“Just hit you, didn’t it? Saw her with your babies on her hip.”

Matt looked at his father and laughed. “You’re pretty scary sometimes, Daddy.”

Edward shrugged. “I have to be. Your momma keeps me on my toes.”

The women began to flow from the house with heaping platters of food, piling them from end to end across the three long tables they’d set up. Matt loved the way they all sounded, soft and light. He heard Tate’s scratchy low voice and her laugh as it married with the sound of his mother and Tate’s sisters. The thought that someone had just put her in the hospital less than a week before made him clench his jaw.

She was so damned precious to him. How could he protect her from her father at all times?

“It’s hard. Getting past all the hurt she’s been caused.” Shane looked at Matt for long moments before his eyes moved to Cassie. Matt had watched as Shane learned more and more of Cassie’s past, watched as his brother suffered over the pain the woman he loved had endured. And Matt had watched as Shane grew and matured into a man he admired deeply.

“But you will. And you’ll need to let her let you in. Don’t try to manage her, Matt. Be there for her but don’t push.”

“Yeah, ‘cause you’re such an unassuming, sensitive guy. What if she needs Matt to help her through things?” Kyle asked as he joined them.

“She’s thirty-one years old. She runs a successful business. She and her siblings have supported each other through school. You saw how she dealt with this whole thing, how her family rallied around her. How she bounced back. She’s not a mess. I’m just saying. I’ve been there.”

Nicholas toddled over to Tate and she picked him up, kissing both cheeks and putting her own against the top of his head as she swayed side to side. When she opened her eyes, she looked around and saw Matt and her smile was for him.

“Thank you, Shane. Daddy and Kyle, you too. If you’ll excuse me, my woman looks like she’s going to leave me for another man if I don’t get over there.”

Tate held Nicholas against her as he played with her hair. Maggie laughed and said something to her right but all Tate was focused on was Matt. She smiled as he approached.

“Hey, you trying to steal my woman?” Matt asked Nicholas who just laughed and burrowed tighter against her.

“Mommy’s getting jealous, Nicholas. Won’t you come and give me some love?” Maggie held her arms out and Nicholas jumped into them.

Matt didn’t waste any time, he grabbed Tate and hugged her before laying a kiss on those lips of hers. “I’m starving.”

She laughed. “Sit down. Everyone, come on and sit down, dinner is ready,” she called out and the seats around the tables filled quickly and food began to move around in an orderly circuit.

Damn his woman could cook. Matt sat back some minutes later and rubbed his expanded belly. “Woman, you’re the best thing that ever happened to me.”

He found her tell-tale blush charming even through the onset of food coma.

“I heard that. Tate, I have to tell you, girl, you’re an awfully fine cook. That’s not a compliment I give often.” Polly put her head on Edward’s shoulder, leaning into him.

Matt and the other men cleaned up while the women sat outside and watched the children play.

He felt like they’d taken a huge step with that dinner, one toward unifying all the things in his life that he held most dear.

Chapter Ten

Tate watched as Polly tucked a wayward curl behind Beth’s ear as they sat around the table at the Chases for Sunday dinner. The two women laughed together and while it gave her great joy that they’d all been pulled into the Chase family with such ease, it also made her ache just a bit.

Polly Chase had become something more than the slightly scary mother of her boyfriend. More than the town matriarch and a client. She called Tate to check in on her day, sent over recipes and asked for Tate’s. She picked up scarves and little knick-knacks she told Tate reminded Polly of her. Polly knew her favorite flowers and what kind of tea she liked.

More than that, she extended that maternal care to all the Murphys great and small. Her nieces and nephew were totally at home in the Chase backyard.

It was a revelation to Tate, that mothers like Polly existed. At the same time, it made her resent that she never had that. It wasn’t like Tate to wallow but sometimes, at night in a small corner of her heart, she allowed it just a tiny bit.

As Liv’s due date approached, Tate and her sisters were invited to the shower. It wasn’t so much that Tate disliked Liv, in fact, Tate had always appreciated Liv’s humor when she came into the shop. But now that Tate was with Matt, it was a reminder that Liv was everything Tate wasn’t. And she’d been with Matt. Matt had seen them both naked and it made Tate cringe just thinking about it.

Being around Liv now made her distinctly uncomfortable. She didn’t want to go to the shower but it was unavoidable. She was Matt’s girlfriend and a pseudo member of the Chase family and it was expected. And more than that, she didn’t want to hurt Liv’s feelings.

So she let Beth drag her out shopping. They found the place Liv was registered at and picked her up a few things. Money had been tight, her father had come by the week before and demanded five hundred dollars. His price rose each damned time she saw him. Still she didn’t want to skimp. Liv was important to Matt and so she was important to Tate too. Even if she hadn’t liked Liv herself, Tate would have gone out of her way for her.