Chapter 49
CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
The kitchen table at Sam and Eliza’s house was tucked in a nook surrounded on three sides by windows. The fourth side held a beautiful gourmet kitchen.
Ethan cut a bite of his breakfast. “This is delicious.”
“Your wife said you were craving French toast.”
“I hope it wasn’t too much trouble, though.” Mei Lin cut a dainty piece of hers, then looked at Ethan. “I’ve never made it. I didn’t realize all the steps.”
“It was no trouble.” A bang from the other room had Eliza standing with a sigh. She headed into the living room.
Little Levi’s cherub face was hiding a serious mischievous streak.
Sam was standing when she returned to the kitchen a minute later, the boy holding her hand. He had curly blond hair and wide eyes. “Hi. Do you want to play a game? Daddy bought me a trampoline. I’ll show you.”
Ethan smiled at him. “Maybe after breakfast I can play a sit-down game. My ribs still hurt a little.”
“Still?” He seemed incredulous.
Sam stood. “Let’s go find your Legos.”
The two left the room, and Eliza sat, nodding at Ethan’s plate. “Anyway, I hope they’re okay.”
He swallowed his latest bite. “They’re amazing.” Then to Mei Lin, “I hope you were taking notes.”
“Very careful notes, so you can make them for me.”
He leaned over to kiss her cheek. “Anytime, sweetheart.”
A phone dinged in the other room, and then Sam came back. “I guess Nana and Papa are coming over.” He looked at Eliza, shaking his head. “In about five minutes.”
She laughed. “Of course they are. They’re not great about warning you before they show up. I guess you won’t have to worry about that, since you live in Virginia. Surely, they’ll call before they fly down.”
Why would Sam’s grandparents fly to…
Oh. Wait. Were these Ethan’s grandparents too?
He pushed his plate away and went to wash his hands. If he was going to meet his grandparents, he should be presentable—or as presentable as he could be with a swollen lip, a black eye, and a sling holding his arm at his side.
The doorbell rang about four minutes later, and Ethan and Mei Lin followed Sam to the foyer off the living room.
A couple in their seventies stepped inside. They greeted Sam, then looked past him to Ethan, studying him so long that he started to grope for something to say.
And then the woman stepped close and hugged him tightly. She was a foot shorter than Ethan, but she was strong.
Ethan’s ribs protested, but he forced himself to hug her back.
“I can’t believe it.” She stepped away and reached up, pressing her hands to his cheeks. “You look like your father. And Roger, and…” She came in for another hug.
“Can’t you see he’s hurting?” the man asked, and she stepped away, swiping her eyes.
“I’m fine.” Ethan’s eyes were prickling. He didn’t know these people, but they were his. He couldn’t wrap his head around it.
The man hugged him next, more gently. “I’m Tom. Or Papa, if you’re comfortable.” He stepped back. “It’s okay if you’re not. You don’t even know us.”
“I’m Nana,” the woman said. “You can call me Nana.”
He grinned at her. “Yes, ma’am.”
She pressed a hand to her chest. “Such good manners.”
“He’s a grown man.” Tom…Papa rolled his eyes, then looked beyond Ethan. “You’re Mei Lin?”
“Yes. Hello.”
They gushed over Mei Lin just like they’d gushed over Ethan. Sam excused himself and went upstairs, and Eliza stayed in the kitchen.
“Let’s get you into a chair,” Papa said.
The four of them went into the living room. Ethan and Mei Lin settled on the sofa where they’d sat the day before.
Nana perched on an armchair, wiping her eyes every few seconds with a cloth handkerchief.
Papa pulled a matching armchair close and started peppering Ethan with questions about everything from what sports he’d played in high school to how old he was when he stopped growing.
“The Washington Commanders are your favorite football team? And you admit to that?” Papa shook his head, clearly disappointed. “We’ll fix you up with some Patriots gear so you can root for a good team.”
To root for a good team would be a nice change, actually.
“Gavin tells us you’re a physician,” Papa said. “What’s your specialty?”
“Emergency medicine. I’m a third-year resident.”
Papa whistled. “That’s not for the faint of heart, son. You’ve got to be a quick thinker, prepared for anything. Tells me you’re smart, very smart.”
Mei Lin said, “He is very smart and a very quick thinker.”
“He gets that from me.” Papa puffed up.
“And maybe his father.” Nana reached over and gripped Ethan’s hand. “Or your mother. Tell us about her.”
So he did. He told them what it had been like growing up in Virginia, about his mother and how hard she worked, and about how well his father had provided for them.
His grandparents listened as if every word he said mattered.
It was…surreal.
A couple of hours later, more people were filling Sam and Eliza’s living room. A couple of kids whose names Ethan didn’t know ran across the floor.
At the edge of the room, Grant stood like a refrigerator with folded arms, but when a toddler wrapped her arms around his legs, he picked her up, and the refrigerator transformed into a giant teddy bear.
Not that Ethan was going to tell him that.
Somebody’s child was seated near the hearth, lecturing a stuffed rabbit with words only the girl—and maybe the rabbit—could understand.
Conversations were going on all around, rising in volume, ending in laughter, and then starting right up again.
Underneath all of it was the smell of Eliza’s apparently famous carrot cake, which Mei Lin had told him he wouldn’t taste until he ate something with protein in it first.
His wife had a vindictive streak he hadn’t expected. He would eat the pot roast he’d been promised, but he wasn’t eating any more of those terrible protein bars.
Mei Lin moved among the people as though she’d known them all her life. She already seemed to fit right in.
“This is Brooklynn.” Mei Lin steered a woman with dark hair toward the couch, a man following. “Brooklynn’s the one who got the clothes, and insisted on the haircut.” Mei Lin looked at her. “Thank you again for that.”
“Anytime. I mean, I know it was prison, but talk about cruel and unusual punishment.” Brooklynn was grinning when she turned her focus to him. “How you feeling?”
“Better every day.”
Brooklynn sat gingerly beside him. “Is this okay? I don’t want to hurt you.”
“It’s fine.” He wished he could sit up straighter. “I’m fine.”
“Okay.” She shifted so she could face him. “I’m sorry about how I acted the day we first met you, in Virginia.”
She was sorry? “Don’t be. I’m sure it was a shock.”
“Yeah, but it wasn’t your fault. I can’t believe I’ve had a brother all these years and didn’t even know it.”
Ethan didn’t know what to say to that and wasn’t sorry when Mei Lin cleared her throat. “And this is—” Mei Lin’s brow creased. She turned to the red-bearded giant beside her and said with no embarrassment at all, “I had it a second ago.”
“Forbes,” the man said.
Ethan had already known that one. Forbes Ballentine had been known as a reclusive billionaire, but he seemed comfortable enough in this crowd. Ethan reached out his hand, wishing he could stand. One lesson he remembered his father teaching him was never to shake a man’s hand while sitting down.
But without the help of the armrest Brooklynn was blocking, standing would be even more humiliating.
Forbes gripped Ethan’s hand. “Good to meet you officially.”
“You were at the hospital?”
“I mostly stayed in the waiting area. Your room was crowded.”
“That, I remember. I’m surprised the nurses didn’t kick everyone out.”
“Oh, they tried,” Brooklynn said. “We’re stubborn.”
“Who’s stubborn?” The redheaded sister approached and sat on Ethan’s other side. “I’m Cici.”
“I remember.” Ethan recognized all his sisters, though not from the hospital but from his online stalking. “Thanks for sharing Asher with us. If not for him—”
“No problem. Thanks for bringing him back in one piece.”
Ethan laughed, then stifled it, pressing his hand against his chest.
Mei Lin handed him a pillow, and he thanked her and hugged it like a favorite plush toy. He hated being a patient. “Asher brought himself back—and saved our lives.”
Cici’s smile dimmed a little. “It was the least we could do. I wanted to apologize for that day in the restaurant.”
“The day you had the shock of your life?” Ethan shook his head. “We’re good. I’m sorry you found out that way.”
Brooklynn leaned forward to look past him at her sister. “I already tried. He doesn’t hold grudges.”
Not true. Ethan had held a grudge against his father for almost two decades.
Alyssa wandered over, holding a glass in one hand, a chip in the other. “Are we having a sibling meeting?”
“Do I count as a sibling?” The man behind her was blond and trim and obviously smitten.
She smirked at him. “Not yet.”
This was Callan. Ethan had spoken to him at the hospital. He was the FBI agent who’d found ài Le. He and Alyssa had saved Mei Lin’s life.
Callan grinned. “Thirty-three days, sweetheart, and you’re all mine.”
A little girl called from behind him, “And mine, Daddy!”
He turned to his daughter. “Not fair. I have to share everything.” He added a little foot-stomp to make his point.
Rolling her eyes, the girl went back to playing with Levi.
Alyssa perched on the arm of a chair and spoke to Ethan. “You doing okay?”
“Yeah, getting better.”
“Okay.” She nodded a few times, her expression turning serious. “I wanted to apologize for that day in Driftwood—”
He laughed, then pressed his hand to the side. “Ow. Don’t, please. We’re good. Honestly, I’m so thankful for…everything.” Ethan’s gaze bounced from Alyssa to Callan. “I’m sure you told me, but I don’t remember. How did you guys get there so fast?”
“We were on our way to see you two.” Alyssa shifted to include Mei Lin, who’d settled on another chair. “Callan wanted to interview Mei Lin.”
“That’s right.” The details were fuzzy. “So you were driving up?”
“We were about ten minutes away when we got Asher’s text.”
Asher must’ve heard his name because he rounded the sofa. “You guys talking about me again?”