Drew glanced around at what Chloe created with his grandmother's old house and stared in amazement. She had taken his ideas and turned a sad older home into a comfortable, modern place that fitted his lifestyle and achieved his dreams. But somehow the happiness he expected in this home echoed empty.

A week had passed since she confronted him, put him on the spot and demanded he marry her. Sometimes he thought it would have been easier just to say I do. When did you know she was the one for you?

For years, women concocted everything imaginable trying to trap him into marriage. Leaving him with that hated feeling of being cornered.

Walking through the empty house, he came into his master bedroom and found a glass display case holding what appeared to be a diary.

Lifting the glass, he picked up the old leather-bound book, opened and recognized his mother's handwriting. Flipping to the last pages, his heart skipped a beat, and he froze as he comprehended the words.

Dear Diary,

Last night my friends persuaded me to try the Cupid dance... Coming to the end, a shiver of disbelief, scurried down his spine. His parents bumped into each other at the Cupid statue?

Engrossed in his mother's words, Drew sank to the floor to relived the tale of his parents’ romance through her eyes.

Dear Diary,

James doesn't believe in the superstition or in getting married. After having dated half the high school graduating class, his intent is to remain single. Falling in love is too frightening for this big strong man and he would rather live alone.

So my plans are to continue on with my life and move to Fort Worth next week. I have a job and will be sharing an apartment with two other girls. Even though according to the legend, he's my true love, I'm done. I'm moving on with my life, and hopefully, eventually, I'll find someone else.

For the next thirty minutes, he continued reading the diary until he came to the end. Closing the book, he had no idea where Chloe found it, but what a special gift that touched his heart. The diary made him feel close to his mother once again. Helped him witness his father through her eyes and realize he was like his father.

Stubborn, resistant fool to love - who feared marriage and in the end, it brought him his life's greatest joy. Could that be what Drew was missing by not marrying Chloe?

His father fought saying I do until his mother finally walked away from her chance of love. It wasn't until later he understood what he lost and hunted her down, promising his love forever and telling her he was a damn fool for questioning their feelings.

Last week, Chloe had been emotional, almost to the point of irrational. Would things be different if he wrapped his arms around her and held her. First, she found out her father was dying and then Drew's part in her father's attempt at matchmaking and finally she came to a wrongful conclusion that he and Anna were sleeping together again. Why didn't he offer more support? Wouldn't that have soothed her and then they might have talked rationally?

Now, it was too late.

Drew loved Chloe, and like his father, was the biggest damn fool for doubting his emotions. Since she walked out, he'd learned first-hand the worst ache of loneliness. Sure, he'd been tempted to call up an old girlfriend to ease his pain, but he wanted Chloe, no one else. Indeed, he loved her and wanted to spend his life loving her.

Now that he realized he loved her, how could he prove his love enough to get her back?

* * *

Drew glanced up from the case he was working on to see his brothers walking into the house. Boxes were stacked everywhere as he only unpacked the bare necessities until his furniture arrived from his apartment in Dallas. So far, he loved living in a home filled with family history.

The only missing piece of his life was Chloe.

His brothers, Jim and Kyle walked in the door. "Drew," Jim said, looking around. "This is perfect. Chloe did a great job refurbishing this old house and making it look nice."

A beautiful house, an empty home without her there to share it with him, but he was trying his best to learn to adjust.

"How was the honeymoon?" Drew asked.

"You should try it sometime. Nothing like escaping for a few days to the mountains to relax and enjoy your wife. So, what's going on with you and Chloe? Haven't seen you two together lately."

Kyle sank down in a chair next to Drew. "Hey, brother, how's your love life?"

Leaning back Drew gazed at two most important men in his life. "All right, what's up. Why do I feel like the love police have descended on my home and I'm about to be arrested for failing to yield?"

Jim looked at Kyle. "Sounds good to me. What do you think?"

"Convicted as charged. But I think he'll lawyer up before Ryan puts him behind bars."

The reason for this meeting was clear. Concern for a brother and they heard he and Chloe were no longer dating. The Cupid dance had lost.

"This feels familiar," Drew said. "Didn't I sit in on both of your ‘come to the altar’ meetings?"

"Is that what we're doing?" Jim inquired.

"Look, brother, we're happily married. Dancing around the God of Love I believed was a bunch of bunk, but somehow the outcome turned into happiness. What happened between you and your lady?"

What could Drew say without making it even worse. "Let's just say, I'm like our father. I'm just a nut case."

Jim frowned. "Our parents were not crazy."

"Well, I seem to have taken their traits and thrown in a dash of lunacy. Chloe made me realize that since Mom died, my sadness had me going out and sleeping with women, but never wanting a serious relationship.

“After we talked, I consulted a therapist and she gave it some fancy diagnosis and put me in a grief counseling group. Though Mom's been gone for years, it's helped me understand how to cope better with her loss."

His brothers stared at him like he had taken a nose dive over the edge of a cliff, but he didn't care. As a lawyer and a human being, he needed to understand his destructive behavior before it destroyed his life. Only his clients were the people he wanted to clean up after making terrible decisions.

When Chloe first mentioned his promiscuity could be linked to his mother's death, he thought it sounded ridiculous. Dr. Goodman showed him how he searched for comfort in the form of a one-night stand.

Now the counseling group taught him how to handle her unexpected death. If he had known she would die that day, he would have been by her side, but it happened so suddenly.

"Wow, that is the last thing I expected to hear from you," Kyle said.

Promiscuous sex and the death of their parents didn't really go together and his brothers thought he was a playboy out having fun. The family never associated his actions with the overwhelming guilt and anguish of a loved one. How depression could cause you to act irresponsibly.

"So how does this make you similar to our parents?" Jim asked.

With an uncomfortable laugh, Drew began to tell their mother's tale. "While Chloe was demolishing the house, she must have found our mother's diary."

"Mom wondered where that book disappeared to," Jim said sitting up. "What does it say?"

Shaking his head, Drew smiled. "Did you know our father bumped into our mother running around the Cupid statue?"

Their eyes grew large as they stared at each other. "What? They never said anything. Why wouldn't they tell us," Kyle asked.

"Because Dad didn't want us kids to do anything outrageous like that silly Cupid superstition," Jim said. "I remember him telling me not to call him if I got caught dancing naked at that statue. He never said a word about him and Mom doing it."

"Why didn't she tell us?" Kyle said, throwing his hands up in the air. "Mom was always open with us."

"Mother promised him she would never tell any children they had about how they bumped into each other at the Cupid dance."

The brothers sat in silence for a moment. "When you're done, I want to read that diary," Jim said.

"Me, too," Kyle admitted. "Back to Drew. How does this affect you and your lady?"

Drew steepled his hands. "Our father resisted marrying our mother. She gave up on him and walked away determined to get over Dad, but at the eleventh hour, he came running back. We almost weren't born, gentleman."

"And you are resisting marrying Chloe," Jim asked.

"Yes," Drew said. "Yes, and to make things more complicated, her father's days are numbered and he would like to live long enough to see her marry."

For over a week, he had gone back and forth thinking of his options, deciding what he should do. Drew loved Chloe, but would she accept an engagement? Clarity came to him, and the answer before he asked the question.

Time to go all in or be kicked to the curb.

More than anything, this time alone had proven he loved Chloe. Even Anna, standing in front of him in her mini skirt and heels, told him he was a fool for not manning up and putting a ring on that girl’s finger. At dinner, she said he needed to grow a set of balls, which not only shocked, but insulted him.

"What are you going to do?" Jim asked.

"Before you respond to that question. Do you love her?" Kyle asked.

"Madly," Drew said. "She's mad as hell at me and I can't blame her, but I'm going after her. I've been trying to think of a way that would prove to her I love her. It has to be something big, guys."

"Oh, we got this," Kyle said.

"Oh, yeah, we'll get you all fixed up."

* * *

Chloe was working on a new house. Redoing Drew's grandmother's house had gotten her two new clients and already she was in the demolition stage on one house. And it felt good to smash cabinets from the wall. The men in her crew stood way back when she swung the sledgehammer, putting all her body weight into knocking down walls.

With each blow, an exhilaration went through her.

"Chloe," she heard her foreman yell her name.

"What?" she asked really not wanting to be disturbed.

"Someone is here to see you," he said.

Whirling around, there stood Anna, Drew's girlfriend in the doorway. All work ceased as every eye stared at Anna's long legs, short skirt, and makeup fitting an actress.

"What do you want?" Right now, she didn't want to talk to the seductress who lured Drew away. The Devil take him, she could have him.

Liar, her heart immediately responded.

"A few minutes of your time, please," Anna said. "Outside where we can speak in private."

Dropping the hammer, everyone watched as she followed Anna out the door, wondering what the woman wanted.

When they stepped far enough away from the house, Anna stopped and turned to face her.

"Look, I realize you and Drew had been dating and somehow you think the two of us got re-entangled with each other, but that's not true. I'm a lawyer and Drew has been helping me on a divorce case in the next county over.

“Nothing romantically is happening between us and not from my lack of trying either. Girl, I don't know what you've done to that man, but he is steadfast in his devotion to you."

"The other morning you were in his office."

"Yes, we were on our way to Parker county courthouse to negotiate one of the largest divorce settlements in the state of Texas. That woman is now richer than God, thanks to our teamwork," she said with a coo.

Chloe stood back, staring, considering what the woman was saying, not ready to admit everything was fine once again. Her world hadn't been right since the night her father told her of his illness.

"Whatever happened between the two of you devastated the man. Drew is suffering, and frankly, I think this mess is all one big misunderstanding. He needs you."

While it was good news, she still had questions.

"He's not been sleeping around again?"

Anna started laughing. "The man doesn't even glance at women anymore. At first, it was kind of sad, but now I understand the reason. I've always thought he needed to settle down some, but he turned off the tap water and hasn't gone in for a swim in a long time."

Chloe considered the woman for a moment. "You're not just covering for him."

Why would an ex-girlfriend cover for him, especially when she'd been trying to lure him back into her bed.

"Oh, honey, he doesn't have a clue I'm here and would probably be mad as hell if he found out. Whatever happened between the two of you was beautiful, but you need to bring it back and quick. He's meaner than a hornet's nest at an orgy."

A feeling of relief spread through Chloe. "Thank you for coming and telling me. Let's keep this our little secret. Let me think about it."

Anna reached out and hugged her. "For the sake of his clients, please make it hasty. You two are such a cute couple. You'll have beautiful babies."

"Before we start talking children, Drew and I need to see if there is a chance of us being a couple again."