A Forever Love(62)

Aubrey’s heart pounded. “But how would we? You’re here. I’m in Kansas. How could we make that work?”

“I don’t know,” Justin said. “And I don’t care, we simply would. We’d make it work because that’s what we’d want. We’d want to be a family. The three of us. Together.” He pulled her close and stared into her eyes. His intensity, his desire for this, was much more than she would have expected, enough to nearly sweep her up into his enthusiasm.

“But … I mean …”

He pressed his fingertips to her lips. “There is nothing that would make me happier than to have the two people I love, the two people who mean more to me than anything in the world, become my family. The two of you, you and Max and me. There are no reasons why we can’t make that happen for all of us.”

Aubrey wanted to believe him. She wanted to think there would be a romantic fairy-tale ending to their story, one that would be the three of them living together, but what about his business in New York and her business at Rockwater Farms? How did you make a romantic relationship work when one person lived in Manhattan and the other in Kansas?

“You know, I spent three weeks in Kansas and was able to take care of everything but an emergency. I could do it again. And you have Cassidy. Surely for one week a month she and Nina could soldier on at Rockwater Farms without you.”

Maybe … her head was spinning. Again the sour feeling in her stomach. “I … I think I need to lie down.” She grasped Justin’s arm, and he helped her to her room and the hot bath and the bed so that she could put off her decision until her thoughts were clear.





Chapter 21




Perfection could be purchased for the right price. Or near perfection. Justin pulled the box from his sport-jacket pocket and snapped open the case. There on the navy blue velvet was a near-perfect six-carat stone in a platinum setting. Clear. Hot. Sharp. Gorgeous. All the traits that the woman he hoped would soon be his wife exhibited. Even the perfection. Or near perfection.

Across the living room, in the dining room, Max stood beside his mother while she straightened his tie.

Warmth flew through Justin. He would never grow tired of walking into his home and seeing them both here. Aubrey said something and Max grinned. He replied and they both laughed. This was their second evening and the night that Justin would introduce Max to his uncles. The first night had been the Yankees game. They’d had the entire Travati Financial box to themselves, aside from two rock stars and a Norwegian monarch that Travati Financial had invited to the box for the evening. At first Max seemed stunned, but then he was just Max. A fourteen-year-old kid at his first Yankees game.

Today had been filled with touristy things. The World Trade Center, the 9/11 Memorial, the Statue of Liberty, and Ellis Island. The kid wasn’t even tired, but Aubrey? She’d gone back to the penthouse before the Statue of Liberty, claiming fatigue and sour stomach. But when he and Max returned home, she looked fresh and happy and ready for tonight.

Max seemed nervous on the ride back to the penthouse. He shouldn’t be—these men were his uncles, his family, and they would love him as though he were their own son. They would treat him as a Travati treated family. Loyal to a fault.

Family.

The stone sparkled on its bed of velvet. He wanted Aubrey to be an official part of his family. To be his wife. To be the woman he spent the rest of his life with. He pressed the case closed and tucked it back into his jacket pocket, then looked toward the door. There stood Leo and Devon, both of them shifting restlessly, both of them looking nervous.

Justin strode toward them. “You’re here.” He clasped first Devon and then Leo. “Where’s Anthony?”

Leo exchanged a look with Devon.

Devon rolled his gaze toward the ceiling. “Something’s come up at the office. He asked that we start without him and said he’ll be here in time for dessert and coffee.”

Justin’s chest tightened and a deep heat coiled in his gut. He would not be disrespected. He would not allow his brother to disrespect his son. Justin wanted to give his brother Anthony the benefit of the doubt. Before Justin’s illness, before Max, before Aubrey, Justin wouldn’t have wanted to leave the office before ten p.m. He rarely did, even now. The past three weeks though, he’d missed Aubrey and he’d missed Max. He’d numbed the pain by working. Made himself believe that if he worked, he didn’t have to feel any of his feelings. Not now, not ever.

“They’re in the dining room,” Justin said.

Both the brothers walked through the living room. Max stood when they entered. His gaze flickered from his mom to his dad and then finally landed on the two men beside his father.