Breathless Awakening (The Breathless Series) (26 page)

Zane sat down on the step and leaned back against the wall. Looking up at his brother, he was completely calm. “Bro, think about it. They know you are filling their role, but they want to make sure they do one last thing for their baby girl. They love you like a son of their own. They want to do something for you too. This is something that they could do for both of you. How much stress does this take off you? No house payment, no worries about moving all her stuff to your place, then moving it again, and you can just relax. No stress. Well, other than having to learn how to deal with living with a woman twenty‐four seven again.”

Stepping out further would have meant both Luke and Zane would notice me standing there. Understanding why Luke was upset, I didn’t know what to say. He wanted to be the man in my life, to provide for me, and not to be outshone by someone else. Luke didn’t need to feel insecure, but I didn’t think that message was best to come from me. I was hoping that Zane could get through to him.

“You don’t understand. I am thinking about it. How am I supposed to be her provider if everything is handed to me? I just can’t take this from them. What if this isn’t the house we want? We’ve talked about all the things we want in a house. She fell asleep on the plane last night mumbling about a white picket fence, a sitting room with an entire wall of built in bookshelves, and she even wanted to make sure I had some space for me to escape.” He pointed out towards the front yard. “Hello, no white picket fence!”

“Dude, you haven’t even given the house a shot yet. Look around and see what you think. Cailyn looked pretty damn happy in there, and you left her to come out here and blow up. What the fuck? Stop being such a whiney ass and apologize to your wife. No, there isn’t a white picket fence. I’ve never seen a house in today’s day and age with a white picket fence. I’m pretty sure you aren’t going to find one anywhere.

“If she really wants that damn fence though, Terry has you a full workshop set up in the garage. Yeah, don’t tell him I told you though. That was supposed to be the surprise for you since he figured the house would be her domain. You’ve got it all man. If you want to keep being such a bitch, that’s your prerogative, but I’m not going to sit here and listen to it.

“I know what this comes down to, Luke. We both lost Mom, and because of that, we both lost Dad. You’ve had to fight for everything your entire life. You have never known how to accept gifts from people. Either you earn it, or you take it. You’ve earned this. Those two people in there are trying to open their arms to you. They are trying to welcome you into their family. I’d give anything for that right now. So if you are going to be so damn self‐centered about all this then you’re a complete dumbass. He’s all yours, Cailyn.”

I didn’t even realize that Zane knew I was there. How long had he known? He brushed past me as he stormed off back inside. Luke wouldn’t even turn to look at me. I walked up to him and wrapped my arms around his waist. “I love you.”

Luke had no response, and I had never seen him this upset. The closest he ever got to being like this was the first time he had told me about his mother’s death. I had yelled at him because he never took me to meet her, but I hadn’t known that she was dead since he had always told me he was going to visit her. Later I found out that he spent a lot of time sitting by her grave to visit.

I hugged him tighter, not wanting to let go. “You know, maybe you married the wrong brother. I may have the good looks, but he has a point. I should at least have given it a shot. Do you think your parents will accept my apology?”

Luke turned around in my arms, wrapping his around me, and kissed the top of my head. “I’ve had to fight my whole life for everything, even you. I don’t know how to accept the generosity that your family has to give.”

“What do you mean you had to fight for me? And of course they will accept your apology. They love you!”

“Do I need to remind you of a little can of pepper spray? Our relationship didn’t start off all butterflies and sunshine.”

I couldn’t help but laugh at him as I pretended to lift a can and point it at him. We walked back into the house smiling and laughing. As we walked into the dining room to sit down, you could tell that everyone was wondering what the mood was going to be like. Luke stepped up to the head of the table, placed his hands on the back of the chair, and took a deep breath.

“Terry and Aileen, I want to apologize for my outburst earlier. I’m just not used to that kind of generosity. You have done an amazing thing for Cailyn and myself. You didn’t deserve me treating you like that, especially with everything you have had going on this week. I’m sorry. I hope you will accept my apology.”

Daddy stood up and walked over to Luke. A stern look crossed his face that I had only seen a few times in my life. This wasn’t going to be very pretty. Daddy didn’t need to be getting upset like this right after his surgery.

“Son, your attitude was uncalled for, but I can accept your apology for it on one condition.” Daddy smiled at him and slapped him on the back. “Stop calling us by our names. Mom and Dad will suffice just fine. You’re family now.”

Luke looked at my parents. I could tell there was a mental struggle going on inside his head. “Sir, you have already done more for me than my father ever has. I would be honored to call you Dad. Ma’am, you are an amazing woman and mother, and anyone would be fortunate enough to call you Mom.” It looked like Luke was going to cry. “I will try if it would make you feel more comfortable, but I feel like I am turning my back on my mother’s memory by calling someone else Mom.”

My mother, Zane, and I all stepped toward Luke to wrap him in a hug. My mother and I both stopped when we saw Zane. “Luke, you know mom would be fine with you calling her Mom. Why are you being so hard on yourself?”

“I know in my mind that Mom wouldn’t care, but I can’t tell my heart that. Every time I say Mom, I think of her. That’s not ever going to get any easier for me. She should still be here.”

Zane just held Luke. Mom and I stepped up behind him and wrapped our arms around both of them. Mom whispered to him, “Luke, as long as you take care of my daughter, you can call me whatever you feel comfortable with.” With that, she went back to her seat and sat down.

Luke kissed me on the top of my head before breaking the hug and sitting down. “I don’t know about you all, but I’m famished. Let’s eat.”

Chapter Thirty‐Two

Luke

Sitting around the table with friends and family made the day wonderful. Tension bubbled in the air at first, but that was mainly my fault. My outbursts were uncalled for. I hadn’t slept on the plane like Cailyn had, I was hungry, and I was still dealing with a lot of things from my past.

I had avoided the issues of family for years by ignoring them. Sure, I had Zane, but I considered him another one of the guys. Now that I was being thrown into a true family was turning my life upside down. I provided for Zane, but I never had anyone trying to provide for me. This was definitely going to take me a while to get used to.

As I got my emotions in check, the atmosphere became much more enjoyable for all. Everyone had been waiting for a ticking time bomb to go off at any minute. Ryan looked like he wanted to make a few smartass comments, but Celeste would reel him in each time with a quick look. One moment he had ignored the look, and just as he opened his mouth to say something, the only thing that came out was a yelp of pain. I wasn’t sure what had happened under the table, but considering the look of confusion on Celeste’s face and the smile on Amber’s, Ryan was getting in a lot deeper than I would ever want to.

Finishing up with the meal, Rhylie asked Zane to help her with cleaning up. I had noticed a few looks going back and forth between the two of them. Was something going on with my little brother and the spunky Ms. Rhylie? I’d have to look into that. They both needed to find someone, but I wasn’t sure if they were the right one for the other. Rhylie had a hard time with her last relationship. James started out as a great guy until he decided to make a few bad choices in life. When his life started going downhill, he tried to drag her with him. Thankfully, she was strong enough to stand on her own two feet and kick him to the curb, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t hurt by it all.

Zane, on the other hand, was afraid of loss. Since the day our mother had passed, he had only let one woman close. He thought things had been going down a path to happiness, but she wasn’t looking for commitment. He and Christina were good together, and they probably still would be. She was looking for companionship during school instead of trying to find that life partner. When she realized that they had different views on where the relationship was going, she even came to me to talk. Unfortunately, I wasn’t in the best situation to be a big brother at the time, so I told her to just break it off and he would be fine. I should have helped her find a way to let him down easy, maybe talked to him myself, but instead, he disappeared for a week. I still didn’t know where he had gone for that time.

Rhylie’s strong will and personality would be a lot for him to handle. He had his reservations about letting a woman into his life again, but if Rhylie’s views weren’t in the same train of thought as his, it could cause some problems. Alternately, if it was Zane that was trying to pull her in, if maybe he were starting to realize that he wanted to try again, but she was standing her ground to continue to prove that she could stand on her own… Well, either way, I could see this going downhill. I was going to have to talk to Cailyn later, and then we were both going to have to talk with the two of them.

I glanced over at Terry who was handing his plate to Zane. Swallowing the frog that was in my throat, I took the first step in accepting that I had family. “So, Dad, you want to show Cailyn and me around our new house? All we’ve seen so far is the foyer, a hallway, and the dining room.”

Celeste and Amber were laughing, but Terry beamed with pride. Not only had I given him the honor of calling him Dad, I had accepted the gift that he bestowed on us. “I would love to.”

We walked around the house as he explained how they had tried to arrange the new furniture how we would want. “I’m glad your brother is busy right now. I want you to know that you did an amazing job with him when you were raising him.” Talking about my childhood was always difficult, but talking about Zane’s made me very uncomfortable. Zane deserved more of a family, and while I did the best I could, I never felt like it was enough.

“Don’t give me that look. You know that you are the only person to try to instill manners, skills, work ethic, or anything else into that boy. He stayed in town to help since I was in the hospital. He came over here every day, waited for deliveries, moved things around, and did whatever he could to help get this place ready for you. Part of me thinks he felt a little outdone since we did this for you. He’s your only family, so he wanted to do something nice too.

“I just wanted to let you know so that you can thank him. Without him being here this week, you would have a whole lot of work to do with this place.”

Terry gave us the tour of the house, explaining where they thought would be best for a nursery, what would work best here or there, and Cailyn’s eyes lit up when Terry suggested that one room should be turned into a library. Walking into the master bedroom was breathtaking. The closet was almost the size of my old bedroom, but that wasn’t saying too much.

“Well now that I’ve shown you everything to make your day, Cailyn, how about you let us have some guy time. I think your mother has a few things to show you in the kitchen, and I have a few surprises left for Luke.”

“I see how it is, Daddy, banishing us women to the kitchen.” They both laughed as she gave him a hug. “Thank you so much, Daddy. I love everything you have done for us.”

“I’m glad, but you know it’s your mother who you have to thank. You know she wouldn’t have let me pick out any of this furniture, or the house for that matter. She had to be in charge of it all. Come on, Luke, let’s go down to the basement.”

“What? There’s a basement too. I want to come.”

Terry looked at Cailyn and shook his head. “Nope, this is some much needed, for both of us, father son bonding time. You go have some girl time. I’m sure they all can’t wait to hear about your honeymoon.”

Cailyn sulked off like a sad little puppy dog. Now that we had a house, I would have to think about getting a dog. I had always wanted one, but never had the opportunity. Growing up it was difficult to take care of Zane and myself, but afterwards it was always apartments or barracks.

As we walked down the stairs into the basement, I saw all of my things. “I was starting to wonder if this stuff made it here or not. I was hoping I wasn’t going to have to figure out how to get it over here.”

“I figured Cailyn had the run of the house upstairs, so this would be somewhere for you to go and get away. I wish I had a place like this in the beginning. At first, it will be rough, but it gets better. You two are going to have arguments, and that is just part of life and marriage. You can just come down here and get away from everything.

“Zane was telling me about the bar that you helped make. Maybe you could build one to put over in that corner. I’d love to help you finish the rest of the place down here. Maybe add some plumbing for a little kitchenette. A pool table. You could have a nice little pad down here.”

We walked around and talked possibilities. I could really see turning this into a nice retreat. I even joked with him about putting in a small guest room for him to escape to when he needed to get away.

“If you are going to build all this stuff down here then you are going to need a place to work. Follow me.”

Zane had already told me about the shop in the garage, but that didn’t mean I had to take the excitement away from Terry. I followed him to the garage, expecting a few tools to be lying around. I was not expecting to walk into a complete shop set up for me to start working that instant. The emotions overcame me and I grabbed Terry, pulling him into a hug. “Thanks, Dad.”