The first night in the Tolliver home went great. Lyla flourished under the care and attention of her parents. It was obvious she’d missed them like crazy, and I was glad I’d suggested coming for a couple days to visit, and that I was able to help bring that golden glow back to those beautiful honey eyes.

We stayed up late hanging out and playing dominos with her folks. Finally, when both of us started struggling to keep our eyes open after such a long drive, Cynthia and Jon sent us both upstairs with our bags. Lyla was set up in her old room, and I was in Will’s, which had thankfully been converted into a guest room. I don’t think I’d have been able to sleep with all of Will’s stuff around me.

It took me a long time to find sleep as it was. What I had to do on this trip was weighing heavily on my mind and heart.

I lay on my back in the bed, staring up at the ceiling as I struggled to quiet my mind, but it just wasn’t happening. Deciding on another route, I clasped my palms together and rested them on my stomach. Then I started talking.

“Hope you can hear me, brother,” I said quietly into the darkness. “I know she’s your sister, Will, but I love her. I’ll do right by her. I swear that to you. I’d never do anything to hurt either of you, I hope you know that.” I stopped, waiting for god only knew—a sign, something to prove to me that my best friend was listening. “Miss you, brother. Every goddamn day. Miss you like I would a piece of me. I hope you trust me enough to know I’ll take care of her, and I pray you know I’ll earn the privilege of having her every day of my life if she’ll let me.”

A few more minutes ticked by before I started to drift again, and a little while later I was out.

That was last night, now it was the next morning. I’d woken up and hopped in the shower before dressing and heading for Lyla’s room. The door was open, the room empty, so I moved down the steps toward the sound of voices coming from the kitchen.

“Morning, sweetie,” Cindy greeted. She stood at the stove flipping pancakes on the griddle while Jon sat at the table drinking a cup of coffee and reading the paper. He’d always been old school like that, refusing to give up the hard copy he could hold in his hand to reading them electronically. “You hungry?”

I looked at the huge spread lining the counter beside her. Bacon, eggs, sausage, pancakes, and three different kinds of syrup. “Well I wasn’t until I smelled all this. Now I’m starved. Thanks.”

“Of course. Coffee’s on.” She tipped her chin in the direction of the pot. “Mugs in the cabinet above. You know where the sugar and stuff is, so help yourself.”

“Thanks again.” I planted a kiss on her cheek as I passed and went to make myself a cup of coffee. “Lyla in the shower?”

“She woke up and headed into the garage,” Jon answered. “Said she had some stuff to take care of with Stone.”

I rounded the counter and took a seat across from Jon at the table. He folded the paper carefully, placing it on the wooden surface in front of him, and rested his elbows on the arms of his chair as he looked at me. “How is she?” he asked.

I took in his demeanor. His was the position of a man about to get serious, a man who cared about his daughter and was struggling to hide his concern.

I set my coffee mug down and gave him my full attention. “She’s good, Jon. She’s been talkin’ about takin’ graduate classes. I think she’s happy.”

His relief was visible. His shoulders relaxed, and he sat back more comfortably in the chair. “Good. I feel better knowing you’re there to take care of her.”

Leaning in, I braced my forearms on the table and dove right into the topic I’d been gearing up for the whole trip here. “I’m glad you think that, because I’m in love with your daughter.”

His back went straight at the same time the spatula clattered on the stove. I looked over to Cindy to find her turning all the burners off before scurrying to take the chair beside her husband.

Pulling in a deep, fortifying breath, I continued on. “If I’m being honest, I’ve loved her since the first time I met her. I fought it because I knew it wasn’t right—”

“Not right?” Cindy cut in. “Sweetheart, what are you talking about?”

“It’s just… I know I have a reputation. But I’d never, never do anything to hurt Lyla. She means everything to me. I want you to know that.”

“We know,” Jon replied definitively. “We’ve always known that, son. We’re just glad you finally realized it.”

“I… what?”

Cindy’s giggle sounded just like her daughter’s as she leaned in to Jon and placed a hand on his arm. “It’s sweet how young people can be so clueless nowadays,” she told him before turning back to me. “Mace, honey, we’ve known for years that you and Lyla were it for each other.”

“True, we weren’t too excited about it when you were twenty and our baby girl was only fifteen, but you did right by not going there then,” Jon added. “Gotta say, son, I’m shocked it took you this long.”

“I—but….” The conversation had totally gotten away from me. I’d lost track of where I was heading and veered completely off course into uncharted territory. “Will was my brother. I didn’t want to disrespect him.”

“Disrespect him?” Cindy asked, her forehead creasing in confusion. “How would that be disrespecting him?”

My gut twisted into uncomfortable knots. Unable to meet their eyes, I looked down into my coffee mug as I answered, “I knew he wouldn’t want me for her.”

Silence descended on the table for a good two minutes before her soft voice sounded. “Mace, honey. Please look at me.”

When I finally found the courage to turn my eyes back to them, hers, the same beautiful gold as her daughter’s, were shining with unshed tears. Jon’s throat bobbed as he gripped his wife’s hand like a lifeline.

“Will loved you,” she whispered. “He loved you so much, Mace. You and the rest of the guys were always more than just friends. You were his family. He saw how you treated his sister like she was the finest china. He saw how you handled her with care, and he wanted you for her. There wasn’t a single doubt in his mind that you were the best man out there for her.”

I opened my mouth to respond, but it was impossible. My throat tightened painfully, the lump that had formed making it impossible to speak.

“Broke his heart the day Daniel put that ring on his little sister’s finger,” Jon continued. “He’d had it in his head since you were kids that one day it’d be you and Lyla. Never could understand why you kept our girl at arm’s length.”

“I didn’t….” Christ, this hurts. “I didn’t think—”

Cynthia reached across the table and placed her hand on top on mine. “Do not doubt for one single second that my boy is looking down on us right now, happy as can be. Not one second, you hear me?”

“I didn’t know,” I managed to croak past the emotion lodged in my throat, threatening to choke me. “I wish I’d known.”

“Don’t do that, son,” Jon demanded. “Don’t do that to yourself. Let go of regret. Doesn’t do anyone any good, so let it go. You hear me?” I gave him a nod even though I wasn’t feeling it. “You hold on to the fact that Will loved you and held you in such high regard that he wanted you for the one person on this earth who meant everything to him. That’s what you need to concentrate on. Nothing else matters. Not a single damn thing.”

I tried my best to hold them back. Christ, I tried so damn hard, but two tears managed to break through and slip down my cheeks before I could catch them. The second they did, Cynthia got up and closed the distance, bent at the waist, and wrapped me in her arms.

“I miss him,” I whispered, my voice ravaged.

“We all do, honey.” She sniffled, her own tears bleeding into the fabric of my T-shirt. “And we always will. But we have each other. He gave us that, so we’ll make it through.”

The embrace seemed to last forever, and we finally broke apart when the sound of Jon’s chair scraping across the tile floor sounded through the room. Cynthia stood tall, wiping at her cheeks with the back of her hand. I shifted my focus to the other side of the table and watched as Jon, his eyes rimmed in red as he fought to control his own emotions, came close and placed his hand on my shoulder.

“He was taken from us too soon.” He paused to clear his throat before carrying on. “That kind of loss stays with a person. But every day we had him was a blessing, and those memories can never be taken from us. You hold on to those memories. I know I will. My son was a good man. He had a big heart, and he gave us you. He gave you Lyla. Don’t squander that gift, yeah?”

I clapped my hand on his and gave it a firm squeeze. “Yes, sir.”

He sniffed and nodded, releasing my shoulder to give it a pat. “Good,” he whispered raggedly. “Good. Now I’m starvin’, woman,” he said to his wife. “Feed me before I waste away to nothin’.”

And just like that, the heavy pall that had been hanging over us lifted and life went back to normal. Then again, I shouldn’t have expected anything else. Will was the man he was because of the two people who’d raised him.

“Such a pain in my backside,” Cynthia muttered with a roll of her eyes, but there was no missing the smile that tugged at her lips as she headed back to the stove.

“You need a warm-up?” Jon asked, tipping his chin to my mug.

“Yes, sir.”

As Cynthia went back to cooking and Jon got me a fresh cup, I lifted my eyes to the ceiling and thought, Love you, brother. Thanks for making me a part of something so special.

And, I swear to Christ, I felt a warmth bloom across my skin just then like the sun was beaming down on me. I knew, I just knew my brother was looking down on me at that very second, and just like Cynthia said, he was happy as could be.