“First of all, I stopped thinking of Edwina as my mother years ago. She killed anything I’d ever felt for her. So there’s no comparing Emily Olivier and Edwina Montgomery. That summer I stayed with your family, your mother effortlessly stepped in, acting as a mother figure in my life. It was something I hadn’t known I needed or had missed not having.”
He paused for a moment, then added, “Edwina has no family left. That boat sailed the day she ran off with another man and made my dad cry. To this day, I have only ever heard my dad cry once, and the sound broke my heart. It was the day he came home and found the note Edwina had left, telling him that saying she had left and why. Even then, he’d held his emotions in. He told us that Mom and Carrie had gone away for a spell, and he couldn’t rightly say when they would return, but they eventually would.”
He lay back against the pillow to stare up at the ceiling fan, remembering that day. “He prepared dinner that evening, and we ate, did homework as usual, and afterwards, he tucked us in. It was only late that night, when I needed to tell him about a science fair I had signed up for, that I went to his room. I knocked, and I thought he mumbled for me to come in. He hadn’t. He was in bed, crying. That’s what I had heard. The sound of his heart-wrenchingsobs, Nicky.”
“What did you do?” she asked.
“I slowly backed out of the room and closed the door so he wouldn’t know I’d been there.”
She nodded. “Did you tell anyone?”
“No. I didn’t even mention it to Logan. It was hard enough for me to see our strong, invincible father in his moment of weakness. I didn’t want my brothers to know, either. So now, I’m thinking about my father, not Edwina. I don’t want him to feel that way again.”
“He won’t. He has Thea, and he loves her very much. You know that as well as I do.”
“Yes, you’re right,” he agreed. “But my dad is a good person. When we were growing up, he was always firm but fair, and his heart was always in the right place. He tries to do right by everyone. And unfortunately, that incudes even Edwina, who doesn’t deserve his goodness. He’s already been too good for her. He wasted all of those years when he could have had someone like Thea in his life.”
Monique nodded again. “So what do you think he’s going to do?” she asked.
“I think he will go see her. Not out of a sense of love, since I’m certain she killed that a long time ago. Not even out of a sense of duty, because really, there is none. But his Christian faith, values, and beliefs will convince him it’s the right thing to do.
Still, I respect that he’s not trying to force those values and beliefs on us, at least in this case. He recognizes us as the adults we are, old enough to face the consequences of our actions.”
They laid there, quiet for a moment. Finally, she said, “You know I will support whatever decision you make.”
He pulled her closer. “Thanks, Nicky.”
“At least you found out that you have another brother.”
“Yes, but chances are he doesn’t know about us.”
“Does that bother you?” Monique asked.
“Yes,” he answered, without hesitation. “I often think of the years we missed with Carrie. Now I’ll wonder about him, Silas Kingston’s son. Our brother, whose name we don’t even know. I really hope Mr. Kingston has told him about us, but I doubt it. I’m not sure I would have, if I’d been in the same position.”
“If he had, don’t you think he would have reached out by now?”
“Not necessarily,” Lyle said. “He might have wanted to but refrained out of a sense of loyalty to his father.”
“Yeah, that makes sense,” she said.
“And you know what else would make sense?” he asked.
“What?”
“For us to enjoy a little daddy and mommy time while our little angel is asleep,” Lyle said, leaning over and capturing her mouth in a heated kiss. He pulled her into his arms, knowing this was what he wanted. This was what he needed. She was everything he desired, both in and out of bed. A woman who loved him as much as he loved her. A woman who fully supported him, the same way he supported her. His Nicky.
He and his siblings would get through this episode with Edwina the same way they’d done all those other times. Thanks to their mother, the Montgomerys were stronger than ever.
CHAPTER 6
Lance and Asia
“I forgot to mention that I ran into Sean at Tubin Steakhouse last week.”
Lance, who strode into the kitchen after putting their son to bed, glanced at his wife, who was seated at the kitchen table, as he grabbed a beer from the refrigerator. For some reason, it always grated on his nerves whenever she brought up the name of the man she had been engaged to marry.
It didn’t matter one iota that he had cunningly devised a plan to take Asia away from Sean Crews. Lance had been convinced that although she’d planned to marry Sean, he—Lance--had been the man she truly loved. And he’d been right. So he tried to appear nonchalant as he popped open his beer and glanced around their condo.
