Her Pirate to Love: A Sam Steele Romance (32 page)

*

Fate didn’t always
work the way one hoped. Despite her anxiousness to have her talk with Cale, to learn once and for all what his thoughts were, whenever she saw him throughout the afternoon he had his hands full carrying one thing or another. The anticipation had her pacing and glancing at the clock every other minute. Her nerves must have carried to the nursery because soon the children were skipping down the stairs while those in the cradles let their displeasure be known.

By the time the youngest were changed and dry, and their mothers were once again downstairs, Samantha had all the adults gathered in the parlor. The sun was disappearing behind the trees when Samantha poured wine and Aidan passed around the glasses.

“I wanted to have this moment, just us, to toast my husband’s birthday. To Luke, the love of my life.” Samantha raised her glass.

“To Luke.” While the rest of them sipped, Luke curled an arm around Samantha’s waist and pulled her close. He whispered something only Samantha could hear but her flush was for all to see. Then, sweeping in, Luke gave her a smacking kiss.

They were grinning at each other when they drew apart. Grace ventured a glance Cale’s way. He wasn’t grinning but his gaze held much the same intensity Luke’s did and Claire’s earlier words ran through Grace’s mind. Could she truly be so lucky?

Samantha then took both her glass and Luke’s and set them down.

“Besides the toast, I also wanted you all here when I gave Luke his present.” She took Luke’s hands within hers. “Luke, you’ve given me everything I could ever want and more than I dared dreamed of. I love you with my entire heart, my very soul. I’ve always wished I could show you just how much. And now,” she said, placing his hands on her belly where she covered them with her own, “I finally can.”

It was as though time slowed. Luke went completely still. Claire reached for Nate, leaned into him as he wound an arm around her waist. Alicia, with little Violet snug in her arm, had tears in her eyes as she gazed upon her sister. Blake moved behind Alicia and wrapped both her and Violet in his arms. Aidan, standing next to Luke, looked from both Luke to Samantha. There was a sheen in his eyes as well.

Grace remembered Cale’s look of horror when he’d learned she was with child but there wasn’t a hint of it in his eyes now. They were warm when they shifted from Samantha to Grace and, yet again, she wondered just what it meant.

“Luke?” Samantha asked, her voice trembling, when he continued to remain quiet.

“Are you sure?” Luke’s voice rasped with emotion.

“I went to see a midwife. Twice. I’ve suspected for a time.”

“You never said a word.”

Samantha’s voice shook. “I didn’t want you to be disappointed if it happened I wasn’t.”

Luke shook his head. “You could never disappoint me, luv. Never.” Then, finally, his lips curved beneath his mustache, his good eye blazed with happiness. “I’m going to be a father.”

“Yes.”

“You’re going to be a mother.”

Samantha nodded. “Yes.”

“It’s about bloody time.” He cheered, before sweeping his wife into an embrace.

While applause erupted around them, Grace wound her way to Cale. “Speaking of time?”

Taking her hand, he led her further from the group circling Samantha and Luke. “I can’t. I still need to…” He blew out a frustrated breath. “There’s something I have to do first, Grace. I’d hoped to have done so already but Nate’s kept me busy. It won’t be much longer, I promise.”

Cale left her side and Grace watched him take Nate aside. They spoke with their heads bowed close and when they straightened, Nate slapped a hand on Cale’s shoulder, nodded solemnly. Then, with a jerk of his head to Blake, the three men stepped from the room.

Grace had no idea what Cale was doing, but she knew he was a man of his word. If he said he’d be back then he would. And they would talk.

Good or bad, she was going to have to wait a little longer.

*

It shamed him
he’d never been here before. Not long after Nate and Blake had browbeaten him to be Steele, they’d told him Vincent had been laid to rest near Nate’s house. It was more than Cale had wanted to know. He hadn’t wanted to be faced with such a stark truth as looking down at his brother’s grave and knowing no matter what he did or what he said he was too late.

He’d seen the disappointment on their faces when he’d told them he wasn’t interested in a graveside visit. He knew by the looks Nate shot him each time he left without asking the exact location of the grave he was letting them all down.

Stepping from the well-cleared and obviously well-traveled path to the intimate circle where his brother lay, Cale whistled low. They hadn’t simply buried Vincent; they’d made him a shrine.

Red and white hibiscus bordered the jungle that was neatly kept from encroaching by a low, white fence. The stumps left from the trees they must have had to cut in order to lay Vincent there had been carved out and planted with bright yellow flowers. Above the grave itself, the neatly trimmed vegetation was vivid as any emerald Cale had ever seen.

A marker had been fashioned to pay tribute. It was an intricate steel creation in the form of a ship with Vincent’s name etched onto the hull. A bench had even been set, encouraging the visitor to stay and sit a while.

Opposite the marker another path had been cleared of vegetation and allowed an unobstructed view of the sea. Vincent had been well loved; it was evident by his burial. Nate and Blake couldn’t have possibly done all of this prior to burying Vincent, but they’d clearly taken the time to do so since. They hadn’t forgotten their friend.

It was past time he did the same for his brother.

Cale sat on the bench while words spun through his mind. Several times he opened his mouth to speak only to snap his teeth closed. Nothing sounded right in his head. Should he say hello? Or start with the fact he was sorry? Maybe he should explain why it had taken so long to come to his senses?

Damn it, he’d just pick a place.

“Vincent, it’s Cale. I know.” He shook his head ruefully. “It’s about time. No, it’s past time and I’m sorry for it. In fact, I’m sorry for a lot of things. I was selfish. It really is as simple as that. I was embarrassed by your size and instead of accepting our differences, I shunned you.” Cale took a deep breath; found the words weren’t so hard to come by after all. “I’m ashamed of myself. You didn’t deserve what I did to you, and who was I to think I was better because I was taller? I’ve obviously proven over the years I wasn’t and hearing your friends speak of you, it’s clear to me who the better man was.

“You were well-loved and for that I’m thankful. I know it’s selfish of me, again, but I would hate to think everyone treated you as I did. I’m grateful others saw past your height to your true worth. I’m sorry I wasn’t willing to.

“I’ve wasted my chance to get to know you but I have every intention of learning about you through Nate and Blake. They miss you. I see it in their eyes. And this fancy marker you have here? Clearly, Alicia or Blake fashioned it for you. Considering you wanted to be Steele, I think you’d appreciate the ship on it, as you’d appreciate the view to the ocean they’ve carved for you.”

He hung his head between his bent knees. He’d wasted so much time. He’d been too late for Vincent, for Catherine and Caden. But he wouldn’t be for Grace. Wouldn’t be for himself. Not again. This time, he’d seize what he had before he lost it.

“You’d like Grace,” Cale continued aloud as though Vincent had followed his thoughts. “She’s Irish and has a sharp mind to go with her sharp tongue. She’s helped me see what I’ve been missing, helped me to understand what happened to Catherine and Caden was out of my control. Grace believes in me, Vincent. When I told her about you, she said you would have understood, how you wouldn’t want me to keep punishing myself over how I treated you.”

Cale lifted his shoulders, dropped them on a sigh. “I hope it’s true. I would like to think you wouldn’t resent me going on with my life, which is what I intend to do.” A sad smile crossed his lips. “You couldn’t have known when you wanted me to be Steele it would bring me exactly what I needed, but it did. And because it did I’ll be forever in your debt. Being Steele allowed me the chance to get to know your friends. My friends now as well.” Emotion gurgled in Cale’s throat. “You’ll never know the gift you gave me, but I won’t forget it, Vincent. And I’ll never forget you.”

He knelt down beside the mound of earth, reached inside his shirt and pulled off the leather necklace. Cupping it in his hand he pictured Catherine and Caden. He thought the tears filling his eyes a fitting tribute. Raising the simple leather strip, he pressed the angel to his lips. Then, setting it gently aside, he used his knife to dig a small hole beside Vincent’s grave.

“You’ll always be in my heart. I wish you all peace.” Cale lowered the necklace into the hole, covered it, and bowed his head. “Take care of each other.”

He was coming to his feet when a sneering voice cut through the silence. “A shame you didn’t show me the same compassion.”

Cale’s head jerked. Dread crawled up his spine as he realized he was practically unarmed and completely at this man’s mercy. A man he thought he’d never see again. A man who’d vowed revenge. A man who had a pistol pointed at his chest.

“Isaac.”

“In the flesh. Are you not going to ask how I got here?”

Hell, Cale was scared to ask. “How?”

Isaac’s eyes gleamed. “With Roche.”

Cale went still. “Roche is here?”

“And I don’t think I need to tell you what he’s after. It’s a pity you made yourself all pretty for Grace. Once Roche is through, there won’t be anything left of her.”

Bile scorched up Cale’s throat. He knew what Roche was capable of and if he got a hold of Grace… Cale swallowed back the fear. He could not afford to be scared. Nor could he afford to be rash. While he had the knife, if he tried to throw it he’d be dead before the blade could leave his hands. Just as he knew Isaac wouldn’t let him get close enough to use it. The best chance he had to get to Grace in time was to keep a level head and form a plan. Quick.

“Whatever Roche promised you for leading him here, I’ll double. You know we have the treasure, it’s yours, all of it, as long as you let me go.”

“Do you truly think I’d take your word after what you did to me?” There was nothing but raw hatred in his voice. “You humiliated me and left me to die, it’s not your word I want or need.”

Cale took a slow step back. He wasn’t so far from the bush that if he could only distract Isaac, he’d have a chance at escaping. “What is it you want, then?”

“To watch you die.”

Isaac drew back on the hammer and the click was as loud to Cale as cannon fire. Out of time, he went with the only weapon he had, a ruse. Cale glanced over Isaac’s shoulder, widened his eyes and yelled, “Shoot him!”

Isaac spun. Knowing this was his only chance, Cale twisted and leapt over the bench. He was midair when the shot exploded through the darkness and ripped into his side.

“I
’ve never seen
you look happier.”

Sam leaned her head on Aidan’s shoulder. “I’ve never been this happy before. I thought the day I married Luke was the best day of my life, but this, Aidan…” She looked at him, her face glowing with joy. “This is indescribable.”

“You’ve suffered, watching Alicia and Claire have children.”

She shrugged as though it didn’t matter, but Aidan knew it did. He’d seen the pain in her eyes, seen her wipe a tear when she thought nobody was looking. He wasn’t a religious man, but he’d prayed for her many times, had begged God, or the gods, for her to have a family of her own.

“Luke’s going to regret all that rum come morning.” Aidan chuckled.

“I’m sure he will,” she agreed good-naturedly.

Then he heard her sigh when Luke looked over a half-empty bottle toward Sam and stopped to stare. Despite the tall, crackling fire, the booming conversations, and the delighted squeals of children playing amidst the adults, and despite the fact neither of them said a word, Aidan swore they spoke. Then Luke winked, grinned, and continued on with his celebrations.