She was not happy about it. In fact, she ranted about it almost as often as she apologized to me about my nose. Whichwas not her fault. I continued to remind her that violence from a man wasneverthe fault of a woman.
Though I hated what had happened, how it had traumatized her, I was secretly happy that it had pushed Finn into her house. I was hopeful about something happening between them. Maybe because I was living in my own bubble of love and now had faith it could also happen to people I loved.
Lori teased me good-naturedly about becoming “one of them.” Them being the Jupiter women, paired in unlikely, too-good-to-be-true love stories.
Which maybe, just maybe, I was.
Except now my estranged brother was at my doorstep, likely dragging more drama with him.
When I felt a warmth at my back, I wasn’t surprised Beau made his presence known. I’d opened the front door, he’d heard a male voice from his open door in the office. He was protectivebefore. Now it was almost out of control.
Before Beau could assert his dominance, my brother rustled some up. Yet too little, too late, and in the completely wrong direction.
“Didyoudo this to her?” Jack stepped forward, to do what, I didn’t know since Beau had about a foot and a hundred pounds on him.
Jack was stepping intoBeau’s house, accusing him of abusinghiswoman. I knew that wasn’t going to go down well. Yet Beau had been on his best behavior. He hadn’t raised his voice in the house that past week. He was trying not to trigger me. Treated me with care.
But he was still Beau. Grumpy. Alpha. Overprotective. I figured this was when his self-control would break.
Beau’s spine stiffened, but he kept his hand on the small of my back. “No,” he replied calmly. “I absolutely did not do this to her. And who are you?”
His tone was perfectly even.
“Hi.”
All three of our heads spun downward. Clara. Standing next to us, in her tutu, offering a smile to my brother.
And my brother, for all his misgivings, was not the asshole who didn’t smile at small children.
He looked ten years younger when the grin stretched across his face. “Hi there, darling.”
“I’m Clara.” She held out her hand.
“I’m Jack,” he replied, looking upward at Beau for a small moment—maybe ensuring that he wasn’t going to punch him—then shook Clara’s small hand. “Hannah’s brother.”
Clara looked up at me, beaming. “Yourbrother! Oh, come in. Daddy will make you a hot chocolate. I’ve heardallabout you.”
Jack’s brow raised, looking at me. “You have?”
He was likely surprised I’d been telling anyone about him.
“Of course, she has. Hannah tells meeverything.” She tugged on his hand. “Now come in. It’s cold. Are you staying here? We’ve got a spare room. Daddy, get his bags.”
In a couple of sentences, Clara had made her will known and had ensured that there was no way around this family reunion.
And who were we to disobey her?
I had not imagined that the first evening I’d have with my brother in years would end up being nice. But Clara was in attendance. She made the benign wonderful and the complicated tolerable. She told Jack about everything we had done since I arrived, asked a multitude of questions about Jack’s own life, and he’d told her everything—even things I didn’tknow. He had a puppy named Spot, he played pickleball, and had recently been scuba diving in Jamaica.
And she’d somehow fished out some happy memories from our childhood—us fishing together then trying to cook the fish ourselves in the woods, almost starting a forest fire. Backyard baseball games.
It felt nice. To realize that my childhood was not all pain and scarcity, to recognize that those things had not drowned out all of the joy.
But eventually, Beau had to put Clara to bed. And he had done that while shooting a meaningful look to me, asking without words if I was okay being alone with Jack.
Always protecting me. I smiled and gave him a subtle nod.
He kissed my neck before bidding Jack a semi-cordial good night. Beau was polite for Clara’s sake, but he was not happy about Jack being there. That made two of us. Jack was a stark reminder of the past.
