It was human nature to be shocked. To talk about it. To theorize.
Scott hadn’t just told her anything she didn’t know. But he also hadn’t told her who he was talking about.
He hadn’t needed to.
Her and Grayson’s broken engagement had been the one major disappointment Sage had inadvertently given her and Scott’s millionaire, very strict, powerful father.
Taking a deep breath at the thought of a powerful man gone too young, reminding herself that she was her father’s daughter, Sage found a pretty decent smile for her brother. Mostly by glancing out at Leigh and letting her adopted miracle completely fill her focus. “I’m fine if Gray stays with you, Scott. It’s been ten years. And I’ve got the life I always wanted.”
When she was sure she could trust herself to put oomph from inside her to the words coming out of her, she turned the smile on her brother. “When’s he moving in?”
Scott didn’t return her smile. He studied her instead. Intensely. And then, still watching, said, “As soon as I call him and tell him it’s okay.”
Her heart flipped and then flopped. A perfectly normal reaction considering she hadn’t seen the man in a decade.
Residue from the past.
Muscle memory from a time when she’d thought her heart, her ability to trust in love, had been irreparably broken.
“He knows I live here?” Her twin had sworn to her that the few times he and Gray met up at various functions, neither of them ever mentioned her.
Didn’t mean the man couldn’t have done a search on property records.
“He does now.”
Scott’s look was forthright.
“You told him.”
Her brother nodded. “Right after I blurted the only offer that made logical sense—that he come to stay on Ocean Breeze. He knows I live in a renovated cottage on a private beach with a gated entrance at the only, very steep, road in.”
“Everyone who’s lived in Rockcliff more than a minute knows about the cottages on Ocean Breeze,” she said laconically. “And since Gray grew up in town...”
She was forestalling the information that was trying to hit her brain. And then it was there. “Gray knows you’re asking me.”
“Yep.”
That one word shaped her right up. Stiffened her spine. And, as she glanced at Leigh, her confidence and intent. “Then by all means, call him. Let him know he’s welcome. I don’t blame him for choosing lifestyle over family. On the contrary, I appreciate the fact that he came clean before the wedding. Granted, it would have been nice if he’d figured things out before all the invitations had been sent out. Or, before he asked me to marry him. But still, he could have waited until after we were married, then have cleaned up in the divorce and saved himself years of hard work to earn the kind of life he craves...”
She shut up before Scott figured out she was rambling, rather than giving a viable, thought-out argument. As a good lawyer would do.
Her brother didn’t stand, as she wished he would. Instead, he sat with her.
Pressure built up inside, creating butterflies in her stomach and itching under her skin. Causing her to reach out a hand, laying her fingers on the back of his tanned skin, and say, “Seriously, Scott, call him. I’ve been following the case. He’s a good man and doesn’t deserve what’s happening to him. Not on any level. It’s a good thing, you’re helping him.”
The words came forth, giving her brother part of the truth mixing with the rest of the equally accurate tumult that had been brewing inside her since the news of GB Animal Clinics’ legal woes hit the airwaves.
All of which slid to dark recesses when Leigh’s excited pitch hit her. “Mama, look!”
The four-year-old, curly-haired blonde, ball in hand, reared back her right hand and threw with what looked like a world of might. So much so she stumbled and almost fell.
The ball, which hadn’t been released until her palm was facing downward, hit the ground and rolled a couple of feet in front of her. At which time, Morgan and Angel raced each other to reach the prize first.
“Good job, sweetie!” All the joy within Sage tumbled out at the words.
“Angew got it!” Leigh squealed then, clapping her hands together and bending over with glee as she giggled. “Did you see that, Mama?”
Without waiting for a response, the little girl was off stumbling across the sand as quickly as her feet would take her and grabbed the ball again.
