Guarding Autumn (Crimson Point Security #3)

Chapter Thirty

––––––––

“Tris is here,” Warwick announced to the others, looking out the front window of his and Marley’s house.

Gavin stood with Autumn and hurried past everyone in the kitchen and living room, then out the front door to meet him outside.

Tris stopped partway up the front walkway and looked between them. “Everything good?”

Gavin slid an arm around Autumn’s waist and pulled her into his side. “Yeah, everything’s perfect.”

Tris grinned and continued up the walkway. “Damned glad to hear that. I’m happy for you guys.”

“Thanks,” Autumn said with a soft smile. “We haven’t told the others yet. We were waiting for you to get here first.”

“Oh, now this is gonna be fun. Can’t wait to see their reactions.” He stopped at the doorstep to hug Autumn. “You good?”

She hugged him back hard, her beautiful smile filling Gavin with warmth. “So good.”

“Awesome. And if Gav does anything stupid or messes up, you just let me know, and I’ll straighten him out. You tell Carly yet?”

“Yes, and she’s ecstatic. You’re now her favorite uncle, by the way. Funcle Tris, official.”

“Well, yeah,” Tris said as if it was so obvious it didn’t need mentioning.

“Only because I upgraded to a way better title,” Gavin said. Dad. Though it would take a while for Carly to adjust enough to her new reality to start calling him that. Whatever she was comfortable with, he wouldn’t push.

“You keep telling yourself that.” Tris went to move past them, but Gavin put out a hand to stop him.

“You find out anything about our good Samaritan?”

“A little. His name’s TJ Barros, and he only works occasional shifts at the construction site. That’s how he knows the suspect who took Carly. Word is they’re both homeless.”

“Was he a protester?”

“He says no, that he just happened to be in the right place at the right time.”

“Wearing a gas mask.”

Tris shrugged. “I know. Could’ve had it on him because he expected the cops to deploy the gas.”

“Yeah, and a homeless guy just happens to have one of those as part of his worldly possessions?”

“Dunno. His foreman said he doesn’t think Barros is the type to get involved in the protests.”

Gavin filed that away, more curious than ever. There had to be more to the puzzle. Not many people would put themselves at risk to do what Barros had done for Carly yesterday. “Nothing else on him?”

“Not so far. We sent his name and a picture of him to HQ to forward to the cops. I asked Ivy to do some digging.”

“Great.” Ivy could work outside the usual parameters and use some magic tricks that weren’t strictly legal. If anything on this dude existed, she would find it. “And?”

Tris gave him a meaningful look. “She didn’t find anything.”

He frowned. “Nothing?”

“Nope. It’s like the guy doesn’t exist.”

How was that even possible? Barros being homeless might be a stumbling block, but there should still be plenty of information on him somewhere. Birth records, driver’s license, tax returns, health, dental, and census records. Something.

“She’s gonna keep looking.” Tris glanced back and forth between him and Autumn expectantly. “So, when we doing this?”

Gavin looked down at her. She shrugged. “Guess now’s as good a time as any?”

“Hell, yeah,” Tris said, rubbing his hands together.

Decker, Teagan, Marley, and Warrick greeted Tristan when he walked in, then everyone fell silent when Gavin and Autumn stopped together in the entrance to the kitchen to face them all.

“We need to tell you guys something important,” Gavin said.

“Just a sec. Lemme grab a drink first,” Tris said, hurrying to the fridge. He pulled out a beer, twisted off the cap, and sauntered back to plunk himself down on a high stool beside Decker, eyes glinting with anticipation.

Marley shot him a frown then looked at Autumn and Gavin. “What? Is something wrong?”

“No.” Gavin wrapped an arm around Autumn, suppressed a grin at the way four of their five faces went blank with surprise. He glanced down at Autumn. “You wanna tell them?”

“Noooo. You go ahead.”

All right. He drew a deep breath. “There’s really no easy way to tell you this, so I’m just gonna say it.”

The silence in the kitchen was almost deafening. Warwick’s beer was paused halfway to his mouth, his gaze flicking back and forth between them. Decker was dead still in his seat, looked like he was hardly breathing.

“Autumn and I are together,” Gavin announced.

“I fucking knew it,” Teagan breathed, her words almost drowned out by Marley’s smothered yelp of excitement.

“But there’s more,” Gavin said, enjoying the comically rapt expressions on his siblings’ and their partners’ faces as they fell instantly silent again. “We just found out, but... Carly’s mine.”

Marley’s mouth fell open. Warwick’s eyes widened. A Cheshire cat grin spread across Teagan’s face. Decker’s eyebrows pulled into a deep scowl. Tris took a pull of his beer, the gleam in his eyes making it clear he was enjoying the shit outta this.

“You’re...no,” Marley said to them with a perplexed frown.

Gavin nodded. “Yep.”

“It’s true,” Autumn said, pressing closer to him.

He tightened his grip on her, wanting to comfort her and make her feel more at ease. There was no need for her to be embarrassed about what had happened, and there was zero chance his family would reject either her or Carly. It was gonna be fine.

“Carly did a DNA test about two months ago for her family genealogy project. I got the results the other morning before we left for the airport.” Autumn drew a steadying breath. “There was nothing about the...uh, the other guy whatsoever, but Marley was listed as a direct match, and that’s how I found out.”

The room exploded in noise as all of them except Tristan started talking at once.

“You’re kidding!”

“Are you serious?”

“I can’t believe it— Wait.” Marley stopped suddenly, looked over at Tristan in suspicion and gave him an accusatory glare. “You knew. You tight-lipped little shit, how long have you known and not said anything?”

He looked up at the ceiling as if doing a mental calculation, then made a show of checking his watch. “Bout twenty-three hours, give or take. That about right, Gav?”

“More or less.”

“What?” Marley demanded, shooting an accusing look at them both.

“I’m his twin,” Tris said as if that explained everything.

Leaving Marley to continue the interrogation, Gavin’s gaze slid along the line of people until he reached the far end and locked eyes with Decker. No surprise, his eldest brother’s accusing stare was slowly boring a hole in the middle of Gavin’s face. And Deck didn’t have to say a damned thing, because Gavin knew exactly what he was thinking.

Yeah, he’d slept with Autumn when he was eighteen, and, yes, technically it was a one-night stand. “It was one time, the night before I shipped out for bootcamp. And yes, we used protection. But here we are.”

Decker’s gaze shifted to Autumn, his expression softening slightly. He’d always been fond of her in his own aloof way.

“I didn’t know until I saw the DNA results, I swear,” she told him.

“It’s not that,” Gavin said. “He’s mad because he thinks I took advantage of you before I left town.”

Marley stopped interrogating Tris long enough to shoot Decker a stern look and lean over to smack him on the shoulder. “Oh, my God, stop it, Dad .” She jumped up, rushed at them with her arms open, a gigantic smile on her face. “I can’t believe this. You guys! It’s unreal.” She hugged Gavin, then Autumn, hopping up and down in excitement. “I already loved that kid so much, but now I’m officially her auntie! And I already loved you, too, which you knew,” she said to Autumn, still hugging her. She whipped her head around to beam at Warrick, who was still seated on his stool at the island. “Oh, my God , can you believe this?”

“No, aye,” he said, looking a bit shellshocked. “Champion news, well done.”

“That makes you her uncle. Ooh, you can be her funcle—”

“Nope, that spot’s already taken,” Tris said, then shot a glance at Decker, whose scowl was almost gone now. “Obviously, since I’m about a thousand times more fun than him.”

Teagan and Warwick came over to hug them. Then Decker was there, his hard features morphing into a smile that made Gavin blink. “Welcome to the family officially,” he said to Autumn, and hugged her.

And damn if Gavin’s throat didn’t get tight all of a sudden.

Deck’s gaze shot to his with a stern look. “You’re making it official, right?”

He opened his mouth to answer, but the doorbell pealed. Everyone stopped and looked at Marley. “I dunno who that is, I’m not expecting anyone,” she said, hurrying to the front door. “Oh!” she cried when she saw whoever was on the other side, and threw out her arms to hug them.

The door opened wider, and Autumn gasped when she saw her parents standing there. “Mom, Dad! What are you guys doing here?” She rushed for the door to greet them.

“We were worried sick about you and Carly, that’s what,” her mom said, hugging her as she looked over Autumn’s shoulder at him and the others.

“How did you even find me here?”

“She used the find my phone thing,” her dad said, taking his turn for a hug. “I told her it wouldn’t work this far away, but I was wrong.”

“Yes, and I’m not sorry,” her mom said, hitching the strap of her purse higher on her shoulder as she came inside. She gave Gavin a warm smile. “Gavvy, sweetheart, how are you? Oh, your poor face.”

He returned her hug. “I’m fine. Better than fine.” He met Autumn’s gaze, almost chuckled at the warning look she gave him with widened eyes and a tiny shake of her head. They’d told everyone else, no sense in stopping now.

Autumn’s parents came in, hugged Marley, Deck and Tris, and were introduced to Teagan and Warwick. “Where’s my baby?” Autumn’s mother said, looking around.

“Finishing up her capstone project at Gavin and Tris’s place,” Autumn said. “She’s fine,” she added quickly when her mother looked aghast. “She’s secured in there all snug as a bug and trying to finish before dinner so we can all go out to celebrate...” She stopped, realizing what she’d almost said.

“Celebrate what?” her mother prompted.

Autumn paused and turned to the others. “Would you guys mind giving us a couple minutes?”

“Yup, absolutely,” Marley answered, grabbing Warwick by the hand to haul him off his stool. “We have to go into town anyway.”

“Us too. We’ll go with you,” Teagan said, dragging Decker after them.

“Good. And you’re coming too,” Marley told Tris, who was still sitting there enjoying the show.

“Nah, I’m good, you guys go ahead.”

“Tristan.” Marley gave him The Look. The one that warned he had exactly two seconds to get off his ass and do as he was told or there would be consequences.

Chuckling, he got up. “Yeah, okay.” He shot Autumn and Gavin a wink. “See you guys at dinner, I guess.”

Everyone filed out the front door. Marley paused to give them a grin and a thumbs up before shutting it behind her.

“Well, what on earth was that all about?” Autumn’s mother said in the sudden quiet.

Autumn pulled in a breath. “Mom, Dad, come sit down.” She ushered them into the living room and seated them on the sofa, then took the loveseat and waved Gavin over. He sat beside her, letting her take the lead. “We have something to tell you.”

“What?” her mother said worriedly. “What’s wrong?”

Gavin curled an arm around her shoulders, enjoyed the way her parent’s eyes shot to the hand curved around her upper arm before they bounced back to his face.

Autumn broke the news about them, then Carly. Her mother cried out, her hands flying to her cheeks as she and her husband stared at Autumn, aghast. “You’re sure?” she asked finally.

“Yes, Mom, I’m positive.”

Time for him to jump in. “Mr. and Mrs. Bateson, for what it’s worth, I—”

“Gavin Abrams, you took advantage of our daughter?” Autumn’s mom yanked off her decorative scarf and tried to hit him with the end of it. Missed because it was so light if fluttered past his shoulder like a falling leaf.

“I took advantage of him, truth be known,” Autumn said, deflating her mother’s outrage and earning some slow blinks. “It was all me.”

“Well, it wasn’t all you,” Gavin said.

Mr. Bateson cleared his throat. “This is a...big surprise, but not an unwelcome one.” He turned to his wife. “How many times did we say we wished he was our son?”

“Well, yes, of course, you know we’ve always loved you like a son,” her mother rushed out, but there was still some lingering outrage in her eyes. “Which is why we didn’t say anything about you climbing up the tree into her bedroom all those years—”

“Mrs. Bateson, I love your daughter. And Carly. I’d been waiting to tell Autumn that in person when they came out here, hoping she would feel the same way. The news about Carly was a huge surprise to us all, but it doesn’t really change anything because I already wanted them both forever.” He looked into Autumn’s eyes. Saw the deep, lifelong love he felt for her mirrored back at him. “I wanted to ask her to marry me before I even found out.”

“Oh...” Autumn’s mom blinked fast and put a hand to her chest as if that was the most romantic thing she’d ever heard in her whole life. “Oh, Autumn.”

“I know, Mom, I’m so lucky. Because I’ve loved him forever.”

“Well, that’s all I needed to hear.” Autumn’s dad grinned slightly and extended a hand toward him across the coffee table. “Son, let me be the first to congratulate you both, and officially welcome you to the family.”