Page 20 of An Alaskan Wedding (Alaskan Grooms 1)

Grace felt a well of emotion building up inside her. This little boy had lost his mother not that long ago, and the thought of this sweet munchkin not having a mother to tuck him in at night brought tears to her eyes.

“I love you, too, Aidan,” Boone said in a voice laden with emotion.

“It’s night-night time, A-man,” Liam said, his voice tender and paternal.

“I’ll put him down,” Honor said. She quickly moved toward Boone, who smoothly transferred Aidan into her arms. Something unspoken happened between the siblings. Their eyes met and there seemed to be some recognition that they’d both crossed a line. Boone reached out and ruffled Honor’s hair. She smiled at him, tears and regret shining in her eyes.

Grace didn’t know if it was because her feet were resting in tepid water, the blazingfire in the hearth or the wool blanket wrapped around her body, but she suddenly felt all warm and fuzzy inside.

Despite the conflict between Boone and his sister, it was obvious that there was a lot of love in this room. It practically bounced off the walls. It hummed and buzzed in the moments of silence. It radiated in a child’s unbridled laughter. From what she’d learned so far about the Prescott family, there were fissures and cracks in its foundation. But, unlike her own family, they were still connected, still invested in one another. Still fighting the good fight. At the end of the day, that’s what it was all about.

* * *

It was almost ten o’clock by the time Boone got on the road with Grace to head back to town. Liam had bandaged Grace’s fingers and toes. The four of them had sat down together to a dinner of Liam’s chili and corn bread. It had been nice to sit down as a family and show Grace that they weren’t just bickering fools. He wasn’t sure why, but he cared deeply about how she viewed the Prescott family.

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sp; The snow had been steadily falling for the past few hours. The road was slick and packed with snow. The trek back to town would be slow going, but he was used to driving in blizzard-like conditions. A little snow didn’t scare him. He wasn’t so sure about Grace. She was unusually quiet, and she kept peering out the window at the snowflakes whirling.

“I owe you an apology.” He let out a sigh. Those words had been sitting on his chest for the past few hours. He figured he might as well get them out of the way.

Grace wrinkled her nose. “An apology? For what? If it hadn’t been for you, I might be a frozen Popsicle by now.”

He felt his lips twitching. Leave it to Grace to make him want to laugh in the midst of a serious apology.

“First, I want to apologize for being abrupt with you earlier in the woods. I was upset with my grandfather, and I took it out on you. On so many levels, he should have known better than to take you out in those woods without the proper gear or alerting anyone to where you were going. When I see him, I’m going to read him the riot act.”

“No!” Grace cried out. “Please don’t do that. Jasper didn’t mean any harm. I wanted to see the cave, and I was the one who volunteered to go get help. If I wasn’t so directionally challenged, things wouldn’t have gotten so out of control.”

Boone frowned at her. “Grace, you shouldn’t be taking the blame for this.”

“Why does there have to be blame? Can’t we just chalk this up to an unfortunate incident?”

It was sweet of her to try to protect Jasper. Truthfully, that was normally his job. Protecting the ones he loved was an exhausting, often thankless endeavor. But he wouldn’t have it any other way. Ever since his parents divorced and went their own ways—his mother had left Alaska for San Diego while his father had chosen to explore the world after nearly losing his life in an accident—he’d felt the gravity of being the head of the family.

Boone darted a quick glance at Grace. Although it was awkward, he needed to bring up the other matter. He cleared his throat and turned his gaze back to the road. “I also need to say I’m sorry for putting you in the midst of a family squabble. I hope it wasn’t too uncomfortable.”

He could feel the heat of Grace’s gaze. “I would think it was a whole lot more uncomfortable for you, what with Honor putting your business out there.”

“Honor thinks I sabotaged her plans to elope with her high school boyfriend based on my own...er, situation. That’s far from the truth. As a law enforcement officer, I had no intention of allowing my baby sister to marry a petty thief. This guy had a rap sheet for breaking and entering, as well as underage drinking.”

“So were they in love?”

Boone shrugged. “They were eighteen. Who even knows what love is it at that age?” He let out a sharp laugh. “I didn’t know squat about love when I was their age.”

“Hmm. I see,” Grace said in a cryptic voice.

“What do you see?” Boone asked, feeling a little prickly. It was still a touchy subject for him since he hadn’t yet been able to mend their relationship.

“I see why she’s so upset with you. Not only did you get in the way of her plans, but you failed to acknowledge that she loved this man. That must have stung like crazy. To lose the man you love and to feel discounted by your older brother. Then to be sent away. That’s a lot to swallow.”

Boone shocked himself by not driving off the road into a ditch. Grace was siding with Honor? The way she made it sound, he came off looking like the bad guy. That was a first. More times than not he was hailed as a hero in town for saving Honor from disgrace and a teenage elopement. Not to mention how he’d paid for four years of college and a year of grad school.

Grace continued. “What I also see is that your sister is still immature, ungrateful and a tad on the rude side. She’s also very sad. I could see it in her eyes.”

Honor was sad? That gutted him. He felt partly, if not fully, responsible. Over the years he’d tried to justify his actions by telling himself that he’d rescued her from a life of ridicule and poverty and disgrace. But he’d never paused to ask if she was really and truly in love with Joshua.

He let out a ragged breath. “I hate to think of her that way. Before...she was always Little Miss Sunshine. The brightest light in the room.”

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