Jackson ran his hand over his jaw. “That’s true. She was always on all of us.”
“Please never think I didn’t want you. I was so mad at Robert for not telling me about you the second you were born, for keeping you a secret for years. If I’d known, I wouldn’t have let you stay with that ditz of a birth mother for one second longer than necessary.”
“So why didn’t you adopt him?” Sonya’s indignation had been replaced with wary confusion.
Jackson answered for his mother. “Dad stopped you.”
“Yes. He was... He cared about appearances far more than I did. I finally agreed to let Sonya and Reggie adopt him, so he could stay in the house at least. Besides, I could tell Sonya had fallen in love with him the second she held him.” Tani’s lips trembled. “But please don’t think harshly of Robert, Gabe. He loved you dearly, and he came to regret his decision. He just didn’t know how to fix it. And he thought he had time.”
“You’re still protecting him,” Livvy observed. “You don’t need to, Mom.”
“I do.” There was a finality in her voice. “His memory is all I have. I’ll keep it for as long as I can.”
Maile rose and came to Gabe, capturing his face between his hands. She searched his face, as if she were looking for something. “Gabe. We can’t change the past, but we can make the future. We can tell everyone, or we can keep it in the family, whatever you’d like. But we would like you—and Sonya and Rhiannon, of course—to be a part of our family. Formally. Publicly.”
His secret was out.
And they wanted him.
It hurt to breathe. “Excuse me. I need some air.” He moved around all of the people in the room and stepped out onto the balcony. He rested his hands on the porch railing, breathing in the lilac-scented air. This side of the mansion didn’t have a lake view. There were no calming blues to look at. He focused on the trees, the mix of hunter and forest greens.
A second later, the door behind him opened and shut.
Livvy came to stand on one side of him, Jackson on the other.
“What I just can’t understand,” Livvy started, “is if you knew you were my half-brother, why were you always flirting with me?”
He reared back to stare at her, horrified, shocked out of his panic. “What the hell are you talking about? I never, ever flirted with you.”
“Sure you did. You even winked at me.”
“You have been with the wrong men if you think winking constitutes flirting. I probably had something in my eye.”
“I don’t think you’ve ever flirted with me,” Jackson mused.
“I have never, ever flirted with either of you,” he said emphatically. He finally caught the twinkle in Jackson’s eye, and his lips inched up, finding the humor in the twins’ banter. “Trust me.”
Livvy inched closer and brushed her arm against his. “Did Paul know?”
He swallowed. “No.”
Jackson cleared his throat. “But you guys were so close.”
“He loved me. He had his issues, yeah, but... man, when he loved someone...” Gabe smiled, remembering Paul’s grin, the way he’d slap his back, his groan of despair when his team lost the playoffs.
The way he’d handed Kareem over to him, that day at the hospital, with the utmost care and adoration, like he was entrusting Gabe with his most prized possession. “He loved me like a brother, though he didn’t know,” he said huskily. “He loved me like he loved you two.”
“Did he love us?”
“Of course.” Gabe frowned at Livvy. “Was that ever in doubt?”
“We didn’t know him like you knew him. Maybe you can tell us about him,” Jackson said. “Like you tell Kareem.”
Gabe straightened. Here was something he could do for his biological half-siblings. Something that would ease him as well. “I’d like that.”
They were silent for a little while, all of them contemplating the trees. Finally, Gabe looked down at Livvy. “You’re practically on top of me, Livvy. Are you trying to tell me something?”
Jackson peered around him. “She wants a hug,” he translated.
