Page 32 of Burning Love (Looking For Love #7)

HERE WE ARE

“ D ad, Lauren, this is Talia Carlisle. Talia, my father, Dean, and stepmother, Lauren.”

Talia moved forward to shake his parents’ hands.

In his mind, Lauren was his mother now. Jace never called her that and wouldn’t have, meeting her for the first time at seventeen, but she’d always been in his corner like his father.

Sometimes giving him tough love as an adult, but in a hands-off respectful way.

“It’s so nice to meet you all. Jace has told me a lot about you. I find the whole story incredibly moving.”

His father smiled like he knew he would. “Things happen in life. It’s more important to make the best of it and fix any wrongs.”

She turned to look at him and winked.

He found himself returning her grin.

Jace didn’t know where they were going to end up, but he knew where he wanted to be.

It all started with the woman carrying his baby.

Lauren had been through the roof excited when he’d asked if he could bring Talia to dinner just four days after the doctor’s appointment.

He and Talia hadn’t talked much. She pushed off anything about the future and them. Not where she was going to be living, let alone his child.

They’d only talked about her health, how she felt, and taking care of herself.

Like no more rides on the motorcycle, that he’d put his foot down on.

He’d been surprised she’d thrown such a fit over it, but he wasn’t risking anything.

What stunned him more was her saying if she couldn’t put her life at risk on it, neither could he.

He wanted to argue it but decided it was best to let that go and honor it for now.

If he was frustrated they didn’t get any further in their conversations, he had to remind himself it was only four days since everything was verified.

“Is she here?”

He turned to see Janey come charging into the room.

“Hi,” Talia said. “You must be Janey.”

“You probably don’t remember me, but we played soccer against each other. You were really good.”

Talia smiled. “Thank you. I was actually recruited to a few colleges, but didn’t want to play there.”

“We remember when your brother showed up. It was the big talk.”

Jace rolled his eyes. “Which brother is that?” she asked. “I’ve got six of them.”

“Seven if you count your new brother-in-law. What is Jamie Wilde like?”

“Janey,” Lauren said. “We talked about this. Talia is just a person like you and I.”

“It’s fine,” Talia said. “I get this a lot. Jamie is great. Not like an intimidating celebrity, but I don’t spend a ton of time around him. They live in New Jersey and New York splitting their time.”

Jace tried not to think about the fact that not only was Talia’s brother a billionaire but her sister had married an ex-quarterback turned TV commentator celebrity. The whole family had a lot of eyes on them and here he was the orphan with a civil service job and another part-time construction one.

What could he have been thinking dating her?

It should have been just for fun, but somewhere along the lines it turned into more.

Way before he found out she had a bun in her oven.

He turned when the front door opened and Kelsey came in with Rob, then his nephews following.

“Hi, Talia,” Kelsey said. “It’s nice to see you again.”

“You too,” she said.

They were all in the front family room that rarely got used. It was as if Lauren and his father bombarded them before they could get in the door in their excitement.

“Uncle Jace!” Both of his nephews charged him to give him high-fives.

“Hey, guys. William, Jonathan, this is Talia.”

“Aren’t you two the cutest things possible? You look a little like your Uncle Jace.”

He always thought so too, but Kelsey got annoyed when it was brought up.

He wanted to see if she would this time but didn’t.

“Hopefully they are handier than their father,” Kelsey said.

“Hey,” Rob said. “I helped Jace get the swingset built.”

“Rob is good at carrying supplies and handing them over,” he said, slapping his brother-in-law on the back.

“That’s right. But I helped.”

“Why don’t we go in the back and relax?” Lauren said. “I’ve got snacks. Jace, can you get a drink for Talia? We are thrilled you could come.”

He put his hand on her lower back and walked with her to the back of the house.

He noticed his father grinning at that move.

The last thing he wanted to do was guard everything he did today.

“Is there anything I can help with?” Talia asked. “Jace told me I didn’t have to bring anything and I felt bad. I wanted to bake cookies.”

“We don’t need the fire department at your house again,” Jace said.

She gave him a nudge with her hand. “I’m sure you all heard that story and how we met?”

“Actually, no,” Janey said. “Jace doesn’t give us much. We just know you donated to the firehouse. We saw the picture in the paper. I thought it was from that.”

“No,” she said. “I wish it was a better story, but instead it’s more embarrassing.

I’d had a long travel day and got home. My mother was working.

I was dying for chocolate chip cookies. I’ve got an apartment with an oven in the basement of our house, but the upstairs has double ovens and I could do a whole batch at once there.

I turned the ovens on to preheat, then went downstairs to shower, and change. ”

“She likes long showers.”

“Oh boy,” Lauren said. “This doesn’t sound good.”

“I had the music up loud and when I got out of the shower I realized the smoke alarms were going off. I wrapped a towel around me and ran up the stairs into a kitchen full of firemen opening windows.”

Everyone was laughing in the room, including Talia.

“That’s embarrassing,” Lauren said.

“My mother had put a package of chicken in the oven to thaw and like an idiot, I didn’t check before I turned the oven on.”

“Thankfully, it didn’t catch on fire,” he said. “But it smoked the house out.”

“Jace politely kicked everyone out of the room to open the windows while I was stewing over my embarrassing idiotic move.”

“He gave you shit over it, didn’t he?” Janey asked.

She held her fingers up in a pinch. “Not enough for me to not want to know more about him.”

“Did you ask her on a date right then?” Kelsey asked. “In her towel?”

“No,” he said, his face scrunching up. “I was working.”

“My mother brought cookies to the firehouse as a thank you the next time Jace was working.” She went on to tell the rest of the story. “So there you go. And here we are.”

“We are so happy that Jace found someone. I wondered if he’d ever have a girlfriend,” Kelsey said.

He rolled his eyes.

Talk about embarrassing and idiotic statements.

“Jace, your father needs your help to move something in the barn. I know he won’t ask because he always thinks he can do it on his own.”

He stood up. “Not a problem. I’ll be right back.”

“I’ll be fine. It will give your sisters and stepmother a chance for some girl talk with me. Go.” Talia waved her hand at him, laughing.

She could handle herself. He wasn’t too worried.

“Was that a ploy?” he asked his father when they were in the barn.

“Yes and no,” his father said. “The girls do want to talk to Talia, but I need help moving this saw. I’ve got another being delivered on Monday morning.”

“That’s good. Your old one you gave me years ago still works great. I’ll start getting to work on the hall bath soon.”

He and his father went to each end of the saw table and lifted, then shifted it to where it had to go.

“I thought you were taking a break from things now.”

“Yeah, well, things have changed.”

“What’s going on?” his father asked.

Jace trusted this man more than he did himself. “Talia is pregnant.”

“What?” His father turned to him. “Seriously?”

“Yeah. Not planned. But I guess you know a thing or two about that.”

“I do. What are your plans? How far along is she? Is that why you brought her over?”

He put his hands up. “Slow down. That’s what she’s telling me at least.”

His father lifted his eyebrow over that. “And you’re not happy?”

“I don’t know what I am, but I’m happy about the baby. The shock of it took me back.”

“You like kids. You’ve always been great with Kelsey’s boys,” his father said.

“I have. I never thought one way or another if I’d have one.”

“Because you never saw yourself settling down,” Dean said. “I told you it’s time to move past what happened to you.”

“I’ve been trying.”

“Do you love Talia? Do you even know what that is for a woman? I’m not trying to be an ass, but you’ve never dated anyone long or seriously that I know of.”

“I haven’t. I think I love her. What I feel for her is much greater than I thought I could. Now it’s as if history is repeating itself except the roles are reversed. She’s got the money and she’s carrying the kid. There isn’t much I can do if she runs.”

Jace had struggled for weeks that she’d kept the news of her pregnancy hidden from him for a few days.

His father’s shoulders dropped. “Don’t think like that.

Times are much different now. The father gets just as many rights.

We might not have Carlisle money, but we’ve got plenty, and you know I’ll fight tooth and nail with you to make sure you get a fair deal if you two don’t work out.

She seems pretty smitten with you though. ”

“I guess that’s a good word. It’s only been two months. She’s not ready to talk about the future and I don’t want to push it and then push her away.”

Because that fear of her taking their child was stronger than the fear he had when he thought he’d be alone after his mother died.

“You can’t live your life in this bubble.”

“I know,” he said. “I can’t seem to pop it to move out either. Shit, we are still getting to know each other. We are thirteen years apart in age. I work a lot, she travels some with her job.”

“It will work out,” his father said. “She’s put up with you this long so she’s stronger than you give her credit for. You said her mother raised eight kids alone, even when Talia’s father was alive. She comes from sturdy stock.”

“She does. Her parents knew each other less than two months before they married. Talia said her mother admitted to most likely being pregnant before they married, but she didn’t know for sure. The timing was close.”

It made him wonder how fertile the women were in the Carlisle family.

Or was it just everything aligned perfectly for this to happen? He’d never had a scare in his life of a pregnancy. He was always protected.

“There you go. You’re thinking of your mother and me, but think of Talia’s parents. The same situation, but different outcomes. Make your own. Look past the past. You aren’t me, and Talia isn’t her mother.”

“I know. Thanks. You’ve always been there for me.”

His father gave him a hug. He wanted to think it was the one he denied the guy the first time they met.

“And I always will be.”