by AC Arthur
“Turn around,” he told her when she was only a few steps away.
She gave him a questioning gaze, but once again obliged.
As she turned, the bottom half of the dress lifted slightly in the air, whirling around her like the skirt on a ballroom dancer. Dane stood quickly in the middle of her last turn, catching her at the waist. She came to a stop facing him, her hands going to his shoulders.
“I like you,” he told her sincerely. “I like you wearing this flowery dress. And I like you in your polka dot tennis shoes. I even like how you managed to swim more laps than me this afternoon.”
Her smile was slow but it lifted her cheekbones and lightened her brown eyes, making his heart do an odd type of flutter in his chest.
“But I asked if you thought your family was going to like me,” she said, her voice softer.
Dane shook his head. “Doesn’t matter. None of this matters, Zera.”
She blinked but didn’t seem able to speak. Dane sort of liked that too. He was taking her by surprise, tossing things at her that she couldn’t explain or rebut. It was new for both of them, but Dane liked it. And, he realized with a start, he had more he wanted to say to her.
“Come on you two. You can’t hide from Aunt Birdie forever,” Suri said after knocking loudly on the door of their room.
Zera laughed. “I’ve managed to avoid meeting the infamous Aunt Birdie, but I’ve heard more than enough about her.”
Dane stepped back away from her, taking her hand as he walked toward the door. “Nothing you’ve heard can prepare you for Bridgette Donovan.”
They left the room and walked down the stairs, but it wasn’t until they entered the living room where everyone was gathered that the show actually began.
“Look who just arrived,” Maxine said after she stepped back from hugging two adorable twin girls.
“Linc Donovan and his wife Jade,” Dane told Zera as they moved closer to where everyone was hugging Linc and Jade. “Their daughters are Torian and Tamala. They’re ten years old.”
“They’re beautiful,” Zera said.
Dane looked over to see her staring at the two girls who were standing next to their mother.
“Dane. It’s good to see you here,” Linc said when Dane and Zera had finally stood in front of them.
Dane shook his cousin’s hand and leaned in for a one-arm hug. Linc and Dane were close in height and had close to the same complexion. They were also very close in age. Only three months made Dane older, but those three months had been enough to shake up the entire Donovan family with the arrival of a newcomer.
“Hi, Dane!” Jade said excitedly as she stepped up to hug him.
Dane hugged her back. “Hello, Jade,” he said and held back the confession that it was also good to see her.
“It seems like forever since you’ve been out to the West Coast,” Jade said. “I told you when you come back, you have to visit the spa for a massage.”
While Linc Donovan owned two casinos, The Gramercy I in Las Vegas and The Gramercy II in St. Michael’s, Maryland, Jade owned and operated full-service spa called Happy Hands.
“I know. I was planning a trip out there once I returned.” He paused and then cleared his throat before saying, “Uncle Henry and Uncle Everette want to learn more about the new company we’re forming here so I told them I’d come out to brief them on it.”
“That’s good,” Linc said. “It’s very good. You’re bringing us into the next generation.”
“I’d say you’re doing just fine bringing in the next generation yourself,” Dane told Linc with a nod to the girls.
He’d been so busy talking to Linc and Jade and trying to understand the whirlwind of emotions going through him—first when he’d been upstairs with Zera and now, at seeing Linc and Jade again—that he hadn’t noticed Zera had been in a conversation with the girls.
“Oh hello,” Zera said when she realized all eyes were now on her. “I’m Zera Kennedy.”
“She’s really from Africa, Daddy,” Torian said.
The twins had Jade’s hazel eyes, and their curly dark brown hair was pulled up into bushy-ended ponytails.
“Yeah, listen to her talk,” Tamala added. “Say something again!”
Zera smiled but Dane watched as Jade cringed and Linc looked shocked.
“I am so sorry,” Jade hurried to tell Zera. “They meant no offense. Did you girls?”
The girls were both shaking their heads.
“Of course they didn’t,” Linc added. “Hello, I’m Lincoln Donovan and you’ve already met my daughters, Torian and Tamala.”
Zera nodded and accepted Linc’s outstretched hand to shake. “Yes. You have beautiful children, Lincoln” she said and the girls giggled.
“She’s lovely, Dane. What took you so long introducing us,” Jade said pushing past Dane and Linc until she could stand near Zera. “I’m Jade. It’s nice to meet you, Zera.”
And with that Jade and the twins whisked Zera off to the other side of the room. Aunt Birdie was on the other side of the room, sitting on a couch near the Baby Grand piano. Dane immediately heard his aunt proclaim, “Oh she’s finally here. For a minute I thought the spy was just going to continue to spy on us and not socialize at all.”
He sighed and Linc clapped him on the shoulder with one hand.
“Gotta love Aunt Birdie,” he said with a chuckle.
Dane couldn’t help but frown. “Is she like this all the time?”
“Most of the time,” Linc said. “The good thing is once she gives you the third-degree you’re in the family and she actually starts to care about what you do with yourself. Aunt Birdie is one hundred percent old school, especially about marriage and having babies. So a piece of advice—if you’re as in love with Zera as the way you’re staring at her seems to suggest, then marry her quickly and start having babies soon. That’ll make Aunt Birdie happy.”
“We’re not there yet,” Dane replied quickly. “I mean, we haven’t even talked about any kind of future. This is just temp...” Dane stopped before he could say what he was doing with Zera was temporary. The word and that theory seemed wrong.
“Yeah. Okay, I’ve definitely been where you are so I won’t push. Just sayin’ that’s how Aunt Birdie works,” Linc told him.
“Thanks for the advice,” Dane said.
A few minutes later they all moved to the dining room. Maxine, Roark, Ridge and Suri sat on one side of the table, while Dane, Zera, Jade, Linc and the twins sat on the other side. Aunt Birdie sat at the head of the table, tossing out orders to the staff and looking around the table, making statements to each of her family members.
“Mama and Daddy would have been proud,” Aunt Birdie said when they were all finishing their dessert.
Dane had been watching Zera as she talked animatedly with the girls. They’d been chatting all throughout dinner and Zera didn’t seem the least bit bothered by it.
“They loved their big family. Granpop Elias and Gran—her name was Gertrude, but we called her Gran, they used to have reunions at The D Ranch down in Gillespie, Texas. My brothers would bring their wives and children. Uncle Charleston would bring his wife, and children and they would bring their spouses and children, and we just had a good time with a big ‘ole BBQ and swimming in the lake. The lake here is pretty, but there’s really no place like home.”
Everyone grew silent as they looked down at Aunt Birdie and listened to what she was saying.
“That’s what it’s all about. The love and the loyalty that family has. Now you, gal,” she said and looked straight at Zera. “You got some things going on, but you know about family. I heard it in your voice when I asked you to tell me about your mother and grandmother. And you know about loyalty too, or you wouldn’t be here doing what you’re doing.” She waved a hand at the shocked looks at the table. “Look, I know what’s going on around here, even if y’all don’t tell me. And I’m here to say that things are gonna work out just like they’re supposed to. Y’all remembe
r that. Whether it’s good or bad, it’s how it’s supposed to be. And nobody can change what’s supposed to be. You just gotta keep going.”
There was something in what she’d said, something solid and true that touched a part of Dane. What was happening to him? All day long he’d felt one overwhelming emotion after another. Now, all those emotions seemed to be coming together in a way that he had to figure out how to deal with.
“And you see those twins down there, looking so much alike I can’t hardly remember which one is which?”
When nobody answered, Aunt Birdie reached over and tapped Zera on the arm.
“Those two you’ve been talking to,” Aunt Birdie continued. “I know you like ‘em and that’s good, because I want you to know I don’t plan on dying until I see the babies you and Bernard’s son will create. I got a feeling they’ll be just as ornery as Bernard was when he was young.”
Zera looked at Dane, shock and embarrassment clear on her face. And Dane looked from her to Linc who was grinning from ear-to-ear with an I-told-you-so look on his face.
Chapter 15
Dinner and the required family bonding afterwards had taken much longer than Dane liked. At the same time, he felt it had given him the time to process the clump of emotions that now sat like a log in the center of his chest.
Now, he and Zera were walking through the gardens, hand-in-hand. Never before had Dane enjoyed touching someone so much. But it seemed as if he could not keep his hands off of her. He could not resist, even the slightest touch such as earlier today when he’d tucked the wayward strands of her hair back behind her ears, or when the family had once again congregated in the living room and she’d sat at the piano beside Tamala as she demonstrated what she’d learned in her music class. Dane came up behind her, resting his hand on her shoulder, before Roark had called him away.
“Cade’s back in the States but he’s going to keep in touch,” Roark had said when they’d walked through the French doors in the living room.
Those doors carried them out to a terrace with a stone railing and huge potted plants. The view was breathtaking even as the sun had already set. The Donovan property was expansive. Their two hundred acres included, the XVI century house, French and English gardens, a park, swimming pool, croquet, badminton, and billiards, a farm with poultry, horses, a vegetable garden, and fruit trees. It was a French oasis located just thirty to sixty minutes away from charming medieval castles and famous vineyards.
“They’re following up on everything that was in that book Zera gave to them,” Roark continued. “So it should be over soon.”
Dane didn’t feel as optimistic as his cousin, even though he was careful not to let Zera see that.
“Have you thought about what’s going to happen once this is over?” Roark asked.
“You mean if Zera will try to return to the FBI?” Dane asked and then shrugged. “I don’t know how her leave of absence that turned into an extended unpaid leave works. Is she technically fired and can never go back? Or if she needs to go through the selection and training process all over again. I’m just not sure.”
Roark leaned against one of the waist-high stone pillars at the edge of the terrace.
“I meant if you were going to stay here with Zera, or if the two of you are taking this “thing” you’ve got going back to the States?”
Dane stood with his legs partially apart facing the stretch of grass. It ran far and then dipped down a small embankment. Across from that embankment was the lake where earlier today he’d looked out the window to see two white swans gliding along as if they hadn’t a care in the world. He’d envied the swans in that moment.
“I hadn’t thought about what Zera and I would do once this was over,” he told Roark. “There was always an agreement between us that this was just an affair.”
“It’s beyond that now,” Roark said.
Dane shook his head. “I don’t do anything beyond an affair.”
Roark sighed. “I hear that and I can’t say that I blame you. Too much red tape to cut through before finding success. That’s the way I see it,” Roark said. “But what you’re saying now and what I keep seeing when the two of you are together, is a blatant contradiction. She’s staying at your family’s country home, meeting and mingling with members of your family. I’d say you’re cruising straight toward a permanent serious relationship and waving at that affair in the rearview mirror.”
Dane didn’t speak immediately because for the third time tonight, one of his family members was saying something that resonated so clearly with him Dane thought they might actually be reading his mind.
“It’s a difficult situation,” he said. “Difficult situations tend to lead to hurt feelings and worse.”
Dane stopped before saying anymore.
“You are no doubt thinking about your mother and the fact that Uncle Henry hurt her feelings so deeply all that other mess followed,” Roark said.
Dane looked over to him because that’s exactly what he’d been thinking.
“I don’t like to think about that anymore,” he admitted. “But her blood is also in me.”
“You’re a Donovan,” Roark said. “My father used to tell me that Donovan men love hard and fiercely. We protect and cherish what’s ours. Perhaps you should think of more of that blood being in you, than the other.”
Suri and the girls had come out of the house at that point, chatting about a game of billiards. Suri wanted Roark on her team. Torian and Tamala said they were drafting their father. Soon a battle was planned and Dane had watched with a touch of hope in him that he’d never thought he would experience. He’d declined a spot on either team and had suggested the walk to Zera.
Now, they walked down the steps leading out of the garden and headed towards the lake. He’d told the Interpol agents they were safe in the gardens and going toward the river because he figured they were in clear view of the house and farther back from the road. Agents were at the front gates so no one was driving through without being stopped first.
“What do you want to do when this is over?” he asked her.
“I don’t know,” was her immediate reply. “I guess it depends on how everything turns out.”
Dane didn’t want to say the words because he didn’t want her to think he didn’t believe in saving Hiari and the other girls.
“Over the years I’ve thought “what if she’s dead?” more times than I can count,” she continued. “But something deep down in my soul says she’s not. That’s why I press on.”
“I’ve never believed anything so wholeheartedly,” he told her.
“That is a shame,” she said.
“Why is it a shame? Because I’ve never wanted to save anyone? Because I did. I wanted to save Jaydon but I couldn’t.”
He still felt a tinge of guilt whenever he thought about how many times he’d tried to remove Jaydon from the situation their mother had created with the Donovans. But it had already been too late, Jaydon was in until the end.
“I meant it was a shame because if you’d never believed in someone or something wholeheartedly that likely meant because you’d never invested enough of yourself in that person or that situation,” she told him. “And it would be a shame to hold all that you have inside to yourself.”
They walked in silence for a few more moments.
“What if I thought I might be ready to share what I hold inside?” he asked without looking at her.
“I would tell you that I was proud of you and that I wished you all the happiness in the world,” she said.
Dane stopped beside a copse of trees, just a few feet away from the lake’s edge. He turned her to face him, taking her other hand in his so that now he held them both.
“The only happiness I’ve ever experienced came from being with you,” he said.
The evening was quiet, the air warm and filled with the scent of summer nights. Dane was happy in this moment because he was touching her and standing here with her. It made sense that f
or him, Zera was his happiness.
“That was very sweet of you to say, Dane,” she replied after a moment’s hesitation.
“I only say what’s true, Zera. I can assure you I am not the type of man who says what I think a woman wants to hear for any reason.”
“I know you’re not that type of man. I also know that admitting that was not easy for you,” she said. “I’m proud to be the one to have brought you happiness. And not so proud about how we’ve come to this point.”
“It’s what was supposed to be,” he said and had to smile at where he’d gotten those words. “Aunt Birdie just told us that didn’t she?”
Zera grinned. “Yes she did. Aunt Birdie is a mess.”
“That she is,” Dane agreed.
“But she may just be one of the smartest women I’ve ever met,” Zera continued. “She decided what she wanted for her life a long time ago and she never apologized for it or let anyone deter her. Can you imagine living with that type of brutal honesty? How many situations could be made easier if everyone were straightforward with each other?”
“Or how many people would end up in fights because of that brutal honesty?” He countered.
“Yeah,” she said. “But I like her.”
“Even though she’s not going to die until you have my children.”
Zera laughed.
Dane loved hearing that sound. He’d heard it so much tonight as Zera had interacted with the twins and when Suri amused the family with her impersonations. Dane always wanted to hear Zera laughing and to see her smiling. He wanted her to be happy.
“When this is over we’re going to have a real conversation about what this affair has turned into,” he said.
She stepped closer to him. “But not tonight,” she whispered and slipped her hands from his to twine her arms around his neck. “Let’s just be happy together tonight.”
“Yeah. Let’s do that,” Dane said and leaned in to touch his lips to hers.