His Greatest Treasure (Greatest Love #4)

Chapter 37

37

TYLER

My wife always said she wanted two boys, and that’s exactly what we got.

One loud and brash with a laugh you can hear from space and another that likes his privacy and scowls more than he smiles. Oliver was born looking exactly like me. Even down to the wrinkle between his barely there baby eyebrows.

He was the angel child, the one that set us up for failure once Jamie came along like a fucking terror from hell. Oliver didn’t cry, slept through the night from three months old, and took to breastfeeding like a champ.

Jamie preferred screaming at night and forcing our hand to formula. He grew to be a sarcastic little shit who has no problem being the loudest one in the room. So similar to his mother, she took to him easier than I did. To this day, she’s the one who understands him with little thought.

I love both of my sons equally and with a fierceness that was unheard of in my past. It terrified me how easy it was to attach myself to them and to witness the extent of the love I was capable of giving another person outside of Gracie.

And while all of that is true, Oliver will always be the son I was able to connect with the easiest .

From a very young age, he portrayed himself in a manner that I could relate to in a soul-deep way. If he wanted to be alone but didn’t know how to ask for that little bit of support he needed, I was there to sit in a chair beside him and provide silent comfort. When he was struggling with expressing himself, I was the first one to knock on his door and offer advice that I wish I’d had growing up.

No matter the circumstances, I made sure I was available to him for every moment of disappointment or happiness that he didn’t know how to handle.

My past is shaded in greys and blacks, but from the moment the boys were born, I worked to ensure both he and Jamie could look back and see theirs in a kaleidoscope of colours.

So, after I get home from a run on a Thursday afternoon and my gorgeous wife tells me that Oliver’s shown up at home, I’m instantly on alert. I find him two minutes later, bent over the back of the couch in the basement rec room while staring at the shelves of old family photos on the wall in front of it, and hope to fuck I have advice at the ready.

Neither Gracie nor I come down here often anymore, if at all now that the boys are gone. I’ve all but forgotten about the open bins of old Vancouver Warriors shit in the corner of the room.

It’s been tucked away for years now, too fucking many of them to admit without feeling like I’m one fast-food meal away from going into cardiac arrest. I’ll never admit that I’m old and withered now, no longer a guy in prime health with an impressive career in the NHL and a row of trophies to prove it.

I spent a generous chunk of my life in the NHL, but that chapter’s closed. Dad is my only title now. The only one that’s ever mattered to me besides Husband.

“You didn’t want to brood at your own house?” I ask.

Oliver doesn’t react to the question, as if he already knew it was coming when he noticed me step into the room.

“I don’t want to be there right now.”

“Oh? Why not? ”

He doesn’t answer me, so I move to his side and set my hand on his shoulder before squeezing just once.

“Running from something?”

“Someone,” he corrects me.

“You don’t run from anything, Oliver. So what are you really doing here?”

“Avoiding doing something stupid and reckless.”

My brows jump as I drop both my arms over the back of the couch and replicate his stance. “Since when are you either of those things?”

“Since I fell in love, apparently.”

The admission is unexpected enough that I have to clear my throat to hide my surprise before speaking. “Love?”

“You and Mom. It wasn’t easy, was it?”

“Do you want the answer your mother would give you or mine?”

“If I wanted hers, I’d be upstairs with her right now,” he mutters.

I roll my lips to hide a smile at his bluntness and nod. “Alright. No, it wasn’t easy. I was an asshole to her, and she overlooked that fact far too many times than I deserved and gave me a million chances when I should have only needed one. Your mother fought for me when I was too stuck in my head to see what was right in front of me. In a perfect world, I wouldn’t have let myself believe I was unworthy of her and instead not wasted a single day with her fighting what had always been inevitable.”

“Did she ever regret fighting so hard for you?”

“If she did, she never told me. Never acted like it either.” I keep my eyes trained on him and watch as his frown deepens. “What’s going on, Oliver?”

He pushes out a tight exhale and spins, leaning his back against the couch. Arms crossing, he tips his head back to stare at the ceiling.

“I’ve never had a problem fighting for anything, Dad. Not when it comes to those important to me. But being patient and waiting, that’s where I struggle. And I’m struggling right now,” he admits.

“You’re talking about Avery?”

He jerks his head in what I take to be a nod. “Her ex is sniffing around and making a mess of things. She wants to handle it herself, and I’m worried that she doesn’t think I’ll stick around while she does.”

“But you’d rather take care of it for her.” I don’t mention the sticking around part. We both know that isn’t the problem here.

“Leaving her to deal with it alone doesn’t feel right. Not when I’m the reason he’s trying to throw his weight around.”

“Do you doubt that she can handle her own problems without you? Because I’m pretty sure she’s done just that for a long time now, son. You have to have faith in your girl.”

He turns his head to glare at me. “I do have faith in her. It has nothing to do with that.”

“Then what’s wrong?”

“I don’t want space from her,” he grumbles.

My laugh escapes me before I can reel it back in. His glare intensifies when I don’t immediately shut up. But how am I supposed to pretend that my son isn’t as dramatic of a fucker as I am?

“You’re here in the basement brooding like a heartbroken teen because you miss your girl?”

“Fuck off, Dad.”

“I never thought I’d see the day.”

He shoves his elbow into my ribs and takes a step away from me, scowl harsh. “I should have spoken to Mom instead.”

“No, you shouldn’t have because she’d be driving you to Avery’s house right now at the first sight of you looking like a lovesick puppy. And that’s not what you need to do.”

“Are you going to tell me what I need to do, then?”

“Your uncle Oakley would call you an idiot for listening to a word of advice from me.”

“Good thing he isn’t here, then. ”

I snort. “Fair enough.”

“She told me she wants to get Nova’s father sorted out before we can focus on us again.”

“Alright. So, let her.”

“That’s your advice?” he asks with a roll of his eyes.

“No, you shithead. It isn’t. My advice is to use the time apart to prove to her that you’re not going to bail out. You said you thought she was worrying about that, right?” His chin tips in answer. “So, make a statement and prove to her that you’re serious about her and Nova.”

I’ve never pictured my son taking in a daughter who wasn’t his in blood, but it feels pretty damn right to think of him with Avery and Nova. Gracie’s been raving about that girl since she met her, and I should have known from that very first moment that she was going to be family.

If there was ever a man who could take in a daughter and make her feel like the most precious person in the universe, it would be my son.

“And if she decides afterward that they’d be better off without me?”

“We don’t make pointless metaphorical guesses in this house, Oliver. They’re your family. No doubt about it.”

An hour later, Gracie slides onto my lap and winds her arms behind my neck, burying her fingers in my hair. With a soft, upward gaze, she drags her mouth across mine and hums.

“Did you ever think that there would come a day when Matthew Miller would demand a FaceTime call from Sweden so he can scold us for our son dating his daughter?”

I scowl at the mention of that fucker while she’s on my lap and grip her thighs to pull her closer. “He can demand plenty of things right now, but that doesn’t mean I’ll give them to him. ”

“Don’t be an ass, Ty,” she coos.

“I could be way fucking worse, and you know it.”

She smirks and tugs on my hair, shifting to settle herself higher on my thighs. Too high for a FaceTime call with Matt.

“Aren’t you a little too old for the caveman act?”

I nip at her lips and soothe the sting with a kiss. “When it comes to you? Never, Gray.”

Light beams in her bright blue eyes, making my pulse race. I stare at her and breathe softly, afraid that if I move even slightly, she’ll slip free of my grasp.

It’s been this way for years. From the moment I robbed heaven and stole an angel, I’ve been looking over my shoulder out of fear of someone taking her back. But somehow, she’s still here two decades later, sitting on my lap with a smile on her face that I’d kill to keep from faltering.

“Call Matthew, Tyler. Then you can take me to our room.”

“Oh, how you bribe me without fear, wife,” I tease lowly.

“It’s the only way to get you to do what I want.”

“That’s a lie. I’d do anything for you at any time.”

She grins. “I know. It’s just fun to rile you a little. Keeps you young.”

I kiss her again, unable to help myself. She melts in my arms, kissing me back with ease and excitement.

Her hands shift and fall between us before I hear the sound of a dial tone and open my eyes to find her with her phone held beside my head.

I slap a hand down over her ass and narrow my eyes when she gasps at the sting.

“You didn’t just spank me!”

“You kissed me to distract me so you could call that fuckface. So, yes, I did.”

She laughs, holding the phone out so it catches both of our faces in the camera. “He’s not a fuckface.”

“Yes, he is. Especially if he has the nerve to fault our son for his relationship with his daughter. ”

“He can try, but it won’t work,” she says in an attempt to soothe me.

“He can try what?” the fuckface asks, appearing on the screen now.

“To blame Oliver for the relationship our children have entered into,” I answer.

Matt glowers at me. “It is his fault! You should have seen the way he looked at her when they called us.”

“And how was that? Like he loves her?” Gracie asks softly, yet with a hint of venom that makes my dick hard in an instant.

“Like he wants to bundle her up and keep her from me forever!”

“Oh, you’re so dramatic,” Morgan huffs, finally appearing once she takes the phone from her husband. “He’s not taking the relationship well.”

“Do you think there’s something wrong with my son, Matthew?” I ask accusingly. “I assure you that there is not one person out there that’s better for her than Oliver.”

“I doubt it. She could have started dating an astronaut or something.”

“You only want that so you could pray that he’d wind up lost in space and be gone forever,” Morgan says.

Matt gapes at her in betrayal. “You think so low of me?”

“We know you better than you think,” Gracie tells him.

I reach for the phone and take it from my wife. “I’m going to hang up the call now.”

“This conversation is not over, Tyler! I swear, I’ll send him to space myself?—”

I hang up before he can finish his sentence and throw Gracie’s phone onto the other side of the couch. She squeaks when I grip her by the thighs and stand, forcing her to hold on to me to keep from falling to the floor.

Heading in the direction of our bedroom, I ask, “Now that fuckface is gone, where were we?”