Page 6 of Forever Mine

“I told you. I need you to hang the streamers. There. There. There and there,” she said, pointing around the room to exactly where she wanted them. “It's Z's first birthday. It has to be perfect.”

For two hours I worked mostly in silence next to Patrick. We rolled our eyes and laughed behind my sister's back, but neither of us dared cross her. You just didn't get in the way of Elise when she was on a mission. It was one of the reasons she made such a great VP of Human Resources at the Westin Foundation. She was super smart, quick-witted, and paid close attention to detail. Sometimes too close, I thought, as we moved the high chair for the fifth time, looking for exactly the perfect place for him to sit for pictures.

Patrick and I collapsed, bordering on exhaustion, onto the couch.

“Would you have mated her if you had known?” I asked him.

He grinned from ear to ear. “Absolutely,” he assured me.

Elise had put Patrick through the ringer during their mating period. We had no clue for months that she was his mate, despite the full pack's attempt in helping him find her; despite the quick friendship he'd made with me and my siblings, he had no idea Elise was another sister of ours.

“Everyone in place,” she exclaimed, rallying them all to the living room. Patrick and I didn't bother to move or get up. “He's here!”

As Kyle and Kelsey entered with little Zander between them, the entire family broke out into “Happy Birthday.” The little guy squealed with excitement as he made his rounds of each person.

“Unkie Leem!” he chanted as he threw himself into my arms. Of course, I caught him and threw him up into the air as my mother and sisters scolded me and Zander yelled, “More. More. More.”

Elise insisted on him opening presents first, before he got too tired to enjoy it. I waited patiently for him to get to mine last. His face lit up and he squealed at the sight of the basketball hoop and two basketballs, much like Oscar's had when he told me about it.

“Your gift just rocked that kid's world. What's wrong with you?” Lily whispered as she nudged my thoughts back to present. I had drifted back to thinking of Oscar and Jane and his Mimi and Papi. Who were they and why was I so consumed by them all?

“I'm fine. Knew he'd love it,” I said, trying to add some usual cockiness to the statement, but not really feeling it.

“Tank you, Unkie Leem,” Zander said, giving me a great big buddy hug only he specialized in.

“You're welcome, little buddy.”

To my surprise, he wasn't just excited about the basketball stuff, but insisted on dressing just like “Unkie Leem” for his birthday dinner. I snickered watching my big bro squirm in annoyance, especially when Zander came strutting out in his new threads to the “oohs” and “aahs” of all the women present.

Family dinner proceeded with little incident. My phone buzzed in my pocket twice, but we all knew better than to check a phone at my mother's dinner table. Nothing was more sacred than her Tuesday night family dinners, except maybe today with the added bonus of it being Z-Man's birthday, too.

As soon as dinner was over and we had sung “Happy Birthday” again, watching Zander destroy the perfect little cake Elise had baked for him that now covered the kid from head to toe, I checked my messages. Five texts from Christine.

CHRISTINE: Boss man, your hotel is booked from tomorrow until Sunday. Check email for reservation.

CHRISTINE: Rescheduled all but two meetings. Still working on it.

CHRISTINE: No-go on rescheduling Rogers, but agreed to teleconference instead of face-to-face.

CHRISTINE: Rest of schedule now cleared.

CHRISTINE: Thought you didn't want to attend this thing.

CHRISTINE: Oops, tell Z-Man happy birthday!

I knew there would be more questions about my sudden interest in a fundraiser I had refused to attend. I wasn't ready to explain it, and fortunately I wouldn't have to until I returned.

“You've been kind of lost in your head tonight. Are you sure everything's okay?” Lily asked as she plopped down on the couch next to me and rested her head on my shoulder.

“Lil, I'm fine. Just work stress. No big deal.” I knew I had to tell her I was going out of town, and figured now was as good a time as any. “Hey, I'm heading out of town tomorrow for a few days. Work stuff. Just wanted you to know, ?cause I know you'll worry even when I tell you not to.”

“Where and for how long?”

“San Francisco, just till Sunday.”

She nodded and yawned. It had been a long day for all of us. “Okay, please just call . . . like every few hours so I know you're okay.”

I kissed the top of her head, knowing I would. Elise had been kidnapped a little over a year ago by the Bulgarian Pack. We were still at war with them. There had been a few skirmishes here and there, but nothing as serious as the kidnapping as far as we knew. Kelsey had lost contact with her aunt, who was Bulgarian and had promised Kelsey that she would be there for Zander’s birth. She had never arrived and we all assumed she was just caught up in the war and forbidden to arrive or contact anyone from Westin, but I knew it still bothered Kelsey that we didn't know for sure.

---