“Do you miss your job as an attorney, Lydia?” Katrina asked.

“No. I sit on the board of the Cassidy Foundation. We run several charities, and I’m deeply involved with those. So as far as the legal side, I still have my fingers in that enough that I don’t yearn for my days as a lawyer. But the courtroom? No, I don’t miss that at all. I did my part for a lot of years and I thoroughly enjoyed the work I did. I made what I consider all the right choices for myself, for Easton, and for the kids. I have zero regrets.”

“Tell Katrina how you and Dad met, Mom,” Mia said, then looked over at Katrina. “It’s such a great story.”

“Easton was a key witness in a case I was prosecuting for battery.”

“Really,” Katrina said. “What was the case about?”

“He was involved in a skirmish in a nightclub. Though he wasn’t a participant, one of his friends had been accused of assaulting another patron there. Since Easton had been present, he was one of the witnesses and I needed to talk to him. Of course, since the defendant was his friend, he did his best to make himself unavailable.

“I was an assistant DA during that time, and I was assigned to depose him. He didn’t show up during the scheduled time, which irritated the hell out of me. He claimed scheduling conflicts, when I knew damn well he was trying to protect his friend.”

“Did he ever show up?” Katrina asked.

“Finally. And he wasn’t happy about it, either. But we got through it, and I gave him credit for being honest, though he was as … creatively evasive as he could be. And he claimed the other guy started it and his friend was just defending himself.”

“Did he have to testify in court?” Anya asked.

Lydia shook her head. “The guy who was assaulted ended up dropping the charges and refused to testify. And without our key witness, we didn’t have a case.”

“So you lost,” Anya said.

“More or less, yes. And then Easton asked me out.”

Katrina laughed. “He did?”

“Yes. And I was pissed about losing the case and the media circus surrounding him and the other player.”

“So you said no?”

“Of course I said no. I was young and hungry, trying to climb the ladder in the DA’s office. I wanted nothing to do with him and his fame. But he was so persistent. He pursued the hell out of me. Of course I was also wildly attracted to him. There was my dilemma.”

“And then Mom gave in and went out with him,” Mia said with a wide smile. “They became an item, which caused another type of media circus.”

Lydia sighed. “That it did. Which did not make the DA’s office happy.”

“Not much they could do about it, right? They couldn’t tell you who you could date—or fall in love with.”

Lydia nodded at Anya. “That’s true. We became inseparable. Both of us so career minded, and yet so in love. And when he proposed to me, it kind of sealed the deal. I was going to be the prosecutor married to the football star.”

Their story made Katrina’s heart swell. “That is incredibly sweet. And so romantic.”

“It was. He swept me off my feet. Damn man. He was kind of overwhelming.”

Katrina knew that feeling. She’d felt overwhelmed ever since Barbados.

Like father, like son, she supposed.

While everyone talked, she sat and sipped her drink, looking out over the porch and onto the land. What an amazing feeling that must be for Lydia and Easton to have all this land, to know they could walk or drive for miles and still not see the end of what was theirs. She had been impressed enough with Grant’s house in St. Louis. The property had been huge, especially the expanded woodland area with the surprise pond located beyond the woods.

This, however, was spectacular. She couldn’t imagine having something like this, an oasis to shut yourself off from the world, but also spacious enough to welcome as many guests as you wanted.

She’d always been content in New York. It had suited her purposes, business-wise. It had everything she needed or wanted. But now it was starting to feel closed in to her.

Which was ridiculous, of course. She’d be fine once she got back home.

Easton opened the front door. “Steaks are ready, honey.”

Lydia stood. “Okay. Let’s go have some dinner.”

Just as they were about to head inside, a dark SUV came flying up the driveway, dust flying in its wake. It slammed to a halt out front.

A tall, very muscular dark-haired man came out.

“Figures you’d show up just as dinner was being served,” Lydia said.