Chapter 23
Chapter Twenty-Three
Ribbon Ridge
H ayden pulled through the porte cochere in the rental car they’d picked up at the airport and parked near the back door to the house. After the last couple of weeks in Europe with Bex, he felt more like himself than he had in years, maybe in forever.
Bex reached over and clasped his hand. She gave him a warm smile. “Ready?”
“For anything with you next to me.”
She leaned over and brushed her lips against his. “You say all the right things, Hayden Archer.”
He captured her mouth in a searing kiss, taking strength from her love. “Okay, let’s do this.”
He jumped out of the car and walked around to help her. Hand in hand, they made their way to the back door, and he paused briefly, thinking that just inside were all the people he loved most in the world—aside from the one beside him.
He opened the door and stopped. The hooks that had been on the wall since they were children had been moved higher and reorganized. There were more hooks—ones for Dylan, Maggie, Sean, Alaina, and Aubrey. Alex’s wasn’t there anymore.
Hayden’s gut clenched. He glanced down the hallway to his right toward Alex’s bedroom. Had they changed that, too? He didn’t want to look.
He didn’t think they’d be in the kitchen—there were too many of them now—so he led Bex to the great room. As they neared, he heard conversation. It stopped as soon as he and Bex came into view.
Mom jumped up from the couch, her gaze expectant. “Hayden. We’re so glad to see you.” Her gaze dipped to where he held Bex’s hand then rose again. “We’re glad to see you too, Bex.”
Hayden looked around at everyone. “Let’s just get this part out of the way. Bex and I are together. We’re engaged, actually. We’re moving into the house at Quail Crest. But tonight we’re staying at The Alex.”
“We all are, loser, it’s the grand opening.” Leave it to Kyle to try to lighten the mood. It seemed to work as everyone stood and came toward Hayden and Bex, congratulating and hugging them.
After several minutes, everyone resituated themselves, but Dad lingered near them. “Son, I hope you know how sorry we are. We shouldn’t have meddled. We just thought that you and Bex belonged together.”
“Clearly we think so, too,” Hayden said wryly then took Bex’s hand again, giving her fingers a squeeze. The engagement ring he’d bought her in Germany twisted on her finger. They really needed to get that sized, but on their drive through town he’d seen that a jewelry store had opened up on the main street. Life was always changing, and that wasn’t a bad thing.
He looked toward his mom, who stood beside his dad. “You changed the hooks.”
“We did. The family’s growing.” She smiled at Bex. “I’ll order yours today.”
Bex’s dimples made an appearance. “Thank you.”
Hayden looked around the room at his siblings and their significant others and felt the love in the room. He also felt a tense expectation. “I know I said I wanted you to leave me alone when I came home, but you don’t have to. In fact, I’d rather you didn’t.”
Kyle stood next to a chair where Maggie was sitting. “Good because we actually didn’t have any intention of listening to you. See, the sommelier I hired while you were gone is kind of a tool so I’ll be needing you to fill in again. I know you’ve got winery planning to do, but dude, I need your help.”
Hayden nodded, a smile tugging at his lips. “I can do that.”
Sean sat on one of the couches next to Tori. “And I’ve got a proposal written up for filming the winery start-up. I’d love to meet with you and the Westcotts early next week.”
Hayden felt Bex squeeze his hand. “I can do that, too.”
“I’ve got a skydive session all set up for this Sunday afternoon,” Liam said. “Everyone’s going. Except Aubrey and Alaina. They’re going to watch from the ground.”
Hayden glanced at his parents. “Wait, Mom and Dad are going?”
Dad nodded. “Actually, I am. And your mother is still thinking about it.”
Holy shit. Hayden never would’ve guessed their mother would jump out of a plane.
“You up for it, Bex?” Liam asked.
She grinned. “Definitely.”
“And Bex, we just can’t find a brewer we like as much as you,” Tori said. “Any chance you’ll come back?”
She squeezed Hayden’s hand again. “In a heartbeat. Thank you.”
Hayden decided it was time to unburden himself—in a more positive way than last time. “I have some work to do here . . . and I’m going to need your help. See, Alex died on my watch. I know we all feel variations of guilt, but I really felt like I didn’t deserve to be here. So I left. Plus, I was mad at him. Really mad. I’d situated my entire life around being here for him.” He looked toward Bex. “To the point that I messed things up for myself.”
Kyle stepped toward him. “You deserve to be here as much as any of us. More, really. I, uh . . .” He glanced away. “I envy the years you had with Alex. You say you messed things up, but nowhere near as bad as I did. I won’t speak for anyone else.”
Sara stood from the couch where she was sitting. “I may not have messed up, but I’m so sorry you felt left out. It never occurred to me. I always thought I was the outsider. Or Evan.” She looked at Evan, who nodded.
Evan stood then, too. “I’d say you’re nuts for thinking you were somehow excluded, but we all have our own unique perspectives. I can see how you felt that way.”
Tori joined the little semicircle that was forming in front of Hayden. “I completely blew it. We were all such jerks, always making stupid comments about you being the ‘oops’ kid.” She grimaced. “I’m sorry.”
Liam moved in beside Tori. “You may not believe this, but I envied you sometimes. I thought it would be nice to not be associated with this group, to be on my own.”
Evan nodded. “Especially during the show . . . to not have the focus on you . . . I would’ve traded places with you in a second.”
Hayden was absolutely floored by everything they were saying. Emotion welled up inside him, and he was surprised he could find his voice. “I’m sorry you had to put up with the show at all.”
Evan shrugged. “Mom and Dad came around and put an end to it.”
Everyone exchanged looks, and it seemed this was news to at least some of them.
Dad stepped into the circle. “See, you aren’t the only ones who make mistakes.”
Mom took Dad’s hand then Hayden’s. “And we’ll all do it again, I’m sure. I’m just glad we have each other to work through them.” She looked around at her children, at her husband. “We do have each other, don’t we?”
Hayden thought of what he’d told Bex in France, about not trusting them. But the truth was that he hadn’t trusted himself. He’d screwed up with Bex, felt like he’d failed Alex, and the result had been a man who’d felt completely disconnected.
He took Liam’s hand, and Liam took Tori’s who took Evan’s who took Sara’s who took Kyle’s who took Dad’s. Hayden looked for Derek and made eye contact. “Um, hello?”
Derek jumped up and wedged himself in between Kyle and Dad. “Sorry, I was getting kind of choked up over there. That you all welcomed me into your family has always been the greatest gift I will ever receive.”
“ Our family,” Mom said softly. “It’s our family. We might have lost one, but look at all we’ve gained.”
Everyone’s significant others joined them, sliding into the circle and widening it so they filled the room. Hayden squeezed Bex’s hand, so happy that they’d found their way back to each other.
The quiet in the room was incredibly peaceful. Then Evan spoke.
“I like to think of Alex like a pebble dropped into a lake. The ripples he caused were far-reaching—some large, some small, but all of them important. Whether it was bringing Kyle home to meet Maggie, hiring Aubrey so that she would meet Liam, dreaming up The Alex so that Sara and Dylan would find each other, and so on. Only you can say what his impact has been for you, and I suspect in many ways he isn’t done. That is his legacy. This is his love.”
Everyone was silent for a long moment.
Kyle sniffed and wiped at his eye. “Evan, if you’d told me that you’d be the one to think of exactly the right thing to say at the right moment, I would’ve said you were batshit crazy.”
The tension and the melancholy gave way to laughter and joy. Hugs were exchanged again, and Hayden blinked back his tears.
“Enough with the sappy stuff,” Hayden said. “We can’t show up to the opening of our own hotel and restaurant looking like we cried our eyes out.”
Liam’s eyes found his. “So we’re all . . . good?”
Hayden absorbed all of the love around him and looked at Bex, his heart bursting with joy. “We’re family.”