Maggie gasped as James’s jaw clenched and relaxed in quick repetition. She switched her gaze from Charley to Chase. “Who taught you that neat trick?”

“Nobody. I did it all by myself.” He pointed to himself as he stood as tall as his eight-year-old legs could make him. Still, between the guys, he barely reached a quarter of their size.

“He’s not thirteen, Charley.” Maggie’s tone came through the faked smile.

“Don’t remind me. You tell me why he can already shift and has managed an animal’s form.”

Maggie’s eyes shone with interest, worry. “It’s not possib-”

“It’s very possible. That’s how we know he got away.”


***

The mood in the room mixed between Chase’s giddy excitement, Charley’s interest and reservation, Maggie’s concern, and James’s scowl. Lily continued her slice and dice in the kitchen and Cael sat back, his arm across the couch as if none of the events mattered. Stuart, who’d joined them, sat much like Cael as if he lived in Charley’s home. Wyatt wanted to be a permanent part of it.

With Maggie and Charley’s whispered conversation, which Wyatt heard and expected everyone around him did too, Chase dove into the mountain of snacks Lily had set on the table.

Charley’s body temperature rose beneath Wyatt’s palm. At a guess, he took it to mean irritation with Maggie. He pulled her back into his arms and added a quick kiss to the side of her neck.

“Ewwwwwww… get a room,” Chase said, mouth full.

Wyatt turned to Stuart as Charley did the same. The entire room erupted into laughter-Lily in the kitchen, included-though Maggie remained silent.

“I told you he’s been around a while.” Charley leaned back against his shoulder.

“Gimme five, Chase.” Stuart held his palm out.

Chase drew back just like Wyatt had seen kids do-an over-extension of force they’d exert just to see how hard they could hit. Since Stuart started the activity, everyone offered their hands for the same. He added his sting to everyone’s palm, but when he got to Wyatt, Chase stopped.

His hand remained in the air, the five on hold. “Do you like Charley?”

Charley giggled as Chase stared him down over her.

“I do, yes.”

Chase squished his mouth, tilted his face up toward the ceiling as if considering for a minute. “You told me to call her first when you found me, so you must like her a lot.” He tapped with his free hand against his chin, the other still raised in the air in preparation.

“I would agree with that.” Wyatt looked into the depths of the boy’s eyes. Despite his youth, a glimmer of understanding reflected within.

“You know this is her last year, right?”

Wyatt cocked his head at Charley’s gasp but kept his gaze on Chase. “I do.”

Chase bobbed his head. “She has to marry someone.”

Wyatt’s lips creased as Charley’s sigh blew through the room. He ventured a glance, noting she’d covered her face with her hands and shook her head. Kids just can’t keep secrets and love to share private business.

“Chase-” Charley started, but Wyatt shushed her with a finger.

“What’s she gonna do?” His little boy face sparkled with wonder.

“Let’s finish this five and see where it goes.” Wyatt bounced his hand in the air.

“Okay.” Chase slapped Wyatt’s palm with a sting that would last as it tingled from his palm out to his fingertips.

Wyatt turned to Charley, who peeked between her fingers. “Apparently, you need a husband?”

Instead of leaving the questions in the air like Chase’s hand, Wyatt shifted out from under her, stood, turned around, and knelt in front of her.

Charley’s eyes filled and shifted to a light purple.

Wyatt tucked a hand into his pocket, pulled out the box his mom had returned.

Metal clattered in the kitchen as Lily gasped.

Wyatt opened the box toward Charley. The stone matched that of the necklace he’d given her on the night of their dance sixteen years before, the one she still wore around her neck.

“Better late than never, right? Life’s too short to hold grudges, don’t you think?” She’d thrown tons of secrets on him and still he loved her, perhaps even more because of them. “I’m not letting you get away again.”

Charley squeezed her lips tight.

“Charley Randall, will you marry me?”

23

Charley looked down at Wyatt. So many years had passed-the secrets he still didn’t fully understand yet accepted.

How could she say ‘no’?

She locked her gaze on his, took his free hand in hers, and squeezed as the smile escaped.

“Yes, I will marry you and give you my heart and soul, and everything I can offer you.”

Wyatt slipped the ring from the box as his smile sent a rush of love and power through Charley. She held her hand out to him-the ring fit-if it hadn’t, Charley would have corrected the problem on the fly. “It’s beautiful, Wyatt.” She watched as it sparkled in the sunlight.

Stuart started a chant of “Kiss her! Kiss her!”

Wyatt’s hands cupped her neck. He continued to stare at her as if consumed. “I love you.”

“I love you, too,” Charley said.

He seized her lips with his. She slid her hands around him as they stood, and the group engulfed them, pressing and pulling the two of them into their fold.

“We’re going to have a wedding!” Lily added her arms to their circle.

In the middle, under all the legs and assorted feet, Chase reappeared and tucked himself between Charley and Wyatt. Excitement flowed, but Chase stopped them all. An eight-year-old only had so much of an attention span.

“Wanna see a trick?”

Charley wiped a tear from her eye as she sniffed. “Absolutely.”

Chase closed his eyes and scrunched up his nose. In one swift move, his body dropped to the floor and folded upon itself like an accordion. His clothes landed in a heap.

Charley assumed Wyatt watched in horror, but noted a look of intense curiosity as Chase turned into his mouse form in front of them. That is Chase, not a mouse. That is Chase, not a mouse. She shivered but held her ground.

Lily squealed for good measure, as did Sophie, who’d walked in during Wyatt’s proposal, but her screech actually held merit.

Maggie, who fell into her chair again, bore the expression that Charley would etch into her mind. Someone else had impressed Maggie Reynolds more than she could herself.

One for the record books.

“Okay, Chase, go ahead and come back,” Cael said.

The little mouse turned his nose up to Charley, pointed it to Cael, and returned to Charley.

“He wants his clothes.” Maggie chuckled.

“Oh!” Charley leaned down to the little mouse. “Forgot that part twice now, didn’t ya?” She tapped him on his head with her fingertip.

“C’mon, mouse-boy.” James picked up the Chase-mouse and his clothes. “We’ll be right back.”

They disappeared around the corner, and two minutes later, Chase returned in Chase form, held in James’s arms, one eye half open, the other closed.

“He’s already out, isn’t he?” Charley asked from within the circle of Wyatt’s arms.

A double transformation, by an untrained little boy, in the space of less than ten minutes had to mean complete exhaustion.

James nodded and laid Chase in Sophie’s lap on the couch.

Chase’s eyes fluttered as he leaned against Sophie. “That… was… so… cool.” He dropped into deep sleep.

“Yes, it was,” Charley whispered.

“Celebratory lunch!” Lily called and moved into the kitchen. “Twenty minutes!”

“After Chase wakes up, we need to finish our preparations,” Charley said.

“I agree. But a quick break would be nice, too.” Wyatt leaned down and nuzzled her ear. “Let’s take it together.”

Charley glanced around the room. “We’re going up to the balcony for a minute.”

No one looked at her. Sophie rested with Chase, Stuart at her side. Maggie must have lost herself in thought, with her head in her hands. James and Cael averted their eyes at Charley’s glance.

She smiled at their wordless offer. “You get nineteen minutes,” Charley whispered to Wyatt. “Because Lily is not very nice to people who come late to a party.”


***

They walked until they reached the living room door and Charley sprinted up the stairs, two at a time, Wyatt in her wake. The whoosh of a shirt as Wyatt pulled his off along with a snap from his belt came two steps later. She passed through her door and kicked it shut behind them.

From behind her, Wyatt pulled her into his arms and tossed her on her ivory, down-covered bed. She landed in mid-undress, her shirt halfway over her head, laughter bouncing through the room.

Topless, Wyatt pounced on her. He stripped the rest of her T-shirt off her and threw it to the floor exposing her breasts. He ravaged the pale skin with his hands, and coaxed Charley into a frenzy that made her nerves sizzle.

“You taste like strawberry.” Wyatt’s groan matched that of Charley’s need.

Her hands sought the softness of his hair and the strength of muscles in his shoulders. She reached for his jeans-an inch too far away. Her nails raked up his sides and elicited both a moan and a chuckle. He slid up her body until his face loomed over hers, raised up on his elbows, and tangled his lips with hers.

Charley slid her hands between them. She traced a lazy finger around his belly button until she slipped a hand between skin and jeans.

His groan preceded her tug.

Trapped beneath the heat of Wyatt’s body, Charley left him to bite and pull at her as she maneuvered him out of his clothes.

“I want you.” Wyatt said it against her lips. “I’ve always wanted you.”

“You can have me. All of me.”

Charley drew her hands back to Wyatt’s face. His rough stubble had yet to be shaved. He slipped inside her depths with an ease that could only come from two who were meant to be together.