Zach Iopened the back door and st epped aside just in time for Emma to barrel past me like a small, determined force of nature, and I chuckled. “Hey, you. Do you want to come to Uncle Zach?” “Emma! Emma, slow down.” Nate was right behind her, sounding like he’d aged five years in the last three seconds as they both raced past me without even making eye contact. Kate followed, smiling like this was normal. For her, I supposed it probably was. At least she stopped to give me a quick hug. “Hi, Zach. I apologize in advance.” “For what?” Emma shrieked excitedly from somewhere down the corridor, and Kate’s eyebrows sw ept up a little. “For that.” Jesse and Jacqueline came in behind them, with Jesse carrying two pizza boxes as carefully as if they were precious cargo. “I’m starving. Please tell me you have the plates ready.” “They’re in the kitchen,” I r eplied. “Still in the cabinets, but they’re there and they’re clean.” Jesse sighed. “I guess that’s going to have to be good enough.” Theo appeared from somewhere, grinning as his gaze skipped between Jesse, Jacque, and me. “Who ordered the pizza and who ordered the chaos?” “Pizza,” Jesse said. Kate called back at us from the hall. “Just because we brought the chaos doesn’t mean we ordered it!” Theo grinned. “That’s exactly the way I like it. Welcome home, everybody.” I rolled my eyes and shut the door before trailing after them into the house. Emma had already made it to the grand staircase—or, in the case of a two-year-old, the grand invitation to break your neck. It was wide and swe eping, exactly dangerous enough to ke ep Nate permanently on edge. We ended up perched along the st eps, passing pizza boxes up and down, forgoing plates so there was less clutter for her to trip over. She climbed, descended, and launched herself between us at random with absolutely no concern for the laws of physics or consequences. Nate hovered like a true helicopter, stressing over every sharp corner and hard tile in the vicinity, and there were many. “We grew up here,” I said. “This is, at present, her preferred place to nearly kill herself, but we survived and so will she.”
He narrowed his eyes at me. “Don’t start today, Zach. Please?” I lifted my hands in surrender. “Who is starting? I’m just saying. Take a page out of your wife’s book and sit down.” He completely ignored me, hovering two st eps below her with a look on his face that told me he was mentally calculating every possible way this could go wrong. “God, I don’t like this.” “She’s fine,” Kate said easily, taking a slice of pizza. “Do what your brother said and take a page out of my book. Look at how laid back I am. Do you really think I’d just be sitting here if I thought she was actually about to get hurt? She needs to learn, babe. She’s not going to do that if you don’t let her make any mistakes.” “She’s also not going to break her damn neck,” he grumbled but acc epted the slice she handed him on his way back down the stairs after her. Emma climbed onto Jesse’s lap, then immediately stood on it like it was a platform designed specifically for her. He laughed, taking one of her little hands in one of his and moving his legs underneath her. “Watch out, Em,” he joked. “It’s an earthquake.” She squealed with laughter, but Nate reached for her like she was about to be electrocuted. “Okay. No. We’re not doing earthquakes. Emma—” “She’s fine,” Jesse echoed, steadying her with one hand while eating with the other. “Leave her. I need some cuddles with Little J all the way on the other side of an ocean.” Nate looked like he might actually combust. Theo leaned over to Kate, ke eping his voice low enough that Nate probably couldn’t hear him. “He looks like he’s about thirty seconds away from a stroke.” Kate laughed, not bothering to ke ep her voice down in turn. “He’s the best dad in the world, even if his blood pressure is through the roof most days.” I leaned back against the st ep. “That’s not healthy.” She glanced up at me and smiled. “You’re telling me, but you should be telling him.” Emma launched herself again, off Jesse’s lap this time and toward Theo, but Nate caught her mid-air this time, scooping her up and cradling her against his chest. “Okay. That’s quite enough of that. We’re taking a break.” “No bweak,” she wailed, immediately protesting at the top of her lungs, but Nate was already carrying her to the downstairs drawing room and the soft couches inside. “You need a break, sweetheart,” he said firmly. “Your mother needs a break.” “I’m fine,” Kate called after them, her head shaking but her smile soft. “You’re not,” Nate shot back over his shoulder. “Your heart is about to give out.” The rest of us watched him go, but Theo was the one who finally said it. “That man is going to age ten years in the next six months.”
“What do you mean, going to?” Jesse said. “He already has. What you should say is that he’s going to age another ten years.” Jacque elbowed him lightly in the ribs. “Be nice. It’s best not to judge people in this situation until you’re a parent yourself. I learned that with my sister. You never know how you’re going to react when it’s your turn.” “I am being nice,” he said, smirking as he looked at her. “I could’ve called him a neurotic helicopter parent who needs to chill out before he kills himself, but I didn’t. Besides, I’m not like that with Little J, so I’m pretty sure I won’t be that kind of father.” “Sure, but Will and Eliza are responsible for ke eping Little J alive,” Kate countered. “Not you. Nate wasn’t like that with Cameron or any of your cousins’ kids either, but his own? That’s a different story.” “Are we really going to ke ep calling Bennet Little J?” Theo asked no one in particular. Jesse gasped like someone had punched him. “Of course, we are. He can be Bennet to all the Brits. To us, he’s always going to be Little J.” The conversation drifted from there, sometimes serious and sometimes nonsense. Apparently Jane and Cameron had gone to DC with Alex in the end, which meant he was marginally happier about the trip. Will and Eliza were knee de ep in more renovations to the castle in England. Charlotte and Trent were counting down the weeks until the baby came. Due to neither Dad nor Alex being here, it was probably the most informal family dinner we’d ever had, but while I was physically present, I wasn’t really there either. My head was stuck between an art market, a dog park, and a pair of bright blue eyes I hadn’t planned on ever seeing again. “Okay,” Jesse said suddenly, cutting through the noise in my head. “What’s going on with you?” When I glanced over at him, I realized he was speaking to me. “What?” “You’re weird today. Weird is my thing, and Theo’s, and apparently Nate’s now that he’s become a dad, but weird is not you.” I scoffed. “Fuck you. I’m always weird. Just in my own way.” I took another bite of pizza like that might convince him to end the conversation, but it didn’t work. Ever since Jesse had moved back to Chicago and fallen in love with Jacque, he’d been on a mission to be a better brother, and frankly, that made things difficult for me. “Come on,” he said, standing up from the stair he’d been sitting on. “Walk with me.” I sighed and finished the last bite of my slice. “If I come back and all the pizza is gone—” “It will be,” Theo said. “I’m blaming all of you,” I finally finished, but Jesse just laughed from down the hall.
“Blame them as much as you like. No one will care. Now come on. We’re walking.” I groaned and wiped my hands on a paper towel, then followed him, hoping he’d at least be quick about this check-in. Jesse could usually be counted on not to waste time, but hell. A year ago, I could also count on him not to interfere. That wasn’t true anymore either. We ended up in our father’s old study where the good liquor was still k ept. I wasn’t surprised when Jesse headed right over to the bar cart in the corner and poured himself a drink, then glanced at me. “Do you want one?” “No, thanks.” “Suit yourself.” He took a sip before leaning back against the desk and turning to me. “What’s up your ass today?” “Nothing.” He did a really bad imitation of a buzzer sound and shook his head. “Try again.” I crossed my arms, still standing right inside the door and not planning on going any further into the room. “I’m fine.” “You’re not fine,” he said easily. “You’ve been off since you opened the door.” “That’s impressive,” I muttered. “You managed to diagnose me in under ten seconds.” He rolled his eyes. “I’ve known you my entire life.” “How unfortunate for you,” I shot back. “Seriously, Jesse. Just drop it.” He eyed me for another beat before he lifted his hands in surrender, but instead of taking his drink and heading back to the Staircase of Impending Death, he waited me out. At least two solid minutes later, I huffed out a breath. “I’m fine. It’s not nothing, but I’m okay.” “Hey, you finally admitted it’s not nothing,” he said happily. “That’s better. Do you want to tell me what not nothing actually is?” I looked past him for a moment, debating my options, but the fact was that he was like a dog with a bone some days and it looked like this was one of those days. “I just ran into someone, okay?” “You ran into someone,” he r epeated slowly, then squinted. “Who?” I hesitated, and apparently, that was answer enough. He blinked a few times rapidly, then his eyes widened and he nearly dropped his glass but caught it just as it started sliding between his fingers. “Seriously?” “Yeah.” “Where?” “It happened twice, actually,” I said. “Once at lunch with Roark and Senator Morris. Once at the park when Theo and I took Bear for a walk.” Jesse let out a low whistle. “That’s really fucked up, man. Twice in one week. It was one week, right?” I nodded. “Y ep. Lucky me.” “So what happened? Did you talk to her?” I shrugged. “Her uncle was there at lunch and she had her girls with her at the park.”
Jesse didn’t say anything for a second. Then he stood up from the desk and crossed back to the bar cart, reaching for another glass. “You’re going to want this.” He picked up the bottle and started pouring another drink. “I said I didn’t want one, Jesse.” “Just take it,” he said, handing it over before setting the bottle back down. Against my better judgment, I took it, already knowing that alcohol was going to make what I was feeling so much worse, but maybe that would be a good thing. Maybe I just had to let myself feel it again and get it out of my system. The gossip surrounding the Morris/Weatherby divorce had died down months ago. Just like it always did. That was the thing about stories like that. They were loud at first, plastered everywhere for everyone to dissect like it affected them directly, but then eventually, people lost interest. Because it did not, in fact, affect anyone exc ept the people being gossiped about. The news sites and the tabloids had gone quiet, and even though I’d been tempted, I hadn’t looked into it. Even if it had k ept me up at night. “I heard...” Jesse started, then stopped and winced slightly. “Never mind.” He took a de ep breath, cocked his head like he was reconsidering, then looked at me again. “Actually, I think you should know.” I stared into my glass instead of at him. “I don’t know if I want to.” “You don’t, but you should.” He shifted on his feet and set his drink down. “You’re mad at her, aren’t you?” Instead of answering, I knocked back the entire drink. Jesse sighed, leveling me with a look. “I’m not saying this changes anything. I’m just saying you should know what actually happened.” I shook my head. “I already know what happened. She chose her family. End of story.” “Not exactly,” he said. “The way I heard it, she didn’t have much of a choice. Adeline was roped into the same kind of deal Dad and Uncle Harlan have been pushing on all of us our entire lives. That match was all business, Zach.” And yet, I should’ve been an option. That was what hurt. We’d been young, sure, but I’d had a ring. I’d been ready. She’d just pulled the rug out from underneath me before I could stop it from happening. Before I could save her from all this heartache and embarrassment. I strode over to the bar cart and poured myself a drink this time. “It doesn’t make any difference now, Jesse. It’s done.” “I also heard that her husband is a real piece of shit,” he said, passing me his glass for a refill after he’d knocked it back just like I’d done with mine. “East coast money. He owns an estate in the Hamptons and his office is in New York. That whole situation.” “Yeah, I know the type,” I said dryly. “Fun times.” “Word has it that he’s been having an affair and that he’s having a baby with someone who isn’t Adeline.”
I drained the new glass without thinking and reached for the bottle before I could reconsider. Jesse didn’t even try to stop me, simply acc epting his refilled glass back when I handed it over without looking at him. “It’s good they’re no longer together, then,” I said, choosing the only safe response I could think of. “He’s a prick.” Jesse resumed his perch at the edge of Dad’s desk and watched me over the rim of his glass. “She’s in town, though.” “Yeah,” I said. “Apparently, she came back to ride out the divorce.” He nodded slowly, dragging in a de ep breath and still looking at me like he was trying to develop X-ray vision. “Maybe you could, I don’t know—” I barked out a laugh. “What, Jesse? What do you think I should do now that she’s come back to town only because she got a job here and she’s obviously working again because she can’t afford not to?” He snorted. “Well, you could talk to her.” “Right.” I shook my head and scoffed. “Talking. That’ll fix her husband fucking someone else behind her back and knocking the woman up. Sure. I’ll do that. First thing next century.” He sighed. “Okay, fair point. Or maybe you could—” “Swoop in while she’s down and vulnerable?” I cut in, finally looking back at him. “That’s what you were going to suggest, right? That I take advantage of the fact she needs someone to save her.” “That’s not what I said.” “Trust me, I tried that once.” I straightened up and moved back toward the door. “Look at where it got the both of us.” I downed my new drink too, set the glass down hard, and didn’t wait for him to say anything else. All along, I’d known someone would pitch that idea. I just honestly couldn’t do it. “Zach,” he said, but I ignored him, yanking open the door and walking right back out of the study, not turning even as he called after me. “Hey, come back. Zachary!” I didn’t respond or slow down. Adeline Morris had fucked up my life and my future once. If they thought I hadn’t already considered going after her again, they were delusional, but the fact of the matter was that I couldn’t go there. I’d already been down that road once, and returning there just wasn’t an option for me. Never again.