“The lawyer feels like he’s going to settle this out of court, just to get this to go away.”
“And will your mom be okay with that?”
Jane nodded. “If she can get enough to support her medical needs, I think so. She wants to move on. And even if she settles with him, it won’t make the investigation into his first wife’s death go away. Or the damage to his reputation. That was everything to him. He always cared more about what people thought than anything else.”
Kaeden kissed her hand again. She loved when he did that.
“Should we go have dinner with your mom tonight?” he asked. He waggled his brows. “After we stop at home for a bit, I mean?”
She blushed again. The man had a way of doing that to her.
She wet her lips and he groaned.
“Why do you have to live so far from the airport?”
Jane laughed, but he put a hand to his chest. “You’re killing me.”
Two hours later, they lay tangled in the sheets, her favorite way to be with this man. She ran a hand over his chest, tracing small circles as she went.
“I do have one thing planned for this weekend,” she said, her stomach doing little flips. She wasn’t sure how he would feel about this.
“What’s that?” his hand was running up and down her back and she hoped he wouldn’t stop anytime soon. His hands felt so good on her skin.
“I got some brochures for a couple of homes in Connecticut that can handle my mom’s needs. I thought maybe we might look through them together.” She licked her lips. “And, um, maybe you could go visit them for me? At least do a first pass and see what you think of them before I go for a visit. I haven’t wanted to leave her yet, but we would need someone to see what they’re like in person before we make any decisions.”
He froze and Jane held her breath.
And then he was pulling her closer and she dared to meet his eyes. She saw nothing but happy excitement in them.
“You’d really move to Connecticut? For me?”
She laughed. “Well, it would be a little bit for me, too.”
He pulled her on top of him and wrapped his arms around her. “Really?”
She nodded. “Really. My mom’s on board with it. Sorry, I know it’s kind of creepy to have my mom be so involved in any decisions you and I make, but—”
“But nothing,” he said. “You and your mom were split up for a long time and I know you had to be terrified for her all that time, thinking Turner might find her. That still has to worry you. I get it. I wouldn’t want to take you away from your mom after all you went through to keep her safe.”
She lowered her head to his chest and closed her eyes. She couldn’t ask for a better man than this. Couldn’t ask for someone who understood her better than this.
She was so blessed to be with him, to no longer be on the run.
Epilogue
Kaeden would never in a million years be glad for what Jane and her mom had gone through, but part of him wondered if they would have found each other if they hadn’t. Were there people you were destined to find no matter which turns you made in life?
What if his boss hadn’t insisted he go on the retreat? And if Jack hadn’t assigned him to run the retreat and her boss hadn’t asked her to be the lodge’s liaison? Would he and Jane have still somehow come together? He liked to think so.
They were walking her mother back to her room after a dinner that included plenty of poring over the brochures from the Connecticut residential care facilities they were considering.
Her mother seemed eager to move to Connecticut and he was glad for that. He had meant it when he said he didn’t want to do anything to keep the women apart.
They’d also gotten all the news on Evan and his family from Debra. She kept in touch with the private investigator who tried to save her. Jack Sutton had ended up paying the bills Turner stiffed the guy for and giving Evan a bonus that was going toward his daughter’s care.
Kaeden pushed Debra’s wheelchair down the hall as Jane held her mother’s hand. They were making plans to have her mother’s hair cut the following week and Kaeden had to admit, he liked listening to the idle chit chat of plans being made. He just liked being around Jane, period, no matter what she was doing.
She’d been taking on some remote freelance work for several of the companies Sutton Capital invested in, but he knew she wanted to find something more permanent soon. If she could relocate to Connecticut where he could help out with her mom some, it might help.