Reese stood up and held there awkwardly for a moment, then wrapped his arms around his father. I could tell Everett was whispering something to Reese, but I couldn’t hear what it was. All I could see was Reese nodding his head now and then, and when theypulled back from one another a little bit, they both smiled. It had hope sparking deep in my belly that tonight would end up being a new beginning for them.
And us.
“Daddy?”
At the sound of Charlie’s voice calling from the top of the stairs I said, “Yeah, honey, what is it?”
“Can we come down now? Happy won’t stop crying and Zeus keeps farting so bad that Pépère and I can hardly breathe.”
All of us began laughing so hard that I was sure we’d finally shed some tears of joy for a change. “Come on down!”
A moment later there was the thunder of footsteps above our heads, then racing down the stairs. I laughed when Happy made a huge leap over the couch to get to Nash faster. The momentum sent her slamming into him and there was just no chance of him staying upright. I tugged Everett up against me and he brought Reese with him. I kissed Everett’s temple and said, “Think she’ll share him with us?”
Happy dropped all her weight down on top of Nash and began kissing his face.
Everett considered it for a moment before finally shaking his head and saying, “Not a chance.”
Chapter 32
NASH
“Well?”
I looked up to see Everett standing in the doorway.
“Well what?” I asked, just so I could stall for a few more seconds. Everett was going to be pissed. I, amazingly, was okay with the news I’d just gotten.
Everett’s lips pulled into a frown. “That asshole,” he bit out. “Where’s my phone?” He began checking his pockets.
“It’s upstairs charging,” I reminded him.
“Right,” Everett said, then he was walking past me. I grabbed his arm and tugged him to me, then sealed my mouth over his.
I kissed him until he was completely pliant in my arms. He pulled back long enough to mutter, “No fair,” then kissed me again. I smiled against his mouth.
It’d been a crazy two weeks, but blessedly, the chaos was finally starting to die down. And that was mostly because of Everett and the many interviews he’d given to answer the endless questions about why he was in Seattle. None of us had expected the Lyft driver to heed my warning and keep his mouth shut, so we’d had to strategize on how to deal with the inevitable fallout. We’d ended up talking about it that same night as we’d gathered around the kitchentable and eaten the dinner Gage and Charlie had made… except for the burned rolls that had started the whole damn thing. Those went straight into the trash.
Though I hated the way the truth had been forced out into the open for Everett and Reese, I was glad it was behind us. It meant we finally had a chance to move forward.
All of us.
Reese and Everett were taking their time reconnecting. There’d been quite a bit of awkwardness between them over the first few days that was made worse by the reporters that kept showing up at the house or following Reese to his therapy appointments. We’d finally ended up having to have the local police stationed at the end of the driveway to keep reporters off the property, but that didn’t keep them from trying to sneak on the grounds now and again on foot. And they definitely didn’t stop hounding any of us when we left the property.
Charlie probably had the worst of it, since she didn’t really understand what was going on. Everett and Gage had talked to her about what was happening, and while she hadn’t really understood the magnitude of the issue, her only concern had been that Everett, Reese, and I were leaving. Once she’d been assured that we weren’t, she’d told her father she’d just tell those rude people to leave her family alone or she’d sic Medusa on them. From that point on, Gage or Phillipe had driven her to and picked her up from school each day.
When the reporters could no longer just drive up to the front door, they’d resorted to calling Everett’s cell phone or the landline for the Fortier house. Everett had finally given in and started doing interviews on several local and national television shows. Reese had joined him for a couple of them to settle the rumors that he and his father were estranged. It’d been hard to see both men having to fall back into roles that they’d been trying to escape for so long. But the strategy had worked, and we’d finally gotten to a point over the last couple of days where no reporters had shown up and only a half dozen called each day. It hadn’t hurt that there’d been a huge story about the latest wall street scandal to distract them.
As Everett and I made out, I felt that little burst of energy that I always did when one of my men was nearby. I tore my mouth free of Everett’s and turned to see Gage leaning against the closed door.
“Well?” he asked, pinning me with his eyes.
Everett tried to step back from me, but I refused to release him, since I had plans for both him and Gage. But first, I needed to get my overprotective men past one glaring issue.
“He suspended me,” I finally said. “Indefinitely.”
“That fucker,” Everett snapped as he tried to get free of my hold.
Presumably so he could get his phone and give Director Hill an earful.
