Dinner was casual, the six of them sitting in the solarium with the food set out buffet-style. Emilie was a tall, gorgeous blonde who carried her pregnancy like a little bowling ball beneath her breasts. The three women hit it off immediately and Laurel suddenly realized how long she’d gone without close girlfriends. She had a few, but she didn’t see much of anyone in the year before the Olympics, and then taking the job at the high school meant starting over again. She’d been a loner most of her life anyway, and the death of her mother had reinforced that feeling of isolation, especially after things fell apart with Gage.
The one thing she’d found in the last two weeks was that she liked being part of a big group of friends, and last night’s shenanigans aside, she really liked the people she’d met here in Alaska. She’d known Hailey and Dani before, but that had been mostly business. Now she was seeing them as part of Gage’s extended family and it made sense. He’d never been overly social, but he held on to friendships and kept those people close to him no matter how far apart they were geographically.
Like Chains. He’d brought up the MI6 operative who’d been part of his final mission in Afghanistan, and though he never talked about the mission itself, he mentioned the bond he and Chains shared. A decade later, it was still there, and she was almost envious of their friendship as she watched them talk.
“Did I miss how you two are cousins?” Laurel asked, finally joining the conversation. “I don’t think I know.”
Jake and Chains laughed.
“My father’s a total wanker,” Chains said in his clipped British accent. “Took off as soon as he found out my mum was pregnant, but now he lives a few towns over with a wife and more kids. Come to find out, he had a brother who got a girl pregnant while he was going to university in the U.S. He married her and had two kids, but his plan had always been to go back to the U.K. after he graduated. Ultimately, it appears he decided that moving his young American wife and kids to England was too much of a hassle, so he just left her and they never heard from him again.”
“Then how did you and Jake find each other?” Laurel was shocked.
“I’ve always known who my father was and his location,” Chains said. “When I found out I have two half-sisters, I thought I’d see if they were interested in a relationship and it turns out they were. My sperm donor was less than pleased, but I don’t give a shit about him. So I’ve gotten to know my sisters over the last two years and through them I found out about my American first cousin. Apparently, Jake’s father had a bit of a reckoning on his deathbed—cancer—and told the family there were two American children he’d never told them about. So there’s a gaggle of cousins and the like on both sides of the pond. We all met last summer but Jake and I hit it off more than the others and we’ve stayed in touch. Saw him play when the team was in Vegas and L.A.”
“Ironic that he plays on my team and you and I go back to the military,” Gage remarked thoughtfully.
“Worked out well, though, yeah?”
“I’m grateful for your friendship.”
“Likewise.”
“This is fantastically coincidental,” Laurel said. “But I love it.”
“It was nice to find out I had family,” Jake said. “After my mom passed away, it was just my sister and me, and while I wouldn’t call it lonely, it was hard not having any family at all.”
“You don’t have to worry about that anymore.” Whitney squeezed his hand. “You’re stuck with me now that I have this big rock on my finger.”
“Speaking of which, have you set a date?” Emilie asked.
“My grandmother has decided it will be the first weekend in September. In Dallas. At the country club. With five hundred of our closest friends.” Whitney’s words dripped with sarcasm.
“I told her I just want to know what to wear and when to show up,” Jake said with a little shrug. “I don’t think she was amused.”
“I just want to elope,” Whitney sighed, “but my grandmother isn’t having it, so be prepared for all the bells and whistles.”
“I kind of wish we’d done that,” Emilie said softly. “This was my second marriage and I’d just had my son, J.J., but Darryl decided we needed to get married immediately.”
“You never said you wanted a big wedding,” Chains said in surprise, looking at her.
“I said I kind of wish we’d done that, not that I fully wish it.” She leaned over and kissed him. “I think pictures of you in a tux would be smashing.”
He snorted. “Yeah, whatever you say, love. I can mock something up for you.”
She rolled her eyes. “It’s not the same thing.”
“Haven’t you got your hands full with two kids and a full-time job?” Whitney asked her.
Emilie laughed. “I do. I think a third baby is going to slow me down a bit, but I’m ready. I’m actually looking forward to taking a few months off. Work isn’t everything, you know? I love my job, but these babies have brought so much joy into our lives. We get odd looks now and again, but I don’t care. My life is beyond full.”
“Why do you get odd looks?” Laurel asked.
Emilie raised her eyebrows and glanced at Chains, who merely smiled. “Er, you don’t know our…situation?”
“Situation?” Laurel had no idea.
“Well…” Emilie cocked her head. “My first husband and I had our daughter, Simone, and then he fell in love with…a man.”
“Oh, Jamie Teller, right? From the Sidewinders?” Laurel knew there were two men on the Sidewinders who were married to each other, Jamie and Viggo.
“Before I got involved with Chains, I offered to have a baby with Jamie. So they could each have their own biological child, because it was really important to Jamie.”
“You didn’t mind Viggo fell in love with someone else?” Laurel grimaced as soon as she asked the question. “I’m sorry. That was rude. You don’t have to—”
“No, it’s fine,” Emilie shook her head. “Viggo and I were already having problems, almost all of which were my doing. I had some issues in my past that were hard to deal with and aside from that, we both enjoyed threesomes. Jamie was part of one of those threesomes and when I saw how they were beginning to feel about each other, it gave me the out I needed to get my life together. The three of us are still extremely close and we raise the children together as one big, happy family. This new baby, Darryl’s daughter, will be no different than theirs. They’ve already said that she’s Simone and J.J.’s sister and we’ll continue the same arrangement we’ve always had.”
“The legalities are a bit complicated,” Chains spoke up for the first time, “but the relationships are not. Trust me, I was a bit skeptical at first as well, but it’s not what people may think. And yeah, we occasionally get some looks when we’re all at an event together at Simone’s school or whatnot, but most of it is directed at Em since they don’t seem to mess with us men. Fortunately, my wife can take care of herself.”
Emilie laughed. “I’m married to an ex-spy and he’s taught me a lot. Did you know MI6 has a bat cave?”
Chains rolled his eyes and everyone burst out laughing.
“They do?” Whitney asked, wide-eyed.
“See what you’ve done?” Chains teased his wife as he turned to the others. “No, they don’t, but Em assumed they do and we’ve gone round and round with this for as long as I’ve known her.”
Emilie grinned, winking at Whitney. “Don’t listen to him. They totally do—he’s just not supposed to talk about it.”
The evening was full of good food and a lot of laughter and Gage was suddenly acutely aware of how lonely his life had been until he’d moved to Anchorage to take over the Blizzard. He’d always had friends that kept him company and women that warmed his bed, but most of his friendships had been superficial and all of his relationships had been solely about sex. Owning the Blizzard had brought him friendships that meant something to him—Jake and Whitney, Kane and Hailey, Sergei and Dani, and a few others. Having Laurel back in his life meant the world to him. Combining his new friends with the love of his life and the one man he considered a brother—Chains—was mind-blowing.
Listening to Chains and Emilie talk about their family, especially their children, made him want to be a father more than he ever thought he would. He and Laurel had talked about it when they first got married, but she’d had hockey on the horizon and he’d been on his way to serve his four years in the military so they’d agreed to wait. Now they were in their mid-thirties and, hopefully, going to get remarried. This seemed like the perfect opportunity to talk about kids.
“Chains and Emilie are awesome, aren’t they?” he asked as they got into bed.
“I really like both of them. I like almost everyone I’ve met here, especially your inner circle of friends. By the way, they heard us having sex the other night.”
“I told you to be quieter,” he chuckled. “Kane and Hailey did it on the back deck during a party last summer but no one saw them so apparently it’s going to be a thing with us.”
“That’s what I’ve been told.” She laughed, shaking her hair free of the ponytail she’d put it in when she washed her face. He loved the way it framed her face, falling in soft waves around her shoulders and chest.
“Wasn’t Hailey already pregnant last summer?”
He nodded. “Didn’t slow them down any.” He paused. “You think it’ll slow us down?”
“What?” Something changed in her face and that look was back, the one she used when she was hiding something from him or when she didn’t want to talk about the past. “Gage, that ship has sailed. We’re too old for that. If you still want kids, I don’t think this is going to work out.”