Without even pausing to think about it, she listed, “Bleatus and Billy.”
Looking slightly disappointed, Sadie asked, “Why Billy?”
“Billy the Kid,” Lily explained, using a ‘duh’ tone.
While Sadie and I burst out laughing, both Elijah and Parker groaned—one thunking his head on the countertop, the other one praying to the ceiling for help for his fucked up family.
Parker
The Townsend family might seem overwhelming to an outsider, but when you’re part of it, it was like being in subzero temperatures with a thick blanket keeping you warm.
The security, reliability, stability, loyalty, and knowledge that you weren’t alone... After my childhood, it was everything.
And it came with Ariana.
“So, you and my princess,” Hurst murmured as he pushed his empty plate away from him.
How the man didn’t get indigestion from the spicy nacho tower he’d just eaten, I didn’t know, but he was a total anomaly. Then again, I’m fairly certain his whole family were anomalies to the medical field and all forms of science.
Still, I might have known him for almost my whole life, but I didn’t want him to start hating me now, so I held that observation back.
“Yes, sir.”
“Thank shit for that. Took you long enough to grow a set and man up but can’t say I’m not over the fucking moon you finally got some balls and went for it.” His words were both unexpected and not at the same time. “She’s going to ruin you before you get her to commit, but that girl is the best prize any man could ever get.”
Here’s the thing, Hurst loved everyone, and the second he gave you that love, you were part of the family. If there was such a thing as fate for couples, him and Linda were proof of that because they suited each other perfectly.
After Mom had died, it was the Townsends who’d held my brother and me and helped us through it while Dad acted like the self-centered and oblivious dick that he was. Then, when he’d remarried, it was Hurst who’d told me to come to him if we had any problems. I hadn’t, but he’d known something was up when the shit with my stepmom started and I’d become more protective of Dale. The quieter and more withdrawn I became, the more protective the Townsends became over us, too. They’d given us the sanctuary we’d needed and helped me keep my brother safe.
And when I’d started having nightmares, it was Hurst who’d been the one to help me through them, even when I didn’t tell him what they were about. I’d been struggling to understand what was happening and if it was as wrong as it felt, so having someone there to catch me without me having to say any of that out loud—I can’t describe what that did for me.
People think you can’t have been helped if they didn’t solve the problem, but sometimes the support alleviates enough pressure to give you space to breathe. Some kids go through it with no one, and that’s part of why I became a doctor. I want to help them if they come into the hospital, and I have. The world is a dark place, but some people give it light. I had that light with this family and the Montgomerys, and I want to give it to someone who doesn’t have it.
As if he knew what I was thinking about, Hurst whispered, “It took me a long time to figure out what was going on with you at home, son, and I’ll never forgive myself for failing you like that. If I’d figured it out when it started, I could have stopped anything happening to you.” I sat frozen in shock as the words sank in, but I heard the way his breath shuddered slightly. “I’m so fucking sorry, Parker. The only thing that brings me peace about it all is knowing that she’ll rot in hell eventually, while my grandbaby gives you the beauty of life you deserve.”
Swallowing harshly, I was quiet for a moment, fighting the need to jump up and move away from him.
Finally, I got my shit together enough to ask, “How did you figure it out?”
There was a long silence, but finally he answered the question. “You changed. I don’t just mean a small change like kids normally have, but a huge one. After you lost your mom,” he cleared his throat at the memory. “After you lost your mom, you became more serious and protective of Dale. After your dad married... her,” he choked, avoiding saying her name, “you were just so sad all the time. You walked around like you had the weight of the world on your shoulders.”
Because I had, I’d lost my mom, and then I’d lost my dad emotionally and mentally. I was a kid trying to figure out how to be a parent to Dale.
“Then, about a year after he married her, you became a brick. You looked like you were analyzing every movement and every word had a thousand different meanings for you.” There was a long pause. “And then I heard you have a nightmare when you and Dale were sleeping over at my son’s house.”
By son, he meant Ren’s dad, Jack.
Thinking how to explain it, especially in a public place with ears all around us, I cleared my throat and looked at Ariana standing behind the bar, laughing at something Beau was saying to her. She was my everything good and clean, and right now I needed that.
“I didn’t know how to tell people what she was doing. I was scared they’d just assume I was trying to cause shit because Dad had gotten remarried, so I figured protecting Dale was the only thing I could do.”
“And you did that, Parker. I’ve never known a boy as young as you who could take on the duties of a dad the way you did. I just wished you’d have let us take on the other shit for you.”
Those words struck me somewhere raw. I’d needed to hear those words, needed that support, but in their own way, the Townsends and Montgomerys had taken on the other shit for me without even knowing it.
They’d given us an escape from the house so I could sleep without worrying I was going to wake up with her standing over me, her hands touching me.
They’d given us the love Dad hadn’t been willing or able to give because he was too obsessed with the young woman he’d brought into our lives.
For every shortcoming of his, they’d given it to us without even realizing it. This was something I think he needed to hear as much as I needed to say it, so I did.
After I told him, Hurst scored his next hit after angling his chair away from the others so he was facing me with his back to them. “If I’d known—even had a suspicion at the time that’s what was going on—I’d have used every dime I had to get you justice. It wouldn’t have occurred to me that you might be lying because I know you. You’re one of the best people I’ve ever met, and it’s an honor to have watched you grow up and become the man you are today.”
Taking in a shaky breath, I blew it out and nodded my head. “That means more to me than I can explain, sir. Both Dale and I watched you and the family, and when we spoke at night about who we wanted to be when we grew up, you were always the first name on the list.”
“Number two was someone like Han Solo, wasn’t it?” he snickered.
He wasn’t far from the truth.
“Uh, more like Sean Connery in Entrapment or The Rock.”
“Entrapment? Is that the one with Catherine Zeta-Jones where he steals art or something? The one where she’s in a sexy suit and does gymnastics through lasers?”
“That’s the one.”
Glancing over his shoulder at Linda, he leaned in closer. “She was freakin’ hot in that movie. Whoever did the costumes deserved an award—at least one of gratitude.” Snorting out a laugh, I watched as his wife turned and glared at him and wondered how much she’d heard. “And the way she bent backward and...”
“Hurst!” Linda called with forced sweetness.
“Yeah, Lindee?”
“Just checking you’re okay, what with your iffy ticker and all.”
Only a year ago, Hurst had gone through surgery on his heart. It’d been a big operation, but he’d bounced back like it’d never happened.
“Iffy ticker, my ass,” he hissed. “Anyway, why couldn’t y’all have chosen Sean Connery as Bond?”
“Because he didn’t kick ass in those movies like he does in the ones we
chose.”
This made him smirk. “In that case, I’ll allow it.”
It was great having this moment with him, but I had something I needed to get out now I had the opportunity.
“Thank you for arranging our ‘scholarships.’”
The bottle he’d been lifting stopped in mid-air. “That was meant to be a secret.”
Shrugging, I watched Ari and Sadie whispering about something behind the bar. “I figured it out.”
It had taken me a while to do it, but I’d gotten there. Dad could easily have put both of us through college, but he was too bitter about our choices. We’d both been awarded partial scholarships, but I’d received a letter just before I’d left for college telling me I had a full ride, and Dale had received the same from his college, too. The wording in it had been convincing, but I’d finally figured it out just before I moved here and had only recently found out it wasn’t Dad doing right, but Hurst giving us our dreams.
“You both deserved that and more,” he muttered, taking a long drink from the bottle.
“Thank you. You’ve done so much for us...” I broke off, swallowing awkwardly over the lump in my throat.
“And we’ll continue to do what we can for you both.”
“not sure you realize how special you and your family are,” I told him, meaning every single word. “You have an ability to love and nurture not many people have. But just so you know, we’re going to pay you back once we finish our residencies, Hurst.”
Giving me his full attention, he leaned in closer. “Do you know why me and Lindee do it, Parker?”
“Because you’re good people,” I replied honestly.
“No. Lindee and I wanted twenty kids.” When I looked at him in shock, he snickered, “Yup, twenty. And what I’m about to tell you isn’t something we discuss a lot because it breaks her heart, but you’re family, and she also asked me to have a talk with you, so I’m going to open a door I don’t open normally. After we had Veronica, Lindee got pregnant again and lost the baby when she was fourteen weeks pregnant. We’d only just found out about it, and then it was taken away from us.”
“Shit,” I groaned, looking at Linda, smiling at her family with all the love in her body shining out of her eyes. Feeling me watching her, she turned that look to me and winked, but the slight strain around her mouth told me she wasn’t oblivious to what he was telling me.
“Then, two years later, she got pregnant again, but this time the baby was stillborn at thirty-one weeks. Both of those losses took a huge chunk of our hearts with them, and it took us a while to recover.”
“I can’t even imagine.”
As a doctor, you can’t help but focus on the losses versus the ones you’d saved because they felt like a failure in a way. It didn’t matter if you knew no one could’ve saved them, you still felt like you’d failed. So, to lose babies like they had—the pain had to be overwhelming.
“After that last one—a little boy called Ian—we decided we’d been blessed with three kids biologically and that we’d use the love inside us to extend our family to people who either didn’t have one or who needed the extra support. It’s not us trying to be overbearing, it’s that we want people to enjoy life and make the most out of it. Sometimes it takes a little bit of extra security to make that happen, sometimes it takes having a family. That’s what we do.”
Looking around the occupants of the table and thinking about the rest of the Townsend family, I could see now what they’d done.
“George and Christy Montgomery are like-minded, and between both of our families, we do our best to help people out.”
“You were both there for Dale and me. It felt like someone had ripped the world out from under our feet after Mom died, and when she came into our lives, it was like we’d been sent straight to hell. I don’t know what we would’ve done without you both.”
“You’ll never find out,” he winked.
I really fucking hoped he was right.
“Now,” he said as he straightened up and cracked his neck, “none of this paying us back bullshit, ‘cos we won’t accept a dime. You just make my precious girl happy. She’ll lead you through the bowels of hell, but once you get in there you’ll be stuck fast. She’s a lot like her grandmother, so I can tell you without any doubts that you’ve got your work cut out for you, but it’s worth every second of it.”
Huffing out a laugh, I asked, “The bowels of hell?”
“Yup,” he nodded. “You’ve lived your life a certain way for so many years that it’s your norm. Ariana lives life her own way and with a different outlook. You think you’ve got your shit set straight now, but she’s going to open your eyes to a lot more and disorganize the hell out of it.”
I’d already worked hard on myself, so the thought of my new order getting messed up made me feel uneasy.
“I see you’re getting that feeling,” Hurst noted, scanning my face. “Parker, sometimes all it takes is for someone to move the clouds for the sun to hit you. Do you get what I mean?”
Well, when he put it like that. “I do.”
“Then hold on and enjoy the fucking ride. The second that sun hits you, you’ll wonder how you lived without it.”
“I tried to fight it and pushed her away because I didn’t want to mess her up, but she already owns me, Hurst.”
“None of that ‘she’s too good for me’ bullshit, Parker. She’s had issues in life, too, just like you, and she has her own self-doubts. No one is immune from that part of life. You get to balance each other out now, so how about you get on with doing that.”
It was the little flutter of his fingers at the end that made me burst out laughing. I still had a lot of questions, but life was a day-by-day thing, so that’s how I was going to do it.
Then, I did something rare: I touched someone.
Yes, in my job I had to do that a lot, but I rarely hugged people. It was a trust thing, and I hated being touched unless it was on my terms. But I’d probably never be able to find the words to tell him how much his family meant to me, so I hoped the hug conveyed it for me.
Without looking at him afterward, I went in search of Ari.
If I’d looked back, I'd have seen the tears in his and Linda’s eyes and the look they shared that screamed relief and happiness. Relief that I was safe and happy, and happiness that I had the life I had now. Also, maybe relief that I was going to have the life they’d wished so hard for me to have.
I wish I’d seen it and been able to record it, because thirty years on, I’d want to look back on it when they were gone and I was looking up at the sun that was warming my face, thanking the skies for their existences.
Eight
Ariana
While my family was sitting down and relaxing like the mean bastards they were, I was working behind the bar. Mixing together vodka and Red Bull for the lady standing in front of me, I watched the conversation going on between Gramps and Parker, wondering what they were discussing that was making them both look so serious.
“Ah, I know a woman with man troubles when I see one,” the woman said, bringing my attention back to her.
Looking up at her as I put the glass in front of her, I noted she was probably fifteen years older than my twenty-three, but she’d had some work done to try to disguise the fact. Her long, curly, dark hair was beautiful, but she kept pushing it away from her face like she wasn’t used to the length. Her eyes were heavily made up in a way that looked good on her but also made her seem slightly out of place in Rebels.
Her comment was strange and out of place, considering I didn’t have man troubles, and I’d only been wondering what the two men were discussing.
“No, no man troubles. I was just wondering what my family was talking about over there.”
Looking straight at the table, even though I hadn’t pointed or gestured to it at all, she frowned and turned her back on them quickly.
“They’re all your family?”
“Pretty much.”
&nbs
p; Her eyes narrowed at my response. “Including the man in the dark blue t-shirt?”
Looking to see which one she was talking about, I noticed that Noah, Parker, and Elijah were all wearing one. “Uh, two out of three of them are.”
“And the third?” she asked so quickly I almost couldn’t make it out.
Not wanting to reveal anything else to this woman, the vibes coming off her setting off alarm bells now, I just shrugged and smiled. “Do you want to start a tab for your drinks, or do you just want to pay now?”
Grabbing a twenty out of her pocket, she threw it across the bar at me. “Keep the change,” she snapped and promptly stormed away, disappearing into a group of people standing talking.
Shrugging, I processed the sale through the till and then put the change in the bar's communal pot. Beau, Sadie and I had decided we’d pool our tips and split them equally between us at the end of our shifts. We all earned almost equal amounts, so it was easier to keep track of this way.
“I wish I had your boobs,” Sadie huffed as she leaned against the back counter. “I’d have these chopped off if I could.”
Glancing at them, I snickered. “Mine were an A cup, so I had them inflated. When I went for the consultation, I got to try different implants in the cups of my bra. So as a joke I put double D ones in and jumped up and down.” I laughed at the memory. “Those boys weighed a freaking ton.”
What I’d said after the first sentence was lost on her because Sadie was staring at my chest wide-eyed. “Your boobies aren’t real?”
“Yeah, I had my nose done, too.”
Sadie’s eyes lifted from her contemplation of them and focused on my nose, squinting like she was trying to see where they’d operated.
“You’re shitting me. Seriously, you’ve got to be yanking my tit.”
“No, I’m not yanking your tit. I had it all done four years ago.”
Grabbing my wrist, Sadie pulled me toward the panel that lifted up so we could get out from behind the bar.
“Beau, can you cover for us for a minute?” she yelled over her shoulder as she dragged me away.
Forbidden Gold (Providence Gold Book 5) Page 11
