27. Henry
Chapter 27
Henry
I t took far too long for me to set up a charter flight between New Orleans and Columbus, and by the time I make the drive to Emerald and walk through the back door of the house, Cian, Scarlett, and Mariah are already home.
The smoke detector is squealing, the kitchen is filled with gray smoke, and I nearly trip over the five grocery bags sitting just inside the door.
“What the hell?” I yell.
“Oh my God!”
The sound of glass hitting tile and shattering barely registers over the squealing alarm.
Scarlett spins to face me and opens her mouth, but just then, Cian storms into the room.
“What the hell!” he bellows. He grabs the broom from where it rests in the corner near the fridge, strides to the smoke detector, and bangs the handle against the plastic disk until it falls to the floor, now silent.
“I leave you alone for five minutes so I can unpack our bags and you’re burning the place down?” he asks Scarlett.
“I was just preheating the oven for Diane’s casserole!” she exclaims. “Something must have spilled on the bottom of the oven sometime.”
“You should have waited for me,” Cian says. “I would have heated the oven.”
“I was just heating the oven !” Scarlett says. “My God, I wasn’t drywalling the room or rearranging the furniture.”
“Then why is the casserole on the floor in a broken pan?” Cian asks.
Scarlett looks down, then over at me. “Henry scared me, and I dropped it.”
Cian notices me for the first time. “Oh, hey!”
“Sorry to scare you,” I say, pushing the back door open to air out the room, then picking my way over the grocery bags, but catching my toe on one and tripping. “Dammit.”
“Sorry, the place is kind of chaotic,” Scarlett says. “We got home only a couple of hours ago. People have been bringing stuff over. Diane brought a few casseroles, Mandy and Ada brought cinnamon rolls and pecan rolls, Amber went to the store and brought…” She gestures at the bags. “A bunch of stuff.”
I can’t help but smile. Of course, all those people brought stuff over. Scarlett’s been helping all of them since the day she moved back to town. I’m sure they’re thrilled to have the chance to pay her back a bit.
“Then April and Elliot stopped by and brought more groceries and picked up their stuff.”
Dammit, April doesn’t need to be spending money on other people. Especially a man with unlimited funds. Still, I know it was her way of supporting Scarlett and saying thanks more than anything.
“I was going to help them get their things gathered up,” I say, crossing to open the window over the sink, then surveying the casserole mess to decide how to best clean that up.
“It was no problem. I told them they should stay,” Scarlett says.
“They said they’re staying at Mandy and Will’s, though,” Cian adds.
I nod. “Recent development, but yes.”
“Will drove them over. We loaded everything up quickly.”
Scarlett grabs the roll of paper towels and starts to kneel next to the broken casserole dish. Cian swears and scoops her up, throwing her over his shoulder.
“Cian!”
“You are supposed to rest,” he tells her. He smacks her ass. “You know I’m just getting the hang of all of this. Give me a fucking break, okay?”
She grins at me. “He’s doing great, actually.”
I take in her appearance now. She’s got a bright red cast on her right forearm, and her long dark hair is wet and in a braid.
I’m guessing Cian had to wash and braid her hair. Scarlett is right-handed, so many activities will be impossible for her while that cast is on, but doing her hair—or probably showering alone in any case—will be difficult regardless.
And just now he was upstairs unpacking?
“You’re going to the couch,” Cian says, starting for the living room with his wife over his shoulder. “And you will stay there while I put another casserole in the oven and finish upstairs. Understand?”
I can still hear them from the kitchen as I start cleaning up the mess.
“I can put a pan in the oven with one hand,” Scarlett tells him.
“Obviously not without it turning into an ordeal,” Cian says.
“That was Henry’s fault!”
“I can and will spank your ass, arm cast or not, little witch,” he tells her.
“I’m not an invalid.”
She mutters it, but I still hear.
“Glinda,” Cian says, his voice gentle as he uses his nickname for her. “Let me take care of you. Please. I’ll do a good job.”
There’s a pause, and I imagine they’re kissing. And this is exactly why living with them now that they’re married could be a problem.
Well, one of the reasons.
“Of course you will,” she finally says. She sighs. “Okay. I’ll just sit here and watch TV or read.”
“Good girl.”
There’s another pause, and I focus on picking up the jagged pieces of the glass casserole pan, praying that they’re not doing more than kissing.
“Oh, hey, you don’t have to clean that up.”
I look up as Cian walks back into the kitchen. I frown as I dump the broken glass into the trashcan. “It’s fine.”
“I just didn’t mean for you to walk in the door and need to start cleaning up.” He chuckles. “I didn’t mean for there to be things for you to clean up.”
“It’s what I’m here for,” I tell him. Then internally wince. That sounded kind of dickish. I do not just clean up messes for Cian.
I make sure he’s safe and happy, yes, but I love being around him. I love my life with the O’Gradys very much. I’ve never wanted anything else.
Not until I left my heart in Louisiana.
“You okay?” he asks, studying me from where he’s kneeling on the floor, wiping up what looks like rice in some kind of sauce.
“I’m…” I sigh. “Not really,” I tell him honestly.
He sits back on his heels. “Ruby?”
“Yeah.”
“You weren’t able to work things out?”
I look at him, confused. “What do you mean?”
He stretches to his feet, carrying the messy paper towels to the trash. “I thought maybe having some time just the two of you back here in Emerald would help you work through things. Then, when you said you were in Autre together, I was sure you were back together. I’m sorry that didn’t happen.”
“We…did work through things,” I say. “We’re madly in love.”
He looks surprised, then grins. “That’s great! But…” He frowns. “She’s staying in New Orleans, though, right? Scarlett told me about law school, that you found her a great apartment, and that she’s basically already moved in.”
I nod. “Yeah, she starts in the fall.”
“So…” Cian gives me a puzzled look.
“So what?”
“So what the fuck are you doing here ?”
Seriously? I stare at him. “Um, you’re here. My job is here.”
Cian laughs. Then sobers when he realizes I’m not joking. “What? Henry… what? You’re here instead of with Ruby because of me ?”
I love this man. I really do. But sometimes I really want to punch him. Like now.
“ Of course , I’m here because of you. What the hell did you think was going to happen?”
“Well, I thought that you and Ruby were going to get back together and we were all going to live here in Emerald together,” Cian admits. “But when I found out Ruby was staying in New Orleans, I assume that meant you weren’t back together. But if you are…I expect you to be with her.”
My chest feels hot and tight, and I struggle to keep my voice calm. “Instead of with you?”
“Well…yeah.” He glances toward the living room. “Henry, fuck…” He looks back at me. “If you feel for Ruby what I feel for Scarlett, then yeah, you should be with her instead of me. Definitely.”
“You’re not just my best friend,” I remind him. “I’m not just here to hang out and shoot the shit and play video games and plan our next vacation. It’s my job to be with you.”
“Are you worried about money?” he asks, clearly surprised by that idea. “Because I’m sure?—”
“No,” I cut him off. “It’s not about money.”
It hasn’t been about money in a long time. Maybe ever, actually. I didn’t take the job for the money. I took the job because it was exciting and because it filled the hole in my heart that my father had carved out when he made me feel at fault for not taking care of two of the most important people in my life.
The money was nice, for sure, but I’d stayed with the job because these people are my family now.
I’ve invested most of the money the O’Gradys have paid me, and it has grown very nicely over the years. My father’s will, surprisingly, left both my brother and me impressive sums and a substantial amount of property in England. Then Alfred had shocked me by leaving me not only an enormous amount of money but also his shares in a few of the companies he’d invested in, including a few of Declan’s.
So, I’m doing just fine financially.
I’m not here because of any of that.
I’m here to take care of Cian.
But as I study him now, I can’t stop the thought that goes through my mind.
Take care of what, exactly?
No one wants to kill this man. No one wants to hurt him. Kidnap him? Maybe. But if that attempt was made, he knows what to do. He’s well-trained in self-defense and highly skilled with a number of weapons. I know because I’ve trained him myself. He also has a vast network of people to call for any kind of help, of which I am only one person.
Scarlett and Mariah have also been trained in the protocol for what to do if Cian is ever threatened or doesn’t show up somewhere he’s supposed to. I know that because I did that training as well.
And really, it’s always been more about making sure he’s happy and supported and empowered than about his physical safety.
And he’s clearly all of that. In large part because of Scarlett. And Mariah. And our extended group of family and friends.
That’s not just on me, either.
“Then what’s it about?” he asks. “Because I’m good. Really good. I’m so fucking happy.” He meets my gaze. “Are you?”
I nod. “Yeah. Of course.”
“But could you be happier ?”
This man is like a brother to me. I believe he wants me to be happy. So I nod again, “Yeah, I could be happier.”
“In New Orleans, with Ruby,” he says.
“Yeah.”
“Then you should go, don’t you think?”
“I…don’t know.” I swallow. “This…job.” It’s always felt strange calling Cian a job. All of this has always been so much more. “This, with you, has been my entire life for so long. The thought of not doing this feels strange.”
He grins. “The thought of living in a small town in Ohio and substitute teaching at the high school and being a stepdad to a teenager and being married , and…” He glances toward the living room and lowers his voice, “…being responsible and mature and stuff feels strange to me.”
I laugh despite everything.
His grin grows and he’s clearly pleased that he could make me laugh. “But I’m doing it, and it turns out, just because it feels weird doesn’t mean it’s bad. It’s just new. And you and I have always been up for an adventure.”
I look at him for a long moment. He already seems more mature.
“You know what I need?” he asks. “And it is your job to get me what I need, right?” he adds.
I narrow my eyes, but nod. “Yes.”
“I need my best friend in the entire world to be happy.” His tone is serious now. “I want you to have what Scarlett and I have. If you have even a chance of that with Ruby, you have to go to New Orleans.”
My heart is now pounding, and I feel pressure in my chest that I swear must be hope trying to grow. “Alfred made me promise to keep you safe and happy.”
“He made me promise the same thing about you.”
My heart kicks. I shake my head. “What?”
“Yeah. He talked to me when his dementia was getting bad. He told me that he knew you were my bodyguard, but from the beginning, he knew we’d be best friends, and he said that I’ve been exactly what you needed. He made me promise that I’d always make sure you were safe and happy.”
That tightness in my chest isn’t just hope now. It’s the stabbing pain of loss that I often get when I think of Alfred Olsen, the man who changed my life. The man who saved my life. It’s also a love that is so intense and so big that I have a hard time taking a breath. Love for Alfred, love for Cian, love for Ruby. Love for the life that’s brought all of these people to me.
“Bloody hell,” is all I manage as I rub a hand over my face.
“And it’s not like I’ll never see you. This is Scarlett and Ruby. We’re probably going to be coming down there to visit like twice a month. Plus, all the holidays and birthdays and stuff.”
“You think so?” I’d love to think I’ll see him regularly.
Of course, we can make that happen with some effort. But unlike Jonah, who is married to Linnea, an Olsen and a woman who is very much a part of the royal family, I won’t necessarily have the same level of automatic inclusion that he does.
“And it’s only two years until Mariah graduates. At that point, we can look at moving. She’ll maybe even look at college in New Orleans. She loved living there.”
I feel the hope build, pushing out the pain of loss. “You guys would consider moving back?”
“Of course. We’re okay here, but we don’t need to stay here in Emerald. Scarlett loved New Orleans and we’d love to be closer to Autre, my sister and Saoirse, and you guys.”
Now the hope is big and real. “I guess that’s true.”
“You didn’t think we’d never see each other, did you?” Cian laughs. “Brother, you’ve literally traveled the world for me. I think it’s time you determine where we go for a change, don’t you?”
My throat tightens, and I swallow thickly. “Yeah. Okay. I think New Orleans would be great for all of us.”
Cian laughs. “This is so great! We’re going to be married to sisters , Henry. Twins. You think you and I can’t be apart for long? I give it a week before Scarlett wants to fly down there. And hey,” he says as a thought occurs. “We’ll be even more like brothers! Did you know that our kids will be half-siblings?”
My eyes widen. “ What ?”
“Seriously. Mariah was telling us about it. If Scarlett and I have a baby and you and Ruby have a baby, those babies will legally be cousins, but genetically, they’ll be half-siblings because of the identical twin thing. Isn’t that wild?”
I let that sink in. Then I start laughing. “So you and I would be dads to half-siblings.” I shake my head. “Why does that seem…”
“Fitting?” Cian asks. “Complicated and kind of hard to explain, but also awesome?”
I nod. “Like so many things about us.”
He’s smiling as he nods, too. “Exactly. We’re family. In all kinds of funny, tangled, perfect ways.”
“Alfred never meant for you to sacrifice your happiness, Henry. He loved you, too.”
Iris’s words from the other day come back to me.
“Alfred wanted everyone to be secure, safe, and fully supported. You’re part of ‘everyone’, Henry. You’re part of the family, too. You matter, too.”
“You really think you can survive without me?” I ask Cian.
“I think that Scarlett is going to have her hands full,” he says with a grin. “But I think she’s up for it.”
I laugh. “I’m sure she?—”
Suddenly, I hear a squeaky grunting noise and look down.
Into the face of a little pig.
An actual, live little pig.
It’s looking up at me expectantly and grunts.
I sigh. “You didn’t.” But I know he did.
I’m not even surprised.
Cian leans over and scoops the animal up. “I told you I was going to. This is Pete.”
“I sent you a whole bunch of reasons not to,” I say, studying Pete. He is pretty cute. And there appears to be only one of him. For now, anyway.
“No, you sent me a whole bunch of reasons to think it through. Which I did.”
Yeah, he’s going to get more pigs.
I look from the pig to Cian and back. “You know what?”
“What?”
“I think me going to New Orleans is a great idea.”
I do not want to live with a drove of pigs inside the house. Yes, I looked up the word for a group of pigs.
He grins as he nuzzles the pig’s side. “You’re going to miss me.”
I roll my eyes but say, “Yes. But less if you come with pigs. So thank you for that.”
He just laughs.
“Good thing you’ve got a private jet.”
Cian nods. “And a good thing I can’t lose my job.”
“Or even quit it, really. You tried after all, and it didn’t stick.”
“True. Thank God. I think that maybe I’m not so bad at being the spare to the spare heir of Cara.”
I clap him on the shoulder. “You’re actually doing a fantastic job. At all of it.”
And I really mean that as I watch him carry the not-going-to-be-tiny-forever pig into the love of his life who is resting, as ordered, on the couch, then returns to clean up the kitchen, starts a new casserole baking, and then heads upstairs to deal with their laundry.
All I do is put away a few groceries.
And then make a plan for tomorrow.
And then send my boss a text telling her that I’ll be relocating to New Orleans and will be available to travel with Cian and Scarlett on trips in the US, but that Jonah should accompany them internationally.
It only takes three minutes for her to reply.
Fine. I assume I still won’t be getting security plans for the US trips? Or does being in love make you more responsible?
Me: I’ll send it now. Security plan: provide security, don’t let any royals get kidnapped, hurt, or killed.
I stop, scroll back, delete ‘hurt’ since, as I’ve learned, things like car accidents can happen, are difficult to prevent, and can still be…okay.
I send the revised plan.
Iris: middle finger emoji
Me: kissy face emoji
Iris: It’s all going to be great. I’m happy for you.
The middle finger, I expected. The nice response still throws me a little. Iris being more laid-back and happier is going to take some getting used to.
Me: Still feel like everything is on track? I’m not fucking this up?
Iris: It’s even more on track. Alfred would be so pleased that you’re in love.
Iris: Alfred would have really liked Ruby.
He definitely would have.
Iris: I’m also really pleased, in case you care.
She might be surprised to know that I do care.
Iris: Just be happy, Henry, you deserve it.
That chokes me up unexpectedly, and I have to think about how to respond. I don’t have a glib or sarcastic retort, so I simply ask, I’m not fired then?
I prepare for her to say something like let’s just say you’re on probation or something similarly sassy.
Instead, she says, You can’t fire family.
I take a deep breath.
Fuck, things feel good.
This is all going to work out.
I think about heading back to the airport right now. I could be with Ruby by bedtime. But there are some things at Big Dick’s I want to tie up tomorrow before I leave.
I think about texting Ruby and telling her I’m coming back. But I decide I want to surprise her.
Instead I simply send, I love you .
She replies quickly. I love you, too.
Then I look around. I’m not sure what to do now until tomorrow morning.
Suddenly, I hear squealing from the living room, then Scarlett laughing, then something crashing to the floor, then Scarlett yelling, “Cian!”, then footsteps on the stairs.
“Good lord, you all are a lot of work!” my best friend, Prince of Cara, the ‘a lot of work’ in my life for the past twelve years, exclaims.
And all I do is grin, cross to the fridge, pull out a soda, then perch on a stool at the breakfast bar to wait for dinner.
I’m not going to do a thing about any of that.
I told him not to get a pig.