*
I had so much to own up to. I’d done so many things wrong, but for some reason, I got these peoples’ forgiveness. I got their compassion and love and I also got their understanding no matter how undeserved. I guess that’s why they call it family. They love you. They stick by you no matter what and all the hell you put them through. And I definitely had put them through that.
“You put yourself through more,” my gram told me later that evening. Alex had left to take Aiden and her sister back to my place. They both visited with me for a long while and that made me happy to see that Aiden actually had been all right. He really was strong, that little kid. They stayed with me all day like Alex said they had the last couple.
I let Gram’s words sit with me. She’d said a lot in our time alone together, but never once had she guilted me. Her words were cherished, comforting as much as I needed to hear them. I took value in them, every one, and when Pop finally came to me, I did the same. I had been sleeping a little, resting off those pain meds when he came in, but even still, I straightened up a little in his presence.
In all honesty, I thought he might lay into me, at least a small amount. It would be deserved. But he didn’t. He just sat with me. He pulled up a chair, turned on the TV, and we watched a game together. Basketball, of course. We couldn’t get enough of that stuff.
“I’m sorry,” I told him, turning. I’d found out they had to push back the ribbon cutting because of this, yes, but I was sorry for so much more and I told my pop that. I told him everything; my fears and not wanting to disappoint him and how that fear kept me from the business. My pop, he didn’t sugar coat his feelings, telling me he wished I’d been more open, but again, he never guilted me. I think because he understood. He’d been in this bed himself not too long ago, and well, like he’d said—I was like him.
“I’d still like to help,” I told him later after it was all said and done. We’d been between game quarters. “With the business? That is, if you’ll still have me.”
His eyes drifted a little, his hand on the remote. He sat back, his arms folded across his chest, and I wondered if he would say anything. Maybe he just didn’t know what to say to that. The thought crossed my mind that I had separated myself from the business for so long that maybe he didn’t want me to be a part of it anymore. But then, he asked me what I had in mind and wanted to do and he did it with a smile while watching the TV.
“Um, Brody?”
Alex’s voice led her in, but she looked hesitant, lingering by the door.
I rose up a bit. “You know Pop, Alex.” They’d met in and out today and of course, I was sure while I was out of it.
That same smile lined Pop’s face when he tipped his chin to her and her sunshine radiated into the room just the same. She didn’t need to linger by the door, though. I waved her in, but she didn’t move.
She grabbed the door. “I just wanted to make sure you were still awake,” she said, then widened the door and in came a face, I didn’t expect to see tonight. They’d said his flight was delayed.
Griffin came in and had a look I’d seen far too much today. Eyes red and cheeks flushed to match. He had his wife’s hand in his, and Alex left, closing the door behind them both.
Fuck, he looked a mess, his hair messy and all over the place. His clothes wrinkled, he seemed all out of sorts and Roxie had a similar look. She wore her hair up messy-like and had these big glasses on. They both had the air about them that screamed lack of sleep and I wondered how much they got. Alex had said they’d been having issues with flights and the thought they might have had to stay in the airport came to mind.
And then there was all this with me.
Roxie approached me first, because Griffin? Well, he stood there. He only came because she did, his hand still in hers. She put an arm out and I went in when she went to hug me.
“You’re okay?” she asked, pulling back.
I smiled, settling back into the bed. “Yeah, I’m good. Everything turned out all right.”
“Thank God,” she said, but her husband, he still didn’t move. Not only that, but his nostrils flared, his eyes narrowed like he was heated. Like he was angry. I hadn’t been yelled at today by anyone. Even Pop had let things go, but I knew that wasn’t deserved. I had screwed up, royally, and maybe now, I’d be answering to that. But then my brother came forward. He did and I didn’t think we’d ever shared a tighter hug.
“You big, stupid motherfucker,” he said in my ear, and I laughed a little. I laughed even though it hurt like hell.
I gripped his back. “Hey, Griff. You good, too?”
He pulled away, his hand on my shoulder. “Yeah,” he said. “Yeah, long day. Long few days.”
It had been that for all of us, but I had a feeling we’d all pull through. We always did. The pair of them talked with me for a little while and I did find out that they’d spent the last twelve or so hours in an airport. Their layover in Chicago got delayed due to engine trouble and then all their issues with even getting a flight due to the weather where they lived. Griff chatted with Pop after a bit and that’s when Roxie let me in on something.
“He’s been real upset,” she said. “Real worried about you and then all the flight fiasco. He took it hard.”
I had a feeling. I gazed over at my brother, glad he was good now, as he was watching the game with Pop in two chairs.
“Thanks for handling him,” I told Roxie, grateful for her. She’d been Griff’s rock when Pop went through his heart attack last year. She was my brother’s heart and we all knew that.
She grinned a little. “I had help. If Alex, Alexa?” she paused, eyeing me for confirmation of the name. I nodded. “Yeah, if Alexa hadn’t spoken to him first, I don’t know how together he’d have it. She knew everything and gave us details over the phone. It really calmed him down.”
I had to admit: I loved that girl more than a little.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Alexa
“The wheelchair really ain’t necessary, guys.” Brody eyed his hospital transportation like it had an infectious disease, his hands braced on the mattress while he sat on the side of his hospital bed. He shook his head. “I can walk just fine.”
He went to stand, but cringed the moment he pressed his hands to the mattress to stand. He placed a hand to his ribs and his Aunt Robin scoffed. She’d been standing over his bag, packing it up so he could go home from the hospital today.
She placed her hands on his hips. “Like hell, boy,” she said pushing a finger in the direction of the wheelchair his Grandma Rose had brought in. “Now, you get your butt in that chair and quit fooling around. You’re just as stubborn and hard headed as your poppa.”
She’d said that so much and each time Brody’s dad had laughed a little whenever he had been around to hear it. Brody had because it wasn’t him this time getting it from his aunt.
His little grandma came around the chair, tilting her head of snowy-white hair at him. “Darlin’, can you just be cooperative with us? We don’t want you getting hurt no further.”
Sighing, Brody sat back down to the bed with a huff, but didn’t look any closer to getting in that chair. He still had a hand on his ribs and I placed my hand on top, frowning at him.
“Will you just use it please?” I asked him, sighing myself. “They’re right. You don’t want to exert yourself unnecessarily.”
He had been so hard headed like his aunt said, but I guess I understood why he was so stir crazy. He’d been in the hospital for nearly a week and Lord knows, Brody Chandler didn’t take being fussed over very well. He had me, his aunt, and his Grandma Rose fretting over him, and then there was the rest of his family floating in and out over the past few days.
Blowing out a breath, Brody’s large hand moved to grip mine, his lengthy blond lashes flickering up at me. Lifting our hands, he touched my cheek with the tip of his thumb. “I understand y’alls concern. But really, Alex, I’m fine.”
Yeah, he was fine on pape
r, his doctor giving him the a-okay to go home today, but how would he get to be one hundred percent if he kept fighting us all the whole way toward recovery? My nephew, who had overhead the whole exchange, uncrossed his legs. He got up from the chair he sat in near my sister, the two playing at the makeshift activity table that had been Aiden’s idea for himself and the small kids. My nephew only left the hospital when he had to this week, wanting to “keep any eye on things,” he’d said. He wanted to be here for Brody.
He got up, coming over to my stubborn big man. Brody’s gram squeezed his shoulder with a smile when he got near the bed.
“Can you use it, Brody?” he asked, chewing his lip. “Please?”
That little face could get him whatever he wanted when it came to me and it only had the same affects on Brody.
A small smile pushed into the corner of Brody’s mouth. “Okay, bud. Okay,” he said, and with that, the matter was settled. I helped push Brody out of the hospital and on the way; Brody’s Aunt Robin drew an arm around Aiden’s shoulders, tucking him into her cushy side.
“I’m recruiting you, youngin’,” she said, grinning. “We could use some of that to wrangle these stubborn-headed boys around here.”
And the Chandler men were definitely something. Massive blonds ranging in six-foot-plus inch frames traipsing around the hospital like gods among men. They definitely could intimidate, especially, Brody’s dad. The man was a colossus, but I knew him to be nothing but a sweetheart. He’d been so nice to me, a stranger amongst all this kin and extended family and that had to be where Brody got it from. His goodness came from that man, the backbone of the entire family. He held them all together and led by example. These last few days had been tough, but Brody’s dad made sure everyone kept their head on and the way these men all treated their women had to be from him. There had been so much care between him and the woman always by his side, Ann. He constantly had a hand on her, tending to her, and I saw the same with Brody’s older brother Hayden and his small family.
The basketball player, Griffin, had been the same way. He and his wife were inseparable and once Griffin knew Brody was okay, Roxie had his attention. The youngest, Colton, I didn’t see around much as he kept mostly to himself, but even he had a sweet air about him. His big body folded up, he sat with the kids in the waiting room when we’d all first arrived, playing alongside them with Legos and other things there. Aiden had joined in on that and Colton had kept them all laughing.
Brody’s fingers laced with mine when we made it outside the hospital doors, and when the cavalry arrived in the form of trucks with members of the Chandler family sticking out of them, Brody palmed his cheek again. They had signs, balloons, and happy grins of arrival on their faces. Brody looked to have his own personal parade to escort him on his way home.
He shook his head. “These folks are going to be the death of me,” he said, though he definitely smiled a little when he said it.
That evening consisted of backyard barbeque at Brody’s trailer, though Brody’s diet definitely consisted of applesauce and other foods on his approved list for his heart. Ann, the woman Brody’s dad was with, ended up being a nurse and made sure to get a good list going for him. He grumbled, but a few harsh gazes from his gram and Aunt Robin had him shutting up quickly. They sentenced him to more bed rest, but he wouldn’t have that. He sat on his couch with his brothers and dad, watching sports and the whole thing made me feel some kind of way. This family was so huge, so warm and full of love, and on the floor sat my little man. Aiden had his back to the couch, taking in the game with the rest of the men and that had me smiling so hard. In the kitchen, the women cleaned up from the barbeque Brody’s dad had made for us all, but I noticed the kitchen was minus one.
I left the area of clanking dishes, moving around little Sarah, Brody’s niece, as she played on the floor. Her sister slept in a traveling crib set up in one of the trailer’s spare bedrooms. The boys were of course were enjoying the game and I bent, shaking Aiden a little. He looked up at me.
“Where’s your mama?” I asked him, rubbing my hand on his head. Even still, his gaze didn’t leave the television. I smiled.
He shrugged a bit. “I saw her go outside earlier. Probably there.”
Outside? Had she gone to smoke? Standing, I went to go that way, but a hand shot out.
Brody’s fingers slid down my wrist. He maneuvered a bit. His eyes crinkling a little in the corners and I knew moving took him some effort.
“Everything good?” he asked, and I lowered, sitting on the arm of the couch.
Turning my head, I stared across the living room and over the bar into the kitchen. There, the women of his family laughed, tossing their heads back as they conversed with each other and in the living room, there was a similar setting. The boys drank beer, jostling each other, and Brody’s gaze followed me to both places. He smiled and I brushed his arm.
“I think you know the answer to that,” I told him, actually physically feeling all this support, his family around him. I squeezed his arm. “I’m just going to check on my sister. Aiden says she went outside.”
He nodded, watching while I stood. In front of me, Roxie passed and went to her husband, Griffin, in the armchair. He made room for her, allowing her to sit in the space between him and the chair. She ended up being partially on his lap and she definitely didn’t mind that, her head moving to tuck underneath his neck. Brody looked up at me.
“Hurry back,” he said, letting my wrist go. “Because I’m thinking I’m trying to do some of that.”
He winked at me, making me feel all kinds of warm. All this love and affection I could definitely get used to. Definitely.
He let me go and I found my way out front. Elena was there, but she wasn’t smoking, no. She sat to herself on the mobile home’s steps, arms crossed over knees. Her head turned, eyes glancing over her shoulder when the door snapped behind me. Her lips moved into a small smile and that was something else I could get used to, my arrival doing that to her, making her happy. She made room for me on the step and I asked her what she was doing when I sat beside her.
She shrugged, playing with her hands. “Just chillin’ I guess,” she said, watching the neighborhood.
Others out here were doing the same as we were, grills lifting smoke into the air. We sat together for quite a little bit before we spoke again.
“I see where you fit in here,” she said suddenly, her lashes flickering my way. She smiled again. “You fit right in with them inside. You guys just make sense.”
It was funny she said that, because I felt the same way, too. It was something about Brody’s family. It was just something about him.
“Even Aiden has found his place,” she went on, nodding. Her shoulder lifted. “I guess I’m just trying to see where I go from here.”
That seemed like quite an easy solution to me, and I brought my arm around her, bringing her in.
“Anywhere I am,” I told her, because I had a feeling with as big as Brody’s family was, as big as their hearts seemed to be, they wouldn’t mind making room for one more.
Epilogue
Alexa
“Brody!” I giggled, stumbling forward. I couldn’t do anything else with his hands over my eyes. My foot caught on something. Grass, I assumed since we were outside. I giggled again. “Where are you taking me? We’re going to be late.”
We literally had minutes, minutes before we had to be clear across town. His childhood church was quite a drive, a cute little white chapel and it was cute. I’d seen it both decorated and without.
Brody spun me around and his face replaced his hands, his lips on my mouth.
Giving in, I slid my hands up a broad chest and over thick material I knew to be fine lapels. He was so handsome today. Well, he was handsome every day, but this one in particular. I should get him to wear a suit more often. His mouth grinned against mine.
“You trust me?” he asked, his voice light, excited. “I know we don’t have a lot of time, but we won�
��t be late. I’d never hear the end of it.”
No, he wouldn’t. His family, his dad, would kill him. I sent my own nephew over there early to hold down the fort in our absence. Well, I guess he’d be there anyway, as he was in the ceremony. He went down to the church with Brody’s sister-in-law, Karen, and her kids. Elena drove with them, my eyes and ears. We shared that role now. We relied on each other now to care for our family and I was right about something. The Chandler Family?
They definitely had room for one more.
My eyes still closed, I nodded. I trusted Brody with everything, my life and so much more. Since his accident, he regained his physical strength, but really, it had never really left him.
He popped a kiss on my mouth, but didn’t put his hands back over my eyes. He asked me not to cheat and keep my eyes closed, so I did.
Thick fingers laced through my hands and he tugged, turning me to guide me around. We continued on by his lead off grass and then onto something harder, sidewalk. I hit his body a bit when he stopped, but not hard. His hand went to the small of my back, his fingers laying delicately on the chiffon dress that hit just above my knees. He told me to wear yellow today. He loved yellow on me. He said it brought out the sunshine even more.
He said the most wonderful things.
Holding onto me, he brushed his fingers along my back. “Almost there.”
I grinned again, able to do nothing but listen. I heard a click, then a creak, and I was pulled once more.
“Watch your step.”
I did as told, off the concrete down and on something different. The flooring clicked under my heels and I drew in a breath, trying to find any indicator as to where I was. I smelled nothing but air, a bit stale, but nothing more.
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