Chapter 35      

Riley’s decision to call off his engagement with Sadie was sticking like a thorn in the proverbial lion’s paw. 

After a week of telling himself he’d made the right decision, he felt like everything in his life was on shaky ground. His artistic well had dried up, and he couldn’t seem to create. His female superhero—the one who resembled Sadie—wouldn’t talk to him, and the one time he’d tried to redraw her to resemble someone else, he’d broken down and cried. His relationship with Paige and Mark was suffering, and if that wasn’t bad enough, Jess had finally come out of her fog and asked him about Sadie. Maybe Haley had even said something to her. They were both smart kids.

He’d told Jess he’d felt they needed to spend some time alone, and Sadie had agreed. His daughter’s eyes had filled with tears, and she’d run away and slammed the door to her room, something she’d never done.

The crack of that door had reverberated in his aching heart, and he’d sat on the steps and given in to his emotions again. He missed Sadie, and he didn’t want this. Any of this. Only he wasn’t sure what to do about it. He was doing the right thing after all…wasn’t he?

It didn’t help that Mark seemed to think Jess’ reaction might be because she thought yet another woman had abandoned her. That made him feel like dog shit. Especially since he was only trying to keep her safe.

When he opened the door to find Rye Crenshaw standing on his doorstep at noon the Wednesday after the breakup, he almost shut the door in the man’s face. Of course, he’d wondered if one of the men in Sadie’s family would take him to the woodshed for hurting her. Part of him had welcomed it.

“Can I come in?” Rye asked.

“Do I have a choice?” Riley found himself asking.

Rye’s mouth tipped up. “You could say no, I suppose, but then we’d have to do it the hard way.”

Riley knew it wasn’t wise to challenge the man, so he stepped back and allowed him inside.

“I don’t have to ask whether you’re upset about how things are,” Rye began, shifting his weight on his hip. “It’s clear as mud. That eases me some. I’m glad I didn’t misjudge you. Now I’m sure I was right to come. Do you have a beer?”

“It’s noon,” Riley pointed out.

“I’m an artist. You’re an artist.”

The point wasn’t worth arguing. Riley walked toward the kitchen, Rye’s boots stomping on the hardwood floor behind him. Rather than offer him a choice, like he would have done for an invited guest, he pulled out two craft beers. He popped the tops, releasing a hissing sound in the room. 

Rye tipped back the beer and took a drink. “Nice. Now let’s talk turkey. Shelby came and visited me the other day, and the one thing you need to know about Shelby is that she is the most interfering woman in the whole family. I love her to pieces, but she is not one to rest on her laurels.”

This wasn’t news to Riley—Sadie had told him much the same thing. “I can respect that to a point.”

“Good,” Rye said, resting his beer against his hip. “Seems Shelby feels she finally has a bead on why you called off the engagement, and if she’s right, I’m afraid I’m going to have to kick your ass.”

Riley narrowed his eyes at the man. “That doesn’t make me feel all warm and squishy on the inside.”

Rye had the audacity to bark out a laugh. “It’s not meant to. Correct me if I’m wrong, but did you break things off with Sadie because you thought your ex might come back and bother me and Jake again and somehow hurt the family? And your daughter? Although let’s start with our family first.”

Riley stayed silent.

“Jake doesn’t know I’m here, by the way. He’s a much nicer guy than me, but I think he’d agree with me on this point. If you’re trying to protect us from that crazy bitch, don’t. It’s an insult to us as men. To our families, really.”

When Rye put it that way, the whole thing sounded ridiculous. “I love Sadie, and her family means everything to her. The last thing I want to do is bring more filth to your door. That’s not fair to anyone, including y’all. I also can’t guarantee Mandy won’t break the restraining order and come back. She’s an unbalanced junkie, and I can’t see her staying away for good and leaving Jess alone, especially if she’s quasi-related to two huge stars.”

“Do you think Jake and I haven’t had people try to hit us up before?” Rye asked, leaning back against the kitchen counter. “I can’t say it wasn’t a surprise when it happened here, but it didn’t throw me none. Clayton knows what he’s doing, and Vander can be downright scary. We can handle anything that comes.”

Riley set his beer on the counter and pressed his fingers to the bridge of his nose. “I don’t want to be responsible for any more hurt to your family.”

Rye knocked him in the shoulder. “You aren’t. That woman is, and you’ve handled her like a man should. Now, let’s talk about you doing it for your baby girl. As a new father, I’ve given this a lot of thought, and I have some compassion for the decision you made. I understand why you would want to remove any so-called temptation from your ex, and here be temptation apparently.”

When he gestured to himself, Riley nodded. “It’s a unique situation.”

“Yes, it is,” Rye said, “which is why I haven’t kicked your ass. Yet. Jake and I don’t plan on becoming less famous to stop being catnip to your ex, but let me tell you one indisputable truth. If that bitch comes back around, we’ll circle the wagons again. Together. To protect your daughter. If you marry Sadie, Jess is our family too. Do I strike you as a man who wouldn’t protect one of his kin, especially a child? I’ve done it before, bubba.”

His resolve was backing up Riley’s throat. “I never imagined you’d help me protect her.” God, he was going to start crying.

Rye put his hand on his shoulder. “The protecting isn’t all on you anymore. We’re family now, assuming you turn this situation around and go after Sadie. Son, you don’t give up on a woman and the life you want with her because of crap like this.”

“I see that now,” he said. “Thank you.” He felt like new bonds of brotherhood were forming with this man.

“Is there anything else keeping you from marrying our girl?” Rye asked. “Shelby said you were worried your daughter might need your sole focus, and I don’t want to minimize that. However, as someone who’s dealt with little kids from an abusive home, I can tell you that the best antidote is to welcome in more good people to love on them.”

Paige and Mark had told him the same thing, but he’d tuned them out.

“Love heals, I’ve come to realize, and your Jess is going to heal a heck of a lot faster with someone like Sadie in her camp. That girl has a heart of gold, and you know it. Then there’s the rest of us. We’re not too bad to have around.”

No, they weren’t, and he’d seen it from the beginning.

“You’ve been invited to be part of our family, and from where I’m standing, that’s a pretty good gig. And since Sadie loves you… Well, you have a lot to offer all of us. You and Jess. We need another good man like you in our camp. Think on that for me, will you?”

Riley nodded, and Rye set his beer on the countertop. 

“I’ll get out of your hair,” Rye said, “but like I said, Sadie’s ours, and that makes you and Jess ours too since she wants y’all. Besides, Clayton and Vander are more terrifying than any superhero duo imaginable when it comes to protecting our clan from bad people. Trust me on this. You just call them if ever the time comes. We’re all here for you, Riley.”

With a manly slap on the back, Rye walked out of the kitchen. Riley heard the front door close, and he made his way up the stairs to his daughter’s bedroom. As he looked at the beautiful quilt Sadie had made for Jess, he reaffirmed his daughter was going to become this woman—the fearless, happy princess. He was going to help her and he was going to let people like Rye and the rest of their family support him, but he knew Jess already had the seeds inside her. Hadn’t they been obvious these last few days? After the trauma of her meeting with her mother, she’d slowly but surely come back to herself.

She and Haley had started playing and laughing again, although not as much as usual. Still, they hadn’t stopped. Their friendship was stronger than ever.

Riley had been too caught up in his own head to see the lesson his daughter was teaching him, to see how sometimes terrible moments could strengthen the bond between people if only they continued to trust and support each other. And he needed to show Jess that good men like him didn’t retreat from bullies in order to protect the people they loved. They fought with the tools available to them. Nathaniel Gray used the law, like he’d done. And his superhero…she stitched together time with the thread her mother gave her. But she could also change the blocks, and as he stared at the quilt, it all came together. She might not be able to change the past, but she had the power to reorient it—to stitch it back together in a way that could free people like Riley, who felt imprisoned by their past choices.

He’d broken his bond with Sadie, but he could restitch it and their future.

He walked into his room and pulled the quilt she’d made him out of the chest at the end of his bed. Smoothing it out, he studied the man she’d depicted in the design.

It was time for him to become the hero she saw when she looked at him.