Keegan made fun of him for that constantly, but it was one of the most beautiful moments I’d ever witnessed between the two of them.
We already had the paperwork ready, and after the wedding, Parker and I were changing our last name to Steele, and Coen was officially adopting him. Something Parker told anyone who gave him two minutes of their time.
When we got to the front, my dad kissed my cheek and handed me off to Coen.
A slow smile pulled at my lips as I stepped up to him, and I studied his dark eyes as they gave away all I needed to know. He was ready for our forever.
“We’re—” the pastor began.
“Dad!” Parker whispered.
Coen grinned and looked behind him. “Yeah, bud?”
Everyone sitting in the church began laughing as Parker stepped closer and stood on his toes. “Tell Mom she looks pretty.”
“Got it.” Looking back at me, Coen’s dark eyes brightened as his gaze bounced over my face. “You look beautiful,” he said breathlessly.
I squeezed his hand. “Not so bad yourself, Steele.”
“You can get married now,” Parker declared, and I couldn’t help but laugh.
Reaching behind him, Coen put his hand on Parker’s back and moved him so he was standing between us. Grabbing his right hand, Coen watched until I grabbed Parker’s left hand before looking back over at the pastor.
“Now we’re ready.”
The End
A Note from the Author
For a look at the pictures from the canvases in the studio, go to:
www.mollysmcadams.com/capturing-peace-photos
Keep reading for an early peek at Molly McAdams’s next book
SHARING YOU
The story of Coen’s friend Brody.
Prologue
Kamryn—Sept. 2, 2014
THE SOUND OF three familiar, masculine laughs stopped my retreat to my room and I quietly tiptoed back toward the study. What are Charles and his dad doing here? I peeked through the door they had left cracked and was thankful for the darkened hallway. I knew from experience they wouldn’t see me unless they were actively searching, and since all of them were huddled around a far table with drinks in their hands, I figured I was fine.
I pulled my cell out of my pocket and glanced at the time before dimming the screen again. Charles wasn’t supposed to pick me up for another four hours, and we’d just had brunch with his family. Couldn’t he go away for a while?
Charles. Good God what had he even changed into? He had brown loafers—no socks—khaki shorts, and a dark pink polo on. And, yeah, the collar was popped. His dark blond hair had that I-just-got-out-of-bed look, but I’d had the unfortunate pleasure of watching him spend twenty-five minutes to make it look that way this morning, so it lost its appeal.
I’d been dating Charles York since our junior year of high school, and it was safe to say that over the last six years, I’d really come to loathe him. His clothes, his too-perfect bleached smile, his fake tan, his laugh that had to be louder than everyone else’s in the room, the fact that he was the third Charles York, his signature silver BMW that he upgraded for a new one every two years like it was a cell phone or something. And this was probably worst of all: that he was so close with my dad that he was having drinks with him on his own time.
I’m sure most girls dreamt of a man who their parents would absolutely adore, but my parents hadn’t exactly given me a choice when it came to Charles. I had to date him. It was a match made in “Kentucky Derby Heaven,” as my mother liked to say. And, no, I’m not joking. Both our families were from the Brighton Country Club neighborhood in Lexington, and every year for the last fifteen years, either Charles’s or my family had had a horse win the Kentucky Derby. Our parents were always talking about combining our stables, and I was beginning to think I’d already been sold off to the York family to make this happen.
Why not just break up with him and tell my parents to shove it? Uh, yeah . . . not so easy in my family. I was a Cunningham; in the racing world, we were pretty much royalty. My parents were Bruce and Charlotte, and as the only daughter of the perfect power couple, I was expected to be perfect as well. Perfect hair, perfect clothes, and a perfectly planned life.
The only thing I’d ever done for myself was go to culinary and then pastry school; and it’d been a huge to-do in our house. The only people who had supported me were our maid, Barbara, and surprisingly, Charles. I’d been so taken aback and grateful—since he’d gotten my parents to finally agree to it—that it’d been the only time I’d ever called him by his preferred name, ‘Chad.’ He hated the name ‘Charles,’ and I think that is why I refused to call him anything else.
Charles said my name and I leaned closer to the door in time to catch whatever his dad was saying.
“You’re sure she’ll say yes? I don’t know what’s going on with that girl of yours, Bruce, but she’s seemed rather . . . hesitant lately.”
Say yes to what?
“I’m sure of it, she knows her place. She knows how important this merger is.”
“I don’t know—” Chuck, Charles’s father, began.
“Dad, stop. She’ll marry me. Like Bruce said, she knows her place; and thank God for that. The sooner she gets off this pipe dream of owning a bakery, the better.”
Dad’s eyebrows shot up. “That’s surprising, seeing as you’re the only one who encouraged Kamryn to go to those food schools.”
Charles laughed and took a sip of his drink. “No offense to your home and wife, Bruce, but I want a wife who knows her place in my home as well as by my side.”
Chuck and Dad both chuckled. I continued to stand there with my jaw on the floor.
“Charlotte’s great for business and public outings,” Charles continued “—don’t get me wrong—but that woman couldn’t cook if her life depended on—”
Dad cut him off. “Which, of course, means Kamryn couldn’t cook before she went to those schools.”
With the hand holding his scotch glass, Charles pointed at Dad. “Precisely.”
“Smart kid you’ve got there, Chuck.” Dad laughed into his glass before taking another sip. “Damn smart kid.”
“So you aren’t letting her open up the bakery? Your mother and I have been worried about your judgment in letting her do this.”
“Hell no,” Charles laughed. “There’s a reason I haven’t let her open one yet, I’m just trying to keep her happy until we’re married.”
“And you’ll be proposing tonight?”
My eyes about popped out of my head at my dad’s question.
“Yup, gonna push for that whole ‘we’ve been together forever, there’s no point in having a long engagement’ thing. My guess, end of the year, we’ll be married and our families can stop dicking around with this merger.”
“Sounds good,” Dad said, and the men stood up to shake hands across the table.
I made sure to keep quiet as I quickly backed away from the door and took off for my room. Get married to him? Oh, hell no. I may have stayed with him to keep Mom and Dad happy and off my back for the last six years, but no way in hell was I going into a lifelong commitment with him. And I couldn’t believe he would encourage me to go to those schools just so he’d have a wife from the fucking fifties!
“Cook for you?” I hissed as I shut my bedroom door and hurried to the closet. “I’ll cook for you.” Grabbing a small suitcase, I threw it onto the bed and opened it up. “With rat poison.”
I buzzed Barbara before grabbing only my favorite clothes and shoes and tossing everything in there. I was throwing the necessities from my bathroom in a small bag when I heard Barb’s voice in my room.
“What can I do for ya, baby girl . . . Kam, honey?”
“Barb!” I apparently still hadn’t graduated from hissing. “He’s p
roposing!”
Her eyes were wide as she looked at the too-full suitcase. “I thought we were already expecting that.”
“Tonight! And he just told Dad that we would be married by the end of the year, that’s barely four months away!”
“Oh, my sweet girl.” She smiled sadly and sat on my bed. “I knew this day was coming, but I’m not ready for it yet.”
“Me neither, but Barbara, I can’t—I can’t keep doing this. Six years with him, and twenty-two years of not being able to live. I have to go.”
“I know.”
“It was one thing to continue dating him while he was away at school and I was trying to save money for this, but it’s an entirely different thing to be engaged to him. And you know Mom and Dad won’t let me say no!”
“I know,” she said again, and there were tears falling down her plump cheeks.
“Barb, don’t cry, please don’t cry!” God, now I was going to start crying. She’d been our maid since before I was born, she’d taken care of me growing up and she was the reason I’d wanted to go to culinary school. She was also the reason all of this was about to be possible.
Dad refused to pay for the schools, not like I expected him to or would have allowed it, but I’d gotten loans and simultaneously started asking Barb for her help. There was no way for Barb or me to bet on the races without word getting out that we were doing so, and Dad would flip if he knew. I didn’t want to use his money for anything, so I’d sold a few things Mom would never notice were missing from my room, and used that money for Barb’s brother to start placing bets for me. All the bets started off small, since I hadn’t sold anything of much value, and over the last four years they’d multiplied like you wouldn’t believe.
I’d paid off the loans before replacing what I’d originally sold from my room first, and then continued to place higher and higher bets. The last race I’d bet on, and won, I’d put down close to six figures. You get the right races, and the right pockets with horses competing; you can make a fortune. And I had.
Barbara and I had spent many nights planning this day, but like she’d said, we weren’t expecting it to happen just yet.
“I’m sorry,” she said and wiped away some tears. “I’m happy for you, baby girl, really I am. I’m just gonna miss you so much.”
“I’ll miss you too.” I hugged her fiercely and let a few tears escape as she held me. She would be the only person from this entire state I would miss. “As soon as I get to Oregon and get settled, I’ll get a phone and call you so you’ll have my number.”
She nodded and cleared her throat as her arms left my waist to grip my hands. “You can do this, Kamryn. I just know it. You have the money, you have the smarts, you have the talent, and you have the drive. Get away from here, baby girl, and don’t come back to this life. This life is its own form of prison.”
It was. God it was.
“Do you have everything packed?”
“I do.”
“All right.” She cleared her throat and her lips quivered as she spoke, “I’m going to call my brother and have him come right over to take you to the train station. I’d just pulled some cookies out of the oven. You go take some and a glass of milk to your daddy. Your mother is at her tennis lesson and then going to a massage, so she won’t be back for some time now. By the time you’re done sweet-talking your daddy, Ray will be here and I’ll have your suitcase and money waiting in his car.”
I took a deep breath and stood when she did. “I’ll miss you, Barbara, I love you.”
“I love you too, baby girl. Go live.”
Chapter One
Kamryn—May 4, 2015
“KC! GIRL, I am definitely going to need some chocolate to get through today.”
“Kinlee, seriously?” I huffed as I came through the double doors with trays of cupcakes. “We aren’t even open yet. That key I gave you was for emergencies if I wasn’t available.”
“You’re open, I flipped the board for you.”
I rolled my eyes and smiled. I’d met Kinlee almost immediately after moving to Jeston, Oregon, and I thanked God every day for that. I’d never had a friend like her, and didn’t know how I would get through day-to-day life without her. “Only you, Lee, only you.” I handed over a chocolate cupcake with peanut-butter cream-cheese frosting and started stocking my pastry case.
Within two weeks of getting here, I’d bought an SUV, found a condo, and had already leased a small space for what would be my bakery. Over the next two and a half months I was overseeing renovations for KC’s Sweet Treats, and that’s how I’d met Kinlee. She was two years older than me, shorter than short, with long black hair and a bubbly personality I’d die for. She and her mom had the boutique right next door to me and she’d come by asking if I knew what was going to be put in next to her store. One thing led to another, and I was her new best friend because I could bake. Kinlee could be crude, she could be sweet, and she was loyal to those she cared for. And I absolutely adored every bit of her.
Barbara and I spoke at least once a week when Mom and Dad were both out of the house, and though I missed her like crazy, I didn’t regret my decision. I did feel bad for leaving her in that hell storm though. Apparently my parents and Charles’s family had gone nuts but ultimately saw it as a chance for more publicity and twisted it to wind up on a few news stations. How? I don’t know, and I really don’t care. Other than talking with Barbara, I didn’t pay attention to anything that had to do with racing or Kentucky. My life was in Oregon now, and that was all I cared to focus on.
And I loved it here. This city of roughly fifteen thousand people had an old-time small-town charm to it, and I wondered how it’d taken me twenty-two years to get here. There was no doubt in my mind: I belonged here.
The best part? No one had a clue who I was.
The minute I’d gotten here and checked into a hotel, I’d found a salon, chopped fourteen inches off my hair and dyed my golden locks a rich brown. Even with the fourteen inches gone, my hair still brushed the tops of my shoulders, and with the thick, black-framed glasses I bought at a drugstore, I looked like a new person. And I couldn’t be happier.
“Oh my God, heaven!” Kinlee groaned and hopped onto the counter near the register, “Kace, tell me how you aren’t fat yet?”
I laughed, “Probably the same way you aren’t.”
“You mean you’re having wild-animal sex twenty-four seven? I was wondering why you wouldn’t let us set you up with anyone! You’ve been holding out on me, haven’t you?”
“Oh God, okay definitely not the same way as you. Ew, Kinlee, all I’m going to be able to think about when I see Jace is you two having wild sex.”
“Say that again!”
I froze with my arm inside the pastry case. “Uh, all I’m going—”
“No, no. The last few words.” She leaned close and stared at my mouth as I ran over everything I’d said.
“Having wild sex?”
“Wald? For real, where are you from?”
I blew out a heavy breath and shook my head as I smirked at my case. “Just not from here.” I tried to tame my accent—that I didn’t know I’d had until I moved here—as much as possible around Kinlee. She and her husband, Jace, were always trying to figure out where I’d moved from, but them finding out meant them wanting to know why I was here at all. And I wasn’t ready for that.
“One of these days, Kace, I will get it out of you.” She took another bite of cupcake and moaned. “This is better than wald sex with Jace.”
“Okay, your husband is hot and all, don’t get me wrong, but I really don’t want to be thinking about him like that.”
“Just saying.” She held her hands up. “You were the one that asked.”
“Uh, no. No I didn’t. And back to your original question: I run most mornings. Not all of us can get aw
ay with having crazy hot sex to not get fat, especially when we’re not having sex at all.”
She shoved the last bit of cupcake in her mouth and spoke through the bite. “KC, I have been trying to set you up for the last seven months! It’s not my fault you refuse to go on a date with anyone. You’re twenty-three, time to go on a date, woman!”
“Can I remind you that the last guy you tried to set me up with was shorter than me?”
It’s not like I’m an Amazon or anything, I’m five-seven, but I do love heels. Just another reason why I couldn’t stand Charles, he was one inch taller than me so heels were a no go. Of course I wore heels whenever he wasn’t around, but he made me carry flats with me just in case he showed up anywhere I was. There are only so many flats you can wear before you want to find all the flats in the world and burn them.
“I only know so many single men!”
“This barbecue tomorrow, you aren’t going to try . . .” I trailed off when I noticed her looking away. “Kinlee!”
“I didn’t invite them! Swear to God I didn’t invite them this time. The guys on Jace’s shift from the department are all gonna be there, and most of them are single, not my fault.”
Oh Lord, single firemen.
“But it won’t just be the guys from the department, there will be other people, some couples from the neighborhood, all people you’ve met before.”
I nodded and shut the pastry-case doors “All right, well you know I’ll be there, not like I have anything else to do on a Sunday. Want me to bring something?” I don’t know why I even bothered asking anymore, it’s not like I’d show up without something anyway.