The Family Secret

~ Fourteen ~

Callie's POV:

It was hard to believe that in the span of less than three weeks, Chase had found out that he had siblings that he didn't know about, that he was the son of one of the most well-known drivers in the history of NASCAR, and that we were the proud new owners of a lake house in North Carolina. Yet, here we are, about to pull into the driveway of the property that we brought sight unseen with his siblings from both sides of his family and his mama following behind us, our cars looking more like a convoy than just regular traffic. Since Chase had scheduled his tour around Ainsley's arrival and if she stuck to her due-date and would be here in less than two-and-a-half months, we didn't have much time to go over the changes we would want to make to the property. Not that it really mattered since Chase had already given me free range over the property so that it fit us as a family, telling me that all he asked was that the garage on the property be his to do with what he wanted.

As the house came into view, I was in awe. The pictures on the realtors website didn't do it nearly the justice that it deserved. No, it wasn't a megamansion with all the trending new design schemes that were popular today but it was stunning to say the least. The brick was in pristine condition. The lawn manicured to perfection. And out on the lake, geese swam around, seemingly ignorant to the people that had just arrived.

Climbing out, I looked out over the property and felt a sense of peace. Don't get me wrong, our home in Nashville was spectacular and I loved the views that it offered. But there was something about being here, about being back in North Carolina that just felt right. I was soaking in that sense of rightness when Chase's free arm wrapped around me as he held Austin in the other. Behind us, I heard vehicle doors closing as the others climbed out but in that moment, nothing else mattered but standing here like this.

"I still can't believe you bought this place and didn't bother to tell any of us about it until after the ink was dried." said Dale, breaking into the moment Chase and I were sharing.

"Hell, I still can't believe he was the first one of us to come up with the idea of buying it. Leave it to the newest Earnhardt to the clan to beat us all to the punch." said Kelley as she walked up to join us, her three kids –Karsyn, Kennedy, and Wyatt– all following behind her. "Something similar happened when Kerry came into the mix. Dad needed someone to run some laps and Kerry jumped into the car before Jr or I could even blink."

Chase joked back and forth with everyone a few feet away from where I stood as I took in our blended family, already envisioning what holidays would look like. In past years, it had been just us, my parents, Chase's parents, his siblings, and his niece and nephew. Now though, we would almost need to rent a banquet hall to hold all of us, especially when Amy and Dale welcome the triplets into the world in a few months. The sense of rightness I felt upon climbing out of the car only grew as I listened to everyone ragging on one another, enjoying the easy way they had with each other.

"I just know that Dale's smiling down from heaven." said Connie, breaking into my thoughts. "Family was everything to him and he always wanted a big one. Looks like he finally got it. I just wish he was here to see it." I heard the crack in her voice as she spoke about Dale.

"You miss him don't you?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

"Every day of my life," said Connie. I saw tears pooling in her eyes and it brought on my own.

Pulling her into a hug, I let the tears that had been pooling in my eyes fall as I thought about how hard it must have been for her over the years to watch the man she loved build a family with someone else, a family that could have been hers if the world had been a perfect one. "Why did you stay all those years?" I said, the words flying from my mouth before I had a chance to hold them in. Chase had told me the reasons she had given him but my woman's intuition told me that there was more to it than that.