Playing it Kale (The McCain Saga Book 4) (29 page)

CHAPTER
THIRTY-ONE

“And I thought Julian and I got married
quick
,” Sage says as she helps secure the veil in my hair
with Mom’s help.

“Well, this is Kale, and he always has
to show everyone up,” I chuckle as I look in the mirror and smooth my dress
down.

Four days.
 
That’s how long Kale and my engagement
lasts.
 
Because it
takes three days to get a marriage license in Washington state.

It’s been a crazy, chaotic, wonderful
three days.
 
All the girls came with me
to my favorite vintage stores, and it only took me two hours to find the
perfect dress.

It’s from the fifties.
 
It only goes to just below my knees with a
full, tulle skirt.
 
A
sweetheart neckline, a beaded, complicated belt.
 
Lace comes up and over the neckline, to a
high collar around my neck.
 
It’s
sleeveless.
 
And
slightly yellowed from age.

And I love it.
 
It’s perfect, and quirky, and a little
different, and totally me.

“I do believe it was your idea,” she
says as she raises an eyebrow at me.

“What can I say?” I breathe as I look at
myself in the mirror.
 
I look so
happy.
 
“I’m ready to start the rest of
my life.”

Soft music starts down the hall.
 

We chose to have the wedding here at the
house.
 
This is where our story would
play out for the rest of our lives.
 
We
both wanted it to begin here, too.

“Time to go,” the wedding planner says
as she pokes her head through the door.
 
“Line on up!”

Everyone squeals.
 
Ming, Hadley, Kaylee,
Riley, Sage, Paisley, and even Quinn and Afton line up.
 

I feel like my heart should be racing
right now.
 
I should be nervous or scared
or something.
 
But I’m not.
 
I feel like I’m right where I was always
meant to be.

One by one, my bridesmaids in
mismatched, vintage dresses walk out the door and down the long hall that leads
to the great room.
 
When it’s my turn, I
step out the door and there’s my dad.
 
He
gives me the proudest smile in the world, and I slide my arm through his.

The hall is long, but finally opens up
into the great room that looks out over the water with its giant windows.
 
The sun shines brilliantly outside.

The flowers that drape across the room
are gorgeous.
 
There’s
only a dozen chairs for people to sit in.
 
Tony, Calvin, a few others watch us all.
 
Almost everyone is in the wedding party.

But I don’t notice any of this as we
step into the room.

Cause there’s Kale.

And instead of racing, my heart soars.

The second he sees me, his face breaks
out into a triumphant smile.
 
His eyes
are locked on mine, and I feel a smile spread on my own face as I walk toward
him.

Maybe too fast, I feel like I’m dragging
my dad along.

And, just before I reach Kale, I trip on
the tile floor.

“Whoa!” Kale shouts, darting forward to
catch me before I biff it.
 
“Please don’t
try to off yourself before we seal the deal.
 
I know
it’s
scary marrying me, but really?”

Everyone breaks out into laughter.
 
“Never,” I say, winking at him.
 
“You’re not getting out of this that easily.”

And all seriousness back, Kale takes my
hands in his, and our eyes lock.

I’ll never look away.
 
Ever.

The pastor we wrangled up and made sign
a confidentiality agreement goes into a speech about love and hardship and forgiveness.
 
I’m sure it’s beautiful, but I’m not really
hearing him.
 
I’m staring at the love of
my life and marveling how I’m here and how quickly my life has changed.

Miracles happen when you least expect
them.

“I do,” Kale says.
 
And the smile on his face is the most amazing
thing I’ve ever witnessed.

“I do,” I say when it’s my turn.
 
And we slip each other’s rings on.

“Then I’m proud to pronounce you man and
wife, Mr. and Mrs. McCain.”

Everyone erupts, and I kiss Kale like
the world will end and I want to go down with my breath taken away.

I hear the photographer snapping
pictures like mad.
 
And then Kale ducks
down, his shoulder goes into my stomach, and he’s hoisted me over his
shoulder.
 

I give a little scream.
 
Kale just lifts his hands in the air and
gives a triumphant holler.
 
“She’s mine!”

And then he takes off running.
 
Off to a happily ever after.

CHAPTER
THIRTY-TWO

Four
years later

“And you don’t have any regrets?”

A smile crosses my lips as I pick Abby
up from off the floor.
 
She puts her
latest toy directly into her mouth, gnawing on it like a rabid animal.

“How could I?” I say as I smile down at
her.
 
“I’ve lived more life in just a few
short years than most people do in their whole lifetime.”

“Not many people reach your level of
world fame and retire at the age of twenty-seven,” the journalist says with a
smile and a raised eyebrow.

“Not many people get to be as happy as I
do.”
 
I press a kiss to Abby’s forehead
and let her go, cause she’s wiggling around like crazy, trying to escape.

“Do you ever miss it?” she asks.
 
“The fame?
 
The stage lights?
 
The crowds screaming your
name?”

I take a second to think about it.
 
Do I miss it?

“I think there’s a time for everything
in your life to happen,” I respond.
 
“I
loved my time recording and touring and being a musician.
 
I mean, I’ll never stop being a musician.
 
But there was a time for me to be that face
on the news and the person that everyone wanted to live vicariously through.
 
And I’m done with that.
 
Now it’s just time for me to be a mom.
 
To be a wife.”

And almost as if on cue, the front door
opens, and in walks Kale.

He’s wearing his thick khaki pants and a
sweater over his Seattle Fire Department shirt.
 
His face is covered in soot and his hair is a mess.
 
He looks tired.

But the second he sees us, his little
family, his face breaks out into a smile.

He crosses the entryway to the living
room and plops down onto the couch next to me.
 
He grabs Abby with a growl and blows onto her belly, making her laugh in
that adorable way of hers.

“Last one?” Kale asks as he leans over
and presses a kiss to my temple.

“Ever,” I say with a smile and a nod
before I look back to the journalist.
 
She’s the one who was chosen to write the article for the biggest
magazine in the country.

It’s my last interview.
 
At least for the foreseeable
future.

“I have to say, I don’t think anyone
would have ever seen this coming for the two of you when you first emerged into
the celebrity world,” she says as she takes notes.
 
Her phone is on the table between us,
recording everything we say.
 
“Kale no longer a model, working as a fireman.
 
You retiring
after
becoming the most well-known artist in America, and most of the world.”

“Life is unpredictable,” I say as I
watch Kale play with our daughter on the couch.
 
He’s so amazing with her.
 
I can
never get enough of the two of them together.

“I guess we all know where you got the
title of that third album,” she says.
 
I
just nod in agreement.
 
“Okay.
 
I think we’ve got enough.
 
I can’t thank you enough for this
opportunity.
 
It really is an honor.
 
I wish you and your family all the best.”

“Thank you,” I say as we both stand and
I shake her hand.

I walk her to the front door, say a
goodbye.
 
Tony sees her to her car.

I close the door and walk back to the
living room.
 
I hold back by the
entryway, just watching Kale and Abby.

He growls at her in that way she loves,
tickling her gently.
 
She giggles like
crazy, sucking in deep breaths before letting another screeching laugh
rip.
 
Kale is lying on the floor, Abby on
top of him.
 
She looks triumphant, like
she managed to tackle Daddy all on her own.
 
A line of drool drips from her mouth, and lands on his neck, right over
his burn scar.

I smile as I watch the two of them.
 
So happy I can hardly stand it.

Kale and I had the most wonderful
honeymoon.
 
Here, at home.
 
Just the two of us, not a
soul to disturb us.
 
And I was so
grateful that I’d kept that one precious thing I had, so that when the time was
right, when I was ready and everything was perfect, that I could give it to
Kale.

It was nothing like I could have ever
imagined.
 
Two people,
being together and one in such a deeply emotional and physical way.

We had four months to just be with each
other.
 
To learn how to
be married, to be together, forever.
 
We spent time with family.
 
And
Kale got hired with the fire department.

And as we settled into this amazing
life, I realized something.
 
I had always
wanted to do music because it was what made me happy.
 
And I still loved music, but now I loved
something else even more.
 
My life.
 
Kale.

So, I called Elysium.
 
I promised them one last album.
 
One more tour.
 
And then I was retiring.

To say they weren’t happy would be a
massive, grievous understatement.

But what choice did they have but to
honor it?
 

So that’s what I gave them.
 
A year later, I was back in the studio.
 
They took four months to produce it.
 
Six months of pre-order.
 
They drug it out as long as possible.
 
Never breathed a word about
my retirement.
 
Not until the day
the album came out.

Unpredictable
did what my first two albums did
combined
.
 
Every station was playing half the songs from
it.
 
A twenty week-long tour kicked
off.
 
It was hard, and reminded me why
this was it for me.
 
Kale came with me
every few weeks, but he had a job now.
 
He had somewhere to be.
 
So we
were apart for far too long.

We had one last concert, here in
Seattle.
 
At
KeyArena
.
 
It
sold out within five minutes of the tickets going on sale.

It was amazing.
 
I felt elated.
 
Free.
 
Because this was my last night under the lights.
 
My last time to connect
with all those amazing people out there who were there for me and no one else.

And two months after the shows and the
limelight were done, I was pregnant.
 
That had been the plan all along.

Now, Abby is eight months old.

And life is perfect.

I step into the room and steal Abby away
from Kale.
 
Her eyes grow wide and
surprised for a moment, and then she’s squealing in delight,
whirlwinding
her arms in the air.

“Look at you,” I coo to her as Kale
climbs to her feet.
 
“Daddy has you all
wound up right before nap time.”

“Squirt needs her wrestle time,” Kale
says as he pokes Abby in the belly, to her delight.
 
“Got to get her prepped for when all those
boys are going to be swarming her.”

“That’ll never happen,” I say to Abby
with wide eyes.
 
“Those boys will stand
no chance between Daddy, and Uncle Lake, and Julian, and Drake.
 
Not to mention Tony.
 
You poor thing, you don’t have a chance at
finding a boy.
 
Ever.”

Abby coos and grabs my nose.

I laugh, and Kale presses a kiss to my
cheek.
 
“You’d better go get showered, everyone
will be here any second.”

“Care to join me?” he says low into my
ear.

“Well, I would have, but then you got
our daughter all wound up instead of sleepy,” I tease him with a raised
eyebrow.

“I regret it instantly,” he says in that
cocky, confident way of his.
 
He presses
a kiss to Abby’s cheek, and I know he’s a liar.
 
Kale doesn’t regret any moment he spends with our daughter.
 
He’s an amazing father.

But just then, the doorbell rings, and
Lucian lets himself in.

“Too late,” Kale says with a chuckle as
Quinn and Afton immediately follow Lucian.
 
The three of them let out a war cry and rush Kale, who meets them battle
call for call.
 
They collide somewhere in
the middle of the hall and go down in a tangle of arms and legs.

“Something smells amazing,” Robin calls
as she appears in the doorway.
 
She’s
immediately followed by Lake and Riley and Callie and Tyler.
 
The kids throw themselves onto the wrestling
pile.

Abby swings her arms in excitement,
dying to get down and play with the older kids.

And then there’s Drake and Kaylee, and
Sage and Julian.

Nearly the whole family is here.
 
And even though Robert is no longer with us,
we can all still feel him.
 
He’s in the
heart of everyone here, with his words of wisdom and kind example.

“This family is getting more and more
out of control,” Sage says with a smile as she joins my side.
 
“How many more weeks left?”

She directs the question at Riley, who
immediately looks down at her stomach and runs a hand over it.
 
“Eight.
 
Which feels like an eternity.
”

Eight more weeks and I’ll have another
nephew.

“I give!
 
I give!” Kale yells from the bottom of the pile.
 
He busts out from underneath the
children.
 
His face is red, and he’s got
a new little scratch on his forehead, but he wears a brilliant smile.
 
“Auntie Whitney needs my help with dinner!
 
Why don’t you guys take this to the
playroom.
”

“To the playroom!”
Lucian gives a war cry, pumping his fist in the air.

And the heard of children take off.

“That boy,” Kaylee says with a chuckle
as she joins us.

Kale comes to my side and presses a
quick kiss to my lips.
 
“What do you need
me to help with?”

I still blush every time he kisses me
around his family.
 
Because
a kiss is never just a kiss when it comes from Kale.
 
“Just get some plates out, please.”

“You got it.”
 
He heads for the kitchen.

I watch him as he goes, admiring the
view.

It’s never been easy to love a McCain,
but it’s always been worth it.
 
Every second.

Because being a part of this family,
it’s the best place in the world to be.

Not in front of the spotlight.
 
Not in front of the cameras, or on the TV, or
jet setting all around the world.

What matters most is being happy, and
sharing that with the ones you love the most.

And I’m the luckiest, happiest woman in
the world.