Mrs. Fierro broke into a grin and cupped Jayce’s cheek. “We’re very happy for you, darling. I was just telling Gabe he should be next. I want grandchildren!”
“Oh, Christ.” Jayce rolled his eyes. “Why don’t you wait until one son is on his honeymoon before you start hounding the others?”
“You’re right, darling. Now get back to that beautiful wife of yours and give her a hug for me.”
Jayce looked over his shoulder and spotted Kristine talking with her mother and new stepfather. He grinned. “I think I’ll do that.”
Gabriella narrowed her gaze at her younger son. “I gave you an out, but I want more detail,” she demanded. “Not that I don’t want you to have a wife and children, but that’s not what this is about. We’ll have that discussion another day.”
Gabe groaned.
“Will you excuse us for a moment, Parker?”
“Of course.”
“Come, Gabriel. Dance with your mother. And smile!”
Gabe muttered under his breath. He knew he was in for it now. At least on the dance floor, she wouldn’t smack him upside the head. She took one look at the Joker grin he had plastered on his face and said, “Dear God. That smile is frightening. Never mind. Just wear a neutral expression.”
When he obliged, her voice took on a sympathetic quality. “Talk to me, honey. What’s really bothering you?”
When she used that tone of voice, he had to open up. She was nothing if not the most understanding woman on earth. She might not like whatever he told her, but she’d put herself in his shoes before reacting.
He sighed. “You’re right that I’m a firefighter and I can be responsible for strangers for a few minutes. But this is different. I can’t handle taking care of someone long-term—especially someone special to us, like Misty.”
“Why not?”
He hung his head. “You know. I’m just not good at taking care of…things.”
“Is this about the dog?”
Gabe bit his lip and nodded.
“Oh, honey. That was years ago. You were a kid. Don’t tell me you’ve been holding on to that all these years.”
“Mom. That dog was my responsibility, and while you guys went skiing, I made up an excuse to stay home and lose my virginity.”
She rolled her eyes. “I remember. You were fifteen, and you paid the price long ago. As I recall, we grounded you for a month, and you grounded yourself for another one.”
“Nothing you and Dad could have done to me would have been worse than my own guilt over leaving Buddy outside where anyone could untie him.” He felt a burning behind his eyes. Before tears could leak out, he straightened and took a deep breath, steeling himself against the emotional threat.
His mother squeezed the hand she held. “I recognize that reaction. Your father would do that occasionally when he told me about some horrific thing that happened on the job.”
He couldn’t speak. He just let his throat close up, staring off into the distance over the happy crowd. Fortunately, his mother didn’t press him. Thiswasn’ta stranger they were talking about. It would devastate him if he let something happen to Misty.
His mother was right. She was almost part of their family. She’d followed Parker everywhere after their parents died. When she wasn’t occupied with dance class or school, she wanted to be part of whatever he was doing.
Parker had never treated her like a tagalong kid. She wasn’t underfoot, so Gabe hadn’t really noticed. The elderly Carlisle grandparents tried to keep everything as normal as they could, but eventually, they couldn’t pay the taxes on a pricey South End town house and support all of them on a fixed income. So they moved to the suburbs.
Recently, Parker and Misty had lost their grandparents. Now Parker was trusting Gabe to take care of the only Carlisle family member left—while he was halfway around the world serving their country. Gabe was screwed. They both were.
* * *
Gabe had tried to come up with a plan that wouldn’t look suspicious. Nothing like opening a new bank account at a branch about as far away from his place of work as he could get…
Misty worked in the financial district as a bank teller. He understood why she’d moved from Saugus back to Boston. Once this city was in your blood, it almost never left. The suburbs must’ve been pretty dull for a fun-loving twenty-two-year-old. According to Parker, she’d spent the last few years taking care of their elderly grandparents. The girl deserved some fun.
Parker had given him her address before he returned to Camp Lejeune for additional training. She couldn’t afford the pricey financial district, so she had found an apartment in an old building in the North End. Gabe worried about her living there. He had heard about some rapes in that neighborhood, and as much as she claimed to be an adult, from Parker’s description she was still an idealistic kid.
