Their son might have made it to the NHL and they could have easily retired, leaving behind a lifetime of hard work, but when Kane offered them a chance years ago, Heather said they laughed their asses off at him.

“No one is taking my farm,” Chuck had said. “Until I can’t work it anymore and I’m ready to let it go.”

And that was that. They lived a simple life in a small town in the northeast corner of New York where the largest city was Albany, almost an hour south of them.

“Go,” Heather whispered, grabbing on to my float to stabilize me. “She’s worried about you.”

“Right.” I pushed the float to the pool and scrambled out of it on all fours. Once I was on my feet, Heather handed me my wine.

“Better bring the bottle, too,” Tracy called out. “We’re probably going to need it.”

I tossed a scowl at Heather. “You’re just like your mother.”

She blocked the sun with a hand at her forehead and grinned up at me. “Best compliment ever.”

If only we were all so lucky.

Hell, even Irena had been a better mom to me in three years than my mom had been in my first eighteen but since I was ignoring reality today, I kicked that thought to the curb and drowned the lump in my throat with a sip of wine.

The hot tub was hot, despite the heater being turned off, and I flinched as I went from the cool pool to the heated water. Once I was settled in and Chuck handed Tracy her own fresh glass of wine with a kiss at her temple and a squeeze of my shoulder, she tossed one arm around me, pulled me tight to her and squeezed.

“Come on, sweetheart. Tell me everything.”

It might have been the sun. The heat. The emotions or the fact I caught sight of my glimmering diamond shining on my left ring finger.

Whatever it was that flipped my switch, I buried my forehead into the crook of her neck and sobbed.

Chuck’s face was red as a tomato and he’d crushed the empty beer can in his hand before replacing it with a fresh one. While I told Tracy everything, he’d joined us in the hot tub, keeping his distance, but his anger boiled as much as the water.

Eventually Heather climbed in as well and sat next to her dad. Once I was done, Heather and I filled them both in on Lincoln’s erratic behavior of late and Irena’s concerned phone call, his dad turned to Heather.

“It’s a damn shame you didn’t bring that phone to me. Five seconds. Give me five seconds with that boy and it wouldn’t have come to this.”

“If you’d let me have your Remington when I asked for it, I could have taken care of him when he showed up at Graham’s,” Heather chimed in.

“There are no deer there,” Chuck said and patted his daughter on the head. “But you are a hell of a shot.”