Chapter 29

"Ican't believe it," Paisley muttered to herself for the tenth time since Luke had gotten back.

"I think we are all still in shock," Luke said, bouncing Garrett on his shoulder.

They had gotten back and then told everyone what had happened. When they had gotten there, their father had already been pronounced dead. Not sure if they believed it or not, Cade and Luke had made sure they were able to verify that it was him and then had headed home.

"Is it over?" Paisley asked.

"We think so," Cade admitted. "There's no way to know what he had in motion before this happened. We also know that Julian is still trying to find Ashley so not for her."

Paisley sighed. It was really crazy the things that happened in this different society that would never have happened the way she grew up. It truly was like two completely different worlds.

Stalkers existed, sure, but not like this, not because of a need to keep lines pure or whatever archaic way they were explaining it now. It was utterly stupid.

"Do we need to make arrangements?" Catherine asked.

Luke shrugged. "I'll help with anything you guys want to do, but I am not attending."

"To be honest, I don't want to either. I don't know if many would since he lost a lot of friends when he was arrested and convicted." Catherine hugged Ryker. "Should we even have a service?"

"I think we should still bury him respectfully, but no to a service. I don't have it in me to stand there and pretend that he was a good man and accept the condolences of people that show up just to be curious." Cade echoed what Paisley was thinking.

"I'll have my lawyers handle it all and we can do a small press release on it and bury it with the other things going on. I don't want to talk to a bunch of people about it either," Catherine added without looking up from Ryker's chest.

Catherine being on the same page was surprising to Paisley. She had expected her to want something more despite everything that had happened.

"Tomorrow, I'll call Mother's doctors and let them know. They can decide what to do about telling her or not." Catherine looked up then. "I don't know if it will matter if she knows."

Cade shrugged. "Do what you want there."

Clearly, there was no love lost between Cade and his parents.

"I'll let Ashley know, but I don't think she will care. She wasn't concerned this morning." Luke handed Garrett to Paisley.

"You can't," Paisley said as she settled Garrett on her hip. "Carter made her leave her phone behind."

"What?" he snapped.

"Matt called and said that he thought she was being tracked. Once they found Julian again, he appeared to know exactly where he was headed and that was straight here. So they drove her car to the airport, parked in long-term parking, and left her phone there before renting a car and heading out," Paisley explained.

"They found Julian?" Cade asked.

"Sorta?" Paisley answered and then looked to Ryker to fill them in.

"Matt gave us what he could but he's working on something else right now. What Paisley said is the long and the short of it. Matt was able to hack his phone and track him to just outside the city. Then he must have turned it off or something because there's been nothing since," Ryker explained.

"Can't Matt do anything else?" Luke asked.

"He's already dividing his time and without the phone, I don't know how else we could track him. Carter got a burner, though. We should get a text when he makes it to the cabin." Ryker was calm about it, which helped make Paisley less anxious, not by a lot but some.

"I better hear from them soon," Luke ground out, clearly angry about it.

"Luke," Paisley attempted to soothe. "Carter will keep her safe. Taking her phone was going to put them in danger potentially. Besides, even Ashley didn't fight him on it." Truthfully, it was the first time that she'd seen Ashley look actually worried about what was going on.

"I never said he wouldn't," Luke said in defense.

"I've got it handled," Ryker said. "I know where they're going, and despite all the trouble Ashley has given him, I do trust Carter to take care of her or I wouldn't have put him on it."

"Where's Matt? Can't you take him off whatever else he's doing? Maybe he can find another way to track Julian," Luke pushed back.

Ryker remained calm despite Luke's frustrations. "Matt is working on something personal."

Luke looked like he wanted to argue but he didn't. He hadn't known that about Matt. He'd just assumed that there was another person that needed help. If it was personal, it made even more sense that Ryker wasn't demanding more from him.

"I'm ready to go home," Paisley said. Maybe if she got Luke alone, he'd calm down some.

"You can go through the back if you want," Catherine said. "We've not had any notifications from the cameras, but Julian could be streetside if he knew that she was here."

"I think that's best," Paisley agreed.

Luke nodded. "Okay. Let's go." He turned to Ryker. "Keep me posted on anything you hear."

"You know I will," Ryker agreed.

"I'll let you know when everything is done with Father's stuff, too." Catherine hugged Luke and then Paisley.

She expected Luke to say not to bother, but he remained quiet. He stayed that way until they were safely locked back in their home.

"Come sit with me," he said, patting the sofa next to him. "I just want to be here with you two."

Paisley smiled and sat down next to him, curling into his side as he settled Garrett on his lap. His arm came around her and held her close. No words were needed as he processed what had happened, and she was happy to be there for him for as long as he needed her.

It didn't take long for Garrett to fall asleep against Luke's chest, and Paisley found herself struggling not to do the same when Luke started to move.

"Want to go to bed?" he asked.

She nodded and moved so he could stand up. As he headed for the stairs, he reached for her hand and she let him take it. He didn't seem to want to lose the connection to her.

They put Garrett down in his crib and Luke led her to the bedroom. He didn't speak as he pulled back the covers and waited for her to crawl in. He followed and snuggled up against her.

"You're not leaving, right?" Luke asked, his voice barely a whisper.

Confused, Paisley twisted in his hold until she was facing him. "What?"

"Now that it's over with my father, you aren't going to leave, right?" he clarified.

"No, of course not." It had been a while since she'd even considered it. "Why would you think that?"

"I just wanted to make sure. I know you kind of stayed because of the threats and now that those are probably over for us, I just wanted to know." He looked lost and it broke her heart.

"Luke." Paisley wrapped her arm around him. "I don't plan on going anywhere. I'm in this with you. Unless that's not what you want, but maybe even then."

"I don't want you to go anywhere unless it's with me," Luke told her.

She settled against him again and started to relax. Heavy conversations didn't need to happen today. They would need to eventually, but it all could wait.

They slept until Garrett woke up. Luke went and got him, meeting her downstairs where she made his bottle.

"I'll do it," Luke said, taking the ready bottle from her.

"Thanks," she murmured, following him to the living room.

They sat quietly as Garrett ate, and she turned over the one thought that had been on her mind since she'd woken up. She wanted to do it, needed to tie her life to his forever.

"Let's get married," she blurted out before she lost her nerve.