Chapter 26 Calming And Terrifying
CALMING AND TERRIFYING
“Ethan seems so at ease around you,” Janet said hours later.
“I’m glad. I want him to be. I’ve been in relationships before where I didn’t feel that way.”
She hadn’t meant to say that aloud, but with Ethan out on the deck talking to his father and her beside his mother arranging the platters of snacks for the rest of the family to arrive soon, the truth slipped out before she could stop it.
Something about standing in a sun-warmed kitchen with the sea air drifting through open windows felt achingly normal. Beautifully, painfully normal and at ease. Just how Janet described Ethan.
As if this were her life.
As if she’d always belonged here.
The house was breathtaking, perched on the edge of the cliff with light glancing off every surface, but it wasn’t the luxury that struck her, it was the heart.
The laughter that lingered in the walls.
The easy affection between family members who knew how to love out loud.
How to break away the part that she was Ethan’s employee during the day, but his girlfriend on the weekend.
Janet Bond was open, funny, and effortlessly kind. She was everything Nora had spent her life craving in someone other than her mother to be around.
Someone who saw her. Who welcomed her. Who didn’t expect her to prove her worth before being accepted. If she even got accepted, which rarely happened.
When Ethan’s low and warm laugh drifted in from the deck, her chest tightened.
He fit here so easily, but when he looked at her, it felt like he saw her as part of it.
As if somehow, she belonged because he wanted her to as much as she wanted to be.
For a woman who’d spent her whole life on the outside looking in, that realization was both calming and terrifying.
“I wish Ethan came here more,” Janet said. “He loved it as a child, but I knew it wouldn’t be his life. Not like his brothers. He wanted city living, but craved the peacefulness here. Life has gotten away from him and I’m thrilled he’s slowing down.”
“I’m not so sure he’s slowing down,” Nora said, smiling.
“At least at work. Which I’m not complaining about and shouldn’t have said that.
We try really hard to separate the two. I just meant that it’s exciting and fast-paced and I love it.
But our time outside of work is different. And I love that even more.”
Janet’s smile softened, her hand coming out to rest on hers.
“That’s what my son needs. That’s who and how he is.
He’s lost the time outside of work and you’re helping him find it.
It’s a balance that I had to drill into my husband’s head for years.
Then I watched Eli and Egan do the same until they fell in love. ”
She didn’t know what to say to that. If she was even supposed to respond.
She might have felt she was falling in love with Ethan, but she wasn’t so sure how he felt and didn’t want to be the first to put it out there and be rejected.
Though the fact he was bringing her here today had to mean something more.
The commotion at another end of the house stopped her from answering.
“Sounds like some kids,” she said.
“Kaden. My nephew is just like my middle son. Loud and likes attention.”
“Grandmaaaaaaaa!!!!!” There was the patter of feet and she looked up to see a toddler that clearly carried the Bond genes strong. Behind the little boy was Egan Bond chasing his son.
“You beat me again,” Egan said as if he were tripping and grabbed the wall for support.
“Stop goofing off,” Janet said and reached for her grandson to pick him up and get a kiss. “One of these days you’re actually going to trip when you’re joking and put your head through the wall.”
“It wouldn’t be the first time I did that.” He pushed off the wall. “I’m Egan. It’s nice to meet you, finally.”
“Nora,” she said.
“I don’t want to hear the stories about you putting body parts through walls, Egan. Take your daughter. I’m Blake.”
She liked Egan’s wife. The two of them shared a grin as a sleeping baby in a car seat was pushed over.
“It’s nice to meet you. I’ve heard so much about you all. Ethan has been excited to see his nieces and nephews.”
“Then he should visit us more,” Egan said. “Where is he?”
“On the deck talking to your father.”
“Did he bring us donuts?” Egan asked, looking at her.
“No. He didn’t. I wish I’d known. I would have grabbed them this morning.”
“He can get them himself,” Egan said. “No reason for you to wait on him. It’s his business.”
Things were being completed, but the offer had been accepted. She had to admit, if she lived close to the donut shop, she’d be back in her stretchy pants.
“She doesn’t wait on me,” Ethan said.
Nora turned and saw him standing in the doorway from the deck.
Kaden went running toward his uncle to be picked up.
Her heart slammed in her chest multiple times, almost making her want to grab it to keep it from falling out of her chest.
The smirk Janet was sending her said it’d been noticed.
“He’ll be a great dad someday,” Janet whispered to her.
Something else she didn’t know how to respond to.
“Don’t let him boss you around,” Egan said. “Or not outside of work. Screw that, not even at work. Blake, what would you say if I told you to get me a drink?”
“Slip your Birks on and get it yourself, but I don’t work for you and their dynamic is different, so put a lid on it, Egan.”
She really liked Blake for that comment, and the warm smile with which it was said.
Ethan had told her Egan was the joker of the family so she wouldn’t take that to heart. Their dynamic was different from everyone else’s.
“Ethan rarely tells me to get him food. I ask or I can tell when he needs something and offer. He’s actually a very easygoing boss.”
“I’ll second that,” Mitchell said. “As I’m the one who sees it. And, Kaden, how come I don’t get a hug?”
Kaden slipped out of Ethan’s arms and went to Mitchell. The intimidating billionaire was no more in this setting.
Nor was Eli when he came in moments later with his family, carrying their son, Ollie, who was awake and kicking his legs in his father’s arms while Adrienne ran to Janet first in a floral dress and white sandals.
Bella was nothing like Blake, but closer in personality to Nora.
A quiet confidence, but vocal when needed to be.
She’d bet there wasn’t a day in Bella’s life she felt she didn’t fit in, but then told herself that she shouldn’t judge that. She didn’t know.
“Uncle Ethan,” Adrienne said. “Now me.”
Ethan laughed and picked his niece up. “Yes, ma’am. Your father is going to have his hands full in about fifteen years.”
“I’ve got them full now,” Eli said. “This one is more like my wife.”
“I think it’s only fair that at least one kid takes after me in personality since they both look like you.”
“That’s right,” Blake said. “Though it’s hard to tell with Khloe.”
“Who are you kidding?” Egan said. “When she doesn’t want to be touched or wants to do her own thing, she puts your stubbornness to shame.”
Blake sighed. “Sad but true. Our little girl is going to be more difficult for sure. Or more moody.”
“Now that everyone is here,” Ethan said. “How about we get the talks done, then we can relax?”
Kaden and Adrienne were put down. “Why don’t you two go get some toys,” Janet said. “You know where it all is.”
The kids took off for a room to the side of the family room. Nora heard some noise and figured they had their own playroom and were going to town.
Khloe was set down still sleeping in her seat. Probably best not to wake her, and Janet took Ollie while the men went off to have their chat, leaving her with the women.
“How is Ethan adjusting?” Bella asked. “I used to work for Eli before we were married. I still do now. Not sure if he told you that.”
“No,” she said, putting her hands on her hips and scrunching up her nose. “No one said that.”
Janet laughed while she bounced her grandson in her arms. “Bella was here temporarily while there was something going on back in Monte Carlo where she’d lived before. She was helping Eli out, not actually working for him.”
“That’s right,” Bella said. “But now I do.”
“Again, no one said that.”
“Because she’s the boss and he knows it,” Blake said, smirking. “No way Egan and I could work together. He’s just too laid back. I need structure.”
“I’m the boss of my division,” Bella said.
“And Eli and I bump heads all the time, but we work it out. I’m just here to tell you that you can work with someone you’re in a personal relationship with.
It’s possible and we do it. These Bond men, they like to be in charge.
They like to call the shots even if the shots are wrong.
With Eli, once I showed him another way and that it worked, he was on board, the trust grew, and we flowed better. ”
“Eli and Ethan are very similar,” Janet said.
She appreciated the advice they were giving her. Everyone was being more helpful than she expected.
“It’s working for us.” There was no comparison in her eyes though. She and Ethan were just dating, not married. “Do you work full time now with the kids?”
“No,” Bella said. “I deal with the entertainment part of the casino and have staff under me, but I have a nanny. Not full time, but someone to come in and watch the kids in our place while I’m working in the building.”
“Nanny here too,” Blake said. “I work remotely on the island though my office is in Boston. I have to go over at times and when that happens, we stay in Egan’s condo.
Though it’s only two bedrooms and the nanny doesn’t have a room.
We make it work and get her a hotel room for the nights and she comes for the days. It’s not often.”
“You all seem so normal,” Nora blurted out before she could stop herself. Everyone laughed. “I didn’t mean it that way. My mother didn’t work when I was younger. My father didn’t want her to and she didn’t need to. You know my father works for Mitchell, right?”
Bella and Blake nodded their heads. “I haven’t worked since Eli was born,” Janet said. “Traditional roles aren’t the same anymore. I’m not sure there are traditional roles. I think you do what works for you. Do you want children?”
“I do,” Nora said. She didn’t know if she wanted to admit this part though.
“I just think when I’m ready, I don’t know that I want to work fifty or sixty hours a week.
I’d like to have something of my own, a goal or purpose more than being a mother, but I want to be with my children too and watch them grow.
My mother worked when my parents divorced and I think she did a great job raising me and balancing it. ”
“One thing about my boys,” Janet said. “I raised them to be open-minded. You and Ethan, you’ll figure those things out as they come.”
“Not to get ahead of things,” Bella said. “Because Janet can. She’s not trying to put pressure on you.”
“No,” Janet said, smiling. “Just being truthful. I didn’t have to put pressure on Blake, she got pregnant before the engagement.”
“I can’t help it your son has some strong genes that found their way out,” Blake said, laughing.
Nora wasn’t too worried about that. Ethan wore condoms. She was on birth control. She hadn’t shared that and wasn’t sure when she would. They hadn’t had the children talk either, as it seemed way down the line in her eyes.
“It was meant,” Janet said, nodding her head. “Things happen the way they are supposed to.”
“I’m believing that.”