Stormy shifted, and he heard glass connect with wood.
She must have placed her wine glass on the end table because she leaned over him, one hand stroking the length of his arm as the other swiped his hair from his face. Her lips pressed into his temple and lingered. That connection, that simple connection, gave him a reason to just listen, permission to allow his sister to sit with the depths of her grief instead of trying to save her from it; but it also allowed him to acknowledge his own sadness over the ideal childhoods they’d both lost.
“He needs you,” Merlee said. “He’s always needed a woman like you, not those money-grubbing bitches who…”
He groaned and shifted, wrapping his arm around Stormy’s thighs before settling again. Merlee quieted, likely waiting to see if he’d wake up. When he continued his pretense of sleep, she spoke in quieter tones. “My brother’s a good man. And a genius with electronics—”
“So he’s told me.”
“He puts himself in danger regularly to protect others—all the Brood do—but with Luc’s condition, I worry about when the violence of his job will trigger him and he does something he can’t undo. Mama says he’s more vulnerable right now than she’s seen in a long time. Control is his religion and I’m the one whose decisions jeopardized it. I was here worrying about my job when I should have been worrying about the impact of my own choices,” Merlee muttered, self-disgust woven within her words.
“It’s not foolish, I’d even say it’s biological to want to connect with the people that gave you life. There’s a lot of things to regret in this world Merlee, and the desire to be connected with those who should love and protect you is not one of them. You’re not at fault for your parents’ failures or their inability to be decent human beings, and neither is Lucas.”
“But he shouldn’t have to be the one,” Merlee said, her voice tearful again. “They hurt him. They hurt my brother so bad my grands never allowed them to see us again. Our grands were strong, kindhearted folks and they were easy to forgive a wrong, even ones that I thought were unforgivable, but there was no forgiveness in them for my parents. I eavesdropped on a few calls where Belle Mère asked permission to see and talk to Luc—never me—but the grands refused. PaPere would call; they were his parents after all, but he’d only ask them for money, and the grands refused. The last time I know of them calling, I was about nine and I don’t know who said what on the other end, but honey…” Merlee began to laugh.
This was all a revelation. He had no idea of the amount of contact his grands had with his parents. He didn’t stay in the house much when he was young, he had to be busy and his grandfather made sure he was by working the farm, playing sports, encouraging his love of computers and electronics, allowing him the freedom to break down things so that he could build them up better than before.
“My grandmother got on the phone and began to curse out either one or both of my parents like a foul-mouthed felon. As far as I know, they never called again, until this month.”
Big Country was shocked.
“Man, I wish I could have met them,” Stormy said, her body vibrating with laughter as she slipped her hand beneath Big Country’s shirt and stroked his abdomen. “If only to thank them for loving and protecting you and Lucas so fiercely. Your grands may have helped him in more ways than they know, because yes, there’s what he went through and the ways he learned to deal with it, but it’s also how they chose to respond that impacted his healing.”
“And in one fell swoop I ruined it all.”
“No, you didn’t, so stop that,” Stormy said. “What I know is that life offers us many opportunities to keep on as we’ve always done, or to grow. Lucas hasn’t seen your parents for almost thirty years. You may be the impetus, but ultimately life, the universe, God, has provided him this opportunity to grow, and he’s here, showing up to the challenge. And trust me, he didn’t have to be here. Mama seemed poised to make you both orphans if Lucas had simply asked her to.”
Merlee laughed. “She’s so tiny! With those soulful eyes, that ageless black-don’t-crack thing y’all got going on, and her long dreadlocks, she looks like a little harmless forest spirit. The woman is deadly, and fiercely protective of those she loves, and so manipulative she could talk sweet into leaving sugar.”
Stormy laughed and Big Country wanted to because that was Mama all day long.
He heard movement, as if Merlee was rising from her chair.
“Maybe this situation is providing Lucas more than one opportunity to grow…and maybe it’s giving you one, too,” Merlee said. “I’ll see y’all in the morning. Fair warning; the walls in this house are very thin so please don’t traumatize me with sex noises.” There was a retching sound. “Sorry, almost threw up just saying that.” Merlee laughed; she wasn’t even being funny. “Good night, Stormy, glad you’ve come into our lives.”
He heard her give Stormy a smacking kiss before he felt her give him one.
“Goodnight Merlee,” Stormy said, then sat in silence drinking her wine. Big Country relaxed with her, almost to the point of truly falling asleep, but the sound of her glass being placed on the table, the feel of her hand smoothing back his hair again, stirred him to wakefulness.
Shifting onto his back, he straightened his legs and crossed his arms over his abdomen, loving how her cushy thighs cradled his head. He opened his eyes and gazed up at her. The longer he was around her, the more facets of her beauty were revealed. Her beauty went beyond looks, it was deeper than that—like watching a dance of veils, and as each layer of gauzy material was stripped away, you were blessed to be caught in the glow of a woman whose naked radiance rivaled the sun and the moon…
“Let me hip you to a fact that maybe you and your sister are not privy to,” Stormy said to him. “You arenota quiet sleeper…by any means…you rumble like a truck when you doze and when you’re sleeping deeply, forget about it.”
He grinned. “Maybe I was in a deeply meditative state.”
“You were eavesdropping.”
“I was, but it’s rude of you to throw it in my face.”
She shook her head. “I can’t with you, Lucas Beaumont.” Resting her hand on his chest, her expression turned somber. “You okay with what you heard?”
Am I, he wondered as he mulled over the conversation, then nodded. “I only heard truth, revelation, and you showing you got a little wisdom in you. Learning what you don’t know is the best part of listening—which is a much better term than eavesdropping, by the way.”
She smacked him on the stomach and began jiggling her legs up and down. “Tomorrow we clean house, let’s get you to bed before your big head puts my legs to sleep.
“But I’m not sleepy no more,” he drawled, capturing her gaze and drawing it down to Bubba. “Let’s traumatize Merlee.”
“We’re not having sex in your sister’s house.”
