Page 37 of Gideon's Gratitude

Bad choice.

Whatever.

“Okay, ages.”

“The twins are thirty-five. Four years younger than myself. You’d never believe it with the way Cherish attempts to boss me around.”

“Attempts?”

“I might, occasionally, let her think she’s bested me. It’s all an illusion.” I straightened. “Cherish married Maris and they have twochildren. Richelle is eight and Rogan is eleven. Same sperm donor.” God help me, those children were terrors. Not that I’d ever tell my sister that. No, I valued my life. “Cherry married Don and they have two children. Clarence is three and Carmen is one.”

“I’m sensing a pattern.”

“Well, Chuck is twenty-four. He’s married to Tally. They have two children. Lewis is six and Lansing is two.”

“They married young.”

“Seventeen. Shotgun. And, of all my siblings and their partners, those two are the sappiest by far. And that’s saying something.”

Gideon motioned for me to continue.

“Chelsea is thirty and single. Thank God. The woman is a force of nature. A whirlwind. An environmental activist who was last spotted chaining herself to railway ties to prevent the building of a pipeline. That broke probation earned from the time she chained herself to an old-growth tree. Not to be confused with the time she snuck into a dam construction site and put sugar in the gas tanks of several construction vehicles. Although the prosecution couldn’t definitively put her there—grainy video footage. Needless to say, the contractor upgraded their equipment. She’s currently on house arrest with an ankle monitor and living with my parents.”

“Good Lord.”

“You could say that again.” I rubbed my chin.I need a shave. “Charmaine is twenty-seven. She and Robert have one daughter. Adrienne. She’s four. A very precocious four.” Damn child had tried to flush my cell phone down the toilet. I wasn’t admitting that to anyone, however. And I was never let anything out of my sight again around all the little monsters. “Channing is the baby at eighteen, and Chad is thirty-two. He and his wife Pia have no plans for children.”They had their reasons, and I wouldn’t divulge them. To anyone. Even to this man who made it so easy to open up.

“That must have been a very loud household growing up. My parents didn’t even watch television. They just listened to sermons on the radio. I can’t imagine that level of chaos.”

“Organized chaos, I assure you. My mother stayed home to raise the family, while my father worked as a lawyer. Long hours. I think in part to stay away from the noise. We were well-to-do, so we never lacked for anything.” I’d always gotten most things I asked for. Continued on to do as I pleased. “The only sore spot, if you will, is that my father wanted me to join his law firm.”

“You didn’t?”

“I would’ve been at the bottom of the ladder. With twenty or so associates above me and a half-dozen partners. With my father at the top. I foresaw people resenting me and judging me based on what they believed were my family connections, not my actual achievements. Also, they do corporate law.” I wrinkled my nose. “I wanted more hands-on work. I think Chelsea had an influence on me even back then. Accused my father all the time of union busting.”

“How old was she?”

“Twelve. A very precocious twelve.” God help us if she ever had children. It’d be chaos. An unmitigated disaster.

Or she’d be the most amazing, loving mother who wanted the earth to be as habitable as possible for her children. No, wait. She’d said she wasn’t going to have children because the world was already overpopulated. Keeping up with her was a daunting task. Sometimes I didn’t even try.

“I always wanted to have siblings. Leo was my best friend growing up. And I’m sure it seemed weird to some people that we fell in loveand wound up in a relationship, but it worked for us, you know? Something we slid into easily. Everything just…worked.”

Gideon’s eyes were shadowed. His expression was haunted.

I fought the ridiculous idea of pulling the man into my arms and holding him. Promising everything would be all right. Offering solace when I had no right to give it.

My phone rang. I swiped to accept the call. “Archer.”

“Sir, we’re pulling into the parking lot.”

I glanced over my shoulder and two sets of headlights pulled in from the highway. “Perfect. We’ll be out in a moment.”

Gideon was already putting his coat on.

The call disconnected, and I scanned the restaurant for Sarabeth.

“You can pay at the front counter.”

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