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  Lisha said nothing as he kissed her temple because she wondered if Kelli would forever be a problem in their relationship and if Kael would ever see the truth.

  Kael wanted to check on the horses and the herd for the night. Lisha changed clothes and tagged along even though it was clear her demeanor had changed after the incident with Bea.

  “Everything all good?” she asked when Kael stepped out of the barn with a grim expression.

  “Sampson got out through the rear door,” he said, already striding toward his truck.

  Lisha hurried behind him, barely getting in the truck and closing the passenger door securely before Kael pulled off toward his land slowly. “Use that flood-light,” he told her. “Point it toward the ground because the light in his eyes can startle him.”

  Lisha lowered the window and hung her upper body out, swinging the portable flood-light back and forth across the land. “I hope he didn’t roam too far,” she said.

  “If the terrain was all flat I wouldn’t really worry,” he said.

  Kael drove slowly and Lisha continued to sweep the light back and forth on the ground, hoping to find Sampson on the land grazing or resting. He drove as far as he could with the truck but parked at the path between the tall trees. “We gotta foot it from here,” he said, reaching for the flood-light before he climbed from the truck and then came around to help her out.

  “I hope he’s okay,” she said, as the freezing winter chill seemed to settle in her bones and cause her to shiver even as she huddled close to Kael’s arm.

  “Yeah, me too,” he said.

  They came up on the path leading to the hunting cabin and Kael steered them in that direction. “Let me check around the cabin,” he said.

  The path opened up into the dirt-packed yard and the break in the cluster of trees caused the moon to light the area.

  “Look, it’s cold,” Kael said, leading her to the door. “I’m going to light the fire and you stay here while I look around some more. I won’t be long.”

  “Kael,” she protested as they entered the cabin.

  He moved away from her, leaving her by the door as he used the flood-light to reach the stone fireplace. Smiling, he knelt by the fireplace and pulled the box of matches he brought along out of his pocket to light the logs. He stoked the fire and soon the cabin’s interior was lit and warmed by it.

  “Oh my God.” Lisha sighed as she took in the small and cozy interior made all the more charming by the crackling fire and the flower petals heavily strewn on the floor and atop the white sheets covering the love seat in the middle of the room.

  She took a deep breath as Kael moved around the room lighting candles. On the fireplace mantel. The table in the corner. Along the edge of the floor. Each ember warmed the room’s ambience even more.

  “When did you do all this?” she asked, turning slowly to take it all in.

  “This morning when I came down for the logs,” he explained, before lighting even more candles.

  “I wanted to create a moment that you would never forget,” he said, looking over his shoulder at her. “Because I have something I want to ask you.”

  She looked to him. “What’s that?” she asked, her irritation and anger still on the edge of her voice.

  Kael walked back over to her and looked down into her eyes. “I love you,” he began.

  “I love you too,” she said, sounding more aggravated than emotional.

  “Well, act like it,” he snapped in irritation.

  The stiffness around her shoulders slackened a bit, but he could still sense she was not over what happened with Bea or the silly notion that his sister was involved in that stunt.

  “I said I would talk to Kelli, and I’ll tell her if I catch Bea back on my property I will call the police,” he said, moving away from her to stand at one of the two windows in the one-room cabin. “Can we enjoy the damn night now?”

  Moments later, he was aware of Lisha as she moved across the room and came up to stand behind him. When she touched his arms, he looked over his shoulder at her but said nothing. And when she came around to press kisses to his neck, he softened his hard stance but his hand gripped the small box in the pocket of his jacket even as he lowered his head to kiss her.

  It was his disappointment that had fueled his annoyance.

  Kael had set the stage to propose to this woman he loved, but he felt the moment had come and gone with Bea’s shenanigans and Lisha’s unwavering anger. He wanted the night to be perfect and there was just no way to remove the stain of what Bea had done.

  Not tonight, but soon, he thought as he released the ring box and brought his hand up to press against her face as he deepened the kiss.

  “Love is a burning desire, that makes your heart light on fire.”

  —Unknown

  Interlude

  Present day

  Lisha stroked the diamond heart she’d worn around her neck nearly every day since Kael gave it to her that Christmas. Like her wedding ring it was a constant . . . just like the bracelet she’d bought him. She looked down at his left wrist and there it was peeking out a bit from the cuff of his sweater.

  “You were going to propose after just four months, Daddy?” Kaitlyn asked, from her spot where she was lying on the floor in front of the fireplace.

  “Sure was,” Kael said, reaching for Lisha’s left hand and rubbing his thumb against the engagement ring she moved to her index finger when he upgraded her ring on their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary.

  “When you know, you know. Right, Pops?” Quinton asked, sitting on the floor with Kaitlyn’s booted feet on his lap.

  Kaitlyn’s head was propped on her hand as she looked from her parents to rest her eyes on him. “So you knew, huh?” she asked with a soft smile and warm eyes.

  Quint nodded. “That’s right,” he said without equivocation. “When you love a woman, time doesn’t matter. Nothing matters . . . but her.”

  The men in the house all backed him up with affirmations.

  Kaitlyn sat up, crossing her legs Indian-style as she leaned in toward her fiancé. “And when a woman knows, she knows too,” she said. “That’s what love is all about. Giving and taking. Forgiving and forgetting. Loving and loving some more.”

  The women co-signed that.

  Quinton nodded as he leaned over to meet her halfway to taste her lips. “Love you, Kat,” he said low in his throat.

  “I know that’s right,” she said. “Love you too.”

  Even with the sounds of “Silent Night” playing, everyone in the room heard them. “Awwwwww,” they said collectively.

  Quint paid them no mind. He was just months away from wedding Kaitlyn and becoming an official member of the Strong family. Having her as his wife would make his life complete and a big part of her was her love for her family.

  He was grateful to them all because if they hadn’t tried to reverse their years of spoiling Kat by cutting her off financially, then she wouldn’t have ever moved to the apartment complex where he lived and worked as the manager. He wouldn’t have ever met with her, argued with her and ultimately fallen deeply in love with her.

  Everyone liked to say that meeting him was the best thing that had ever happened to Kat. That his love for her changed her from the reckless and spoiled woman she used to be. That he made her better.

  Quint thought just the opposite.

  Knowing and loving Kaitlyn made him better.

  She was his biggest supporter, his friend, his lover and the person he knew he would spend the rest of his life loving. In time his heart and his love for her made him see past the façade she put up to the woman she kept protected behind it.

  Quint did acknowledge that she was different from the woman who assumed the world owed her everything plus some more. The only time she had been unselfish was with his daughter and it was the way she put Lei first that thawed his heart to her. And now this woman he first thought could love no one but herself, was the type of loving, fiercely protective,
supporting mother his daughter had needed.

  As the family laughed over Kaitlyn being cut off after a spending spree in Paris, Quint felt his heart swell with love for everything she used to be, everything she now was and still yet everything she was growing to be.

  He looked at her, ready for the days to sweep by so he could stand at the altar and make her his wife. She had given him brand-new tools for his business of custom woodworking, but the gift he truly cherished was the love she gave him and Lei every day.

  Kaitlyn stood up. Quint’s eyes followed her as she made her way across the room to the guest bathroom at the end of the hall. She was slender but curvy and took pride in maintaining her shape.

  Quint couldn’t wait to see her face, hips and belly swell with pregnancy. He was ready now and Kaitlyn asked them to wait one year after their wedding date to toss the birth control. Both he and Lei were anxiously awaiting adding to the small family.

  Wanting a moment alone with his fiancée, Quint left the room. He walked down the hall and into the den to cross it to reach the guest bathroom. Kaitlyn was walking out just as he reached for the door.

  He eased her back inside and closed the door. “Did I tell you how good you look in that red dress?” he asked, pulling her into his arms and pressing kisses against the deep vee as she leaned back in his strong embrace.

  Kaitlyn nodded even as she shivered from the feel of his lips. “It perfectly matches my new Fendi shoes and bag Santa brought me,” she said as she let her fingers enjoy his muscled physique.

  Quint raised his head. “Santa is cold and needs something warm to dip into,” he moaned against her ear.

  “Well, Ms. Claus got what you need, Santa,” Kaitlyn said saucily as she wiggled her shoulder and hips.

  “Ho-ho-ho,” Quint said.

  They both jumped as the shower curtain suddenly opened with a snap. Kadina and Lei stepped out of the tub. “This is where we exit,” Lei drawled.

  “Exactly,” Kadina added.

  Kaitlyn gasped in horror. “So you two were in the shower while I was peeing?”

  The teens pushed between Kaitlyn and Quint. “We were hiding before you sent us back upstairs.”

  “That is where you’re supposed to be,” Quint said sternly.

  Lei stopped in the open doorway with an impish smile. “Don’t worry. We won’t tell if you won’t,” she said before making a comical face and closing the door on her father and soon-to-be stepmother.

  “Lei almost saw a side of us she never saw before,” Kaitlyn said, checking the mirror to arrange her clothes before following Quint out into the hallway.

  They laughed together as he took her hand and massaged it between both of his.

  “So, Daddy, you have one daughter,” Kaleb said, giving Quinton a side glance as he and Kaitlyn walked back into the room. “Did you have the talk with Quint with your rifle on hand?”

  “I can answer that,” Quint inserted, comfortably a part of the family and their camaraderie. “He did . . . but hell, you all did too.”

  “That’s right,” the brothers all agreed easily, their voices deep and resonating.

  “And we all will do the same for Kadina, Lei, Meena and Neema,” Kahron said.

  “Just like your mama taught you, boys,” Lisha said with a smile.

  “That sounds like a plan I want to be a part of,” Quint said, dreading the day little boys hungering sweet kisses from his daughter turned into men wanting much more.

  “Of course, brother,” Kade said. “One for all . . .”

  “And all for one,” everyone finished in unison.

  Lisha nodded in approval, her eyes soft as she looked at her gathered family. “This is what your father and I wanted from the very beginning—”

  “Once we got our shit together,” Kael added.

  Lisha nodded in agreement. “And that took some doing. . . .”

  Chapter 16

  Way back in the day

  “Well, hey, stranger.”

  Lisha smiled at she handed Junie a can of her favorite sugar-covered butter cookies. “Hello to you, family,” she stressed, doing an exaggerated shiver as the winter winds caused her hair to fly across her face. “It’s so cold.”

  Junie begrudgingly accepted the cookies and stepped back to allow Lisha entrance into her studio apartment. Where Lisha was more laid-back in personality and lived in a world of vibrant colors, Junie had a wild personality but her home was decorated in white.

  “You and Kael gave each other a break,” Junie said dryly as she walked into her kitchen.

  “I’m heading over there later,” Lisha said, sitting down to the breakfast bar separating the kitchen and living area. “I had to catch up on some laundry, clean up a little bit and check on my favorite cousin.”

  Junie used a butter knife to break the plastic seal around the lid of the can. “I’m still right here and alive where you left me for the last four months,” she said, setting the can on the bar before pulling a jug of milk from the fridge.

  “Junie, I see you every night and every Sunday in church,” Lisha said, reaching into the can for a cookie.

  Junie shrugged one thin shoulder as she set a glass of milk in front of her. “Okay, yes. But—”

  Lisha paused in the act of dunking her cookie into the milk. She glanced up at her cousin.

  “What’s wrong?” Junie asked, her expression serious.

  “Nothing,” Lisha said.

  “Liar,” Junie said. “Do me and my nunchucks need to talk to Kael’s balls?”

  Raising the now-softened cookie from the milk, Lisha bit into it with a deep moan of pleasure as she closed her eyes. “No, but you can chat with his sister’s ass for me,” she said, wiping milk from the corners of her mouth.

  Junie raised her fists. “All I need is this left and that right to handle that bougie heifer,” she said. “She almost met them Christmas.”

  Lisha reached for another cookie. “I can take her smart-ass comments. Thank God I rarely see her,” she said. “It’s Kael acting like she’s perfect. Like he doesn’t see the shit she does.”

  “Two cuss words dang near back to back. You must be pissed,” Junie said, turning to grab the can of Nesquik from the cabinet.

  Lisha smiled and accepted the spoon her cousin handed her to scoop two big heapings of the chocolate powder into her milk.

  “Doesn’t she live three hours away?” Junie asked.

  Lisha nodded. “But she’s been coming back every weekend lately,” she said into the glass before taking a deep sip.

  “My suggestion of whooping her behind probably won’t help, but that’s all I got,” Junie said. “So what are you going to do?”

  “I’m tired of talking to Kael about it,” Lisha said, reaching for another cookie.

  “Then skip the middle man and talk to Cruella.”

  “Kelli,” Lisha corrected her.

  “Whatever.”

  Lisha smiled. “Wanna go with me to the Laundromat?” she asked. “I know you got dirty clothes.”

  “I gots a-plenty . . . but I have to pass. Benny and I are going out eat.”

  Lisha dropped her cookie in her milk. “Benny’s still around?” she asked, obviously surprised.

  Junie nodded as she swallowed the rest of the milk. “You and the silver fox look so happy so I am trying this couple thing . . . plus he is hung like a—”

  “I’m happy for you,” Lisha interrupted her. “So it’s your turn to leave me hanging for your dude, huh?”

  “I figured with his height everything had to be long on him . . . and I was right,” Junie said, shifting the convo right back. “I just love climbing that tree.”

  When her cousin stared off into the distance with a naughty bite of her bottom lip and a little shiver, Lisha stuck her fingers in the milk and then flicked some at her.

  Some of the milk clung to Junie’s lips.

  She licked it. “Now that reminds me of the night I—”

  “And on that note, I will che
ck you later,” Lisha said, heading out the door as Junie laughed.

  Lisha walked to her apartment, her extreme bell-bottoms flapping in the January winds. She spent the next hour cleaning her apartment. She was walking backward out of the bathroom as she mopped the floor when the shrill cry of the telephone broke the quiet.

  Setting the mop in the bucket just outside the bathroom door, she took off her rubber gloves as she made her way to the kitchen to grab the phone. “Hello,” she said.

  “Hey, baby. What you doin’?”

  Kael. She pressed the phone closer to her face as she leaned her shoulder against the brightly covered wall. “Playing Alice from The Brady Bunch,” she said.

  “Yeah, Kelli is at my house doing the same,” he said.

  Lisha stiffened. “Your sister is in town . . . again,” she said lightly, even as her hand clenched and unclenched the rubber gloves until water was wrung and splattered against the hem of her pants and the floor.

  “Yeah, she’s staying with me this time though.”

  Lisha rolled her eyes. “Isn’t that nice, coming all the way from Greer to clean up her brother’s house,” Lisha said. “Isn’t she . . . something?”

  The line went quiet.

  Lisha didn’t bother to fill it with words.

  “Are you coming by the house?” he asked. “Kelli’s cooking.”

  “Oh, not her world-famous peach cobbler again,” she said, unable to hide the tinge of sarcasm.

  “Lisha,” Kael said.

  “And did she arrange for Bea to come by again and put on another strip show?” she asked.

  Silence again.

  And again Lisha let it remain that way.

  “I told you I asked Kelli about it, and she hated that Bea did that just as much as we did,” he said.

  “I thought you were a smart man, Kael Strong,” she said, massaging her forehead with her fingers.