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Ash joins Jonah, but Naomi grabs Ash and tugs on his arm, pulling him out of the way as another branch falls, just missing him. Eli is putting a crying Sabrina into my father’s limo. He rushes back to my mother’s casket. I have Chloe and Grace, but Ash, Jonah, and Carson along with two male cousins and Eli grab the handles for my mother’s casket and act as pallbearers, carrying her away from her gravesite as the fire spreads. Naomi rushes and puts her hand on the same handle as Ash, helping.
She’s already dead. No way am I leaving my wife unattended during this shit in order to rescue a dead woman.
“What the fuck!” My father shouts hoarsely as he’s helped by Josh and his driver into his stretch limo. “Fucking deal with this. You hear me, boys? Elijah!”
Dad stares at Eli with murder on his face.
“We will,” Eli vows with a mirrored expression as he backs away from the Hearse.
My eyes hit my own wife, who is where she belongs. In my arms. But she’s terrified. Pale. Also crying.
“I’ve got you. Nothing’s gonna hurt you,” I swear to her, pressing my lips to hers. I move us and get her into the passenger seat of my car. Grace gets into my father’s limo.
“Stay together. Convoy, Derek!” Eli shouts at me.
Carson pipes up. “Back to the Steele homestead everyone, please. And carefully.”
Chloe stares over her shoulder at the flame-engulfed cemetery as I drive away, hearing the sirens of the coming emergency responders.
I don’t want to go to the Steele homestead, but I don’t speak as Derek drives. Both of his hands are on the steering wheel, but his right hand is jerking as if he’s having muscle spasms. This was happening at the cemetery, too. I think it’s some sort of PTSD-related tremor. I can’t remember the exact terminology but do remember that people can have involuntary body responses because of trauma. I’m no expert, but Coraline minored in psychology, and we spent many hours quizzing one another during exams.
He’s breathing hard, staring ahead, mouth alternating between jaw clenching and lip curling.
My heart is racing, and I’ve got a tension headache.
What in the world was that? Someone said drones. Drones causing fires and explosions in a cemetery? I’m shook. It was horrific. People were running, screaming, and crying. Security was trying to get people to their vehicles in an orderly fashion, but it was chaotic. And Derek’s single-minded focus, as always, was me. He covered my body with his. He focused on getting me to safety. And his hand won’t stop twitching as he drives, but he seems to be in command of the vehicle.
It’s just a short drive back to Derek’s parents’ home and a valet gets into the driver’s seat before I’m out of the passenger seat. Derek is already grabbing my hand before the shoes that Grace sent me, black and red versions of the ones I was admiring like hers from the day of the anniversary brunch, touch the ground and we’re moving toward the house. My eyes scan the sky. Derek notices and grinds his teeth.
Once in the house I see Carson, still wearing his coat, some dirt on his cheek. He waves us down the hallway to his father’s office, where I spent a chunk of a day dealing with that media woman.
I signal to my own cheek with my eyes on him. He nods his thanks and pulls a handkerchief from his inside pocket.
Elijah and his wife as well as Grace and Derek’s father are already in the office. Naomi and her husband as well as Jonah are behind us.
“Police will be here soon. I’ll announce before bringing them in,” Carson advises me and Derek as well as the family members behind us. “We want the immediate family together in the office for that. After that, we’ll receive guests in the solarium where Mrs. Steele will be for those who want to have a moment with her.”
“What’s the plan for her, Dad?” Jonah asks. “Since the cemetery is up in fucking flames.”
“Your mother will stay in the solarium tonight,” Derek’s father says from his office chair where he sits, looking every bit like a CEO, though with a look in his eyes that’s so angry, cold, and also grief-stricken that I don’t think I’ll forget it for the rest of my life.
“She’d want to be there. It was her favorite room in the house,” Grace says softly.
She looks stricken, pale, traumatized. So does Naomi. And Sabrina. I probably do, too.
My chin trembles. This is so awful. Derek wraps his arms around me and holds me closer. His body is trembling. I don’t know if it’s adrenalin, anger, the tremor, or all of it.
Asher arrives, swiping a hand through his hair as he comes in. His tie is gone, his top few buttons are undone, and he moves straight to the bar cart in the corner. There’s a discordant clang making all eyes in the room move in his direction and we watch as he opens a decanter and starts pouring a drink.
“I’ll have some of that,” Jonah says, walking that way.
Elijah follows.
Ash carries a large glass of amber liquid straight to his father, who accepts it without speaking. He goes back and sets up several glasses and pours.
Derek shakes his head as Elijah holds a glass out.
Elijah’s eyes hit my face with question, still holding the glass.
