Acceptance, The Page 13

  “Sounds like fate brought me back, huh?”

  “This is the woman you met on the plane? The one whose brother died?”

  “Yeah, that’s her.”

  Ed considered. “Darcy told me about her. That’s sad about her brother.”

  “She’s dealing with it well enough, I think. I mean, I can’t imagine if something happened to Spencer or to Darcy—or to any of you.”

  “Maybe she should talk to Tori. She lost her sister and her brother-in-law. Maybe they would connect.”

  “Maybe,” he said giving it some thought. “They do have a lot in common.”

  “Was she born blind?” Ed asked and Tyler wondered how long he’d been holding on to that. It was a natural question, he supposed.

  “No. When she was eight she was kicked by a horse. It caused her to lose her sight.”

  “That’s horrible.”

  Tyler shrugged. “Not to hear her talk about it. I mean, she wouldn’t have wished it on herself, but she’s no less a person because of it.”

  “She’s beautiful and she fits in well. I’d say you did good.”

  “She did good. She made a move on me.” He laughed. “I smelled good.”

  Ed chuckled too. “You’re in love with her.”

  Tyler looked up from his beer. “Completely.” He took a sip and then let out a long breath. “I’m not dumb though. I know she has a lot of healing to do over her brother. But after I met her, I had a renewed sense of what I was supposed to do. I drove right here to see my mom and Darcy last week. And when I came to see you all about a job—suddenly I knew that wasn’t what I wanted.”

  Ed rested his hand on Tyler’s shoulder. “She’s good for you. And I think you’ll be good for her too. C’mon, let’s get this in the house.”

  They each picked up a handle of the cooler and carried it back to the house where Tyler could hear laughter flow—specifically Courtney’s.

  He and Ed set the cooler by the back door. One thing about her not seeing him in the kitchen was it didn’t distract her from her conversation. Avery had exchanged seats with Christian’s wife Tori. They were holding hands, heads nearly pressed together, and they were talking. There were tears. There were smiles. There were laughs.

  Ed had been right. They would connect and it seemed to be good for both of them. How amazing was this family? He should have remembered how amazing they were. They had already taken Courtney under wing and embraced her. Wouldn’t they have done that for him too? He’d isolated himself over his mother’s confessions. He’d let himself cut off his entire existence from what he’d known.

  Guilt threatened to choke him. Not once had he taken the time to think about what she’d gone through before he selfishly took himself out of the picture and decided he needed time to process what his mother had done—to him.

  A bead of sweat formed on his brow and he quickly wiped it away. What could she possibly have had to endure to give away a child?

  As Courtney’s laughter rang out, it pulled him from his spiral of pity. It was his mother now seated next to her where Simone had been. She was leaned in close to her and each of them wore a smile that turned their cheeks high and their eyes bright.

  Courtney was right. She didn’t look blind. Her eyes danced on the story his mother told her and her laughter only brightened them. He reminded himself that only a week ago she’d been on an airplane that carried the body of her brother and yet here she was laughing and enjoying the life she had.

  It was quite obvious that Courtney no longer feared his mother.

  Spencer moved in next to Tyler, opened the cooler, and retrieved a beer. He twisted off the top and nudged his brother.

  “Is it a sign when your mother takes to your girlfriend like that?”

  Tyler shrugged. “I never really brought anyone home to her before. Not anyone of significance.”

  Spencer laughed. “Tonya Kincade.”

  That caused Tyler to snort a laugh. “You thought that was significant?”

  “I did. What were you, seventeen? So I was sixteen?”

  “Yeah, so?”

  “So,” Spencer drew out the word as he drummed his fingers against the bottle of his beer. “She was about a foot taller than you and was very well endowed.”

  “You’re a pig,” Tyler joked as he pulled from his beer. “But you’re right. If I remember correctly that was all she had going for her.”

  “Maybe at the time.”

  Tyler turned and looked at his brother who swept his dark hair back with a shake of his head.

  “She’s not as dim as I think she was?”

  Spencer laughed. “Dr. Kincade. Okay, she’s not a doctor yet, but she’s in med school. Uncle Curtis told me he’d run into her. Pediatrics.”

  “Good for her.” Tyler meant it. He didn’t really remember much about her, but he did remember her taking a very long time to understand that he wanted more than star gazing in the back of his car.

  He thought about that for a moment. Maybe she wasn’t so dim. Somehow, he remembered, that very endowed young woman took their conversation and hungry kisses down another path, so to speak. By the end of the night he hadn’t done more than kiss her, her virginity and his were both intact, and he’d gone home not even upset that she’d led him on and he’d gone home without any kind of manly reward.

  It had been a long time since he’d thought about her or any other woman for that matter. And wasn’t it interesting that as he stood there listening to his lover’s laugh mix with his mother’s, he realized this was a memory he’d keep.

  “So you’re working with Simone now, huh?” Spencer asked.

  Tyler nodded, breaking thoughts that had kept him silent for a moment. “Feels like the right thing to me.”

  “Good. You’d be in my way anyway.” Spencer smiled behind his bottle as he sipped his beer.

  Tyler laughed. Could they be more different? His hair was light, Spencer’s was dark like their mother’s. Tyler’s eyes were blue. Spencer’s were brown. A year in age separated them and about four inches in height, in Tyler’s favor.

  Spencer had a mind for business and Tyler’s mind tended to wander.

  At the moment it wandered back to Courtney who was now engaged in a conversation with his grandmother who had taken a seat at the small table across from her.

  “Where all have you lived?” His grandmother’s voice shook with her many years.

  “Oh,” Courtney pushed back her shoulders and considered. “Germany, Japan, a short time in England, and a few weeks in Italy.”

  “A few weeks?”

  “Yes. About the time we got settled they decided to send us back to the States.”

  “It’s been a lifetime since I’ve been to Europe.” His grandmother sighed. “I’m happy to have those memories.”

  “As am I,” Courtney said.

  “Have you always been without your sight?” His grandmother asked and it seemed as though the room stilled.

  Tyler took one step toward the table when he noticed Courtney’s smile. “No. I was eight. I can remember colors and un-aged faces. My last visual memory is of my brother. He was four and we’d picked my mother a bouquet of wild daises.”

  “That’s beautiful,” his mother said softly.

  “So your sight,” his grandmother reminded her of the conversation that seemed to have skewed.

  Tyler took one more step toward the table, but his grandmother looked up at him as though he was intruding and he stepped back.

  “Well, my sight was lost after an accident with a horse. See, my father was very fond of horses and raised us around them. I have a grand appreciation of them,” she said and he thought of her nuzzling her cheek against the horses in his grandmother’s barn.

  “Anyway, my brother happened to frighten one we were grooming. I was unlucky enough to be in the wrong place. The horse kicked me in the head. I was knocked to the ground and was unconscious.”

  “That’s terrible,” Avery covered her mouth as sh
e stood at the edge of the table near the women.

  “It caused severe nerve damage and I’ve never seen again.” Courtney smiled as she spoke. “Oh, I can see dark and light. I know day and night. And in my mind everything is more vivid in color than I know it is in actuality. I get to make it all beautiful.”

  There were smiles on the women who surrounded her. He could imagine that not one of them would ever look at something and think it plain again.

  Chapter Twenty

  The small house, which had once been Tyler’s grandparent’s house and now was home to Ed and Darcy, was full of family. There were two card tables added to the extended dining room table. Folding chairs had been added alongside of the formal dining room chairs.

  Laughter and noise carried through the house like a song, Tyler thought. How could he have forgotten that this was paradise?

  Breadbaskets were passed and pasta was lopped onto plates.

  Tyler filled Courtney’s plate with everything she’d given a nod to and then explained where it was situated on the plate.

  She leaned in close to him until her lips pressed to his ear. “I’m in love with each and every one of these people.”

  He took her hand, smiling. “I think the feeling is mutual.”

  As conversations started back up, Ed, Christian, and Clara all stood up. Ed tapped his glass, Christian tried to clear his throat and Clara stood just staring at the other two.

  The three of them exchanged glances with one another.

  “What are you doing?” Clara asked looking at her brothers.

  “I have something to say,” Ed countered.

  They both looked at Christian who grabbed Tori by the arm and pulled her to her feet. “We have something to say.”

  Sam, Tori’s nephew pulled on her shirt. “Are you going to tell them all about the baby now?” he asked innocently, but the room bust into a thunderous roar of commotion and words.

  Courtney grabbed for Tyler’s hand and gave it a squeeze. He could see the tears ready to spill down her cheeks.

  “I didn’t see that coming,” he whispered to her.

  “I did. I could hear it in her voice. That’s wonderful news after they lost their other baby.”

  Deflated, Tyler sat back in his chair. He didn’t know about the other baby. What else had he missed during his solitude from his family?

  Once everyone managed around the cramped table and hugged Tori and Christian, Clara tapped her knife to her water glass and tugged her husband up next to her.

  “Are you all done smothering my brother and his wife?” She tried to make her tone harsh, but Tyler knew better. It might have been the enormous grin on Warner’s face that gave it away. “Now, if you don’t mind making your way to this side of the table I’d like all of that love and congratulations you just showered on them.”

  Tyler’s Aunt Madeline looked across the table at his cousin. “Clara?”

  “Well, heck. I’d wanted to be the life of the party, but we don’t do things like that here do we? Yes, Warner and I are also having a baby.”

  The chaos kicked back up and the room now shifted with people.

  Courtney lifted her napkin to her eyes and dabbed away the tears that streamed down her cheeks.

  “I knew that one too.”

  “How did you know that?” Tyler asked amused.

  “I could hear it in their voices when he came up the walk and escorted me inside.”

  “You could make a living reading people.”

  “Well then,” she kissed his cheek. “Get ready for the next.”

  “Okay, okay!” Ed said quieting down the group that now gathered around his sister and her husband. “I have spent my life being upstaged by both of you. I couldn’t hit a damn baseball to save my life. I couldn’t catch one either. But Chris could. And I’ll be damned if I can sing a note! But my sister gets a recording contract and runs off to Vegas to marry a musician.”

  Clara kissed Warner and pulled him close.

  Ed shook his head. “Well, I’m done being out done by you both.” Darcy stood up next to him, their fingers intertwined. “Darcy and I have put in applications for adoption.” The room began to celebrate again, but Ed held his hands up in protest. “Now, we know this takes a long time to process. However, sometimes if you have the right channels…”

  “Oh, God, you’re killing me!” Darcy shouted. “I don’t know where to begin.” Tears poured down her cheeks and she bounced as though she were going to burst with a secret. “Simone put us in touch with a group that facilitates adoptions. As of twenty minutes ago we just got word that there is a baby due in two weeks and the mother wants us to be his parents.”

  She let out a squeal as the room erupted for the third time.

  Tyler looked at his mother who sat still in her chair, her eyes wide, and her shoulders raising in what looked like great effort to breathe.

  “I’ll be right back.” He pushed back from the table and moved to his mother. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m going to be a grandmother.”

  Tyler smiled. “Yes.”

  She looked up at him. “Grandmother.”

  “Yes,” he laughed. “You’re going to be a wonderful grandmother. You and Madeline are going to spoil that baby rotten.”

  Regan Benson got to her feet and held her son tightly. “I have you back. You’re in love. And now I’m going to be a grandmother. Dear, Lord, could I be more blessed?”

  ~*~

  Courtney rested her head against Tyler’s shoulder as he stroked her bare back in his bed. Making love to him was only a slight perk she decided, when she thought about this new love.

  Knowing Tyler, she’d expected to like his family. But to be swept in with their acceptance and love, that sent her healing to a new level. She’d been quick to accept their invitation for the next weekend as well. She was very sure she’d never want to miss a Sunday dinner with his family.

  She’d thought about Fitz all night. Each time Spencer told her something that was supposed to embarrass Tyler, she thought of Fitz. When Avery told her that she enjoyed painting and then invited her to see her work—and then tripped on her apology when she’d realized what she’d said. Fitz would do that too.

  But the most amazing part of the evening had been being privy to all of the wonderful announcements that had flooded the house that night. Three siblings. Three babies.

  Tyler brushed Courtney’s hair from her forehead. “What are you thinking?”

  “You’re going to be an uncle.”

  He chuckled. “I am. She looked happy too.”

  Courtney rolled in closer to him, draping her arm over his bare chest.

  “Do you think Ed was being dramatic and only telling everyone about the one baby?”

  She felt him shift and knew he was looking down at her now. “One baby?”

  Courtney pressed a kiss to his skin. “I assume by next week there will be more announcements. Maybe they don’t know yet.”

  “Are you saying Darcy is pregnant?”

  “That’s what I’m saying, but she didn’t. Not yet.”

  She felt his breath escape and his chest move as he sucked in more air. “What makes you say that? How do you know that?”

  Courtney ran her hand over his chest, letting her fingers linger in the small tuft of hair there. “She didn’t feel right, that came across in her voice. There was also this—I don’t know—energy to her. I can only assume she was glowing. I felt it.”

  “If she comes back and says she’s having a baby I’m taking you on the road and we’re going to make money with your psychic ability.”

  She rolled onto her back. “Fitz used to laugh at me, but he never doubted me. If I said something was going to happen he knew to watch out for it.”

  Tyler rolled to his side and draped his arm over her. “Did you know he was going to die?”

  Courtney bit down on her lip. “I didn’t want to know that so I think I fought it. But a little bit of me knew.”


  “I’m sorry.”

  “You have to assume that if someone you love is fighting in combat, there is that chance.”

  “But did you know?”

  Courtney felt the tremble start deep in her core until it worked its way to the surface and started her hands shaking.

  She clenched them tight. “I knew nearly the moment it happened, from what I’ve learned. I woke up and screamed for him.”

  “There’s something else. What is it?”

  She turned her face toward his. “I don’t know. I mean they said he was killed in combat, but that doesn’t feel right.”

  “What do you think?”

  “I don’t know. If he were sick, they would have said sick. If it had been an accident, they would have said that.”

  “What else is there?”

  “I don’t know. I have to accept I’m not always right.”

  His lips grazed her forehead. “And Darcy and Ed?”

  She laughed easily as she moved in closer to him and his arm pulled her to him tighter. “Oh, I think I’m right there. They are about to have two babies. A gift from another and a gift shared between them.”

  “I’m looking forward to next week’s dinner,” he said easily.

  So was she, she thought.

  Rest should have come easily, but Courtney fought the insomnia in every way she could think of. But no number of sheep she counted was enough. No multiplication table was too hard. No amount of yoga breathing could put her soundly to sleep next to Tyler.

  Her mind was filled with the what-ifs of Fitz’s death. What if a sniper got him? What if that was all there was to it? Why did she feel like there was a missing piece?

  She rolled to her side. She knew why. Because she and Fitz were open to each other about everything—everything except his military career and what he couldn’t tell her.

  There never should have been something they couldn’t say to each other—but she understood it. What she didn’t understand was his need to enlist and fight wars she didn’t understand. Didn’t they have their own wars to fight right here in Nashville?

  There was a financial company lingering now that the heir had died. The fortune, no matter what it might be, would eventually fall to her, but the company—well, she could never run that.