Kade worked his jaw as he glared in the rearview mirror. “Don’t create trouble,” he warned. “I’ll beat the snot out of you if you get her going.”
“Only in your dreams could you take me.”
“Oh, I could take you.” Kade kept his attention on the mirror a moment longer and then focused on me. “I think, with time, my mother would’ve completely fallen in love with you.” His tone was measured and I could tell he was searching for the right words to defuse the situation. “The thing is ... she would’ve fought me tooth and nail on this life. She was not the sort of person who could’ve moved from place to place with no permanent base.
“My mother loved her house ... and her garden ... and her tea sessions with her friends,” he continued. “She liked order ... and tchotchkes ... and sticking close to home. This life would’ve driven her crazy.”
I grasped what he was trying to say. “If your mother hadn’t died, we never would’ve found each other.” It was a stark realization, especially for a woman who believed in destiny. He’d said it moments before, but I’d discarded it. He was right.
“No.” Kade quickly shook his head. “I believe we were always destined to find one another. I don’t know that it would’ve happened this soon. I would’ve stayed with her until … well, until I couldn’t stay with her any longer. That would’ve delayed our meeting.” He was earnest, which softened some of my resolve. “I have to believe she would’ve told me about Max being my father at some point. She was a good person at heart, but keeping that from me, well, it was wrong. She would’ve come to her senses eventually.”
“Let’s not argue.” I held out my hands and grinned. “This is not something to fight about.”
“But you’re upset,” he persisted. “I don’t like it when you’re upset.”
That made two of us. “That doesn’t mean I want to argue.”
“Then we won’t argue. I’m simply trying to explain how it is.” Kade reached over and snagged my hand. “My mother would’ve fought me staying with Max because she couldn’t possibly understand the lifestyle. She would’ve fought you because she would’ve seen how completely in love I am and recognized that meant I was never coming back to live with her in California. That’s all I meant.”
I sucked in a breath as I regarded him. “Fair enough,” I said finally. “It’s hard for me to think in those terms, because my parents died long before it was an issue. If they were still alive, I can’t help but believe the only thing they would want is to get rid of me. They would’ve been thrilled with my life on the road — and you. As long as I never returned, they would’ve been cheerleaders of this lifestyle and our relationship.”
He looked pained at the suggestion. “Don’t talk like that. I don’t want to hear things like that.”
“Me either,” Luke intoned. “In fact, I don’t want to talk about the two of you one second longer. We all know you’re fabulous and in love. I want to talk about me. It’s my boyfriend who is embarrassed to introduce me to his mother.”
“I think you’re looking at it the wrong way,” Kade countered. “You and Cole are still fresh. Perhaps he wants to keep you to himself.”
“But I’m awesome and should be shared with everybody.”
“In other words you just want to rant,” Kade concluded.
“Not rant. Share my point of view.”
“Whatever.” Kade squeezed my hand and went back to driving. “Rant away. We have fifteen minutes until we hit Folly Beach. You’d better get in all your complaints before then.”
“Challenge accepted.”
2
Two
We’d been to Charleston before, years ago. Rather than setting up in the downtown area this time, we were setting up on Folly Beach, on a stretch of land that had been deemed “unsafe” for construction. Apparently we weren’t at risk, at least according to the head of the Downtown Development Authority, who paid our fee and signed the contracts.
“Look at this.” Kade appeared to be in awe as he stepped out of the truck and stared at the pristine water. We were directly across the road from the ocean. Most of the beachfront property in states south of the Mason-Dixon Line was reserved for hotels and businesses. To have this open expanse for our private use was ... well ... amazing. I figured this was as close to home as Kade, a California boy, was going to feel for the foreseeable future.
“Do you like it?” I asked, our earlier almost-argument forgotten.
Slowly, he slid his eyes to me. “I love it.”
I grinned at his reaction. “Maybe we’ll have to take a moonlit stroll on the beach later, huh? I mean ... just the two of us.”
“Oh, there’s going to be strolling up the yin-yang,” he promised. “You have my word on that.”
I smirked as I turned to head to the back of the truck. Mystic Caravan was a well-oiled machine and everybody had a job to do. Kade’s arm shot out to stop me before I could wander too far away.
“Hey.” His voice was soft when he tugged me against his chest.
I tipped my chin to stare into his eyes. There was an earnestness there that surprised me. “Hey.” He seemed to have something on his mind.
“I love you,” he whispered.
“I love you.”
“Yeah, but ... I really love you.”
My eyebrows hopped. “Are you suggesting I don’t really love you?”
“No, I know you do. It’s just ... you said something earlier and it’s been bothering me.”
I had to bite back a sigh. I should’ve seen this coming. He was a deep thinker. If I thought I was going to get away without having a serious conversation regarding our earlier discussion I was deluding myself. “I was just joking.” That was mostly true, though part of me was bothered at the notion he might hide me from his mother. That was simply my insecurity talking. I knew that Kade loved me. Nothing else mattered.
“You weren’t, though.” His fingers were gentle as they brushed wispy strands of hair from my face. “My mother would’ve eventually loved you because I love you.”
My heart gave a small heave at his seriousness. “Kade—”
“No.” He pressed his finger to my lips. “I don’t think I did an adequate job explaining what I was trying to say earlier. The thing is, my mother was a homebody. She didn’t even want to take day trips to Disneyland when I was a kid.
“Her greatest joy was working in her garden,” he continued. “When I enlisted, she was really upset. It wasn’t just because I might see combat. It was also because I would be so far away.
“The thing is, I always had a bit of wanderlust. I know you think it’s unlikely we would’ve found each other if my mother hadn’t died, but that’s not true. I only went back to California after she died because I didn’t know where else to go. I wasn’t there a week when I knew it wasn’t going to be a good fit.”
I appreciated the naked sentiment in his eyes. “Listen, I was just giving you a hard time.” I patted my hand against his chest. “I was trying to figure out what was wrong with Luke and just played into the game ... perhaps a little too well. I’m not upset.”