Shane approached. “I’m sorry about that, Matt. I truly am. It wasn’t up to me. If it had been, the bastard would still be in jail. I’m doubly sorry she didn’t find out about it before he got out. I chewed the prosecutor’s office a new one over that.”
Tate had come out into the yard and lit citronella candles all around and plugged in the colored lights she’d strung through the big trees in the back near where they’d lined up the tables. The children laughed and she did too. She was damned good with kids and she’d be a wonderful mother. He froze a moment and then eased. She would be. And he’d be a good father too. He wanted to be with Tate every day for the rest of his life.
“Just hit you, didn’t it? Saw her with your babies on her hip.”
Matt looked at his father and laughed. “You’re pretty scary sometimes, Daddy.”
Edward shrugged. “I have to be. Your momma keeps me on my toes.”
The women began to flow from the house with heaping platters of food, piling them from end to end across the three long tables they’d set up. Matt loved the way they all sounded, soft and light. He heard Tate’s scratchy low voice and her laugh as it married with the sound of his mother and Tate’s sisters. The thought that someone had just put her in the hospital less than a week before made him clench his jaw.
She was so damned precious to him. How could he protect her from her father at all times?
“It’s hard. Getting past all the hurt she’s been caused.” Shane looked at Matt for long moments before his eyes moved to Cassie. Matt had watched as Shane learned more and more of Cassie’s past, watched as his brother suffered over the pain the woman he loved had endured. And Matt had watched as Shane grew and matured into a man he admired deeply.
“But you will. And you’ll need to let her let you in. Don’t try to manage her, Matt. Be there for her but don’t push.”
“Yeah, ‘cause you’re such an unassuming, sensitive guy. What if she needs Matt to help her through things?” Kyle asked as he joined them.
“She’s thirty-one years old. She runs a successful business. She and her siblings have supported each other through school. You saw how she dealt with this whole thing, how her family rallied around her. How she bounced back. She’s not a mess. I’m just saying. I’ve been there.”
Nicholas toddled over to Tate and she picked him up, kissing both cheeks and putting her own against the top of his head as she swayed side to side. When she opened her eyes, she looked around and saw Matt and her smile was for him.
“Thank you, Shane. Daddy and Kyle, you too. If you’ll excuse me, my woman looks like she’s going to leave me for another man if I don’t get over there.”
Tate held Nicholas against her as he played with her hair. Maggie laughed and said something to her right but all Tate was focused on was Matt. She smiled as he approached.
“Hey, you trying to steal my woman?” Matt asked Nicholas who just laughed and burrowed tighter against her.
“Mommy’s getting jealous, Nicholas. Won’t you come and give me some love?” Maggie held her arms out and Nicholas jumped into them.
Matt didn’t waste any time, he grabbed Tate and hugged her before laying a kiss on those lips of hers. “I’m starving.”
She laughed. “Sit down. Everyone, come on and sit down, dinner is ready,” she called out and the seats around the tables filled quickly and food began to move around in an orderly circuit.
Damn his woman could cook. Matt sat back some minutes later and rubbed his expanded belly. “Woman, you’re the best thing that ever happened to me.”
He found her tell-tale blush charming even through the onset of food coma.
“I heard that. Tate, I have to tell you, girl, you’re an awfully fine cook. That’s not a compliment I give often.” Polly put her head on Edward’s shoulder, leaning into him.
Matt and the other men cleaned up while the women sat outside and watched the children play.
He felt like they’d taken a huge step with that dinner, one toward unifying all the things in his life that he held most dear.
Chapter Ten
Tate watched as Polly tucked a wayward curl behind Beth’s ear as they sat around the table at the Chases for Sunday dinner. The two women laughed together and while it gave her great joy that they’d all been pulled into the Chase family with such ease, it also made her ache just a bit.
Polly Chase had become something more than the slightly scary mother of her boyfriend. More than the town matriarch and a client. She called Tate to check in on her day, sent over recipes and asked for Tate’s. She picked up scarves and little knick-knacks she told Tate reminded Polly of her. Polly knew her favorite flowers and what kind of tea she liked.
More than that, she extended that maternal care to all the Murphys great and small. Her nieces and nephew were totally at home in the Chase backyard.
It was a revelation to Tate, that mothers like Polly existed. At the same time, it made her resent that she never had that. It wasn’t like Tate to wallow but sometimes, at night in a small corner of her heart, she allowed it just a tiny bit.
As Liv’s due date approached, Tate and her sisters were invited to the shower. It wasn’t so much that Tate disliked Liv, in fact, Tate had always appreciated Liv’s humor when she came into the shop. But now that Tate was with Matt, it was a reminder that Liv was everything Tate wasn’t. And she’d been with Matt. Matt had seen them both naked and it made Tate cringe just thinking about it.
Being around Liv now made her distinctly uncomfortable. She didn’t want to go to the shower but it was unavoidable. She was Matt’s girlfriend and a pseudo member of the Chase family and it was expected. And more than that, she didn’t want to hurt Liv’s feelings.
So she let Beth drag her out shopping. They found the place Liv was registered at and picked her up a few things. Money had been tight, her father had come by the week before and demanded five hundred dollars. His price rose each damned time she saw him. Still she didn’t want to skimp. Liv was important to Matt and so she was important to Tate too. Even if she hadn’t liked Liv herself, Tate would have gone out of her way for her.
At least the shower was at Cassie and Shane’s. Tate liked Cassie Chase a lot and had come to consider her a friend independent of her relationship with Matt. She loved the way Cassie handled her dominating, burly husband. She even liked Shane, despite the fact that his size took some getting used to. And Cassie understood her in a way most other people she wasn’t related to couldn’t.
They stumbled in, trying not to gawp like hillbillies at the beauty of the house as they put presents on a table with the others.
“Hi, Tate!” Maggie came over and gave her a hug. Cassie, carrying a tray of food, grinned in their direction and called a hello.
“Can we help?”
Polly chuckled as she click-clacked over and pulled Tate into a tight hug and smooched her cheeks. “Come on out onto the deck. Liv’s got her feet up and a slice of cake and she’s not moving. Everything’s done already so just enjoy yourself.”
Tate smiled at Liv, waving. As they came out onto the deck she saw it was more than just Chases, there were several women she didn’t know and a few she only knew by sight from school and town.
She felt fifty pounds overweight, three income levels too low and distinctly unattractive as the women sized her up.
“Hey all, this is Matt’s sweetie, Tate Murphy,” Polly called out to the crowd. She introduced Tate’s sisters and she heard a lot of names and would remember a tenth of them.
Liv smiled up at her. “Hiya, Tate. I’m glad you’re here. Come sit over here and let’s visit.”
Damn. “Sure.” Tate sat and Polly shoved a glass of something pink into her hand and toddled off chattering and towing Beth in her wake.
“Why don’t you like me, Tate Murphy?” Liv pushed her sunglasses up and looked Tate over.
Tate, startled, blinked quickly. “I…I do like you.”
“I think you’re the best thing that
’s ever happened to Matt. You’re smart, funny, pretty, you care about him and his family. You’re too good to be true but you don’t like me much and it drives me nuts because I want you to like me. Is it that Matt and I used to be involved?” Liv motioned to her stomach. “Because as you can see, that’s totally over.”
Tate snickered. “Honestly, Liv, I do like you.”
“Then what is it? You seem to get along with Cassie. Maggie, well she’s like a bumblebee in a jar, she takes getting used to but she’s all right. Me? You sort of skirt around. Have I done or said something to hurt your feelings? I’m sorry, pregnancy is making me even more mouthy.” Liv’s grin told Tate she wasn’t sorry at all but it only made her like Liv more.
Tate sighed and thought honesty deserved honesty. “Look, you’re, well, jeez, look at you. Here you are, tall and gorgeous, you dress well, have a lovely house, your body, even when you’re pregnant is way nicer than mine. I can’t compete with that. It’s not that I don’t like you. I do like you, it’s impossible not to, which is intimidating in and of itself. It’s that I’m not you.”
Liv was quiet a moment as she nodded. “Well, the thing is, Matt doesn’t want me. He didn’t want me when he had me. Tate, he wants you. You. Thank you for the compliments, really. But maybe you don’t see yourself clearly.”
“You know what I like about people? When they don’t bullshit me. I’m not all low self-esteem girl, but I can look in a mirror okay? I’m good for what I am, but I’m not you. And I don’t see any point in pretending anything else. I don’t have the time to pretend anything else. So pretty is as pretty does, and being smart and funny and having a nice face—all those things are fine. I’m good with who I am, but damn it, every time I get near you that seems to fly away and I feel fat, short and totally out of my element.”
Liv cocked her head. “Fair enough. Every time I see the way Matt looks at you—even though I adore Marc with every fiber of my being and I love him more than anything but this tadpole in my belly—part of me twists because he’s never looked at anyone like that. And then I’m so totally happy because other than Marc, he’s the male I’m closest to in the world and he’s found the one. He’s one of my best friends and I want you to be part of that too. He loves you, you’re the center of his everything and since he’s my friend and my brother-in-law and since I think you’re pretty damned cool, I want us to be friends. Plus, damn it, I want you to like me as much as you like Cassie. I’m shallow that way.”
Tate laughed. “A lot of things come to mind when I think of you, shallow isn’t one of them.”
“Oh, tell me more!”
Tate relaxed, even as she continued to catch a blonde woman about their age staring at her throughout the party.
“Who is that?” Tate asked Liv after the presents had been opened. She could hear cars pulling up and knew the guys had arrived.
Liv looked up. “Ah. Yeah. That’s Sal. Don’t sweat it. I wouldn’t even have invited her but she works for Marc, takes on some of his clients who need nutritional consulting.”
“And she’s looking at me that way because she used to play naked with Matt.”
Liv burst out laughing and the blonde looked at them again. “You know that’s something you’ll have to deal with, right? The ex-girlfriends buzzing around? All of us do. Maggie still has to and she’s been with Kyle for four years now and they have a kid.”
Tate nodded. “I know. At first it really sucked, but now I’m just sort of used to it. He never flirts back. He may be friendly but he never looks at them like he looks at me. I figure if I got upset every time I ran across someone he’d had naughty playdates with I’d be permanently pissed off.”
Liv snorted. “Very true. And that’s a great attitude to have. Because, and I’ve seen this happen three, no, four times now, when a Chase falls, he falls. There’s no in between. They like a woman or they love her. Once they love her, that’s it. Matt straying is not something you’ll ever have to fear.”
Some moments later, Matt came out onto the deck and as Tate’s gaze was drawn to him, she noticed the blonde across the deck stared at him too.
“Still, I’m gonna be honest with you, Tate, ‘cause I like you and all. I’m gonna look at him. Because he’s mighty fine to look at.” Liv took a look at Matt and then winked at Tate.
“Remind me to tell you about visual donuts,” Tate murmured as she looked her man over. He didn’t notice the other woman at all. His gaze scanned the deck until he found her and he moved straight to her. The fear edged away a bit as his eyes held nothing else but her. He sat, giving her a kiss as he circled her shoulders with his arm.
“Hey there, Venus. Man, I needed that.” Winking at her, he leaned around Tate to blow a kiss at Liv. “How you feeling, gorgeous?”
“About a thousand months pregnant. Swollen. Sweaty. But I’ve convinced your lovely girlfriend here to like me. I feel much better.”
Matt flicked his worried gaze back to Tate, who’d come to realize Liv Chase just said whatever the hell came to her mind. What wasn’t to like about that?
“I told her I already did like her but that it sucked that she was all gorgeous and stuff and I was like a little blonde dumpling and you’d seen us both naked.”
Matt paused, trying to figure out what the heck he could say and both Tate and Liv laughed.
Matt cupped her chin and brushed his lips over hers softly. Just enough to make her nipples hard and her pussy sensitize and ready for him. “Tate, I love you. You’re beautiful. Liv is my friend but you’re my woman. Do you understand the difference?”
She nodded enthusiastically and he grinned.
“Hi, Matt! Fancy seeing you here.” The other woman had made her way over and sat, no, bounced her way into a chair across from Matt, her knees touching his.
“Well, Liv’s my sister-in-law so I don’t think it’s that unusual I’d be here. I just came to get cake and steal Tate away. Do you know Tate Murphy?” He moved back a bit so their legs no longer touched.
“Yes, she used to clean our house.” The blonde’s voice went flat, snotty. “I think she does a better job cutting hair, or I hope she does. I go to Atlanta to do mine.”
Matt blinked several times and sick humiliation seeped through Tate, replaced quickly by rage. Who did this woman think she was? But before she could speak, Matt did.
“What is it with people? You owe Tate an apology. You’ve just been really rude and I don’t like it. Tate doesn’t deserve that sort of thing and frankly, I’d have thought it was beneath you.”
“Don’t you care about what people are saying, Matt? She’s beneath you. Look at her. Have some self respect.”
“Sometimes. And sometimes I’m on top. And you’re not. That’s what bugs you isn’t it?” Tate kept her voice low so Sal had to lean in to hear it. The other woman sat back and gasped but Liv laughed before getting serious again.
“You need to shuffle your ass on out of here right now, Sal. This is my party and Tate is my friend. I won’t have her insulted by the likes of you and if you make me get out of this chair I’m gonna be even more upset.” Liv sat forward. Seeing that, Marc hurried over and Tate wanted to crawl away. Every damned time she was with them, something dramatic happened. She should have just kept her mouth shut.
“I’m just saying what everyone is thinking, Liv.”
“Everyone? I’m not thinking that. Are you, Matt?” Liv asked him and he glared at Sal and shook his head.
“What about you?” Liv looked up into Marc’s face before looking back to Sal. “Because see, you might need a dictionary so you can look up everyone to see what it means. You might be thinking that. Melanie might be thinking that, but I’m not and I’d wager most people don’t, especially those of us who actually know Tate so everyone isn’t thinking it, Sal.”
“Hey, beautiful, what’s going on?” Marc put a hand on Liv’s shoulder, caressing it. “Everything all right?”
“Fine. God, it’s fine.” Tate stood. “Liv, thank you
for inviting me. If you ever need a sitter and Polly will let the baby out of her hands for five minutes, give me a call.” She bent and kissed Liv’s cheek but Liv grabbed one arm and Matt the other and they both hauled her back to sitting.
“You’re not going anywhere, Sal is. She’s insulted a friend and she’s leaving, now.” Liv turned her gaze back to Sal but kept her hand on Tate’s arm. Tate felt the warmth of friendship in the gesture and relaxed a little bit.
Marc looked to Sal and back to Liv a moment. “Okay, Sal, you’ve upset my wife and my brother’s girlfriend. I’m going to ask you to go.”
Sal hurried out, mumbling under her breath and within three minutes more, her sisters and Polly arrived and the story was told over and over until Tate stood and made the cut motion with her hands.
“Enough! If one more person asks me if I’m all right like I’m a hunchback who lives in a cave I’m gonna lose it. It’s over. I want it to stay over. Please. Now I really do need to get home. Thank you, Liv. It was a lovely shower and I’m glad we were able to chat.”
“I’ll drive you home. We can talk.” Matt moved to the door with her.
“No. I drove here with my sisters. I’ll get them home. Visit with your family. I’ll talk to you later.”
Nothing made him angrier than when she tried to pull herself away from him like that. As if he were associated with those stupid people, or like he believed it. Well, as he’d done every other time, he simply ignored her attempts as he pulled her to him.
“You go and take your sisters home. I’ll see you at the house in an hour. I haven’t eaten. Won’t you take pity on me and feed me?”
He loved the way she got flustered when he didn’t let her win her silly attempts to hold him away. And when she knew he’d be licking her from head to toe when he saw her next.
“Fine.”
He laughed, kissing her quickly, and walked her and her sisters to the car, seeing them off.
When he’d come back inside Liv had moved to the couch, her feet in Marc’s lap. Maggie looked pissed off and Cassie was in a heated discussion with Polly on the deck.