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The crushing weight in my chest made it hard to breathe when I thought back to how Charlotte had aborted our accidental pregnancy without me being aware. For all intents and purposes she told me she had miscarried, and as such my sympathies kept me with her until her venomous lies spilled from her mouth when she confronted Billie at my parents’ New Year’s Eve party, the night they had gotten engaged. “I’m sorry,” I repeated at the thought of the pain I’d brought on him in our past.
“Forget it. It led to a much better life. You did me a favor, even if it hadn’t felt like that at the time,” he said, holding his hands out as if to say look around you.
Relief spread through me and my body relaxed. “It did, and you’ve got it all. I’m really happy for you, Sawyer,” I told him.
“We’ve just got you and Tricia to sort out, then we can find poor Lorna a man.”
“Poor man more like, whoever gets that one will have to measure up,” I joked and we both laughed.
“The guy who gets her is going to have his work cut out for him. Nothing less than a duke will do, I fear,” Sawyer agreed about the youngest of our sisters, who was a couple of years older than him.
Sawyer’s live-in housekeepers, Kate and Maynard, had come with the house he’d inherited from our uncle Alex, and only worked when Sawyer and Billie felt they needed extra hands whenever they had guests. Kate had made breakfast for us all and arrived out on the veranda with a small trolley laden with platters of cinnamon French toast, fruit, pancakes, small Danish pastries, bacon, sausage patties, and some fried eggs.
Maynard came out with a breadbasket filled with fresh rolls and a cheese board. They both transferred everything from the cart to the bar counter while Kate swapped out the empty toast trays with new ones. After setting a couple of jugs marked Old Fashioned and Maple Syrup at the center of the table and replenishing the fresh orange juice, they left us and went back inside.
“Brynn, Colby, out. Dry off, brunch is ready,” Billie told them, and moved away from the table with all three kids trailing after her toward the food. Passing them on the way, Brynn smacked my ass with her wet hand and chuckled.
“You’re it,” she mumbled, her hand covering her mouth and I added mischief to her list of flaws.
“Brynn, behave,” Billie admonished, and her grin immediately turned to a pout. I snickered because if my brother thought her inconvenient at times, as a teen I had an inkling she’d make my brother’s life hell.
“You’re quiet,” I stated, sliding into the seat beside my woman and pulling her into my chest.
“Tired, is all,” she replied, holding my gaze, but that wasn’t it. The look in her eyes not quite like the one I had seen in them the night before, but I couldn’t put my finger on the unsettled feeling it gave me.
“Can we go back to my place after we’ve eaten?” she asked, and I glanced toward the kids who had an expectation of us spending time with them.
“What’s the matter?” I probed. “What happened?”
“Nothing happened. I’m just not up to playing happy family today.” Her response floored me. Billie was her best friend, she loved her, and both Billie and Sawyer loved her… hell, the kids loved her too. My thought went back to Sawyer and the stuff he said about the baby, and I nodded, thinking perhaps she wanted to talk about having a child. Maybe we both should discuss it, before it’s too late.
Billie and Sawyer were far more understanding about us leaving than the kids were, and it was only after we’d arranged a boat trip for all of us the following weekend, they appeared more settled about us going.
During the short drive back to Tricia’s place, I mulled over starting a conversation on the way, but knowing Tricia, I had decided against it. Whatever was up, I knew it was up to me to ask the right questions in the right way and read the responses she gave me. I couldn’t do that and watch the road at the same time.
