Page 37 of Trade It All (The Barrington Billionaires 3)
Once everyone was seated, Sophie said, “Lance has had an epiphany.”
Lance stood up and began to pace. The entire scene was over the top, but he thought back to the night Dax had asked the family to help him plan his proposal to Kenzi. Lance had learned early that Barringtons handled their own problems, but maybe, just maybe, that was changing. He wanted his family to feel as invested in Willa’s acceptance as they had in Kenzi’s. “I’m in love with Willa.”
Asher’s phone rang. “It’s Emily,” he said to no one in particular before answering it. “He’s fine. Everyone is fine. Lance has temporarily lost his mind, though. The emergency was he wanted to tell us that he loves Willa.” Asher listened to whatever his wife was saying, then responded. “I know you knew that. We all knew it. The only one surprised seems to be Lance.” He listened again, then pressed a button on his phone and held it up. “Okay, you’re on video chat now.”
Emily waved from the screen of the phone. “Lance, I’m so sorry I couldn’t be there. The doctor told me to try to get more rest. You must be over-the-moon happy.”
Not yet. “Technically, she’s still not speaking to me. That’s why I’m here. I messed things up with her the first time. I’m very close to losing her a second time. I needed some advice so I came to see Dad, but Mom is also a good sounding board.”
Dale crossed to stand behind his wife. He bent down and kissed her cheek. She raised a hand to hold his. “When it comes to love, you spoke to the expert.”
Sophie smiled and squeezed her husband’s hand. “A good marriage takes two. You and I have made our share of mistakes, but I hope we’ve shown our children that love and family can survive anything. I love you more today, Dale, than I did when I agreed to marry you—and I was head-over-heels smitten with you then. More than anything else, that’s what I want for our children. I want them to find someone who stands with them no matter what challenges their bond.”
Dale’s eyes shone with emotion. “I would do it again, Sophie. Every last moment. The good. The bad. It was all worth it because you were at my side.” He looked around the room. “As I watch our children growing up and starting families of their own, I hope they do a hundred things better than we did, but one thing the same. I hope they always end each day grateful to have each other. Every one of us in this room has done something we regret, but if we work through it, we become stronger because of it.”
For the second time that night Lance’s perception of his parents was challenged. Yes, their marriage had its flaws, yet its foundation was not only solid but had strengthened over time. That’s what he wanted for himself and Willa.
From the phone, Emily said, “Am I the only one bawling?”
Kenzi called out, “I’m right there with you.”
Grant cleared his throat. “So, what are we doing now?”
“Hang on a minute.” Lance walked out of the living room into his father’s office and returned with a white board and dry erase marker. In much the same fashion that he’d outline a timetable for work projects—with lines that jutted out to boxes where he listed possible complications along with solutions to each—he charted his relationship with Willa. He kept the details to a minimum referring only to their intimacy as the times they connected.
He stood back, studied the diagram and said, “As you can see, I need a clear plan of action to break this pattern.”
Dax said, “That’s quite a chart you have there, Lance.”
Ian studied the details of it. “Why is Lexi in a box with an asterisk?”
“That’s when she pretended to be Willa, and I didn’t realize it.”
“Tell me you didn’t sleep with her sister,” Asher said abruptly.
Sophie gasped. Dale’s eyes flew to Lance’s but he didn’t say anything.
Lance erased the asterisk. “One kiss, but it was enough to screw everything up the first time.”
Dax rubbed a finger and thumb over his eyes before looking up at the chart. “This is how you think? You’re not making this up?”
Lance shrugged. “I can’t wing it this time. I need to look at this problem from all angles.” He added a mathematical equation that he’d toyed with mid-week. “This is my calculation of the length of time it’ll take her to forgive me for not calling her this week. I based it on how long she was angry the first time, then factored in the similarities and differences between each event. I think we should figure out this portion before I move on to the proposal.”
Dax looked around at the other men as if gauging the likelihood that one of them would announce he was being pranked. When there was no confirmation, Dax turned his attention back to Lance. “You’re serious about all of this?”
Kenzi laid her head on his arm. “He loves her. Don’t even pretend it wasn’t confusing for you when you realized you loved me.”
There was a general chuckle around the room.
Lance lowered the dry erase board and sat heavily on the arm of one of the couches. “Laugh all you want, but I can’t lose her again. I’ve been in love with her for a long time. I just couldn’t see it.”
Ian said, “I don’t know how you missed it when it was clearly there in the subcategory of your third bulleted list of reasons you belonged together.”
Lance glanced down at his diagram, shocked he’d missed that, only to realize that his brother had made it up.
“Ian,” Dale said, using his son’s name in reprimand.
Waving his hands in the air, Ian defended himself. “Dad, what do you expect? This is ridiculous.”
With a shake of his head, Dale said, “Love humbles a man, Ian, especially while you’re working things out the way Lance is. Ask Asher and Dax.”
“I could have used a diagram when I was trying to figure out if I’d burned Emily’s museum down,” Asher said with self-deprecating humor.
Emily chimed in. “That was not a fun time for any of us. I thought it might be over between us right up until the moment you proposed.”
“Falling in love is hell,” Dax confirmed.
Kenzi raised her head and her eyebrows shot to her hairline.
He smiled and gave her a brief kiss on the lips. “But then, if you survive the wedding planning, it’s all good.”
With a playful elbow nudge, Kenzi said, “You wait. You’ll pay for that one.”
The couple was momentarily lost in each other’s eyes. Lance and everyone else looked away. Lance circled back to his problem. “I screwed up. She was about to tell me she loved me, and I bolted. Then I didn’t call her. Now she’s not answering my calls.”
“Oh, Lance,” Kenzi said. “No wonder she’s been avoiding me.”
Emily added, “She’s been working on a sculpture at my museum every night. You should see it. It’s incredible.”
“Have you thought about hiring her to cover for you when you’re on maternity leave?” Dax asked.
Sophie tipped her head in question. “She’s not working at your office?”
Lance found it amusing to watch Dax weigh being honest with pleasing his future mother-in-law. “She’s an artist at heart. She’d be happier in a museum setting.”
“Good save,” Ian interjected softly.
Lance turned and erased the board then picked up the marker again. Dax’s suggestion had given him an idea. “Proposing is the next logical step. And the way I see it, there are only a couple of viable places I should ask her. But first I have to get her there. While you’re all here . . .”
There were a few groans from around the room, but no one moved to leave. He started listing places he knew Willa loved and adding pros and cons next to each. He also added the idea of showing her in some concrete fashion how important she was to him.
Reminiscent of how his family was when they played Pictionary together, everyone started calling out suggestions. Lance paused before writing down each idea and looked around at those gathered for the single purpose of helping him. My family. This is what my friends imagine I have when I tell them I’m from a large
family. Asher bringing Emily home changed us, woke us up. Maybe things won’t go back to how they were before. Maybe good things really can last. It gave him hope, not only within his family, but within himself.
And with Willa.
He knew that one day soon he’d have to discuss what he’d discovered in Aruba, but he wanted Willa at his side when he did. His father wanted them to do things better than he had. Lance wanted to share his life with Willa—the best and the worst of whatever was to come. Together, they could weather any storm.
Family and love.
It had taken him a long time, but he finally believed in both, and with his family’s help, he’d convince Willa to do the same.
Chapter Eighteen
A few days later after the museum was closed, Willa and Lexi walked into the Harris Tactile Museum. After checking in with a staff member, Willa asked Lexi to don a blindfold. Her sculpture was finished and on display in the main hallway. Willa wanted her sister to experience it first through touch.
Lexi laughed, put the blindfold on, then held her arm out for her sister to take. “Lead away. When you said you were embracing your artistic side, I had no idea how serious you were. I can’t wait to see—I mean feel what you made. It must be good if Emily is letting you showcase it.”
Emily’s reaction had been incredible. Yes, she cried, but . . . she was very pregnant. She cried easily. Her words, though, would ring within Willa forever. “Stunning, Willa. It’s breathtaking,” Willa had nearly fallen in shock.
Willa led her sister by the arm. “I hope you like it as much as she did. Having it included among Emily’s pieces and her mother’s makes my decision to work here that much more exciting. When I’m in this building I feel like I’m an artist.”
“You are one. You always have been.”
Willa hugged her sister’s arm. “In my heart, maybe, but I didn’t have the confidence to create anything. Don’t expect the sculpture to feel perfectly formed. It has some rough spots where I struggled to get it right, but it’s a piece of me, and Emily says that’s what makes it beautiful.”
