Sitting back, Rainey pulled her legs up into a lotus and tugged an orange pillow into her lap. Under the circumstances, she felt as comfortable, comforted, and calmed as she was likely to feel, so she took a deep breath and called Ash.
“Crap,” he bit out when she’d relayed Dr. Lambert’s news.
“Yeah, pretty much,” Rainey agreed.
“And Holiday doesn’t know yet?”
Rainey loved that Ash called her sister Holiday. No one else did. Not even their dad who had insisted on the name.
Asshole can give her a name, but he can’t even give her stem cells, Rainey thought with bitterness.
“Not yet,” she said. “Last I checked, she was asleep.”
“I’ll tell her.” Ash wasn’t offering. He was insisting. And even though a small part of Rainey wondered if he did so because he thought she was too frail to handle breaking the news to Holi, she was grateful — overwhelmingly grateful to Ash.
“Thank you,” she said, talking past the sudden lump in her throat.
“What about Melinda, Denise, and Dylan?” Ash asked, ignoring her distress.
Rainey cleared her throat. “No. You’re the first I’ve told.”
“Okay, I’ll make a deal with you. You call Dylan, and I’ll call the moms. That okay?” Everyone in Rainey’s family bore resentment toward Dylan Reeves, but what Ash felt for him came close to hatred. Rainey and Holi couldn’t help but carry a stubborn love for their dad. Ash didn’t have that burden. All he had was his woman’s pain, so he could barely stand to be in the same room with Dylan Reeves — when the rare circumstance arose. Carrying on a phone conversation with him would be asking a bit too much.
“Sure. Got it,” Rainey said, knowing in all likelihood, she’d get Larry anyway.
“Okay. I’m leaving the bank. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
Ash rang off, and Rainey took a moment to center herself. If Larry didn’t answer, and she got her father, talking to him about this wouldn’t be easy. He never liked to face anything negative. He denied it with everything in his power. In the two actual conversations Rainey had held with her father since Holi fell ill, he’d kept up a steady stream of “It can’t be that bad,” and “Holi’s the strong and salty type. She’ll be fine,” and “She’ll be back to her old self tomorrow.”
It did no good to remind him that she was so weak she could only get out of bed for a few hours, that she’d taken a leave of absence from a job she loved, that she had to wear a protective mask for fear of infection when she was around others.
That this disease could kill her.
Shoving that thought aside, Rainey dialed her dad’s number and waited. She expected the call to go to voicemail, but Larry surprised her by picking up.
“Hey, Rainbow, how’s Holi?” Larry had been her father’s manager since she and Holi were babies. He was more like an uncle to them than a business partner of their dad’s — an uncle who showered them with love, but who always made excuses or covered for their father’s absence and distraction. Rainey was sure Larry was behind every Christmas and birthday present she’d received from her father since her parents’ divorce.
But Rainey couldn’t bring herself to resent that all too much. If Larry weren’t around, Doc Dylan Reeves would find someone else to do his shopping. At least Larry felt something for her and Holi. And her mother, even now.
“I wish I had better news, Larry,” she said. “Is Dad around?”
“I’m sorry, hon. He’s got his hands full right now…” Larry, in his native Tennessee twang, started in — doing what he did best — buffering their father from anything too unpleasant while also covering for him.
As Larry nattered on about why Doc Dylan Reeves couldn’t come to the phone to hear firsthand about the peril of one of his children, Rainey watched with relief as Jacques stepped soundlessly out onto the porch, with the stems of two wine glasses threaded between the fingers of one hand and bottle of Riesling in the other.
He met her with a questioning expression, pointing the wine glasses to himself and then to her, asking if he could join her. Rainey nodded with a smile, and Larry’s words became foreign prattle as she watched Jacques cross the porch in long, easy strides and sit beside her on the settee.
“…so I just don’t know when he’ll be free,” Larry was saying. “You know how exhaustin’ those recordin’ sessions can be. Give me the update, and I’ll relay everythin’ to him.”
No “He’ll call you back immediately” or “He’ll talk as soon as he can.” But Larry couldn’t disguise the shame in his voice. Rainey had heard it before — years ago — when she had needed her father most. And he wasn’t there. She knew it had been painful for Larry to watch Doc Dylan Reeves, his best friend and business partner, abandon his daughter when her world imploded six years ago, and Holi’s illness was reawakening that pain.
And he wasn’t alone.
Rainey took a breath to steady herself, and she told him about the failed matches, and the vanishing options, and the drug trial. And as she did, Jacques poured out two glasses of wine and pushed one into her hand. She drained it gratefully. He filled it again, sipping his first more slowly, and keeping a hand curled around the toe of her boot and squeezing every time she said words that were hard to say.
It was incredibly sweet.
When she had finished, she fell silent, waiting for Larry to come back with questions, but he said nothing.
“Larry?” she asked, guessing she’d lost him.
She heard the working of his mouth, as though he’d opened it to speak. “I-I’m here…”
Rainey frowned. Jacques squeezed her foot. “You okay, Larry?”
He was silent for a moment. “There’s nothin’ else? Nothin’ else they can do for her?” His voice came out so frail, so lost, Rainey felt a sting in her heart. She allowed herself a healthy gulp of wine before answering.
“I’m afraid not. Not unless a donor turns up on the registry.”
Again, silence.
And then…
“Rainey…” His voice was low now, almost a whisper. “What if… what if there was another donor?”
“Well, if some good Samaritan decides to be tested with the national reg—”
“No, I don’t mean a stranger,” Larry said, his voice still low, but now hesitant. “I mean… someone related.”
Rainey sighed. “Larry, Holi doesn’t have a big family. We’ve tested everyone.”
This time, she heard Larry’s sigh over the line. “No, you haven’t.”
“Yeah, we have. Everyone who’s close enough—”
“Rainbow, baby, you haven’t,” Larry said, sounding defeated. Then he grumbled, “Dylan’s going to have my ass for this.”
“What?” Rainey sat bolt upright. Her spine tickled with a cold sweat, and a hard knot the size of a grapefruit sprouted in her stomach. “What are you saying, Larry?”
At the change in her tone, Jacques’s eyes searched hers.
Larry made a sound in his throat like the grinding of gears. “There’s… um… a boy.”
“A what?” Her lungs held no air, so the words came out as dry as cornhusk.
“Your, uh, your daddy… has a son.” Larry stopped to clear his throat. “He’s probably nine or ten now. Last I heard, he lives in Kentucky with his momma.”
The phone trembled in her grasp, and it felt too heavy to hold. Sitting up straight felt too taxing. Her lips went numb.
“Jesus, Rainey, you’re white as a sheet.” Jacques took the sloshing wine glass from her hand, set it on the table before them, and gripped her by the arm. Rainey couldn’t be sure, but he might have been the only force that kept her from spilling off the settee and onto the floor.
“You okay, Rainbow?” Larry asked. “I guess I gave you a shock. Sorry, darlin’.”
She made herself speak though her voice shook along with the rest of her. “N-nine or ten? Larry… How long has Dad known?”
Again, the gear-grinding sound p
refaced his words. “Rainey, you know your daddy.”
His words were like a blow to the gut. Because they were true. She did know her daddy, which meant this nine or ten-year-old brother in Kentucky wasn’t just someone who turned up in the last week or so. Dylan Reeves had known of him for a good, long while.
“All along?” she asked, her tone accusing. “Since he was born?” A child nine or ten years old would have been conceived ten or eleven years ago. Years before her parents divorced. Years before they’d lost John Lee. And even after losing John Lee, their father hadn’t thought it significant to let Rainey and Holi know they had another brother.
“Not all along. Dylan and Gloria weren’t together but three weeks when he was recording Tennessee Moon up in Louisville. But she tracked him down a few months into her pregnancy. Thought they might try to give it a go…” Larry’s voice trailed off for a long while. “‘Course, your dad was still married to Melinda, but he took care of Gloria and the baby. Paid all their bills, found them a place to live, looked in on her when he could.”
“What a prince,” Rainey muttered dryly.
Larry gave a low chuckle. “Well, for about three years, Dylan sent a check every month, but he got a letter from her about that time tellin’ him she was gettin’ married, and her new man wanted to be the only father her boy ever knew, so he should stop sendin’ money.”
Rainey had a little brother. A brother who was alive. She swallowed hard because as she tried to picture him, the image that rose in her mind was John Lee. But this child couldn’t look like him. The only brother Rainey had ever known had been the spitting image of their mom.
“What’s his name?” Rainey asked, needing to get the vision of a ghost out of her head.
Larry’s answer was immediate. “Last I knew, it was Ray Charles Reeves.”
“Goddammit.”
Jacques’s brows rose at her curse, but Larry only chuckled again.
“Don’t know how he did it, but your daddy got his way on that. Like he always did.”
“Sonofabitch,” she hissed, and Larry just laughed. “You think he could make it a little easier not to hate him. Just now and then. He’s a fucking cliché.”
Jacques seemed to bite down on a smile that was both surprised and concerned, but Larry sobered. “Now, Rainbow, don’t be mad at him. The man is what he is—”
“Yeah, a pig.”
“Hey, now. That pig is my best friend. Been through a lot with him. With every human bein’, you gotta take the good with the bad, and in my view, your daddy has a lot more good.”
Rainey didn’t bother arguing. As a friend, Doc Dylan Reeves might have been great, but as a father, he sucked billy goat balls.
“And remember, I didn’t tell you this to make you mad,” Larry hedged, clearly trying to calm her down. “I told you because young Ray Charles Reeves — or whatever his new daddy decided to call him — shares blood with our Holi, and he might just be able to help her.”
“Larry, he’s a kid—”
“Kids — that is, kids who are family — can be donors. If they want to, and their parents agree,” Larry said. Then his voice turned sheepish. “I looked it up when you called askin’ for Dylan to get tested… just in case it came to this.”
Rainey rolled her eyes. “Yeah, no reason to tell me I have a brother if you don’t need to.”
His voice dropped to a low mutter. “Not my news to tell.”
“So why are you telling me? Why hasn’t Dad? Why didn’t he tell me last week when I called?”
“The way he figured it, if one of you matched, he wouldn’t have to.” Larry cleared his throat. “It’s not like he’s particularly proud of his actions, and Dylan doesn’t want to hurt you girls or Melinda any more than he has.”
The anger Rainey felt on her mother’s behalf set her teeth on edge. The years she had thrown away for that man!
“So he knows you’re telling me now?” she asked, outrage reaching a steady boil in her blood.
“No, I made that call. I figure he’ll be pissed I didn’t clear it with him first, but I don’t want to waste more of Holi’s time.”
“Ya think?!” Her outrage boiled over. “Funny our father didn’t come to that conclusion.”
Her voice was raised now, so she didn’t hear Ash’s Charger pull in, but a moment later Jacques turned at his approach, and her eyes followed his in time to see Ash walking up the driveway.
“You know how he is, darlin’. He can’t handle the serious stuff—”
“Yeah, no shit.”
“So he doesn’t let himself believe it is serious—”
“Even when it is—” Her throat caught on her words, and as angry as she was, she also felt the longing. How he’d all but vanished from their lives after John Lee died. Leaving them — leaving her especially — to pick up the pieces. Longing for him, needing him made Rainey hate herself.
At once, Jacques’s hand was against her cheek, a soothing touch that allowed her to release the breath she held. Rainey raised her eyes to him and saw concern etched in his.
“You want me to take over?” he murmured, just low enough for her to hear. But it was loud enough to drown out whatever excuses Larry was making for her father.
Ash mounted the steps then and halted in surprise, his eyes on Jacques. With Jacques’s hand cupping her face, Rainey knew they painted an especially intimate picture.
Jacques dropped his hand and stood, extending an open palm to Ash. They murmured their introductions, and Rainey caught the firm handshake that each exchanged, the wariness in Ash’s eyes that suddenly gave way to curiosity.
“Rainey’s talking to someone named Larry,” Jacques explained just low enough for her to hear.
Ash nodded knowingly, his mouth a grim line.
Ignoring Larry’s monologue, she faced Ash and spoke, her voice breaking only twice as she delivered the news. “We have a b-brother, Ash. Isn’t that fucking amazing?” Even to her own ears, she sounded crazed, the anger and betrayal making her voice pitch higher. “Hell, with our father, we probably have a dozen out there. Maybe if one of us needs a kidney one day, we’ll get to meet more.”
Ash’s eyes widened a fraction at her outburst, and he looked to Jacques for an explanation.
But Jacques just turned from him and sat again next to Rainey. “Baby, let me take over for you,” he urged, nodding to the phone at her ear she now ignored. “Go talk to your family.”
The kindness in his eyes did her in. As her throat closed on a sob, Jacques took the phone from her with one hand and pulled her into his chest with the other.
And wounds old and new tore her open.
Chapter 15
Jacques had pieced together enough of the details from Rainey’s side of the conversation to guess what needed to be done, so after he asked the guy named Larry to please hang on, he’d set the phone down and clasped an inconsolable, heartbroken, and devastatingly beautiful Rainey in his arms.
Watching her cry — holding her sobs against his chest — felt like a punch in the stomach.
Ash’s eyes met his over Rainey’s head. His voice was just above a whisper when he spoke. “I refuse to talk to that asshole or his lackey. You got this?”
Rainey’s tears soaked through his shirt.
“Got it.”
“Good. Find out where this brother is. Get anything they have,” Ash instructed. “We’ll deal with this on our own.”
Jacques nodded in silent agreement. And his next move was instinct. He tilted his chin down and pressed a kiss to the top of Rainey’s hair. The scent of wild orange and lavender he recognized as hers made him squeeze her tighter. He hated to see her upset, but after weeks of not seeing her at all, having her in his arms still felt like a gift.
Ash stood back while Jacques tried to console her, but every line of the man’s physique held tension. He was impatient, Jacques guessed, to get inside and talk to Rainey’s sister. Jacques’s guess was confirmed a moment later when he spoke.
“Rain?” he asked, and Jacques was relieved to hear that he spoke gently. “Honey, let’s go upstairs and get Holiday up to speed. We’ve got a lot to tell her.”
Against him, Rainey swallowed audibly and bobbed her head, but she didn’t pull away.
“Rainey, Jacques’s got this under control. He’s gonna get what we need to find this kid, and right now I need you to explain all this to Holiday. You gotta be strong, sweetheart.”
At that, Rainey jerked upright and pushed out of his arms as if she had something to prove. “I’m okay. I’m okay,” she insisted, wiping her tearstained face with the back of her hands. “I’m s-sorry.”
Despite her words, she didn’t look okay, and Jacques didn’t like Ash rushing her. “Take your time, baby,” Jacques murmured.
Her eyes met his then, and he saw a flash of horror cross them. “Oh, God, Jacques, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to—”
He gripped her shoulders and shook his head. “Don’t be. Go up when you’re ready. I’ll be right here.”
Rainey sniffled and wiped her cheeks again. “Okay.” Then she closed her eyes and set her jaw. “Fuck. That fucking asshole.”
With that, she stood, patted Jacques’s hand as she moved away from his touch, and faced Ash. “Let’s go make Holi’s day,” she said sourly.
Her sarcasm reassured him. He had precious little experience with women and tears. Emmie, his old girlfriend, would just shut down and clam up when she was upset. If she cried, it was never in front of him. Seeing Rainey weep had spurred in Jacques a rough-and-ready urge to protect her, and if she wasn’t okay, he didn’t want to let her out of his sight.
He watched her and Ash head to the door. Archie followed until they reached the entrance, but then he turned back and rejoined Jacques, claiming the spot Rainey had vacated. Glad for the company, Jacques settled a hand on the dog’s curly head and picked up the phone again.
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