Page 96 of Finding Home

Shit. Wednesday is the daybeforemy sister is available to go engagement ring shopping with me. But what choice do I have, when I’m looking into Aubrey’s big, brown, doe eyes? This glorious woman owns me, heart and soul. Her wish is my command. Which means my sister’s just going to have to cancel all her silly plans and help me, earlier than anticipated.

“Wednesday, it is,” I say with more confidence than I feel. My sister can be awfully strong-willed and stubborn, when I least expect it. But something tells me this one time, she’ll bend to my wishes. She’d better. Because the perfect place and time to propose to Aubrey is now perfectly clear to me, and there’s no turning back.

Chapter 37

Aubrey

Raine is fast asleep by the time we arrive at the lake house in the dark of night. Our Uber from the airport stopped at my parents’ place first to drop them off, at which point Caleb and I loaded up Big Betty to come here with Raine. Along the way, we made a quick stop at a convenience store for bread, milk, and cereal. Enough to tide us over before we can get into town to do some proper grocery shopping tomorrow. But even with only the barest supplies for our cupboards, I nonetheless feel the forceful, unmistakable sensation of coming home, the second we cross the threshold into the house.

“I’ll get her into bed,” Caleb whispers, jutting his chin at the sleeping Munchkin in his muscular arms. “Don’t worry about the luggage. I’ll go back out and get it, after I get her settled.”

“I’ll get her into her pajamas and pull-up, while you unload the truck.”

“Deal.”

I follow Caleb into Raine’s bedroom—the room thatused to be mine—where Caleb gently lays his daughter down. When his arms are free, I hug him and sigh happily against his hard chest.

“It’s good to be home,” I whisper.

“Best feeling in the world.”

With a kiss to my head, Caleb heads off to deal with the suitcases outside, while I start getting Raine dressed for bed. When I’m done with my side of our bargain, I head into the living room, expecting to see our suitcases lined up in a row. But they’re not here, which means Caleb must have brought everything into our bedroom already.

I head into our room—Caleb’s bedroom. But there are no suitcases there, either, and no sign of Caleb. “Caleb?” I whisper-shout, so as not to wake Raine across the hallway. When he doesn’t answer, my stomach twists. Caleb had a state-of-the-art security system in Santa Monica, so I never worried too much about Ralph’s ominous warning at the courthouse. But now that we’re here, in a house with no fancy security system, I’m suddenly realizing we’re vulnerable and exposed. Ralph knows where we live, after all. And the trial proved he’s got no shortage of lackeys, willing to do his bidding.

“Caleb?” I call out again, this time, while standing in the living room. When he doesn’t reply again, I head to the front door and reach for the doorknob. . . just as Caleb flings the door open from outside.

“Oh!” I clutch my heart in surprise, making him laugh. “You scared me.”

Caleb bites back a smile. “Sorry. You okay?”

“Yeah, fine. I got paranoid when I couldn’t find you. Where have you been?”

A grin breaks out on his handsome face. “I gotdistracted doing something outside.” He puts out his hand. “Come with me, A-Bomb. There’s something I need to show you.”

“I love it,” I gasp out, when the light on Caleb’s phone illuminates the brand-new carvings he’s added to the old black cottonwood tree on the side of the house. “It’s so romantic.”

“Orgasmsandromance, baby,” he says with a wink. “You wanted both? Well, now, you’ve got ‘em.”

Swoon.

Next to the “C-Bomb” symbol carved by Caleb into this tree trunk as a kid, he’s now added two additional “bomb” letters next to it, both with lit fuses on top. An “A” for me; an “R” for Raine. And the best part? All three lit-fuse letters are enclosed inside an old-fashioned heart.

Feeling overwhelmed with love for Caleb, I slide my arms around his neck and kiss him deeply. My man’s not the marrying kind. I know that. So, I feel like this grand gesture is his way of promising to love me forever. I mean, what more eternal promise can a man make than carving his family’s initials into a tree that will likely live longer than all of us?

“I want to get Raine’s name legally changed,” Caleb whispers. “To Raine Claudia Baumgarten.”

My heart explodes in my chest. “I love it.”

“You do?”

“I think it’s an amazing idea. Do it.”

Caleb exhales with relief. “Okay, I’ll tell Paula to get the paperwork going.”

I tug on his beard. “As long as you’re making a To DoList, can you also get a security system installed? Something really good, like what you have in LA.”

Caleb winks. “It’s already in progress, baby. A crew is coming to make our house as secure as Fort Knox on Monday.”

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