Page 65 of Christmas with the Elkin Billionaires

Jonas’s door was open. Gabe entered, finding his brother sitting at his desk, furiously typing on his keyboard. Jonas glanced up but kept typing. “One second.” The stream of tapping tapered off a minute later, and Jonas met his gaze.

Gabe dropped into a chair across from his brother’s desk.

“What’s up?” Jonas asked, leveling a frown at him.

“We need to talk about Gran.”

His brother let out a breath and rubbed at his forehead. “It was a good thing they were able to start the treatments early on, but she’s tired.” A sheen of tears appeared over his eyes, but he blinked them away. “Not that she wants anyone to know it.”

She’d made the announcement at Thanksgiving about her cancer, and Gabe had missed it. If he thought about it too long, it ate at him, sticking in his thoughts and keeping him up at night. He knew she would never get into details like this, even with everyone gathered around for the holidays.

Especiallywith everyone gathered around for the holidays.

It wasn’t done in the Elkin family. Gabe’s heart pounded. When his parents had died, he’d spent months on edge, wondering when the next shoe would drop. It had been years, but it still felt like this was what he’d been waiting for. It didn’t make him worry any less. It didn’t make it any less awful.

“No,” Gabe agreed. He’d had questions for Jonas, things he wanted to talk about, but now the words dissolved on his tongue. He searched them out by sheer force of will. “Do you think she’ll beat the odds?”

It sounded so strange coming from his mouth.Beating the oddswas a cliché, but the thoughts that dogged Gabe were starker than that. He couldn’t bring himself to say them to his brother.

“I don’t know. The odds—well, Grandmother might not have long, no matter the treatment. It’s impossible to say. If she knows differently, she hasn’t told me.” Jonas shrugged. “What I do know is that you made her happy with the engagement. She mentioned the wedding to me yesterday, hoping you’d have it here. You know, before anything happens to her. Are you planning to have it here?”

Guilt swam up and threatened to choke him, but Gabe swallowed it down. “We haven’t discussed it yet.”

His brother arched an eyebrow. “Seriously?”

“No. The engagement happened fast.”

Jonas let out a short laugh. “I would’ve thought you two had the whole thing planned out. She’s great for you.” His brother seemed to have had a change of heart about Anna.

He couldn’t meet his brother’s eyes, his gaze settling on a silver Christmas tree at the corner of the desk, which was in stark contrast to his brother’s typical austere decor. Annawasgreat for him. They complemented each other. And with every day that passed, he was more and more interested in her.Trulyinterested.

“Elk Lodge could be good for you, too. For both of you.”

Gabe snapped his gaze back to Jonas’s. “What?”

“Yes, you’re a brilliant developer and every app you’ve produced has been hugely successful. But Gabe, it’s not as if you have to earn a living. Have you given any thought to yourfamily legacy?You could be doing so much here at the resort.” Shock caught up with Gabe in a rush of blood to his head and a thundering heart. “Nothing would make Grandmother happier than to have all of us here, taking over the resort together. Making it bigger and better.”

“I—”

“You’ve at least thought about it, haven’t you? Anna seems to love it here. The two of you could be happy.”

“Jonas.” He could not move back here.

“It’s a good suggestion.”

“You’re asking me to give up my entire career to move back and help at the resort?” He’d brought home the perfect fiancée. Everyone in his family loved her. His grandmother was delighted that he’d found someone. Why couldn’t that be enough? When would what he did ever be enough? Gabe clenched his jaw and then forced himself to relax. One deep breath after another. “I’m sorry.” He sounded clipped and short, but it was the best he could do. “That’s not on the table.”

Gabe got up from his seat and left, the conversation unfinished and seeming to follow him out the door. The weight of each moment pressed down on him like a massive boulder, hovering there and crushing him slowly with each moment that passed. Yes, his grandmother had gotten terrible news and a prognosis that didn’t seem promising. But moving back to Elk Lodge wouldn’t save her. The problem was, if he returned, he might not leave again. He’d created a life for himself that was his and his alone.

He felt raw from his skin to his core and halfway to his grandmother’s suite, he realized where he was going—his old room. He knocked on the door and went in without waiting for a response, finding it unlocked the way it always was when they were in town.

“Gran?” No answer. Gabe moved down the hall into the quiet of the space, peeking into the master bedroom. His grandmother slept peacefully, shoulders rising and falling under her blanket. Good for her.

His room was down the hall from hers, and the door opened soundlessly under his hand like the hinges had been freshly oiled. Like his brothers’ rooms, she’d left them all pretty much as they were when they lived there. A queen-size bed in the center. Low bookshelves brimming with comic books. Anime posters on the walls. Gabe’s room wasn’t like his brothers’. They both had ski trophies, although Chase outnumbered Jonas at least ten to one, and that was before he’d started competing professionally..

People were always surprised when they heard that Gabe didn’t have any and the inevitable question would come up. How could an Elkinnotbe an incredible skier?

Jonas’s proposal was untenable in every possible way. There was nothing for him here. Nothing permanent, anyway. He would always be looking for a place where he belonged. He wouldn’t ever belong here because his family was complete without him. They belonged here at Elk Lodge while Gabe felt like a visitor.

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