Storm Redemption

by Magda Alexander

  “A couple of weeks? Is that enough time to plan a dinner this size?” I ask, grasping at straws.

  Brianna guzzles more of the wine before her slightly unfocused gaze lands on me. “Darling.” She waves the wine goblet about. “This will be The Event of the season. Everyone we invite will drop everything, and I mean everything, to attend this dinner. They’re all dying to learn about Edward’s whereabouts for the last five years.”

  “I’ll help you with the guest list,” Edward offers. “Mostly old friends, some family acquaintances. It won’t be so bad.”

  “And I’ll phone Bentley,” Bri offers. “Tell him to expect your call. Trust me. He’ll jump at the chance. He loves nothing more than to entertain guests. Your marvelous chef can whip up the food.” She pats my hand. “You’ll see. It will be fun.”

  A bright light shines in Gabriel’s eyes. “You can do it, love.”

  I hard swallow past the grapefruit-sized lump in my throat. “Okay.”

  “Fabulous!” Royce salutes me with his glass.

  They’re being so sweet with their help and support. I just hope I don’t screw it up.

  “So what story should we spread about Edward’s five-year absence?” Brianna asks now that the dinner’s been decided upon.

  Gabriel leans forward. “I don’t remember much about the hospital we were taken to after the assault, but I recall a great deal of chaos and confusion. We can use that. How about we explain that his records got switched with those of the guerilla, and when Edward recovered from his head wound, he could not recall his identity?”

  “Who’s going to believe that farradiddle?” Royce asks.

  “They’ll investigate.” Brianna says.

  “And they will find nothing,” Edward says. “I was dumped into the same room with a guerilla. When he died, I took his name—Eduardo Perez. Divine providence, if you ask me, given his name was so close to mine.”

  “And nobody questioned the switch?”

  “No. It was pure chaos, as you just explained. We’d just arrived at the hotel where the negotiations were to take place when guerillas burst in, their automatic rifles mowing down anyone in their wake. By the time Jake’s team responded, Gabe and I had been hit, along with a couple of the native negotiators. As soon as the bullets stopped flying, ambulances converged on the scene. They loaded our bodies aboard the vans, militants and us alike. About ten of us, I think. If it hadn’t been for Jake’s quick thinking, Gabe would have bled out. He made sure we got priority treatment.”

  Tears spring to my eyes. I cover my mouth to muffle a scream. If Gabriel had died, I would have never known him. And Andrew would never have been born. I knew his injury had been serious, but I hadn’t realized he’d almost died. Until now.

  As if he senses my distress, Gabriel’s voice reaches out to me. “It’s fine, love. I’m here, alive.”

  I pinch together my trembling lips.

  “Edward, move on.” Gabriel commands his brother.

  Edward clears his throat, sips his wine. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you, Elizabeth. I thought you knew. My apologies.”

  “It’s fine. I’m fine.” I sip water to wet my dry throat. “Please go on.”

  “I woke up from surgery to discover Jake next to me. He explained what he’d discovered. That the guerillas were not locals, but hired mercenaries. That’s when it came to me. What I had to do. Die, so mother would no longer have an excuse to hurt Gabe. After Jake and I settled on the scheme, he took care of the rest. I never revealed my identity to anyone, not in all the years I lived in Mexico.”

  “How difficult that must have been. Living in a foreign land, surrounded by strangers. Out of touch with your loved ones,” I say.

  “Not entirely out of touch. Jake kept me apprised of all the goings on. I was sorry to miss your wedding and Brianna’s graduation from Oxford. And, of course, I missed all of you. So much. So very, very much.” His glance slowly encompasses his siblings in a glance so heartbreaking it brings more tears to my eyes.

  Brianna jumps up from her chair and rounds the table to hug him. “And we missed you.” Tears flow down her face. “We’re so happy you came back to us.”

  After Brianna returns to her seat, Royce reaches over and gives his brother an awkward one-arm hug.

  Gabe doesn’t rise, but he clears his throat. More than likely in an attempt to choke back his emotion. “So, were the funds from your teaching and your paintings enough to cover all your expenses?”

  Edward bows his head and rearranges his napkin, which gives him time to gain back his composure. “Mostly. But Jake insisted on depositing an amount into a checking account every month. I barely touched any of it.”

  At the mention of Jake, Bri’s head dips. She keenly misses him, even if she doesn’t admit it.

  “Once I healed from my wounds, he should have confessed the truth.” A note of bitterness creeps into Gabriel’s voice.

  “No. It was my decision, not his. He did what I asked him to do.”

  “Still, he should have told me.”

  “And what would you have done?”

  “Flown back to Mexico to get you!”

  Edward flings his napkin on the table. “Exactly. That’s why he didn’t tell you. If I’d come back, she would have found a way to kill you. She wouldn’t stop trying until you were dead. And I couldn’t have that, Gabe.”

  “You need to apologize to Jake and ask him back.” Brianna pipes into the tension-filled atmosphere.

  “I have nothing to apologize for.” Gabriel growls out.

  “Gabriel,” I say. “He did it for you, for your family.”

  “He kept me from my brother for five years.”

  The maid enters with dessert—lemon souffles—and the room grows quiet. Emotions swirl in the air. Love, resentment. So passionate these Storm siblings. So very adequately named.

  Once the maid drifts back into the kitchen, Brianna explodes. “You don’t always know best, Gabe. You’re wrong, dead wrong, about Jake.”

  Gabriel jams his spoon into the souffle. “How’s the dowager?” he asks Edward, pointedly ignoring her. Clearly, he’s decided a change of subject is called for. And the question is a valid one.

  Before Gabriel and I returned to London, he and his siblings agreed that Edward would remain at Winterleagh to oversee the repairs to the castle and manage his mother’s care.

  Taking the hint, Edward digs into his own dessert. “Locked up in the dowager house. She’s asked me to tea. Twice.”

  “Have you gone?” Gabriel asks.

  Edward snorts. “No.”

  “I think you should.”

  Edward shakes his head. “I want nothing to do with her.”

  “We need answers about the fire,” Gabriel says. “I need to know if she was involved. Who set it. So far we’re coming up blank.”

  Edward takes a deep breath, lets it out. “Very well. I’ll do it.” He glances at me. “For Elizabeth and Andrew. And you, of course.” He offers the last almost as an afterthought.

  “Thank you.” Gabriel dips into the dessert again, this time without trying to murder it. “So, has she come to terms with her new life?”

  “Mostly. But she’s still calling for Tilly to do her hair and handle her clothes.”

  “I promised her a stylist.”

  “I don’t know, Gabe. Right now, she seems to have accepted her lot. Except for her demands for Tilly, that is. Bringing in a stranger might tip her into full-blown madness. At that point, we’d need to commit her to an institution. And none of us want that, do we? Think of the notoriety,” he says in a horrified tone.

  For a second, Bri and Royce glance at each other before they bark out laughs.

  “What?” he asks.

  “Dear Edward. While you’ve been gone, we’ve kept the media fed these many years. We’re a regular staple in the gossip columns. And right now they’ve fixated on you. Not that that will last.” Her face crumbles. “Once they figure out I’m illegitimate, they’ll h
ave a field day.”

  “You don’t really believe our mother, do you?” Edward asks, not unkindly.

  “Yes, I do.” The pink in her cheeks is still riding high after the Jake discussion. “I always felt different from the rest of you. And now I know why.”

  Gabriel slams down his spoon. “Christ. She lied because she wants to hurt you. Your love for father renders you vulnerable. She’s well aware that’s your weak spot.”

  Her chin juts out. “Well, I’m going to find out for sure.”

  “Why would you want to do that?”

  “Because I want to discover the truth. I’ll know if I’m one of you, or a stray mutt.”

  “A stray mutt?” The vein on Gabriel’s neck is practically popping out.

  “You don’t think I come from prime stock, do you? Given father’s promiscuity, he probably found my mother in the gutter somewhere. Whoever she was, once she discovered her pregnancy she probably came to him for money. Probably to get rid of the baby. But for some reason he wanted me.” She glances down at her lap, rearranges her napkin. “Once I discover the truth, arrangements will need to be made.”

  “Arrangements? What arrangements?” Gabriel grits out.

  “Well, I’d no longer be part of the family, would I? I wouldn’t be entitled to the apartment below. That belongs only to legitimate heirs. Nor would I have claim to the money in my bank account. I’d need to give it all back.”

  Gabriel comes to his feet, flings down his napkin. “Are you bloody insane?”

  “No, I’m not.”

  “Gabriel.” I warn him. Unfortunately, I’m clear across the table from him. I can’t touch him to get him to calm down.

  “Christ!” he continues. “You’d think you’d be happy not to have that bitch for a mother.”

  “You would. I’ve always known I was different. That’s why father kept me separate from all of you.”

  “To protect you!”

  “Yes. Because she wouldn’t have blinked at snuffing me. I don’t belong here, with you. I’ll stay long enough for Edward’s party and then I’ll fly to Brazil.”

  “Can’t you stay a while longer, love?” Edward asks in a calm voice, obviously trying to quiet the heated rhetoric. “Whether the dowager is your mother or not, you’re still my sister. And I’d like to get to know you again.”

  “I can’t. The project is behind schedule, even though the foreman tried his best. There are some crucial decisions only I can make. We wanted to install the turbines before hurricane season. But now I’m not sure we can erect them in time. I’ll need to leave right after your party, Edward.”

  “Me too,” pipes up Royce. “Styrion Industries set up camp in Santa Maria. And since I haven’t been there for the last several months, they’ve gained the advantage. I don’t hold out much hope of getting the rights to that water project. But I intend to try.”

  “Neither of you are going anywhere until I can arrange new bodyguards for you.” After Royce ditched the last one, the operative had been reassigned, and Gabe had fired Jake, the one who’d minded Brianna.

  “I don’t need a babysitter,” Royce says.

  “And I don’t want one,” pipes up Brianna.

  “Have you forgotten, Royce, you almost lost your life on your last trek to Santa Maria, and Bri, do I honestly have to explain the danger of a woman going into an almost all-male environment without a protector?”

  “I don’t need a protector, Gabe. I can take care of myself.”

  “I don’t care what you want or don’t want. I’m the head of not only Storm Industries but the family now. You will obey my orders.”

  Bri jerks up, overturning her chair. “Sod off, Gabe.”

  Royce’s response is much more graphic. He gives his brother the one-finger salute and stomps out right behind Bri.

  “Christ.” Gabriel scrubs his face. “One would think she’d be thrilled not to have been born to that viper.”

  I come to my feet, lean into the table, glare at him. “You just don’t get it, Gabriel, do you?”

  He raises his head. “What’s there to get?”

  “You dismiss her feelings, like they don’t matter. For once in your life, why don’t you try to see another person’s point of view?” I toss my napkin. “I’m going after her and try to calm her down. And I won’t be back.”

  Chapter 8

  ______________

  Gabriel

  “YOU SURE KNOW HOW TO CLEAR A ROOM, BROTHER,” Edward says, calmly sipping his wine.

  I glare at him. “Don’t you wish to follow them? I’m sure you have some objection to me as well.”

  “No.” He shakes his head. “I’ve had enough of being separated from the ones I love.”

  The anger leaches out of me. “My apologies.”

  “Accepted.” He rests his empty glass on the table, twirls its stem. “May I be frank?”

  I rise, grab the bottle of Sauvignon and pour more wine into both our glasses. He might not need it, but I certainly do. “Of course.”

  “You keep going in this direction, you’re going to create an irreparable rift between our siblings and you.”

  Sitting down, I prop my elbows on the table, drop my head into my open hands. Why can’t I command my beastly temper? Brianna and Royce are all grown up. They no longer need me to fight their battles for them. Why must I always be in control? Because I’m afraid of losing them? If I keep going the way I am, I’ll lose them anyway. I come upright, scrub my face. “I’ve always protected them. It’s my job as the head of the family.”

  He pushes his plate away, leans his arms on the fine linen tablecloth. “I recognize your need to control everything. It’s no wonder given what our mother did to you and her threat to Elizabeth’s life. But Bri and Royce have no dog in that hunt. Why do you need to manage their lives? They’re grown adults.”

  “I’ve been doing it for so long. It’s . . . hard to let go.”

  “My advice? Get counseling. A psychotherapist.”

  “I don’t need a head doctor rattling around in my brain.”

  “You need something, Gabe. You can’t go on as you have been.”

  “While in South America, Royce came down with a jungle fever. It almost killed him. You should have seen him. He’d lost two stone. Could barely keep anything down. He could have died, all alone.”

  “We all die alone, Gabe.” His voice goes horribly sad. What the hell happened to him in Mexico? He won’t talk about it, but one way or another I’ll get it out of him.

  “You know what I mean. If he’d had someone with him, a security guard, a co-worker, that person could have gotten him to a hospital. He¸ like Brianna, has an operative assigned to him at all times. He puts up with it while here in London, but the second he lands at some godforsaken destination on Storm Industries’ business, he ditches his guard. I can’t bear the thought of losing another brother.”

  “You didn’t lose me, Gabe. I’m right here. Since Royce’s so adamant about having a guard, send in someone else.”

  “Someone else? Like who?”

  “Before dinner, we shared a drink at his apartment. He’s out of his depth with this Santa Maria place. Apparently, some ancient tribe controls the rights to the river. Why, is anyone’s guess. To get the country’s blessing for the Storm Industries’ hydroelectric project, the elders of the tribe must approve. And apparently the leader is a hard-headed old sod who believes in some mythical water god. What Royce needs is an expert on South American tribes. And, if one can be found, one on this tribe in particular. So find one and send him with Royce. He won’t resent such a person half as much as an armed escort.”

  “And where am I supposed to find such a person?”

  Edward hitches a shoulder. “I’d start with the British Museum. They’re bound to know somebody.”

  Well, that takes care of one sibling, but what about the other? “And Bri?”

  His gaze trails in the direction Bri took, before it returns to me. “I don’t know. She s
eems pretty broken up about mother’s claim she’s illegitimate. Unfortunately, not being around Bri for the last five years does not give me any insight. I can’t get a bead on her. She seems so strong one second and vulnerable the next. Plus father’s death hit her hard. I’ll talk to her and let you know.”

  “She hasn’t forgiven me for hiding the dowager in Scotland and not telling her.”

  “Can you blame her? She returned to England, put her life on hold, because she believed our mother had slipped your leash and was somewhere plotting against Elizabeth. If you’d shared our mother’s whereabouts with her, she wouldn’t have worried as much. She thinks you don’t trust her.”

  I draw circles on the table cloth. “I couldn’t take a chance on mother’s location leaking out. Not with Elizabeth’s life on the line.”

  “It’s more than that, Gabe. What about your marriage?”

  My marriage is none of your business, brother. Stay out.

  “Fine. But it looks to me as if you could use someone to talk to.”

  I start to protest, but he holds up a hand forestalling me.

  “Gabe, I have the benefit of not seeing you for five years. You’re not the man you were then. You’ve learned to control your environment. With good reason. The problem is you don’t give anyone the right to make their own decisions, make their own mistakes.”

  “Am I supposed to just let either of them travel to South America without escorts?”

  “Sending a babysitter with them does not help matters. You were always the older brother, the one they looked up to. When you were fourteen and Royce was eight, he used to mimic everything you did. Down to the way you walked. And Bri? She worshiped the ground you walked on. But now they’re what? Twenty six and twenty eight? And they have their independence to assert. Something separate from you. You cast a large shadow, brother.”

  “My large shadow never bothered you.”

  “I never wanted to be you. I saw what the weight of being the heir did to you. And I’m not talking about what our mother did to you. I’m talking about the mantle of responsibility thrust upon you. Hell at fourteen you practically ran the castle. God knows our father never did. And all Mother wanted to do was throw one grand party after another.”