I sit back in the seat and focus all my attention out the window, fighting the tears making the trees wobbly. This wholemess has gotten more dangerous and complicated. I never thought it would be easy, but I didn’t want this. The plan was to make sure that no one else got dragged into the middle. But yet here we are. Elio might be able to hold his own and have people around to protect him, but I still don’t like this.
Thankfully, Gabe has the smarts to stay quiet and let me deal with my emotions alone. I need to end this now before anything else happens. The pressure builds inside my chest, constricting my lungs and making it difficult to breathe. I know what I need to do. Sighing, I unlock my phone and find the name I’m looking for. I don’t disconnect the phone from the radio. Once it starts to ring, I feel Gabe’s eyes on me without having to look.
“I don’t have anything—” Vance starts, but I cut him off.
“Find him,” I say, the words coming out weaker than I wanted them to.
“You sure?”
“This needs to end before anyone else gets pulled in. I might want to do this myself, but I will hate myself if someone I love gets hurt.” Gabe reaches over and interlaces his fingers with mine. I squeeze his hand, drawing all the strength I need from him.
“I’m on it,” Vance says.
I don’t say anything else as I disconnect the phone call. “You know, asking for help doesn’t mean you’re weak or incapable of doing it alone,” Gabe says.
I swallow around the lump in my throat. “I know it’s just?—”
“What they did made you feel weak. They made you question your own strength, and by doing this all by yourself, you gained that back. But Princess, you regained your strength when you refused to give up. By continuing to live, you are taking back everything they took from you that night. You are showing them that they were wrong when they doubted you.”
With my head resting on the seat, I turn and look at Gabe. He quickly glances at me, and I see pride, love, and understanding shining bright in his dark eyes. Seeing that helps calm the storm inside me, and all of a sudden, exhaustion hits me. Pulling our joined hands up, I kiss his knuckles before hugging them to my chest. My eyes close, and I sink into sleep.
“Princess.” Warm hands touch my face, push my hair back, and tuck it behind my ears.
“Just five more minutes, please,” I say, trying to turn away from Gabe so I can fall back asleep, but his hands keep me from doing that.
“I can’t. Your brother is five seconds away from ripping the door off and carrying you away from me.”
I force my eyes open, and Gabe lets me turn my head. He’s right. Reed is standing right outside of the SUV door, staring at us. The only thing I can register before the door is pulled open is the tears in his blue eyes. Next thing I know, Reed’s arms are wrapped around my waist, his face is buried in my neck, and I can’t breathe, thanks to the sobs coming from deep inside me. The day I showed up at his doorstep two years ago, I quickly concluded that my brother wasn’t one to show his emotions easily. But I’m seeing a completely different side of him now.
I’m not sure what to say, so I keep my mouth shut and just hold him with all my strength. I feel Gabe behind me, but he never moves to touch me. I think he knows that Reed and I need this moment—this moment of just holding onto each other and reassuring ourselves that I’m here and this isn’t a dream. There is a lot that we need to talk about, but it can wait a few more minutes.
The moment is broken when a little voice floats across the open space. “Is Daddy okay?”
I look up and see a woman standing by the open front door with two little boys right beside her. This must be Ali, the woman who stole my brother’s heart. She is beautiful, and I easily see why Reed didn’t stand a chance when it came to falling for her. My eyes go to the two boys, and they are the most adorable toddlers I’ve ever seen. Their green eyes pull me in, and I just want to squish their chubby cheeks together while telling them how cute they are.
“Yes, Daddy is okay. He’s just really happy that his sister is here,” Ali says before offering me a huge smile.
Reed finally pulls back, but not before he kisses my forehead and lets out a long, loud sigh. “Come meet my Ali and our boys.”
Gabe steps up beside me and wraps his arm around my shoulders. We follow behind Reed, and I marvel at the sight of my big, strong, sometimes scary brother crumbling when he gets close to his little family. He drops down, opens his arms, and catches the boys with ease. He stands up with one on each hip and bends down to press a very inappropriate kiss to Ali’s lips. He turns around and introduces me.
He raises the little boy on his left. “Tara, this is Jacob.” Then he does the same with the other one. “This is Caleb. And this…” He looks down lovingly at Ali and says, “This is Ali. Everyone, this is my little sister Tara.”
“Nice to finally meet you, Tara,” Ali says, offering me that huge smile again. She turns to Jacob and Caleb. “Boys, can you say hi, Aunt Tara.”
Caleb turns and buries his head into Reed’s neck, but Jacob stares me down. “Hi, Aunt Tara,” he tries to say, and even though it doesn’t come out completely correct, it melts my heart to hear his acceptance of me.
“Sorry about Caleb?—”
I raise my hand to stop Ali and say, “No need to apologize. He doesn’t know me, but that’s okay. We have plenty of time to get to know each other and become best friends.”
“That you do,” Gabe says, leaning over and kissing my cheek. He turns toward Reed, and something passes between them.
“Ali, will you take the boys?—”
“We have plans to go see Grandmama anyways.” Ali takes the boys from Reed and heads toward Reed’s truck. After she gets them in their seats, she turns back toward me. “I’m glad you are back, Tara, and I’m sorry about what you went through. If you ever need someone to talk to… Well, I’m here for you.”
There is something in her gaze that says she knows exactly what I went through and that she also went through it. “Thank you,” I say, hoping that I’m wrong. I don’t want anyone going through what I did. No one deserves to have that happen to them.
