Page 124 of A Soldier's Return

Eben couldn’t have said why this particular conversational detour left him slightly panicked. Would Stanley rip up the papers if Eben told him things weren’t serious between him and Sage?

He searched the other man’s features but could see nothing behind Stanley’s serenity.

“Shall we join our women in the kitchen? I am always looking for good fortune.”

Still feeling a bit off center, Eben followed Stanley into the kitchen. They stood in the doorway, admiring the lovely picture of women across three generations working together.

The delicious-smelling kitchen was busy and crowded as the head chef and his workers served the other dinner guests. Jade had taken over a workspace in the corner and was overseeing as Chloe and Sage—aprons tucked carefully over their dresses—folded thin circles of soft-cooked cookies into half-moons around little slips of paper, then curved and tucked them into the traditional fortune-cookie shape.

Chloe was laughing with delight as she worked, he saw, and so was Sage, her lovely features bright and animated.

He could barely look away.

Something shivered in his chest, a sense of rightness, of belonging, that had been missing for a long time.

She glanced up and for a tiny sliver of time, their gazes locked together. Her smile slid away, her eyes suddenly as deep and fathomless as the Pacific.

He would be leaving her tomorrow. The grim knowledge churned through him and he suddenly hated the very thought of it. But what other choice did he have?

Chloe caught sight of him. “Daddy, come and see my fortune cookies! I made one just for you. I even wrote the fortune and put it inside and everything.”

He jerked his gaze away from Sage, from that stunning, tensile connection between them, and smiled at the cookie in her outstretched hand. “Thanks, kiddo. It’s too pretty to eat, though.”

“But if you don’t eat it, you won’t get to see the message.”

Four sets of eyes watched him as he broke open the cookie and pulled out the folded slip of paper inside. He unfolded it, only to find Chloe’s girlish handwriting, much tinier than usual, was almost indecipherable.

With effort, he was finally able to read the message aloud.To the best Daddy ever. I love you better than all the fortune cookies in the world.

To his complete astonishment—and no small amount of dismay—tears welled up in his eyes. Eben blinked them back rapidly, shoving them down as far as he could into his psyche.

“It’s great,” he said brusquely when he trusted his voice again. “Thank you very much.”

Chloe was obviously looking for more from him. Her features fell. “You don’t like it.”

“I do.” He tried a little more enthusiasm. “I love it. The cookie tastes great and the fortune is...well, it’s not true.”

Now she looked close to tears. “It istoo. I do love you more than all the fortune cookies in the world.”

He would have preferred this conversation anywhere else than in the busy, noisy kitchen of the hotel he had just agreed to buy—and anywhere else but in front of Stanley and Jade Wu and Sage Benedetto. “I know you do, sweetheart. I just meant the first part isn’t true. I’m far from the best daddy in the world, but I’m trying.”

She smiled her relief and threw her flour-covered hands around his waist. “Well, I think you’re the best.”

He hugged her back. “That’s the important thing, then, isn’t it?”

He had won. The Sea Urchin was his.

Neither Eben nor Stanley mentioned the matter for the rest of the evening. Even after the three of them took their leave of the Wus, Eben didn’t say anything, but Sage somehow knew.

She didn’t need to possess any kind of psychic ability to correctly read the suppressed excitement in his features.

So this was it. They would be leaving soon. His mind was probably already spinning as he made plans. For all she knew, he may even have made arrangements for a flight out tonight.

She sat beside him battling down a deep ache as he drove down the long driveway of The Sea Urchin, then turned in the direction toward Brambleberry House.

She wasn’t ready for another loss so soon. She was still reeling from Abigail’s death and now she would lose Eben and Chloe as well. How could she ever be happy in her quiet life without them?

She should never have let them so far into her world. It had been a huge mistake and she was very much afraid she would be paying the price for that particular error in judgment for a long time.

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