8. Declan
DECLAN
As soon as I entered my parents’ house, I realized it was going to be a whole-family event.
They never ceased to surprise me with their ability to make these huge impromptu get-togethers work.
I’d called Mom only an hour ago, and she’d gotten the whole family here, judging by all the cars in the driveway.
Gran didn't like to organize anything at her place, claiming it was too small.
I heard voices from the kitchen and knew I would find everyone there. Family gatherings always took place in the kitchen. Mom would improvise dinner with whatever she had in the fridge, and each person had tasks appointed to them.
When I entered the kitchen, everyone was already around the island.
Travis grinned at me. "Told you we’d get here first."
"How did you manage it?" I asked.
"Broke some speed limits, obviously."
“I tried to keep him in check, but I failed spectacularly,” Kimberly said. I shook my head. They were going to drive me crazy. As a lawyer, I tried to adhere to legal regulations, and I expected my siblings to do so as well.
I looked at Mom. "Mom, what's the plan?"
"Oh, we’re making risotto with everything I have in the fridge, which is primarily veggies, so everyone's chopping. Grab something from the center of the island and make yourself useful, son."
"Sure thing," I said.
“Sam, what do you want to drink?” Mom asked.
I couldn’t help but laugh. “So we’ve all got to work except Sam?”
“Yeah, he used to do the grunt work with us mortals until he left,” Travis complained.
Mom glared at him.
“I’m good, Mom,” Sam cut in. “I don’t need anything to drink. Put me to work, or you’ll have an angry mob to deal with.”
I chuckled, looking around the room. Reese was standing between me and Luke. Tate was here with his daughter and his fiancée, Lexi. Tyler and his fiancée, Kendra, were also here.
“What’s the order of tasks?” I asked.
Luke chuckled. “Trying to optimize everything again, are you, brother?”
“While not doing dick yourself?” Travis added helpfully.
"Hey, watch your language. My daughter is here," Tate said.
"Oh, Dad, I'm old enough to know what swearing is," Paisley said.
Tate blinked. "You're still my little girl to me."
Paisley laughed. "Maybe I'll swear in front of you just for fun, so you get used to it."
Tate glared at Travis, then looked back to his daughter. “Paisley, sweetie, let’s not do that.”
As she nodded, Reese elbowed Travis. “Watch out. Tate’s getting as good as Declan at glaring.”
Although Reese had been determined to tell Gran by herself when Liz came with the donuts, she eventually said it might be best if the whole family was there. That way, we could all comfort her.
I looked at Reese, who raised a questioning brow but then nodded, and I knew exactly what she meant.
I wanted to make sure she was all for going ahead with the plan.
I nodded too, signaling my agreement. It was better to get this over with.
The very reason I'd insisted on this dinner was because I knew that otherwise, things would prolong themselves unnecessarily.
"I, for one, am glad that we managed to get the whole gang together,” Gran said. “Reese, tell me everything about Paris.”
"Oh, it was amazing," Reese said. The sound of chopping slowed as everyone listened. "The city is the most romantic place I've ever been to, and our Kimberly has a great life there. So great that I have no clue when she'll want to move back, if ever.”
"Of course I’ll come back eventually,” Kimberly said. “No clue when though.”
"You said you also went to London. How's your dad?"
I was sure the whole room could hear the bereavement in Gran’s voice. It hurt her greatly that Uncle Harvey was so absent. Though it did sound as if the tide was turning with his wanting Reese to clear the path. We could only hope. Dad’s face was stoic though. I wasn’t sure what he was thinking.
Reese took a deep breath, running a hand through her hair and looking once around the table.
"Great. There is some news though."
Tate looked up from the onions in front of him, raising his brows at me. I shook my head imperceptibly.
Damn it, we should have told Tate and Tyler beforehand.
"Dad had some news. And he wasn't sure how to share it with the family, so he basically didn't." Reese's voice was tight now.
I was sure this was still upsetting to her too.
"So, I had a surprise when I went to London.
It turns out that he got married a couple months ago, and Kimberly and I are going to have a baby sister soon.
" My cousin had such a plastered, unnatural smile on her face that it was almost scary.
The whole room was completely silent now. Gran fixed Reese with her gaze, gripping the knife she was using in front of her so tight that her knuckles were white.
"My son got married and is having a daughter, and he didn't tell me?" Gran repeated. Reese nodded. “Well, maybe?—"
Gran cut her off and turned to look at my dad. "Did you know about this?"
"No," Dad said. He looked as stunned as Mom. Unfortunately, his brother hadn’t kept anybody in the loop. The whole situation was unfortunate.
Tate, Tyler, Kendra, and Lexi all exchanged glances. Paisley was also looking around, confused. Shit, maybe we should have kept this conversation from her. On the other hand, she knew everything that was going on in the family, and she was old enough to process a lot of things.
Maybe we should have let Reese do this on her own. But everyone needed to find out at some point. Unfortunately, there probably was no good way of doing this.
The silence stretched, and I grew restless, exchanging a glance with Reese. Then I looked at Travis. It was unlike Gran to be silent. You could count on her to have a reply for everything. But now, she simply took a sip of water, staring down at the marble counter.
I cleared my throat, taking on my moderator role.
When we were kids, Mom used to call Tate and me her generals because we kept the rest of the group in check.
Luke always talked us into doing shit, and usually we could count on him and Travis and Tyler to bring humor to any situation.
But not even they had a comeback for this. The room was very solemn.
“Clearly we’re all trying to process this, so let's change the subject,” I said.
Gran didn't fight me on it, which made me even more restless. Even though I didn’t have kids, I could certainly imagine the hurt she was feeling from this news.
Damn him for doing this to her. Gran was getting up in years, and this kind of heartbreak was unacceptable.
Paisley leaned forward, looking around once, then said loudly, "So, the wedding planning is going super well. I'm very excited." D amn, kiddo. She was even better than Luke, Tyler, and Travis, because she'd picked the one subject that was sure to put everyone in a better mood.
"You're quite a planner," Lexi said. “I don't know what I would do without her. Every choice is so overwhelming, and even though Tate and I don't agree on a lot of them, we’ll figure it out.”
"Paisley's got the veto power.” We all laughed at that… except Gran, though she seemed to be listening to the conversation. “We do have an announcement," Tate said, looking at Lexi, who nodded. "We've set a date. We're going to have a December wedding."
"Hey, congrats," Travis exclaimed.
I had renewed respect for Tate. He'd followed his daughter's lead and defused the situation with his news.
Tyler and Kendra looked at each other. Those two were hiding something.
As the oldest, I always picked up on stuff like that.
One of my jobs was to realize when everyone was sneaking around or had secret plans.
Not because I would tell on them—I wasn’t a snitch.
I had to make sure they weren't going to accidentally kill themselves.
"That's great, guys. Congratulations," Kendra said.
There was a lot of chatter around that. I was immensely happy for my brother and Lexi.
Ever since his divorce, he'd disappeared into himself. A part of me had worried that he would end up like our uncle, burying himself in work, although there had always been a crucial difference between the two of them. He'd been a fantastic dad to Paisley, unlike our uncle, who’d left most of Kimberly and Reese’s upbringing to Gran and our parents.
“While we’re all sharing news,” Travis said, "I've got something in the works, but I won't tell you until I've got more details."
"Dude. That's not sharing news," Luke said.
“Yeah, that's just a tease,” Sam added.
Travis cocked a brow at them.
Luke shrugged. "It's true."
“I'm with Luke on this one. Give us a hint," I said.
"No, I don't want to jinx it." This was Travis's attempt to shift focus.
It failed, obviously, compared to the wedding news, but still, I appreciated the effort.
I was also relieved too, because for a while there, I thought my brother would party forever and lose his way.
We were all well off and really didn't need to work, as our parents had set up trust funds for us after selling the chain of bookstores.
Travis not only had the trust fund but also hundreds of millions from the sale of his company.
But I always thought everyone needed a direction in life, a goal, a reason to get up every morning and have a system.
That was what our parents drilled into us, and it stuck.
"We’re the only losers, Declan," Luke said. "We’re the only ones who don't have news."
"Neither do we," Kendra said.
Luke smirked, then lowered his voice, leaning in. "Yeah, right. I saw you two exchanging that look before. You definitely have news. You’re just choosing not to share it for some reason. Still only leaves me and Declan."
“And me and Sam,” Kimberly noted.
"Is everyone in this family so observant?" Kendra asked.
“Yeah, babe, we are. Especially when we’re all on edge, and I think it's obvious that we are tonight," Tyler said.