by Bella Andre
“You might as well come in.”
* * *
Mrs. M made coffee and brought out pastries and coffee cake to go with it, as if this were a social call. They sat in the formal living room furnished with expensive chairs and sofas that Evan had always found uncomfortable.
Tony’s sister—Evan’s sister too—sat on the sofa next to their mother. Kelsey had produced tissues from her bag and given them to their mother, who was now dabbing her nose and eyes, sniffling. Tony sat in the chair on her other side, as if he and Kelsey were sentinels protecting her.
Evan poured coffee for everyone. Really, at this point, why the hell not? He pushed the sugar and cream their way across the glass tabletop. When his mother said, “Thank you,” her voice was soft.
He remembered that voice. Remembered her singing to him when he had trouble falling asleep at night. And he remembered her crying too. Remembered the sounds of breaking glass and slamming doors, the smell of mold in the hallways of their tenement. He remembered the bitter cold in the winters, his gloves, coat, and shoes too worn and too small to keep it out.
Kelsey fixed two cups with milk and sugar. Tony took his black, just like Evan. Despite the crazy situation, he couldn’t help but be impressed by the twins so far. They were dressed as impeccably as any of the Mavericks and they were straight-forward and polite. They both obviously cared a great deal for their mother. And why wouldn’t they, when she’d chosen their welfare over Evan’s?
“So what’s your story?” he asked Tony, planning to get as much information as possible out of them in the shortest amount of time. That way he’d have the ammo he needed to protect himself going forward. Evan had let people get the best of him one too many times. That stopped now.
“It was Mom’s birthday a couple of weeks ago.”
December fifteenth. He hadn’t forgotten the date.
“We were watching TV, one of those houses-of-the-rich-and-famous shows. It was your home. Nice place, by the way.”
Evan had completely forgotten about that interview. It was something Whitney had set up back in October. Before everything went to hell.
Although that wasn’t true, was it? Because their marriage had gone bad long before she admitted her lies. Long before she’d lied about the pregnancies, if he was perfectly honest.
The shine had worn off almost right from the start, in fact, if it had ever truly been there at all.
“We saw the resemblance between you and Tony,” Kelsey put in. “It was unbelievable.”
His mother—no, Susan was his mother now. This woman didn’t deserve the title anymore. Theresa sipped her coffee, looking at him over the rim, then held the cup between her hands as if she needed warmth.
Once upon a time, he’d been desperate for warmth. And she hadn’t been there to give it to him. He was supposed to be getting answers from his long-lost siblings, but his fury couldn’t be contained another minute longer.
“Did she tell you why she left me behind?” Bubbling, boiling rage rose up in him. “Did she tell you about the hell she left me in?” He had to put his coffee down before he broke the delicate china.
“She hasn’t really talked about any of that,” Tony admitted as Theresa broke down in renewed sobs. “We thought it would be better if we were all here. Then we could work it out together.”
Evan drew on every ounce of self-control he possessed to ratchet down his breathing as he curled his fingers around the dainty, carved-wood arms of the chair, digging in like he had talons.
He didn’t need to listen to this crap. He should toss them out on their asses.
But he couldn’t. Not when he was desperate for answers to questions that had haunted him for years. Why had she left? Where had she gone?
And why hadn’t she taken him?
“What’s your last name?” His voice sounded like gravel.
“Collins, same as yours,” Tony said. “She didn’t change her name.”
With all the resources he had, he could have found her. But he hadn’t tried. Because he’d sworn to himself that he’d moved on.
She beseeched him with her eyes, begging piteously for his understanding. Looking at her made his head whirl, sending his emotions tumbling. His knee jerked involuntarily, knocking the table, spilling coffee from his cup.
There were so many things he needed to understand, yet he couldn’t get the questions out. Not when he was falling into the same pit Whitney had dropped him into a month ago. Going dark, going deep, silent—shutting down.
Get a grip. Pull it together.
He would, damn it. He’d draw deep from his well of self-control. But he couldn’t stop wishing for Paige. She was a family psychologist. She could walk him through this minefield, which felt even more dangerous than anything he’d experienced with Whitney.
He needed Paige before he went off half-cocked on two people who’d possibly been as damaged by what their parents had done as he was. Paige would know how to straighten out this massively messed-up situation with her level-headed advice, her calm voice, her gentle smiles.
Because he sure as hell didn’t know what to say.
But Paige wasn’t here. And Evan wasn’t a kid anymore, afraid of his father’s fists, hiding under his covers, praying to someone who didn’t listen. Crying for a woman who’d left him.
He was a powerful man, both in body and position. He was a billionaire. He’d overcome. He’d moved the hell on. So he would control his emotions. He would not sound like a raving madman.
“Let’s talk about you two first. Tell me about yourselves.” He was actually amazed at how calm and rational he sounded despite everything roiling inside him.
They blinked in duplicate, like the twins they were, obviously surprised by his abrupt switch.
“Well,” Tony said, using the word like he needed a second to change gears. “I’m working on my graduate degree in engineering at UCSF.”
“Impressive.” UC San Francisco was a great school. Expensive too. He wondered if Tony had gotten some sort of scholarship, or if he was bogged down with student loans. Evan turned to Kelsey. “And you?”
“I’m a CPA. I work for a firm in San Francisco.”
“Equally impressive. You like numbers, I take it?” Like him.
She smiled, nodded. He saw his mother’s—no, Theresa’s smile in her. The rare smiles from his youth, when his father hadn’t been around.
“I’m so proud of them.” It was the first full sentence Theresa had spoken since her litany on the front porch: I’m so sorry. I’m so proud of you.
The calm he’d exerted started to desert him again. He felt the mushroom cloud of anger welling up from his gut.
Yet again, he wished for Paige, for her common sense, her unruffled feathers, her expertise, her reassuring influence. She gave too much already, and he had no right to ask for more. But she would know exactly how to handle this, how to put them all at ease, get them talking without Evan clenching his fists at every word out of that woman’s mouth. Paige would get the answers to all the questions he couldn’t seem to ask.
Just as he was balling his fists, straining for the control to keep from shouting—or, at this point, just plain losing his mind—his doorbell rang again.
He didn’t give Mrs. M a chance to answer. It was an excuse to get out of that room. To breathe for a few precious moments. Even if it was Whitney on the other side of the door, right now she seemed like the lesser of two evils.
But evil wasn’t waiting at his front door.
Paige was.
The woman he’d been dreaming about.
The woman his muddled mind had been begging for.
He practically yanked her off her feet as he pulled her inside. He hugged her before he could remember why that wasn’t a good idea. The press of her gorgeous curves against him and her scent filling his head simply scrambled whatever was left of his senses, and he blurted out, “My long-lost mother is here. Along with the brother and sister I never knew I had.”
&nbs
p; Chapter Nine
Paige would have dropped her purse if the strap hadn’t been slung crosswise over her shoulder.
She’d been nervous about coming here today, especially after Evan had gone out of his way to avoid her at the wedding reception. But she couldn’t possibly pretend she hadn’t loved kissing him, hadn’t reveled in his body against hers. Or that she didn’t want more.
Even if she was setting herself up for a terrible fall, she still had to know what their kiss meant to him. What she meant to him.
Only, instead of finding him alone…he suddenly had a mother, a brother, and a sister?
In the face of this astonishing news, her nerves, her questions about what the two of them were to each other—all of that disappeared. At least for now. Although, the heat his greeting hug had flooded her with wasn’t going anywhere.
Paige knew the bare bones of his past. Evan had never hidden where he came from, but he didn’t talk about it much either. She knew that his mother had abandoned him, leaving him with an abusive, alcoholic father. The Spencers had rescued him by taking him off his father’s hands, which probably had felt like another abandonment for a preteen boy, even though his dad was violent. Then Susan and Bob had worked their loving magic, and Evan had grown into an amazing man despite his difficult youth.
“I know,” Evan said, reading her expression. “It’s a shocker.”
Shocker was the understatement of the century. It felt more like the first enormous hill on the Giant Dipper roller coaster out at Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, when your stomach flew up into your throat and a scream was wrenched right out of you.
And it wasn’t just the shock of his family that knocked her off balance. It was how hard she’d worked to gather the courage to confront him today…only to have to stuff it away again. Because she certainly couldn’t talk to him about their kiss now.
She looked into his eyes. Beautiful hazel-green eyes that couldn’t hide his anger, bewilderment, denial, confusion, or even his curiosity. No, her needs had to be set aside when, for Evan, seeing his mother would inevitably be a monumental trigger for all his childhood traumas.
Nothing was simple between Paige and Evan. After that kiss, their relationship had never been more complicated. But in this moment, the only thing that mattered was standing beside him and making sure he didn’t go through this alone.
“How can I help?”
He grabbed her hands. “I shouldn’t ask, because you do too much already,” he said. “But you’re here. So please. Come meet them. Talk to them.”
Mrs. Mortimer poked her head out of the kitchen hallway. “Hello, Paige, it’s lovely to see you again. I’ll bring another cup for you.”
“Thank you, Mrs. M.”
As Evan ushered Paige into the formal living room, she wasn’t surprised that he was treating them like guests rather than family, holding them at arm’s length.
The three of them were clustered on the sofa and chair, talking in furious whispers. Well, at least his brother and sister were talking. Evan’s mother was silent.
“This is my sister-in-law, Paige.”
Sister-in-law. She’d always had a designation—never just Paige, never just his friend. Always an extension of Whitney.
She’d hoped their kiss had changed everything. But had anything changed at all?
Only, now wasn’t the time to think about that, so she stuffed her own needs away—just for the time being, she told herself—as she smiled kindly. “It’s nice to meet all of you.”
“This is Kelsey and Tony,” Evan said. “And Theresa.”
She couldn’t miss how he’d used her name, rather than Mom or Mother. And she nearly shivered at the cool, unforgiving tone, so unlike him.
“Have a seat.” It warmed her that he gestured to the spot beside him on the couch.
In the few moments it took to get her coffee, add milk and sugar, and fend off the pastries, she surreptitiously observed Evan’s newly materialized family. Tony was a duplicate of Evan, though not quite as tall or broad. Kelsey looked remarkably like her brother, but Paige could also see a strong resemblance to their mother.
At the door, Evan had said he’d had no idea his siblings even existed until today, but it was clear Tony and Kelsey shared the same mother and father as he did. Where could they have been all these years?
The questions mounted.
“So,” she said after she’d taken a sip from her coffee cup, “where are you from?” It was only the tip of the huge morass of questions she had for them, but at least it was a start.
“Modesto,” Kelsey said. “Mom still lives there, but Tony and I are in the city now.”
Mom. Theresa Collins looked to be mid-fifty to sixty, her face and neck weathered by the years, though her hair wasn’t completely gray. She avoided meeting anyone’s eye, concentrating on the tissues clasped in her lap. She added nothing to the conversation as she sat on the couch, shoulders hunched, and sniffled occasionally into the wad of tissues in her hands.
“Tony’s at UCSF,” Evan said. “And Kelsey’s a CPA in San Francisco.”
“We showed up on his doorstep just a few minutes ago,” Tony offered without being asked, his smile very much like Evan’s. At least when Evan actually used to smile.
Kelsey shot her brother a quick look, and when he nodded, she turned back to Evan and said, “Is there somewhere you and I could talk privately?”
Beside her, Paige felt Evan practically vibrating. For anyone else, anger and frustration would have won out over curiosity by now. But he’d always possessed tremendous control, so she wasn’t surprised when he nodded and stood.
“Follow me.” He reached out a hand for Paige. “I’d appreciate it if you’d join us.”
She put her hand in his, even knowing the effect his touch would have on her. Like fireworks going off along her skin, inside her chest, deep in her belly. From nothing more than the connection of fingers and palms.
All her yearning flowed into that touch, the need to comfort, the desire for him. If only they’d had time to talk about that wonderful, beautiful, stupendous kiss. If only she could comfort him now. Wrap her arms around him. Protect him, heal him.
But all she could do at the moment was walk with him and Kelsey toward the great room at the far back of the house.
“Like Tony said,” Kelsey began as soon as they were out of hearing distance, “we don’t want your money.” Paige was impressed with the strength she saw in the tall, lovely woman. Her back was straight, her long hair falling over her shoulders. “We just want you to help us with Mom.”
“If you don’t want money, how am I supposed to help?”
Paige hated how Evan said it, like he didn’t have anything else to offer, that his only worth was his wealth.
“Why don’t you sit down and help us understand?” Paige suggested. A discussion would be easier if they weren’t facing off like opponents in a boxing ring.
Kelsey tucked herself into a comfortable leather chair while Paige took the corner sofa seat. Evan remained standing.
Paige patted the cushion beside her. “Sit down.” With his combative façade, he would only make Kelsey nervous. Fortunately, he did as she asked, although he kept his arms crossed over his chest.
Despite the circumstances, Paige relished his body heat so close to her, his scent intoxicating her. But his maleness was a beautiful distraction she couldn’t afford right now, and she did her level best to stay on point. “Please tell us the whole story, starting with how you learned that Evan was your brother. Then we’ll see how we can help you.” Next to her, Evan was rigid. She wanted to touch him, ease his tension, but she had to be content simply to lead the discussion.
“Okay.” Kelsey nodded, looking briefly down at her hands, as if trying to decide where to begin. “You see, it was Mom’s birthday, a Sunday. And her boyfriend was already halfway to drunk by the time Tony and I got there.”
The situation had already been tense, but as soon as the words boyfriend and dru
nk left Kelsey’s lips, you could have cut through the air with a knife. If Paige had thought seeing his mom was a trigger, then this would be like a shotgun blast.
One that made Evan’s hands clench into fists…and renewed fury flare in his eyes.
Chapter Ten
“Theresa has a boyfriend who drinks.” Evan’s words were ground out through gritted teeth.
“Yes.”
Paige squeezed his arm, softly saying, “Go on,” to Kelsey. “Was he harming her?”
“No. He was complaining that the game had started and Mom wouldn’t change the channel because she was watching an entertainment show.” She looked at Evan. “It was you and your wife giving a tour of this home.”
“She’s not my wife anymore,” Evan revealed flatly. “We’re getting divorced.”
Kelsey’s face dropped. “Oh, I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be.” His voice was hard and emotionless.
Yet Paige saw through the walls he’d put up and knew that, right now, the best thing would be to move past his troubles with Whitney and stay focused on his three family members who had so suddenly appeared. “Did your mother say something about Evan?”
“It was him.” Kelsey almost snarled the last word. “Greg—that’s her boyfriend—claimed Tony was a dead ringer for the guy on the TV.” She looked at Evan. “For you.”
“Your mother didn’t deny it?”
“Tony and I, we were just going to laugh it off. But she got this look on her face when Greg started in on her.”
“Tell us about it,” Paige urged her. “Was it shock? Guilt?”
“Fear,” Kelsey said softly. “She looked absolutely terrified. She hadn’t thought any of us would pick up on the similarities, but Greg immediately got in her face. Asking stuff like ‘What’s going on?’ and ‘Who is he?’ and ‘He’s even got the same last name.’”
“It doesn’t appear you like this Greg very much,” Paige noted, just as she would have with one of her patients.