by Alisha Rai
“You seem to enjoy being a small business owner,” she said.
“It’s not bad.” But he couldn’t hide his excitement. He’d begun badgering her to buy the café within a few months of them being together, but she’d held out. Not because he hadn’t offered her enough money. He’d offered her too much money. She’d wanted to give the thing to him, but he’d refused that. She’d had to wait him out until he came down to a figure she considered fair.
She might have waited even longer to drive the price down more, but he’d slapped the sale contract down in front of her during one particularly vulnerable moment after a long day of paperwork. She’d signed, and they’d celebrated with champagne. And sex, but they would have had that no matter what.
His hand slipped over her ass, like he’d been thinking along the same lines. “Are you enjoying being not a business owner?”
“God, yes.” She’d taken on more shifts at O’Killian’s while Jackson worked on installing a bar inside of Kane’s. She’d thought she might struggle with feelings of failure, but she was mostly relieved to not have the weight of the family legacy on her shoulders. It was back where it belonged, with a Kane.
He pressed a kiss on her forehead, then her nose. “You look nice.”
She’d changed quickly in the office, donning her new dress, a simple dark blue jersey fit and flare with dark tights and her sole pair of high heels. “Thank you. Are you going to change?”
He glanced down at his jeans and his button-down shirt and shrugged. “No.”
She bit her lip. There was no doubt Jackson was dreading this dinner at Nicholas’s house. If he wanted to wear casual clothes to a millionaire’s condo, she wouldn’t fight him on it. “Well, you look nice no matter what.”
Jackson rubbed his cheek against hers and kissed her ear, teasing the sensitive lobe. “Why don’t we skip this? We can all go out to a movie.”
As much as she adored spending time with Jackson—both with Kareem and alone—she wasn’t ready to let him wiggle out of this. He and Nicholas had warmed to each other somewhat, but it was an uneasy truce. They could do with more time together. “Don’t tempt me.” She leaned back. “Or mess up my makeup. I had to watch four of Jia’s tutorials to get my eyeliner like the kids do it nowadays.”
He peered at her face. “I honestly cannot tell if you’re wearing makeup or not.”
“Trust me, I am.”
He kissed her, then pursed his lips. “Do I have lipstick on me?”
This teasing, silly side of Jackson was one very few people got to see. Whenever he trotted it out, she thrilled. “You do.” She ran her thumb over his lower lip and he nipped at her. “I know you don’t want to go out, but if you’re very good, I’ll reward you later.”
His eyes flared and he pulled her tighter. “Is that right?”
“Indeed.”
“Mom?”
Sadia considered it a sign of how far they’d come that she didn’t immediately leap away from Jackson. When things had gotten serious, she and Jackson had sat down with Kareem and did their best to explain their relationship. Kareem had accepted that news with the aplomb of a child and never seemed particularly troubled to catch them holding hands or hugging.
Sadia squeezed Jackson, then released him. “Yes?”
“I’m done. Do we still have to go?”
“Absolutely,” she said firmly, and she couldn’t tell if she was being firm with her son or with Jackson.
“Can I ride on Uncle Jackson’s bike?”
“Absolutely not,” Jackson answered. “We’re taking the car.”
“Ugh.” Kareem pouted. “When I get big I’m gonna only ride motorcycles.”
“We’ll worry about that once we’re both older.” Jackson put his hand lightly on her back. “Ready?”
“I am. Are you?”
His lips quirked. She knew him well enough to identify the reluctance in his eyes. “Sure.”
Jackson was aware Sadia thought he didn’t want to see Nicholas, but that wasn’t the case at all. The two of them would never be best friends, but he and Nicholas had worked out a tentative truce. They both loved Livvy, and that was enough common ground.
No, he wasn’t worried about Nicholas. He was worried about everyone who would be here. Though Livvy had basically moved in with Nicholas, their mother had been a tough nut to crack. This dinner was supposed to be a peace treaty, for both their families.
Save Nicholas’s father, of course. He hadn’t been invited. Jackson didn’t really know what was up with Brendan Chandler and his kids, and he didn’t think he wanted to know.
If everything went sour tonight, his sister would be the one to suffer. He was here, though, poised to catch Livvy, and she knew that.
They walked inside Nicholas’s condo and Livvy and Sadia squealed and hugged like they hadn’t seen each other that very morning. He and Nicholas gave each other guarded, respectful nods. “Thanks for using the door,” Nicholas remarked.
Smart-ass. “I always used the door. You changed the alarm code yet?”
“Of course.”
“To something that’s not your birth year?”
“Yes.”
“Or the date of, like, your high-school graduation?”
Nicholas’s eyelid twitched. He didn’t respond.
Jackson gave him a thin smile. Predictable people were fun.
“Grandpa John!” His prior reticence to come to a grown-up dinner party forgotten, Kareem made a beeline for the couch and his new favorite relative. John’s face lit up and he opened his arms, hugging Kareem tight when the boy came close. Since Sadia was occupied talking to Livvy, Jackson trailed his nephew.
Kareem snuggled close, clambering into John’s lap with the ease of a child who had never been denied affection. John readjusted him and grinned up at Jackson. “How are you doing, son?”
“Well, thank you. Kareem, be careful.”
“He’s fine.” John’s grip wasn’t so tight as to be painful, but it was clear he didn’t want anyone to take the child away from him.
Eve rose from the couch and stepped up behind her grandfather’s power chair. She wore an elegant blue cocktail dress with a bow at the neck.
Jackson gave her a genuine smile of affection. Oddly enough, he and Eve had become rather friendly. In many ways, her emotional reserve was comfortable to him. “Eve.”
“Jackson.” She ruffled Kareem’s hair. “Hi, Kareem.”
The boy craned his neck. “Hi.”
“Did you have fun on your trip?” she asked Jackson politely.
“Yeah, it was great.”
“We saw monkeys,” Kareem informed them.
This was one of the many reasons he liked being with this kid. Kareem never ran out of things to say. He was a nice buffer.
“Monkeys!” Eve exclaimed. “Cool.”
“And the food was so good.” Kareem rested his hand on his belly. “I ate everything.”
“Did you eat your plane tickets?” John asked, very seriously.
“No!”
“What about the luggage? Did you eat that?”
Kareem snorted a laugh.
Sadia joined them. Her skin had grown darker in the few weeks they’d been in Karachi. He’d done a pop-up there, mostly so he would have an excuse to get Sadia and Kareem to travel with him somewhere. He’d known how badly Sadia wanted her son to see at least a small portion of the country her family had come from.
Sadia’s pride was frequently something he had to work around, but luckily, he liked the challenge.
He’d liked coming home to this place, too. He’d settled into a routine here, and it was a comfortable one. He still tended to avoid people, but it was easier to be out and about when he knew he had allies.
One of his biggest allies now, oddly enough, was Harriett. After discussing it with Sadia, he’d hired the woman back because, as Sadia had put it with an eyeroll, she wasn’t exactly wrong about her cousin being bought off.
Sadia’s pinky
brushed against his. Neither of them were given to public displays of affection, which suited him fine. These little touches sustained him through the day. “It was a great trip,” Sadia agreed.
“Did Kāne do well?” Eve inquired.
Jackson scratched the back of his neck. He was unused to anyone but his own team knowing his secret identity, but now that circle had stretched to include his family and Nicholas and Eve and John.
He trusted them, but it was weird. “Yeah.”
As always, Sadia seemed to sense when he was uncomfortable. “What about you, Eve? What are you up to? Are you working somewhere now?”
Eve shifted. It still startled Jackson how much the girl looked like Maria. There was nothing of her father in her. “I’m taking my time.”
Nicholas snorted as he and Livvy joined them. “Your generation takes too much time. You have a job waiting for you at the company.”
Eve’s expression was tolerantly amused. “I don’t want to work at the company. Also, we’re the same generation, Nicholas.”
“Only technically.”
Jackson didn’t like talking, but he’d take any opportunity to take the opposite stance as Nicholas, truce be damned. “She’s young. She can afford to take some time to figure out what she wants to do.” He’d had his business established by the time he was twenty-four, but he’d also had to grow up quickly. There was no reason for Eve not to take her time.
Eve shot her brother a victorious look. “See? I’m fine.”
Nicholas directed a narrow-eyed glare at him, and Jackson returned it calmly, though he felt a small spurt of victory.
He couldn’t really hate Nicholas anymore, but he could take some enjoyment from these tiny skirmishes.
Kareem rested his head on John’s shoulder and gave him a smile sweet enough to melt anyone’s heart. “Can we go for a ride in your chair now?”
John laughed and straightened his bow tie. Everyone was dressed up, but Jackson would have had to go buy something if Livvy had wanted him to wear anything other than jeans and a shirt.
“Kareem, be polite,” Sadia scolded him.
John waved her away. “Maybe once everyone gets here.” His gaze drifted to the front door.
As if he’d willed it, the doorbell rang. John and Livvy tensed, while Nicholas draped his arm around Livvy’s shoulders.
Sadia indicated the front door with a subtle nod, and he took the cue, moving to answer it. He nodded at his mother and Maile after he opened it. “Hey.” He stepped aside.
Tani was paler than usual, her fingers clenched tight over her purse. She’d overdressed in a pretty black dress, but he remembered that quirk from childhood. His mother had always overcompensated with formality in places where she’d felt uncomfortable. He took Tani’s wrap and returned Maile’s hug.
Kareem came bouncing up to them. “Hi Grandmas.”
Maile gathered her great nephew up in her powerful hands and swung him around until he squealed. “There’s my boy.”
Tani turned toward the rest of the party. Everyone was dead silent, waiting for what would happen.
As far as Jackson knew, this was the first time their mother and John had been in the same room since the accident. John had been Jackson’s surrogate grandfather, but only because he’d been Tani’s surrogate father.
Tani didn’t appear to register anyone else. She took a few steps toward John.
John visibly swallowed. He wheeled forward, and took Tani’s limp hand. “Look at you. You haven’t changed a bit.”
Tani slowly turned her hand to capture his. “Liar. I grew old.”
John’s laugh was rusty. He patted his chair. “Yeah, well. So did I.”
Her gaze flitted over the power chair. “How is your—you’re well?”
“As well as I can be.”
“Brendan didn’t come?” Her voice shook.
Nicholas cleared his throat. “My father wasn’t invited.”
“I told you, Mom.” Livvy linked her hands with Nicholas.
Her shoulders relaxed. She couldn’t tear her attention away from John. “I know. I was still unsure.”
“My son is an ass,” John said.
Tani nodded. “He is.”
“I got lucky with my daughter, though.” John’s voice was raspy with emotion.
Tani inhaled sharply. She lifted John’s hand to her lips and pressed a kiss to it. “I’m so happy to see you,” she whispered.
The room was not unmoved. Sadia came to stand next to him, and he rested his fingers against the small of her back, needing some sort of emotional touchstone. Livvy was dabbing at her eyes with the sleeve of her dress, while Nicholas stood at her side, rubbing her shoulders. Eve had her hands linked in front of her, a smile curving her lips.
Tani and John didn’t speak; they simply held hands and communicated in some silent, indefinable way only they could understand.
Kareem punctured the silence with a loud whisper. “Can we eat now?”
Aunt Maile laughed and kissed him. Her dark eyes were wet. “Why don’t we do that?”
Livvy jolted. “Yes! Come on. Dinner is served.”
Maile patted John on the shoulder as she passed, and they all filed out to the dining room. Everyone except Tani and John.
Jackson glanced over his shoulder in time to see Tani sink to her knees and lay her head against John’s chest, but he looked away when her face crumpled and John gathered her close, crooning.
He knew his mother as well as he knew himself. This was something too personal to share.
Kareem’s worries over the menu were in vain—Nicholas and Livvy had made him a special plate with toast and chicken nuggets, and he happily ate that while the adults enjoyed a fine dinner of roast duck. Jackson didn’t speak much, not when there were so many other people to carry the conversational torch. He ate his dinner and contributed a few words here and there and helped Kareem when necessary.
Once upon a time, it might have felt odd to sit there with Kareem between him and Sadia, like they were a family or something, but he didn’t feel that way now. They were a family, though an unconventional one. Sadia gave him a gentle smile when she caught him looking at her, and he returned it.
There were absences at the table: Maria, Robert, Paul and Brendan. They were big absences, and every now and then when the conversation ebbed, he wondered if everyone was feeling them too. Then someone would start speaking again, a little louder, as if that could make up for the people who were gone.
Jackson glanced around the table, allowing his feelings to come to the surface. He committed everyone’s face to his memory. He committed this moment to his memory. It wouldn’t occur again, even if they all gathered at this same table tomorrow.
As they lingered over their dessert, Livvy cleared her throat. “Thank you all for coming. This has gone better than Nico and I could have dreamed. We’ve wanted to do this for a while, but the timing always seemed off. But since we’ve managed to come together for dinner, we wanted to take this opportunity to announce something.”
Tani dropped her fork with a clatter. “Oh no, you’re pregnant.”
Livvy’s cheeks turned red. “No! Jeez.”
Nicholas smiled at Livvy. “We’re engaged.”
They all stopped eating. Sadia was the only one who looked unfazed, which led Jackson to believe his sister had told her about this announcement. He made a mental note to poke her about secrecy later.
John was the first to recover. “This is wonderful!”
Maile beamed. “Truly wonderful. Oh, Livvy, we’ll have to find you the most perfect dress.”
Eve raised her glass. She appeared genuinely pleased. “When’s the wedding?”
“Next month.”
Jackson rested his elbows on the table. He was happy to see the glow in his sister’s face, but he’d always be a little wary of the Chandlers. A wedding wouldn’t make everything between their families perfect. “Why so fast?”
Tani raised an eyebrow at her daughter. �
��Because you’re pregnant.”
Livvy gritted her teeth. “No. I promise, my womb is empty, Mother.”
Now Sadia looked nonplussed. “Uh, Livvy, that’s not enough time to plan a wedding.”
“Sure it is,” Livvy said cheerfully. “Between your organizational skills and Eve’s party planning background, we can throw something together.”
Sadia puffed out her cheeks. She was probably already making lists in her head. “I don’t know.”
“It’ll be tiny,” Livvy soothed. “Closest friends and family only. You and Jackson can be my people-maids. Eve and John will be Nico’s grooms-people. It’ll be great.”
How like Livvy, to simply assign him a role. Jackson cleared his throat. “I don’t want to be a whatever you called it.”
Livvy looked stricken, and Nicholas glared at him. Shit. He’d said the wrong thing.
“He’s not saying he doesn’t support your marriage,” Sadia jumped in, and Jackson gave her a grateful glance.
He hurried to clarify. “I don’t want to get up in front of a crowd.”
Livvy frowned. “It won’t be a big crowd.”
It didn’t matter. “Let me cook for you,” he proposed. It was a spur-of-the-moment offer, but as he said it, he settled into how right it felt. He might not adore Nicholas, but he could pour his love for his sister into his cooking. “That’s one less thing for you to worry about. And you know you’ll love the food.”
Livvy pursed her lips. “I suppose that’ll be okay, but our attendants will be imbalanced then. I wanted family only in the bridal party and I was hoping Mom and Aunt Maile would give me away.”
Tani stirred. She picked up her fork and poked her chocolate cake. “Ask your boss to be a brides-whatever.”
“Gabe?” Livvy pondered that.
Across from Jackson, Eve choked on her sip of water. “You okay?” he asked.
She waved him off and covered her mouth with her napkin.
“You grew up with him.” Tani took a delicate bite.
Livvy brightened. “Yeah, Gabe’s basically family. That would work.”