Avory packs up all of Axl’s clothes into the base of the collapsible pen as Ellory gets to his feet with my son. There are already a couple of seat options in the dining room for him, so I just grab a feeding cloth.
We’re met by Rhodes, Bennett, and the beasts as we hit the bottom of the stairs. They’re coming in the side door. Bennettsmiles at us, and I have to squint. Damn man is far too bright for his own good.
“Hey,” I say as one of the beasts shoves his nose into my hand. I scratch behind his ears as he takes up residence beside me and we make our way down the hall. “Where’ve you been?”
“I’d like to say hunting, but you have nothing but rabbits and shit on the property,” Rhodes says. “They need something bigger.”
“Dad will ban the dogs from the estate if you let them on the refuge to hunt,” I warn.
He sighs. “I know. I already asked.”
“Drive an hour west and let them loose to hunt,” Avory suggests. “It won’t be the kind of hunting they prefer, but at least they’ll get to hunt.”
“Mm,” Rhodes says.
“You don’t have any contracts close by?” Bennett asks.
I glance in his direction. It’s weird that he knows what we do, and he’s totally on board. Weirder still that he has his own violent streak. It’s difficult to imagine when he refers to the beastly wolves as sweet babies in a cooing voice.
Then again, perhaps that should have given away the fact that he’s a little unbalanced as well. No one would look at these wolves and call themsweet baby puppy doodleslike he does.
We gather in the dining room, arranging around the table. Ellory buckles Axl in his seat and slides him between us. I lean to my left and kiss Brek. Perhaps a little more aggressively than necessary, given that we’re surrounded by people, but whatever. It’s just our family.
Everyone is here. All the brothers and their partners. All the uncles and partners—except Elgin, since he’s back in Philly for hockey. Uncle Auden and Cousin Rhodes. Emerson and Axl. And Dad… oh, and Levis. I suppose he gets his own by-name mention since he doesn’t fall under any other label.
Dinner is loud because there are almost two dozen people together. I don’t hate it. We talk about nothing. Laugh. Recap memories of after-Thanksgiving dinners and adventures. Give Uncle Auden a hard time about his dry spell, teasing him that he’s lost his sex appeal.
We’re interrupted when one of the staff comes in. The entire table hushes. Even Emerson, probably confused by the sudden silence.
“I’m sorry to interrupt, Mr. Van Doren,” Linus says as he bows his head.
Dad shakes his head. “Not at all. What do you need?”
“Jeannette is at the door. I didn’t bring her in since… she hasn’t been here in a while and I wasn’t sure…” He trails off.
Everyone’s attention is on Dad. He stares at Linus as if just seeing him for the first time. It’s so quiet that I think I can hear the seconds pass.
“Jeannette,” Dad repeats eventually. Almost as if he can’t recall someone with that name.
“Your fiancée?” Myro reminds him. He looks at Linus. “That Jeannette, correct?”
Linus nods. “Yes, sir.”
Another very long, silent, confused minute passes before Dad takes his cloth napkin from his lap and gets to his feet, draping the napkin on the arm of his chair. “Please excuse me. I’ll be right back.”
We watch him follow Linus out of the room, but silence remains. We stare at each other, trying to determine what just happened. Did Dadforgethis fiancée? Granted, she hasn’t been here for months. Many,manymonths. Last we knew, she was traveling for work, and I guess she never came back.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Levis pick his glass of water up and take a sip. He immediately begins choking, which has everyone looking at him. His face is all red as he struggles to get the water from his lungs. He pushes away from the table, chokes out an ‘excuse me,’ and coughs his way out of the room.
“He forgot how to swallow,” Avory muses.
I’m not the only one who snorts.
“He never knew how,” Oakley says, shaking his head.
I laugh under my breath. The table remains quiet as we pick at our dinner, waiting for Dad to come back.
Dad isn’t gone long. The room turns stony once more as he returns and takes his seat. He’s alone. I’m sure everyone is burning with the same question I am—Where is Jeannette?
