“Another of Reese’s ideas?”
“This one was all mine, but she adores the dog. Already she plans to have Honey sleep with her when she moves in. And thankfully, Honey and Reese’s cat get along.”
Brett looked around the room before sitting down in Reese’s favorite armchair. “I think you need a housekeeper.”
Since he’d gone into the basement to get the exterior decorations, he brought up the boxes of interior ones as well. At the moment, those, along with some containing Taylor and Reese’s belongings, were stacked around the room. In Curt’s opinion, it was a little cluttered but not a mess. But he knew to his brother, who’d spent most of his adult life in the military, this was utter chaos.
“About half these boxes are decorations. Another quarter of them contains Reese’s stuffed animal collection. I didn’t want to bring them upstairs until we finished setting up her room.” The girl owned enough stuffed animals to open her own store at this point.
“Where is Reese? Since it’s nice out, I figured she’d want to give me another soccer lesson. I even brought my sneakers with me.”
Much like when he’d first met Reese, she’d offered to give Brett soccer lessons after she found out he’d never played. And like him, Brett had been unable to say no.
Not unexpectedly, Honey followed Curt over to the sofa. As soon as he sat down, the dog jumped up next to him and rested her head on his thigh. Honey loved human companionship more than any dog he’d ever met. “Reese and Taylor had an appointment at Mass Genetics at two. Hopefully, they’ll be home soon.”
“Is everything okay?”
For the next few minutes, Curt explained the situation to his brother as he ran his hand up and down the dog’s back.
Resting his ankle on his knee, Brett leaned back in the chair. “That’s crazy. Why would Eliza contact this man now?”
“To make Taylor’s life difficult.” He had no proof, but what other reason could she have for doing something now that she’d had over nine years to do? “Maybe mine too.”
“Does Reese know any of this?”
Curt shook his head. Sunday night he’d suggested Taylor tell Reese everything. Not only was the girl smart, but she also was curious. Reese would want to know why someone stuck a swab inside her mouth and rubbed it against her cheek. If Taylor didn’t tell her the truth beforehand, she’d have to lie when Reese brought it up. He knew all too well how a simple lie could come back and bite you in the ass.
“Taylor wanted to wait for the test results,” Curt explained, checking his watch. Taylor had told him the appointment shouldn’t take long. Unless they either hit traffic or made a stop somewhere else after they left the lab, they should be home soon. “As if the situation didn’t suck enough, I talked to Taylor about adopting Reese. She was all on board. I was literally seconds away from asking Reese how she felt about the idea when Taylor’s mom called and asked her to come home because she’d gotten the phone call from Jordan.”
Brett let out a low whistle. “You never mentioned you were thinking about doing that. But I suspected you might.”
“There’s a good chance it won’t happen now.”
“Then you think Jordan is Reese’s father?”
“Honestly, I don’t know. I didn’t see any resemblance, but that doesn’t mean anything. No one would guess you and Dad are related. And look at Callie. The only thing she inherited from Uncle Warren is her eye color.”
“Even if it turns out Jordan is Reese’s father, that doesn’t mean adoption is off the table. It’s not like he has a relationship with Reese. He might be willing to walk away and let you adopt her.”
Curt wished he believed that was a possibility. “If you found out you had a nine-year-old daughter, would you let another man adopt her?”
“Hell no,” Brett answered immediately. “But—”
“I didn’t get the impression Jordan would either.” Curt stood up, and as if attached to him, Honey did the same thing. “I’m going to get a drink. Do you want something?”
“Yeah, sure, whatever you’re having,” Brett answered, following him and Honey from the room.
After handing his brother a bottle of beer, he took a long drink from his and then went in search of a snack. Before he found anything he felt like eating, the doorbell rang.
“You make Taylor ring the bell?” Brett asked.
Curt sent his brother a dirty look as he walked by him. “It’s probably Aaron.”
“Aaron?”
“You know, Aaron Wright, as in Juliette’s boyfriend. You met him at Allison’s wedding. Either your old age is catching up, or all the time you spend with politicians these days is causing serious memory loss.”
Even after nearly a year, Curt still had a hard time wrapping his head around the fact his older brother was a United States Senator, a position he’d expected either of his cousins Trent or Sara to maybe one day hold but not Brett. And he loved to give his brother a hard time about it every chance he got.
“Although that might be a good thing. If I had to spend time with Senators Beck and Marshall, I want to forget things too,” Curt added, referring to two current senators who also happened to be their dad and uncles' longtime friends.
“I know who Aaron is. But why is he here? Isn’t Avon over two hours away?” Brett walked with Curt down the hall toward the main foyer.
“He called yesterday and asked if he and Juliette could use my place in Newport this weekend. Since he was working in Boston today, he’d said he’d stop by and pick up the key on his way back home.”
He’d been one of the first in the family to meet Aaron in the spring, and since then, he’d spent a fair amount of time around not only Aaron but also his mom, younger sister, and niece. Although not at all the type of man Curt had imagined his younger cousin ending up with, he really liked Aaron. More importantly, Juliette appeared happier than he’d seen her in a long time. Curt suspected it was only a matter of time before Aaron proposed.
“Hey, Aaron, come on in,” Curt greeted after opening the door.
“It’s a good thing Tiegan is not with me. When the Halloween decorations were out, she begged me to get a giant inflatable pumpkin for the front yard. Now she’s asking for a Santa Claus one like her friend has. If she saw that, she’d bug me about it even more. I’ll put up lights, but I’m not getting one of those.” Aaron gestured toward the snowman before entering the house.
“Maybe I should write that down so I can pull it out and remind you when I see big Cupid outside your house in February,” Curt said as he started back toward the kitchen.
“Ignore my brother, Aaron. He’s jealous that you can withstand an attack by a little girl and he can’t.”
Curt acted as though he hadn’t heard his brother’s comment and retrieved his beer from the counter when they entered the kitchen. “When are you and Juliette planning to leave for Newport?”
“I’m hoping I can convince her to go Thursday night. Her last dance class ends at six. She doesn’t teach on Fridays, but she usually spends the day at the studio in the office.”
“For some reason, I thought going to Newport was her idea. Good luck keeping her out of the studio on Friday.” He’d never seen his cousin as driven as she’d been since opening a dance school in the fall.
“No, she has no idea of what I have planned.”
As tempting as it was to ask what Aaron had planned, Curt kept his mouth shut, although he suspected he knew what the answer would be. “Use the place as long as you want,” he said, tossing the extra set of keys he’d shoved in his pocket earlier to Aaron. “Do you want anything to drink?”
Aaron pointed toward the bottle in Brett’s hand. “One of those would—”
“Curt, we’re home. Who’s here?” Reese’s voice reached them from down the hallway, announcing she and Taylor were there.
Since she’d find out soon enough, he didn’t bother to call out a reply. Instead, he grabbed a beer for Aaron while he waited for Taylor and Reese to
join them.
Reese entered the room, a pastry box in her hands. When she spotted his brother and Aaron, she immediately smiled. “Hi, Brett.” Without any hesitation, she hugged his brother. Over the past year and a half, she had developed a loving relationship not only with his parents but also with his older brother and younger sister.
“Are those for me?” Brett asked, pretending to reach for the box when Reese released him.
“Nope. We got some cannoli, cookies, and tiramisu for Curt.” She held on to the box while she went over to hug Aaron. “Is Tiegan here?”
The very first time Reese and Aaron’s niece met, they hit it off. Now, they regularly sent each other text messages, and often when he and Taylor went up to visit his cousin and her boyfriend, Reese came along so she could hang out with Tiegan.
“Not today,” Aaron answered, returning Reese’s embrace.
“Next time you come, please bring her too. I want to show her my new room. Curt let me pick out the color for the walls and help him paint. And last week, my new furniture came. It’s all ready for me to move into after Curt and Auntie’s wedding.”
“I’ll do my best,” Aaron promised.
“Here, Curt. Aunt Taylor and I went to Ambrosia after our appointment. These are for you.” Reese handed him the box and made a beeline for the refrigerator.
“Thanks, short stuff.”
“I think he should share. What do you think, Reese?” Brett asked.
Reese poured a large glass of milk while she considered the question. “We did get everything for him, but I share stuff with my friends. Maybe he should give you and Aaron a tiny piece.”
“There’s enough in there for us all to have more than a tiny piece,” Taylor said.
“If everyone has some, can I have something too?” Reese asked, looking at him instead of Taylor.
Taylor didn’t give him a chance to reply. “You already had an enormous cupcake, my friend. You don’t need any more sweets right now. And while you wait for dinner, go start your homework.”
“Fine,” she grumbled before glancing at him again. “Please save me a cookie.”
“I’ll save you two cookies.” Curt ruffled her hair and set the box on the table.
While he waited for Reese to leave the room, he got some plates and forks. He’d never get his brother to leave without sharing some of the pastry. “How did everything go today?”
“Okay. The appointment didn’t take long. We would’ve been home sooner, but we stopped at the café and then hit traffic.” As he’d known she would, Taylor selected a slice of tiramisu from the sweets on display. Rather than sit down and eat, though, she added water to the French press. “And Reese asked questions about why we were going to the lab.”
He’d known she would. “What did you tell her?”
“The truth.”
“Was she upset?” Put in Reese’s shoes, he had no idea how he’d respond.
“Upset? No, I wouldn’t say that. But she wasn’t happy either. She told me she doesn’t need a dad because she has you.”
Curt never doubted how much Reese cared about him. Still, happiness expanded in his chest, and he swallowed down the emotion choking him. “Did you hear back from Jordan?”
“I got a message from him before I picked Reese up at school. The lab in Concord has an opening tomorrow morning, so he’s going before work.”
The lab assured them results within three to six days, so they’d at least have the truth soon. Curt just hoped it was the news he wanted.
Eight
Early Saturday evening, Curt watched as Reese and Erin, Leah’s stepdaughter, helped the four boys playing with the plastic blocks. The day before, Taylor, Priscilla, his sister, and several of his female relatives, including his mom, had driven up to Ravenwood Ski Resort for Taylor’s bachelorette party—a party his sister had planned. With the women gone, the men had descended on his house for the day and brought plenty of toys to keep the boys occupied. Reese added to the collection by bringing over a farmhouse complete with plastic animals she’d played with at their age and Taylor had never thrown out.
Tomorrow the women would take over childcare duty while the men headed into Salem for his bachelor party at the Ultimate Escape. He’d visited a similar establishment over the summer with Taylor, Reese, and Reese’s friend Hazel. Even though they’d failed to solve the puzzles and escape, they’d had a great time. He expected tomorrow to be just as enjoyable.
“Maybe I should hire them as babysitters,” Dylan Talbot, a longtime family friend and his cousin’s husband, said. “James doesn’t want to nap anymore and constantly wants Callie’s attention.”
“It’s hit or miss getting Garrett to nap these days too,” Jake commented.
Across the room, Reese handed James, who’d turned three in the fall and was the oldest of the group, a bright yellow block. From the moment the boys had arrived, Reese and Erin had stuck close to them and helped keep them all occupied as well as out of trouble. If and when he and Taylor had children, he had no doubt Reese would be a wonderful older sister. Judging by what he’d seen today, he’d say the same thing about Leah’s stepdaughter.
“Sounds like he needs a sibling or two.” His cousin, Scott, picked up his almost seven-month-old daughter, who’d crawled over to him.
Belinda had been wearing a purple top and black bottoms when they'd arrived, while her identical twin, Theresa, wore a striped top and blue bottoms. Sometime after lunch, both girls had needed new outfits, and now Curt didn’t know if Scott was holding Belinda, who they’d named after Paige’s aunt Bebe, or Theresa, who they’d named after Scott’s maternal grandmother. Even though his cousin had admitted he occasionally got them confused, Curt didn’t want to ask Scott which daughter was now on his lap.
“Or two? We’re not all overachievers like you, Scott. Most of us go the one baby at a time route.” Jake picked up Scott’s other daughter, who’d made her way over to them, and settled her on his lap.
At the moment, Scott had the most children, but Curt suspected it wouldn’t be long before his other cousins started adding to their families. Of the men gathered around him, he expected Trent to announce his wife was expecting first. Both Trent and Addie came from large families, and his cousin had told him that was what they both wanted. But he didn’t think Jake would be far behind.
Scott shrugged and readjusted his daughter on his lap. “Don’t knock it until you try it. The pure chaos in my house these days is like nothing you’ve ever experienced.”
With three children under the age of three, Curt could only imagine what Scott’s day-to-day life was like these days.
“He’s not lying. I’ve seen it firsthand,” Dylan added. Although Dylan and his wife spent most of their time at their estate in Connecticut, both he and Scott worked at Sherbrooke Enterprises Headquarters in New York City and often visited each other.
“Did you and Nicole finalize the new custody agreement?” Curt asked while he looked for any differences between Scott’s two daughters that would help him determine who was who in the future.
Until recently, Scott and his ex-girlfriend had shared custody of their son, although it had seemed like Cooper spent far more time with Scott than his mother—a situation he knew his cousin preferred. Still, Curt had been speechless when Scott shared that Nicole had decided it would be better for her marriage, career, and Cooper, in that order, if Scott had sole custody of their son.
“Two weeks ago. Our lawyers worked it out so that Nicole has Cooper one weekend a month. If she wants and I agree, she can take him for more than one. She is also allowed to take him on vacation for up to ten days three times a year. But if Nicole said she wanted to take him for thirteen days, I wouldn’t say no.”
He couldn’t fathom putting his career before his child, but then Scott’s ex didn’t strike him as the maternal sort either. Although he’d only met Nicole Sutton once, he had seen stories about the actress. The woman enjoyed the limelight, and at least prior to her ma
rriage, she had been willing to sleep with anyone if it would somehow benefit her career. In fact, she’d been sleeping with Alastair Corey, a well-known movie director, for that reason while still dating Scott. And if that weren’t bad enough, she’d also been seeing her current husband at the same time, which was why when Cooper was born, she’d been unsure of who his father was.
“Any word on your, uh, situation?” Scott glanced toward Reese and Erin, who appeared far more focused on the little boys in the room than the adults.
“What kind of situation did Curt get himself into this time?” Trent asked as he pulled his cell phone from his pocket.
Other than his parents, only Scott and Brett knew about Jordan and the pending paternity test.
“Has he been pretending to be someone else again?” Trent continued, alluding to Curt’s actions when he’d first moved to Pelham and hadn’t been completely honest with his neighbors about who he was. At the time, both Trent and Gray had warned him his lack of honesty might blow up in his face. Thankfully, Taylor had been understanding and willing to forgive him when the truth came out.
Reese approached the group holding Garrett’s and Kendrick’s hands before he could answer. “Curt, the boys want a snack. Erin and I do too. Can we get something in the kitchen?”
Since he did not know what types of foods were suitable for two- and three-year-old children, he’d asked Taylor for suggestions when he found out he’d be having visitors this weekend. Now, his kitchen had everything from graham crackers and Cheerios to goldfish and yogurt pouches.
“As long as it’s okay with them, get whatever you want and bring it in here.” He nodded in the general direction of the dads. He didn’t care about the children having a snack, but his cousins might feel differently.
Once they received the okay, Reese and the boys headed toward the doorway. Erin soon followed her with James and Cooper.
Scott stood up as his son and Erin passed by him. “If you’ll watch Bebe, I’ll go help them. They might need it.”
A Billionaire's Love: The Sherbrookes of Newport Novella Page 5