Rafe was the one from the city. Oh, both Rafe and Cam had lived in DC, but Cam was obviously a Southern, small-town boy and Rafe had big city written all over him. “He miss DC?”
“I think he misses the Bureau.”
“Small-town life isn’t for everyone.” He’d worried a little about Kincaid when he’d waltzed into town. “My wife, sorry, fiancée, she couldn’t live here full time. We can visit, but her ambitions are bigger than a small town can handle. She grew up in one and she needs more now. She needs theaters and art and a thousand restaurants to choose from.”
“What about you? You liked it here.”
He’d loved it in Bliss. But he loved Shelley more. “I’m good. Dallas is cool. We’re talking about buying some land here so we can come up for summers. I want our kids to know this place, to be close to my ma.”
He thought about the future all the time now. Why was Leo looking into the past? Oh, his brother didn’t think he knew about that e-mail he’d received, but Wolf had seen it, read it, and thought about it endlessly.
And found his peace. Somehow, since he’d fallen for that crazy little sub, his peace was easier to find. He just hoped his brother had the same serenity he’d found.
Laura took a long sip of her coffee. “What do I do if he’s not happy? How do I handle it if I’m not enough? We just adopted a kid. I thought we would be perfect right now.”
He reached out and put a hand on hers. Laura had been a good friend to him. “Kids can be hard. Babies change things. You’re in transition. You’re going from being a trio to being a family.”
God, he wanted that. He was two semesters into his business degree and he would put it all on pause for a rug rat of his own. Or two or three. He wanted a big damn family, brothers and sisters who could rely on each other, who had a shared history. He didn’t think he would have made it through without Leo. Of course, his kids would be lucky because they would have Chloe and Olivia and Josh. Eventually Ben and Chase and Nat would have kids, too. There would be a gang of kids growing up, forming their own little family of brothers and sisters and cousins.
He and Leo had been alone, but their children would have a wealth of love to call on. And so would Laura’s daughter.
“What if we don’t make it?” Laura had gone a little pale.
“You grow, Laura. Every single human being does it. You all have to make the choice to grow together or to grow apart.” He knew what he was going to do. He knew what his role was. He was the in between. Leo had his intellectual pursuits. Shelley had her ambition.
And Wolf was the glue. He wanted his family more than anything else. He was the bridge. If Leo and Shelley were on their own, there was a high probability that they would grow apart and find themselves with a vast distance between them after a few years.
Wolf was going to make sure that didn’t happen. Not ever. He would get his degree. He was dedicated to that, but his chief job in life was to keep them all together. Love took work and he was a hard worker.
Happily ever after was so much easier with a damn fine work ethic.
“There’s nothing for him to do here in Bliss. I don’t think Rafe is going to be happy being a stay-at-home dad.” Laura sniffled a little. “You know, I found this calm center of myself about six months after I got here. I thought I would hate it. I just didn’t have anywhere else to go. I’d run out of money, out of time, out of everything. Those first couple of months felt like I was in Purgatory. And then I opened my door and I really looked around. The world is softer here. I fell in love with the glow the world has. Why can’t Rafe find it? Cam did. Cam loved this place the minute he walked into it.”
His heart ached for her. “Maybe he just needs time.”
Laura’s head fell forward. “And maybe sometimes love isn’t enough. What am I going to do?”
God, he felt for her. “Well, you need to talk to him, first off. You need to ask him what’s going on. Have you really talked to him?”
Laura’s hands were in front of her, clasped together. “I’m scared to.”
“You can’t be. That’s not the way this works. You have to be brave, Laura. You have a daughter. There’s no prevaricating now. Ask him.”
She nodded. “You’re right. I need to talk to him.”
And Wolf needed to talk to Leo. About a lot of things. “What’s the whole parenting thing like?”
“I love it.” Now Laura was beaming. “She’s the best thing I ever did. God, Wolf, I want to cry every time I look at her. Not in a bad way. Like, in a momentous way. I hold her and I know why I was put here. I was born to be her mom. And when I see the way Rafe looks at her, I know he feels the same way. Cam just laid down at her little tiny feet. He’s so damn easy to love. What am I going to do if I can’t have them both? I promised Sierra that her dads would always be here. I know she doesn’t understand a word right now, but I do. I promised her two dads who would love her forever.”
“Then you have to make it happen. He’s not abusive, right?” He would have to step in if he found out Laura was hurting.
“Of course not. Rafe is the sweetest. He’s just sad and I can’t stand it. And I can’t stand the thought of choosing between this town and my family. What am I saying? This town is my family. I’m choosing between Rafe and my family. Why can’t he see it?”
Why couldn’t Leo see that their family was complete until such time as they chose to add to it? Wolf wanted kids so bad it hurt, but he wasn’t going to force Leo or Shelley to move any faster than they wanted to. “I don’t know, sweetheart, but you need to work it out. That’s your only option.”
And he had to talk to Leo. There was no other choice.
“So you regularly go to jail.” It wasn’t a question. Leo was pretty sure it was just a simple truth of Max Harper’s life.
“He spend so much times in the jail that we have his orders for food on file. We provide the dinners. I think he get taken in because it be the only time he gets Buffalo wings.” The big Russian bartender put two beers in front of them and a big basket of the aforementioned wings.
Max’s eyes narrowed, and he looked around the bar. “There might be some truth to that, and let’s keep this little fried bit of joy between the three of us.” Max looked back at Leo. “My baby is serious about my cholesterol. I made the horrible mistake of actually following through with the physical, and apparently there’s some difference between good and bad cholesterol and I have the bad shit. So Rach has decided I should be a bunny rabbit. Men need food. Men need meat.”
Leo wasn’t sure Buffalo wings qualified as meat, but Harper seemed to think so. He dug into the fried treats with gusto, stopping only to enjoy his beer. “How do you usually get incarcerated?”
He shrugged. “The normal way. I punch someone and Nate gets pissy about it. I rarely stay overnight. Rye comes and gets me out most of the time. Let me tell you, I like the hell out of Gemma. I don’t care that she’s a lawyer. She’s easily bribable. Callie and Hope used to call Rach no matter what I did.”
“Do you think your violent tendencies come from your childhood?” He would far rather conduct this interview in his office. It would be quiet and serene there. The jukebox was screaming out something about crashing a party, but Harper seemed to enjoy the chaos.
Harper’s expression turned thoughtful. “I think my violent tendencies come from people being assholes.”
“All right, I’ll rephrase. What was your childhood like?”
“Awesome. Rye and I had the run of the mountain. My momma made the best cookies. Me and Rye and Stef, we were mountain men when we were kids. We used to take a tent and sleep up on the mountain. There’s nothing better.”
“What about your father?”