Later that night, Carter sprawled on the couch in the television room with Hanna leaning on his chest. By silent agreement they had started spending their nights in the main house. He’d insisted the furniture was more comfortable and she just rolled her eyes and went along with the excuse.
Today had been long and trying. Finding out his father had contributed to her father’s death had not been an easy afternoon. Carter was starting to wonder if he’d ever have an easy one again. But this part he enjoyed, having her back rest against his chest. Listening to her laugh at some dumb joke in this lame buddy heist movie.
Somehow, she’d eased the harsh news into the rest of the day. After an hour of being alone, walking the grounds while he watched helpless and in desperation from the window, she’d bounced back. It was as if hearing the news had freed her to move on.
That made one of them. It knocked him down. He mentally struggled to understand why she didn’t pack her bag and run as far away from the Jamesons as possible.
He slipped his fingers through her hair. “I love that you’re here with me. Despite all the bad memories, this house has always been special to me. With you it’s even more so.”
“Sweet talker.”
But he didn’t want her to think it was a line. He’d never expected her to love him. It was a gift. And with each day his feelings for her became clearer. She’d been so unexpected that he was still trying to get his emotional footing. She deserved more and not just when it came to them.
“I feel like I should apologize for everything that happened to your family.” He kissed the side of her hair, inhaling the scent of her floral shampoo. “I don’t even know where to start.”
She shifted, turning to look up at him. “I kept the baby information from you.”
“Do you know if it was a boy or a girl?” He hadn’t meant to ask that. He wasn’t even sure where the question came from since he’d been blocking out any thoughts of the baby all day.
She slipped her hand over his knee. “A little girl.”
An image flashed in his mind and he pushed it out again. “Was she healthy?”
“Yes.” Hanna flipped around. Her legs balanced over his as she sat sideways, facing him. “I can’t explain what happened that day. What one thing pushed her over the edge. I wish I could.”
“Me, too.”
She leaned her head against the back cushion of the couch. “The doctors I talked to explained that it’s like darkness. Not just a lack of light. It’s more like a weight and it shoves you down and spins tales in your head and convinces you there is no way out. Nothing, not sunshine or trying to be happy or any of the other things people talk about as possible ways through it really work. The darkness is relentless, joyless. It presses and presses until you break.”
He brushed a hand over her hair. The silky strands slipped through his fingers. “Have you ever experienced it?”
“I used to think depression equaled extreme sadness, but now I know that’s wrong. It’s a much bigger, soul-sucking thing.” She slid her fingers through his and brought their joined hands to her mouth.
“Is it weird for you that we’re together after I spent that weekend with her?” He had been avoiding that question from the start. For him, the sisters were so different that he didn’t even connect them in his mind.
“I try not to think about that part.”
“I don’t compare you.” He stressed each word because he needed her to believe him. “You’re distinctly Hanna. Not a substitute. Not the ‘other’ sister. Just Hanna.”
She kissed the back of his hand. “Thank you.”
“You knew that, right?”
“I think I needed to hear it since I’d spent so much of my life in my sister’s shadow.”
There was more. Feelings he hadn’t expected. New priorities he’d tried to ignore but they refused to be pushed aside. “I’m not a guy who sticks around and fights through things.”
She smiled. “I’ve heard.”
“From?”
“You.” She dropped their joined hands to her lap. “You’ve been pretty honest that settling in is not your thing.”
Not before. Now he wasn’t so sure.
He looked at the long stretch of life in front of him and he no longer saw travel and moving and switching houses and being alone. He thought about his brothers and the estate. About her.
Maybe this was how it happened. He’d made fun of his brothers for falling so fast. For acting like they’d lost all sense. He kind of understood it now.
“I think putting down roots could be the new me.”
When she didn’t laugh or run out of the room, he kept going. “The idea of making the estate into something new, an event space, a place for parties. Something other than a home. A place that employs lots of people and offers opportunities. That sounds good to me.”
“And you would run it.”
“Yeah. I’d build it and expand it and live here.” But when he envisioned the plans, he saw her. Them eating dinner and lounging around like they were doing now. “You still married to the idea of living in New York?”
She lifted her head just long enough to tuck her hair behind her ear. “Why, do you need someone to clean this place?”
He laughed. “Yeah, a team of people, but what I’m really saying is I don’t want you to go.”
Her fingers tightened on his. “That’s a big statement.”
The biggest, because what he was really saying was he wanted her here, for a long time. Forever.
“What I feel for you is big.” They sounded so serious as they sat there whispering. He couldn’t help but lighten the mood. “Admittedly, maybe not preteen crush big.”
“Ugh.” She buried her face in her hands. “You knew about that?”
The embarrassment and mumbling were endearing. She could be hot and sexy and sweet and charming. The combination blew his control to pieces.
“The teen me might have ignored you. The grown-up me is so much smarter.”
She lifted her head and started frowning. “What is that sound?”
The buzzing didn’t let up. Carter reached for the remote and clicked on the number to show the security feed. “The box at the entry gate out front.”
“Isn’t that fancy?” Then she leaned forward to study the screen. “Wait, is that your stepmom?”
The image didn’t lie. Beth stood there, without Eldrick or anything but a purse and stared at the house. “That can’t be good.”
“At least she’s alone.”
Carter lifted Hanna’s legs off his lap and stood up. “That’s what I mean. We’re all doomed if she left him.”
“Why do you say that?”
“She’s the reason he lives in Tortola.”
* * *
He went downstairs to retrieve Beth and ushered her into the television room about ten minutes later. Her usual put-together style seemed to be failing. A lock of her hair fell across her forehead and she kept playing with the metal band of her very expensive watch.
She stepped into the room, saw Hanna and the last of her blank expression fell. Beth’s attitude morphed from I’m fine to I’m barely holding it together in a few seconds. “I’m sorry to disturb you.”
“Come inside.” Hanna stood up and gestured for Beth to sit on the couch. “Are you okay?”
“She left my Dad.”
Carter knew because he heard the terrible news on the walk up the stairs. He nearly tripped in response. He could hardly wait to hear Jackson’s and his brothers’ reactions when he sent them a group text.
“Oh.” Hanna shot him a grimace over the top of Beth’s head as she helped the older woman sit down. Not that Beth needed an assist but her hands did shake and Hanna seemed concerned.
The watchband clasp snapped as Beth opened and closed it. “He lied about everything.”
“It’s what he does.”
Hanna shot Carter a look that said he should be quiet. He just shrugged in return.
Beth didn’t appear to hear him anyway. She sat there, shaking her head as she stared at her lap. “All those promises that he was a new man. How loving me changed things.”
“I actually think it did.” That got her attention. Carter didn’t say the words just to comfort her. He really did mean them. “The father I grew up with would never step away from the business, even temporarily, and move to an island to make someone else happy. You mean something to him.”
“How am I supposed to trust him?”
He had to look at Hanna because the pleading in Beth’s eyes proved to be too much after today’s events. “You’ve got me there.”
“Carter.” Hanna stared at the empty space on the other side of Beth on the couch. “Sit down.”
That much closeness struck him as unnecessary. He doubted Beth wanted his company but Hanna’s glare didn’t exactly give him a choice.
“I just wasn’t sure where to go. We were here this afternoon, so I remembered this address.”
“It’s fine.” Carter wasn’t sure what else to say, so he went with that.
“Do you have a bag?” Hanna asked.
Carter did not like where this was going. He could sense his world turning upside down. Again.
Beth shook her head. “I left it at the condo.”
“What condo?”
“Dad kept a place here,” Carter said, answering Hanna’s question.
“You rich guys have a thing for property.”
Leave it to Hanna to take a second out of consoling to land a shot. “Is now the time?”
“You should stay here,” Hanna said, ignoring him. “I’m sure we can find you what you need. I don’t have much, but I’m happy to share.”
Beth smiled at Hanna. “You’re very sweet.”
Carter still hadn’t recovered from that move when Hanna shot him a do-something look over the top of Beth’s head. He knew he’d get sucked into this. “Make a list and I’ll go grab what you need.”
Beth shrugged. “A new husband.”
“That may take me more than fifteen minutes.” Carter jumped up and looked around for his phone. “I’ll call Lynette to make up a room.”
“Don’t bother her. I’ll do it.”
Again with this. “Hanna, you don’t work for me.”
Beth put her hand on Hanna’s knee. “I don’t want to be in the way.”
“There are a ridiculous number of bedrooms in this place. You can have one. Right, Carter?” Hanna looked up at Carter with an expression that suggested he better get the answer correct.
“Sure.” Who wouldn’t want the stepmother he barely knew to stay over when she was fighting with the father he hated? “Top of the stairs, first door on the right. It’s a guest suite and all yours.”
Beth nodded. “Just for tonight.”
Carter doubted that would be true. “For as long as you need it.”
He felt obligated to say that as he watched her leave the room and head for the hall. He waited until she disappeared to turn back to Hanna.
“Now what?” she asked.
They should relocate to another state. Somewhere like Utah. That was the only option here, though Carter knew Hanna would say no. That left him without a Plan B for dealing with his father’s inevitable return.
“I have no idea.”