Page 14 of The Hardest Part

“How romantic is that?” Emily sighed. She could see it in her head, like a movie.

“Hmm, yes.” Grams chortled, her tone changing. “Then he explained the trinity and informed me that for that to happen, I’d have to love his brother, too.”

“Oh, Grams, what did you say?”

“I told him he was out of his ever-loving mind if he thought for one second I could ever love anyone else besides him.”

“But you did.”

“I did indeed.” A smile crossing her face, Grams took hold of both her hands. “Garrett was something else, let me tell ya. There was just no resisting that man. The three of us were married at the stones a few months later. It was the 70s—free love and all that. Our generation was more…open-minded, I guess you could say, so opening my heart to them both was easy for me.” And choking on a breath, she let go. “God, how I miss ‘em.”

“I know, Mom. We all do,” Kimberly said, hugging her.

Grams kissed her daughter’s cheek and turned to Emily, her smile back in place. “Arien is going to need some time, and a lot of love, patience, and understanding from all of us.”

“Matthew should have never shared his vision with the boys.” Her gaze darting to the fireplace, Kimberly shook her head.

Uncle Matty must’ve told them from the time they were little. Tanner and Kellan had always known of it. They’d been waiting for their dream girl to come along for a very long time.

“Why not?”

“What’s meant to be will be of its own accord,” Grams replied, patting the top of her head.

Huh?

“But Victor shared his vision with you.”

“With me. Not with you, your mother, or Jake and Billy, either.” Squeezing her shoulder, she smoothed a lock of hair behind her ear. “So as not to influence the choices the three of you made, Victor Gantry kept the future he saw to himself.”

And they’d chosen each other, exactly as he’d seen it, all on their own.

“Billy and Jake are my everything.”

“And you’re theirs, my dear girl.” Grams drew her into a warm embrace. “Never doubt it.”

With the dishwasher loaded and running at last, Emily strolled back into the living room to find her boys in front of the TV all alone. “Where’d everybody go?”

“Kellan took off.” Billy got up from the sofa and kissed her. “Don’t know where to.”

Jake lifted his chin. “Tanner’s talkin’ to Arien.”

“Oh.” Her gaze traveled up the stairs. “What do we do?”

“Nothing.” Jake took hold of her hand, pulling her to sit down beside him. “Arien, Kellan, and Tanner have to find their way to each other all on their own, same as we did.”

“I can’t not do something.” To stand idly by went against her very nature.

The corner of his mouth twitched up because Jake knew that, of course. “You can be Arien’s friend. She’s going to need one.Look out for her at school, answer her questions. She’s going to have plenty of them, I’m sure. There’s a lotwecan do, but we cannot push them. Understand?”

“What’s meant to be will be of its own accord.”

Free will. She got it.

“I just want them to be happy like we are, Jake.”

“I know you do.” Her hand in his, he brought her knuckles to his lips and kissed them.

Encouraged by the gesture, Emily chanced running her fingers through his hair. For once, he didn’t stop her. “I was going to take Arien to Jackson tomorrow. She probably won’t want to go now.”

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