Cherish Hard
Page 69

The boutique, child-friendly cafés within would be the icing on the cake.
“Damn it,” Ísa muttered. “We have to figure out how to pull it off.”
“What?” Sailor blinked.
“It’s too good a plan to abandon.” She tapped her lower lip. “Money is the problem. Especially since you want to do it on your own.” Ísa didn’t make the mistake of offering him financial help—that would break Sailor’s heart.
It was so important to him that he didn’t take, that he gave.
She saw his scars now, understood how deep they went. “Did you ask anyone else for the loan?”
Looking wary, he said, “No,” and she realized he thought she was talking about family.
“An angel investor,” she said with a poke to his chest. “That’s what you need. Someone who’ll forward you the money on the strength of your idea and your track record so far. Someone who takes risks on start-ups in the hope of a big payoff.” She frowned. “I know you want to go it alone—”
“No, I have nothing against an investor,” Sailor said. “It’s a commercial decision for them, and they’d be getting a return. It’s just, with family…”
Ísa could see him struggling to find the words to explain. “I understand, Sailor. It’s a different ballgame when it’s a bank or an investor for whom this type of thing is their business—any risk is weighed and calculated, no emotions involved. They won’t invest in you out of love, and they expect you to return far more than they’re giving..”
Sailor nodded. “That’s exactly it.” His kiss was tender, his hand stroking the curve of her waist. “But with an angel investor—I thought that kind of thing was only for tech start-ups?”
“Are you kidding? My mother has a fund set aside for investment opportunities at the ground level.” She winced. “And oh God, Jacqueline will kill me because I didn’t nudge you in her direction, but we must all sacrifice for love.” If Sailor didn’t want family investment, then so be it.
“I know that world,” she continued. “I can do the basic research for you, find out which investors are reliable and trustworthy.” Ísa would turn barracuda for this, make damn sure no one unscrupulous got their claws into Sailor’s dream. “You’d have to do the hard sell yourself, but since you convinced Jacqueline over the phone, I have total faith in your ability to talk your way into an agreement.”
Catching his stunned expression, she winced. “Um, that is, if you want my help.”
He kissed her, all heat and smile. “You’re amazing, spitfire. I’m so glad I wasn’t a dumbass.” When she laughed, he peppered her face with kisses. “But Ísa,” he said in a more serious tone, “if this doesn’t work, never think I’ll have regrets. Not for a single fucking second.”
Nothing but resolve in his expression.
Nothing but a love that said he saw her and adored her.
“I won’t,” she managed to get out. “But… we’re going to do it.” Because she loved him back just as madly.
“Has anyone ever told you that you’re stubborn?”
“It’s a gift.”
Epilogue
(It Involves Monsters, Terror, a Dragon, and True Love)
* * *
ÍSA TRIED TO REMEMBER TO do that “huff, huff, huff” breathing she’d been taught. “It’s happening,” she said almost to herself, putting down the volume of Elizabeth Barrett Browning sonnets she’d been reading. “Harlow, Jake.”
The two boys, who were hanging out in her and Sailor’s lounge playing video games, didn’t take their eyes from the screen on which they were vanquishing monsters and hunting treasure.
“Yeah?” one mumbled.
“Hospital.”
The single word had them jumping up like jackrabbits, game forgotten and abandoned. On the screen, a monster ate Harlow’s head while another bore down on Jake with predatory intent. The boys, however, had other priorities.
One went to the cupboard to snag the bag she’d packed and put in there, while the other grabbed his keys. Both were qualified to drive, but it was the more experienced Harlow who was assigned as driver. Because this entire smoothly oiled operation was as a result of Sailor’s unrelenting care—and slight terror.
Ísa called her husband as she got into the front passenger seat. “Snookums,” she said in a private joke that still made her smile, “I’m on my way to the hospital.”
A sucked-in breath. “Meet you there.”
She smiled as she hung up and began to do her breathing again, her mind filling with thoughts of what it had taken to get here, to this moment when she was about to give birth to her and Sailor’s baby, adding a tiny new person to their already huge extended family. It hadn’t been easy. It had taken determination and grit and a firm belief in both their dreams.
Also included had been the vanquishing of a dragon.
Jacqueline had not been pleased when Ísa handed in her notice at the end of the previous summer. She’d been gearing up for more blackmail when Ísa told her to make a choice—a relationship with her eldest child and any children Ísa might have, or a cold, empty existence devoid of any family contact.
Unspoken had been the fact that if Ísa cut her off, Jacqueline would have to maintain the bonds with Catie and Harlow on her own. And Jacqueline frankly sucked at being maternal. It was Ísa who was the glue, Ísa who made sure Jacqueline wasn’t lost and out in the cold.
“As for Harlow,” Ísa had pointed out, “he’ll be fine.” The summer had been good for her brother—he’d come out of the internship with a new confidence that had girls suddenly giving him a second look. He was still in awe of Jacqueline, but at least now he knew he could hack it in a business workplace.
“If you think I’m letting that boy go after all the work I put into him this summer,” Jacqueline had snarled, “your head’s been addled by love hormones.” A gimlet-eyed glance. “When did you learn to be so ruthless?”
“I have your genes,” Ísa had said with a dry smile. “I try to keep the ruthless under control, but every so often it just bursts out.”
A twitch of her mother’s lips. “You know you have me over a barrel.” There was a strange vulnerability to her in that moment. “I have no desire to grow old surrounded by money and no children but Trevor.” Her lips curled up. “He sent me flowers the other day. As if Jacqueline Rain’s forgiveness can be charmed.”
Caught by that vulnerability, Ísa had done something she rarely did—she’d hugged her mother, the scent of Jacqueline’s perfume swirling around them. When she drew back, she’d held her mother’s eyes. “Keep the dragon breath under control and we’ll be fine. Also, you need to schedule a visit to Catie this weekend and take her out for a mother-daughter lunch.”
Jacqueline’s eyes had glinted, but she’d made the appointment in her diary. Then she’d sighed. “Poetry, Ísa, really? You’re truly going to waste that incredible, ruthless mind on poetry?”
“Nope. I’m going to use it to educate thousands of young minds through the years—and hopefully, one day, send my own words out into the world.” Ísa felt nothing but peace with the choices she’d made. “I’m also going to use it to love my family and create a legacy of love.”