Home to Laura

chapter TWENTY-TWO



NICK’S PLANE LANDED in Paris after midnight, but he didn’t know which day it was. He’d lost track of time.

He should have taken a hotel room for the night, but instead, rented a car and drove to the villa Harry Fuller owned outside of Alençon, arriving in the middle of the night.

He pounded on the door.

Harry answered, disheveled, pulling the belt of his robe tight.

“Qu’est-ce que c’est?” he asked before realizing it was Nick. “Oh, it’s you. What do you want?”

“Emily.”

“Not sure she’ll see you. You couldn’t have come in the morning?”

“I want to see her now.”

“You might as well come in. I’ll go wake her.”

Nick waited in an expansive, beautifully appointed sunken living room.

It wasn’t his daughter who finally entered, but Marsha.

“Nick? What are you doing here?” She looked at a tiny gold watch on her left wrist. “At 2:30 in the morning?”

“I want to see Emily. I want her back.”

She nodded, but made no move to fetch his daughter. “Sit down.”

Gracefully, she sat across from him on a settee that had probably been made two hundred years ago. What did he know? Marsha had furnished their home.

“Did you know,” she said, “that she used to idolize you? From the moment she first started to notice the world around her, she honed in on you and couldn’t get enough of you. Unfortunately, you were never around.”

“I know, Marsha. You have no idea how much I regret that now.”

“When I married Harry, I left Emily with you because that’s where she wanted to be.” She leaned back in her chair. “Mort said you were trying to make time for her.”

“Yes, and it was working, but then...life got complicated.”

“You got some woman pregnant.”

“Not just some woman. The one I betrayed my brother with. I love her. It’s taken me this long to figure it out.”

“I’m happy for you.” She looked reserved.

“You can go ahead and gloat. She turned me down when I asked her to marry me.”

She smiled. “These days, things don’t seem to be coming to you as easily as they used to.”

“Marsha, you have no idea.” He cracked his knuckles. “I have another daughter. Pearl. Do you know what I realized when I held her for the first time?”

“What?”

“How much I love Emily. How much love there is in my heart. How much I have to give to this new baby, but even more so to Emily.”

“Dad?”

He turned at his daughter’s voice.

“Emily?” Before he barely registered how sleepy and grumpy she looked, he strode across the room and hauled her into his arms. “I missed you,” he breathed. “I missed you so goddamn much.”

“Nick, language. Please,” Marsha admonished.

“I can’t help myself, Marsha. I missed my baby.”

“Dad, I can’t breathe.”

He eased his grip. “I don’t want to let you go. Come home with me. I never want to be apart from you again. Never.”

“Really?” She sounded so hopeful, but her hope had been dashed so many times by him in the past. She became suspicious.

“Did Laura have her baby?”

“Yes. A little girl. Her first name is Pearl and her last is Jordan. She’s your baby sister.”

“Are you sure you still want me?”

“I want you more than ever. Do you know what I’ve learned?”

She shook her head.

“How much love I have inside of me. How much I love you and want you in my life. I want to share everything with you, including your baby sister.”

When she would have objected, he said, “I have boundless, infinite love to give. The more I love the more I want to love. I’m learning so much, Emily, and so much of it is from you. You started me on this journey way back in the spring. If not for you, I would still be sitting behind my desk doing nothing but earning more and more money, and letting you slip through my fingers.”

He rested his forehead on hers. “You saved my life. I want you back in it. I’m going to quit my job.”

He heard Marsha gasp behind him. He’d had a lot of time to think on his flights and the thought that popped into his head over and over was It’s time.

Instead of the panic, the hollowness leaving his job in Seattle should have brought on, he felt only peace and rightness. What would he replace it with? He didn’t know, nor did he care at this moment.

“I want you to come home with me,” he told his daughter. “I want us to buy a house in Accord and live there. Or we can build one that you like. We can design one together.”

His happiness, his optimism, knew no bounds. “I want you to meet Pearl, because she has shown me that I love you to pieces.”

“Daddy?”

“Yes?”

“I love you so much. I want to go home with you.”

He’d never been so happy. Or so tired.

“Do you want home to be in Accord?”

“Oh, yeah! It’s awesome.”

“Marsha?” he asked, still holding on to his daughter with every ounce of his strength.

“Yes?” He heard a smile in her voice.

“Do you have an extra bed? I haven’t slept in two days. Or it might be three.”

Nick slept for ten hours. He and Emily left the following day.

Two days after he returned to Seattle, after he’d slept twelve hours straight, he walked into his office. His heart rate tripped along too fast.

He knew he was doing the right thing, had achieved an epiphany on the flight over the Atlantic with Emily asleep in his arms.

It had taken losing his daughter for him to finally get his head screwed on right.

The room was neat, tidy, nothing out of place, the way he liked to work. He had no idea what had happened to the work he’d left on the top floor of the B and B in Accord.

He studied the sterile symbols of the success he’d once thought vital to his life, his soul.

He stepped to the window with the stunning view and touched his hand to the glass, just as he’d done that day last spring when Mort had told him that he was losing his daughter.

He remembered thinking that this life was real, that he existed here while he knew no Nick Jordan other than the businessman.

Convinced that he was making the right choice, he walked to Mort’s office. He nodded to Mort’s secretary and said, “Good morning, Sarah,” surprised that he remembered the woman’s name.

“He’s expecting you.” Sarah smiled the vapid, generic smile of the professional. No laughing here. No husky voices. No real caring.

Mort appeared to be sober. He leaned back in his desk chair and studied Nick.

“You got her back.”

“Yes. Emily’s home again.”

“Good.”

Nick had thought of no way to soften the blow. “I’m here to tender my resignation.”

He knew Mort’s explosive temper, understood that Mort had put time and effort and years into grooming Nick to be his successor. Nick was throwing it all back in his face.

Mort didn’t look surprised and that shocked Nick. The decision had been a tough one, but something had to give in his life.

“Why?” Mort asked.

“I’ve taken stock. The area of my life in which I’m least happy is work.”

Mort continued to watch him but said nothing.

“I’m most happy with Emily and Laura and Pearl. I’m most happy in Accord.”

“We can’t have everything we want in life. What makes you think you can?”

Nick shrugged. “I can only give it my best shot. I became a success here in this world through grit and determination. If I apply that to my private life, just think how far I could go with a family. I could make Emily happy. I could make Laura and my newborn infant happy. I could be happy.”

Mort nodded and stood. He held out his hand to Nick to shake.

Nick stared, too shocked to take it at first. “You’re not angry?”

“You’ve come to your senses. I’ve made a hash out of my life, but you’re young enough to save yours.”

Nick took Mort’s hand and shook it, hard. He had a lot of respect for the man. What impressed him even more was the affection. The love. Mort had been a mentor, but he’d also been the father Nick had lost at too early an age.

“I’ve decided to run the Accord Resort,” he said quietly. “It makes perfect sense. I’m not sure why it took me so long to see it.”

Mort smiled. “I figured that might be the direction your life was taking. You’ve come to terms with your past. You do what you have to do. Expect company, though. I’m coming to live there, too.”

Before he left, Nick looked back at Mort over his shoulder. “Accord would be a great place to retire.”

“Yep. It’s time to sell the company.”

With that he was gone, leaving the building empty-handed.

There wasn’t a thing he wanted or needed from here.

* * *

HE FLEW WITH Emily to Accord, not at all sure how things would go, but determined.

Her relationship with Laura had been combative.

He called the hospital. Laura was already at home with Pearl.

Before trying to work out some kind of reconciliation between his daughter and the woman he loved, he thought he should see Laura alone.

After settling himself and Emily in the B and B, he drove her to Gabe’s for a day of dogsledding. She’d wanted to try it ever since coming to town last spring and meeting the dogs for the first time.

Then Nick headed back into Accord, to Laura’s.

He pressed his face to the glass of the bakery. The place was busy. To his surprise, he spotted Laura behind the counter. Working already?

He stepped inside.

The café was full, almost every table taken, but the lineup was short. Tilly, another woman, a young man and Laura worked behind the counter.

Laura laughed at something someone said and the huskiness, the earthiness of it, thrilled his nerve endings.

She looked tired but happy. She glowed every bit as much now as she had during pregnancy. Her breasts were heavier, full of milk. She looked womanly and wonderful.

Then she saw him.

After the initial unguarded look of shock, her expression closed.

He stepped up to the counter.

“We need to talk.”

She nodded, stepped into the back and then returned with Pearl on her shoulder.

He followed her out of the shop and upstairs and into her apartment. She put Pearl down in her crib then walked to the living room and turned and watched him quietly.

“I meant what I said in the hospital.” He stepped closer to her. “I love you and want to marry you.”

“You have an odd way of showing it. Where did you go?”

“I flew to France. I picked up Emily and brought her home. I quit my job. I put my house up for sale.”

By the time he’d finished with his list, her eyebrows had shot up.

“I’m committed. Emily and I are moving to Accord. I don’t know where we’ll live. With you, if you’ll have me. If not, somewhere else, but close enough that I will be involved in Pearl’s life. Daily.”

He stepped even closer. “I’m never leaving again. I’m here for the duration. I love you, Laura, with all of my heart.”

She grasped the back of his head and pulled him to her for a searing kiss. When she finally released him, they were breathing hard.

“Don’t change your mind on me, Jordan,” she said. “I’ll hold you to every single word. To every commitment. I love for life, Nick. I don’t do divorce.”

“I’m here for good, love.”

They sat on the sofa, together, and talked and touched and murmured words of love until Pearl woke up.

Laura brought her to the living room and sat beside Nick.

“Can I hold her?”

“After I feed her.” Laura unbuttoned her blouse and unhooked her maternity bra then lifted out one breast, unashamed. Pearl latched on and started suckling and Nick didn’t think he’d ever seen anything more beautiful in his life.

Laura’s breast was large, full with the life-giving force that would help Pearl grow and become strong.

Why had Nick never seen it as the beautiful miracle that it was? Why had it always made him squeamish?

Laura let him hold Pearl and taught him how to burp her.

Then she put the baby to her other breast.

Nick watched, couldn’t get enough of it. He touched one finger reverently to the velvet skin above where his baby nursed.

He ran his fingers through Laura’s hair, pushed it back away from her face and kissed her.

When he thought he couldn’t leave Emily with Gabe any longer, when he was bursting with so much excitement he couldn’t wait another second, he left to get her.

Gabe’s house was coming along. Work was stalled for the winter, but he’d managed to complete enough of the rooms for them to live indoors with the baby instead of in the prospector’s tent.

Nick walked around the house and back to the clearing where the dogs lived.

Emily was helping Gabe to feed the dogs. When she saw him, her face lit up, as though the sun had come out on this dreary day.

She flew into his arms.

“How was the dogsledding?” he asked.

“Awesome. Amazing. The most incredible thing ever. Dad, you have to try it.”

Gabe approached. “Anytime, Nick. Come out and I’ll show you how it’s done.”

“I will, Gabe.” Something fundamental had changed between them. With Nick’s happiness had come peace. He’d let go of childish resentments. These days, he had room only for the good in life.

“Heard Laura had her baby.”

Nick nodded. “Pearl. She’s beautiful.”

While Caleb, and even Rebecca the last time he’d seen her, looked like average babies, Pearl was stunningly beautiful.

Gabe laughed and Nick stared at him. “What?”

“You’re in love with her already, aren’t you?”

“Madly.”

Emily stiffened at his side. He looked down at her. “You will be, too. Come on. Let’s get you over there to meet her.”

When he returned to Accord, she walked into Laura’s apartment beside him, her face flushed from her dogsled ride in the winter wind.

“Laura?”

“In here.”

She was just putting Pearl into her crib.

“She’s asleep.” Nick’s disappointment must have shown on his face, because she laughed. “Don’t worry. She’ll be awake again soon. Trust me.”

“You look tired,” he said. “Do you need to sleep?”

“I could use some, but I’d rather get to know Emily better.” He understood the reservation in her voice.

They followed her to the living room. She poured three iced teas and handed them around. Then they all sat down.

“How do you feel about the baby, Emily?”

No beating around the bush for Laura.

Emily shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“It’s a big change for you.”

Emily nodded.

“So is moving to Accord. How does that feel?”

Emily launched into a description of her morning with Gabe and the dogs.

“I’m so envious. I’ve never been dogsledding.” Laura might have been trying to put Emily at her ease, but her enthusiasm sounded real.

Emily had also met Caleb and gushed about him.

She stopped abruptly. “Dad, I just realized. I’m starving.”

“Will you two be okay if I run down for sandwiches?”

“Sure.”

“Emily, you want our regular?”

She nodded.

“What’s your regular?” Laura asked.

“Turkey on rye with avocado.”

“Sounds good. Can I have the same?”

Nick flew down the stairs and out onto Main on weightless feet. This might work. It just might work. Emily and Laura were talking!

Emily hadn’t met the baby yet, though. That would be the real test. She had to decide whether her dad was telling the truth, that he had endless, boundless amounts of love inside of him for all of the women in his life.

When he returned, they were still talking.

Laura seemed to be filling Emily in on the schools in the area.

They ate their sandwiches in harmony, but Nick knew that was relative. They weren’t fighting, were having a decent conversation, but relationships took time to grow.

A tiny wail sounded from the baby’s room and Laura left to get her.

Back in the living room, she prepared to feed the baby, but had brought a small blanket with her and draped it over her shoulder, as he’d seen Tammy do. She was being modest for Emily’s sake. Nick’s heart warmed. She was trying so hard.

When the baby finished at the first breast, Laura rubbed her back to burp her then said to Emily, “Do you want to hold her?”

“I’ll try.”

Laura put her into Emily’s arms.

“She’s so tiny,” Emily whispered. “When I saw Rebecca she was a lot bigger. Caleb is bigger, too. I’ve never held such a small baby. What if I hurt her?”

“You won’t. You’re holding her properly. You’re supporting her head well.”

“Tammy taught me how to hold a baby the right way.”

“You’re doing a good job.”

Pearl stared at Emily.

“She’s watching me.”

“She’s listening to you, too. Learning what her sister’s voice sounds like.”

“She looks like you.” Nick touched Pearl’s cheek with his forefinger. It looked ridiculously large against her tiny pink face. “Do you remember that picture of you as a newborn that your mom kept on top of the piano?”

They’d had delusions that their daughter would someday be a world-class pianist. Trouble was, she’d shown no aptitude for or interest in it. She’d loved the violin, though. She’d brought it here with her.

“I remember that picture. Mom took it with her to France.”

“Pearl looks so much like you in that photograph.”

“She really is my sister, isn’t she?”

“Yes. You have a sister.”

“Awesome,” she whispered and Nick caught Laura’s eye above her head. They smiled, because life just might be working out for them.

* * *

IN THE FOLLOWING DAYS, Nick was careful to give Emily as much attention as he gave to Pearl.

Without the burden of the work he’d always carried with him wherever he went, it was easier to juggle the time spent with his two daughters.

Nick enrolled Emily in school, then he and Laura set a wedding date, for May.

“May?” Nick yelled. “Why the hell do I want to wait so long? I want to get married now.”

“Do you have any idea how long it takes to organize a wedding?”

“It didn’t take Ty and Tammy very long.”

“Nick, I’m only getting married once. I want everything to be perfect.”

They decided that Nick and Emily should stay at the B and B until then, for propriety’s sake. As well, Emily would need her sleep to stay alert for school, so her grades wouldn’t drop. Pearl was feeding every four hours—she would wake Emily up during the night.

Emily spent a fair amount of time after school every day with Laura and the baby. In fact, she went straight there instead of coming to the B and B.

Laura made sure that the Gems set one cinnamon bun aside for Emily every day. She picked it up on her way upstairs to see Pearl.

Nick would join them and Laura taught him how to cook. Soon, while Laura took care of Pearl and Emily did homework at the dining room table, Nick cooked their dinners.

Feelings of harmony flooded him in those times.

His favorite times were when it stormed outside. They lost their power once and had to do everything with emergency candles, bundling up in heavy sweaters. Emily loved the adventure.

Rather than fight the storm to cross the street, they slept over that night.

Laura piled heavy quilts onto her bed and put Pearl in the middle between her and Emily.

Nick slept on the sofa.

In the evenings, he and Emily designed the house they would all live in. Nick bought a piece of land adjacent to the resort.

When Mike Canning came to town to oversee parts of construction, to make sure that all was being built according to plan, he would review the work that Emily and Nick had done on the design of their house.

Nick built in an extra room. He wanted another baby with his wife.

Mort lived at the B and B while he scouted out a place to live. He had dinner with them often.

One night, he showed up with an expensive bottle of wine that Laura swooned over. Then she grimaced. “I can’t drink it because I’m still breast-feeding.”

“I’ll buy you a whole case of it when you finish breast-feeding.”

Emily and Laura drank milk while Mort drank iced tea.

“What the hell,” Nick said and left the wine unopened. “I can’t drink alone.” He joined Mort in a glass of iced tea.

“We’re celebrating tonight,” Mort said.

“Celebrating what?”

“I found a small house a five-minute walk from the home. I bought it today.”

“Squeeee!” Emily hugged her grandfather. “I’m so happy, Gramps. You love the home.”

“When I’m too old and decrepit to live alone, it will be a short walk to move into the place.”

The relationship that had developed between Mort and Johanna was heartwarming. Every day, Mort started their relationship anew, because Johanna would have forgotten who he was from the day before.

“I’ve given the home a donation to help Callie get it running to full potential.” He blushed. “What do I need all my money for? Especially here in Accord.”

Unless Nick missed his guess, his ex-father-in-law had fallen in love with Johanna.

Throughout those perfect months, only one thing marred the perfection of Nick’s life. He wanted to sleep with his wife. Laura became more desirable by the day. Her joy in motherhood and life were an aphrodisiac stronger than anything Nick had known.

He wanted her.

* * *

BEFORE THEY MARRIED, there was one other problem Nick had to take care of. Laura’s brother.

Noah had hated Nick from the moment he’d slept with her all of those years ago for petty revenge. A changed man, he wanted no disharmony in his life. He needed to build a bridge with Noah.

He found him in his Army Surplus shop.

Nick could give Noah tips on how to run a business a hell of a lot better than Noah was doing, but he doubted Noah would be open to listening, suspecting instead that the man didn’t mind living on less. Probably took pride in it.

When he saw Nick, Noah scowled. “You’d better take care of my sister. If you hurt her, I’ll rip your throat out.”

“I thought you were a pacifist.”

“Not where Laura is concerned. You screwed her up so badly the first time around. I don’t want to see you do it again.”

“I won’t. You have my word on it.”

“How do I know you’re telling the truth?”

“You don’t. You’ll just have to trust me like your sister is doing. Think about this, though. I’ve quit my job in Seattle and brought my daughter here with me. Would I do that if I planned to turn around and abandon Laura later?”

“I guess not.”

“Laura says you don’t plan to attend the wedding.”

“Nope. I’d rather see her marry a snake.”

“Be there. Trust that Laura is smart enough to make her own decisions. She’s a grown woman. She doesn’t need your support, but she could use your acceptance.”

Noah studied the counter in front of him and came to a decision.

“Okay. I’ll be there.”

“Be there and be happy for her.”

“Don’t push it, Jordan.”

Nick turned to leave, but Noah called out before he got to the door. “I’ll be watching you.”

“I would expect no less.”

Nick had done as much as he could with Noah.