“What the hell? Darce. You ever stop and ask yourself why it was so easy for you guys to make us all believe you were a couple?” He leaned forward and delivered two quick raps to the top of her head. “Hello. It’s because it was true.”
“But we weren’t—”
Xander slid off the table and down to the ground, where he took Cady’s outstretched hands and helped her stand. “Cady girl, what are we gonna do about your mama, huh? She thinks she was fooling everybody else, but the only one she was fooling was herself.”
Could it be true?
“Oh, Xander. I don’t know. The things we said...”
“Good God, Darce. Did you dump a dog on him and leave? Did you hide things from him and end up in jail? Did you come back unannounced and expect to pick up where you left off?”
“No, but—”
“Darce. Someone who can get past all that from a friend—a friend who hasn’t done much lately to deserve the title—well, someone who can get past all that isn’t going to just walk away from someone who loves him.”
“He walked away from Carter.”
“Yeah, he did. But then he came back.”
“For everyone else, yes. For Carter?”
“Carter’s part of the parcel. He knows that better than you ever will.” Xander grabbed one spoon and clanked it against Cady’s, sword-fighting style. “Maybe he didn’t handle it the way you would have, but come on. He’s a guy. He’s not complicated. If he’s here, talking about moving back, then yeah. He wants to make things right with Carter.”
“So I should have stepped back and let him do it his own way.”
“Hey, I’m not saying he couldn’t use a swift kick. I’m just saying... Damn. I don’t know anymore.” He lowered himself onto his elbows. “Cady, you are going to have one screwed-up family.”
Funny. He didn’t sound the least bit worried about that. In fact, he sounded pretty happy at the prospect.
Maybe she should take a hint.
“Screwed up, maybe, but still workable.” She tugged Cady’s blond wisps, then gave a soft tweak to the thicker head of hair that was the perfect match. “Happy Father’s Day, and welcome to the family...Daddy.”
* * *
IAN NEVER WOULD have believed it, but for the first time in memory, talking to Moxie had left him more settled rather than less. Which was damned unnerving in its own way, but he’d take it.
The glider had felt too confining after she left. “Into the fire,” he’d said to Lulu, and dragged himself upstairs. There had been one bad moment when he’d rolled over and his head had hit Darcy’s pillow, filling his lungs with sex-scented memories. But after that first slice of pain he had pulled the pillow close and decided it was like when he had been in Tanzania and Ma had sent care packages filled with Millie’s drawings and newspaper clippings and boxes of Kraft Dinner. It left him longing, true, but it also comforted. More than that, it gave him hope.
And hope was enough to let him close his eyes.
He woke with a start and a cold nose in his hand.
“Damn it, Lulu!”
He couldn’t believe he’d fallen asleep.
Or how bright the sunlight was for this early in the morning.
Or how much laughter was floating up the stairs.
He grabbed his phone, squinted at the display and let out a word that would still make Moxie wash his mouth out with soap.
How the hell had he let himself sleep past ten?
Pushing his barely awake body from the bed, he hobbled to the window, pulled back the curtain and checked the driveway. Yep. Everyone was here, probably hard at work setting up for the party. Not only was he not helping, he was going to go down there and steal another pair of hands from the preparations. He was never going to hear the end of this.
Lucky for him, once folks figured out why he was doing it, they might agree that in the long run, it would be worth it.
Wake up, brain. We have work to do.
One cursory shower later, he hit the stairs faster than he had since the morning after the infamous trig all-nighter. He followed the trails of conversations, listening for that one voice he needed right now.
It wasn’t in the kitchen, which had been taken over by people who were either caterers or thieves.
It wasn’t in the sunporch, where Ma was on the phone apparently trying to make some poor soul swear there would be no high winds or rain.
Nor was it in the dining room, where Millie, Brynn and Taylor were singing some song about fireworks and doing something with ribbons and glittery stars. But at least they might have an idea of where he should look.
“Taylor. Where’s Carter?”
That was one way to bring the music to a crashing halt.
Taylor glanced at Brynn. Cautious hope dawned on both their faces.
“He’s outside with your dad and Hank and Cash. Moxie decided the backyard looked bare, so she went out and bought a helium tank and balloons. They’re blowing things up as we speak.”
“Backyard. Right.” He turned on his heel but wasn’t fast enough.
“Ian? Why do you need him?”
Once again, he asked himself why he had been so insistent that he had to come back here. But he knew it was a purely rhetorical question.
“You’ll find out soon enough,” he said, and set off for the back door. He didn’t have to look back at the women to know what must have been happening: the quick exchange of glances, the scissors hitting the table, the race for the door. He should be hearing footsteps in three—two—one—
“You know, I don’t think I’ve ever actually seen a helium tank in action.” Brynn linked her arm through his. “This seems like as good a time as any.”
“Nope. Bad idea. Go back to your glitter.”
“Sorry, but I have a sudden and severe glitter allergy. I’ll be sneezing all through the party if I don’t take a break. Multicolored, sparkly sneezes. Your mother would not be pleased.”
Thank God they had reached the door. Maybe he would feel less as if he was being shanghaied once they were outside.
The good thing was there was no backing out now. Not with this crew in attendance.
One side of the yard had been taken over by the tent, where the pig-roast people were sending some smells into the atmosphere that made his stomach remind him he should eat. Preferably soon.
Carter and Dad and the others huddled around one of the picnic tables. Moxie was tying a bunch of multicolored balloons to the end of another. He would have to remind her to leave one or two of the tables bare. Balloons were a choking hazard, and he didn’t want Cady—
Oh, yeah. No Cady.
Brynn squeezed his arm. “You can do this, buddy.”
Divine intervention in the form of his take-charge sister-in-law?
“Remind me to tell Hank that marrying you was the smartest thing he ever did.”
“Will do. But don’t worry.” She winked. “I make sure he hears it all the time.”
She released his arm. Behind him he heard Millie whisper something, followed by Taylor’s low answer and a muffled gasp.
It seemed he didn’t need to bother working his way over to Carter and issuing a private invitation.
“Carter.” His voice didn’t crack. More proof that the Almighty was in his corner. “You have a minute?”
A frustrated groan sounded behind him. Ma. “Now?”
“Yeah, Ma. Now.”
“Fine,” she said, and he could so clearly hear her war within herself that he had to peek over his shoulder.
“I promise I’ll only be a few minutes. And when we’re done, I’ll do the work of ten Grinches plus two, okay?”
She offered a faint small and a slightly stronger nod.
Carter placed the scissors he’d been holding on the table. “Yeah. Sure.”
Dad scooted sideways to give Carter room to move. Cash offered a slap on the back. Hank shook his head.
“Some people will do anything to get out of work,” he said, b
ut the grin he sent toward Ian was pure encouragement.
At the side of the table Moxie rubbed her hands together before blowing on the fingertips. Ian frowned, not sure what she was doing, until it hit him. She was pretending to warm her hands over a fire. A blacksmith’s fire, hot and glowing and waiting for him to jump in.
“Come on,” Ian said to Carter, jerking his head toward the dock. “If we go out there, we can keep an eye on the jackals, make sure they don’t come too close.”
Carter nodded. Ian slapped his thigh and Lulu came running. They crossed the lawn in silence. Well, other than Lulu’s excited panting.
“Ma says you guys have a dog now, too.”
Carter shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans. “Yeah. Taylor gave him to me for Christmas.”
“What kind?”
“A black Lab. We named him Vader.”
Ian looked at Carter for the first time since they’d set out. “You named your dog after Darth Vader?”
“You know, all that shiny black hair, the long floppy ears, the kind of square face—it works.”
“If he ever sires puppies, will you name them Luke and Leia?”
“Jeez, Ian, he’s just a baby. Don’t make me think about that stuff yet.”
“Yeah? Well, get used to it. Things change faster than you think.”
That topic exhausted, they stared at the water. Ian kicked off his shoes and sat on the dock. Lulu stretched out at his side, a furry barrier between the men. Carter followed a moment later.
“Everybody watching?” Ian asked.
“Yep.”
“You didn’t look.”
“Don’t need to.”
This was true.
“So,” Ian said when it all became too weird. “I’m not sure where to start.”
“Ian, if you’re not ready... I know you’ve been trying to keep your distance, and I know they set us up yesterday. I admit, I was kind of glad when I figured out what had happened because I want to get this behind us, but if you’re not—”
“Don’t know if I’ll ever really be ready. But I think I’m readier than I’ll ever be.”
“I guess that makes sense. After what happened with Darcy, that is.”
“You know, this isn’t really for— Okay. In some ways it is. But—” and he was surprised to realize it was true “—I’m mostly doing this for me.”
Carter’s eyes widened. “Didn’t expect to hear that.”
“Didn’t expect to say it.”
“And I never expected to fall in love with my brother’s fiancée.”
There it was. The truth, shining and waiting for Ian to seize it.
“I know. I mean, I’m not sure I believed it back when it happened. But I know it now.”
“That’s good to hear.”
“It doesn’t mean...” He watched a sailboat dip and sway. “It still hurts. Not the part about losing Taylor, okay? I don’t want you to think that I look at her and think...anything. That’s over.”
“I figured that out the minute I saw you with Darcy. And yeah, I know, that was all supposed to be an act, but honestly, Ian, the only time any of us thought you were lying was yesterday when you told us it was all pretend. So that should tell you something.”
It told him that he needed to make his peace with Carter—well, the first steps—so he could go to Darcy with a clear conscience. But there was something that still needed to be said.
“What if I hadn’t shown up with Darcy? If I’d been solo? Would you have been so trusting then?”
Carter stayed silent long enough that Ian knew he’d hit a nerve.
“I’d like to say yeah, of course.” He breathed in, slow and deep. “But honestly? It probably would have been there in the back of my mind.”
“But you were still on board with me coming back.”
Carter shrugged. “Yeah. That was never a question.”
“Never?”
More silence. Ian wasn’t exactly sure why he was pushing this, but his gut told him it was important.
“I guess... I guess I did feel more...welcoming...when I saw Darcy. And I guess that before she turned up, if I thought about how it would be to have you back here, even though I absolutely trust both of you, maybe...” His voice dropped. “I guess maybe, if it bothered me, then it was no more than what I deserved.”
Was it wrong to feel a little pleasure at that confession?
“Carter.”
“Yeah?”
“No matter what happens with Darcy, you won’t have anything to worry about. Not because I’m such a noble guy or anything, but because Taylor never loved me the way she loves you.”
When Carter spoke, his voice was thick. “I thought I would be the one doing the apologizing and explaining today.”
“So did I.” He scratched absently behind Lulu’s ears. “Guess I’m just full of surprises.”
“There’s an understatement.”
This time the silence that fell between them was almost comfortable.
“So what happens now?” Carter put voice to the question rolling around in Ian’s head.
“Don’t know exactly. But I think maybe this is the point where we give things time.”
“I’m good with that.” Carter hesitated before adding, low and fervent, “I don’t want to lose you, Ian. I know it probably can never be the way it was, but I hope...you know, maybe with working together again and living in the same town and everything...maybe we can find a new way.”
A new way to be brothers?
Well, hell. Almost every other relationship in his life was changing. What was one more?
“I can get behind that.” Before he could second-guess himself, he added, “But so help me, if you ask Moxie to plan what we should do, all bets are off.”
Carter took only a second to break into loud laughter. When Ian joined in, he could almost feel things begin to shift inside.
“Come on.” He pushed to his feet, gave Lulu a soft nudge. “Want to watch me make Ma go ballistic?”
“You’re gonna throw me in the river, aren’t you?”
“Tempting, but to be honest, that wasn’t what I had in mind. Remember I told her I would help work once I was finished with you? I lied.”
“Planning to go over to Helene’s place?”
“Yep.”
“No need.” Carter pointed to the knot of people gathered just out of earshot. “She’s already here.”
* * *
DARCY HADN’T EXPECTED to have to run a gauntlet of Norths to get to Ian. But that was sure how it felt.
She had wanted to drive over as soon as she finished talking to Xander, but Nonny convinced her that showering and dressing were in her best interests,
“After all,” she’d said, “families don’t have to be perfect, but they run a whole lot smoother if everyone smells good.”
With the essentials out of the way she had headed for the car only to find Nonny, Cady and Xander waiting.
“You are not all coming along for this.”
“Oh, yes, we are.” Xander fastened Cady into her car seat, which he had already moved to Nonny’s Buick. “We’ll let you talk in private, but this is going to impact this whole family, Darce. We want to know what’s happening as soon as you do.”
“But—” Darcy began, only to have Nonny deliver the ultimate nonnegotiable point.
“Lord have mercy, girl. It’s bad enough I’ve had to hear everything else from Moxie. I didn’t fly all night to miss out on this.”
The closer they got to the house, the more her heart sped up. By the time they pulled into the driveway she wasn’t sure if she could walk, what with the way everything was jumping and clanging and shaking.
“I haven’t felt like this since I was in labor,” she said to Nonny as she pulled herself out of the car.
“Well, seeing’s how this will be another kind of beginning, that seems right to me.” Nonny patted her cheek. “It’ll be fine, Darcy. I promise.”
Her head k
new that Nonny couldn’t really make that guarantee. Her heart settled the tiniest bit.
A quick walk through the house confirmed that the entire family had either been kidnapped by aliens—Xander’s vote—or gone outside. But it was still a shock to walk out to the backyard and find the bulk of the Norths huddled together halfway down the lawn, staring at the two men on the dock.
“Taylor?” Darcy squeezed in beside her. “Are they...”
“Yeah.” Taylor never took her eyes off the brothers, but she reached over and gripped Darcy’s hand. “Yeah, I think they are.”
Moxie bent and peered around Janice and Robert to glare at Darcy. “Have you apologized yet to your grandmother?”
“Oh, Moxie, stifle yourself,” Nonny said indulgently. “You have enough worries with your own family. You don’t need to take over mine, too.” She elbowed Darcy. “Even though I have my fingers crossed that pretty soon we’re going to be related by marriage.”
“Will you two hush?” Janice whispered. “It’s hard enough to try to figure out what’s going on without—”
Cady broke in with an excited, “Ru! Ru! Ru!”
Sure enough, Ian and Carter had risen and were headed back to the voyeurs. Lulu bounded ahead of them.
Darcy and Taylor stepped forward.
“Back, you two,” Moxie said. “Let them come to us.”
Darcy looked at Taylor, who raised her eyebrows and nodded. Together, they took off across the grass, Brynn’s laughter spurring them on.
Carter kicked up his own heels and met Taylor halfway. Darcy heard him say, “It’s good, it’s good,” followed by Taylor’s sobbing kind of laugh, but Darcy wasn’t stopping to get the details. She needed to get to Ian.
Except he wasn’t coming any closer.
She went a couple more steps before slowing. She needed to be near him, to read his face, but he wouldn’t look at her. Instead he was looking past her.
“Ian?”
“I can’t— I don’t want to do this with everyone watching.”
“Oh.” The word slipped out, bewildered and small. A perfect match for the way she felt.
But with that, he finally turned to her, panic and understanding dawning in his face.
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