Chapter Eighteen #2
down. Shane was the center of their universe, and she was so happy for it.
The influencer nodded. Brooke seemed to remember Stef had
introduced him as an art critic with a massive following online. “Yes. That’s
exactly it. You see both the sorrow of the man and the entire culture on this
canvas. It’s stunning, but then all the work is. It’s been a while since I
found an artist who could work across mediums like Mr. Kent.”
“I believe I told you he was one of a kind.” Stef wore his
semblance of a suit. Slacks, dress shirt, and an elegant jacket sans tie. And
he was wearing cowboy boots. His wife was a willowy beauty in a cocktail dress.
Though she noticed Jen Talbot’s normally full wine glass was
water this evening.
Rachel sidled up next to her. She was in a cocktail dress as
well, with sky-high heels. The best part of her sister-in-law’s outfit though
was her smile. In the weeks since the night she’d blown up, Max and Rye and
Rachel had been working on their marriage. On reconnecting as partners rather
than just parents. A couple of sessions with Alexei and they were really
talking.
A couple of sessions in Stef’s dungeon and they were finding
their groove again. She’d heard they had started using the tiny house as their
own playroom. They had used the Farley brothers’ babysitting service several
times now, but they didn’t go out. They ordered in and spent hours locked up in
that tiny house together, reminding themselves of how they got to be the
parents of three and a half kids. Rachel had started talking about the new baby
with enthusiasm. “They’re trying. Jen’s excited about giving Little Logan a
sibling. You know I wonder if we’re always going to call him Little Logan.”
“Probably. That kid will be six foot three and we’ll call
him LL. Anyway, I’m happy for them,” Brooke said, sipping her champagne. She’d
made the rounds as the artist’s fiancée. And his brother’s. She had a
placeholder ring for now, but Bay was learning the art of jewelry making from
the strangest of places. Mel had explained that he’d spent a lot of time on the
Ren Faire circuit during his active alien hunting days. Because aliens liked
those big turkey legs, and apparently lute playing soothed them. His cover? He
was a blacksmith who made rings as well as swords—all blessed with beet juice
to keep the aliens away.
She loved her hometown so much.
“Me, too. I have no doubt she won’t be far behind me. You
know I will be thrilled with any baby we get, but it would be fun for all of us
to have girls. Lucy Brooke and my and Jen’s daughters could be a girl gang. We
could do girls days. Let me tell you I wish Paige would spend more time with
girls. She runs through the woods with Charlie and Zander, and I think she
forgets she’s a girl sometimes.” Rachel took a long breath and let it out, her
expression going soft. “Or I should let Paige be Paige and not worry about it.
That’s the hardest thing about parenting. Letting them be who they are even
when you think they’re headed for rough times.”
Paige would handle the rough times by kicking a shin or two.
Her niece was a force of nature, and she would figure out who she was. But that
wasn’t all Rachel was trying to say to her. “We’re good. I understand. Rye and
Max are more like my dads than my brothers. I think I
was also an easy place to focus all their worry on. Like it was easier to worry
about me than their marriage.”
Rachel grinned. “Oh, you have been reading the same books as
Alexei. He said the same thing. You should know how much we love you.”
She glanced over and Max was holding a beer, standing next
to Shane. He and Rye had become mentors to her men, and they were soaking up
the big brotherly affection and advice. Sometimes too much. They were taking
the jail thing seriously and looking for reasons to get locked up so they could
pay her back in servitude.
Her nights were interesting.
“I love you, too. All of you, and I can’t wait to meet the
new baby,” Brooke said. “I promise we’ll be back in time to greet this one
properly.”
Rachel sighed, but there was a smile on her face. “I’m going
to miss you. So when do you leave?”
Plans were already in motion. “Cleo has the financial
backing she needs. Turns out she ended up talking to Seth at the opening night
party and she coaxed a nice check out of him, so now Seth and Georgia are
producers.”
She’d been working on Georgia’s Met gown for a solid month,
and it was coming together beautifully. It was a full-on statement gown to be
worn by a queen taking her rightful place in society. That gown offered no
apologies for taking up space and shining the way the woman who would wear it
did.
It didn’t matter if some critic didn’t like it. She was
designing for Georgia, and only her opinion mattered.
It was deliciously freeing, and now her ideas flowed, her
art like breath in her lungs again.
Rachel hugged her. “I’m going to miss you so much, but I’m
excited for you. Remember you always have a place to come home to.”
She hugged her sister back, a sweet sense of belonging
flooding her veins.
All her friends were here. In the last month she’d spent
time with Lucy and River and their families. River and Jax were trying to get
pregnant, and Lucy was thinking about it. She’d gotten to know Sawyer’s family.
Sabrina and Wyatt were lovely, and her sister Elisa was wonderful.
She would miss this place so much, but she would always come
home to it. “I will. We’re going to start looking for a cabin.”
Rachel’s head shook. “Don’t bother. You should know Stef
plans to get you a place in the valley for your wedding present. When you get
married.”
“It won’t be long.” She should probably turn that cabin
down. Or not. Stef wouldn’t have offered without Jen’s approval, and he was
like another big brother. “Tell him I don’t mind a fixer upper now that I know
my sister-in-law is so talented.”
Rachel was finding more than her groove. She was finding a
passion. “I like laying tile and putting in drywall. I thought I would go and
be like some designer, but what I loved was doing the work with my hands. I’m
talking to the guys about adding on to our house. I think I’d like my own
office and eventually we’ll need another bedroom. I’m excited about it.”
It was easy to see her sister-in-law was where she needed to
be.
“Hey, little sis.” Rye strode up and wrapped an arm around
her. “What are you doing with the most beautiful woman in the world? Hello. I
noticed you seem to be here without a man.”
Oh, and they role-played now. A lot. Brooke managed not to
roll her eyes. “Uh, she’s pregnant so she’s technically not alone.”
“Hush,” Rachel said with a grin on her face. “Well, kind
sir, I’m afraid I am alone tonight, and I don’t understand anything about art.
Could you explain it to me?”
Oh, he would. In a broom closet somewhere. “I would like to
remind you that this is Bay’s professional gallery showing.”
Rye didn’t take his eyes off his wife. “Then Bay should have
remembered that my barn is my professional space, and I shouldn’t have to walk
in on him and his brother molesting my sister.”
She snorted. Yeah, that had happened. Her guys liked to get
busy in a lot of places. “Sorry.”
“Hey, I finally found a piece of art I get.” Max walked up,
a beer in his hand and Stef at his side. “Did you see the sculpture of the
naked chick?”
Brooke worried she’d gone a bright red. One of the
last-minute pieces was a lovely sculpture of…well, her torso. Bay claimed he
wanted her breasts to get all the attention for once since they had to compete
with the rest of her. It was white marble and could take its place with any of
the master works. But it was still weird.
“Now that was a work of art. Tell Bay he should do more of
that,” Max said with a nod even as Rye’s head fell forward and Rachel started
laughing.
Stef slapped his best friend on the shoulder. “Yep. You know
that’s your sister, right?”
Max spat out his beer, and a pained expression came over his
face. “I’m going to go wash my eyeballs. Bay, you’re a freak. A pervert freak.”
Bay ambled up, obviously confused but going with it. “Uh,
thanks. Do I dare ask?”
Shane moved in from behind, wrapping an arm around her
waist. “I think Max admired one of the works a bit too much.”
Bay shrugged and went in for a kiss. “How are you doing, my
muse?”
She was fabulous. “I’m excited for our trip.”
To LA with Cleo. To start. To explore. To be.
“Me, too,” Shane whispered. “Hey, wanna get to the broom
closet before your brothers do?”
Oh, she would never say no to that. “Absolutely.”
Rye frowned. “Hey…”
But they were off.
“You snooze, you lose, buddy,” Shane called out.
Bay tipped his hat. “You know we’re younger and faster,
brother.”
“I’m older and have more guns,” Rye called out.
Brooke laughed and went with her men to find a little bliss.