Sophie gasped. “How can you say that? Kent is out there.”
“He’s not, Mom,” Grant countered. “It’s time to let him go and move on.”
“You’re wrong,” Kenzi interjected angrily. “If you don’t care enough to help, Grant, Dax and I will find him.”
Dax hugged his wife but said, “I don’t think it’s that he doesn’t care, Kenzi.”
She glared up at Dax. “Whose side are you on?”
Lance added, “Everyone understands why you want to believe he’s alive, Kenzi. You’ve always had a fascination with twins. Being one made you feel special. We all want to find him, but—”
Kenzi’s face went red. “Oh, my God, you’re ready to just give up on him, too? And this isn’t about how I feel, this is about Mom. Is it too ugly for you to want to deal with it? You’d rather just sweep it under the rug and pretend we’re a perfect family again? When are you going to grow some balls and face that life isn’t always pretty?”
Andrew withdrew to the other room with Helene. Ian followed them.
Dax suggested gently, “Kenzi, why don’t we step outside for a minute?”
She stepped away from Dax. “You always say you’re big on honesty. Well, I’m honestly disappointed that you’re not on my side about this.”
“Stop,” Grant roared in a voice many decibels above anything he’d ever used with his family. “Do you see the destructive potential of going down this road? Look at us, we’re already turning on each other. We’ve come so far. Asher, you have an amazing wife and child. Lance, you and Willa have the twins. Kenzi, I’ve never seen you happier than you are with Dax. We have too much to lose. Thirty years ago, Patrice nearly destroyed this family. What she did hung over all of us. There is nothing to be gained by learning more. If by some crazy twist it isn’t Kent that we buried, what do you think she did with him? I can guarantee you it wasn’t good. I want my brother back as much as anyone else, but you know what I don’t want? I don’t want to trade the chance I have at having a family of my own for what will almost certainly be another disgusting insight into the evil a sociopath is capable of. I love all of you. Don’t give one sick woman the power to rip us apart again. Haven’t we given her enough?”
A heavy silence hung over the room. Sophie went to Grant and placed a loving hand on her cheek. “I can’t move on until I find Kent.”
“I understand.” Grant placed his hand over his mother’s. “But I can’t do this for you. I just found out I’m going to be a father with a woman who thinks I don’t care, and that’s where my time and my energy will be directed. I don’t want to live in the past. I choose now. This is where I can make things better. I love you, Mom, but I can’t go where you want to take us.”
In the background, Kenzi said, “Does it have to be one or the other?”
Grant met her eyes over the head of their mother. “You tell me. If I were you, I wouldn’t risk what you have to discover what you probably don’t want to know.”
Dax took Kenzi’s hand. “There is no risk, because I stand with Kenzi no matter where this leads.” He arched an eyebrow at Grant. “But it does sound like you need to resolve that other issue before you can do the same.”
Sophie lowered her hand to her son’s chest above his heart. “You’re going to be a father?”
“Yes,” he said with a small smile.
“So when is the wedding?” she asked.
Dale interjected, “He might have some convincing to do first.”
Sophie searched Grant’s face then said, “Thank you for understanding that I’m strong enough that you can be honest with me. You’re right. You don’t belong here, hunting down what happened a long time ago.”
He kissed her cheek softly. “If I thought there was any chance—”
“Go get me my next daughter-in-law and grandchild,” his mother said. She looked around, seeming to realize only then that some of her children had left the room. “And thank you for reminding me this has to be done delicately. I will protect my children this time—all of them.”
A short time later, Grant was walking down the steps of his parents’ house when Kenzi called out to him, “Grant, wait.”
He stopped short of his car and turned around. Things had ended on a reasonably good note, and he was happy to leave before the tide turned again. “Yes?”
She rushed toward him with Emily, Willa, and Helene at her heels. “We wanted to talk to you before you left.”
We? Oh, God. “Okay.”
They made a semi-circle around him, backing him practically up against his car. Willa asked, “Was the woman who rushed out of your office the one who is having your baby?”
“Yes. Her name is Viviana Sutton.”
“Why would she think you don’t care that she’s pregnant?” Helene asked.
“How long have you been seeing her?” Kenzi added.
Emily chimed in. “How far along is she?”
What no chair, ropes, and flashlight? Didn’t every interrogation require those? His head was spinning from their questions. “How about if I simply introduce you to her after we work things out?”
Kenzi cocked her head to one side. “She’s the reason you’ve been acting so different lately. It all makes sense now.”
“Different?” Grant hedged.
Emily nodded. “Even Asher says he’s noticed a change. She’s good for you.” She smiled. “He said you chewed him out about not telling me where he was going with Andrew. Thank you for that. I love your brother, but he’s still rough around the edges.”
Feeling more than a little uncomfortable, Grant merely shrugged.
Willa said, “You’re always there to take care of everyone else. We wanted you to know you’re going to be an incredible father.”
“Thank you.” If I shift just a foot over, I can open my car door.
Helene rubbed her chin. “In nature, animals woo mates in all kinds of ways. Some pound their chests. Some make an attractive nest. Others flaunt bright plumage.”
Kenzi’s eyebrows came together in concern. “None of them offer to balance each other’s checkbooks. Go easy on that.”
Grant straightened to his full height, feeling offended. Not one of the women around him seemed the least bit intimidated, though.
Emily added, “She may or may not have health insurance. Don’t let that be the first thing you ask her about. You can figure all of that out once you’re with her.”
“I know how to talk to women,” Grant protested.
“Of course you do,” Willa said a little too quickly. “We just want this to work out for you.”
“So, what’s your plan?” Kenzi asked.
A movement in the background caught Grant’s attention. His brothers were standing just outside the door with huge smiles on their faces. Even Dax. When they realized he saw them there, they waved and retreated back into the house. Cowards.
“I thought I would drive down to see her,” Grant said.
“And?” Kenzi prodded.
“Tell her that hearing she’s pregnant moved up my timetable of seeing her again.”
All four women shook their heads in an eerily synchronized manner.
“Don’t say that,” Emily said.
Helene added, “Yeah, that’s bad.”
“But it did. I knew that hearing about Kent would shake the family up. I wanted to wait until that had passed before calling her.”
“How did you leave things with her?” Kenzi asked. “What was the last conversation you had?”
He cringed. “It wasn’t good. She came to my office, but all the shit was hitting the fan then, and I may have offended her by being too honest about how we met.”
“How did you meet?” Emily asked.
Leaving out the storage room details, Grant briefly outlined what had sent him out that night in search of regular people. “Marc said it was vital I learn how the average person speaks.”
Willa gasped and asked, “And that’s what you told her?”
“I was attempting to explain—”
Kenzi turned to the other women. “He didn’t mean it in a bad way. Grant is the most grounded of my brothers. He just doesn’t sound it sometimes.”
“I’m perfectly capable of speaking for myself,” Grant protested.
Emily folded her arms across her chest. “What do you like about this woman, Grant?”
There was so much, he wasn’t sure where to start. “She’s smart. Funny. Spirited. When I’m with her I like who I am and how she makes me feel.”
Willa continued to look him over with a critical eye. “That’s better, but if she went to see him to tell him about the baby and he dismissed her as average . . .”
“I didn’t dismiss her. She ran off. I was simply explaining—” He reviewed the conversation they’d had and stopped. Shit. “Oh, my God. She must think I’m an asshole.”
“Probably,” Helene agreed. “But on the good side, you’re not. So, all we have to do is prove that to her.”
“Should we go with him?” Kenzi asked. “Vouch for him?”
Lord save me. “No one is—”
“No, he needs to do this himself for her to respect him,” Emily said.
Thank you.
“Do we trust him to not mess this up?” Kenzi asked.
Helene waved a hand in the air. “He was doing something right, or she wouldn’t be pregnant.”
Enough. Grant opened the door to his car and slid inside. He closed it, but rolled the window down. “I love you all for caring, but I can handle this. I’ll call you with an update after we work things out.”
Kenzi leaned down next to the window. “Grant, I’m sorry I made it sound like not looking for Kent meant you didn’t care. We all know you do.”
Grant started his car. “Thank you. I can’t straddle both. This is too important to me.”
She kissed him on the cheek. “You’ve got this.” She straightened and added, “But call us if things get dicey. And don’t talk about money with her. I know you do it because that’s how you show you care, but focus on her and the baby. Just keep telling her you care, and it’ll work out.”
“Tell her you love her,” Helene said.
“I’d prefer to wait until I’m certain I feel that way—”
“Don’t say that either.” Emily waved. “I’ll have Asher call you.”
“There’s no—” Maybe there is need. After all, he made it to the altar. “Fine. Now I really do have to go.”
He made the mistake of looking into his rearview mirror before he drove off. Although they were all waving goodbye, they each looked concerned enough that he had a moment of doubt.
What if Viviana was too angry to see him?
Male confidence surged forward to save him.
Then I’ll just change her mind.
“Come in,” Viviana called out while finishing entering an invoice for the rental of a bulldozer in her office trailer. She glanced down at the yellow sundress and sandals she’d purchased on impulse. She’d already found a small apartment of her own and was discovering who she was when she stopped worrying about what she was supposed to be. A year ago sitting at this desk had felt confining, now the familiarity of it brought her comfort. Being here now is my choice.
The door opened and Gerald, one of her father’s oldest employees, entered. He was past retirement age, but he’d said he had little to go home to and preferred to keep working with a lighter workload. He was presently a glorified delivery man—which sometimes included coffee and lunches—but he never seemed to mind. Retaining Gerald as an employee, even though his most productive years had ended long ago, exemplified what Viviana admired about her father: he was a strong man with a loyal, caring side.
Gerald approached Viviana’s desk with a shyness she didn’t normally associate with him. “You busy, Viv?”
Viviana turned from her computer and stood. “Never too busy for you, Gerald. What’s up?”
He sat in the seat before her desk and smacked his hands on his jean-clad thighs, adding a puff of dust to the office. “Are you looking for a husband?”
Viviana coughed in surprise. “Not right this moment.”
Gerald cleared his throat. “Sue Wickers was at the pharmacy when you bought pre-natal vitamins.”
With a groan, Viviana sat heavily back onto her seat. I grew up here. Why did I think for a second I would be as anonymous as I was in Boston?
Gerald removed his baseball hat, folding and unfolding it in his hands as he continued, “She told Claire at the donut shop. Claire’s son, James, is graduating from college this year with a master’s degree in education. She asked me if there was a father in the picture because her son has always had a sweet spot for you. I said I didn’t know. I hadn’t heard that you were expecting. I said you might have been buying the vitamins for a friend. No one is looking to upset you, but a couple of the crew might also toss their hat into the ring if you’ve found yourself in a difficult situation and it’s something you’re not wanting to go through alone.”
Viviana didn’t say anything at first as she rode out a wave of sheer embarrassment. If Gerald knew, then everyone in town knew. And, apparently, there was a mortifying number who felt sorry enough for her to make this even more awkward. “That’s so generous of everyone, but I’m fine.”
Gerald made a pained face. “I’ve made you feel bad. I didn’t mean to. I’d offer to marry you myself if I were forty years younger.”
Oh. Now I’m going to cry. Viviana went over to sit in the chair beside him. Gerald didn’t have a mean bone in his body, and he wasn’t one to talk about this kind of thing. He was there because he cared. She gave him what she hoped was her sweetest smile. “And I would have scared the shit out of you by accepting.”
He cackled at that then became serious again. “Are you really pregnant, Viv?”
“Yes. It wasn’t something I was going to announce yet, though.”
“And the baby’s daddy?”
Someone else might have found his questions impolite, but Viviana had grown up with him. Half the swears she knew she’d learned from following him around the site. “He won’t be in the picture.”
“Then he’s a fucking idiot,” Gerald announced.
“Yes,” Viviana agreed, even though that wasn’t the way she wanted to remember him. She was still trying not to think of him at all. “Tell everyone they don’t have to worry about me, though. I’m doing okay. Hard as it may be to believe, I missed your sorry asses, and I’m happy to be back.”
Gerald cackled again. “Not surprising at all, some of us have mighty fine asses regardless of our ages.”
Viviana laughed at that. There was a fun swagger to the men she’d grown up around. It was harmless and something she hadn’t realized was so funny until it hadn’t been part of her life anymore. She sat back with a smile and reflected on what he’d come to tell her. “Could you also please spread the message that, although the idea of sympathy proposals is sweet, they’re not necessary?”
Looking her straight in the eye, Gerald asked seriously, “What sympathy are you talking about? Half the men in town have been mooning over you since you kicked their butts in high school. They’ve been panting for you to have a reason you might need one of them. Strength in a woman is good, but you’ve been so damned independent for so long, none of them thought they had anything to offer you.”
“Independent? I was living with my dad until I moved away.”
“Because you give all your money to the Cairo Mercy Foundation. You’re softhearted. There’s a lot of people in this town who are grateful to you for what you’ve done for them through those grants.”
“Their gratitude belongs with my mother. She founded it.”
“But you’ve funded it.”
Viviana shrugged. “Sometimes. Mostly it is self-sufficient since people pay back into it when they can.”
“James used a grant from the foundation to finish college. Now he’s coming home single and grateful. Rumor is he
’s handsome, too.”
Oh, boy. “I’m not looking for a husband, Gerry.”
“But would you be offended by some flowers? A few date requests? I’m only asking you because people keep asking me.”
Her first reaction was to say no, but she didn’t voice it. Why not? I’m single. She couldn’t imagine feeling anything for anyone, but she’d told herself her return home wasn’t a defeat. So, why hang my head and hide? “I’ve never gotten flowers,” she said honestly. “That might actually be nice.”
Gerald nodded, stood, and replaced his hat. “I’ll pass the word.”
Viviana almost told him not to. She wavered on whether or not she wanted to open that door, but she reminded herself of something Audrey had once said, “The best way to get over a man is to find a new one.”
Memories of how it had been to be with Grant tumbled through her thoughts. Even as she said goodbye to Gerald, she fought to push back a yearning she told herself was a waste of time. Don’t think about him. When it was good it wasn’t real, and when it was real it definitely wasn’t good.
Let him go.
Chapter Twelve
‡
Dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, Grant stopped at a florist shop on his drive from a small private airfield to Cairo, New York where Viviana lived. He’d had a rental car delivered and told his helicopter pilot to not expect to hear from him until the next day. He was feeling confident when he walked up to the cashier and asked, “What kind of bouquet do you give a woman to subtly announce that your intentions are serious?”
The short, middle-aged, redhead with a thousand freckles and a huge smile, called to the backroom, “Looks like we’ve got another one.”
“Another one?” Grant asked. Although he’d given flowers to women in the past, he’d always had his secretary order them. Walking into a florist shop himself was part of what made the trip more exciting. I’m out here with regular people doing regular things.