A Family Reunited

by Dorie Graham

  Pressing her finger to one ear to try to shut out some of the airport noise, she answered. “Becky, we’re still a ways out, but we’ll be there as soon as we can. How’s Robert?”

  “He’s not good. The cancer has spread. He’s got pneumonia and his mood sucks. How do you think he is? I’ve never seen him this down. Alex, where are you? What’s all that noise?”

  Shit. “We had a stop along the way, but we’ll be there as soon as we can.”

  “Did I just hear them call for boarding? Are you in an airport?”

  Alex glanced at Chase, who was closely following their conversation. She had to come clean with her sister. “Yes, we’re in an airport, but please don’t say anything to anyone. I’ll explain when we get there.”

  “Alex, I’m in Robert’s hospital room with him and Dad. Megan is on her way. Steven still can’t make it, but he’s been at least checking in. I can’t believe you’re in an airport. Where the hell are you?”

  “We just...took a day trip.” She closed her eyes. Robert would no doubt figure out exactly where they’d gone. “Listen, Becky, I’ve got to go. I’ll call you when we land.”

  She hung up and sighed. “Oh, man, we are so busted.”

  Chase nodded and pulled her close. “It’ll be all right.”

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  “WHY WERE YOU...” Robert stopped and coughed hard enough to bring him up off the bed.

  Alex bit her lip, her stomach tightening. They’d barely made it to the hospital and the inquisition was in full bloom. She had to keep Robert calm. Maybe if she explained he’d understand.

  An oxygen tube fed Robert air through his nose, a blood pressure cuff hummed on his arm and he was plugged up to several IVs via his central line and portacath. “...at the airport? What airport? Where did you go, Alex?”

  He kept his voice low, but there was an underlying tone of anger to his words. Becky patted his shoulder. “Maybe we should just leave it at it was a romantic getaway with Chase. Look at them. They’re totally back together again, can’t you tell?”

  Chase placed his hands on Alex’s shoulders. “Robert, we—”

  “Chase, let me explain,” Alex interrupted him.

  “Yes, please explain to me, so I can underst—” Another coughing fit took hold of Robert.

  His father gripped his shoulder. “Calm down, son. Let your sister talk.”

  “You went looking for him, didn’t you? After I specifically asked you not to.” Anger resonated in Robert’s words. “Why would you do that?”

  Dad’s gaze caught hers. “He’s had a really bad day.”

  “I don’t blame him for being pissed off,” Becky said, her hand resting on her rounded belly. “I don’t blame him for not wanting some no-good cheat’s stem cells.”

  Alex braced herself. “Chase helped me to find his aunt Rena. She lives out in the middle of nowhere Indiana. That’s where we went. We just talked to her. I needed to understand—”

  “You had no right to go there and dig up the past,” Robert said.

  Becky chimed in with, “I thought you were just supposed to go hiking for a few hours. I can’t believe you just left like that. We’ve had our hands full all day. I can’t believe how selfish you are, Alex. And why would you go when you knew Robert didn’t want you to?”

  “Honey, I know you meant well, but you should have left well enough alone.” Her father stood beside Robert’s bed and shook his head.

  “She needed to understand how your mother did what she did.” Chase kept his arm firmly around Alex’s shoulders.

  Alex shook her head. Since it was all out about their trip, she might as well tell them everything. “His name was Charles, your biological father.”

  Robert cursed and looked away. Becky’s mouth gaped. Her father stared at a spot on the floor.

  “And he died last year.” To her frustration, her voice cracked and tears gathered in her eyes. “So you don’t have to worry about whether or not he could have been your donor. Now we’ll never know.”

  Silence fell over the room. Alex breathed slowly as tears rolled down her cheeks. Why were they getting all bent out of shape? She’d been trying to help.

  At long last, Robert turned to her. “I think you’ve done enough here.”

  She stared at him in disbelief. “What do you mean?”

  Her father raised his hand in pleading. “He’s had a rough time of it. This isn’t easy for anyone.”

  Becky cocked her head. “Maybe you should give him some space, Alex. We need him to calm down. The coughing is wearing him out and he needs to rest.”

  “Give him some space? Shit. Really? I try to help and you all lambaste me for it? Fine. I’m out of here.” She gave them all one last glance, but none of them would look at her. She jerked out of Chase’s hold and headed out the door.

  * * *

  THE HUM OF THE blood pressure cuff contracting on Robert’s arm and the beeping of the monitor standing to the side of the bed filled the room as Chase stood facing Alex’s family after she’d gone. His heart ached for all of them, especially for Robert, who looked ashen as he struggled with another coughing fit.

  “We meant well,” Chase said.

  Robert settled again on his pillow, exhausted. “I knew letting you come around again would mean trouble.”

  Anger shot through Chase, but he held his tongue. Robert wasn’t his old self. He was hurting and striking out at everyone around him. Chase had experienced that in spades with his father. He’d grown practically immune to it.

  He nodded. “I’m sorry to have done anything to upset anyone in this family. You all mean a lot to me. If there’s anything you need from me ever, please don’t hesitate to let me know.”

  Without waiting for a response he left to search for Alex. He found her in a nook off the main waiting area. She sat huddled into herself, with her arms wrapped around her middle, and she was crying. His heart broke into a million pieces seeing her so distraught.

  He knelt beside her and brushed her hair from her face. “Sweetheart, it will be okay. Everyone’s emotions are running on high right now. They’re just upset in general. Anything above and beyond that is too much for them. We’ve all had a lot to digest today. Just give them time. They’ll calm down.”

  She raised her gaze to his, her eyes swollen and red. “But it isn’t okay and it will never be okay. It’s always like this with us. I can’t keep doing this with them, Chase. I don’t have the heart for it. I don’t understand how they can be like that. They’re stubborn and closed-minded and unforgiving.”

  “Wait, are you hearing what you’re saying? Do you think maybe they aren’t the only ones being unforgiving?”

  “Really?” Her eyes rounded. “I’m being unforgiving? I came back here. I moved into my father’s house. I have been caring for my brother. How much more forgiveness do they need?”

  “Everyone just needs to calm down. It’s late. We’ve all had an extraordinarily trying day. We’ll go home and get a good night’s sleep. It will all seem better tomorrow. You’ll see. It will be all right.”

  She straightened. “Please stop saying that. It isn’t going to be all right. Ever. I give up.”

  A sense of impending doom descended over him. “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, I quit. I give up on family, on the idea of family and on this particular family. They don’t want me here. You heard them all.”

  “They’re upset, sweetheart. They didn’t mean any of that. Just like you’re upset. I know you don’t mean this. No one gives up on family.”

  “Well, you’re wrong. I do. I just did.”

  He stood, his distress mounting. “I don’t believe that. I don’t accept it. You can’t mean that, Alex. They’re your family. You can’t turn your back on the people who love you and at a time when they need you most.”

  “If that’s what family is about—sneaking around in nightclubs with other men, instead of being home with your husband, or sleeping with the divorcée next doo
r, or hating on the person who’s trying to help you, well, then, I don’t want anything to do with family.”

  “I would do anything for your family if I was truly a part of it. I’d do anything for them and I’m not a part of it. At one time I really felt like I was. I felt more loved and more accepted in your home growing up than I ever felt anywhere else, even in my own house.” He took her by the shoulders and turned her toward him, his throat tight with emotion. “I would do anything anyone in your family needed of me. You’re so fortunate to be a part of them.”

  Tears streamed unchecked down her cheeks. “Is that the only reason you wanted to be with me, Chase? Were you so in love with my family that you would stoop to dating your best friend’s sister, just to make sure you had a good in with them? I think you want all of them more than you want me.”

  The knot in Chase’s stomach intensified. His own eyes filled and her beautiful face blurred, distorted by the tears he refused to let fall. “If that’s really what you think, then there’s no future for us. I’m sorry, Alex. I can’t take your side in this and we all know if I’m not with you, I’m against you.

  “I hate that I was wrong to think we could have a new beginning, but I can’t be with someone who doesn’t value her family. If you’re truly incapable of making amends with the people who love you, then I won’t be a part of your further destroying your relationship with them.”

  Without another word, he turned and walked away.

  * * *

  ALEX AWOKE THE NEXT MORNING to the sound of cicadas buzzing. After Chase had gone, she’d called a taxi to bring her back to her father’s house. She cocked her head, listening, but no sound of life, other than the insects outside, greeted her ears. Her father had obviously stayed at the hospital with Robert. She was alone in this empty shell of a house. She’d thought it had been home at one time, but it was as though her entire childhood had been an illusion.

  Home. She missed home—her home—where everything was in order and no one was ever there to get upset with her. So maybe it was lonely there sometimes, but it was so very peaceful. And once she returned to Baltimore she’d reconnect with all of her friends she’d lost touch with along the way.

  She rolled to her back and stared at the ceiling. She had hardly slept, mostly cried through the night. How had she let Chase mean so much to her again in such a short time? She couldn’t get the image of him turning his back on her and walking away out of her head.

  I won’t be a part of your further destroying your relationship with them.

  What did that even mean? What further destroying could there be? They’d effectively kicked her out last night. Booted her from her brother’s hospital bedside. She’d uprooted herself and returned to a place she’d avoided for the past fifteen years, just to try to help her brother. And it had seemed she’d been on her way to repairing all the old relationships with her family. They’d kicked her out. Her washing her hands of them was just to make her feel better.

  But then Chase.

  The pain seared through her, burning her throat and curling her into a ball on her side. Why did his betrayal hurt worse than the rest? She hadn’t thought she’d had any more tears to cry, but they came in heaving spasms.

  Her phone vibrated on the nightstand, but she ignored it. She was having an emotional wringing-out and whoever it was was either calling to tell her off some more or needed something from her. She couldn’t handle either right now.

  She cried until she lay limp and exhausted from the outburst. Her throat hurt. Her stomach ached and her eyes felt raw. She pulled the covers over her head in an effort to sleep her way through her misery, but her phone again vibrated, knocking a note with Aunt Rena’s address on it from the nightstand.

  She rolled over and stared at the paper. It had been a horrible mistake to take that trip with Chase. She should have never gone. If only she could take it all back, erase the knowledge of her mother’s affair and her adoration of the man she cheated with, go back to being ignorant about the fact that the man was dead and completely useless to her brother, and obliterate her afternoon of lovemaking with Chase.

  How had she let it happen?

  Once more the vibrating of her phone shook the nightstand. Heaving out a breath, she grabbed the phone and checked the display before answering, a small sliver of relief filling her when she recognized the caller.

  “Steven.”

  “You sound like shit.”

  She almost laughed, but she’d exhausted every muscle in her body with her last crying spasm. “I feel like shit.”

  And then she started to cry again.

  “Christ, Alex, I’ve been trying to finish this project so I can take off, but they just loaded another one on me. What the hell is going on down there? Becky called and gave me a tongue-lashing and I have no idea what’s happening.”

  “They’re all pissed at me and you must be guilty by association.”

  “Hell, what did you do?” he asked.

  “I tried to freaking help.”

  “I knew when you told me about the typing results you were going to get into trouble. I heard that you went on a hunt for Robert’s real father.”

  “And please tell me why exactly that was such a horrific thing to do? He would have been a match. He could have been Robert’s donor.” She shook her head as fresh tears rolled down her cheeks. “Robert is running out of time, Steven.”

  “Yeah, I know, Becky says he’s advanced to stage four now. They found more tumors in the last scan. They’re getting close to infiltrating his lungs. Sounds like he’ll have to up the radiation to stave it off until he finds a donor.”

  “Shit.” Her shoulders shook with the next wave of tears. She inhaled another deep breath to try to compose herself. “I hadn’t heard all the details. We got to the hospital and they went on the attack.”

  “He didn’t want you to find the man. You should have just respected his wishes.”

  “God, Steven, please don’t you turn on me, too.”

  “I’m not turning on you, but what good did it do for you to go looking for the guy? I take it you didn’t find him?”

  “He died last year, but Mom was evidently crazy about him.” She wiped her nose with her sleeve. “I should have never gone. I should have never asked Chase to help me. The entire thing is a huge disaster.”

  “Megan texted me,” Steven said. “She says you’re unnecessarily upsetting Robert and he needs to cut out all stress. She’s pissed, too.”

  “Of course she is.”

  “I can’t get down there. Are you going to be okay?”

  “No.”

  “You’ll be fine. I’ll try to soothe their ruffled feathers, but for Christ’s sake, Alex, the man is ill and you disrespected him. Don’t do that again. They’re killing me over this.”

  She stared at the phone, unable to think of a reply. She’d disrespected Robert by trying to find him what should have been a sure shot at a donor, after the national donor bank had come up with nothing?

  “What are you going to do?” he asked.

  “Hell if I know. I don’t even know if they want me here anymore. I guess I’ll start looking for a job back home.”

  “It all sucks. All right, I’ve got to go. You’ll keep me posted?”

  “It doesn’t sound like you need me to, since you’re getting the scoop from Becky and Megan, but I’ll let you know when I figure out where I’m going from here.”

  She hung up and headed for the shower. She felt horribly...tarnished. If only she could wash all this away and come out clean again. She needed to think and come up with a plan.

  And there was only one place where she could do that. But first, she’d clean the house. Nothing cleared her mind better than a good scrub-down.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  CHASE SQUEEZED his eyes shut, trying to focus on the concept proposal for the new exhibit he’d so vividly imagined last week. Timing was everything and if he didn’t get the approval to move forward with this he’
d lose the dates he wanted to use for the collection. He opened his eyes and stared at the screen, rereading what he’d written so far.

  His phone rang and the display showed an unknown number. Frowning, he accepted the call. “Hello?”

  “Is this Chase Carrolton?” a clipped male voice asked.

  “Yes, this is he.”

  “Mr. Carrolton, this is Officer Downs with the Fulton County Police.”

  He shook his head in disappointment. What had his father gotten into this time? “Is he okay? He didn’t hurt anyone, did he?”

  “I’m sorry, I’m not sure who you’re asking about.”

  “Aren’t you calling about my father?” he asked.

  “No, I’m not calling about your father, Mr. Carrolton. You’re the legal guardian of Kara Anders, correct?”

  “Kara? Yes, she’s my sister, my stepsister, actually. We haven’t had the final hearing yet on the guardianship, but she is staying with me and I’m responsible for her. What’s this about? Is she okay?”

  “I’m not aware of Miss Anders’s state of being at this time, but we would like to talk to her. We want to question her in connection with some recent robberies and vandalism in the area.”

  “Whoa, Kara wouldn’t do anything like that. She has a bit of a wild streak, but she’d never be involved in that kind of thing.”

  “She isn’t a suspect, Mr. Carrolton. We’d just like you to bring her in for questioning.”

  “Bring her in?”

  “Yes, sir, will that be a problem?”

  “No,” Chase said as he glanced at the clock. “She won’t be out of school for another hour, though. I should be able to bring her after that.”

  “That would be good.”

  “Can you tell me anything more about this? Why Kara? You think she knows whoever committed these crimes?”

  “We have a known suspect we’ve put out an APB on, but we have reason to believe your stepsister knows this individual and was with him around the time of the latest incident. Mr. Carrolton, this is gang-related violence. These were armed robberies. If I were you, I’d keep a tighter watch over whom she’s fraternizing with. This character is a bad element.”