Page 84 of Binding Their Hearts

The office exploded into sound behind her, and she passed up the elevators for the stairs. Who had time to stand around waiting? She had a husband to meet.

Chapter forty-one

Jay

Opening the front door before the bell finished its song, Jay waved his brother inside.

“Hey, c’mon in, toss your coat on a hook. Living room’s this way.” He closed the door behind Kevin and took a quick second to breathe deep and drop his shoulders. Tension had them up around his ears. Maybe he’d jumped the start, inviting Kevin to the house on his mystery errand. Drinks out would’ve been neutral. “Scuse the boxes. We’re still unpacking.”

“You, uh”—head tipped back, Kevin peered up the stairwell as he shrugged off his coat—“you live here?”

“Moved in Friday, so it’ll be a week tomorrow.” Duh. Like his brother couldn’t read a calendar. He led the way past a few boxes to the couch. The house was kinda in order, but the art and knickknack stuff still sat in their wrappings. They hadn’t given the rooms personality yet, Alice had said this morning. He dropped into a side chair, the one facing through the dining room and into the kitchen, where Henry was chopping veggies at the counter. “You want something to drink?”

Taking the center of the couch, Kevin gazed into the kitchen too. “No, thanks. I won’t take too long.” He shook his head and turned toward Jay. “Sorry for the last-minute request—I was in the city for a meeting, and it seemed like a good time.”

“No problem.” They’d covered that ground when Kevin called this afternoon. Jay did not lunge forward and grab Kevin’s suitcoat and ask what was so important that his brother couldn’t tell him over the phone. He flexed his hands over his knees and squeezed. Subtle grounding exercise, and a good way to calm the fidgets. A two-fer. “You wanted to talk about something?”

“Yeah, I spoke to—” Mouth hanging open, Kevin stared at Jay’s knees.

“Kev?” He’d put on company-acceptable clothes after his shower, a set of slim black sweatpants and a plain tee Henry called dove gray. He couldn’t be blander or more inoffensive. “You okay?”

“Did you, uh, have that”—Kevin waved toward Jay’s lap—“that, uh, ring last month at the game? I don’t remember it.”

He stared at his own hand. Which ring? Oh, right, that ring—the only ring he’d ever worn and would ever wear for the rest of his life. Just that old thing.

“No, it’s new.” His dry mouth could’ve used a water now. “We—Henry and Alice and me—we exchanged vows. Sunday. Ceremony went real nice, everybody said so.”

A divot grew into a furrow across Kevin’s forehead. “So you’re…”

“Married, yeah.” He swallowed against the urge to spill into the silence. That was anxiety talking, and Danny said he didn’t have to do what it wanted. He could recognize it, be all I know you think you’re helping, but…, and try to reconnect with his core instead. Get out of the spinning-his-wheels headspace.

“Congratulations.” Blowing out a long breath, Kevin rocked forward and smacked his palms on his thighs twice. “I mean it, Jay. That’s—they seem—you deserve to be happy. I’m happy for you. Think you pretty well trumped my news, but maybe you’ll consider it a wedding present.”

“You brought me a present?” That would’ve made telling him over the phone tricky, sure. But it was too early for Christmas, and his birthday was half a year away.

“I might’ve read Peg the riot act about the money she stole from you.”

“Stole? I sent it for you and the farm, and—”

“And she siphoned what you meant for my boys’ college funds and used it herself. That’s stealing. Not an accident or an accounting error.”

Even after everything, a shred of him had hoped for better. The hope shriveled in his chest, a tiny flare and a crumpling to ash, like newspaper curling in on itself when the fire caught hold. “Thanks for telling me.”

“There’s still money in the account, Jay.” Kevin inched forward, sitting with his elbows on his knees and his hands clasped. “I made her turn over control to me. I can maybe get her to sell the shit she bought, too, but either way, the funds in the bank are yours. I’ll have it wired back to you and close the account.”

He could do that, yeah. But despite what Dad thought, he didn’t want the Kress Family Tree Farm to disappear. He just didn’t want to live there. “No.”

“No?” Kevin’s furrow grew back. His forehead tilled a lot of acreage. “Jay, she’s a big girl. She can suck it up and lie in the bed she’s made.”

“I know. It’s not about her.” He popped to his feet and paced across the front of the fireplace. The mantel was empty, but someday it would boast a slew of photos and maybe even Christmas stockings for the kids they’d have. Kids who would know from day one that they were wanted and loved. “Turn it over to Becky.”

“And that’s different from Peg having control how?” Kevin curled his lips and pulled away. “I know she’s in a rebellious phase, but you think Peg doesn’t know how to crack her kids? She’ll hammer away until Becky breaks and you’re right back where you are now.”

“I don’t think so.” He and his niece didn’t text as much as he and Nat did, but they’d kept in regular contact since that awful weekend. He could thank Alice for having gotten Becky’s number. “And I’m gonna want some stuff in writing.”

Kevin leaned deep into the couch, spreading his arms across the back. “Well now I’m intrigued. What are you thinking?”

What were you thinking, Jay Michael?

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