“I wasn’t chasing anybody!”The words came out sharper than Gabe intended.“And twelve years isn’t that big a difference.”
“It is when she’s barely out of college and you’ve been practicing medicine for a decade,” Heath shot back.“You should have known better.”
“Known better than what?Than to fall in love with an incredible woman who happens to be younger than me?”
“Known better than to do it in secret!”This came from multiple brothers at once.
Brian, one of Ms.Patti’s Lost Boys, finally spoke up.“Doc, we aren’t saying you’re not a good man.But the way you went about this wasn’t right.Makes it feel like an illicit affair, not a marriage.”
Gabe looked around the circle of men, seeing the hurt and anger in their faces, and felt the weight of his choices settling on his shoulders.But he wasn’t about to back down.He couldn’t and still maintain any kind of relationship with any of these men.
“You want to know why we kept it secret?”He leaned forward as much as the zip-ties would allow.“Because of this.Because we knew the whole family would have an opinion about our relationship before they even gave it a chance.Because Nica was afraid—terrified—that y’all would try to talk her out of it.”
“Maybe we would have,” muttered Liam.
“Well, that’s exactly what she was afraid of,” Gabe said.“Your sister is brilliant, strong, and perfectly capable of making her own decisions about who she loves, who she wants to be with.But she was scared that her family would make her choose between them and me.”
“That’s not—” Rafe started.
“Isn’t it?”Gabe cut him off.“Look at yourselves right now.Look at what you’ve done.You literally kidnapped me to have this conversation instead of talking like adults.”
Several of the brothers had the grace to look uncomfortable.
“We love Nica,” Ridge said quietly.“She’s our baby sister.It’s our job to protect her.”
“From what?From being happy?From being loved?”Gabe’s voice cracked slightly.“Because that’s all I’ve ever wanted to do—love her and make her happy.”
“Then why hurt Momma and Dad?”This came from Dane, the man who ran the family ranch, and was probably closer to Nica than any of the others.“You had to know they’d want to be part of it.Momma’s been planning Nica’s wedding since she was a baby in her crib.”
The guilt twisted deep in Gabe’s stomach again.“We know.And we’re sorry about that.Sorrier than you can imagine.”He took a deep breath.“If keeping our relationship secret was the only way I could be with Nica, I’d do it all over again.”
The barn fell silent except for the hum of the fluorescent lights overhead.
“That’s a hard thing to argue against,” Heath said finally.
“It’s the truth.”Gabe met each of their gazes.“I love your sister more than I’ve ever loved anything in my life.And she loves me.The only thing we did wrong was not trust you all enough to tell you what was happening.But we had our reasons, and frankly, they weren’t any of your business until we decided to make it your business.”
“She’s our sister,” Brody muttered.“That makes it our business.”
“No,” Gabe said firmly.“She’s your sister, but she’s my wife.And she was an adult capable of making her own choices long before I came into the picture.”
The brothers exchanged glances, some of the fire going out of their postures.
“We just…” Chance ran a hand through his hair.“We want what’s best for her.”
“So do I.Every single day.”
“You hurt our parents,” Joshua said, but the accusation had less heat now.
“I know.I would never deliberately set out to hurt Ms.Patti or Douglas.I admire them.They are two of my best friends in this town.And I’m sorry things turned out the way they did.If I could go back and handle it differently—tell them first, ask for their blessing—I would.But I can’t change what we did.I can only promise you that I will spend the rest of my life making sure Nica never regrets marrying me.”
The silence stretched again.Finally, Gage, one of Ms.Patti’s Lost Boys, spoke up.
“Y’all planning on having kids?”
The question caught Gabe off guard, and he shook his head.“That seems to be the question everybody’s asking, not that it’s anybody’s business but ours.If Nica wants them, then the answer is yes.”
“She does,” several brothers said in unison, which might have been funny under different circumstances.
