Come Together by Marie Force

Chapter Ten

“Never to suffer would never to have been blessed.”

—Edgar Allan Poe

With his aunt and uncle settled in the waiting room, Grayson took the cell phone he rarely used anymore with him when he went down to the lobby to call his father. He hadn’t talked to him in almost a year, since he’d donated the bone marrow that had saved his father’s life. He’d heard from others that Mike was doing better and in remission, but other than a note he’d received in the mail a month after the transplant thanking him for the life-saving gift, Grayson hadn’t had any further contact.

And that was fine with him.

Yes, he’d donated to save his father’s life, but that was the end of it as far as Gray was concerned. He’d never forgive Mike for abandoning their family when Gray was sixteen or the changes that action had brought about for all of them, but mainly their mother, him, Noah and Izzy. As the three eldest, they’d had to take on way more responsibility than any of them should’ve had at sixteen, fourteen and thirteen.

Before he could talk himself out of making the call, he pressed the single word on his contact list: Dad.

“Grayson?”

“Yes, it’s me.”

“Is everything all right?”

He had to give Mike credit for knowing there was no way he’d hear from any of his eight children unless something was wrong.

“Izzy was in a bad accident the night before last. She’s in the ICU.”

“Is she… Will she be all right?”

“Eventually.”

“Which hospital?”

“Northeastern. There was some talk yesterday of transferring her to UVM in Burlington, but they were able to treat her here.”

“Is she stable?”

“She is after surgery to remove her spleen and repair some other internal damage. She also broke her arm and two ribs. Her face is banged up, too.”

“Poor Izzy. How upset you all must be.”

“We are.”

“Could I… I mean, would it be okay if I came by to see her?”

“I suppose so but let me know when you’re coming.”

“I’ll try to get there today or tomorrow, and I’ll give you a heads-up. Thank you for calling, Gray.”

“Yeah, no problem.”

He ended the call and sat in the busy lobby for a long time, trying to contend with the emotions that always came from hearing his father’s voice. People talked about “triggers.” Mike Coleman’s voice triggered Grayson and took him right back to an awful time in his life that he’d much sooner forget than relive.

“I wondered where you’d run off to.”

Grayson perked up at the sound of his favorite voice in the world, smiling at his fiancée as she took the seat next to him and reached for his hand. How had he ever lived before he had Emma and Simone to love him and be loved by him? He could barely remember what life was like without them, and that was just fine with him.

“I had to make a call for my mom.”

She looked at him the way only she ever had. “Why do you seem wrong in the eyes?”

“The call was to my father.”

“Oh.”

Emma knew better than just about anyone how difficult his recent interaction with his father had been for him. When they’d discovered he was a perfect match, he’d donated the bone marrow and acted like it was no big deal. But Emma knew how gut-wrenching the entire thing had been for him, how Gray had briefly considered declining the donation request. In the end, Gray hadn’t been able to deny his father a second chance at life, even though he had every reason to.

“How was it?”

“No biggie. I just told him about Izzy.”

“What did he say?”

“He asked if he could come to see her.”

“Are you going to let him?”

“My mom said it was okay with her if he wanted to. Not sure Izzy would want to see him, but we’re not going to bar the door. We’ll see if he even shows up. He’s the king of good intentions that never pan out.”

She reached for his hand and curled her fingers around his. “I hate the way he steals your joy every time you have to deal with him.”

“Aw, baby, he can’t steal my joy when I get to look at your beautiful face every day and kiss your sweet lips and sleep with you in my arms.”

Her small, satisfied smile lit her up eyes. “You do have a way with words, Counselor.”

“I have the best muse to inspire me. Thanks for coming to be with us.”

“Of course we came to be with you. We love Izzy and you and your family.”

“They love you and Simone, too.” He kissed the back of her hand. “I finally got a chance to ask Noah to be my best man.”

“What did he say?”

“He seemed shocked that I’d asked him, but he said yes.”

“That’s great. And you’re still good with just having Noah and Lucy?”

“It’s either two or twenty, and twenty is too many. I wouldn’t know where to stop asking siblings and cousins.”

“I know, and I agree it’s just simpler this way.”

“I wish we didn’t have to wait five more months to tie the knot. That seems like forever.”

“It’ll go by so fast you won’t believe it.”

“You promise?”

“I do, and you know I’m always right.”

Grayson laughed at the sassy look she gave him. “Yes, dear, you’re always right.”

“See that? You’re so ready to be a husband.”

“Only because I get to marry you.”

If he had to see his father, he’d be okay because he could go home to her afterward, and she’d give him everything he needed and then some. He was thankful for her every day, but never more so than at times like this when his painful past reared its ugly head. Knowing he had her—and Simone—made everything better.

* * *

Noah drove home justafter eight, bringing his sisters Sarah, Ally and Vanessa to spend the night at his house. Henry was going to stay at their mom’s but had promised to come over to hang out with the rest of them at Noah’s. For once, Noah was glad to be surrounded by his younger siblings to help keep his mind off the stressful day at the hospital.

Izzy was doing okay, but she looked rough. Her face was bruised and swollen, her bottom lip split open, and her left arm broken. And those were just the injuries they could see on the outside. The internal damage had been of far more concern initially. The nurse had told them that Izzy would probably leave the ICU in the next couple of days if she continued to improve.

That was the good news.

The bad news was that she faced months of recovery that might include inpatient rehab.

“I feel so bad for Iz.” Vanessa’s soft words broke a long silence. “She won’t be able to work for months.”

“I know,” Sarah said. “It’s terrible, and I hate that I can’t stay to help her when she gets home. I have to get back to Boston soon. I can’t miss any more classes, or I’ll never catch up.”

She was a nursing student at Northeastern, in the fourth year of a five-year program.

“You can take my car,” Ally said. “I’m going to stay for a bit. I can work from anywhere.” As an account executive with a marketing firm, she had a lot of leeway.

“I’m going to stay, too,” Vanessa said. “I’m job hunting, and I can do that from here.”

“What happened to your job?” Noah asked.

“Her boss got handsy with her, and when she reported him to HR, he tried to have her fired, so she quit,” Sarah said.

“What?” Noah asked. “Did you tell Gray about this?”

“No,” Vanessa said with a sigh. “I’ve barely told anyone. It’s all so embarrassing. I was just trying to do my job, and he wouldn’t leave me alone. But he’s a VP, a rainmaker, they call him, and I’m just a lowly admin, so they weren’t about to take my side.”

“Vanessa, that’s a lawsuit looking for a place to happen,” Noah said. “You need to tell Gray and ask him what he can do for you.”

“Maybe. I don’t know. I’ll think about it.”

“You have to,” Noah said, feeling more agitated by the second. The thought of a man hassling any of his sisters was enough to make him see red. “You can’t let them get away with that shit. It’s harassment.”

“We’ve been telling her that for weeks,” Ally said.

“I’ll talk to Gray,” Vanessa said. “Now drop it. I don’t want to think about that right now.”

Noah reached across the center console to put his hand on top of hers.

Vanessa turned her hand up to squeeze his. “Thanks for caring, big brother.”

“Of course I care. I’d like to go beat the shit out of the asshole who harassed you.”

She laughed, which made him feel better. “Don’t do that, but thanks for wanting to.”

“Hell yes, I want to.”

“We all do, Nessa,” Sarah said. “It’s total bullshit what he did—and how they covered for him. How much you want to bet it’s not the first complaint they’ve gotten against him? But as long as he keeps the money coming in, they look the other way.”

“Total crap,” Ally said emphatically.

Noah pulled onto his street, wondering whose car was in front of his house with the lights on.

“Who’s that?” Sarah asked.

“Not sure.” As he got closer, he noticed the Massachusetts license plate and realized it was Brianna.

And why did that realization make him feel so happy? When was the last time he’d felt anything close to that? And what the hell was wrong with him?

“Who is it, Noah?” Nessa asked.

“One of my work colleagues.”

“What’s he doing here?”

“I don’t know what she’s doing here, but let’s find out.” He pulled into the driveway and got out of the truck as Brianna got out of her car. She looked cute with a knit hat holding her wildly curly hair down. “Hi there.”

“Hi. I hope you don’t mind that I asked Mrs. H where you live. I thought you guys might be hungry. I brought you some food.”

Touched by the sweet gesture, he couldn’t stop the smile that stretched across his face. He’d been doing a lot of that lately. “That’s so nice of you. We were going to send my brother to Kingdom Pizza.”

“Now you don’t have to.”

“Now we don’t have to.” He couldn’t stop staring at her, drinking in every detail of her pretty face as his heart fluttered erratically. She’d come to his house with food. What did that mean?

She pressed a button on her key fob to open her trunk.

The smell hit him first, making his mouth water. Garlic and basil. “Wow, that smells good. What’d you make?”

“My grandmother’s lasagna. Will you help me carry it in?”

“I suppose that’s the least I can do.”

She put two big pans in his outstretched arms and grabbed another cloth bag from the trunk before shutting the lid and following him into the house. Shockingly, his sisters had already gone in, but only because they were freezing. They were probably watching him through the window and trying to figure out who this woman was to him.

He’d like to know that himself. Inside, he wiped his feet on the mat and went right to the kitchen to put down the heavy load. “You made a ton,” he said when Brianna joined him.

“There are a lot of you. I wanted to make sure there was enough.”

“This is really nice of you. Thank you so much.”

She shrugged off his thanks. “I wanted to help.”

He wanted to kiss her but didn’t dare with his sisters nearby. “You did.”

Brianna unpacked the bag, which contained a large salad, two big loaves of garlic bread and a pan of brownies.

“I can’t believe you did all this,” he said, amazed by what she’d brought.

“Is it too much?” she asked, seeming adorably uncertain.

“No, it’s very sweet. Thank you again. I’m starving.”

“I thought you might be. How’s your sister?”

“She’s okay, but it’s going to be a long road to recovery.”

“I’m so sorry she’s hurt and that you are because she is.”

Before he could respond to that, his sisters came into the room, probably driven by mouthwatering smells as much as a potential scoop. Noah has a woman in his house. That would be big news in the Coleman family.

“Brianna, these are my sisters, Ally, Vanessa and Sarah. Ladies, this is Brianna Esposito, the architect in charge of the inn project.”

Ally’s mouth formed an O as if she’d just put two plus two together to equal God knew what conclusion.

“Brianna brought us dinner. Say thank you, and don’t ask any questions that are none of your business.”

“Thank you, Brianna,” the three of them said.

“Now tell us everything about you,” Vanessa said as she made herself at home in Noah’s kitchen, getting out plates and silverware.

“You don’t have to do that,” Noah said, glaring at his sister.

“I don’t mind,” Brianna said, laughing. “It’s kind of a boring story of school, school, more school, followed by a job in Boston that brought me to Vermont to rebuild the inn with your brother.”

“Where do you live in the city?”

“Back Bay,” Brianna said. “How about you guys?”

“We’re in the North End,” Ally said. “We all live within a few blocks of each other. Our brother Jackson is there, too. He’s skiing in Wyoming with some friends right now.”

“He texted that he’s trying to get home,” Sarah said. “I told him that Izzy is okay and wouldn’t want him to interrupt his vacation, but he’s coming anyway.”

“We’d all do the same thing if we were him,” Nessa said. “This lasagna is fantastic, Brianna. I need the recipe.”

“Sure, I can get it to you. It’s my grandmother’s.”

“Was she Italian?” Ally asked.

“Full-blooded. I loved to cook with her, and she loved to teach me.”

“And Colemans love to eat, so it’s a win-win,” Noah said.

“I’m glad you like it,” Brianna said, seeming embarrassed by their praise.

“You’re not having some?” Nessa asked her.

“I ate earlier.”

Noah suddenly remembered what she’d told him the other night. “Wait, you’re a vegetarian, so you made something for us that you wouldn’t eat yourself?”

“I have no issue cooking with meat. I just don’t like the way it tastes or the consistency of it. I’ve never eaten meat. Even as a little kid, I just hated it.”

“Well, thank you for taking one for the team for us,” Ally said. “It’s excellent.”

The mudroom door opened, and Henry came in, bringing a gust of cold air with him. “What’s this I hear about food?”

“Henry can sniff down food like a bloodhound,” Sarah said.

“Everyone has their talents,” Henry said.

“I’ll get you a plate,” Nessa said. “Meet Noah’s friend Brianna, who makes the best lasagna you’ve ever had.”

“I’m telling Mom you said that,” Sarah said.

“Mom would agree,” Noah said. “This is the best lasagna ever.”

“You guys are good for a girl’s ego,” Brianna said with a smile.

“Brianna, this is my youngest brother, Henry. He’s a bit feral, but we love him anyway.”

“Aw, thanks, Noah. If I’m feral, what the hell are you?”

“Don’t anyone answer that question,” Noah said with a glare for his siblings that made Brianna laugh.

“What’s the age difference between you guys?” Brianna asked.

“Grayson is the oldest,” Sarah said. “He’s thirty-seven. Soon to be thirty-eight. He’s the oldest of all the grandkids. He beat Hannah and Hunter by a month.”

“I’m next,” Noah said.

“He’ll be thirty-six in March,” Ally said. “Izzy is thirty-five, Nessa is thirty-two, and I just turned thirty.”

“They’re all senior citizens compared to us,” Henry said, receiving scowls from his older siblings. “Jackson is twenty-eight, I’m twenty-four, and Sarah is the ultimate baby diva of the family at twenty-two.”

Sarah stuck her tongue out at her brother. “Shut up.”

“You shut up,” Henry retorted.

“The two of them have been fighting since the second Sarah was born,” Ally said.

“Our family was perfect at seven,” Henry said, frowning dramatically. “They should’ve quit when they realized they’d finally found perfection with me.”

“Oh my God,” Nessa said. “Are you listening to yourself right now?”

“His voice is his favorite one to listen to,” Sarah said.

Brianna lost it laughing. “You guys are hilarious.”

“They’re ridiculous,” Noah said, amused by his siblings. He’d forgotten how fun it was to be with them this way, and even though he felt terrible about Izzy’s accident, he was glad to have them home.

The others did the dishes while Noah sat with Brianna, trying to keep things casual, to not give away too much to his perceptive siblings, who’d zoom right in on the attraction he felt for her if he let it show. He kept it together until they’d all left the kitchen to take showers, check in with work or watch TV.

“So that’s my family, or most of it, anyway. There’re three more.”

“That’s a lot of siblings.”

“Sure is. You should’ve seen what it was like when we all lived at home. Utter mayhem.”

“It sounds like fun to someone who only had one much older sibling.”

“It was, most of the time.” At least until his dad left, and then nothing was fun for a long time. But they’d survived. Somehow.

“You’re lucky to have each other.”

“I know. Gray asked me to be the best man in his wedding. That was surprising.”

She took a sip of the red wine he’d poured for everyone. He didn’t own wineglasses, so Brianna was drinking hers from an old Scooby-Doo jelly jar. “How so?”

“I figured he’d ask Hunter or someone he was closer to than me.”

“What do you suppose it means that he asked you?”

“That he feels closer to me than anyone, which is amazing since we don’t see very much of each other these days.”

“Doesn’t he live here?”

“Yeah, about a mile from here.”

“And you hardly see him?”

Noah squirmed under the intense way she looked at him. He shrugged. “We’re both busy.”

“You ought to see him more often now that you know what you mean to him.”

“Is that right?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

He smiled at the emphatic way she said that. “I’ll take that under advisement.”

“Is it okay that I came here tonight?” she asked, seeming a bit shy and uncertain, which was adorable considering the way she ran roughshod over him at work.

“It was great that you came. We appreciate the meal. It’s been a very long day.”

“I was hoping you wouldn’t mind if I came without asking you first. In the world I live in, I could’ve hit you up and said, ‘Hey, Noah, how about I drop off dinner for you guys?’”

“I like it better this way. It was a nice surprise to come home to—the food and you.” After glancing over his shoulder to make sure no one was lurking, he reached for her hand. “I’m really sorry about last night.”

“Don’t be. You had an emergency.”

“And no way to call you, which we need to rectify.” He released her hand to grab a pen and a napkin. “Give me the number at your house.”

She recited the number.

“And your cell.”

She gave him that number, too.

“Thanks. Feel free to use the number I gave you earlier any time.”

“You do the same.”

“Don’t mind if I do.” He reached for her hand again, this time linking their fingers. “Were you upset last night? Tell me the truth.”

“A little.”

“I’m sorry I did that to you. After everything we talked about the other night, I hope you know I’d never do something like that to you on purpose.”

“I hoped I hadn’t been wrong about you.”

“You weren’t. I swear. Even if I suddenly decided I didn’t want to get together again—and that’s not what happened—I never would’ve just blown you off. I promise you that.”

“That’s a big promise to make.”

“It’s an easy promise to make after what we’ve dealt with in the past.”

“True, and I’ll promise you the same.”

Noah really, really wanted to kiss her, but there was no way he could do that with a houseful of younger siblings who could interrupt them at any minute. But oh, how he wanted to.