Page 109 of Against The Tide

The evening goes by slow enough that I end up forcing Iris to bed as a way of excusing myself away for the night. I’m heading to bed when Nora finds me.

“I wanted to check on you,” she says with her eyes raking up and down my person. “You barely touched your dinner, and you were quiet as a mouse.”

“I’m tired is all.”

“Well, you have a lot to process, and I can’t imagine being back here is easy.” She tucks one side of my hair behind my ear. “I imagine it must be strange staying here when…”

She doesn’t finish, I think partly because she doesn’t want to vocalize my father’s absence and partly because she’s holding it together for me.

“I keep waiting for him to knock on the door.”

“Me too.”

“It felt easier to push past the pain and missing him when I was in Virginia. There were no memories there. Not like here, and today at the club…”

“I know it seems like a callous thing to say, but it does get easier. The memories and reminders become something that makes you smile rather than fall apart. It’s all about time.”

“I know. I remember feeling like this when Mom died, and now, even when I miss her, I smile at all the memories I have of her. In a way we were lucky she was taken so quickly, and in some ways, I’m grateful that Dad passed so fast. Even if the circumstances were shady, it’s comforting to know that it was swift. The thought of him suffering…of him being in pain…”

I stop when my gaze finds Rhett’s. He’s leaning against the corner of the wall by the top of the stairs. Concern is etched on his face as he watches us.

“The only thing I need right now is to find out why he was killed, and I need to know who.”

“And we will find out,” Nora tells me. “You know we won’t rest until we know what happened.”

She strokes my cheek, adding, “You’re going to make it through this, and you’re going to have a beautiful life.”

Rhett comes to a stop beside me and smiles, soft and warm, and all I want is for him to take me to bed and hold me all night.

As if she can read my mind, Nora wishes us good night before heading back downstairs.

“Take me to bed?” I glance up at Rhett, and hoisting me up his body, he opens the bedroom door.

Taking me inside, he replies, “I thought you’d never ask.”

The morning runs away with itself in a flurry of last-minute dashes. Nora has Rowan running errands for her while she oversees the setup for tonight. While I’ve spent the morning with the kids, Callie and Rhett spent the time trying to find a lead that would help us put all the pieces surrounding Dad’s death together.

Of course, with the party set to start early evening, we had to drop everything to get ready. By the time I’ve finished blowing out my hair and setting it in rollers to get the glam curls I always opt for, Rhett is fully dressed in his tux.

He looks something special in the fitted suit. The tailored cut accentuates his broad shoulders, defining the elongated V of his torso. With his dark blond hair combed over to one side and his stubble groomed to a shadow, he’s enough to make my ovaries explode.

“I promised Iris we would finish reading her book before we left for the party,” he tells me with a crooked smile that draws out my own. “She was disappointed that I didn’t read to her last night, and I can’t have that, so…”

There’s nothing about him I don’t love. My entire being worships every last echo and shadow of his. And I don’t know how I ever thought I loved anyone before him.

“She adores you.”

“I love her too,” he says with a boyish crinkle of his nose that makes me giggle even when I can’t seem to catch my breath as he comes closer. Hands anchoring around my towel-wrapped waist, he presses a tender kiss to each corner of my mouth before nipping at the fullest part of my lips. “But I adore you. Only ever you, sunshine.”

“And I you, honey.” Molding my hands to his face, I rise onto my tiptoes so I can kiss his with all I have. I pour every last drop of my being into our savoring kiss.

He is sweeter than sugar and better than caramel. He’s every last bit of the promise he made me on Duke’s boat.

Peppering one more kiss on his lips, I lower back onto my heels, taking in the ruddy swelling of his pout that sheens with my balm. The sharp lines of his jaw soften with his dimpled smile.

“You make my heart stutter,” I pant breathlessly. “And you give me all these butterflies that make me laugh even when I’m sad.”

Nibbling on his lip, he drags in a long breath as he looks down between us and then flashes his all-consuming stare at me from beneath his dark golden lashes.