Violet.

It was our last night in California. Our flight left early the next morning and Jaxon was standing outside of Cooper’s house arguing with his mother. Cooper thought it was funny, then again, I had learned Cooper had to be the most laidback person I’d ever met, until someone crossed the line of the law. I’d learned that when Cooper Cain was pissed he gave Zane Lewis a run for his money. He believed in protecting the underdog almost as much as he loved his family.

Last night Jaxon had gone over all the details of what had happened. I watched as Cooper became angrier and angrier; the lines on his forehead deepened, his brow pulled together, and the pulsing in his neck was visible. If Jaxon hadn’t already killed Ortega, I had no doubt Cooper would have been on the next flight to Brazil. I loved how the Cain men were so protective. I was going to miss Cooper when we left, though he did say he’d come out in a few months to visit us. Us! Not Jaxon, us.

Hope had more than taken root and grown into something more. I wanted a future with Jaxon. When I told him that last night, he pulled me close, tangled our feet together like he always did, and said thank fuck. Then he’d asked me a question that scrambled my brain. He wanted me to move in with him. He told me all about his big colonial and there was plenty of space if I wanted my own bedroom for a while. He wanted me to think about it and give him an answer when I was ready. I wanted to blurt out I was ready now. I wanted nothing more than to move in with him. I wanted to put the past behind me, start fresh, and not go back to living my sad lonely life. And that thought had stopped me in my tracks. I needed time to think, time to explore my feelings and make sure I wasn’t using Jaxon to escape what I considered a half-life. I didn’t want to do that to him. He was a good man and deserved only the best of intentions. I needed to be one-hundred-percent certain I was with him for the right reasons.

I couldn’t worry about any of that now when Jaxon was arguing with his mom because of me. When she’d pulled into the driveway Jaxon gave Cooper a death stare that was so intense I was surprised Cooper hadn’t burst into flames. After telling Cooper he was going to kick his ass after he’d dealt with his mom, he hung his head and stomped outside.

Yes, the man stomped like a child getting ready to get scolded. In a way, I guess he was. His mom was pissed Jaxon hadn’t told her he was in town and she had to hear it from Cooper. For his part, Cooper was standing next to me grinning like a fool.

“You’re evil,” I told him.

His smile faded when he turned to me. “Jaxon needed a shove.”

“A shove?” I asked.

“He is so wrapped up in protecting you, he forgot about his greatest ally, our mom.”

How bad could meeting his mom be? I’d never done the whole meet the parents thing as an adult, but it couldn’t be that bad. Could it? And Jaxon would be next to me. By the sound of the escalating voices, I had to put a stop to this.

“Enough, Jaxon,” I said when I opened the door. Two sets of angry eyes swung my way and Mrs. Cain’s body jerked. Shit, I’d forgotten about my face. Before I could greet her, or make an excuse about my face, she made her way to me and hugged me. Jeez, the Cain family liked to hug.

“You are even more beautiful than Cooper told me you were.” She took a second to enunciate his name and shot Jaxon a look. Now I saw where he got his death glare from. His mother’s look was almost as good as his. “Let me make us a cup of tea. Jaxon needs a timeout. Then the boys will have a fight because Cooper told me you were here. We don’t need to watch them.”

I couldn’t help but smile at her. She knew her boys well. And it may’ve seemed she was complaining about Jaxon’s behavior, but her words were laced with love and affection for her boy.

“That sounds wonderful, Mrs. Cain.”

“Please call me Abby, sweetheart, or mom. Whichever you prefer is fine.”

Mom?

My eyes found Jaxon; he was still standing with his arms crossed over his broad chest and a scowl on his face.

“That was exactly why I didn’t want this to happen. Violet is not ready for mom,” Jaxon said, looking over my head to Cooper.

“Ready for me?” Abby asked, the adoration gone replaced with hurt.

Instinctively, I grabbed her hand and when she looked at me I tried to excuse his harsh words. “He didn’t mean anything bad by it. Right, Jaxon? He’s just worried because I’m so embarrassed about my face, that’s all. I didn’t want to meet Cooper, I’m not at my …” I stopped and pointed to my face. “Best right now.”

“That’s not what I meant. Baby, I don’t give two shits if you meet my family wearing a paper bag. What that fuckwit did to your face makes you no less beautiful. I know my mom. I knew the minute she caught wind I’d brought you here, which was supposed to be used for you to relax and catch your breath after the shit time you’ve had, she’d get ideas in her head and pop over.”

“Oh. I don’t think anyone has any ideas. And I am relaxed.”

“Pleased you’re relaxed, Vi, but she does have ideas in her head. And while she’s not wrong in her assessment of the situation, I didn’t want you freaked out.” What was he talking about? Did the Cain family have some secret code only they could decipher?

“Now who’s freaking her out, idiot?” Cooper said. “And please come in the house and shut the door. Christ, I don’t live in the hood. My neighbors will call the cops.”

“I’m not freaked out,” I lied. I was freaked the fuck out. I didn’t know what ideas Jaxon was talking about and I didn’t think I wanted to know.

“Bullshit, but you try and hide it well.” Cooper laughed. “My brother is strange. He has this thing, it goes back to high school. He never brought any of the girls he dated to our house. Ever. Used to drive my mom crazy. She’s never met any of them. His prom date came to the house, but she didn’t count because they were just friends. Girlfriends, never. Our house was completely off-limits.”

“I’m not strange,” Jaxon argued, but didn’t correct what Cooper had said about girlfriends.

Was I his girlfriend? Weren’t we too old to be girlfriend and boyfriend? I’d heard him call me his woman, but I didn’t quite understand if that was different in some way.

“He told me I didn’t need to meet the girls he dated. When he was ready, he’d bring me the woman he was going to marry,” she whispered.

I rolled my eyes to the heavens and looked at the ceiling, praying to all things holy not to let the tear that had formed fall. I didn’t want Jaxon to think I was putting stock in what his mom had said, or I would somehow believe she thought he’d want to marry me. He hadn’t even told me he loved me. And technically he didn’t bring me to her, she came to me.

“Christ! The both of you. Either of you ever stop to think that maybe I would’ve liked to tell my woman I loved her before you…” he pointed to his brother, “told stories about me not wanting women around my family. And you…” he pointed to his mom, “telling her I was delivering you my bride like we were back in the 1800s. Nothing like scaring the shit out of her.”

Huh? Come again? Did he say loved me? Abby squeezed my hand. Cooper chuckled. And Jaxon growled at Cooper for laughing.

“See? A shove,” Cooper said.

“Come on. Let’s get our tea,” Abby offered.

I didn’t have a choice to follow when she tugged my hand, leaving Cooper and Jaxon alone in the living room. Not that I objected leaving the room, tea sounded perfect - anything to get my head on straight.

“Will they be okay?” I asked.

“Eh. If something breaks, it’s not my house,” she laughed.

We made tea and took it outside to Cooper’s beautiful backyard oasis.

“I love it back here,” I told Abby. “I live in an apartment in Virginia. I don’t have a yard. I hadn’t realized how much I missed sitting outside and enjoying the fresh air.”

“Have Jaxon build you a patio. Maybe he can put in a four-seasons room, so you can enjoy it all year long and you won’t get eaten by those giant mosquitos they have in Maryland. You can take out the glass in the spring and summer and still enjoy the fresh air.”

Build me a patio? She really had the wrong idea.

“Jaxon only brought me here so I could get my feet under me after the kidnapping. That’s all. Nothing more is going on.”

“Nonsense. Jaxon could’ve taken you anywhere. He chose here so you’d be around family.”

“But, really we only just met. We’re just starting out. I don’t think he thought things through.”

“That boy has thought things through since he was five years old. He always studied whatever was in front of him, not making a move or decision until he could predict the outcome. Word of advice, never play chess with him. He’ll win.” How could I make her understand she was wrong? She was, wasn’t she? “Cooper is… smart… he knew how to manipulate Jaxon. Sometimes Jax thinks too much and needs a push in the right direction. Cooper would never had said anything to me if he hadn’t seen his brother struggling. He brought you here for a reason. He needed Cooper. He needed his brother to see for himself how much he loved you, so his brother could push him to a decision. They’ve always been that way.”

“Thinks too much? I don’t think he’s thought about it enough. He asked me to move in.” I realized my mistake when a Cheshire cat smile crossed her face. “It’s too soon, right?”

“There is not an impulsive bone in my boy’s body. He plans, he plots, he thinks, and he takes. What do you want?”

“I want to move in, and build a four seasons room, and have people over for dinner, and come visit you, and bring my brother to meet you. I want to be happy and laugh, I want to see Jaxon smile at me, I want to cook him dinner, I want to tangle my legs with his every night, I want to know everything about him. I want him happy, I want to marry him, I want… him,” I rushed out.

“Then he’s yours.”

“Is he behind me?” I whispered, not wanting to believe I’d heard Jaxon’s voice.

“Did I forget to tell you both my boys are sneaky, too?”

I had been so wrapped up talking to Abby I hadn’t been paying attention to the fact there was no more yelling between the brothers.

“Come here, Vi,” he said.

“I don’t think I can stand,” I admitted, both my knees bouncing with my frayed nerves.

“Excuse me, mom,” he said as he leaned in, put his hand under my pits, and hauled me up into his arms.

It didn’t matter that my knees were knocking together, and I couldn’t catch my balance. Jaxon would hold me. He’d never let me fall.

“I love you, Violet Meyers.”

“I love you, too, Jaxon Cain.”

“You wanna be my wife, huh?”

“Is that an offer?” I giggled.

“One day, soon.”

“Soon?”

“Yes, soon, Vi.”

I smiled against his chest, no longer worried about my intentions, accepting Jaxon’s offer to move in. I did want to put the past behind me. I did want to start fresh, and not go back to living my sad lonely life. I wanted to do those things with Jaxon by my side. I also wanted to give those things to him. I realized, standing outside in the warm California sun, that I wouldn’t change a thing about the last six months. Everything that had happened led me to this moment.

To Jaxon.

I no longer wanted to erase my mistakes. I owned them. They are part of my journey, a part of Jaxon’s.

“Can we build a patio like this at your house?” I asked.

“Our house,” he answered.

“Huh?”

“It’s our house, Vi. And yes, you can have a patio, and the four seasons room, and the waterfall, you can have it all.”

“I already do.”