Chapter Twenty-Three

Addie

I wake with a strange heat beside me. Cliff tightens his hold on me. I snuggle into him, loving how it feels as he stirs. He’s awake; I can feel the change in his breathing.

“Good morning,” I whisper.

He doesn’t answer but presses a kiss to my forehead in that way I freaking love. It’s amazing, this change in him. He’s more affectionate, but it’s not weird.

I want more of what we’d done last night. I want him to teach me everything. But the weight of everything that’s happened is pressing down on me, and I feel tears threatening.

I force them back, reminding myself that it’s going to be okay. Cliff isn’t going to let anything happen to me. He’s so protective, so very careful, that it doesn’t matter who comes after me or what they try. He’s not going to let anything happen.

“You’re not thinking of leaving, are you?” he asks, and I look over at him. There’s worry in his eyes, and I wonder if he’s actually scared I’m just going to run out on him.

“No,” I say, and there’s a gentle curve to the corners of his lips as his hand comes up to brush my hair off my face. “Because there’s nowhere you could go that I wouldn’t follow.” The gentle words are so soft and sweet, I feel my heart melting in my chest.

Love this man.

There’s just no denying it anymore. I reach out to touch his face, to feel the stubble he’s accrued overnight. His lips kiss my fingertips, and I can’t help but smile. Everything he does is larger than life, frightening even, yet I’m not afraid of him.

There’s a knock at the door, and my heart kicks so hard I feel like I’m going to be sick as panic sets in.

“Cliff?” a female voice says on the other side of the door.

“Yeah, we’ll be out in a few, okay?” he responds, and I hear love in his tone as he snuggles into me and places a hand over my chest like he can calm my thumping heart. “You get to meet my mother,” he says, pressing a kiss to my chin, my jaw, my cheek as I shove him away.

“Don’t do that with your mother outside the door,” I say, the words ending on a hiss of disbelief that he’s being so casual about kissing me right now.

“Yeah, she knows,” he says, laughter in his voice.

“That doesn’t make it better!” I say, feeling humiliated that his mother knows I’m sleeping with him before I even get to introduce myself. How embarrassing.

“She’s not going to judge you,” he says seriously as he sits up and begins to dress.

But even with these words on his lips, I can’t help but worry. What if she hates me? I just admitted that I love him to myself—if his mother hates me, how can I ever even consider a relationship with this man?

I dress with trembling fingers, worry eating at my thoughts. She’s going to think I’m just some dirty whore like the rest of the world. How could she not when her first impression of me is that I’m sleeping with her son? I don’t have a chance.

When I’m dressed I turn to Cliff, who’s watching me with a sexy grin on his handsome face.

“Stop it,” I say, and his grin grows.

“Can’t,” he says simply.

I roll my eyes at him. He opens the bedroom door and strides out, his shoulders square and his chin held high. I wish I had even an ounce of his confidence as I slink behind him, hoping not to be noticed.

“There you are!” I hear the woman’s voice and wince. She walks up to hug Cliff, and I’m struck. She’s tall and beautiful, her hair dark as Cliff’s with a distinguished stripe of silver slightly to the right of her part. Her face is beautiful, her eyes navy and her cheekbones wide and high.

Behind her a tall man who’s the spitting image of Cliff, though older, turns and walks up to pat Cliff’s shoulder. Then they part. His mother cups his cheeks and looks him over.

“You’ve been eating. Good boy,” she says, her voice cool and calm, and I can’t help but like her.

Then she looks past him at me, and I shrink back in fear as she steps around him and walks toward me.

“You’re beautiful,” she breathes, her eyes tracing my face, her hands coming up to touch my face like she can’t believe I’m real. She glances over her shoulder at Cliff, and I sense she’s approving before she turns back to me. Without another word, she pulls me into a hug. I hug her back, surprised by how easily she seems to accept me.

When she backs off, she takes both my hands and holds them, her eyes locked on mine. The guys walk off, talking in low voices as I stand here with his mother.

“I’m Robin,” she says, and I nod.

“Addie,” I say, before clearing my throat and trying again. “Madeline. My friends call me Addie.”

“Beautiful,” she states again. “Cliff has never brought a woman home, so I assume it’s serious?” There’s an open expression on her face that leaves me sure I can confide in her.

“Um, kind of. He’s just… protecting me.” I say, unable to explain things. I don’t know how much she knows, or how much I even want to tell her.

“Oh, you poor thing. You have no idea, do you?” she says, and I look back into her eyes in shock. She studies me a moment, her face breaking into a smile before she pulls me into a hug. “I’m very pleased to meet you,” she says, and I echo her sentiment.

“Me too,” I say with a lot less eloquence. I’m still puzzling over what she means as the men walk back into the room and her father comes to my side. He stands, looking down on me as Robin releases my hands and steps back.

“I’m Addie,” I say, unsure how to handle him. He’s so… intense. He really is a copy of Cliff, though older. Though I guess Cliff would be the copy, since his father came first.

I offer my hand, but his father pulls me into a hug. “Welcome,” he says gruffly in my ear, and I hug him tight. This welcome is so much more than I could have ever hoped for.

These people are kind and wonderful. They’re not judging me like I expected, ad they don’t seem to care who I am or where I came from; their son vouching for me is all it takes to gain their love and trust.

“Thank you,” I whisper, feeling tears crowding my eyes. I blink them back, not wanting to look like a cry baby to these wonderful people.

“Breakfast?” Robin says, and Cliff nods. She hurries off to the kitchen, and Cliff follows her after giving me a dark stare that promises that I’m not off the hook yet. I shiver, standing close to his father.

“So how do you like it here?” his father asks, and I smile up at him as we walk toward the back door.

“It’s beautiful. Cliff is very fortunate to have such fond family memories of this place,” I say, and his father nods. Outside, the air has a snap of chill to it, and I breathe deeply as it ignites my lungs. We wander toward the docks as his father asks about my parents, and I give honest answers.

I explain that we haven’t talked in a while and I feel bad for it, but life has managed to get in the way. We talk about how important family is, and how much love there is in our families. And I decide I like him.

“Cliff is a good guy,” his father says, and I answer absentmindedly as we stand on the dock overlooking the blue lake.

“Yeah, he is,” I say, loving the way the wind whips the lake into white caps. It’s picturesque.

I’m happy here. Even with all the pain that’s been plaguing my life, I feel safe here, at home, loved and accepted. It’s more than I could have ever hoped for.

“I love him.” The words slip out, and I peek up at his father, worried about his reaction.

“Have you told him?” he asks, his eyes scanning the lake.

“No.” I feel ashamed of the admission and how weak and silly I must look right now. His father turns to me. He takes both my shoulders in his hands and looks me in the eyes. “Want my advice?” he asks, and I nod, mute in the face of this moment.

“The only thing I regret,” he says, his voice soft, “was waiting for what I was told to expect. The world tells us that love looks like this, and feels like that, and we should act a certain way.” He’s so very honest and gentle, I feel the words touching my heart and I nod.

“But if it feels right and it feels good, just listen to that feeling, okay?”

I nod, and he releases my shoulders and turns to look over the lake again. “Is the fishing any good?” I ask, and he laughs.

“Yeah, bass and rainbow trout,” he says, “And catfish if you’re fishing deep.”

“Got any extra poles?” I ask, and he’s quick to tell me I’ll find everything I need in the garage.