Beating Heart: A Small Town, Single Dad Romance (Magnolia Falls Series Book 4)

My parents’ house was the equivalent of Disneyland by way of being the happiest place in the world. There were always lots of people, lots of chaos, and lots of food and drinks.

My aunt and uncle lived next door, so it was always a big party over here between their two homes. The boys all lived on their own in town, but they’d come over last night to see me, and they’d be here tonight. Sunday dinners were kind of a staple at the Chadwick home, even if a few of them tried to get out of it now and then.

Coming home was exactly what I needed. I’d avoided Rosewood River for months because of the embarrassment over the wedding being called off and the whole town knowing the dirty details of what went down.

Turns out, I didn’t really care anymore. That felt like so long ago now.

It’s funny how life worked. Something could feel so big, until the next big thing happened, and then you didn’t remember the last thing.

I had fallen in love with Nash. A real, deep, soul-crushing kind of love.

It was different from the love I’d experienced at a young age.

This was real. There was no doubt in my mind that Nash Heart was my future.

And Cutler Heart… he was mine, too. Maybe not in the traditional sense, where I’d gotten to start out with him on the day that he was born. But he was mine in the way that mattered.

My mom and I had hashed it all out, and she’d helped remind me what was most important.

“I’m glad you finally found the real deal, sweetheart. Because I always worried that you were settling.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Because you were so confident about him being the one. And Collin was fine—well, before he did what he did.” She chuckled. “But I never saw that excitement. That deep love that I want each of my kids to experience.”

I nodded. “Yeah. I’m happy that I finally understand what you’re talking about.”

“So don’t let a woman who barely plays a role in her child’s life take away from something so special. It’s rare to find it, and you have to fight for it.”

“Yeah, even being away for the weekend has made me realize things.”

“Tell me.”

“Well, I used to be so determined to work at the best hospital in the country, and I wanted to put in the hours and prove something—I don’t even know who I was proving it to.” I shrugged. “But now, I realize that I like having a life. I like going to work and helping kids feel better, but I like coming home. I like having dinner with Nash and Cutler. I like swimming in the lake and walking to the diner.”

She squeezed my hand. “You’re finally living, Emerson. And you like it. You’ve been living for work, because your personal life wasn’t that fulfilling.”

I laughed, even though it was true. “I want to have a family. And I want to hang out with friends and throw parties for Cutler and go to baseball games and read him stories at bedtime.”

She smiled. “Have you talked to Nash?”

He’d texted me yesterday, and my phone had been dead, and I saw it late last night.

“I texted him back and said I was just giving him some time to figure it out, and I would be there if and when he needed me. I haven’t heard back, and that’s okay. I know he loves me, and that’s all that matters.”

“That’s the most important thing in life, honey. Surrounding yourself with good people. People you love and who love you back. It’s all about family.”

“Oh, boy,” Bridger groaned as he stepped into the kitchen and kissed my mom and me on the cheek. “Is this the family is everything talk?”

My mom swatted him with the dish towel as my father came around the corner and pulled Bridger into a hug. “We’ve got two of them here, Ellie. It’s a start.”

“Since when did you get so sappy, old man?” Bridger asked my father, and he rolled his eyes.

“Hey, I’m a man who’s crazy about his wife and kids. I have no shame in my game,” my father said, twirling my mom around in the kitchen. He hugged her from behind, and her head fell back in laughter.

“Can you two please keep it PG while your children are here?” Bridger grumped.

“Hey, hey, hey… I’m not the last one here,” Clark said, as he pulled me into a hug, even though I’d seen him last night. He was in the middle of hockey season, but he had a few days off this week, so he’d come home. Clark played for a professional hockey team in LA, but he was in talks to get traded to the local team in San Francisco. He’d always wanted to play for the Lions.

“Is that why you literally slammed the door in our faces? Because you wanted to make sure you weren’t last?” my brother, Rafe, grumped as he walked in with my cousin, Axel, who was still laughing as he paused and kissed me on top of the head before wrapping me in a hug.

Aunt Isabelle and Uncle Carlisle came strolling through the door, carrying little Melody in their arms. She was the cutest toddler I’d ever seen, and I scooped her right up, just as her father came in behind them. My cousin Archer was a big guy, all gruff and serious, but he was raising his little girl all on his own and doing a great job. I couldn’t wait for him and Nash to meet and bond with him over the single-parent thing. Although, Archer’s story with the mother of his child was a different one and was part of the reason he’d become so closed off.

“Everyone’s actually here on time?” my mother said, as she poured a glass of wine for me and my aunt. The guys made their way to the bar to get their drink of choice.

My parents’ house was a huge old ranch house that they’d completely renovated. I’d grown up here, and the memories inside these walls were endless. We had a stable with a couple of horses and land for days. I loved it here, but it no longer felt like home.

I couldn’t wait to get back to Magnolia Falls, and I was flying out tonight after dinner, because I was going to bring Cutler those unicorn Krispies for his Star Student Day tomorrow if it was the last thing I did.

It didn’t matter if Tara was there.

Hell, if it made Cutler happy, then I hoped we could all be there.

But her being there didn’t mean that I couldn’t be there, too. I’d formed my own relationship with that little boy, and he’d wanted those treats, and I wasn’t going to disappoint him.

“We’re still missing Easton,” I said, picking up my phone and seeing the text from him. “Oh, he said he’s running late, so we should start eating without him, and he’ll get here when he can.”

My mother shook her head and chuckled. “Someone is always late. It’s just usually Bridger.”

“Hey, I heard that. I was the first one here.” He came walking into the kitchen with a glass of whiskey in his hand. “But I’m starving, so he better hope we save him some food.”

“Please. Mom makes enough to feed a small country,” Rafe said, as my mother handed him the platter of grilled chicken breasts and steaks that my father had brought in from the grill. Everyone grabbed a plate of something, from salad to mashed potatoes to rolls, and carried it out to the table.

We always ate family-style at the big farmhouse table in the dining room. Melody wanted to sit between me and her father, and I started cutting up tiny pieces of chicken for her.

“Guess who I saw this morning,” Rafe said, as platters were being passed around the table.

“Who?” my father asked.

“Colon Waterstone.” The table erupted in laughter, because they loved to pronounce his name the wrong way. Collin never found it humorous, but that never stopped the boys from torturing him. “He was walking through town like he had a stick up his ass.”

“I thought I asked you to ease up on him. I don’t want to talk about him anymore. We’ve all moved on.” I shrugged. “So let him come home and see his family. You guys terrify him.”

“He still has two legs, so that’s me easing up on him.”

“Well, I never liked him. I didn’t want to say it to you, because you were marrying the dude. But let’s face it, he was a pretentious ass—” Bridger paused and glanced at our niece. “A pretentious assumption.”

More laughter bellowed around the table.

“I agree. You need a man who lights you up, Emmy. That dude was so boring and soft.” Archer rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, Collin was not a manly guy, no doubt about it,” Clark said. “Remember when Mom grounded me because I took the dude out on the ice to show him some moves, and he barely lasted twenty minutes with me and the guys?”

“Didn’t you break his nose?” my father asked, holding up his tumbler as if he wanted to cheer him in celebration.

More laughter.

I rolled my eyes. “You did break his nose. He had to have it reset.”

“So it was a win, then.” He smirked. “Easton says your new boyfriend is more like us. It’s about time you date a real man.”

“Well, in her defense, she only dated the one, and he was a bit of shmuck, but she had nothing to compare him to. Luckily, she’s going a different way this time,” Rafe said, as if this conversation wasn’t insulting at all.

“How about you guys stay out of my business for once?” I sniped, as I placed some salad on my plate.

Loud laughter filled the room.

“That’s wishful thinking, my love,” Aunt Isabelle said.

“They’ve always been particularly invested in your business, haven’t they?” my mother said with a chuckle.

“I’m here!” Easton shouted from the other side of the house. “And I brought a surprise with me.”

“I hope it’s a sexy, single woman,” Clark said, and my mom swatted him in the chest.

“I hope it’s some peace and quiet,” Bridger grumped, as he forked a piece of chicken and popped it into his mouth.

“Hi, Sunny.” Cutler came into the room, his gaze searching the table for me. I was on my feet, and he ran to me before jumping into my arms.

“What are you doing here?” I asked, as I wrapped my arms around him.

“We took the ‘copter here to find you,” he said.

“Yeah, the big grump was quick to offer it up,” Easton said over a laugh, referring to Bridger.

Easton walked into the room with Nash beside him, and all the air left my lungs.

“Hey,” Nash said, his gaze locking with mine. “Your brother was nice enough to offer us a ride.”

“Well, first I offered to kick his ass, and then he explained the situation, and the ride came next.” Bridger pushed to his feet and shook hands with Nash, before offering a hand to Cutler when I set him back on his feet.

“He didn’t do anything wrong, so I’m not sure why you were suggesting bodily harm.” My mother shook her head before walking over to Nash. “It’s really nice to meet you. I’m happy you made it in time for dinner.”

She hugged him before doing the same to Cutler, who kept his little hand in mine.

“Bridger likes to lead with anger first, then he softens,” Easton said with a laugh.

Everyone made introductions, but I was still standing there, stunned. “What are you guys doing here?”

“Your mom invited us for Sunday dinner.” Nash smirked. “And I needed to talk to you, and I didn’t want to wait until tomorrow.”

“This is so romantic,” Aunt Isabelle whisper-shouted, rubbing her hands together.

“Well, son, you’re going to learn quickly that this family has no secrets. So, you may as well get it all out there right now, and then we can eat,” my father said, raising a brow.

“You don’t need to talk here. We can go outside.” I reached for his hand as a wide grin spread across his face.

“Easton said this is kind of my christening into the family, so I’m going to say what I have to say right here.” Nash cleared his throat.

“Go Pops!” Cutler waggled his brows.

“I’m here because I missed you. I love you. Tara showing up definitely caused some stress, and I’ll fill you in on all of that later,” he said, glancing at Cutler and making it clear he didn’t want to share the details in front of his son. But then Nash glanced around the table as if he were asking for permission to skip that part.

“We can live with that,” Clark said, and everyone laughed some more.

“Proceed.” Bridger raised a brow, arms crossed over his chest.

“Damn, this is a tough crowd.” Nash smirked. “You know how your mom says that everything happens for a reason?”

“Yeah.” I moved closer to him because I couldn’t stand that there was any distance between us.

“Well, Tara’s coming back forced me to take a hard look at how I wanted my life to look moving forward. The two most important people in my life are standing right in front of me.”

Easton moved to stand beside me, which caused more laughter to erupt around the table before he winked and moved to take a seat.

“I will walk through fire for you and Cutler. You’ve filled a void that I didn’t even know existed. And as corny as it sounds, you complete me, Emerson. You complete us. You are the missing piece that made us a family,” he said, moving closer and reaching for my free hand, as Cutler stood beside us.

“I love you,” I whispered.

“I know you do, beautiful. Never doubted it for a minute.” He kissed my forehead. “So, I’ve put things in place to make sure no one can do anything to hurt us moving forward. And it made me realize that the most important thing to me is that we’re together. So I don’t want to spend a year away from you.” His gaze held mine. “If Boston makes you happy, Cutler and I have agreed to make that move with you. King will run the business, and we’ll figure out the rest once we decide if we want to stay.”

I shook my head, tears falling from my eyes now.

“Don’t cry, baby. This is a good thing. I’m proud as hell of you, and I want you to have all the things you want.”

“Damn. This guy is good,” Rafe said, and my mom shushed him, clearly not wanting anything to interrupt this moment.

“Pops. You shouldn’t say hell with that little girl sitting at the table,” Cutler whispered, and everyone chuckled.

“Oh, shit. Sorry. Shit, I did it again.”

“Trust me, she’s being raised by a pack of wolves. This isn’t the first time someone has slipped,” Archer said. “Go on. I’m enjoying hearing you fawn all over my cousin. She deserves it.”

“Damn straight,” Easton said, and Cutler raised a brow at him, as well.

I couldn’t hold it in any longer. “I don’t want to move to Boston.”

“What? Why? It’s your dream hospital.”

“It was my dream, when my life was unfulfilled. I was living for work because I didn’t have anything exciting to come home to.” I shrugged, the tears streaming down my face. “But they offered me the job yesterday, and when they went over the schedule and the hours—I don’t want to live in a hospital. I want to live on the water, with my boys. I want to have my own practice in Magnolia Falls, with patients that I know personally. I want to be home for dinner every night and eat out by the lake and go to Cutler’s Star Student Day, and barbecue with our friends on the weekends. I want a life, Nash. I want a life with you.”

His eyes welled, and he shook his head. “I don’t know what I did to deserve you, but I’m not questioning it. But know this: if you change your mind, we are on board. Right, Cutler?”

“Yep. Sunny’s our girl. We go where she goes.”

“We go where she goes,” he whispered. “Always.”

“Well, hopefully, right now, she’ll go to the table and start eating because I’m starving,” Easton said.

My mom moved everyone around and led Cutler to the chair beside me, making a place for Nash on the other side of me.

“You all start eating. We’ll be right back,” I said, kissing Cutler on the cheek and leading his father out of the dining room and into the kitchen.

I backed up against the wall and looked up at him. “I love you. Thank you for coming here.”

He took my hand in his and placed it over his heart. Beating heart.

“This beats for you. I love you.”

I smiled up at him. “I didn’t want an audience, but I need you to kiss me right now. I missed you.”

He leaned down and covered my mouth with his, just as my father stepped into the kitchen and cleared his throat.

“Welcome to the family, Nash.” He clapped him on the shoulder.

“Way to ruin the kiss, Dad,” I groaned.

“Sounds like you two have a lifetime for that.” He chuckled.

And he was right.

This was just the beginning.