Page 113 of Finding Forever

“See?” Kenny said with an unconvincing smile. “We’re fine. It’s all good.”

“Are you scared of him?” her father asked in a menacing voice, and Cade pushed slowly to his feet at the question. Gideon came up to join him and the two men stood shoulder to shoulder as they eyed Smith in blatant hostility.

“Has he hurt you?” Cade asked, his hands closing into tight fists.

Kenny looked so genuinely shocked andhorrified by the question that it was immediately obvious that they were barking up the wrong tree.

“What? Oh my God, no. Of course not. Smith would never…”

Smith just watched them with a snide little half smile on his lip, almost taunting, as if hewantedthem to pummel him. As if he would relish the opportunity to take his black mood out on someone.

“Oh, for God’s sake, everybody just calm down, okay?” Kenny pleaded. “Smith and I are going home. We had an argument. That’s it. End of story.”

Fern wasn’t convinced that was true, and—judging by the grim expressions on everybody else’s faces—neither did the rest of the family. Whatever was happening between the couple was catastrophic but until Kenny chose to confide in someone, forcing the issue might wind up alienating her.

Smith waited impatiently at the front door while Kenny hugged and kissed everybody, her smile reassuring, her eyes miserable.

When she hugged Cade, she whispered something in his ear and he reared his head back to stare at her in obvious dazed astonishment. She gave him a bittersweet smile and kissed his cheek.

The couple left soon afterward. Kenny clutching the car keys because Smith’d had too much to drink.

“Fern and I will get the cake, you guys go and have a manly chat or whatever it is you do when we’re not around,” Beth said, linking her arm with Fern’s and dragging her into the kitchen.

It was an open plan room and space was limited, but they were still far enough from the men to have a private conversation.

“That was intense, right?” Beth breathed. “I grew up in this house with only my Granny June and her parrot, Spock. So, I’venever really experienced such soap opera level family drama before marrying into this clan.”

Fern, equally wide-eyed was instantly relieved that she wasn’t the only one who’d felt overwhelmed and little shaken by the entire exchange. This little side bar only reinforced to her how much she enjoyed Beth’s company and once again she felt a pang of remorse that she’d kept the woman at a distance. Which was a shame because they felt like allies in a strange and foreign land.

“I know. I mean, I’ve seen my fair share of drama at my boarding school, living with a bunch of troubled adolescent girls is always going to yield some pretty intenseI saw him first, you rabid bitchtype of showdowns… but there was nothing like this.” She sighed and then said, “I feel responsible for this. I shouldn’t have started on the name business again. I’m so sorry for ruining your party.”

“Puh-please… you started nothing, girl—that was all daddy-in-law-dearest. But make no m-mistake… you finished thehellout of it. I’m happy you proved to him that you’re not a pushover. He sometimes needs to be reminded that the world doesn’t revolve around him.”

“Thank you for saying that, I feel a little better.”

Beth smiled at her and gave her a little wink.

“You grab some plates out of that cupboard while I slice the cake,” the woman instructed.

Fern did as she was told and as she watched Beth work, she sighed quietly.

“I’m so sorry for ghosting you after our shopping date.”

“Are you ready to tell me why you did that?” Beth asked, not even pretending not to know what Fern was talking about. “It can’t be because you don’t like me, I’m clearly awesome.”

Fern laughed, appreciating the other woman immensely for lightening the moment.

“You definitely are and Idolike you. I’m worried that, whenmy marriage with Cade eventually ends, you’ll be forced to pick sides and you’d naturally pick him. He’s family. I’m just… temporary.”

Beth nodded, and lifted her thumb to suck some cream off it.

“I thought it m-might be something like that,” she mused. “Glad it’s out in the open. Now, for the record, whatever happens or doesn’t happen between you and Cade in the future”—the name slipped from Beth’s mouth so naturally, that for a second Fern didn’t realize that she’d used it—“it won’t ever affect my friendship with you. We’ll make it work, okay? Because when I make friends, they’re stuck with me for life. Now can we put this behind us and carry on where we left off?”

“I’d like that very much,” Fern whispered and discreetly thumbed away a couple of sneaky tears before her friend could see them.

They managedto make it through the rest of the evening, thanks to Beth and Gideon’s gracious, easygoing hosting. There was the inevitable concern and conversation centering around Kenny and her marriage. And there wasalsostill some residual tension between the three men. James Hawthorne kept watching Cade with a troubled frown on his face, as did Gideon. Their concerned expressions were almost identical.

Her father-in-law—having seemingly forgiven her for her clap back on his earlier bossiness—peppered Fern with questions about her pregnancy. The man appeared genuinely excited at the prospect of a grandchild and while it had been Fern’s intention from the very beginning to sever all ties with this family once she and Cade went their separate ways, it was becoming clear that doing so would bealmost impossible.

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