Chapter Twenty
Twelve days. Charli was about ready to surrender, to admit that Grady wasn’t coming back, and give in to the heartbreak and despair. Out of the blue, she flashed back to that day she’d met Grady
She, Cody and Hannah were standing on the sidewalk, admiring the view as Grady walked away. “Girl, you don’t have a clue the bag of worms you’re about to open,” Hannah said.
“Why?” Charli would have looked at her, but she was still enjoying watching Grady’s fine ass as he strolled along.
“Because Grady Judd has broken the heart of every woman he’s ever been involved with. Every single one. They all fall in love with him and then he ups and leaves like a circus that’s gotten all it can from the townsfolk and is ready for new pickins.”
Charli reluctantly turned away from watching Grady and focused on Hannah. “That has to be an exaggeration.”
“No. It’s not.”
Charli looked at Cody. “Seriously?”
“Seriously.”
“Okay, so he’s a heartbreaker. There are plenty of those in the world, but you make him sound like wraith who swoops in, steals a girl’s heart and then disappears like a bad dream. And we know that’s not the case. First, does he live here and if so, what does he do?”
“Yeah, he lives here. He has a spread about ten miles west of town.”
“And does what on this spread?”
“Cattle mostly. He did lease some of his land for a windmill farm.”
“So if he raises cattle, how can he afford to just up and leave town after he breaks another heart? That doesn’t make any sense.”
Cody shrugged. “I don’t know. All I can tell you is that it’s been happening as long as I can remember.”
“Well, I don’t buy it, but I can understand how he’d have ample opportunity to break a heart or two. That’s one dangerously fine man.”
“And one that could break your heart if you’re not careful,” Hannah warned.
Charli chuckled. “Honey, this isn’t my first rodeo and I’m not looking for Mr. Forever—just Mr. Take Me There, if you know what I mean.”
Cody laughed, but Hannah didn’t. “Make fun if you want, but I’m telling you, you need to be careful with him, Charli.”
“Oh, I intend to.” Charli wouldn’t admit it, but she didn’t disbelieve Hannah. There was something about Grady Judd that got to her in a big way, which was fine and dandy if it was just about two people pleasuring one another. But something in his eyes told her there was more to him than people knew, and that was what made him dangerous to her because she was a real sucker for a mystery.
Particularly one that filled out a pair of jeans like Grady Judd did.
Today, Charli had a whole new appreciation for the heartbreaking powers of Grady Judd. Her heart was perilously close to being completely broken. Charli jumped as her phone rang. She snatched it up from the porch rail.
It was Grady.
She purposely let it right twice more and tried to sound uneager as she answered. “Hey you.”
“Hey, gorgeous. Miss me?”
“Umm, maybe a little.”
“I missed you. A lot.”
“Good to know.”
“Are you free right now?”
“I am.”
“I need a favor. It’s important.”
Something in his voice had her sitting up from where she reclined in the porch swing. “What?”
“There’s a private airfield between Cotton Creek and Taylorsville. The Legacy family uses it. I’ll have a private plane there in an hour. I need you to get on that plane.”
“And go where?”
“To me. In Kentucky.”
“Why?”
“I’ll explain when you get here. Please, Charli.”
“Okay. See you soon.”
“Thank you. I’ll be waiting when you land.”
Charli rose and went inside to change.
Five minutes later, she was out the door. By the time she reached the airstrip, she’d run through every scenario she could think of as to why he’d called and what their reunion would be like.
She gnawed on those scenarios for a good two hours in the air. When the plane landed, she had no more than gotten out before a truck pulled up on the tarmac and Grady got out.
God almighty, would it forever take her breath to see him walking toward her? Hunger swept through her like the sudden demand of addiction. The only thing that tempered it, keeping it from being strictly lascivious, was the swell of emotion that competed for dominance.
There he was. The man she loved. If he wasn’t making her weak with desire, he was stealing her strength with love.
“Hey, gorgeous.” He stopped inches from her, raised both hands to cup her face and delivered a long slow kiss that was powerful enough to stop time. Charli didn’t move, didn’t touch him or made a sound. She just took what he had to give and when he pulled back, she felt like a planet whose orbit had moved it away from the sun.
“Why am I here?“
“I need to show you something, to talk to you.”
“About what?”
“Just be patient a little while longer, okay?”
Charli wondered if this was some elaborate ruse to dump her. It didn’t feel that way, but it also made no sense. Grady seemed nervous and that was as out of the ordinary as it got. But she nodded, got in his truck, and endured the silent half-hour drive.
When he parked on a sidewalk in a small town, she was even more baffled. He got out, circled around the back, opened her door for her, and gestured to a metal gate.
“A cemetery?” Now she was more confused. “Grady, why are we here?”
“Please.” He offered his hand and after a second, she took it.
In silence, they walked. When they stopped beneath the shade of a stately oak, she looked at him to find him looking down. Her gaze went to the two tombstones under the tree and time seemed to freeze in place.
“They were the sun in my sky, the reason I lived. A drunk driver took that away from me. I was on a mission and didn’t know for nearly two weeks. By the time I found out, they were already here. My wife and my daughter.”
Charli knelt and looked at the gravestones. “They were so young.” She looked up at him. “You lost so much. I’m sorry, Grady.”
She stood and he took her hands. “It was after that I moved to Cotton Creek. My grandfather was still alive and I couldn’t be here in anymore, not in the place where we grew up and fell in love and had a life and a child. I couldn’t be here.
“And I couldn’t let myself care after that. I wanted to be close, but all I could deal with was sex and a good time. If someone cared, it scared me. I couldn’t ever let myself be in the position to be hurt like that again. Losing them almost ended me. I wasn’t willing to risk that kind of pain again.”
He gave her hands a squeeze. “Then you showed up and changed everything. When I came home to hear that you’d been abducted, it felt like it was happening all over again. I nearly lost it, Charli.
“When I walked into that basement and saw you, I wanted to fall to my knees and cry like a baby. I was scared and not ashamed to admit it. And then before you could give your statement, I got that call. I’m sorry. I wanted to stay with you.”
“I handled it.”
“I never doubted that you would. Still, I’m sorry. I guess I could have waited until you were done and I could have explained, but to be completely honest, when I got the call all I could think was I had to go.”
“Go where?”
Grady pulled his phone from his pocket, accessed his photos, and showed her an image. It was of a man in probably his mid-thirties with a beautiful young woman who was very pregnant.
“One of my team, Johnny and his wife. He…he died and left his wife Belinda and baby daughter behind. He and his wife named me godfather to their daughter, Josie. That night, the call was from a hospital in Kentucky. Belinda was t-boned in her car coming back from a doctor’s appointment for Josie. She didn’t make it.
“Josie had a concussion and they kept her for three days just to make sure everything was okay. During that time, I contacted Johnny and Belinda’s parents. Johnny’s folks are divorced. His mom is remarried and lives in New York. She didn’t want the baby. Nor did his father.
“Belinda’s father is deceased and her mother’s health isn’t good, so she didn’t want the baby. And as it turns out when they read the wills Johnny and Belinda had on file with their attorney, they wanted me to raise Josie.”
Of all the things Charli had imagined, this was not one of them. “So, what now?”
“Now is that moment that scares the living shit out of me.” He placed a call. “We’re here. Yes, okay.”
Grady gestured to one side and Charli saw a tall black man walking down the sidewalk toward them. It looked like he was carrying a baby.
When he reached them, he smiled at her and handed the child to Grady.
Grady nodded. “Thanks, Mike, I owe you.”
“Anytime, Captain. Johnny would be happy to know his baby girl will have a good daddy.” With that, Mike turned and walked away.
Grady looked at Charli. “Charli, meet Josie. As of this morning, she’s officially my daughter.”
One look at the baby and Charli’s heart melted. “Oh my God, she’s beautiful, Grady. But how are you going to raise her? I mean, with what you do and the way you can get called away and—“
“That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. I was thinking that maybe it’s time for me to quit.”
“The SEALs? Are you serious? What would you do?”
“Get married and raise a daughter?”
Charli felt her mouth fall open, felt her entire body react in shock. “I—wha— I don’t know what you mean.”
“I mean, marry me, Charli. Please. I love you and I want to be with you. I want to raise this little girl with you, have a half dozen of our own, and grow old with you.”
“Are you serious?”
“I’ve never been more serious about anything in my life. I know what it means to love and to lose and I don’t want to lose you. What I had before, it was my first love and I’ll never forget it and I’ll never stop loving them.
“But you? There’s no doubt in my mind that you’re the epic love of my life, the one who will make me whole, make me happy. So, what do you say, Charli? Will you marry me?”
Charli reached over and placed her hand on the baby’s head, feeling the downy soft hair and watching the little smile that came on Josie’s face. Then she looked at Grady.
“This morning I woke thinking that everything I’d heard about you was right. That you were nothing more than a heartbreaker and I was nothing more than the latest in your string of broken hearts.”
“And now?”
“Now, I know that you can be, but you’re far more hero than heartbreaker, and I think I’ve been hanging on for hero for a long time.”
“Honey, I’d love nothing more than to be your hero for life.”
“Then let’s get married, Grady and have those half-dozen kids and grow old together. Let’s see if happily-ever-after can be our tale.”
“God, I love you.” Grady used his free hand to pull her close. When their lips met, Charli knew that whatever hell she’d suffered and whatever hells he had endured, it had led them to right now. The moment when love conquered all and dreams came true.