“Who said I’m uncomfortable with my brother and his girlfriend?” Mia laid her hand on Gabriella’s forearm.
Belatedly making Gabriella aware that she was the girlfriend in question.
“You seemed reluctant to stay with either one of them at the beginning of our conversation,” Ellen reminded her, hazel eyes missing nothing as her glance darted from Clay to Gabriella and then back to Mia. “And as a representativeof this facility, I can’t allow you to leave without appropriate supervision?—”
“I’ve known Gabriella for two years.” Mia sat forward in her seat, her whole demeanor shifting from surly teen to responsible grown-up in a flash. She shoved aside the dark strands of hair that curled in all directions after the rain shower, then straightened into a more attentive posture. “She was my mentor in an online support group and gave me direction during the most difficult year of my life. If I sounded unhappy with her earlier, it’s only because my father’s health has me scared.”
Gabriella resisted the urge to glance over at Clay, but she wondered if he was as impressed—and surprised—at this sudden about-face in his sister’s behavior. Apparently the idea of having Mrs. Duchesne involved in her affairs had the teen worried.
“That would be acceptable,” Ellen agreed, returning her attention to the tablet. “But my notes also say that Ms. Chance has no permanent residence here and?—”
“That’s not entirely true.” Gabriella had roots here. And—jointly owned with her brother—a home. A plan came together in her mind as she sifted through their options. “My brother is the mayor of Heartache and he’s staying in Franklin this week for the Covington trial.” The case had been in the local papers ever since Covington’s arrest, so Gabriella had no doubt their hospital liaison was well aware of it. “I share ownership of our childhood home in Heartache and there is more than enough room for Mia and me to stay there for a few days while it’s vacant. There is a separate in-law apartment, in fact, if we need to extend our stay after my brother returns.”
She felt Clay’s gaze on her now.
“You don’t have to do this,” he warned her in a low voice while the counselor scribbled notes.
“Someoneneeds to stand up for her,” she reminded him softly, shooting him a meaningful glare. “Mia needs to know she won’t be abandoned.”
Gabriella wouldn’t leave the girl with a respite worker in the foster system—not when she could stay with Gabriella temporarily. Zach protected her financial interests and had accumulated a tidy portfolio in the years since he’d started his own business, buying back many of their father’s assets after much of the estate had been seized, including—for a few years—the home, land, and a collection of vehicles. While Gabriella earned very little in her mostly volunteer work, Zach had invested on her behalf for the last decade, insisting her name went on the deed with his when he bought it back at auction. Their mother hadn’t ever wanted to return to Tennessee anyhow, and Zach had helped her make ends meet along with a small pension she had in her name alone.
“Zachary Chance.” Ellen smiled warmly as she leaned back in her leather chair. “I thought your last name sounded familiar. I remember your brother well from the year he volunteered at a senior center in Heartache where my mother was a long-term resident. His visits meant the world to Hattie Fields and her whole family.”
There had been a time in Gabriella’s life where it had been difficult to continually hear what a great guy Zach was—especially since she had always felt like it was her fault she’d interrupted the good life he’d started to build in Heartache before her attack. But time and therapy had eased that guilt and now she felt only pride at the way Zach still balanced his good works and volunteering with running a very successful business.
“I’ll tell Zach.” Gabriella hoped that the people she helped through her support group would one day recall her with the same fondness as Ellen and her mother remembered Zach. But judging the way Mia had blasted her for withholding the truth about her brother, she had her doubts. “So would that arrangement be workable? Mia can stay with me in Heartache for a few days?”
“As long as Mia is amenable?” Ellen looked to Mia, who nodded quickly. “And an upstanding representative of her family?” Ellen’s silver bob swished as she turned to glance at Clay.
Clayton’s dark eyes lingered on Gabriella. Her skin pricked with awareness at his attention even as she resented his lack of involvement where Mia was concerned. How could he bear to see his sister handed off to strangers, especially after all the hardship and upheaval she’d already had in her young life?
“That will be fine.” He shifted in his seat, turning to face Ellen. “For now, at least. If my father doesn’t make a full recovery, we may have no choice but to investigate other options.” He signed a release form that Ellen slid across the desk. “Gabriella’s stay in Heartache is only temporary.”
The reminder turned a solemn group even more so as they filed out of Ellen’s office. Gabriella wasn’t sure if Clay had brought up that fact as a heads-up to Mia that she couldn’t hide from the reality of Pete’s declining health forever. Or had Clay mentioned the timeline as a none-too-subtle reminder to Gabriella that Mia wasn’t her business?
Either way, the words put a wall between them as they returned to the waiting area where a nurse informed Clayton and Mia that they could see Pete now that he’d been moved to his room.
Gabriella hesitated for a moment, but followed them tothe room the nurse indicated. Things might be awkward between her and both Clayton and Mia, but she suspected they were even more awkward between the siblings who’d never met before today. Still, she hung back while the two stood over the old man’s bed.
Actually she didn’t think Pete was all that old, but the years had taken a hard toll on the yellowed face that rested on a crisp white hospital pillow. IVs hung on a metal stand above his head, and Mia checked the labels on both of them before smoothing the sheet across the pale blue hospital gown that covered her father’s thin chest.
Something about that gesture made Gabriella’s throat catch. The teen had a complicated relationship with her father—she’d shared her confusion with Gabriella about meeting him for the first time as a fourteen-year-old, and she didn’t know what to make of his battle to win custody of her. But Mia was ultimately grateful to Pete for claiming her, and the evidence of that was clear in her tender touch of the weathered forehead before she planted a kiss there.
Mia looked younger as she stood over him, her expression vulnerable. Clay, on the other side of the bed, stood rigid. No doubt his emotions were even more complicated than those Mia dealt with. But then, he’d lived with a much different man than the sobered-up Pete Yancy Mia had gotten to know.
Clay blamed his father for his brother Eddy’s death. And, probably, a whole lot more that Gabriella didn’t know about. But didn’t it soften his heart just a little to see how much it meant to Mia to have found a home with their father? Didn’t it sway him to want to be a part of her life, too?
When a nurse returned to take Pete’s vital signs, she suggested they return the next day since visiting hours werecoming to a close and they considered Pete stable for the night.
They left the hospital quietly and drove in silence to retrieve Mia’s things for school from Pete’s house. Mia huddled in a corner of the backseat with her hoodie pulled up over her head, her earbuds in her ears moments after they left the building.
Of course, it wasn’t just the unusual dynamics of the housing situation that made for an awkward car ride. Gabriella understood that Pete Yancy’s health scare would mean very different things to Mia and Clay. For Clay, losing his father meant he’d forever miss out on the chance to make peace with the old man. As for Mia, she’d lose what security she’d found with him in the last six months. No matter that the girl’s relationship was more that of a caretaker than a daughter, at least the home life was stable.
Once they arrived at Pete’s darkened residence, Mia bolted from the car. The rain had stopped, but the night was all the colder for the storm, a chilly wind whipping into the rental vehicle during the few moments the door was open. Gabriella stared down at the Family Life Services paperwork on the front seat between her and Clayton, knowing that it ought to be his name in the blank for temporary guardian.
She peered across at Clay, sprawled in the passenger seat.
“I hope you understand why I offered to watch over Mia.” Gabby had mixed feelings of her own about being back in the Chance house where she’d spent the summer from hell. So much had gone wrong there.
