Page 1 of To Have and To Hold

Prologue

“Jacob is the divorce now final?” Colin questioned his older brother as he shifted in his seat, trying to get comfortable in his grandfather’s decrepit excuse of a chair.

A loud, boisterous laugh from one of his younger brothers distracted him; he turned to see them swiping and jostling each other at a comment or possible joke one of them had made.

His half-brothers Rafe and Bronson sat on each corner of the long couch in Grandfather Norris’s private office, with Matt, Abbott, and Dyson squeezed tightly between them.

They all looked similar. Jacob the eldest brother had brown hair, cut to shoulder length; he was sporting a small trim beard and was the tallest out of all the brothers, with broad shoulders. Abbott and Matt, identical twins, were the third oldest after him, both with strawberry red hair. Next was Rafe, lightly tanned with dark brown hair. Then Dyson, who had reddish brown hair in locs, and Bronson, the baby, had curly blond hair that looked white in the sun. Other than Dyson, who had dark brown eyes, they all shared a similar shade of arctic blue eyes that they inherited from their father and grandfather.

Jacob and the twins were his full brothers from his parents before his mother passed away, and Rafe, Dyson, and Bronson resulted from their father working through his grief of losing the love of his life by bedding every type of woman possible. His half-siblings were very close in age with Rafe and Dyson being a couple of months apart at age twenty-five andBronson at twenty-four. Grandpa Norris had brought them into the fold for all of them to grow up together. They had all been blessed with their father’s good looks and ability to charm women. The one good thing about their father was when he found out about his other children, he had a vasectomy to make sure he didn’t continue making that mistake.

Colin and his siblings were close, and he was grateful for his grandfather being a male figure in their life when their own father could not. That is why when Grandpa Norris called for them to come home, they came without question. Now, all his siblings sat in his grandfather’s office, waiting to find out why Grandpa Norris wanted them all to meet today.

Jacob turned to him, his gaze cold and distant, his posture stiff. “Yes, she signed the papers. I was able to serve them to her before she’d left the hospital.”

He decided to change the subject because he knew that his brother was not in a good place with everything that happened during his marriage to Sierra. The accident, and him almost losing their child, Kaitlyn, had scared him. He blamed himself for not dealing with his ex-wife sooner.

An image of Kaitlyn, came to mind, and made him smile. She was so energetic and curious about life; he could see she was going to grow up to be a beauty. She also inherited the Norris signature red hair but her skin color and her eyes, a dark brown, were like her mother. “How is my niece doing, is she excited for her first year as a big girl now and going into kindergarten?”

A smile finally graced his brother’s dower expression, turning his grim look and lighting up his face with love and affection for his daughter. “Yes, she has already started to pick out her outfits, even though school is months away. We still have the summer to get through first.”

Colin suddenly noted the worried look that crossed his brother’s face. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

His brother looked grim again. “I’m not sure, but Kaitlyn has been tired a lot lately and has lost weight.”

“Is that cause for concern, or is it because maybe she is going through a growth spurt and losing her baby fat?”

Jacob dipped his head. “God, I hope that is all it is. We are due to see the pediatrician tomorrow and he is going to run some tests on her.” His brother’s icy blue eyes held fear and Colin’s gut clenched. His normally unflappable brother looked like he was trying to keep it together, and the only other time he saw this type of fear on his brother’s face was when he was sitting at Kaitlyn’s hospital bed side willing her to live.

“Don’t say anything yet to the rest of the family. I don’t want them worried and pestering me until I know what is happening. Besides, it is probably nothing, exactly what you said; she will be five soon and is becoming a big girl.” Jacob gave him a weak, hopeful smile.

Colin grimly nodded his head. He understood what his brother meant; he would get no peace if the Norris clan found out. Every uncle and aunty and their brothers would be on his doorstep trying to help him out.

“Why are the two of you looking so serious over there?” He glanced over to see Rafe focused now on them. The rest of the brothers, who were engaged in conversation, quieted and now regarded them with speculation in their eyes.

“Noth−”

“Good, you are all here.” The booming voice of their grandfather announced his entrance into the room. Grandpa Norris was going deaf but refused to admit it to himself and hisfamily and had resorted to shouting as he thought that no one could hear him.

His cane made a tap-tap sound as it hit the dark, rustic linoleum floor in his office. He was a tall, burly man, with white hair and beard that used to be red that he inherited from his Scottish mom and his height and build that was like his father.

He sat behind his desk as all eyes in the room turned to him. He nodded and smiled at the Norris men in the room, his eyes alight with love for all his grandchildren. But Colin noted his robust features looked tired and his ruddy color seemed pale. He felt his brother Jacob stiffen and knew he saw it too; Colin glanced at his brothers and caught that they all looked serious now instead of sporting their easygoing smiles.

His grandfather was so full of life that Colin always felt he would live a long time, but he was getting up there in age, celebrating his 90th birthday next year. He suddenly had a feeling they were running out of time. First concerning news about Kaitlyn and now this. His grandfather was about to drop a bomb.

Grandpa Norris took in a deep breath. “If you all want to inherit the Norris fortune, then you all have a year to get married. You will get bonuses if you give me great grandbabies within the following year or even before, if God is willing. I want to celebrate my 90th birthday with all my grandkids and their spouses. If not, you all will get nothing.”

All the air got sucked out of the room.

Chapter 1

Coco walked through the halls on her way to the locker, excitement running through her. She couldn’t stop smiling because today was a special day. School was almost done for the year, and prom was happening in two weeks. Coco just knew she was going with Colin to the prom and would be the envy of all her peers. Even though they hadn’t come out as official yet, Coco knew it was only a matter of time.

She’d only been going to Ryerson since late last year now that her parents were now US ambassadors for Barbados, but so much had happened. Her parents being ambassadors had her travelling a lot and going to school in different places. She loved travelling but hated having to always start over; most people in high school knew each other and had gone to elementary school or began forming friendships as freshmen. All of Coco’s friendships would solidify, then it was time for her to go. She was looking forward to graduating this year and going on to college or university and staying put while her parents moved to their next assigned destination.

This year, she promised to hold onto the friendships she made at Ryerson High. Jackie was the first, asked by the principal to show Coco around the school and she kept her in stitches from that moment until now. They shared most of their classes together. She had thought Jackie must be popular at school with her outgoing personality and dry wit, but was saddened when she found out that other than her, Jackie really didn’t have any friends. Her razor tongue was Jackie’s defence mechanism at school, as she been made fun of because of herweight. Coco was surprised by this because to her Jackie was a beautiful, light-skinned girl with brown and amber locks, and a small scattering of freckles along her nose. And Coco noticed that she’d caught the eye of many of the males’ students at the high school. Just like Coco had noticed one particular boy on her first day at Ryerson High whose name she later found out from Jackie.

Coco didn’t even have to ask about the boy, Jackie had caught her up on the hierarchy of the school, with the Norris brothers—Colin and identical twins Abbott and Matt—being at the top of the popular boys for their money, good looks, and athleticism. Colin was known for breaking hearts and after finally meeting him, she could see why.

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