They stood in tense silence for several minutes. Finally, Sage said, “So, I should probably go find Bella.”
“Wait,” Eric said. He gave her a brief kiss so tender her toes curled. “I needed that.”
Me too.
He cocked his head to one side. “Since it’s a family gathering, would you like to invite yours?”
“That’s not necessary.” One family at a time.
Am I asking him for more than I’d be willing to do? “I don’t think they would come.”
A touch of wry humor entered his eyes. “They would if I told my grandmother we wanted them there.”
Sage choked on a laugh. “That would get my mother there, anyway, but not for the right reasons.”
“Think about it,” Eric said, then offered her his hand. She accepted it. His touch filled her with warmth and desire, but also more—so much more. They walked out of the lair and into the sunshine together. Sage knew they still had a long way to go, but he wanted to work things out, and so did she.
She could worry and dissect every step they took together, or she could trust that things worked out the way they were meant to. “Eric?”
“Yes?” He bent to hear her better.
“That is one kick-ass secret lair.”
He chuckled and nodded. “I hoped you’d like it.”
A short time later, Eric stood beside the barn watching Sage drive off with Bella. His fantasy of her tossing her arms around his neck and begging him to carry her off to his bed because she completely forgave him hadn’t quite been realized, but he didn’t hate how it had turned out.
She was willing to try again, and that was the important part. Love was still a word he was trying to wrap his head around, but her happiness mattered more to him than any reservations he had about her request.
She could have asked him to walk over hot coals and he would have done it. She hadn’t, of course, because it wasn’t in her nature to cause pain to anyone else. She believed in light and hope and that there was good in everyone. It was his fault that her faith in him had been shaken, so it was up to him to do what he could to repair it.
And if that meant gathering the Westerlys—so be it.
From beside him, Reggie said, “It looks like things went well.”
“Yes and no. She asked for more than an explanation and an apology.”
Reggie pocketed his hands in the front of his jeans. “More what? Deodorant?”
Eric shot a glare at his friend. “Fuck you.”
He snapped his fingers. “She’s one of those women who wants to have twelve kids.”
“We didn’t discuss that, but no, I don’t think so.”
He brought a hand up to his heart as if experiencing real pain. “She wants you to get rid of the lair.”
Eric rolled his eyes skyward. “No. She loved it. If things work out, hell, I bet she wants one of her own.”
Reggie rubbed his chin. “Interesting.”
“None of what she saw in there seemed to concern her.”
“That’s a hurdle not every woman would clear.”
“Yeah. And I told her about rehab. That didn’t send her running, either.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
“She wants to meet my family. She asked me to invite her to a dinner with all of them in attendance—at least as many as will come.”
Reggie whistled. “Holy shit.”
“Even Delinda. The dinner is Sage’s one condition for giving us another chance.”
“I’m gaining a whole new respect for your little plant psychologist. Damn. So, are you going to do it?”
“If I want to be with her, I have to.”
Reggie frowned. “It sounds too easy. No woman says she wants to meet your family because she gives a shit about them.”
“She said it’s a test.”
“Oh, that’s bad. She threw down the gauntlet. All in or all out—based on one dinner. Don’t take it the wrong way, Eric, but we’re pulling Alice in on this one. I’ve met your family. They are going to need some serious prepping.”
Reggie called Alice and his children over. “Okay, listen up, everyone. Eric needs our help.”
Eric looked at the children and said, “Reggie, maybe we should talk about this another time.”
Reggie shrugged. “If you want this to work out, we all need to be on the same page.” Then he frowned. “Unless you weren’t going to include us in that dinner party . . .”
Alice smoothly inserted herself into the conversation. “What dinner are you referring to?”
“We’re going to a party!” Liana asked. “Will you have an ice sculpture? Can it be of a penguin? I love penguins.”
Eric rubbed a hand over his face. Not a single Westerly had been invited yet, and already he’d lost control of the dinner. He looked down at smiling Liana and up at Reggie, who was still waiting for his answer. They were his family by choice. If Sage agreed to be part of his life, they would be part of hers as well. He winked at Axton. “One penguin ice sculpture—check. Do you have a special request?”
Axton considered his question seriously. “Could I install two secret doors? I could disappear and reappear as if by magic.”
Eric threw back his head and laughed, then ruffled the boy’s hair. “You know what? That sounds like exactly what this dinner will need. Make it so.” He met Reggie’s eyes over his son’s head. “I hate when you’re right.”
Reggie hugged Alice to his side. “Then you must hate me all the time, right, Alice?”
Alice elbowed him for the smugness. “Seriously, could one of you please tell me what’s going on?”
The kids lost interest halfway through Eric’s explanation and ran off to play. “So, that’s it. One dinner and we’re back on track.”
Looking less sure than Reggie had, Alice chewed her bottom lip. “Are you sure you want us there? The kids—”
Eric looked back and forth between his two best friends and said, “Might be the only saving grace to the evening. If everything goes south, at least we’ll have an ice sculpture and two new hidden passages.”
“You should probably invite King Tadeas. Your grandmother is on her best behavior around him,” Alice added.
“Bam,” Reggie said. “And that’s why I married her. My woman is brilliant.”
Eric nodded. “It is an undeniable fact that she’s your better half.”
One of the children yelled, and Alice excused herself to confirm that they were both still alive.
“What’s the likelihood that this will turn out well?” Eric asked seriously as he watched Alice wagging a finger at the children, who paused, then took off again.
“I’d say 50 percent.” One of the children yelled for Alice again, and Reggie cleared his throat. “Maybe 40.”
Chapter Sixteen
During the ride back to her apartment, Sage was reminded why she treasured Bella’s friendship. It had been a wild day full of emotional ups and downs. Bella had probably formed a strong opinion of Eric and his friends, but instead of forcing them upon Sage, she asked, “How did your talk go?”
Sage shared everything she’d learned. Despite the number of times she’d told Bella that they had different ways of seeing things, she valued Bella’s opinion. She knew Bella felt the same. Without each other they might have become the extreme versions of themselves. It was why Bella shared her jaded views of the cases she worked on; Sage could sway her to a more optimistic place. Sharing gave them both the opportunity to pull each other back from the brink. “Out of everything, what bothered me the most was the way he spoke of his grandmother—how he just wrote her off.”
Bella shot her a quick glance. “Because your family did that to you?”
Ouch. “Yes. I like him, Bella. I mean, when I’m with him, I feel like we were meant to be, but I don’t want to set myself up for being left behind again. Maybe it’s not realistic, but I always imagined marrying a man with a big family that I would become a part of.”
“
Oh, hon. No man, not even a great one, should be your answer to fixing what you hate about your life. You were dealt a crappy hand when it came to parents. He might have been, too. Would you want to be held accountable for yours?”
“I thought you didn’t like Eric.”
“I didn’t, but he’s different than I thought. His friends are loyal to him. His staff adores him. Those kids idolize him. You can’t fake that. I’m not saying he doesn’t have issues, but I’m glad I went with you today, because now I see what you like about him—he has heart.”
“Yes,” Sage said. “Well, now I’m afraid to tell you what I asked him to do.”
“Spill it, Sage.”
“I told him that the only way I’d consider giving us a second chance is if he gathered his family, even the ones in the States, for a dinner and invited me to it. I need to see him with them. Do you think that’s an unfair request?”
Bella took a minute or so before answering. “I think it’s genius, very intuitive. Regardless of how the dinner goes, the simple fact that he would gather his family because you asked him to will say volumes about how he feels about you. If he doesn’t want to be bothered enough to do it . . . then that will say something as well.”
Sage brought steepled fingers to her mouth. “He’ll do it.”
“That you believe he will tells me how you feel about him. I hope this works out for you, Sage. I really hope it does.”
Turning somewhat in the car seat to face Bella, Sage asked, “How would you feel about attending that dinner with me?” Before Bella had a chance to answer, Sage added, “You’d have to be on your best behavior.”
Bella smiled. “Aren’t I always?”
“You know what I mean.”
“I’ll be good, I promise. I’ll keep all of my opinions to myself—as long as you don’t seat me next to his grandmother.”
They laughed over that. A few minutes later Bella received a message from her neighbor. She played it aloud via her car’s Bluetooth. “Hello, Miss Mars, I just received your invitation to the garden party, and I would love to attend, especially since it’s right next door. I look forward to getting to know you better as well.”
Sage’s mouth dropped open. “Aha! Look who is telling fibs now.”
“What was I supposed to say? ‘Hello, my friend found a stranger she thinks would be perfect for you—can we bring him over’?” Bella rolled her eyes. “But I do want you to appreciate that I am opening my home to this insanity for you, which doesn’t mean I won’t have cameras set up in each room.”
Sage chuckled. “Come on, you like the idea of playing matchmaker.”
A telling smile spread across Bella’s face. “Okay, she seems like a very nice woman. If this guy doesn’t rob her blind or kill her in her sleep, it’ll be heartwarming to know I helped bring them together.”
Sage burst out laughing. “You’re setting the bar pretty low. Imagine that as a slogan for a dating site? ‘Find love through us—almost none of our couples rob and murder each other.’”
Bella shook her head and laughed along. “You make me sound horrible.”
Sage held up her fingers and pinched an inch of air. “Perhaps just a teensy-weensy bit pessimistic. Hey, do you have the rest of the day off?”
“At least a couple more hours, why?”
“I could ask John Kirby if we can meet him for an early dinner. You’ll be far less likely to tackle him when he reaches for any silverware if you get to know him first. He’s an incredibly sweet man.”
“You know, that actually sounds like a nice way to round off our day. I have a tough case to review tonight. Bring on Dog Man.”
Sage sent John a text. He replied that he would love to dine with them. Yes, Bella would breathe easier if she met him before allowing him into her home, but Sage was also glad to have something else to occupy her thoughts.
Waiting for Eric to make the next move in their relationship would not be easy. She wanted to call and ask him if he was planning that dinner. And if he was—when?
Would he contact her while he decided?
Would he wait until he had everything organized?
She clasped her hands on her lap and tried to look as if her heart wasn’t doing somersaults in her chest. There was a chance Bella mentioned—he might decide that what they had was not worth dealing with his family.
Or everything he’d told her could be either an outright fabrication or a creative exaggeration.
As a means of survival, she’d trained herself to reject negative possibilities. Because I need to believe that my parents love me? Have I given them that much control over who I am?
“They’re not coming back for you, Sage,” Bella had told her.
No, they’re not.
And she’s right—expecting a man to come with the perfect family to replace them isn’t fair.
She spent the next few miles asking herself some tough questions. By the end, there was one unshakable belief still standing: she needed to see Eric with his family—not to confirm who they were, but to confirm who he was.
She wished she could believe in him—take that leap of faith. Not being able to forced her to confront her own fears and flaws.
“Bella, I have to face that Eric might never call me again.”
“That’s a possibility.”
“And even if he does, none of this may work out.”
Bella shot her a concerned look. She turned her attention back to the road and frowned. “The average number of people killed or seriously injured in car accidents each year in London is about two thousand. There are over sixty pedestrian fatalities from vehicles, and thirty more will die by being hit by some random falling or thrown object. When you start to think about that, it’s scary to even leave your home. But ten or so people die each year in their own beds from some mysterious suffocation. Even before you get out of bed, there’s a chance you’ll start your day as a statistic.”
“Is this supposed to make me feel better?” Sage joked.
“What I’m trying to say is that one of the things I admire about you is that you don’t think like that. The sun shines on your face and you don’t fixate on the cancer or wrinkles it’s giving you. The world needs people like you.”
“The oblivious?”
“The joyful. When I look at things through your eyes, I remember that not everything is a battle. You remind me to look for the good in people, to give second chances, and to put aside what I’m afraid of long enough to appreciate the wonder of the moment. Don’t let any man change you. I don’t know if Eric will call you or not, but I hate to see you think he won’t. Have faith in him—not because he deserves it, but because you’ll be happier if you do.”
Sage smiled. She’d been wrong to think Eric was the first one to fully see and accept her. Bella would probably never be able to stop warning Sage to look both ways each time they stepped off a curb, but hearing the acceptance in her friend’s voice brought tears to Sage’s eyes. “Do you know how much I love you?” she asked.
“Right back at you. Should I tell you that I had a background check done on your John Kirby? He’s clean. Not so much as an outstanding parking ticket.”
“Whew,” Sage said with a laugh. “And yet you are still worried about having him at your home?”
“Do you know how many felons are first-time offenders?” Bella asked in a serious tone, then winked.
Sage’s mood lifted. She’d been feeling bad that she didn’t have family members she wanted to introduce Eric to, but he’d already met the one who really mattered.
The next day, Eric was driving across town wondering if he’d lost his mind. He could have simply called every member of his family and invited them to the dinner, but he’d kept asking himself why Sage had asked to meet them in the first place. What was she hoping to see? What would have someone like her running for the door?
He thought about what she’d told him about her own family. It hadn’t sounded like a healthy situation. They’d sent her to
boarding school, used her as a pawn to hurt each other, and still, for whatever reason, thought she was a disappointment. Her parents sounded an awful lot like someone he knew. Before he invited anyone to anything, he was damn well going to have a boundary-clarifying conversation with Delinda.
From Bella, Eric knew that although his grandmother had threatened Sage, she had also apologized to her. Still, she wouldn’t have made the list had Sage not insisted, but he’d promised to invite her and he would. Delinda didn’t have to accept, and he would also make that point clear.
He’d considered calling his grandmother, but decided to drop by her London home instead. This was a conversation best done face-to-face.
Her butler opened the door before Eric knocked. “Mr. Westerly, your grandmother will be pleased by this surprise.”
“I appreciate your optimism, Michael. I wish I were as sure of the outcome.”
After closing the door behind Eric, Michael said, “She had a difficult time last night. The doctor was here this morning. Nothing serious, but he suggested she rest today.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Her blood pressure was higher than normal. She is scheduled for some tests, but the doctor thought it might be the stress she has been under.”
“The stress?” Eric asked. He was trying to absorb the idea of Delinda being anything less than an immortal force of nature.
Michael cleared his throat. “If I may be frank—she has not been herself since Rachelle was kidnapped. She believes she failed to protect her. You’re aware of the circumstances around your grandfather’s death?”
Eric nodded.
Michael continued, “Mrs. Westerly believes she failed him as well. She was trying to do better by you.”
Eric folded his arms over his chest. “Her methods leave a lot to be desired.”
“You’ve never acted poorly out of fear?” Michael asked after a pause. “I did not realize you were the perfect Westerly.”
It would have been an uncomfortable conversation to have with anyone, but with a member of his grandmother’s house staff? “I don’t like your tone.”
Michael stepped closer until he was nose to nose with Eric. “I don’t give a fig what you do or don’t like. Do you know how many times your grandmother went to your home and begged to see you? Do you feel any remorse or take any responsibility for your relationship with her? Your grandmother is eighty-two years old. If you have come here with any intention other than a friendly visit, I will personally throw you out on your ass.”