Page 88 of Mine

My, how fast things can change.

Current situations didn’t stop what Quentin had to say, so with much chagrin, he removed his long frame from the Mustang and strolled up the sidewalk to the front door. Pressing the doorbell, Quentin cleared his throat and counted the steps silently as someone approached the door.

When it swung open, a warm smile fell across Norma’s lips, and she ushered Quentin in as a wave of wind sailed into the house.

“Mr. Davidson,” Norma said, “you’re early, come on in.”

“How are you today, Mrs. Rose?”

Norma turned her lips up in a pout. “I thought I told you to call me Norma.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Quentin said.

Norma reached out and pulled Quentin in for a hug. “Come, follow me,” she said, releasing him and strolling down the corridor.

Inside his reading room, Christopher was laughing about a joke one of his sons had made when Norma entered with Quentin in tow.

Norma cleared her throat. “Look who’s here early,” she announced.

Quentin stepped from behind Norma as his eyes settled in on Jonathon, Jonas, Jaden, and Jacob before finally moving to Christopher. The men’s smiles slowly dissipated, and Christopher waved Quentin over.

“Quentin!” Christopher deep voice barked. “We weren’t expecting you for a little while, son.” Christopher assessed Quentin’s emotionless face. “Is there something I should be worried about?” Christopher frowned.

Quentin cleared his throat. “Phoebe and I had a misunderstanding,” he began. Groans bounced throughout the room, and Quentin exhaled a deep sigh.

“What happened?”

It was Jonathon who spoke up.

“What happened isn’t important,” Quentin stated firmly. “What is important is that I love Phoebe. I always have, and I always will. Dating her was never about testing any waters or for God’s sake playing with her heart. I would never do that to her. Now I know you all think I’m not good enough for Phoebe, and what kind of brother or father would you be if you didn’t? When my sister was dating, I didn’t think the guy she was dating was good enough for her either. But I can admit when I was wrong. Now they’re married, and she couldn’t be happier.”

“Just what are you saying, son?” Christopher asked.

Quentin took his focus to Christopher. “I’m in love with your daughter,” he said. “Have been for a long time, but I’ve always stayed away from her because I didn’t want to disappoint any of you.” Quentin swept his eye around the room to each one of them. “I can’t make you understand how much she means to me. All I can say is it would crush my own soul to do wrong by her, and I would much rather be dropped in the middle of nowhere than do anything of the sort. So today I plan to ask her to marry me, and I came over here hoping my brothers,” Quentin said, looking at them one by one again, “and father would give me the benefit of the doubt. I’d love your blessing.”

The room was quiet as each one took in his words. Jonas believed Quentin did love his sister. He’d known as much through the years, but Jonas never thought he’d see the day when Quentin finally admitted it.

“So that whole outburst on the beach was about you?” Jonathon asked.

“It was about all of us,” Quentin said.

Jaden nodded. “He’s right.”

“We were all treating her like a child, making decisions for her without so much as a thought to how she would feel about it,” Quentin added. “That stops now.”

The room became quiet again, and then Jonathon rose from his seat and strolled to stand before Quentin.

“For the record, it wasn’t that I didn’t think you were good enough. I know very well what your capacities are, I just didn’t know which road you were trying to take, and I was unwilling to let you play around with my sister. Period.”

They stared at each other for another second.

“I’m sorry,” Jonathon said. “You will always be my brother, and I shouldn’t have come at you the way I did. Just don’t fucking surprise me like that again.”

Quentin cracked a smile. “I’m sorry, too. Instead of having a conversation in detail about something I knew would hit you hard, I just kind of told you what I was doing.”

Jonathon nodded.

“Brothers?” Quentin held out his hand, and Jonathon didn’t need to look down at it to grasp it with a firm shake.

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