Page 59 of Three Stepbrothers Save Christmas

I close my eyes and force the tears back.

“No one wants to see you cry.”

31

Travis

I stand at the bottom of the stairs and look up towards the direction of her room. Yesterday, when she shut down, everything told me to go into her room and show her I was there. This time, it’s the opposite; I feel like I should give her space and let her take some control. Let’s face it: She’s had people telling her what to do and how to behave for so long that she doesn’t know what to do for herself anymore.

Forcing myself to move away from the stairs, I head towards the office.

“Ethan?” I call, knowing he will hear me from the kitchen where he and Ryan are making coffees for us all.

“Yo!” he appears, drinking from his mug.

“I have a job for you; follow me.” I lead him down to the office and point to the door. “You can either look for the key or pick it. But I want access to that office A.S.A.P. That fucker is hiding something in there, and I want to know what.”

Ethan squats down in front of the door and looks at the lock.

“I should be able to pick that. Do you want Verity to know or not?”

I think about it for a moment and shake my head.

“Not yet. I want to know if there is anything worth her knowing first. She has already had too much to deal with the last couple of days.”

Ethan nods, stands, and looks up to the stairs.

“I didn’t mean to freak her out. But I want everyone to know she is ours. I don’t want to hide our relationship like it’s some dirty secret.” He rubs his face, letting out a deep breath. “I’m also worried what Mum and Henry will do when they decide to show their faces again. What they have been doing to her is evil, but Henry has her so conditioned.”

“He’s her father, and she doesn’t know any different. I wouldn’t be surprised if they have more control over her than we are aware of. It will take a long time for her to truly trust us enough to tell us everything and really open up. I don’t think we will see the true Verity for a while.” I place a hand on his shoulder and give it a reassuring squeeze. “I understand why you said what you did. Fuck, I feel the same way. I can’t wait for all of those things with her. But at the moment, she is waiting for us to disappear, and we need to prove to her we aren’t. When you said what you did and then backtracked, to our girl, that was you changing your mind, even though that wasn’t what you were saying at all.” I’m hoping he will understand why we can’t rush her. She will put on her brave face and hide her true feelings from us. This is one of the reasons I took on the daddy role so easily, as she seems to open up the most to me.

“For now, let’s just concentrate on getting her through Christmas. We can try to make it as magical as possible for her. After we know Mum and Henry are back from Hawaii, we can start dealing with the rest.”

“What are we going to do about them?” Ethan asks. I turn around and look up the stairs, feeling like it’s time to go up there and see her.

“I don’t know. All I do know is I don’t want anyone treating her the way she has been treated her whole life ever again. For now, we need to concentrate on getting her stronger so she can deal with whatever is thrown her way when the time comes.”

Ethan lets out a sigh as he looks towards the stairs. I can see him thinking about it all, and I know he will follow my lead as we start this new way of life.

“Hey, I’m going to take her up a coffee and see how she is,” Ryan says as he walks into the hallway.

“Good idea. If you need either of us, shout,” I reply as he disappears. I look back to the office door and know I need to get in there. “Let’s see if we can find this key; if not, you can pick it and get us in.”

In ten minutes, we have managed to rule out the keys being in the dining room and lounge. We are just starting the search of the kitchen when Verity walks into the room with her dancing bag over her shoulder.

“Hey, Baby Girl, you going to dance tonight?” Ethan asks, leaning back against the counter.

“Yeah, I spoke to Mrs Florence, and she’s happy for me to dance if I feel up to it. I might as well as after tomorrow. I have the weekend off before the last couple of weeks of performances before we have three weeks off for Christmas.”

“Why don’t we all come to watch you together tomorrow night? Then we could go out for a drink for a change of scenery,” I suggest, wondering why I hadn’t thought of it before. Verity’s whole face lights up as her eyes widen, and she looks at us all. From the look on my brother's faces, they like that idea too.

“You will all come? Really?” she asks excitedly.

“Of course, sounds like a brilliant idea. I haven’t seen you dance for nearly two years,” Ethan grins as he places his arm over her shoulder and kisses her head.

“That’s it then, we are coming. I’ll sort out the tickets. Even if we have to sit apart, we will all be there tomorrow.”

The look on Verity’s face is enough to melt any cold heart. If something as simple as watching her dance can make her smile like that, then I will ensure one of us is at every performance.

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