Chapter Twenty-Six
EMERY HAD WOKEN up in Dean’s arms Monday morning and they’d made slow, sweet love. Afterward, Dean had dipped his toes into learning yoga. They’d ended up kissing more than exercising, and when Dean turned onto his stomach and began doing push-ups, all his glorious muscles flexing temptingly, Emery had lain on his back. Can you handle a few more pounds? Dean had pumped out thirty more push-ups with ease before sweeping her beneath him and taking her in more delicious kisses. Drake and Rick had interrupted them and dragged Dean off for a run, which she knew he needed—the run, and the guy time. She’d taught her morning class and then found Dean putting the final touches on the flagstone patio, which was beyond gorgeous. He’d called Rose that morning, as unbeknownst to Emery, he did most mornings, and he’d told her everything.
Now, as Emery waited in Rose’s living room while Rose got ready for their session, her nerves got the better of her.
It felt weirdly confining to meet in her room again instead of the larger one downstairs, but Magdeline and Arlin were down in the theater watching a special showing of Gone with the Wind, and they didn’t need the extra space for their session. Emery had offered to reschedule so Rose could watch the movie, but Rose claimed she’d had enough Clark Gable for one lifetime. She said she’d be happy to plunk herself down and watch Dirty Dancing if they ever gave her the chance.
“I’ll just get the mats ready,” Emery called into the bedroom, and began moving the coffee table and chairs.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were dating my grandson?” Rose called out to her.
“I knew you and the other ladies knew Dean because of his work in the gardens, and I didn’t want to make things weird for him. But I honestly didn’t realize you were his grandmother until I met his father.”
“Okay, I’ll buy that,” Rose said, as if she had a choice. “But what’s your plan now?”
Emery huffed out a breath, thinking about the weekend. After his mother’s visit, Dean had received a call from Jett, who was out of town again. They’d spoken for more than an hour, and Dean had seemed relieved when he’d finally ended the call. The rest of the weekend had passed in a strange bubble of contentment for Emery and Dean. They both thought it was odd that they could be so happy having breakfast with their friends, going swimming in the ocean, and out to dinner while the relationship between Dean and his father was in complete turmoil. But while stargazing on the patio last night, they’d realized the love they shared was exclusively theirs. Family would always have a hold on them on some level, and they were both determined to try to make things better with his father. But no matter what happened with his father, or in the future with any other family members, they knew it wouldn’t lessen what they felt for each other.
“Emmie?” Rose called from the bedroom, pulling Emery from her thoughts. “Silence is not always golden.”
After everything Dean had told her that his mother had said to him, she wondered if maybe his father just needed extra love and understanding. “I’m going to kill him with kindness,” Emery answered.
She heard Rose laughing at the same moment a knock sounded at the door.
“Want me to answer that?”
“Please. It’s probably Mag and Arlin realizing that even Clark Gable gets boring after a while. We might need to head down to the larger room after all. I’m just going to use the bathroom. I’ll be right out.”
Emery pulled the door open, and the hair on the back of her neck stood on end. “Mr. Masters.”
Surprise registered in the clenching of his jaw, and she saw a flash of Dean in that mannerism.
“Emery,” he said tightly, and walked past her.
Emery closed her eyes for a second, inhaling a calming breath. It didn’t help. She turned and found him standing in the center of the room, looking like a bomb ready to explode.
“Where is my mother?”
She bit back the urge to say, She’s busy being ashamed of you for your lack of manners, straightened her spine, and reminded herself of her resolution to be extra understanding. Forcing a smile, she said, “She’s in the bathroom. How are you today?”
He visibly bristled, clearly surprised by her kindness. “Late for a meeting.”
“I’m sorry. I meant, how are you. I wasn’t asking about your schedule. You had a trying time Friday night, and I apologize for my part in that.” She felt herself shaking and clasped her hands in front of her, hoping he wouldn’t notice.
A deep V appeared between his brows, as if he didn’t understand what she’d said. “Yes, well. No apology necessary.”
She had no idea if it was courage or stupidity, or why she was doing it, but her shaky legs carried her toward him. “I believe an apology is necessary. I was raised to be polite, and though I have no idea why you don’t approve of my career, or my being with your son, I am sorry for whatever I’ve done to cause strife between the two of you.”
His eyes narrowed. “It’s not my job to approve or disapprove of your career.”
“Darn right it’s not,” she said before she could check herself, but he was looking at her with a piercing stare. She’d be darned if she’d allow him of all people to spend one more second making her feel small.
“As for my son, he’s capable of being a much greater man than he’s achieved, and your involvement with him could hold him back.”
“What on earth are you talking about?” So much for kindness. “Dean is twice the man you’ll ever be.”
He drew his shoulders back, and she swore he grew several inches taller right before her eyes. “I’m a leader in the field of pediatric neurosurgery. The head of three boards of directors. I have been invited to speak all over the world about—”
“Do you even hear yourself?” Her words tumbled out fast and accusatory. “You’re spouting all those things off as if they speak to who you are. You’re so messed up you don’t even see the difference, and here I felt sorry for you.”
He chuckled. “Young lady, I of all people do not need your pity.”
“You’re wrong,” she said, pointing up at him. “You need it more than anyone I know, even if you’re not deserving of it. You achieved those things you mentioned at the expense of your family. What kind of man does that? What kind of man leaves his adoring wife alone so he can hobnob with the rich? What kind of man doesn’t do everything within his power to make amends with his sons he left when they were teenagers? And I’m not talking about Dean.” She had verbal diarrhea, and there was no hope of stopping it despite his clenching jaw and the steam pouring out his ears. “What kind of man speaks to his own mother the way you do? You should be ashamed of yourself. You act like a spoiled child who expects the world—and even worse, your family—to kowtow to him. And you don’t care about your sons’ happiness.”
“What do you know about parenting?” he seethed in a voice so dead calm it sent her stepping backward.
“Douglas Masters, you hush your mouth right this second.”
They both turned at the sound of Rose’s voice. She stood in the bedroom doorway wearing a pair of black spandex pants and a shirt that had YOGA GRANNY emblazoned across her chest. Emery’s heart swelled and ached at once. She’d made such progress, and this was what she was forced to endure?
“Mother, sit down.” He rushed to her side, towering over Rose, and tried to usher her toward the couch. “You’ll hurt yourself.”
She swatted at his hands. “Douglas!”
He stilled, breathing hard.
“Do not touch me.” Rose smoothed a shaky hand down her chest. “I have sat by and watched you treat other people badly for a very long time. I am ashamed of that, but I’m more ashamed of the fact that despite years of love, years of me teaching you right from wrong and supporting your endeavors, you turned out to be just like your father.”
“He was a great man,” he said adamantly.
“He was a pillar of strength,” Rose agreed. “A great pediatric neurosurgeon, but he was not a great man.” She walked over to Emery, and his jaw hung open with disbelief at the sight of her walking, unaided, standing straighter than she had in who knew how long.
“Emery Andrews did what you could not. She helped me. She listened to me when I told her that I knew I’d be able to regain my mobility, and she believed in me. She is a great woman. You could learn a thing or two from her.”
“Mother—”
Rose silenced him with her palm and a glare so powerful Emery held her breath. “You are my son, but you are not omnipotent. Please do not do to your son what your father has done to you.”
His angry gaze moved between Emery and Rose, and Emery swore she saw sorrow beneath the anger flaming in his eyes. But that might have been wishful thinking. She was about ready to pass out. He straightened his spine once again, lifted his chin, and stormed out the door without a word.
The air rushed from Emery’s lungs, and sobs followed. She collapsed onto the couch. “I’m sorry,” she cried. “Oh, Rose, I’m so sorry.”
Rose sank down to the couch beside her and gently wrapped Emery in her arms. “Come to Grandma Rosie.”
“I’m sorry.” Emery cried on her shoulder, soaking in her comfort and feeling guilty at the same time.
“I’m not. He needed a good wallop in the patootie. You were the only one strong enough to give it to him.”
“I’ve ruined everything. He’ll never make up with Dean as long as I’m in his life.”
Rose held her tighter. “I’m his mother, and this hurts me to say, but he doesn’t matter, sweetheart. You and my grandson are the only two people in your relationship that matter. Don’t you let his bitterness spoil your beauty.”
Unable to speak past the lump in her throat, Emery stayed with Rose long after she finally stopped crying. Rose comforted her, and they talked about the changes Dean’s father had gone through and how she believed he’d fought them for as long as was humanly possible. They talked about Emery’s family and how she hadn’t missed them as much as she’d thought she might until recently. But she knew being with Dean was where she belonged. They talked until Emery built up the courage to go home and tell Dean what had happened.
As she drove down Dean’s street, she thought of the first day she’d arrived at the Cape and how her heart had leapt at the sight of Dean standing in the yard looking at her with what she knew now had been love in his eyes. She’d been so blind. But her eyes were wide open now. She had to get to him before his father made her seem out of her mind—
Oh, no.
She parked beside the shiny black Lexus, panting as if she’d just run a marathon. No, no, no! She might have lost her mind back there, but she’d meant every word she’d said, and she wasn’t going to let him twist it into something more horrible than it was and try to poison Dean toward her.
She threw her car door open, charged up the front steps, and flew through the front door, hoping she could save their relationship. Three men pushed to their feet.
Dean, his father, and the mini-me beside him had to be Jett.
And by the look on Dean’s face, she was too late.
DEAN FELT LIKE he’d been run over by a Mack truck. First his brother knocked him off-kilter by showing up out of the blue because “You needed me, bro,” then his father stormed into his house unannounced, and now Emery blew in, looking like she was facing a firing squad.
Not in my house.
It sounded to him as though she’d already faced that particular nightmare.
He ate up the space between them and wrapped her trembling body in his arms. “I’ve got you.”
“I’m sorry! I tried to be nice, but—”
“But you can’t do anything but be brutally honest,” Dean said in her ear. “And I adore you for that, doll.” His grandmother had once told him that the woman he’d fall in love with wasn’t the one who would keep him up all night doing dirty things or building up his ego. Though she may do those things, she’ll be the one you want to last forever for a million other reasons like the way she listens, and makes you think, and the way she makes you a better man. The woman you fall in love with will be the one you cherish and protect, like your mother’s treasured dolls. “You are my perfect match.”
She pulled back, her eyes darting erratically from him to Jett.
Jett lifted his chin and said, “Hey, spitfire.”
Her confused gaze slowed only long enough to reach his father. Her fingers curled tightly into Dean’s side as the man who had dismissed her career, thought she was a distraction to his son, and had tried to use her as a weapon against Dean lowered his gaze to the floor.
Dean couldn’t believe his eyes. His father never lowered his gaze. Not for anyone.
Emery pushed against Dean’s side, like she needed his strength to remain erect as her shaky voice threaded from her lips. “I’m sor—”
His father stepped forward, silencing her with his mere presence. His gaze was soft and apologetic as he opened his mouth to speak, then wordlessly closed it again.
Tension hung in the air like a ghost suffocating them all.
“Dad, you owe—”
This time it was Dean his father silenced, with the lifting of his large hand. “I know, son. Give me a minute, please.”
Dean tightened his grip on Emery, who seemed frozen in place.
“I am many things,” his father finally said in a regretful tone Dean had never heard until his father had appeared on his doorstep an hour earlier. “And until earlier today, I thought being a strong man was at the top of my list. Now I am beginning to understand that I have been mistaken.”
Emery’s nails dug into Dean’s waist, but she didn’t move, didn’t speak. Dean was pretty sure she couldn’t. Things were not fixed between him and his father, and definitely not between his father and Jett. But this was a start. When his father had stormed through his front door ranting about Emery, Dean had challenged him, and his father had collapsed in a chair, shaking his head, and said, You don’t understand, son. She’s right about what she said. She got under my skin. I have a lot of thinking and making up to do with too many people to count, but this is where it starts, and it’s because of that doll of yours.
“You’ve done great things,” she conceded.
“Don’t do that,” his father said sternly.
Her nails dug deeper into Dean’s skin. He ground his teeth together, willing to take whatever pain he needed to in order for her to get through this.
“Don’t back down on your convictions,” his father demanded. “I’ve achieved great things in my professional life, but you were right. I did so at an expense so great, I’m not sure it will ever have been worth it. But I want to try. I’m going to try. And I owe you a great deal of thanks.”
Tears streamed from Emery’s eyes as her hand slipped from Dean’s waist and she wrapped herself around his father’s chest, dwarfed by his size. His father’s arms hung stiff by his sides as he stared down at the top of her head, but she didn’t relent. She simply hugged him tighter.
His father’s gaze met Dean’s, and Dean said, “She only knows one way to be, Dad. As real as the day is long.”
Emery pushed back, and his father stopped her with an awkward, but well-meaning embrace.
Sometime later, after a more-than-slightly uncomfortable conversation and promises to work on figuring things out, Dean closed the door behind his father, feeling like he could breathe for the first time in years.
“I never thought I’d see the day…” Dean pulled Emery into his arms and hugged her.
“This hasn’t been a great way to get to know you,” Emery said to Jett. “I didn’t know you’d be here. I promise I’m really not a crazy person.”
“I’m not so sure about that. Look who you’re with.” Jett winked at Emery. “He didn’t know I was coming either. But when Mom told me what happened at the benefit dinner, I knew my brother needed backup.”
Jett pointed at Tango, who was creeping under the couch skirt with the white thong Emery had worn to the benefit dinner hanging from his mouth. “Is that…?”
“What the heck?” Dean dropped to his knees, lifted the decorative flap, and peered beneath the couch. “Holy cow. Em, you’ve got to see this.”
She and Jett dropped to their knees on either side of him and looked under the couch at a stash of Emery’s underwear, her necklace, headbands, two sets of keys—Emery’s and the set for the golf cart—and one of her pink flip-flops.
“Your place isn’t the Bermuda Triangle after all.” She laughed as she pushed to her feet, and man, it was so good to see her smile. “You just have thieves for pets. Oh my gosh, you guys…”
They followed her gaze to Cash prancing out of the guest room dragging Emery’s missing yoga strap, and they all laughed.
“Our place,” he reminded her. “I guess there were bigger forces than me trying to keep you here.” He pulled her close and glanced at Jett. “Now, if we could just get rid of this guy, maybe we can leave some more things on the floor for our kitties to steal.”