Lyle and Drew become inseparable—but not exactly friends. Lyle did the fighting, Drew did the betting. Drew did the provoking, Lyle did the defending. When Drew’s family found out about his living situation, they invited him to move in with them and sent them both to private school.
Eventually Lyle became such a big draw at the boxing gym that his mentor offered him part-ownership of it. He’d taken that tiny foothold of possibility—and funds from the Claytons—and transformed it into a nationwide chain of boxing-oriented gyms. Then he’d come up with an idea for a boxing app that took off and went viral. From there he’d just kept going, investing in ideas he thought would take hold. Most of them did, and he kept adding to his portfolio.
Drew and his family had eagerly invested each step of the way. And they’d gotten big returns on that investment. So why was Drew sabotaging him now?
Pain in his knuckles brought him back to the here and now as he drove his left fist into the punching bag.
Damn it, Drew. What the hell are you doing?
The Claytons had given him this punching bag for Christmas the first year he’d lived with them. By now it was so old it was nearly disintegrating. He kept patching it up with duct tape. This punching bag was the first thing anyone had ever given him that was specifically tailored to him. To Lyle Guero, not to “generic foster child who needs new socks.”
Weird thing to hold onto, but there it was.
After he rescued Drew, everything opened up for him. He fought, worked, struggled every moment of every day after that—to get to where he was today.
A charming guesthouse in a historic lodge tucked away in the pristine forests of the Cascade Mountains.
Near the one woman in all those years who’d made time stop.
That night in Rome, he hadn’t thought about the past or the future. He’d thought only about her. Isabelle.
Her laughter, her fierceness, her aliveness, her sparkling eyes, her vibrant presence, the wild heat between them.
One more halfhearted jab and he left the punching bag, unwrapping his hands as he headed for the shower.
If Isabelle had any idea how much she was on his mind, she’d probably strap on her skis and disappear into the wilderness. He didn’t want her to know. He wanted her to treat him like a normal person. Someone she could laugh with and tease and be herself with. He wanted to bask in the sunshine of her Isabelle-ness and feel like an ordinary person. Not a fighter, not a desperate survivor, not a billionaire.
Just Lyle.
But he hadn’t been “just Lyle” in so long, he didn’t remember how to do that. Would “just Lyle” stay for Christmas? Or would “just Lyle” book tickets to Fiji so he could check on the new resort the company had just acquired? Why wasn’t there a manual he could consult on how to be a regular person? Could he hire a tutor, someone with expertise on how to de-billionaire yourself? Maybe there was some kind of twelve-step program, or a detox technique, with doctors supervising…
Doctors. Isabelle was a doctor. Why not rope her into this mission? She was on a break herself. Unlike the rest of the family, who were all working hard on the lodge renovations along with the construction crew, she wasn’t allowed to risk her surgeon’s hands wielding a hammer or a nail gun. They’d been very firm about that.
Someone with Isabelle’s energy needed a project.
He grinned as he stripped off his clothes and stepped into the shower stall.
Something told him that Isabelle would love the chance to boss around a billionaire.
6
Since Jake was driving up from town for the next family dinner, Isabelle saw no way to politely skip it. Honestly, she didn’t want to anymore. Now that she and Lyle had talked—sort of—things felt more normal between them. In other words, there was less chance that she might pop off and offend him and risk the entire Rockwell legacy by chasing away their investor.
She even managed a friendly smile as she took her seat at the long table in the lodge’s restaurant-style dining room, with its wall sconce candleholders and the piano in the corner.
The Rockwell family had always eaten there along with the lodge’s guests. But with the lodge closed for renovations, the only people around were family, including the new additions such as Serena and Nicole, and two staff members who might as well be family. Renata the cook and Loner the groundskeeper had both worked at the lodge since before Isabelle was born.
“Good evening, Rockwells, future Rockwells and non-Rockwells,” she said formally as she shook a napkin over her lap.
“Interesting world view you have there, Iz.” Kai was pouring red wine into glasses, which were getting passed down the table. Her oldest brother always had a crackling energy about him, something Isabelle had in common with him. They’d both worked on the frontlines of medical disaster, since he’d spent many years as a rescue paramedic. “Everyone is defined by their Rockwell-ness or lack thereof?”
“Oh, get over yourself. I was just covering all the bases.” She smiled at Max, who always sat at the head of the table in his big leather armchair, cane propped nearby. “Hi Dad, how are you feeling?”
“Like a load of rotted manure that ought to be spread on the garden.”
“Okay then. Care to be more specific?”
During her childhood, she wouldn’t have been so cheeky. As a father, Max had been a towering, intimidating figure. If he’d had his way, she would have stepped into her mother’s role of “lodge hostess,” and never become a doctor. He’d fought hard against her desire to go to med school, but she’d stood her ground. Once she got accepted, he’d offered his full support and even picked up the entire bill.
Sometimes she wondered if that was one reason why the lodge was in trouble financially.
“You’re the one with the medical degree,” Max grumbled. “Can’t you put it to good use and fix this old hulk I’m walking around in?”
She smiled at him with affection. “I promise I will do everything in my power to keep Max Rockwell strong, healthy, and fearsome.”
“He’s got that part covered on his own,” said Griffin.
“Fearsome? I’m a decrepit old man,” Max countered. “I’m already about two feet under, only four to go. You kids just like to complain.” He turned to the other side of the table. “You ladies, the newbies. Nicole, Serena. Do I look fearsome to you?”
Serena brushed her dark red hair behind her ears, the tiny diamond in her nose catching the light. “May I refer you to my visual aid on the topic?” She gestured at the portrait she’d painted of Max, in which he came across as a fierce patriarch and “guardian of the mountains.”
Max smiled, as he always did when he looked at that painting. “I scare myself when I see that. How about you, Nicole?”
Isabelle wondered why he was asking these questions. Was her notoriously impossible father rethinking his blustery attitude?
“It’s not fair to ask me because I’m your nurse aide and therefore kind of have authority over you. It’s hard to consider someone fearsome when you take their blood pressure and do PT with them.”
Surprisingly, Max turned to Lyle next. “What about you, son? You look at this old man and think ‘fearsome’?”
Finally, Isabelle allowed herself to look fully at Lyle, something she’d been avoiding because once she started, she had a hard time stopping. He had a Liam Neeson quality to him, as if his rough edges had been honed over the years but would never completely go away. His face never showed much obvious expression, but she always had the sense of deep things going on behind the mask.
Gracie had said it best, after he’d first arrived. “Lyle Guero is like if a huge lonely dragon assumed human form and decided to sit down for dinner.”
Isabelle thought of that description now, as he tried to form the appropriate answer to Max’s question.
No easy task, since everyone was watching, curious about what he’d say.
Nothing like being on the Rockwell family hot seat.
Finally he spoke quietly, in the t
one of someone used to picking his words carefully. “I see a force to be reckoned with.”
Pleased, Max pretended to tip his hat to him.
Jake jeered as he put a slice of roast beef on his plate. “This isn’t a board meeting, Lyle. You can speak freely. God knows we all do.”
Gracie raised her hand. “Technically, that’s not completely true. I bet everyone at this table has some kind of secret. Look at how long it took Griffin to come clean.”
Griffin had hidden his mysterious unilateral hearing loss for months, until finally sharing the news with the family.
“Ouch.” Griffin took the plate of roast beef from Jake. “Sure, it took me some time but no secrets now. Oh wait. Yes, I do have a secret.” He passed the plate to Serena, who sat so close to him their arms kept brushing. “But I can’t share it without permission.”
He cast Serena a meaningful glance. They gazed at each other for a moment, an entire silent conversation taking place between them. Now that was romance, thought Isabelle. The ability to understand each other without the pesky need for words.
Finally Serena stabbed a slice of roast beef and plopped it on her plate. “I suppose that announcing this in the middle of passing the roast beef is as good a moment as any. Griffin and I are engaged. We’re going to get married.”
Griffin grinned widely as cheers and applause erupted around the table. In the midst of her joy for her brother—she adored Serena—Isabelle stole a glance at Lyle. He was smiling slightly, in that way people do when they feel completely out of their element.
“When?” Gracie crowed. “Before or after Kai and Nicole tie the knot?”
“Um…” Kai shot Nicole a sheepish glance as he took the plate from Serena. “Okay, I guess we have a secret too.”
Everyone’s heads swiveled to Kai as he shared a silent convo with Nicole.
“What is going on here?” Max demanded. “When it was just me and Gracie I knew everything that happened around here.”
Gracie raised her hand again. “Um…there’s a chance that may not be completely true.”
Max groaned and clapped his hands over his ears. “I don’t want to hear it. You’re still my little girl, Gracie, and I’m supposed to avoid stress. Keep your secrets to yourself, kid.”
She pretended to zip her mouth shut and throw away the key. Isabelle mouthed a question at her—what’s the secret?—but Gracie pretended to be hugely interested in cleaning out the cap of the salt shaker.
“Well, Kai? We’re all waiting,” said Max.
“I’m not waiting because I already know.” Smugly, Jake poured steak sauce over his roast beef. “Perks of being a bartender. No one has secrets from me.”
Isabelle kicked at him under the table, but he managed to move his leg before her foot collided with it. “Twins aren’t supposed to have any secrets from each other,” she pointed out.
“I’m a bartender. If I shared all the secrets that came my way, you wouldn’t be able to walk through town without blushing. And what about all your secrets? Patient doctor confidentiality and all that?”
“The difference is that none of us want to hear about her gruesome medical cases,” Gracie pointed out.
“Oh please, you guys know I never share the goriest details, just the bare minimum to paint the scene, like the patient who fell on an exposed piece of rebar and—”
A chorus of boos and “we’re trying to eat” drowned out the rest of her words. She grinned happily. It was childish, but she dearly loved grossing out her brothers and sister. Only Kai, the rescue paramedic, could handle her stories without blanching.
Even Griffin, who’d suffered through a constant string of injuries as a pro motocross racer, covered up his good ear to block her out.
Nicole smiled serenely through the cacophony. As a nurse aide, she was unfazed by medical talk too. As soon as the noise died down, she cleared her throat. “Kai, would you like to share the news or should we let Jake-who-knows-everything do it?”
Jake laughed, and gestured at their older brother to continue.
Kai put down the platter of roast beef and rose to his feet. “As you know, we’re all trying to do our part to save the lodge. It’s the Rockwell legacy, after all.”
“I hope you’re including Lyle,” put in Isabelle. “He’s saving our ass financially.”
She caught a surprised glance from him. For an irrelevant moment, she thought about how much she liked his eyes. They were a cool gray, the color of her favorite sky to ski under. Blue skies required tinted ski goggles. Gray skies set off the colors of the forest.
“Of course I’m including Lyle. Thank you, Lyle.”
He lifted his glass to Lyle, who lifted his back. “Don’t forget to use my full name,” he added. “Lyle the Pile.”
Everyone laughed, but Isabelle felt her cheeks flush. She’d come up with the name—originally “Lyle the Pile of Money”—and now found it excruciatingly juvenile. “I think you’ve outgrown that nickname. I prefer Guero the Hero.”
“Ooh, nice one, except it doesn’t rhyme phonetically,” Gracie pointed out.
“Is it always this hard to make an announcement in this family?” Lyle asked in amusement.
“Yes. How long have I been standing up here? It feels like about a day.” Kai took a swallow of wine. “Back to the topic. If you look at us next-generation Rockwells, you might notice an interesting thing we all have in common.”
“Green eyes,” said Isabelle promptly.
“Ish,” Gracie corrected her. “Green-ish eyes. Mine are more on the blue end.”
“Similar sense of humor,” said Jake. “Which might be good or bad, depending on who you ask.”
“Inability to shut up for two seconds so someone can say something,” said Griffin.
“Refusal to do what their father says,” added Max. “Every single one of you. Never fails.”
“You’re all missing the most obvious thing,” Kai said impatiently.
Nicole’s lips were folded tightly together; she looked like she was trying hard not to laugh. “It’s like you’re all in denial.”
Isabelle, Gracie, and Griffin all looked at each other, mystified. Jake was laughing so hard tears leaked from his eyes. Finally it took Serena to make the connection. Her eyes went wide behind the black frames of her glasses.
“You’re all childless.”
The entire room went silent for a stunned moment. Then another cacophony broke out, everyone shouting at once. Kai picked up a fork and banged it on his wine glass until the din subsided.
“Serena is obviously correct. None of us younger Rockwells have taken on the all-important job of producing the next generation. If it was up to you guys, the Rockwell name would die out. It’s a good thing that someone is thinking of the future.”
Nicole was rolling her eyes. “Don’t you think you’re giving your ‘thinking’ side a little too much credit? I don’t remember a lot of thinking going on.”
Jake hooted with laughter, then reached up and gave Kai a high five. “You picked a good one, that’s for sure, Kai. Nicole, not sure I can say the same for you, but what the heck, he’s my brother and I’m stuck with him.”
Kai was grinning too. “Nicole is correct. We hadn’t exactly thought that far ahead, but we’re very happy it worked out this way. Not to speak for Nicole, but—”
Nicole stood up and put her arms around Kai. “I’m very, very happy, too,” she murmured softly. “Maybe the timing isn’t completely perfect, with all the work we have to do around here, but…”
“Of course it’s perfect.” Griffin glanced around at the rest of the family. “When else are we all going to be here to support you guys? When’s the due date?”
“I haven’t seen the doctor yet, but I think it’s probably in August.” Nicole rested her cheek on Kai’s shoulder, such an endearing gesture of affection.
Gracie couldn’t sit still any longer. She jumped out of her chair and came around to throw her arms around the still-embracing Kai and
Nicole. “Do you have a name picked out yet? Do you know if it’s a boy or a girl? It’s probably a boy, yes, definitely a boy, I can tell already.”
No one blinked an eye at the certainty in her voice. Gracie occasionally had flashes of intuition that mostly turned out to be correct.
“No name yet,” Nicole said. “But I already told Birdie she could help with the naming.”
Isabelle wondered if this news would inspire Nicole’s disabled sister to leave her assisted living home in Seattle and move to Rocky Peak. As part of the renovations, more ramps were being added to make life at the lodge easier for her.
“Oh, of course. Birdie and I will pick out the perfect name,” said Gracie cheerfully. “I’ll call her right after dinner and we can start the process.”
Nicole and Kai rolled their eyes at each other. “Make sure to keep us informed,” Kai said dryly. “You know, in case any decisions get made about the name of our future child.”
“I’ll to my best to keep you in the loop,” Gracie promised with a wink.
Jake was still wiping the tears of laughter off his face. “I’m just glad the secret’s out. I couldn’t have lasted much longer. Good thing Izzy’s been too distracted to notice that I was keeping something big.”
Distracted? Isabelle wanted to protest against that description. She also wanted to congratulate Kai and Nicole. She opened her mouth, but nothing came out. Not a single word.
No one noticed as the conversation kept swirling around her. Max proposed a toast to the first member of the next generation of Rockwells. Lyle offered his congratulations. Nicole explained that they were moving up their wedding date. They wanted to get the ceremony out of the way so they could prepare for the baby’s birth.
Serena, who was acting as unofficial wedding designer, started making lists on her napkin of what the date change would entail.
Griffin called dibs on the baby’s first four-wheeler ride. Jake wanted to know when he could start sharing the news around town. Gracie pulled out her phone to scan baby name sites.
And finally, Isabelle summoned a smile for Kai and Nicole. It was such a moving moment...life, unfurling before her eyes, love, marriage, baby, family.
The Renegade Page 4