Garnet Flats (The Edens)

“I wish Matty was here,” Talia said for the second time since we’d left the house. “He’s always good about breaking tense moments.”

“Stop worrying.” I took her hand from her lap and brought it to my heart. “This will be fun. Right, Kaddie?”

“Right,” my daughter answered from the back seat.

Talia closed her eyes and breathed, like she was saying a silent prayer. “You never told me exactly what my dad said to you that day he came to the gym.”

“It doesn’t matter. He was kinder to me than I deserved.”

“What do you mean, Daddy?”

“Nothing.” I glanced over my shoulder at Kadence, giving her a wink before focusing on the road.

After Lyla and Eloise had stopped by our table last week, Talia had called her parents to discuss whatever the Edens had planned behind our backs. And instead of allowing the invasion, as Talia called it, she’d convinced them to host dinner at the ranch. There was more space for everyone than at her house—our house.

She’d joked that by having it at the ranch, we could escape if things went badly. But dinner would be fine. No matter how much flack her family gave me, I’d bear every word. They probably wouldn’t scream and shout or toss me out into the snow.

Yeah, there might be a few uncomfortable moments, but we’d deal.

Maybe after a family dinner, she’d stop holding back. Even after she’d asked me to move into the house, there was still that undercurrent of doubt.

Talia, holding back, barely, but enough to make it noticeable.

Me, wondering if this was our new normal.

I didn’t hate it.

I didn’t love it either.

“Left up here,” Talia said, pointing to a turnout off the highway.

I eased off the gas, careful with the brakes. It had snowed lightly all day but the temperature had hovered just above freezing, so the flakes had melted on the roads. The sun was dropping toward the horizon and the water on the road was beginning to freeze. Driving home after dark would be slow, and I suspected the roads in town would be an ice rink.

Talia had suggested we leave early enough to see the sunset at the ranch.

“This is . . . wow,” I said, taking it in.

The sun cast orange and golden beams over the snow-covered meadows. It limned the tips of the evergreens on the foothills. It highlighted the towering mountains, their jagged peaks covered in white. Those mountains had a way of making a man feel free, yet insignificant at the same time.

“Pretty, isn’t it?”

“Gorgeous.”

Talia had described the ranch to me and shown me pictures. But words and photos didn’t do it justice. They missed the raw nature of the landscape and its rugged beauty.

“This is all part of the ranch?” I asked as we drove beneath an archway.

“Yep. It stretches along the mountains for miles. There’s a path that runs from one end to the other. This summer, I’ll take you around. We could even go riding.”

“Riding horses?” Kadence asked. “Can I go too?”

“Of course.” Talia twisted to give her a smile. “I’ll teach you both how to ride.”

“Maybe I could even have my own horse someday,” Kaddie said.

“Maybe.” If a horse or pony would keep her smile in place, if it was something Talia and she could bond over, I’d buy her a hundred.

At the end of the lane, a large home appeared. Behind it were stables and a barn. A line of vehicles was parked outside the house.

Talia’s knees bounced as I pulled into a space beside another truck.

“Hey.” I put my hand on her knee, my thumb stroking over her jeans. “This is your family. They’ll support you.”

She nodded and met my gaze. “I know. I just . . .”

Wanted them to be nice to me.

Something she wouldn’t voice with Kadence listening.

“It’s all good.” I hooked my finger under her chin, pulling her across the console for a kiss before unbuckling her seat belt. Then I hopped out and walked to their side of the truck, opening both of their doors. “Kaddie, do you want to carry in the drinks?”

“Sure.” She looped the tote bag full of drinks, juice boxes and sparkling waters over her arm while I snagged the bottle of wine and bouquet of flowers for Anne.

Talia’s mother had been a sweetheart when she’d dropped by the house last week with cookies. I was on a strict diet. No processed foods, no refined sugar leading into this fight. I wouldn’t risk not making weight.

But when she’d offered me a chocolate chip cookie, I’d eaten two, not only because they were delicious, but also because I’d wanted to earn whatever favor I could. Maybe Anne could help convince Harrison I wasn’t an awful choice for his daughter. And tonight, no matter what we were having for dinner, I’d clear my plate. I’d already warned Jasper he’d have to push me to the max tomorrow in training.

Talia led the way up the porch stairs to the front door. I held Kaddie’s hand, making sure she didn’t slip. Before we could knock, the door swung open and a tall, broad man filled the threshold.

He looked like a younger version of Harrison, with Talia’s blue eyes and the same dark hair. Griffin. Her oldest brother.

“Hi.” He kissed Talia’s cheek, waving us into the entryway. “You’re going to want to hang out right here for a minute.”

“What?” Talia asked. “Why?”

“Trust me.”

Voices carried from deeper in the house, not all of them cheerful.

“Foster, meet my brother Griffin,” Talia said. “Griff, this is Foster and his daughter, Kadence.”

“Hey, Kadence. Nice to meet you, Foster.” Griff extended a hand, shaking mine.

“You too.” I waited for a glare or for him to size me up.

We were about the same height and build. But he looked like the type of man who hadn’t built those muscles in a gym like me. He’d done it through physical work on this ranch, and I respected the hell out of that.

The sideways glance, the warning stare, never came. Either he didn’t know about me or I had an unexpected ally.

“What’s going on in there?” Talia pointed down the hall as she unzipped her coat, letting me help take it from her shoulders.

“Let’s see.” Griffin held out his fingers, tapping each as he rattled off his answer. “Eloise invited a guy with her. Why she thought tonight would be the night to bring a date, I have no idea. But the guy she brought knows Winn.”

“How?” Talia asked.

“Because Winn got called down to the grocery store two days ago. The general manager caught this idiot stuffing a cucumber down his jeans.”

I laughed. “You’re kidding.”

“Can you arrest someone for— Nope.” Talia held up her hand. “That’s the wrong question to ask first. Why is Eloise seeing a guy who would stuff a cucumber down his jeans?”

“No idea. Apparently they met at Willie’s a few weekends ago and have gone on a couple dates.” Griffin sighed as the arguing down the hall got louder. “Pretty sure she’s dumping him.”

“That’s disgusting!” a woman shouted. “Why would you do that? It defies the common rules of basic hygiene. And that’s not how you treat produce!”

Kadence looked up to me with wide eyes.

I squeezed her hand twice, a silent okay.

Griffin shook his head. “Eloise couldn’t have worse taste in men.”

Which meant I wasn’t on the bottom of the list. Score. Eloise had just become my favorite of Talia’s siblings.

Footsteps pounded our way. A lanky guy in a beanie kept his eyes aimed at the door as he rushed outside. Thirty seconds later, an engine revved and headlights flashed as he disappeared.

“Cucumber man?” Talia giggled.

Griffin nodded. “Yep.”

I expected the noise to lessen now that Eloise wasn’t shouting, but the commotion continued. The voice that rose above the others sounded like Anne’s but I couldn’t be sure given I’d only met her once.

“What’s wrong with Mom?” Talia asked.

“She thought it would be fun to FaceTime Mateo so he could ‘join the family dinner.’ ” Griffin chuckled. “He’s at a bar, drunk off his ass at the moment. Which Knox and I thought was hilarious. Mom? Not so much. She snapped at me when I told Mateo to have another shot. And then she started in on a lecture that he’ll never remember come sunup.”

Talia craned her neck, picking out other voices. “And what’s Lyla pissed about? Other than me?”

“Lyla’s pissed at you?” Griffin asked.

Would Talia tell her brother why she was fighting with her twin? Because she hadn’t explained it to me.

“It’s nothing.” Talia flicked her wrist.

Guess I wasn’t the only one in the dark.

“Oh. Well, Lyla’s fighting with Knox.” Griffin blew out a long breath. “Since Mom is talking to Mateo, she asked Knox to season the steaks. Lyla’s in a mood because she insisted on doing it herself. But according to Knox, she was doing it wrong and . . . I don’t know. I just want to eat a steak tonight. With or without seasoning.”

Me too. Steak was diet approved.

Beneath the adult voices was a baby’s cry.

“And Hudson doesn’t feel good,” Griffin said. “He doesn’t want me to hold him. He only wants Winn.”

“What’s wrong with Hudson?” Before Griff could answer Talia’s question, she flew down the hallway, probably to examine her nephew.

Griff barked a dry laugh. “Welcome to the madness.”

“Is it always like this?”

“I really want to lie and say no.” He took the bottle of wine from my hand and the tote from Kadence’s. “Come on in.”

I chuckled, helping Kadence out of her coat before taking off my own and following Griffin deeper into the house, where we found the Eden family congregated in the kitchen.

The arguing, the conversation, stopped.

All eyes swung my way.

Okay, so maybe it was a bit nerve-racking. I held tighter to Kadence’s hand.

Harrison stood from the stool where he’d been seated and stalked my way, his face as hard as granite.

“Dad,” Talia warned, holding a little boy with dark hair. Hudson, based on the rundown of family members she’d given me all week. And the woman at her side had to be Winn, Griffin’s wife and the Quincy chief of police.

Harrison stopped before me, giving me the head-to-toe glance I’d expected from Griffin. But when his eyes fell on Kaddie clinging to my leg, his expression softened. He bent, giving her a warm smile. “Hi, Kadence. I’m Papa Harrison.”

“Hi,” she murmured.

Harrison stood tall, locked his eyes with mine and, after three pounding heartbeats, held out his hand. “Glad you could join us tonight.”

“Thank you for having us.” I returned his shake.

Talia walked over with Hudson on her hip. She came right to my side and, like Kadence, leaned in close until I put an arm around her shoulders.

I kissed her hair, then smiled at Hudson, who had a thumb in his mouth. His eyes were full of tears as he dropped his cheek to Talia’s shoulder.

No surprise the kid loved her.

“Foster, I hope you like boring seasonings on your steak,” Lyla said from across the kitchen before she gulped from the wineglass in her hand.

“Not boring, Lyla,” Knox scolded, pinching salt between his fingers over the cutting board teeming with rib eyes. “Simple.”

“You guys missed my date.” Eloise slumped in the stool Harrison had vacated. “He was a real winner. Is there such thing as a cucumber fetish?”

“Daddy?” Kadence tugged on my jeans. “What’s a fetish?”

Harrison coughed into his fist to hide a laugh.

I pulled in my lips to do the same. When I met Harrison’s gaze, there was something in his blue eyes. Acceptance maybe? I hoped so.

“Mateo.” Anne barked into the phone. “Mateo.”

No response but the sounds of a bar—clinking glasses, a dull murmur shrouded by music from a jukebox.

“He’s asleep. On. A. Bar.” She huffed and ended the call.

“Oh, Mom.” Griffin chuckled and pulled her into his side. “It’s not that bad. We’ve all done it before. Hell, on my twenty-first birthday, I passed out on a bar. My friends put popcorn in my ears.”

“You’re not helping.” She swatted his chest but hugged him before coming over to introduce herself to Kadence. “Hi, Kadence. I’m Anne. And aren’t you just gorgeous. I guess you win.”

“Win what?” Kaddie asked.

“You’re the prettiest girl here tonight. Which means you get the biggest piece of chocolate cake for dessert.”

Kaddie’s eyes widened as a megawatt smile lit up her face.

“The other kids are in the living room, playing. We’ve got toys and coloring books. Want to check them out?” Anne asked her, holding out a hand.

“Sure.” With that, Kadence was swept out of the room.

“Anne went and bought ‘big kid’ toys this week,” Harrison said. “We can either send them home with you guys tonight or we can leave them here for Kadence to play with when she visits.”

My throat tightened. Yeah, we’d be fine. We’d get there. “We can leave them here. That would be great.”

“Beer?” he asked.

“Foster isn’t drinking before his fight,” Talia said. “We brought some sparkling waters for us and juice boxes for the kids.”

“I’ll get you one.” Harrison kissed her cheek, then whispered something in her ear that made her smile.

The remainder of the evening was just as loud as the start. Except instead of shouting, there was laughter. It filled every corner of the house.

Never in my life had I been a part of something like this. A lively family with endless stories. With inside jokes that would stretch for miles if written on paper.

Like me, Kaddie watched with wonder as the night progressed. I hadn’t realized it until that moment, but our life had been quiet. Too quiet. Maybe that was my doing, Vivienne’s too, as two parents who’d grown up as only children.

I didn’t want quiet for Kaddie. She needed cousins. And siblings. Brothers and sisters who’d tease her mercilessly like they did Talia. Who’d rile her up and make her laugh until she clutched her sides.

Yeah, Kadence needed siblings.

Given how Talia fawned over her nephews and niece, maybe we’d get there sooner rather than later. Retirement was beginning to sound like a damn good idea.

After the meal, no one rushed to end the conversation. We sat at the Edens’ dinner table, surrounded by empty plates. Kadence had chocolate frosting on her chin from Anne’s cake. I was just dabbing it with my napkin when a phone rang.

“Sorry.” Winn dug it from her pocket, then stood, pressing it to her ear. “This is Chief Eden.”

Griffin watched her hurry down the hallway with worry in his gaze. “That’s probably the station.”

“If she gets called in, do you want to stay here?” Anne asked.

“No, I’ll take the kids home. Give them baths and get them into bed.”

“I’ll come with you and help,” Eloise said. “It’s not like I have a date anymore.”

Quiet descended on the room, such a stark contrast to the boisterous energy from moments ago, as we waited for Winn to return. When she did, her face was set in a serious mask. A cop going to work.

“I need to go,” she told Griffin, walking to the back of his chair to kiss Emma on his lap. “I’ll be late.”

“Be safe,” he said.

“I will.” She kissed him too, then went to Harrison’s chair, where Hudson was asleep on his papa’s shoulder. Winn kissed her son, then her eyes shot to Talia’s.

Some unspoken conversation happened, but at the end of it, Talia stood too. “We’d better head out.”

“What’s—” Before I could finish my sentence, her phone rang, and I knew without asking that it was the hospital. She wasn’t on call. But in a town this size, that probably didn’t matter.

Something had happened tonight and it wasn’t good news.

Winn rushed out of the house first, her taillights gone by the time we’d loaded Kaddie into the truck. After rushed goodbyes, we made our way, slowly along the icy highway.

“What did the hospital say?” I asked, keeping my voice low because Kaddie was listening.

“An accident.”

No sooner than she spoke, we rounded a corner and the flash of red and blue lights filled the night sky in the distance.

My grip on the steering wheel tightened as we approached.

“Kadence, close your eyes.” Talia turned, making sure my daughter obeyed. “Keep them closed until I tell you to open them, okay?”

Kaddie whimpered. “I’m scared.”

“It’s okay, little bug.” It was a damn lie. As we approached the scene, nothing about this was okay. Two vehicles overturned in the ditch. Metal shards and glass strewn everywhere. “Where are the ambulances?”

Talia pointed down the road, where more lights flashed. “They dispatched just a minute before they called me.”

We’d beaten them to the scene. “Do you want me to stop?”

“Not with Kadence here. The EMTs know what they’re doing. It would be better for me to be at the hospital when the ambulances come in.”

A truck with the Eden brand on the side—Winn’s—was parked at the end of a line of police cruisers. Winn was on her knees beside the driver’s side door of an overturned SUV. Three other officers were crowded beside her.

On the snow, even in the dark, I could see the spray of blood.

“Squeeze them tight, Kadence,” Talia said.

She began to cry, but when I risked a look in the rearview, her eyes were closed as we crept along the road.

The other vehicle was a truck. It must have rolled multiple times because the exterior was decimated, the bed twisted, the front and sides smashed until it looked like a hunk of scrap metal. There were footprints in the snow around it, but no officers.

Because there was no life to save in that truck.

Blood was everywhere.

People didn’t walk away from crashes like that.

I stretched an arm across the cab, putting it on Talia’s shoulder.

Like Winn, her expression was serious, her chin held high. She’d march into that hospital and face whatever came her way.

What strength she had. I walked into a ring, knowing my opponent was going to try and take me down. Talia would fight just as hard, knowing that there were some battles she couldn’t win.

An ambulance whipped by, lights flashing and siren wailing. Less than a mile later, another followed. And shortly after, a fire engine.

“That’s the entire emergency response team,” Talia whispered.

I kept clutching the wheel and drove into town, breathing a bit easier when we reached Quincy and were off the highway. “Want me drop you?”

“No, let’s go home. I need to change.” She began stripping out of her coat before we’d even parked. And once I was against the curb, she flew out of the truck, jogging inside.

“Daddy, is Talia okay?” Kadence asked as I unbuckled her seat belt. My girl’s pretty face was pale.

“Yes, she’s okay. But there might be some hurt people tonight, so she’s going to go to the hospital and make them better.” Please, God, let whoever was in that SUV live. All I could picture was Kaddie in her seat, trapped beneath the weight of a vehicle. So I hugged her tight as I carried her inside.

We’d just taken off our coats when Talia came down the stairs dressed in her blue scrubs. Her hair was pulled into a ponytail. “I don’t know how long I’ll be.”

“Just go. We’ll be here.”

She forced a smile at Kadence, then vanished into the garage.

Leaving for whatever horrors awaited her at the hospital.