I walked through the party absolutely fuming inside but with a pleasant expression plastered on my face. We needed a family meeting, immediately. I found Logan discussing the merits of brown alcohol with a group of our father’s old colleagues and Drew trying to pretend that he wasn’t working the event where he was supposed to be a guest.
“Get Dad,” I growled at Drew. “Then meet me outside.”
My tone suggested there was no room for argument, and a few minutes later the four Ashfords were gathered on a private patio away from the party noise.
“Hejust had a cancer scare,” I said without any sort of preamble. I jabbed my finger toward my father, and my brothers’ mouths dropped open in unison. “Uncle Hank told me he was in New York for testing. A spot on his lung. And he didn’t tell us.” I paused. “Or he didn’t tellme. Did you guys know?”
“Cancer?” Drew shouted incredulously, which answered my question.
“Now just hold on,” Oliver said. “There’s nothing to worry about—it was just old scar tissue. A false alarm and nothing more. I didn’t want to needlessly worry you after what we went through with your mother.”
“Dad, you did testingalone? A biopsy?” Logan asked incredulously. “Why would you do that?”
“You’re all so busy,” Oliver answered. “It was fine. I’m fine.”
I watched my father and realized that age was catching up with him. He now looked more like an old man than the superhuman force we had always known him to be. It made the cancer scare that much more poignant.
He wasn’t going to be around forever. And yeah, we’d gotten a reprieve this time, but what if something like this happened again? Would he still choose to shut us out? Would we only find out when he was too far gone to hide it from us anymore?
“Stop it, nothing is more important than your health,” Drew insisted. “You should’ve let us be there for you.”
Oliver looked at the three of us. “Well, we’re all here now, and that’s what matters most. I’ve got my boys beside me.” He paused as he took us in, one by one. “I love you all so much. We need to say it more.”
I could’ve sworn his eyes filled as he reached out to draw us into a group hug.
We’d never been a touchy-feely family, with the exception of my mother. Being wrapped in an embrace again was a reminder of how much we’d lost, how long it had been since we’d felt this close.
I pulled away reluctantly, because it felt damn good to share the moment.
“What’s with the glum faces?” Oliver asked. He flicked his fist toward Logan’s gut, but he flinched away before the punch landed. “This is a party, let’s celebrate!”
I exchanged looks with my brothers. We were clearly on the same page, upset that he’d kept us in the dark but relieved that he was okay.
“Hey, before we go, I want you to listen to me,” I said, pulling rank as the oldest son. “If you ever have another health concern,tell us. We want to be there for you, got it?”
“Yessir,” he saluted us. “Now let’s get back in there and have some fun.”
We followed behind him, grumbling.
“So fucking mad at him,” Drew said under his voice.
“I heard that,” my dad sang out.
I came to a stop, my brothers falling back with me. “Listen, we need to stay on top of him from now on. Let’s make a pledge to keep each other in the loop. Our very own ‘see something, say something’ program. Okay?”
“Of course,” Drew replied. “We need to be better about keeping in touch.”
“Hey, I’m always right here,” Logan pulled his phone from his pocket. “You know that.”
Of the three of us, Logan was the best about texting and calling. That was about to change.
I strode back into the party and scanned the room for Gwen, only to find her on the dance floor with a couple of my cousins. It was like she could feel me watching her, because within a few seconds of spotting her she was locked onto me, her wide smile fading ever so slightly at whatever she saw on my face. She said something to her dance partners and headed over to me.
The woman was a human lightning rod.
“Hey,” she hugged me. “What’s going on? You look stressed out.”
“I’m good,” I gave her a brief squeeze. “Having fun?”
