Vow of Devotion (Vow Series Book 4) Page 14

  “It was one question,” I say. “It’s okay. I want to get to know your family.”

  A mixture of wonder and awe morphs Hudson’s face. He bends down, curving his body around the chair, and drops a kiss on my lips. I pull back, wide-eyed. In front of his mother? After I just met her?

  She laughs. “He can kiss you.”

  I lick my lips. It’s going to be a while before blatant affection in front of his mom is anything but uncomfortable. I change the subject back to her original question. “Yes, I teach third grade. It’s my first year teaching. There’s been a hell of a learning curve.”

  While my progress this year ought to feel like a triumph, I feel like a failure because I haven’t been able to get in touch with Warner’s mom. She called me back one time, leaving a brief message, and I haven’t been able to get ahold of her again.

  Monica smiles. “I’ll bet. Does your family live in the area?”

  “Ma,” Hudson says again coming to my defense. While I appreciate his protectiveness, it’s not necessary in this case. I’m ready for this.

  I pat his hand, which is resting on my shoulder. “My mom lives in San Antonio. We haven’t spoken since I found out I was pregnant. I never knew my father.” Despite the calm words, my nose starts stinging. I tried so hard to make things different for her, but Lilly never knew her father either. But today, here she is, running through the yard with Hudson’s nieces and nephews.

  “Honey?” Monica whispers.

  “It’s okay,” I say. “I didn’t have this growing up.”

  I gesture toward the massive lawn with giant oak trees, one complete with a dilapidated tree house, a kidney-bean-shaped pool off to one side, and, most importantly, a backyard filled with family. “None of it,” I repeat. “I don’t know what you imagined Hudson bringing home, but if he and I continue, I’ll never take any of this for granted.”

  Monica continues to ask me questions as the afternoon wears on and I answer each one honestly, letting her know who I am. There’s just something about the woman that makes me want to open up.

  In return, I get to know Monica—and each of Hudson’s brothers. They’re all vastly different, but fascinating and fun. I love the way they rib each other. I dreamed of having siblings when I was growing up. I dreamed of having a family exactly like this one.

  One day, maybe I can give Lilly siblings. I’d love for her to know the type of bond I never got to experience. She’s having the time of her life playing with the other kids here. They’re running around playing tag. Her graceful laughter floats through the air, centering me even more.

  I could get used to days filled with Hudson and Lilly. And nights surrounded in Hudson’s warmth. And holidays, birthdays, and weekends surrounded by this family, their love for life and each other.

  Hudson stands across the yard, in a huddle with his brothers. As if feeling my gaze, he turns, smiles, and winks. My heart tumbles right over the edge.

  Chapter 22

  Hudson

  My family falls in love with Ava in a heartbeat. She fits right in with my family, and Lilly doesn’t have any trouble going off to the play with the other kids. Every member is enamored with both of my girls.

  My mom has been begging her sons to bring someone home for as long as I can remember. While I was in college, she asked about girlfriends just as often as my grades. Having a large, chaotic family with generations at her fingertips is her dream. She and Dad were high school sweethearts and when none of us followed in that tradition, I think it broke her heart a little bit.

  Before, I only thought about having fun. I didn’t think about what it would be like, bringing someone home. Now, not only did I get to bring Ava, I got to bring Lilly, too.

  Ava is falling in love with my family, just as they are falling in love with her. I watched the anxiety leave her as she and Mom bonded. She opened up about Wes, her mother, her upbringing, which was vastly different from mine. Someone in her situation could easily be closed off, but Ava is ready to welcome people into her fold.

  Camden hands me a beer and clinks his against mine. “She’s great.”

  I grin, standing up straighter. “I know.”

  “What’s she doing with you?” Hendrix asks. I’d punch him if he weren’t smiling.

  Truth is, I don’t know what she’s doing with me or how I convinced her to take a chance on me. “Never thought I’d want to beat any of you to the altar, but I know I’m going to win that one.”

  Camden shudders. “You can win that one. It’s not really losing if it’s a game you don’t care to win.”

  “It’s losing,” I insist, riling him up.

  “If I wanted to win, I’d win.”

  “Don’t test him,” Hendrix laughs. “He just might leave here and go pick up a bride in Vegas.”

  “Fuck that,” Camden says. “I want to stay single for another ten years at least. I like my life just the way it is.”

  “I’m happily losing this round, too,” Hendrix agrees. “Besides, I still don’t think you can convince Ava to marry you. This could still be one of your elaborate schemes. Is she a hired actress?”

  What is with people asking that question? “No,” I growl and shove his chest.

  Dane approaches, knocking his shoulder against mine. “If you fuck this up with Ava, I’m taking a shot with her. She’s fucking hot. Kid’s cute, too.”

  “Back the fuck off.” I take a step toward him. A smile splits his face in two and Camden and Hendrix bust a gut laughing. “What the fuck are you laughing at?”

  “Oh, how the mighty have fallen,” Hendrix chuckles.

  “I didn’t fall. I jumped.”

  “Can y’all stop acting like assholes?” Maddox asks, joining us with a beer in hand. His ever-present aviators are perched on his nose and his mouth is set in a hard line. The mirrored shades are pointed at me.

  “I need to talk to you,” I say to Maddox, stepping away from my other brothers.

  “If this is about the company—” Camden starts.

  “Leave it,” I grit out through my teeth, walking farther away from them as Maddox follows me to a corner of the yard.

  “They know about the blow, right?”

  “Yeah,” I confirm. The beer sours in my gut as I think back to that conversation with Dad. I called him and then each brother, explaining what had happened in detail. Who found what, etc. They weren’t great conversations. Each phone call was a stab to the gut.

  “Any updates?” My question is more of a demand. I’ve been in the dark too long and I need some fucking answers.

  “Every crew member was interviewed,” says Maddox. “We have nothing. It’s possible it’s still a member of one of the subcontracting crews or some guy one of them knows, but there’s no evidence pointing to anything and everyone has an alibi for the night it happened.”

  “So it’s a dead end?” My fingers tap a beat against the bottle in my hand as I think about each person I work with. Could any of them be capable of something like this? Would any of them hurt my family this way? “What about David? He acted strange that day.”

  Maddox grunts. His tell for when he wants to laugh but is holding back. “He confessed as soon as I sat across the interview table. He’s stealing from you. I told him that on behalf of Wells Builders, he was fired. He asked if charges would be filed, I assured him there wouldn’t be. The company can eat the cost. It’d be worse going into a legal battle for drywall, paint, and bricks.”

  “Fuck,” Camden says, walking up to join us. “That’s not your decision, Maddox. You walked away from the company.”

  Just what this pile of crap needs—more opinions.

  The mirrored shades swing Camden’s way. Maddox’s jaw hardens. “I’m still part of this family, fucker. I fired someone who has been stealing. You good with me firing him, Hudson?”

  “Yep, saves me the trouble,” I say. “Camden, I can handle this situation. Let me talk to Maddox.”

  “I need to know exactly how much went
missing,” Camden says before walking away. Maddox shakes his head.

  “There has to be more than just a dead end,” I insist.

  “That’s all I got.”

  “What about the detective working the case?”

  If Maddox weren’t my brother I wouldn’t notice the tiny tightening of his lips. “Won’t give me shit.”

  Something dark steels over me. Maddox and his coworkers usually work closely together, but it seems they’re locking him tight out of this one. “Can’t you look in the system or something, read their reports?”

  Maddox pinches the bridge of his nose. “Not the way it works, little brother.”

  “Thanks anyway,” I say, clapping him on the shoulder. The conversation only made the ulcer forming in my gut worse, but I know when to stop with Maddox. If he had any answers, he’d share them. “I think Ava and I are going to head out after I talk to Dad.”

  “I was looking for you, too,” Dad says from behind me, surprising me. Maddox takes off without a word. The unknowns in this case are affecting him just as much as me, only in a different way.

  “Did Maddox have any news for you?” Dad asks.

  “No.” I fist the neck of the beer bottle tighter.

  “Hudson.” Dad removes his cowboy hat, running a hair through his hair before replacing it. “I’ve moved some things in my schedule. I can take over Bluebonnet Trails.”

  “What?” My word barely makes it out of my strangled throat. Take my project from me? My first solo project? “Absolutely not. I’m handling this.”

  Bile burns my gut and rushes up my throat. I hold it back as he speaks. “This is more than normal job site pressure. What’s next? Heroine? We need to be smart and vigilant.”

  “I’m being vigilant,” I growl. Instant guilt fills me. I hardly ever speak to Dad that way, but the betrayal and rejection are flaying me wide. “Nothing else will happen. You’re not taking this from me.”

  Before Dad can respond, I walk away from him and scan the yard for Ava. She’s sitting with Mom, an empty glass of wine dangling from her hand. I walk up behind her, brushing the hair away from her neck, and run my knuckles down the column of her throat, my hand landing on her shoulder.

  “Ready to go?”

  “Sure,” she replies.

  We stand and say our goodbyes to my family and then pile into the car together. Lilly falls asleep on the drive to my house.

  “Are we going to your house?”

  “Yeah,” I say, grinning. “I have a little surprise for Lilly.”

  “What is it?” She asks as she reaches over and rests her palm on my thigh.

  “You’ll just have to see.” I lace my fingers through hers and bring her hand to my mouth for a kiss before dropping it back on my leg. I never knew something so simple could feel so good.

  I drive the truck into the dark garage. Ava and I quietly get out, careful not to wake Lilly quite yet. I take her from her booster seat and carry her inside. She’s draped against me like a rag doll.

  I asked Liam’s mom to help get me new furniture, and I made a special request for one room. Ava follows me up the stairs to the room Brae used to sleep in. It’s close to the master in case she ever needs us, but far enough away that Ava wouldn’t have to silence all her sounds during our nighttime fun.

  I stop next to the closed door and wait for Ava. When she’s at my side, I push the door open. A double bed sits against the center of the long wall across from us. A mossy green bedspread hangs over the sides, draping close to the floor. Sitting at the foot of the bed is a tall stuffed giraffe with a saddle on it. She may not be able to ride a real giraffe like she wants, but she can pretend on this guy.

  I’ll make every damn thing that girls wants possible.

  A marula tree, a tree native to Africa, is painted in the center of the far wall, with giraffes, elephants, and zebras grazing in the grass around it. One of these days, I’ll take my girls to see giraffes in the wild.

  Ava’s breath hitches and her palm rests against her stomach as she takes in the room.

  “You did this for Lilly?” she asks with tears swimming in her eyes.

  My arms wrap around her from behind, the guilt, tension, and fear threatening to consume me subsiding with the joy on Ava’s face. My lips graze the shell of her ear. “I did this for all three of us.”

  Chapter 23

  Ava

  Outside of Mrs. Pritchett’s office door, I’m bouncing from toe to toe waiting for her to acknowledge my knock.

  “Come in.”

  I burst through the door in a rush. My hands are shaking with excitement, nerves, and a bit of pride. Finally, after weeks of missed calls, I actually got Warner’s mom on the phone.

  Words tumble out of my mouth. “Warner’s mom can come in for a meeting today after school. She said it’s her only available time.”

  Mrs. Pritchett picks up the plastic, black-framed reading glasses from her desk, pushing them up the bridge of her wide nose. Her hand jiggles her mouse, waking up her computer.

  The silence is killing me. It’s my lunch right now. I haven’t eaten yet, but first I needed to make sure Mrs. Pritchett can join the conversation with Melissa, Warner’s mom. After this, I need to call Hudson to see if he can pick up Lilly and watch her after school. If there’s any time to spare, I’ll use it to shovel some food into my mouth.

  Learning to eat quickly and during any spare moment should’ve been a degree requirement in college.

  “This afternoon works for me. We’ll meet in here for more privacy.”

  “Great. I’ll see you this afternoon. I told her to check in at the front desk, so I’ll alert Mary Anne to escort her here.”

  “Thank you, Ms. Kincaid.”

  Mrs. Pritchett’s lips turn up at the ends. I blink. Am I imagining things? It’s not quite a smile, but it’s not the admonishing frown I’ve grown used to either.

  The long, stacked gold necklaces I’m wearing bounce and jingle as I rush down the hallway to my room. I flop into my chair so hard it rolls back and hits the wall behind it, but I don’t waste a second before grabbing my cell phone from my desk drawer.

  Hudson answers on the second ring.

  “Bluebonnet.” His deep baritone voice is filled with delight and I can hear his smile.

  “Guess what?”

  “You’re not wearing any panties?”

  I laugh and lower my voice to whisper into the phone. “Hudson. I teach third graders. I can’t teach if I’m not wearing any underwear.”

  “Damn. That would be a good phone call. What’s up, baby?”

  “I finally spoke with Warner’s mom. She can meet with me after school. Is there any way you can pick up Lilly today?”

  “Of course,” he answers automatically. “That’s great. I’m proud of you for making this meeting happen. Hopefully it helps Warner.”

  Gratitude surges through me and my heart flutters. “Are you sure? Is everything okay at Bluebonnet Trails today?”

  “So far, so good,” he says. “Camden has backed off now that the thefts have stopped. Dad showed this morning, and since he was here, we laid some tile together. I think it’s his way of apologizing.”

  “That’s great, honey.”

  “Yeah, it is. I’d be happy to pick up my girl from school today. I’ll bring her back to my place and you can meet us there after your meeting.”

  I melt into a pile of goo when he calls Lilly his. None of the deadbeats my mother brought around ever tried to get to know me. Hudson is so far removed from what I feared.

  One day, maybe Lilly really will be his.

  “I want to kiss you right now,” I confess.

  Hudson groans. “You have no idea the things I would do right now to feel your lips against mine.”

  Before either one of us can get carried away, I reroute our conversation. “I have about six minutes to eat my lunch. I better go. Thank you for picking her up.”

  “Go eat. Anytime, babe. All you have to do is ask and I�
�ll do anything for you.”

  Later that afternoon, I walk Lilly outside, towing the booster seat from my car to Hudson’s truck and thanking him with a quick peck to the lips.

  “When do you think you’ll be home?” he asks.

  Home. A simple word with a profound meaning. Hudson’s home isn’t my home or Lilly’s. We’ve been bouncing back and forth every couple of nights. Spending some nights with him at his place, some nights at mine, and some by ourselves.

  The only thing that feels like home is when the three of us are together.

  “I’ll be there around five, hopefully.”

  “Sounds good.” Hudson turns in his seat, looking at Lilly strapped into her booster seat. “Pizza for dinner?”

  Lilly chants, “Pizza! Pizza! Pizza!” while I mock glare at Hudson. He winks.

  “Democracy, remember? Two against one.”

  “Why am I always on the losing side?”

  “At least you get our cute faces as a consolation prize,” Hudson says. I giggle, leaning in for another kiss.

  I dash back to my room to gather all the materials I prepared for the meeting and then to Mrs. Pritchett’s office. Mary Anne is escorting a tall and thin woman through the door just as I reach her office.

  Melissa Forde tugs at the threadbare sleeves of her top and purses her lips. Her faux leather heels sport a tear on the right toe.

  “Mrs. Forde,” I greet, sticking out my hand for her to shake. Her bony hand wraps around mine, surprising me with icy skin. She smiles tightly and tucks a strand of stringy, blond hair behind her ear. She doesn’t look well. The dark circles under her eyes are so pronounced it looks like she hasn’t slept in months.

  Exhaustion steels through me just from looking at her.

  “I’m Ms. Kincaid, Warner’s teacher.”

  Mrs. Pritchett rounds her desk, introducing herself as well and motioning for us to sit down in the maroon visitor chairs. I open the folder on my lap, passing a printed piece of paper to both women. I’ve included Warner’s grades and a list of assignments where I remember him acting out.