Chapter 26 Alexander #2
I grin down at her and surround her mouth with mine, mumbling, “But I’ll have a rich wife, so it’s all good.”
“Wife.”
“I like the sound of it.”
“Me too.”
Taking her hand, we walk down the street to the one place I’ve been desperate to come back to. “Want a cinnamon bun?”
“Yes!” Haven gasps, her eyes flaring in excitement. “Did I tell you they put booths in over the last summer? We can eat in.”
“Even better.”
The bell rings above the door as we step inside.
It’s not as busy as I remember even though there’s still a queue.
Booths are set up along the wall by the windows, all of them full, so I guess we’re not staying.
It’s only when I get a proper look at everyone sitting down that I recognize the customers in the last one, just as they spot us.
“It’s my cousin!” Max screeches as he slides along the leather seating and sprints over, narrowly missing a woman carrying a full basket of cookies.
Hendricks is still shaking his head in despair when I reach him. “Morning.”
“Good morning. What are you doing here?”
“I couldn’t stop thinking about cinnamon buns. So I brought Max.” He grins and pats the table. “These booths are cool.”
Haven nods. “I know. They’ve been super popular too.”
He reaches up to take Everly’s finger. “What are you guys doing?”
My eyes meet Haven’s. “Celebrating.”
“Celebrating what?”
Pulling her hand from her pocket, she thrusts it toward Hendricks. There’s so much excitement on her face, I think my heart might burst. Marrying someone was never a particular goal of mine, but hell, if I’m not even more excited than Haven is.
“Holy . . .” He looks at Max, also staring at the ring, then back at us. “Sausages.”
“What?”
“Miles swears enough for all of us.” His eyes slice to Max again. “But this is amazing news, congratulations.” He slips out of the booth and pulls us both into a hug. “I’m very happy for you. Look, Maxy.”
Max runs his fingers over the smooth cut of the stone. “It’s very sparkly.”
“Sure is,” I reply as Hendricks sits back down, sliding along to make room for us.
It’s the first time I take a proper look at him. There are dark circles under his eyes, a pale tint to his skin, and he doesn’t seem to have shaved in weeks. There’s a weariness present that’s more than jet lag. It’s like the world is weighing on him.
“Are you okay?”
He nods. “Tired.”
Except it’s more than that. I can tell.
This guy barely sleeps during calving season, hasn’t had a lie-in since Max was born, and still stays super chilled when most of us would be tearing our hair out. With Max, he rarely gets a day off, and even with all the help from my mother and having a nanny, I don’t know how he does it.
“When are we going skiing?”
“Max has a lesson this afternoon.”
“Yay, skiing,” says Max. He excitedly leans across the table, knocking hot chocolate everywhere. All down his jeans, but mostly over Hendricks.
“Sorry, Daddy.”
“It’s okay, buddy. Accidents happen.” He sighs, snatching a fistful of napkins to mop up as much as he can. “We’ll get it all cleaned.”
I don’t know if Haven notices something’s different about Hendricks this morning, too, because she holds her hand out to Max and takes Everly from me.
“Hey, Maxy, want to come with Everly to get washed, then I’ll take you to see where they add all the cinnamon to the buns.”
“In the kitchen?”
“Exactly. In the kitchen. We can take some back for Uncle Miles and Auntie Clemmie.”
Cinnamon buns must be the magic word because he slides out of the booth, takes Haven’s outstretched hand, and they walk off to the bathrooms together without looking back.
I sit down in the only dry spot.
Hendricks grabs another pile of napkins and wipes up what’s left of the spillage. “Congratulations, Al. I’m really happy for you. You deserve it.”
“Thank you,” I reply, but I don’t want to talk about me. “Hen, what’s up?”
One hand is curled around his coffee cup, while he presses his fingertips into the crumbs Max left on his plate. He’s so quiet that I assume he’s ignoring me. Unfortunately for him, that doesn’t work.
“Henners, c’mon, talk to me. What’s going on?”
His eyes flick to the bathroom door where Max and Haven went. When they come back to me, there’s a decent amount of anguish behind them. “I fucked up.”
Out of all of us, Hendricks is the quietest. Not that any of us are particularly quiet, but compared to Miles, he’s practically mute. Unlike Miles, he had to grow up quickly when Max came along. His party days stopped overnight, and he concentrated on being the best father he could be.
If anyone in this family’s going to fuck up, it’s not him.
But the look he’s wearing is one I recognize from my days earlier this year. It’s the look I carried all those months I didn’t hear from Haven.
So I take a wild stab in the dark. “Is this about Story?”
He gives one deep nod, picks up his coffee cup, and drains what’s left. “Yeah.”
I debate on telling him what Haven told me, before deciding it might help him open up. “I heard you went to the tree stand.”
“I did.” He shakes his head. “Fucking stupid thing to do. But I had to see her.”
“What happened?”
He knows I’m not talking about the tree stand. “I broke us.”
I expect him to stop because even those three words are more than he’s ever uttered when it comes to what went down between them.
“One day we were best friends, the next she’s moved to Australia without telling me. And I never heard from her again.”
My brows knit together. I’m waiting for him to continue, but he doesn’t. “Never?”
He shakes his head.
“You weren’t more than friends?”
“Did I fuck her, you mean?” Hendricks looks up from his coffee cup and shakes his head. “No. Nothing ever happened.”
“Did you want it to?”
This time, the anguish is palpable. “Yes.”
“So why—”
“Because I knew Story and I could never be casual. Miles and I . . . we liked our fun. I didn’t want a girlfriend.” He scrubs a hand over his face, like he can’t decide if he’s made a lifetime of bad decisions. “She was my best friend, and I loved her. I wasn’t going to jeopardize that.”
“So what—”
“I’ve gone over and over it.” He shrugs.
“She was so mad when I told her Sienna was pregnant . . .” His head drops in his hands.
“She stormed off, and her parting words were ‘fuck you, Hendricks.’ We’d never argued before.
” He huffs a laugh. “My head was all over the place anyway, and I was dealing with the pregnancy news, so I left her to calm down. But when she wasn’t answering her phone, I went to her parents’.
Giles told me she’d been accepted on a teaching course in Australia and decided to go at the last minute.
Fucking Australia. She didn’t even tell me she’d applied. ”
I can see in his face that he’s reliving it all again. There’s pain in his eyes I wish I could take away, but nothing I say will make it better. “And you haven’t heard from her since?”
He shakes his head. “Nope. She never replied to anything I sent her.”
“How do you feel about her coming back?”
His eyes are glistening when he looks up at me. “I thought I’d be okay, but fuck if my heart’s not broken all over again.”
Jesus. I think about Lando and me this past year.
Both of us openly wearing our heartbreak and sorrow, then here’s Hendricks silently holding himself together for the past six years.
I’m wondering if there’s a different reason he’s so much quieter than he used to be, and it has nothing to do with Max.
“Hen, are you in love with Story MacIntosh?”
His nod is so sorrowful I feel my throat thickening. “I always loved her, but I didn’t realize I was in love until it was too late. Then Sienna told me she was pregnant, and the rest is history.”
Reaching over, I squeeze his shoulder. “Hen, the only thing I know is if you still love her, you can fix it. Do you know when she’s going back to Australia?”
“That’s the thing. She’s not. There was a note in Max’s end-of-term report.
She will be his new teacher in January. I’ll see her every morning.
I thought I’d gotten over my anger, but seeing her at the tree stand brought it all back.
It’s also made me realize how much I’ve missed her.
How much I’m still in love with her.” His head drops into his hands. “I’m so fucked, Al.”
“Oh, mate. I’m sorry. We’ll fix it. I can do school drop-offs if you want, or Haven and I both can. If you don’t want to see her, then you don’t have to.”
“Thanks.” He sighs so heavily it makes my heart ache. “Six fucking years.”
I’m at a loss for words. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him so melancholy. But the second Max rushes back with a bag full of cinnamon buns, it disappears, and I can’t decide if that’s worse.
“Okay, we need to head back to the cabin.” He stands and scoops Max up, then pulls Haven into a hug. “Welcome to the family. I’m really happy for you.”
“Thanks, Hendricks.” She smiles.
His eyes flick to mine. “See you on the slopes at lunch?”
I nod. “Yeah. We’ll be there.”
Through the window, we watch them walk away down the street. Max is holding the bag of pastries with one hand, the other wrapped around Hendricks’s neck, both wearing the same black puffa jackets, jeans, and boots. Carbon copies of each other.
“Is he okay?”
“Not sure.” I turn to Haven and slip my arm around her shoulders. “You want to head back to the house?”
“Yes, let’s go. Everly’s nap time is coming up.”
“Then lead the way, future wife of mine.”
While Haven settles Everly down, I make myself useful by organizing all our ski equipment and loading it into the car to drive over to the cabin everyone’s staying in.
My snowboard’s by the back door, and I check it’s still in one piece, because Miles was in charge of packing them, and you never know.
I’m laying out all my ski clothes when Haven walks into the bedroom.
“Babe, where are your skis? I couldn’t find them to put in the car. Birgitta’s coming in thirty minutes to stay with Everly, then we can leave.”
“Actually, I think I’m going to stay instead of skiing, d’you mind?
” Leaving her phone on the dresser, she slips her arms around my neck.
But catching the sparkle of her ring, I hold her hand instead so she flexes her fingers against my chest and stares.
“It’s going to take me so long to get used to it.
” Her green eyes sparkle brighter than any ring when she peers up at me. “I love you.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to come and show it off?”
“Yeah, actually I don’t feel so good—”
My hand presses onto her forehead. “Are you getting sick?”
She shrugs. “It’s probably jet lag. Anyway, I can’t get sick. Holiday, Clemmie, and Saylor are coming over, and we’re going to hang with Everly.” Her eyebrows waggle. “Maybe I’ll plan an entire renovation while you’re gone.”
I laugh. “Okay, you do that.”
“Any requests?”
I respond with a kiss, adding, “Yes. A shower big enough for two. And a bath. And an enormous bed.”
I haven’t spent time with my brothers like this since last year, and I always forget how much fun we have together. The day in and day out of our lives takes over far too much, and when we reconnect like this, even Miles is less fucking annoying than usual.
Hendricks is laughing so hard as he chucks snowballs at him. It’s like the guy in the bakery never existed.
We’ve spent a couple of hours racing down the mountain, and now we’re all cheering on Max as he finishes up his ski lesson, doing exactly as the instructor tells him so he can slide over the tiny bumps in the snow without falling over.
“Can’t believe you’re beating me to the altar.” Lando nudges my shoulder. “Mum’s going to have a busy few years of wedding planning.”
“Oh yes, are you trying to tell me something?”
“Not in any official capacity.” He grins, knowingly. “It’s been quite the year, though. It’s good to see you happy again.”
“I was thinking the same thing about you.”
“I’m excited to see the duke in all the hottest arm candy lists.” Miles snorts, as Hendricks goes off to collect Max. “All those red carpets, Your Grace. Hope you’ve started the beauty regimen.”
He rolls his eyes. “Like yours, you mean, Milo?”
“Exactly, speaking of which, I need to get some beauty sleep before tonight. Race you losers to the lifts.”
Lando shakes his head, but I already know that he’s going to take after him. Because, as competitive as Miles is, he’s a terrible loser. Therefore, making him lose is always really fucking funny.
I arrive back in the house full of excitement and ready for a night of celebration. I expect the girls to be here, but it’s equally as likely they’ve left already to get dressed for the party tonight. And when I can’t hear any voices, I assume I’m right.
“Haven, where are you? Babe?” I call out after checking the kitchen and the living room.
“Hayve?” Taking the stairs two at a time, I sprint up to the bedrooms where I find Everly lying on her back in her crib mumbling to herself while she stares at the mobile.
But I leave her there and continue my search.
I find Haven in the second-to-last place I look—sitting on the edge of the bathtub, staring at her hand.
“Babe? What are you doing in here? I was calling. Are you okay?” I nod down to whatever she’s holding. “What’s that?”
When she looks up at me, it’s as though she’s seen a ghost, and I drop to my knees.
“Haven? What’s wrong?”
“Remember when I said I wanted Everly to grow up with a big family?”
“Yes.”
She opens her hand. Inside is a white stick with two pink lines on it.
“I’m pregnant.”