Chapter 32
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Mei Lin blinked at the dark TV screen and the dying fire beside it. The last thing she remembered was an ocean in a strange world of bright colors. She’d tried to stay awake through the second of the movies Ethan had suggested she’d like, films that had been released while she’d been locked up.
But she’d lost her ability to focus after the Spider-Man movie. Ethan had tucked a blanket around her, and she’d drifted off.
Now the television showed nothing but her own dim reflection and the gray light coming in through the windows. It must be late afternoon. They’d flown in that morning, which felt like days ago.
Her head rested on a soft pillow. The house smelled of woodsmoke and coffee.
Ethan had been sitting beside her, but he’d moved to the armchair across the room. He was leaning forward, elbows on his knees, staring at the black screen as though it held the answer. The line of his jaw had hardened in the years she’d lost. He looked not just tired but weary.
When she moved, he glanced at her, and his worries slid behind a smile. “Hey, sleepyhead. How do you feel?”
She considered the question. “A little warm,” she admitted. “But not like last night.”
He stood. “I’ll get you some ibuprofen—”
She caught his hand as he walked by her. “It’s a mild fever. It won’t kill me.”
His fingers closed around hers, and he attempted another smile.
She sat up. “What’s wrong?”
He settled on the edge of the sofa beside her. “I just heard from Gavin. Still no news on Lu Feng.”
“Ah. But you have a job to get back to. I will be fine if you leave me here with…” She couldn’t remember the bodyguard’s name.
Ethan drew back. “I’m not leaving you.”
“Your job—”
“Mei Lin. I’m not going back to Virginia without you.”
He looked offended that she’d thought he might. This man who’d done so much for her, and was still risking his job. He wasn’t going to leave her.
She wanted to tell him she wasn’t worth that sacrifice, but for some reason, he seemed to think she was.
She leaned over and kissed his cheek. “That’s good because I think I was lying. I wouldn’t be fine if you left me.” She pushed the blanket off and rose. The floor tilted under her, and she steadied herself on the arm of the couch before crossing toward the kitchen.
He followed. “What do you need? I can—”
“I’m okay.” She’d seen Gavin putting things away in a pantry, so she went that direction. “I can fend for myself.”
She opened the door, and then she stopped. There were rows and rows of food, boxes and tins and bags stacked two deep. The refrigerator hummed behind her, and she wondered if it was just as full. The sheer volume of food had her almost swaying again.
Ethan leaned against the counter. “Gavin went a little overboard. He didn’t know what we’d like, so he got a variety.”
She spotted a loaf of bread and a jar of preserves, remembering a question she’d meant to ask earlier. “Who are Brooklynn and Cici? Gavin said the bodyguard is Cici’s fiancé, yes?”
“His name is Asher.”
“That’s right. And Brooklynn—she bought me the clothes?”
“I’m guessing Gavin paid for them, but she did the shopping.” Ethan took the loaf of bread from her. “Sit down, and I’ll tell you about them.” He pulled out a stool at the island, eyebrows lifted.
“I can make my own toast.” But she sat.
“You’re in no condition to operate complicated machinery.”
“Yes, with inserting the bread and pushing down the button. How could I manage without you?” She rolled her eyes, but she didn’t move. She’d expended all her energy walking to the kitchen.
“Cici and Brooklynn are Gavin’s daughters.” Ethan searched the cabinets until he found the toaster, then plugged it in and added two slices of bread. “There are five of them.”
She remembered the photograph Ethan had told her about, the one he’d seen when he was a little boy. “These were the girls in the picture.”
“Right.” He disappeared behind the refrigerator door and came out with the butter.
“I knew about them, of course.” He leaned against the counter beside the toaster.
“I actually met Delaney last year. She was living in Driftwood, working as a nanny, when the little girl she was taking care of got a pretty bad rash—poison oak. Delaney brought her to the ER. As soon as she told me her name, I knew who she was.” He dropped his gaze.
“It’s a little embarrassing, but I’d looked them up, Gavin’s daughters.
I’d seen them on social media. But Delaney didn’t know I existed.
None of them did.” He met Mei Lin’s eyes again.
“It wasn’t like I could tell her. But we became friends.
I mean, not great friends, but when I saw her, I would always talk to her. ”
“Do the rest live in Maine?”
“I think so. I thought it was a strange coincidence that she’d moved to Virginia, but Delaney later told me that she’d gone to Driftwood because her parents had friends who lived nearby.
I guess they spent some time there when she was a kid, so it was familiar.
I never asked, but I think Gavin must have met my mother one time when they were visiting.
Anyway, it’s a long, sordid tale, and I don’t know all the details. ”
Mei Lin was putting the pieces together. “Did you tell Delaney who you were? Or… I mean, they know you exist now, right? Or do they not know who you are?”
“Speaking of sordid tales.” The toaster popped, and Ethan grabbed a plate and buttered the toast for her. He slid it across the bar with the knife. “You want me to open that?”
She’d forgotten about the preserves. She let him open it, then spread some on her toast. The strawberries tasted like summer.
“Delaney and Noah, the man whose kid she was taking care of, fell in love,” Ethan said.
“A couple of months ago, the whole family came to Virginia for the bachelor and bachelorette parties. Gavin invited me to meet him for lunch during the time when the girls should have been at some spa or something. I’m not sure what happened, but they walked into the restaurant where we were eating.
It would have been fine if Delaney hadn’t known me.
But she did, and she was confused as to how I knew her dad, and then her younger sister sort of just… figured it out.”
“That you’re his son? How?”
“I don’t know exactly. Maybe… Delaney knew we shared the same last name.
I assume she told them about me because I think the rest of the sisters knew.
And…” He sighed as if this story hurt to tell, or to remember.
“The girls are named alphabetically. Alyssa, Brooklynn, Cici, and Delaney. And then the youngest—the one who’s younger than I am—her name is Kenzie. ”
Mei Lin was processing that. “That is odd.”
“Thing is, my mother knew about the girls, and… I’m not sure if it was spite or something else, but—”
“I see—Ethan. As if you’re in line with them.”
“Right. Kenzie put it together.”
“They had no idea?”
“None. Gavin had told his wife, though. Evelyn. I’d never met her, but I recognized her when she came in. She wasn’t surprised to see me. Gavin later told me that she was the one who’d insisted he not tell the girls about me. She was protecting her family.”
“At your expense.”
“I wasn’t her problem. She had five daughters to worry about.”
Mei Lin thought about the bag full of clothes Brooklynn had picked out for her, and the bodyguard who slept down the hall—who was engaged to Cici. And she’d heard Alyssa’s name. “Did you talk to Alyssa?”
“She’s the one who got access to the cameras. She helped us escape that little town before we met up with your brother.”
“So you’re friends with them now?”
He shook his head, looking out the windows. “I’ve still only met Delaney. I texted her a couple of times after that day, but she never responded, not that I blame her. I lied to her.”
“She’s your sister.”
“Half sister.” His smile was tight when he met Mei Lin’s eyes again.
“They have this…this huge family in Maine. Gavin’s got a bunch of nephews who live near them.
Well, you met Derrick. Michael’s his brother, and there are four more.
They’ve been helpful, but they don’t need me.
I’m just…” He waved his hand as if there was no word to justify his insignificance.
“You are their family.”
“Not really.” He busied himself closing the bread bag and twisting on the little tie. “They were helpful, though, kinder than I’d expected.”
“Ethan.” She waited until he looked at her. “If they get to know you, they will be blessed.”
He shook his head, smiling. “You have to say that.”
“I say it because I know it to be true. And you’re like them. Didn’t you tell me your grandfather was a physician?”
“Yeah.” He put the bread away, then took some sliced cheese out of the refrigerator and sat beside her. “Gavin’s dad, his brother, and one of my cousins, Daniel.”
“Your grandfather and your uncle.”
“Right. It’s hard to think of them that way.”
“You take after them.”
He lifted one shoulder and let it drop. “The cousins added me to a text loop. Michael is intense, as you know, and Daniel seems serious, but the rest of them are just…” His voice trailed. “I never had any cousins.”
“Me, either. I hope we get to meet them.”
His eyebrows hiked. “We? If you want to, you’ll have to stay saddled with me.”
“Saddled?” She tried to figure out what he meant. “A saddle is a seat for a horse, no?”
He chuckled, though it sounded forced. “It is a weird expression when you think of it that way. You know what I mean, though. If you decide to stay hitched, stuck with—”
“We are not stuck together.”
“No. You’re right.” His smile seemed to freeze at the corners. He pulled another slice of cheese off the stack, studying it as if it took all his concentration.
“Ethan.” She slipped her hand over his on the counter. “Just because we’re taking time doesn’t change anything. I am not stuck with you, but I still choose you.”
He looked up, and something sparkled in his eyes. “You do?”
“Always.”