Page 290 of Enigma: The Complete Collection
The first thing my gaze zooms in on is the tiny little baby nestled in the arms of the young lady I’ve only seen in surveillance photos. Jenni has gorgeous strawberry blonde hair, perfect facial features, and light blue eyes. She greets me with a massive smile stretched across her face.
“Isabelle, this is my brother, Nick, my dad, Harrison, my sister-in-law, Jenni. and my nephew, Jasper,” Isaac introduces, his voice lowering when he introduced Jasper.
Now, I understand where Isaac gets his remarkable good looks. His dad isgorgeous. Even though he’s at least twenty years my senior, my cheeks heat when my eyes roam over his handsome face.
After accepting a handshake from Nick and a hug from Harrison, I offer to take their coats. Once they’re stored in the coatroom, we enter the informal dining room at the side of the kitchen. Jenni hands a sleeping Jasper to Isaac before coming to help me in the kitchen. My heart melts when Isaac nuzzles him in close to his chest before placing a kiss on the top of his head.
“You may not get Jasper back now,” I tease Jenni, my tone playful.
She grins a beaming white smile. “He really loves Jasper like he's his own son.”
“Yeah, he does.” And now I understand why. Isaac will never experience having his own children, so he’ll cherish his nephews and nieces even more.
Jenni assists in placing the baked goodies into baskets before gathering the juice from the fridge and the coffee from the percolator. “Did you bake these?”
When she gestures her head to the blueberry muffins and apricot danishes, I grimace.
“It’s okay, I’m stilllearninghow to cook. Let me just say, it’s lucky we have smoke alarms installed, or we may not have had a house to live in.”
I laugh before sharing the story of when I set the toaster on fire. Even though she’s a few years younger than me, she has a great personality and is extremely friendly.
Once all the items are out for brunch, I take a seat across from Isaac. My cheeks inflame when my eyes dart between the three men sitting across from me.
Jenni laughs at my wide eyes before filling the seat next to me. “Don’t stare too long or your eyes will get burned.”
“It’s so odd Nick and Isaac are brothers. It’s like looking at night and day.”
Nick has wavy blond hair, Isaac’s is brown and straight. Nick has pasty white skin, Isaac has gorgeous tan skin. Nick is a little on the small side with an athletic runner’s build, whereas Isaac’s body is well-formed and over six feet tall, but they're brothers without a doubt as Nick was created in a test tube to save Isaac’s life. This just proves you can’t judge paternity by similarities.
When Jenni giggles at my comment, Isaac’s eyes lift to us. His stern glare has my pulse racing. Jenni’s response is on the opposite end of the spectrum. When she catches his gaze, her cheeks turn the color of a beetroot, and she looks like she was informed she has to go to the principal’s office.
I nudge her with my elbow. “Don’t stare too long or your eyes will get burned.”
Brunch was a raving success with every scrumptious goodie baked by Harlow devoured with numerous servings of coffee and bucket loads of conversation. Jenni and I are in the kitchen swapping contact information while the boys play pool in the den. Jasper is fast asleep in his stroller as adorable as ever.
“What’s your Facebook name under?” Jenni queries, her brow scrunching. “I looked up both Isabelle Brahn and Izzy Brahn, but neither were coming up.”
I place the empty cardboard boxes from Harlow’s bakery into the bin before spinning around to face her. “I don’t have Facebook.”
She stares at me like I have two heads. “How do younothave Facebook?”
I shrug. “My uncle wasn’t computer savvy. He relied more on notes to keep a record of his case files, so I never got into the whole Facebook, Twitter, dating sites craze.”
Jenni thrusts her hand out, palm side up. “Give me your phone, I’ll hook you up.”
Smiling, I dig out the brand new iPhone Isaac gifted me this morning.
Within five minutes, my Facebook profile is set up—hideous profile picture and all. I grin when I glance down at the screen to discover I have one friend, Jenni. Over the next fifteen minutes, she gives me a rundown on how everything works, including sending friend requests, writing updates on my wall, and private messaging. By the time she finishes explaining everything, I feel like an elderly lady instead of the twenty-five-year-old woman I am.
“You’ll get the hang of it,” she assures upon spotting my mortified expression.
Several hours later, long after Jenni, Nick, Jasper, and Harrison have left, I'm scrolling through my Facebook wall. I now have four friends—Jenni, Hugo, Harlow, and Brandon.
“How come you haven’t accepted my friend request?”
Isaac stops strolling into the living area to peer up at me. “Because I have a marketing person who looks after all my social media sites.”
“Well, tell him or her to accept my friend request.” I crawl across the couch and snuggle into his side. “I can’t add a relationship status without someone to tag it with.”
