“We are, dads, don’t worry. We’ve watched you guys with Ma and we know this type of relationship is special. So is Valentina. We all have a lot in common, and it feels right,” Beck told them.
“I like her already, and she sure must be special to keep Jace from disappearing on those camping trips alone,” Ray said and gave Jace a glare. Their fathers always worried about Jace and how he didn’t like sharing his emotions and chose to hide and keep things to himself.
“Everyone has their ways of dealing with things, Dad. I always came back, didn’t I?”
“We wondered if you would, and we worried, just like your ma did every time. You know it’s okay to feel the pain still, and the memories of your service. We’ve all been there,” Sarge added.
“I don’t need to talk about this right now. Not at all. I’m fine. Don’t I look fine?” Jace asked and then stood up. He was insulted and didn’t like to talk about the way he disappeared.
Sparrow sighed, knowing this was a conversation that always took place here at the house and that was why Jace wouldn’t come over for dinner with them. He avoided
their fathers, worried about their opinions of him as a Green Beret like them and having weakness. Sparrow knew their dads weren’t like that. They cared for them, all of them, but Jace couldn’t see that.
“Jace?” He turned around to see Valentina walking up the walkway to the porch with their mother.
Sparrow saw the concerned expressions on both women’s faces and it hit his heart hard. Valentina cared about them so much, too.
“Jace, what’s wrong?” Ella asked.
“Nothing, just the same old crap.” He walked down off the porch. Valentina reached out and grabbed his hand and he pulled her along with him.
“What about dessert?” their mom called out. Jace waved his hand and pulled Valentina along with him toward the path that led back to the woods. Was he walking her all the way home to their place through the woods? Sparrow wondered and then looked at his brothers.
“Let’s give him some time, maybe Valentina can calm him down,” he said to them.
“She’s a really sweet woman. Cares a lot about her sister and nephew, and what a sense of humor. I haven’t heard Jace laugh like that in so long,” their mom said with tears filling her eyes.
Sarge grabbed her hand to pull her closer and then onto his lap. She gasped and held down her skirt as he placed her on his lap.
“She’s a good woman, and good for our boys,” he said to her and then kissed her shoulder. She smiled at him.
“Good for us? Why do you say that?” Ridge asked.
“She won’t take any of your crap, gun or no gun,” Ray stated, and they chuckled.
“You think she’ll be okay with Jace?” their mom asked them.
When he first returned from serving, Jace had been hard to handle and always seemed to have a temper. He would have some outbursts, but Sparrow, Ridge, and Beck were always there to calm him down. After he retired and had started disappearing when the raging started, they’d all been worried that he could hurt himself or someone else. His mom’s concerns brought back those memories a moment.
“She’ll be just fine and so will Jace. He loves her,” Ridge said and then stood up to toss out the empty beer. Sparrow looked at Ridge and then Beck, and they smiled. “He isn’t the only one,” Beck said.
“Well, I’ll be damned. It looks like you might get your wish, Ella,” Scout said to her.
“My wish?” she asked.
“Yes, you know, the one you were repeating over and over again when you first met Valentina and knew our boys were interested in her,” Sarge added.
Ella was quiet.
“She was dancing around the kitchen hoping that it would all work out between the four of you and Valentina. She said if she could choose a daughter-in-law and a wife for her sons, Valentina fit the bill more than perfectly,” Ray told them.
Sparrow smirked.
“Ain’t that the truth?” Sarge said and dipped their mom, kissing her gingerly on the lips.
“On that note, I think we’re going, too,” Beck stated, standing up.
“What about dessert?” their mom asked as Sarge let her up and she went to hug Ridge.