BRIAN
Smirking at my mom, I looked up to the loft railing above us where Ella was simply watching the scene unfold with amusement playing at the corners of her lips. Mom followed my gaze and squealed. “Oh, Ellamara, hello, dear!” She clasped her hands to her mouth and waited out a bout of emotions. “I’m sorry, I’m just so excited to meet you. Come on down here and give your future mother-in-law a big hug.”
I slapped a hand over my face and groaned. Future mother-in-law? Not that I didn’t think it was an accurate title, but I’d just been accused of being too grown-up and ready for things Ella wasn’t. Things like marriage. Which my mother was mostly likely going to mention every five minutes for the next however long she planned to stay.
Luckily, Ella’s attention was focused on something else. “It’s good to meet you, too,” she said. “And I would come down, but, um…” She grimaced and met my eyes. “Your stairs are kind of steep, and there’s no handrail. I don’t think I can manage them on my own.”
The blood drained from my face and I hurried up the stairs, kicking myself the entire way. I was such an idiot. I never even considered that she hadn’t come downstairs because she couldn’t. She must have felt awful having to say that out loud in front of my mother. “Shit, Ella, I’m sorry,” I whispered when I got upstairs.
She shook off my apology, but her smile was forced. I seriously could kick my own ass right now. “Do you need me to carry you?” I hated to ask, but I wasn’t sure how much help she needed, and I didn’t want to make her ask.
She sucked in a breath and shook her head. “I can make it; I just need to borrow this.” She took my arm and linked hers through it.
I continued to mutter apologies as I walked with her to the top of the stairs. “I’m such an idiot, Ella. I didn’t even—”
“It’s okay, Brian. It’s not your fault.”
It felt like my fault. How the hell was she supposed to live here when she couldn’t even get to and from her bedroom on her own?
Ella stopped at the top of the steps and frowned. She started chewing her bottom lip again.
“You okay?”
She gave me another grimace. “Um…well, it’s just…” She eyed the steps again and sighed. “That’s going to take me a while, and it’s going to hurt, and I haven’t showered or anything yet. If I’m just going to have to come right back up—”
I didn’t let her finish. “Mom? Doug? Could you please come up here for a minute?”
The relief that washed over Ella’s face made me want to kick myself again. “That’s it. I’m calling the real estate agent this afternoon.”
Ella’s eyes bulged. “Don’t be ridiculous. You can’t move just because I have a hard time with stairs.”
The hell I couldn’t. “Watch me.”
She didn’t like my answer, but I was prepared to be stubborn about this. I never wanted to put her in this position again. And I definitely didn’t want her to have to live somewhere where she’d have to either be carried—something she hates—or caused a lot of pain just to get to bed at night.
We were still glaring at each other when my mom and stepdad reached the loft. Mom’s brow was creased with concern. “What’s wrong, honey?”
“Nothing’s wrong. Stairs just aren’t an easy task for Ella. She wanted to meet you, but she’s not quite ready to come down for the day.”
Mom’s eyebrows disappeared up under her bangs. “Well, why didn’t you say so in the first place? Where are your manners?”
I half expected her to smack the back of my head, but she turned to Ella instead. “Sweetheart, it is so wonderful to finally meet you. I’d love to say I’ve heard all about you, but Brian has been extremely tight-lipped about the two of you.” She shot me a scolding look and pulled Ella into a hug. “I suppose that doesn’t matter anymore. You’re here now, and we have all the time in the world to get to know one another. You must be quite the woman to make my baby boy give up his horrid, philandering ways. And just look at you!”
She pulled out of the hug and scanned Ella from head to toe. “You are positively…” She paused, cocked her head to the side as she looked closer at Ella’s appearance, and her smile fell into a frown. “Well, you look like a bit of a train wreck, actually, and…have you been crying?”
“Mom.”
Even Doug voiced a warning this time. “Liz.”
Mom ignored us both and dragged Ella over to the small sofa along the wall of the loft. “What on earth happened to you? You look positively a mess. Please tell me my son normally takes better care of you than this.”
The horror in my mom’s voice made Ella crack a small smile. “Brian takes excellent care of me,” she promised as the two of them sat down. Mom still clung to one of her hands and was now fussing with her hair as well. “He brought me here on the spur of the moment last night because I had an awful day yesterday. He let me be a complete girl and cry all over his shirt for hours until I passed out on him, and then he even made me breakfast in bed this morning, hoping to cheer me up.”
That was my girl. Earning me brownie points with my mom, even though I’d only brought her breakfast after she’d demanded it in retaliation for me torturing her with my immodesty. Still, I had been trying to cheer her up, and I’d totally done all the other stuff, so I’d say the high praise counted.
My chest warmed with pride when my mom’s face softened. She smiled at me as if I were still her little boy that she could tuck into bed at night and sing lullabies to. I couldn’t help the grin that spread across my face in return. My mom’s approval was hard earned. “It’s good to hear he has some decorum,” she teased.
I shrugged. “I had this insanely crazy mom who put the fear of God in me when it comes to treating women right.”
Doug chuckled, and Mom rolled her eyes at both of us. “Well, somebody had to. Your father certainly wasn’t going to do it.” She turned her attention back to Ella with a sigh. “I’m so glad he’s finally found himself a nice girl to look after him. I can tell how happy you make him.” Her eyes misted over, and she sniffled. “I saw what happened on the news last night. It was awful. I’m sorry you had to go through that. I’m sorry his life has made yours harder, but thank you for sticking with my baby through all the craziness.”
Ella gave my mom a watery smile and surprised her with a hug. She whispered something to her that I couldn’t hear but that had my mom gripping Ella fiercely. “God bless you, sweetheart.”
I shot Doug a look, and he just shrugged back with a look that said, Women. When they pulled back, Mom grinned at me. “This one’s a keeper, Brian,” Mom declared.
I smiled at Ella. “I know.”
She let me pull her to her feet and kissed my cheek when I slid my arm around her waist. Mom stared at the two of us as if she was trying not to cry. “Well.” She clapped her hands together, and in the blink of an eye transformed back into the formidable woman I knew her to be. “I suppose we should all get cleaned up and go to lunch to celebrate. Or did you two already have other plans with Ella’s family? I’d like to meet them while I’m here.”
Ella and I both cringed. When I gave her a questioning look, she sighed, knowing we were going to have to explain. Mom was bound to find out sooner or later. I hugged her to me closely and let her do the talking. “Actually…I cut ties with my family last night.”
Mom gasped softly and clasped her fingers over her mouth. Doug stepped next to her, wrapping a supportive arm around his wife while looking at both Ella and me with concern. “What happened?” he asked.
“My dad was mad about my stepsisters being harassed. We fought. It got pretty ugly. He chose his new family over me, like he did when I was eight.” Ella shrugged as if it were no big deal, but she was trembling again. “He told me if I was going to keep dating Brian, then I should leave, so I did. I didn’t even pack a bag. Hence the train-wreck-slept-in-my-clothes-cried-my-eyes-out-all-night look I’m sporting this morning. Brian’s pretty much all I have now.”
At that last declaration, I took her fully into my arms and held her tight. I was suddenly as overcome with emotion as she was.
“It was because of what happened yesterday at the theater?” Mom asked quietly. When her worried gaze met mine, I knew what she was thinking—that my fame had cost Ella her family.
Ella could also sense my mom’s fear and quickly shook her head. “It may have been the catalyst,” she said quietly, “but my problems with my father were much deeper than that.”
“Oh, you poor dear,” Mom whispered. She snatched Ella away from me, pulling her into another firm hug. “Well, welcome to the family, then, honey. We’re happy to have you. Aren’t we, Douglas?”
“Of course.”
I smiled at the way Doug’s face softened when he nodded at Ella. He was a softy for the girls. It was probably a good thing he’d never had daughters, because they’d all have him wrapped around their little fingers. I had no doubt Ella would manage the feat before he and my mom went back to Wisconsin.
Doug’s a good guy. He’s a quiet man, and very kindhearted. But he’s also sharp as a tack and appreciates a healthy dose of wit. And, obviously, since he married my mother, he likes strong, opinionated, feisty personalities. He’d probably love Ella every bit as much as my mom. In fact, the pair of them would probably make some great stand-in parents for Ella, if she needed.
“I’ve been waiting for a daughter my whole life,” Mom said. “Even after I married Doug, I only inherited more boys—Doug has three from his first marriage, you know. They’re all a little younger than Brian, so I haven’t had the chance to gain any daughters yet.”
My head was beginning to hurt. “Tone it down a little, Mom.” Ella looked like a startled deer about to bolt. “We’ve been dating for barely two weeks. We aren’t exactly picking out wedding rings or anything. You’re going to scare her away.”
Mom appraised Ella’s overwhelmed expression and then frowned at me. “Oh, don’t be ridiculous, Brian. No one here was thinking anything about rings or marriage.” Her gaze narrowed on me. “Unless…you were.”
Her eyes flashed with a hunger I recognized even if I’d never seen it in her before. “Mom, no. Don’t even go there.”
She pulled her shoulders back and lifted her chin in the air. “I didn’t. You did.” The smug grin she shot me was downright man-eater. “Honey, if you’re considering—”
“Mom!” I snapped, sharp enough to startle her into silence. Her eyes rounded like baseballs, but she closed her mouth and waited for me to speak. That may have been a first. Ella was gaping at me, too. The feverish look in her eyes was a mixture of shock and panic. I groaned. How had this conversation derailed so quickly?
Rubbing the tension out of my temples, I let out a long breath and looked at my mom with my sternest gaze. “No one is saying anything about marriage, okay? I just meant that you needed to back off a little because you’re being extremely intense, and Ella’s already had to deal with enough drama in the last twenty-four hours. Relax, or you’re going to smother her, and she’s too polite to say so.”
Mom and I stared at each other for a moment, and when she opened her mouth to speak, I cocked a stubborn brow at her. “Resist the temptation, Mom.”
“Well, you were the one—”
“Stop right there.”
“But if you guys are—”
“No.”
“Honey, I just think—”
“No thinking. The subject is dropped.”
I folded my arms and waited out the frantic excitement in her eyes. She stood there a few more stubborn moments, bouncing her gaze back and forth between Ella and me. When she turned to Doug looking for help, he shook his head. “You heard the boy, Liz. You’d better just let it go.”
“Well.” She huffed hotly, then grumbled under her breath. “I was not being too intense. Of all the ridiculous…” She shook her head and smiled at my girlfriend. “Ella. Sweetheart. What do you say we let these men do what they really want to do today, which is crack open a six-pack and watch football, while you and I go shopping? If you didn’t even get to pack a bag, you’re going to need a few of the necessities until you can arrange for your things to be sent here.”
“No,” I said, before Ella could answer.
I cringed at the startled looks they both shot me. I was still too worked up. I hadn’t meant for that to sound quite so forceful. “Sorry. Shopping is fine; I just don’t want the two of you to go alone right now. Not after everything that happened yesterday. There’s too much hype around Ella right now, and it’s just not safe. We can all go shopping together, after we get some lunch or something, if you want to, but I’ll call a security guard to trail us if we go anywhere too public.”
Ella nodded. Last night had really shaken her. Mom reluctantly agreed after catching Ella’s shudder. “Oh, all right. I suppose that’s reasonable. Brian, honey, be a dear and go help your stepfather bring up our luggage from the car while I get Ella all taken care of.”
Without waiting for me to answer, she started dragging Ella toward my bedroom, treating her as if she were four years old. “We’ll draw you a nice hot bath, and I’m sure I’ve got something in my suitcase that you can wear for the day. You’ll feel worlds better once you’ve been able to freshen up.”
I watched them go, wondering if I needed to intervene, but Ella glanced back at me with a reassuring smile that allowed me to let her go. Mom was still babbling as they finally disappeared from my sight.
A hand came down on my shoulder with a playful pat, startling me from the daze my mother had left me in. “Look on the bright side,” Doug said with a chuckle, “your mother’s got someone new to fuss over this week, which means you’re off the hook.”
When I barked out a surprised laugh, he added, “Don’t worry too much. Your mom knows what she’s doing, and from the looks of it, your girl could use a little extra TLC for a few days.”
He had a point. “Can’t argue there. It is her first Christmas without her mom, and I know she’s missing her pretty badly. Her relationship with her dad’s been a real struggle this whole year, but I know how much she was hoping things would work out. She was pretty devastated last night. Mom might actually be the perfect distraction for her.”
Doug smiled, proud of his wife. “Well, let ’em be, then. They can do their girl thing for a while.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right.”
Doug nodded his head toward the stairs. “Let’s go get started on those bags.”
I laughed as I led him downstairs. “She pack the whole house?”
“Only half of it.” Doug smirked. “She ran out of suitcases.”