Compromise Me (Book Two of the Kirkland Family)

Compromise Me: Chapter 43

Josie laughed. "The walk sounds nice...the sand dune? That's illegal, Travis."

"So?"

"You want to get arrested in California and have to stay here a couple more days?"

"Oh..." He frowned in thought. "No."

Josie hopped out of bed. "Then I'm taking a shower...care to join me?" She peeked over her shoulder as she walked to the bathroom and saw him eying the lines of her naked body. He whipped the sheet off him and stood up...just as the knocking on the door announced room service.

Josie winked at him, and he groaned. He grabbed his jeans, stuffed his legs into them and said, "Don't you dare start without me." Then he hurried to the answer the knock, and Josie went to turn on the shower.

*****

After repeating the flying experience back to Memphis the next morning, Josie and Travis headed straight to the studio to see Livie. They told her first about the money Travis' mother left him and that they would no longer have need of investors for the label. Livie was surprised, but she seemed happy about it. She didn't like the idea of her studio diving into debt.

Then they sat her down and told her the rest.

Livie turned pale...and Josie brought out the whiskey. Just as Travis had turned the drink away earlier that week, Livie pushed it aside. She stared at Travis, who stared back at her. Josie knew the two of them were searching for similar features...those familiar traits in each other faces that neither of them had connected before.

"Can it be true?" Livie whispered. Tears filled her eyes and spilled down her cheeks.

"Josie suggested we take a DNA test," Travis told her.

"You're my baby?"

Josie smiled at the description. Travis could be defined as many things, but with his height and bearing, a baby wasn't one of them. Yet, to Livie, because of the baby she gave up so long ago, Travis was just that. Her long-lost child...just a generation late.  Travis bent down to take the smaller woman's hands in his. "I hope so," he said tenderly. "You've always been a mother to me...and you always will be, no matter what happens."

"My boy!" Livie screamed and threw her arms around him.

It was a happy, bittersweet scene. Both Livie and Travis crying silently, and Josie standing to the side, remembering how she felt when Hannah claimed her as her child. That feeling of belonging, of love and family, was incomparable to any other. And here was LIvie and Travis...experiencing it for the first time, or rather again for the first time.

"I have a grandson," Livie cried, and she waved Josie over to join the community embrace. "And a granddaughter!"

Travis chuckled and drew back. "Don't get too excited about me and Josie just yet. I've been told I have to ask permission before I can marry her."

"You're finally getting married?" Livie asked, smiling and wiping her eyes. "It's about damn time."

Josie shook her head. "We have to jump through a few hoops before that happens," she told Livie. "Daddy needs to be primed, educated, and then sedated. You know how he is."

Livie jumped to her feet. "Well...then get on it," she told them brusquely. "I want you both to take the rest of the week off. Go down and talk to your daddy. I'll handle the meeting tomorrow. I want to see a great-grandchild before I leave this earth."

Travis raised an eyebrow. "Uh, hello? Remember Tristan? Great-grandchild number one?"

Livie's face softened dramatically. "Oh! I have a great-grandchild!" She turned around to face him. "You go get that boy! I want to see him right now!"