CHAPTER 10
brIELLE
I can’t even describe what is going on in my belly at the moment. I’m excited because I’m on familiar roads which make it feel like I’m seeing the world through a filter, but I’m also nervous. I haven’t seen the rest of the Connors family in a long time.
Now I’m showing up with Everton and Rian? It’s strange, right?
“I already know Mimi made macaroni and cheese,” Rian chirps from the backseat after pulling out the earbud she had in.
My eyes widen and I swear my mouth waters, “Mrs. Connors’s mac and cheese is legendary.”
“You’ve had it?” Rian blinks her big eyes as she stares at me, and I glance back over my shoulder at her.
“Of course,” Everton rumbles from next to me, his entire demeanor relaxed in a way I’m more than a little jealous of.
“It was my favorite,” I tell her honestly.
“It’s my favorite,” she gasps. “It’s why I know Mimi made it for dinner.”
The smile stretching across my face is wide. I almost jump out of my skin when Everton’s hand reaches over and finds a home on my thigh. Uncertainty fills me and I push his hand away. He huffs out a breath through his nose and puts his hand on my knee.
I let it go because I can’t pretend I don’t like it, and I know he’s not going to give up. The man is stubborn, always has been.
Needing some sort of distraction, I nod toward her tablet and ask, “Are you watching something?”
“Hamilton,” she chirps brightly.
“She’s obsessed,” he tells me, his voice teasing. “One day, after they were learning about the Revolutionary War and the birth of our nation at school, she came home and said she was going to watch it. She did and the next thing I knew, she was singing along.”
I can’t help but giggle as I look back at Rian. “It’s a wonderful show. I’ve known people in it. There’s a lot of talent on that stage,” I nod toward her tablet.
Her eyes go round and fill with awe. “You saw it live?”
“Yes,” I admit and chuckle. “I’ll always be willing to go to shows with you Rian.”
“You’re not going to leave me out,” Everton rumbles, his words thick with emotion.
When I look at him, worried I’ve overstepped, his eyes are glassy and he has a secret smile on his face filled with love. He glances back at his daughter in the mirror and it’s clear he loves my offer. For her. Because he sees that she needs something more in her life.
And he trusts me with her.
The weight of it, the responsibility of it, wraps around me, but it doesn’t feel like a burden. It feels like warmth.
I cover his hand with mine and give a squeeze, truly understanding what it meant when I whispered okay even though I was uncertain. He flips his hand and our fingers lace together like they never spent time not entwined.
My head tilts back and I let my eyes slide closed. I feel the nervousness, the anxiety, the fear, slide through me. I let it. It’s real.
But it doesn’t get to define this moment.
Then I feel the trust, the strength, the history that I share with the man I’m holding hands with. It’s real too and I’m going to let myself lean into it.
And give him trust right back.
I feel the truck turn, and I know where we are without opening my eyes. “Sagebrush,” I whisper, a dandelion seed on the breeze, and Everton squeezes my hand.
We let go, but only because he needs his hand. I don’t feel the loss because our fingers will tangle together again.
“Come on,” Rian’s voice is giddy as she practically jumps out of the truck too fast for anyone to stop her. Over her shoulder she throws out, “You want to get to the mac and cheese before I eat it all.”
My laughter fills the cab, punctuated by the door she’s thrown closed haphazardly. When I look at Everton, he’s watching me intently. I’m still not used to his focus being on me like it is right now.
Almost too intense.
Almost too much.
Except for the way it makes me feel seen in a way I haven’t been in years. Not since him. Not by anyone else.
Always him.
“Tell me, Tiny Dancer,” he demands, the words hoarse and commanding.
“I’m a little scared,” I whisper. I glance at the house, the same one where I spent so much time.
This family became like my own after a while. I knew this land. I knew these people.
And I walked away from all of it. I couldn’t look back. Not because I was better off.
Because it hurt too much.
I knew what I was missing. I knew what I left behind.
That doesn’t mean I didn’t need to do it.
“No one is mad at you,” he tells me, his voice earnest in a way that has my eyes snapping up to meet his.
His whiskey-colored eyes are filled with conviction.
“Everyone wanted you to make your dreams come true. And you did. There’s no resentment in this house,” his voice is a low lullaby my soul leans into, “only pride.”
When I hear the front door open again after it slammed closed after Rian ran in moments ago, I look up to find Ford Connors standing with his arm wrapped around his wife, Arden. I can’t help but bite my lip.
Everton reaches over and pulls it free before gripping my chin and turning my face back toward him. “Trust that people only want to witness you fly, not put you in a cage.”
I huff out a laugh and fight the tears filling my eyes because I don’t want them to fall. “When did you become a poet, Everton Connors?” My voice drops into something softer, something real, “When did you learn how to say all the right things and wrap every syllable with something unfathomable?”
The grin he flashes me is the same one from all those years ago. Boyish. Rakish. Sinful and sweet.
When I reach toward the door handle, he arches an eyebrow. The challenge is clear and I slowly pull my hand away. I swear I hear Ford chuckle as Everton bounds out of the truck and around to my side in no time at all. I can’t tear my eyes away from him; I don’t want to.
He helps me out of the truck and the warmth of his hand on the small of my back as he leads me to the house is grounding. Ford and Arden share a look before looking back at me with wide eyes. Well, Arden has wide eyes; Ford looks almost smug, even if it doesn’t make any sense.
“Brielle?” Arden’s voice is tentative when I’m close enough for her to reach out and pull me into a hug. If she were so inclined.
“Hi, Mrs. Connors,” I greet her softly, politely. Uncertainly.
“Oh,” she gasps and then I’m yanked into her arms and hugged fiercely. “It has been such a long time since I’ve seen you,” she breathes out, her grip on me tightening.
I melt into her embrace and hug her back. I hear Ford chuckle, his voice a little more gravel than Everton’s, “You have some explaining to do.”
“Brielle moved to Las Vegas,” Everton’s voice is matter of fact and I can tell Arden is listening even though she’s still hugging me.
“She got a job at Elysium,” I stiffen and then realize I have nothing to be ashamed of and relax, “as a dancer. I ran into her when I had Rian. They danced together and my daughter wants to keep her. I have no plans to let her go a second time.”
Arden gasps again, this time even louder. She pushes me away slightly, with jerky movements, until she’s able to look at me. Her eyes search my face and whatever she’s looking for she must find because her eyes soften.
“I always hoped,” she whispers, “but you can’t always predict the tides of life.”
Ford wraps his arm around his wife’s shoulders and gently pulls her away from me. He kisses her temple and murmurs, “Let the girl breathe, Sunflower.”
She purses her lips before looking at me seriously. “None of that Mrs. Connors stuff. You can call me Mom, if you’re comfortable, or Arden. You aren’t a child,” she admonishes me gently, “and your manners will never be in question with me.”
“Only because you have more than a few stories that involve her from our youth,” Everton grumbles as he tucks me into his side.
I gently smack his chest and sass him, “You’re not wrong, but you don’t need to remind her.”
Ford barks out a laugh while looking between us with amusement in his eyes. When he looks at me with the same whiskey-colored eyes as his son and granddaughter, there is only warmth there. “And you can call me Dad or Ford. You’ve always been family, Brielle. We’re just glad you came home.”
“Please don’t make me cry,” I blink rapidly and look up at the ceiling.
The couple in front of me, who were like a second set of parents for years, laugh and head inside. Everton kisses my temple and murmurs, “They’re not wrong either.” He nips at my earlobe and growls, “See? Nothing to worry about.”
I sigh, “Yeah.”
When we step into the living room, I’m met with three people I don’t recognize. Well, two of them I’m fairly sure are Everton’s younger twin siblings, but they’ve grown up in the last 18 years. Of course they did, but it’s kind of shocking to see it.
“Woah,” I breathe out and draw enough attention for all three people to look at me.
I think I see recognition on two faces, but not the third. It’s clear who she is with the way Forest has her tucked into his side.
“Hey,” Everton’s voice holds a warning I don’t think is necessary. “I’d like to introduce you all to Brielle.” The three stand and take a step closer. “Forest, Montana, you might remember her. She grew up in Seneca Falls and we were together a long time before we graduated.”
“I remember you, Brielle,” Montana’s voice is gentle, like a breeze rippling across a field of wildflowers. “You were a dancer, right?”
I smile at her, thankful for that connection. She’s grown up to be a beautiful woman, but there’s something guarded about her.
Or maybe it’s because of me. It’s not like I can blame her for it.
“I am. I ended up going to New York and cobbled together a dance career of sorts,” I tell her.
“I bet you have some good stories,” her words feel like an olive branch and I’m more than willing to clutch it to my chest and take full advantage.
“It was a lot of working, auditioning, teaching, and picking up odd jobs wherever I could. But I met quite a few characters over the years.”
She smiles and I glance toward Forest who is looking at me curiously. His eyes narrow and he nods, “I do remember you. We had a water gun fight one summer,” there’s excitement in his voice.
I can’t help but laugh and nod. The feeling of Everton’s fingers flexing against my back has me looking up at him. His eyes are filled with adoration, or maybe something deeper.
“That was a lot of fun.” For a second I get lost in the memory. I don’t even know why I got the water guns. I just wanted to make Everton smile. “I might have to show Rian how to beat you,” I tease my man while eyeing him.
“I’m in,” Forest chuckles before looking toward the woman at his side. “This is my wife, Autry.”
When I look at her, her expression is open and curious. She glances at Everton and then back at me and warmth fills her gaze.
“Welcome back to Sagebrush,” Autry welcomes me, her voice sincere.
“It’s really nice to meet you, Autry.”
We share a smile which feels like a password into a club we’re both members of. Because we both love Connors family men.
We know how their whiskey-colored eyes will steal your heart and soul with a single look. And how they’ll never let go.
Before anything else can be said, Rian skids into the room in a way that makes me tense and almost lunge toward her before she falls. But she’s fine. Of course she is. It’s only my heart racing.
This is fine.
“Come on, Brielle,” she calls out brightly, “Mimi just put the mac and cheese on the table.”
I walk toward her quickly while ignoring the grunt of protest coming from Everton. She grins up at me when I wrap my arm around her shoulders and head toward the dining room.
“You’re speaking my language,” I tease her gently.
“It’s nice to see you happy, man,” I hear Forest tell Everton behind me.
I don’t have to look to know he’s looking at me. I can feel his eyes. He’s watching me with his daughter and the weight of it doesn’t stifling.
He’s trusted me with his daughter, with a place in her life. I’m going to make the most of it and not just because she’s his, but because she’s special.
I’m not going to ignore how lucky I am to be in her life. Or how willingly she’s opened her heart to me.
She gives me a side hug and squeezes. I tilt my head toward hers and we touch. Just for a moment. Just enough.
When we step into the dining room, Ford is already there and pulling out Arden’s chair. The moment she sees me with Rian, her eyes mist with unshed tears. “I think this is the best family dinner I’ve hosted in a while.”
I shoot her a soft smile filled with understanding. We share a look just like the one I shared with Autry moments ago.
The women who love Connors family men.
It’s a special club. And I’m part of it.
I know what this means, I know the future I’m stepping into. It’s one I desperately want. This time I won’t walk away. No matter what.