Chapter Forty-Six
Nora
The scent of woodsmoke and the lingering trace of Evie’s lemon tonic seemed to have followed us down the mountain and straight into our living room.
I sat on the edge of the sofa with my hand tucked firmly into Evan’s.
Across from us, Drew and Bella sat shoulder-to-shoulder while Brady paced the length of the rug.
His brow was furrowed in a way that made him look a decade older, his shadow stretching long against the half-painted walls.
“Thomas Steele,” Drew repeated. The name sounded foreign, even in this house.
He had a laptop open on his knees, his fingers flying across the keys as he searched local archives and digitized birth records.
“Unfortunately college records from over thirty years ago aren’t easily searchable. We’ll have to make some calls.”
My voice was barely above a whisper. “Evie said they were a trio. Gabe, Cody, and Thomas. Inseparable.”
My mind was racing, a thousand impossible images flashing behind my eyes.
I thought of my mother, the vibrant and beautiful Celia.
I kept trying to make the math work. She met my father at college, and if Gabe was there too, if they were all friends, the implications were dizzying.
The idea of my mother and Gabe Holliston seemed implausible.
She loved my father. Even when he made it hard to, she loved him.
“Maybe it wasn’t a romance,” Bella offered gently.
She reached out, resting a hand on Drew’s arm.
“My father never talks about his university years. It is a total blank space in the Holliston history, a vault he kept locked. We always assumed their issues were business related. That could still be true.”
“It is a blank space because they made it one,” Brady said, stopping his pacing. He looked at each of us, his eyes bright with emotion. “And I think I know what we need to do next.”
We all looked at him. Brady was the youngest, the one we instinctively tried to shield when the mud started flying. “We?” Evan asked.
“I have the perfect wedding present for you, Evan,” he said, a crooked, boyish grin finally breaking through the tension. “I’m going to go find the truth. The real truth, not the sanitized version our fathers have been feeding us for thirty years.”
I blinked, startled by the resolve in his voice. “Brady, you do not have to do that. We can hire investigators. We can use our families’ resources.”
“No,” Brady interrupted, holding up a hand.
“This is personal. We might uncover something we don’t want anyone to know.
And I’m the only one here who ought to look into this.
Think about it. Bella and Drew, you’re happily married and building your own lives.
You are good. And you two?” He turned to Evan and me.
“You’re creating something amazing with the greenhouse and the hubs.
You’re building the future of Firebrook Valley. Put your energy there.”
He stepped into the center of the room, looking more like a man than I had ever seen him. “I haven’t found my thing yet. I do not want to sit in a boardroom at Holliston Global, and as much as I love this valley, I don’t have purpose here. I want to do this.”
He looked at Bella and then at Evan, his voice losing its playful edge. “I know I am the youngest. I know no one thinks I can handle the heavy lifting. But if you give me just a little bit of trust, I can find Thomas Steele.”
“I spent a long time underestimating the people in this room,” Bella said softly, her eyes flickering to Evan. “And I was wrong to. So, yes. I have absolute trust in you, Brady.”
“Me too,” Evan added. His voice was calm but certain. “If you want to step up and handle this, you’re welcome to whatever you need. Contacts, a plane, it is yours. And whatever you find, you’re right, we should be careful who we share that information with.”
Drew nodded, his expression proud. “I can’t imagine this will be dangerous, but if you encounter any problems, we’re here.”
That made Brady smile. “I never imagined our families could blend like this,” he said. “But it is a beautiful thing to see. Hollistons and Burkes, who knew we would be so good for each other?”
I let out a soft laugh, feeling the last of the mountain chill leave my bones. “It is too bad I do not have a sister for you, Brady. We could have made the set complete.”
Brady chuckled, grabbing his jacket from the chair. “Well, in that case, I might have to do something truly radical and look outside the Burke family for my partner.”
The joke landed perfectly, breaking the final layer of tension.
We all laughed, a warm and shared sound that felt like the true beginning of the Firebrook Valley family we were building.
Brady walked toward the door with his posture straighter and his purpose clear.
“Hey, you don’t think they killed anyone, do you?
And if I find out they did, do you all want to know? ”
“Tell me first,” Bella said, “but only in person and without our technology listening in.”
“Gotcha,” Brady said. “We’ll need a code word for if it’s really bad news. I’ll say . . . I uncovered curdled milk if we need to meet privately.”
“Curdled milk?” I asked.
“Haven’t you ever found any at the bottom of a mug and thought–well, that’s disgusting and unnecessary?”
He wasn’t wrong.
Evan pulled me back into his arms, and I knew that whatever Brady found, we would be ready. We were not two families anymore. We were a united front.
With a shared future.
One that the past didn’t have the power to threaten.