
“Hazards of wearing makeup.” She wiped beneath her eyes with her fingertips and looked at him. “Did we get it all?”
“Yeah.” He stroked her hair and arranged it. “No matter what, you always look beautiful.”
She gave him a look that said, “Yeah, right.”
“I mean it.” He pressed his lips to her forehead before he drew back. “Are you ready?”
“Yeah.” She started to get up, but he beat her to it and helped her stand. He wrapped her in a big bear hug—he didn’t want to ever let her go.
After a moment, she disentangled herself. She took his hand and said, “Let’s go.”
He nodded, and after saying their goodbyes to Ace’s brothers and sisters-in-law, all of whom were Charlee’s friends, too, they grabbed their jackets and headed out.
CHAPTER17
It felt longer than a week ago since he’d last seen Charlee. Ace took a deep breath and let out a slow exhale as he walked into his parents’ home. Bailey and Seth’s SUV, and Dara and Jack’s truck were parked out front.
The moment he walked through that front door, Ace caught a whiff of his mom’s apple pies, combined with the strong smell of coffee. Best smells ever.
He headed into the kitchen, where Molly was in the process of taking pies from the oven and setting them on trivets on the countertop.
“The pies smell amazing, Mom.” Ace breathed deeply of the scents and his mouth watered.
“I have your favorite vanilla bean ice cream to go on top,” Molly said as she closed the oven door.
“Heaven,” he said, and she laughed.
“Hey, Big Brother Number Four.” Bailey smiled at him from where she sat at the kitchen table, a mug of coffee in front of her. Dara stood beside her, holding the infant, Kyle, who didn’t look so red anymore.
“Hi, Ace.” Dara approached him. “Hold Kyle for a moment.”
“Uh—” Ace started to protest but took the baby in his arms. “What if I drop him?”
“I’ll kill you,” Bailey said. “So don’t do it if you want to live.”
“Gotcha.” He hadn’t held a newborn before, and the baby felt small and fragile in his arms.
He couldn’t take his eyes off Kyle. He studied his perfect little nose and eyes, and those cute ears. He felt something and saw the baby’s tiny fingers wrapped around his giant finger, holding on tightly.
A lump rose in Ace’s throat. He’d never seen anything so precious in his life.
Something stirred in him, a feeling he hadn’t experienced before when playing with his nephew and nieces. This was different—deep and pure. Maybe it was because this was the first time he’d been faced with thoughts of having children of his own.
What would it be like to have Charlee sitting there, his baby—theirbaby—in her arms, the kind of glow on her face that both Bailey and Dara had. A mommy glow.
