I swallowed hard and took a shaky breath. “Yeah, Dad. I will do it for…all of us.”
“I’m proud of you, Elijah. And before you go making assumptions again, I’d be saying the same thing had you told me no just now.”
The curtain opened again, and a smiling nurse entered the room. “It’s time, Mr. Markham.”
“Okay. Let’s do this,” Dad said, sounding upbeat and confident. “I’ll see you in a few hours, Elijah.”
“I love you, Dad.”
“I love you too, Son.”
I had to stop in the hallway to get my shit together before I returned to the waiting room. They all stood up when I walked in, and the range of emotions on their faces ran from encouragement to anxious. I went to my mother first and hugged her.
“He’s going to be fine. If I know him, he’s telling them to skip the anesthesia so he can supervise.” Mom giggled against my chest.
“Don’t clip that artery, clip this one,” Jack added, making Mom laugh harder.
“Make sure you wash those tools before you put them back,” Mom added.
Our laughter and ribbing caused the others in the waiting room to look at us with various reactions, but we didn’t pay them any mind. This was how Dad would want us to behave. I knew my mom wouldn’t be interested in eating in the cafeteria, but I thought she could use a nice cup of coffee or a hot chocolate.
“Chamomile tea sounds lovely,” she said after I offered to get her something to drink. “Do you think they have that?”
“I’ll track some down if they don’t.”
“Elijah, please don’t go to any trouble.”
“It’s no trouble.” I looked at my brother, and I mean really looked at him for the first time in ten years. I noticed the age lines around his eyes and mouth and the few gray strands in his black hair. He was different, yet his warm brown eyes were the same. It was the oddest feeling, realizing I hadn’t been around to see these changes slowly over time. It kind of felt like waking up after being in a coma for ten years, and the analogy wasn’t far off. I had existed during our ten years apart, but I hadn’t really lived. Not until I found Maegan. “Join me?” I asked him.
Jack quirked a brow in surprise but nodded. He kissed Daphne on the cheek and asked if she wanted anything. I turned my attention to my lady and didn’t hear Daphne’s response.
“What about you, Freckles? Can I bring you back anything?”
She raised up on her tiptoes and gave me a quick kiss on the lips. “Just yourself.” Then she leaned toward my ear and whispered, “I’m so proud of you.”
I saw the same emotion echoed in Mom and Daphne’s expressions too before we left them sitting in the waiting room. I wasn’t sure what to say, or even if I should be the one to start the conversation, but I had asked him to come with me. I guess Jack accepted the invitation as the opening he was looking for, so he broke the silence by speaking first.
“Elijah, I’m not sure where to begin, so I’ll start with an apology.”
I held up my hand to stop him because my emotions suddenly felt too raw, and I didn’t want to have this conversation in front of a bunch of strangers. I saw the sign for the chapel and nodded my head for Jack to follow me inside.
“I’ve already asked God for his forgiveness,” Jack whispered when we walked inside the quiet chapel. “I can ask him again at the same time as asking for yours if it makes a difference.”
A soft chuckle rumbled from my chest which loosened some of the tension gripping me. “It’s a good start.” I sat down on the rear pew once I confirmed we were alone and slid down so Jack could join me. Rather than look at the altar, I turned and angled my body so I could see Jack’s face, and he did the same.
Jack released a shaky breath. “I apologize for the horrific way I treated you. I have no excuse for what I did; therefore, I won’t be making any. What I did was—”
“Jack, I need you to say out loud and acknowledge exactly what you did to me. Otherwise, you could be talking about the time you took the tires off my bike so I couldn’t compete against you in the bike race in elementary school.”
Jack snorted. “It hurts so much to even remember what I did, let alone say it out loud, but you’re absolutely right.” He sat straighter and looked me square in the eyes. “Elijah, I am sorry I had an affair with Brandy while you were overseas. There is no excuse for disrespecting you and destroying the trust you placed in me when you asked me to look after her while you were gone. I take full responsibility for the affair and everything that happened afterward.”
I had the urge to snipe “how big of you,” but I breathed through the kneejerk reaction. Dad was right. I did miss my family, and although it felt like scaling a mountain would be easier than patching my relationship with Jack, we were offering one another a foothold toward a better future. Instead of a snappy comeback, I said, “All of the responsibility doesn’t land on your shoulders, Jack. Brandy chose to have sex with you, so she equally shares the blame and shame. I just need to find a way to consign what happened to my past and try to forge a new relationship with you as part of my future.”
Jack’s lip trembled, and he briefly looked away. “I don’t deserve it. My therapist says people can earn forgiveness, but I don’t see how. Not in this case, anyway.” I tried to hide my shock at hearing Jack had sought counseling. “I not only broke your heart and destroyed your spirit and self-worth, I nearly ruined our parents’ marriage. They fought all the fucking time.” Jack’s eyes widened when he remembered where we were and the language he used. “The next few years were both the worst and happiest of my life.”
“Your kids,” I said softly.
He nodded. “They’re my whole world and proof beautiful things can come from horrible deeds. Then again, I gave my children a mother who can’t be bothered with them. I feel like they’re paying for my sins, and it kills me. Things got really dark for me a few years ago, and I thought everyone would be better if I was gone. I knew Mom and Dad would do a much better job of raising Isaac and Will than I ever could.” Tears flowed freely from his eyes, and all I wanted to do right then was stop him from saying anything else. Just the thought of Jack harming himself was enough to make me physically ill and sever the last threads of resentment I’d clung to.
“Jack—”
“I need to come clean, no matter how hard it is for me to say or you to hear.” I nodded. “I tried drowning my despair in alcohol, and when it no longer worked, I decided to turn to pills. Then, one night, Will spiked a really high fever and needed to go to the hospital. I was a fucking loser, but I wasn’t so far gone I’d put my kids in the car and risk their lives. I had the good sense to call Mom to come get us. The nurse on duty took one look at me and hated my guts. I just knew she was going to report me to children services and I’d lose my only reason for living, so I followed her out into the corridor after she assessed Will. I promised her I’d check myself into rehab the next day. I could see she wanted to believe me, but her life experiences told her I couldn’t be trusted. I begged her for a chance. She finally looked at me and gave me an ultimatum. She would make arrangements for me at a facility she trusted right then and there. I could either show up the next day or she’d file a report with children’s services, so I went to rehab.”
“The nurse saved your life,” I said to Jack.
“She restored my faith in people and healed my broken heart too.”
“Ah, the nurse is Daphne.” She seemed to have a nurturing personality, and I wasn’t surprised to learn she was a nurse.
“I didn’t tell you any of this to try to sway you, but I wanted you to know everything just in case we could…”
“Start over?” I asked.
Jack nodded. “There’s no possible way to go back and change things, so the only way is—”
“Forward,” I said, recalling our father’s words. “I’d like to try, Jack. We’ll start with family suppers and see where things go. I’d like to get to know Daphne better and meet Will an
d Isaac.”
“Do you mean it, Elijah? I worried you’d only see them as a painful reminder of the things I did to you.”
“They’re innocent children. I could never blame them.”
I did the only thing that felt right, I opened my arms and hugged my brother. Jack sobbed against my shoulder while silent tears slid down my face. Once we regained our composure, we left the chapel and went in search of chamomile tea for Mom while Jack entertained me with stories about his ten-year-old and seven-year-old sons. They sounded every bit as ornery as we were at their age.
The ladies looked up anxiously when we returned but smiled when they saw our relaxed expressions. Of course, our swollen and red-rimmed eyes gave away that our conversation wasn’t an easy one.
“Hiya, Freckles,” I said, holding her tight against my chest after handing Mom her tea. “Miss me?”
“Always.” She searched my eyes to make sure I was truly okay. She must’ve liked what she saw because she blessed me with one of her beautiful smiles.
It felt like we sat there for days instead of hours as we waited for the pager to go off again to let us know Dad was in recovery and the surgeon would be meeting with us. We crowded in the small consultation room and listened as Dr. Chen explained the surgery had gone well, but not entirely without complications. He assured us Dad was awake in the recovery room and we would get to see him soon.
It took another hour before we were led back to his recovery room. Dad opened his eyes when we walked in, and he cracked a tired smile. “I told you, Brenda.” He looked at where I stood next to Jack, and he must’ve been able to read the situation even though I suspected he was still buzzing high from anesthesia.
“I’ve finally got my boys,” he said.
Jack and I smiled at each other as we both gained a higher foothold on the climb to a happier future.
“IS EVERYONE READY TO DO this?” Vanessa asked, standing before us wearing a pair of faded denim overalls over a white tank top, showing off her toned arms and vibrant tattoos. She brandished a dry paint brush around like a sword. “You all know the rules.”
“Pay fucking attention to the numbers in the mural and match them up to the ones on the paint cans,” Candace said dryly.
“Excellent start. What else?”
“Don’t fuck it up,” Violet suggested.
“That too, but to be fair, I can fix your screwups. None of you have mentioned the most important rule of them all.”
“Don’t tell Milo a fucking thing,” I said firmly.
“Bingo!” Vanessa said. “Those drag queens kept a tight lip about what they painted in Milo and Andy’s future nursery, and so will you.”
“Will there be a big reveal where we vote on the winner?” April asked.
“There are only winners in this situation,” Vanessa said. “First, it’s my artwork so we can’t go wrong. Second, their visions are… Never mind. You’ll know when they reveal the murals.”
Was she going to say different or similar? It could go either way because we were very alike in some things and complete opposites in others. If anyone thought it was odd that the Miracle twins were painting nurseries prior to weddings, or even engagements, they didn’t remark on it. They were used to us marching to our own beats. We knew what we wanted and didn’t wait for approval or permission.
“Does it matter where we start?” Violet asked. “Do you want us all to complete one wall before moving onto the next?”
“It’s up to Maegan.”
“It doesn’t matter to me,” I told them. “Pick whatever you’d like to work on, and we’ll see how far we get to day. This is a big undertaking.” It took Vanessa weeks to draw it on the walls.
“I’ll take the treehouse if you don’t mind,” Van said to me. “It’s where most of the detail and shading is needed to give it a life-like appearance.”
April chose the woodland critters, Violet started painting picket fences, Candace decided to work on fluffy clouds and blue skies, and I decided to go with the whimsical tree swing suspended from flower vines. Vanessa had created the design on her computer then showed it to me so I could make changes to the color scheme.
“I’m reporting for duty too,” Elijah said from the doorway. He walked up behind me and slid his arm around my waist then lowered his mouth to my ear. “Where do you want me?”
“Wherever you’re most comfortable.”
“Freckles, mind your manners in front of our friends.” I loved how he referred to the ladies as his friends also. They all adored him too, but who wouldn’t?
“I meant pick the section that appeals to you the most. Just make sure you—”
“Pay attention to matching the numbers on the wall to the ones on the paint can and don’t blab to Milo,” Elijah said.
I took a rare Saturday off from Books and Brew so we could get as much done in one day as possible. Elijah and I would chip away at what was left over, and Van planned to come in at the very end to add shading and highlights or to fix our fuckups. We decided to order sandwiches and pizza for our friends to thank them for giving up their free day also. When the doorbell rang in the middle of the afternoon, Elijah assumed it as the pizza delivery boy and went down to answer the door while the rest of us took turns washing our hands in the Jack and Jill bathroom between the nursery and the bedroom beside it.
April and Violet went first while Candace, Vanessa, and I huddled up to shamelessly talk about our friends.
“They’re keeping it close to the vest,” Candace said, looking over her shoulder to make certain the door was shut. “Those two have waited so long for one another, and I expected a big announcement by now.”
A sweet smile spread over Vanessa’s face. “I think their old-fashioned dating is adorable.”
Over the past six weeks, the ladies had insisted on experiencing all the things they wanted to do together in high school but didn’t because neither of them was out. “It’s the most beautiful love story I’ve ever witnessed,” I said wistfully. I was humbled and awed to be a part of some of their special moments and surprises they’d planned for one another.
“Is it safe to come back in the room now?” April asked through the closed door.
Violet giggled then asked, “Or do you need more time to whisper about us and speculate about the state of our relationship?”
“It’s safe,” Vanessa called out. “We’ve already placed our bets.” The door slowly opened to reveal our friends standing in the doorway wearing bemused expressions.
“For how long we’ll last?” April asked then scowled.
“I may be cynical about love and happily ever after, but I’m not blind,” Candace replied dryly. “If we were placing bets, it would be which of us you’ll choose as your maid of honor at your wedding.”
Violet blushed prettily while April looked embarrassed that she’d assumed the worst.
“Oh, um…” April stammered.
Violet leaned over and kissed her cheek, easing her jitters. “We’ll get there when we get there and not a minute before we’re ready, ladies.” She looked at her watch. “Speaking of which, we have big plans tonight, so we better grab a quick bite to eat and get back to work.”
April leaned over and kissed Violet’s forehead before they linked hands and left us standing there in the center of the room exchanging sappy grins. “You heard the lady,” I said, gesturing to the door they just exited.
When we got downstairs, a man wearing dark denim jeans and a pressed, black dress shirt stood beside Elijah. The sexy guy oozed success, privilege, and power. This was no pizza delivery man; it was Theodore Rutledge. I recognized him from the Google search I performed after learning of his existence. Elijah had his methods, and I had mine.
“I started to think you weren’t coming, Mr. Rutledge,” I said, walking toward him.
“Please call me Theo. I’m very sorry for all the delays and even more appalled I didn’t call first. I can see you’re very busy.” His eyes swept over the women who came
down the stairs behind me, jerked to a stop then swept back the other direction. His piercing blue eyes widened in surprise then narrowed, but not in a menacing way. I turned around to see who’d caught his attention and saw Vanessa was blushing and refusing to meet his eyes. Vanessa didn’t blush. Who was this man to garner such a reaction from her. Then it hit me. Oh. My. God! Her weekend-of-wild-sex must’ve been with Theodore Rutledge because I knew everyone else Vanessa had hooked up with or dated. “Hello, Vanessa. It’s good to see you again.” I looked at my friends to see if I was the only one who noticed the man’s voice drop a few octaves? Their wide-eyed expressions said they’d noticed too. I expected he used the same voice to get her back to his condo and keep her there all weekend long.
Van squared her shoulders, lifted her head, and boldly looked into his eyes. “It’s good to see you too, Theo.” Then her eyes perused his tall, muscular body from top to bottom. When she finished, she aimed a man-eater smile at him.
I turned my attention back to Theo and said, “Would you like a grand tour?”
He finally peeled his eyes off my friend and focused on me. “Are you sure? I could come back another time perhaps.”
“Don’t be silly,” I said, dismissing the idea. “Let’s get started in the back of the house where the library is located.” And the furthest away from Vanessa so she could retreat if she wanted. “I have several of your grandfather’s items on display there.”
“It sounds like the perfect starting point.”
I was glad Elijah and his knuckle-dragging mentality followed behind Theo and me, hoping it would discourage our guest from asking me personal questions about Vanessa. Ha! He wasn’t the owner of a Fortune 500 company because he waited for the appropriate time to do something. He was successful because he seized every opportunity to get what he wanted.
The Lady Stole My Heart (The Lady is Mine, #2) Page 16