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CHAPTER TWENTY

The next morning, Harper stops by as Garret and I are having breakfast.

“Only three more days!” she squeals, joining us at the kitchen table.

“You want coffee?” Garret asks her. “Or something to eat?”

“No, I’m good. Sean and I already ate.”

“How’d it go with your parents last night?” As soon as I ask it, Garret’s eyes dart across the table, giving me a look to butt out.

Harper tries to maintain her smile but I can tell it’s a struggle. “It was fine. The restaurant was great. It was a little Greek restaurant that’s right on the water. They had people playing music and doing Greek dances. And the food was really good. You guys should try it. It’s only like a half hour up the coast.”

“So what’s Sean doing today?”

She smiles. “Making your wedding cakes. Not the real ones. He’s making some practice ones to make sure they come out right. Then he’s getting stuff prepped for Saturday. He wants to get everything set up now so he doesn’t have to worry about it. That’s why my mom and I are going shopping. We need to stay out of his way. You sure you don’t want to go shopping with us? Or you could meet us for lunch later.”

“I can’t. Lilly’s coming over.”

“Oh, yeah. I keep forgetting that.”

“What time is your dad done with his um, meeting or whatever he’s doing?”

Garret nudges my foot under the table and gives me that look again.

“My mom said he’s not having dinner with us, so I guess that means he’s having dinner with whoever he’s meeting with. I don’t ask him about work stuff. It kind of stresses him out to talk about it.” She checks her phone. “My mom just texted. She’s on her way over. I’ll see you guys later.”

She gets up and hurries out the door.

“Jade.” Garret’s staring at me.

“What? I was just making conversation.” I take his plate and mine to the sink.

He meets me over there. “Stop thinking about that meeting today. It doesn’t have anything to do with me. Or us.”

“You don’t know that,” I say, putting the plates in the dishwasher.

“Hey.” He turns me toward him, his hands on my upper arms. “I do know it. So get it out of your head right now. We’re going to have a great day. The weather’s perfect. Lilly and Grace are coming over. And of course I’ll be here, so that alone is enough to make it a great day.” Cue the cocky grin.

I laugh. “Okay. I won’t think about it anymore.” I hug him. “I love you.”

He kisses me. “I love you, too.”

I go around him to the laundry room. “Grace will be here soon. I’m gonna get the beach towels. What do kids play with at the beach? We don’t have any toys or anything for Lilly.”

“She just needs something to scoop sand with.” Garret goes through the kitchen drawers and takes out a measuring cup, a mixing spoon, a plastic bowl, and some tall plastic glasses. “There. That’s all she needs.”

I look at him, confused. “Is she making a cake?”

“Sand castle. Or princess castle as she likes to call it. She’ll spend all day doing that. And I’ll take her out in the water. She won’t be bored.”

A half hour later, Grace and Lilly arrive and we find a spot on the beach and set out some chairs. For the rest of the morning, Garret and I help Lilly build a giant sand castle while Grace reads her gardening magazines. She seems happy and content spending time with us. She won’t admit it, but I know she’s lonely without Arlin around. She has some friends she does things with, but she mostly spends her time alone in her house.

Around 1, we go inside for lunch. Then we return to our spot on the beach and Garret takes Lilly out into the ocean to play in the water. They bob up and down with the waves. She’s laughing and smiling. She’s so happy being out there with Garret.

“He’s good with her,” Grace says, gazing out at them.

“Yeah, he is.” I watch Garret bring Lilly to the shore, setting her on the sand. He grabs a beach ball and tosses it to her.

Grace sets her magazine down. “You think you’ll wait a while to have children?”

“I’m not sure if we’re having them.”

“Oh, I guess I just assumed. . .” Her voice trails off.

“Yeah, everyone assumes that. I’m just not sure that’s what I want.”

She pats my arm. “That’s okay, honey. You don’t have to have them if it’s not right for you. Don’t feel you have to do something just because everyone else does. It’s your decision. And Garret’s.”

I turn to her. “He wants kids. Three kids.”

She looks concerned. “But he knows how you feel? Because that’s something he should know before you get married.”

“He knows. I told him a long time ago and I’ve told him several times since then. He’s okay with us not having them. Or at least he says he is.”

“He really loves you, Jade.” She picks up her magazine again and starts flipping through it.

“I’m afraid.” I say it quietly but she hears me.

She sets the magazine down. “Afraid of what, honey?”

I hesitate because I’ve only told this to Garret, but for whatever reason I feel like I can talk to Grace about it. “I’m afraid to have kids. I’m afraid I’ll be a bad mom.”

“Why would you say that, Jade?”

“Because I don’t know how to be a mom. All I know is how my mom was with me. And I’m afraid if I have kids I’ll be like my mom. Always yelling at them and blaming them for everything and scaring them and saying things I don’t mean.”

“Oh, honey. Your mother wasn’t well. She didn’t mean to be that way. You won’t be like that. You’d be a wonderful mother. Look how good you are with Lilly. That little girl loves you. And I can tell you love her, too.”

“Yeah, but she’s not mine. I don’t spend all day, every day with her. If I had kids and they did something that made me mad, I’m afraid of how I’d react.”

“I understand your concerns but I don’t think you have anything to worry about. I didn’t know your mother, but from what you’ve told me you’re nothing like her. At least not in the way she acted, treating you the way she did. When you get angry at Garret you don’t act like her, right?”

“No.”

“Then you can handle a child.” She smiles. “Men often make us women more angry than our children.” She gets serious again. “You have plenty of time to think this over. You and Garret are so young. You don’t have to make this decision right now.”

“I know.” I look out at Garret and Lilly splashing around in the water. “It’s just that when I see him out there with her, it makes me think about it. I know he wants kids.”

“Yes, but you both have to want that.”

I nod.

“Jade.” Grace puts her hand on my arm and I look over at her. “Anytime you want to talk, please call me. I’m always around.”

“I will. I miss seeing you. We have to get together more often.”

“I’d like that very much.”

We stay out there until 5, then have dinner before Grace and Lilly head back to the hotel.

Later that night as Garret and I are getting ready for bed, there’s a knock on the door. It startles us both because it’s almost midnight and nobody comes to the door at midnight, not even Harper or Sean.

“Wait here,” Garret says. “I’ll see who it is.”

As he goes downstairs I put a sweatshirt on over my tank top, then grab my jean shorts and put them on. I wait in the hall and hear Garret talking. Then I hear his dad’s voice. I race down the stairs, my heart pounding in my chest.

“What’s wrong?” I ask. “Why are you here so late?”

“Hello, Jade.” Pearce seems a little annoyed. He can be kind of formal and he expects a greeting before I bombard him with questions.

“Hi, Mr. Kensington.”

He smiles. “It’s Pearce.”

“Yes. Sorry.” I’m so nervous I can barely speak. I’m sure he’s here to tell us bad news.

“Should we sit down?” he asks Garret.

“Yeah.” Garret leads me over to the couch.

Pearce sits across from us on the chair. “So after the meeting today, I went out for drinks with Roth. I asked him about the encounter he had with you the other day at the restaurant.”

Pearce just needs to spit it out. I can’t take some long-winded story.

“And what did he say?” Garret’s much calmer than me. I don’t know how he remains calm like that but I’m hoping someday his calmness will rub off on me.

Pearce leans back and takes a breath. He looks exhausted. His eyes seem tired and his face is covered in a thick layer of stubble since he probably hasn’t shaved since early this morning. “Well, obviously I didn’t come right out and ask him. I had to talk around the topic and see if I could get anything out of him. And I had to wait until he had a few bourbons in him.”

“Yeah? And?” Now Garret’s getting impatient. “You’re killing us here, Dad. Just tell us what he said.”

“It’s exactly what I told you. He’s not happy with how things turned out with you. He chose you, Garret. He’s the one who started all this. He said he’s been watching you since you were just a young boy. He saw potential in you. And now his plans for you are over.”

“Did you know about any of this? I mean, about Roth watching me all these years?”

“No, not until tonight.”

“But he’s not trying to get Garret back, right?” I realize I’m squeezing Garret’s hand really tight. I loosen my grip. “Sorry,” I say quietly to him.

He puts his arm around me and kisses the side of my head. “It’s okay.”

“He’s not here to do anything to you,” Pearce says to Garret. “He’s just trying to scare you, like I said. He’s trying to show you who’s boss. Make you think he could do something even though he knows he can’t.”

“How do you know he can’t?” I ask.

“As I said before, this group is very strict about following rules. And the rules say that when the members have voted and the decision has been made, that decision cannot be changed.”

“Then why did this guy let Garret go in the first place? Garret said high-up people like this Roth guy can override the member vote.”

“Garret, you shouldn’t tell her things like that,” Pearce scolds. “You know everything that happens there is strictly confidential.”

“Yeah, well, too late now.” Garret says it so casually I almost laugh.

Pearce sighs and looks back at me. “Jade, I can’t tell you the circumstances that led to Garret being released from his obligations. I think you understand why.”

Warm, friendly Pearce that we saw at Grace’s house is back to scary, threatening Pearce that I’m used to dealing with.

“Yes. I understand.”

“Good.” He stands up. “I should go and let you two get some sleep.”

“Who’s watching Lilly?” I ask as he walks to the door.

“She’s staying in Grace’s room tonight. The meeting went until 10 and then I left to have drinks with Roth, so I just had Grace keep Lilly for the night. By the way, how did it go today? With Lilly?”

“Great,” Garret says. “We spent the day on the beach.”

“I’m glad she was able to spend some time with you. Well, I’ll see you tomorrow. I have a meeting in the morning, but my afternoon is free so we’ll be over sometime after lunch.”

“Frank and Ryan will be here, too,” I say. “Sean’s making everyone dinner.”

“See you tomorrow then.” Pearce leaves. No goodbyes or hugs this time. He’s cold and serious. All business.

“Can you relax now?” Garret asks, dragging me back upstairs.

“I guess. But that Roth guy still freaks me out.”

“You’re not going to see him again. Shit, the guy’s gotta be in his eighties. He’ll probably be dead soon.”

I take my jean shorts and sweatshirt off and get into bed. “Your dad was acting strange, don’t you think?”

Garret joins me in bed. “He always acts that way when he’s been doing business stuff all day. It takes him a while to unwind.”

“What do you think they were meeting about?”

Garret covers us with the sheet and kisses me. “Go to sleep, Jade. No more questions. Stop asking about Roth and the organization. It’s over. We’re not going to think about it anymore.”

I feel Garret’s strong arm around my middle, tucking me into him. And I decide right here and now to do as he says and not let that group control us. I can’t spend our future always worrying about what they might do. I won’t let them ruin my wedding or my life with Garret. I take a deep breath and relax into his arms and go to sleep.