She didn’t speak. For a moment her finger only traced a line along the lapel of his suit coat. “I was. For a little while.”
“Did you love him?”
Her head tilted to the side as she considered the question. “I liked him very much.”
“Ouch. Poor Brandon.” Julian pulled her close and kissed her temple. “Five words no guy ever wants to hear from the woman he loves.” They swayed a few moments in silence. “He probably hates me.”
She breathed a small laugh. “He probably does. Sorry.”
“You could’ve at least tried to sugar-coat it.”
“Julian LaSalle, you know I’ve always been completely honest with you.” She straightened up to find him grinning, and her heart melted a little. “I’m just not always incredibly punctual with the news. Why are you grinning like that?”
“I miss hearing you say my name that way. Everybody calls me Kyser now. Dad wanted it that way.”
“You’re very good to your dad.”
“He’s been very good to me, and he loves my mom. They’re finally happy, I think.”
“Will they ever get married?”
Julian shrugged. “You know how Mom is.” Then he took her hand, leading her off the dance floor. “Come with me.”
She followed him out of the ballroom to the back patio, down the short steps leading to the soft, white sand. Stopping her, Julian bent down to remove her heels then he slipped off his own shoes and cuffed his slacks.
“What happened to your hand?” She held it up when he stood.
“It’s nothing. I just jammed it moving furniture. Come on.” Her thumb glided briefly over the little dragonfly ink on that hand, and she straightened her ring now securely on her finger.
They walked hand in hand in the moonlight down to the shore, where they stopped right at the water’s edge.
“It’s so beautiful,” she sighed, and he pulled her to him, wrapping his arms over hers, holding her back against his chest.
His voice was low and right at her ear when he spoke. “Anna, I want you to marry me.” He felt her jump, and he pressed his lips against the soft skin at the base of her neck before he continued. “I want you to be my wife. I want you and Jules to move back here and live with me. I want us to be a family.”
Anna pushed against his arms, and he released her. She turned to face him, and he could see her eyes shining. “I can’t think of anything in the world I want more than that.”
Slipping his hand into his breast pocket, he pulled out a small, silver ring. “I made this a while back, when I was still in Savannah…”
A painful knot tightened in Anna’s throat, causing her voice to crack. “Julian… you’ve had it that long?”
“I’ve loved you longer.” He slipped the slim band onto the finger where her dragonfly ring sat, and it fit with the previous piece, adding a sparkling diamond on which the tiny, glittering insect appeared to perch.
Anna gasped. “It’s perfect! Did you know it would be like that before?”
He smiled looking at the set a moment before he shook his head. “I didn’t. I only guessed it might work.”
She lunged forward, throwing her arms around his neck, pressing their mouths together. Lips parted, tongues met, she turned her cheek to hold her hand out in the moonlight as his kiss traveled to her jaw and up, into her hair.
“Lucy is going to be ecstatic,” Anna laughed. “She was right.”
“Let’s get out of here.” His voice was low against her hair, and his tone caused a little shiver to move through her.
“Okay,” she whispered, and they started back for the ballroom, hand in hand.
They were almost there when Brad came rushing out the back doors. “Jules, dammit, there you are. You left your phone on the table.”
“I didn’t want to be disturbed just then.” Then he noticed the strained expression on his friend’s face. “What’s happened?”
“It’s your dad. He’s had a heart attack.”
Chapter 7
The halls of South County Hospital were filled with Kysers when Julian and Anna arrived. Lucy was sitting beside Lexy, and both women’s faces were red and blotched from crying. Julian’s mother clutched a ball of tissues, and she pressed them to her eyes repeatedly. The soft noises of mourning filled the air.
Jack was at the nurses’ station with Robert, discussing his father’s status and plans for treatment. Anna caught sight of Will, alone in a row of chairs on the other side of the waiting area. She pulled Julian’s hand, and he didn’t fight her. But as they got closer, she saw Will’s left cheek was bruised and swollen.
His cold gaze fell on them. “I’m still considering pressing charges,” he growled.
“I’d love to see you try it,” Julian snapped back.
Anna stopped and lifted her fiancé’s hand. “I thought you did this moving furniture?” He didn’t answer, but rather cut his eyes toward his eldest sibling.
She turned and pulled Julian to the side, speaking low. “What happened?”
“Let’s just say he’ll never threaten you again.”
“You probably broke something.” She turned his swollen knuckles over.
“I don’t care… he’s had that coming for twenty years.” His voice trailed off as he scanned the faces of his family. “I need you to go and get Jules. Hurry.”
Anna’s eyes cut to his, and reading his expression, she nodded and took off back down the hall, fear twisting in her stomach. She knew what Julian was thinking, and she feared he might be right. This could be his father’s last night.
* * *
How many times had she made the panicked drive through Fairview to the hospital? At least she was only going to her parents’ home, which was just a few short blocks away. Jules was still on the couch in her black leggings and tunic when her mother arrived to get her. The two were out the door and in the car again without a moment to spare.
“Is he going to die?” Jules whispered from the passenger’s side.
Anna reached over to hold her daughter’s hand. “I don’t know, sweetie. He didn’t live a very healthy life for a long time.”
The girl was quiet a few moments. “I’d hoped when I saw Nana again it would be a happy time, and I would beg her to adopt me.”
Anna pulled her daughter against her shoulder in an awkward hug. “You’ll have plenty of time to beg Lexy to adopt you, and I doubt it’ll take very much.”
Back inside the waiting area, Anna knew they were too late. Julian held his mother tight against his chest, and Anna could see her body shaking violently as they ran up the hall toward the family. Tears were in his blue eyes, and Anna’s instantly flooded.
Jack was holding Lucy, and Robert was discussing a prescription for Ms. LaSalle to help her sleep. Naturally, she resisted.
Lexy shook her head, her smooth dark hair now shoulder length and streaked with gray. “I’m not taking drugs,” she whispered, her voice broken and shaking. “I’ll get through this like I’ve gotten through everything else.”
Her dark eyes lifted, and she saw Anna standing with Jules. Blinking back her tears, Lexy held out a hand to her granddaughter, and Jules rushed forward straight into her arms.
“I’ve been waiting to see you again.” The girl’s voice was broken, and they held each other a few moments. “I can look after you. Let me stay with you.”
Robert handed the small prescription to Julian, and he glanced at his daughter before looking up at Anna.
“I don’t mind if that’s what Lexy wants,” she said.
His mother walked over to Anna and pulled her into a hug. “You’re calling me Lexy now? I’ve always wanted you to do that.”
Anna looked down and smiled. “I guess I feel older these days.”
His mother lifted her hand and studied the engagement ring with the little dragonfly perched on it. She nodded. “This is good. It’s how it should be. I’ll take Jules with me back to Port Hogan.”
Lucy came up behind her, wi
ping tears from her eyes. “Are you sure? You can stay with us out on Hammond. We want you to be there. I want you there.”
Lexy hugged her goddaughter and a fresh wave of tears filled all their eyes. “I never belonged in that house,” she whispered. “I’d rather stay in my old place. With my lovely granddaughter.”
Julian was discussing the medication with Jules, who nodded. Jack stepped forward, clearing his throat. Anna had only seen tears in his blue eyes once before, and it was when Lucy was lying in a hospital bed in this same building.
“I can drive you out there if you’d like. I don’t mind.”
Robert spoke up. “Or I can. If you want to stay with your family, Jack.”
Lexy straightened her back. “I’m able to drive.” Then her voice grew quiet. “I’ve driven myself through heartbreak before.”
Anna couldn’t stop the tears then, remembering the source of her words, her drive from the hospital following her friend’s death when Julian was only a little boy.
“Do you want to see him again before you go?” Jack touched her back, but Lexy shook her head no.
“He’s not here.” A lone tear rolled down her cheek. “He’s riding a horse down to Soldier Creek, or he’s in his pickup, coming to find me. I’ll be waiting.”
Julian stepped forward again and kissed her, and Jules took her hand. “I’ll check on you in the morning. Jules, you have a phone. Call me if you need anything. I can be there in less than five minutes.”
Jules nodded and the two of them walked slowly out to the parking lot. Their steps almost identical.
* * *
The funeral for Bill Kyser was as big an event as his wedding had been more than forty years earlier. Everyone in South County, it seemed was there, and the church and grounds were flooded with plants and flowers from all over the globe.
Only the family and the Brennans were inside at the service. Lexy wore a straight, black shift with a hat and veil to hide her tears. Anna had extended her stay, and she and Jules wore matching black knit dresses. Jules hadn’t left her grandmother’s side, and the two were quickly becoming inseparable.
Julian was beside Anna, mourning along with his brothers, but Lucy seemed to take it the hardest. She had found her way to her father’s heart, and the two had become closer as the years had passed. Jack held Meggie as she leaned into his chest and wept. Robert stood by with the boys, but Anna knew the twins had always been able to comfort each other better than anyone else.
Casey had cancelled several dates on her small tour to fly down and join them. Her light blonde hair was still cut in a pixie, and she wore a black tailored suit. She watched Jack and Lucy from where she stood beside Robert and the boys.
Brad’s father and the rest of his family were across the aisle from the Kysers, and Will took a seat all the way in the back, alone. Anna wished there was a way to bring him into his family’s fold, but it was a worry for another time.
Julian rose and went to the front to give the eulogy.
“As a young man, my dad grew up on a horse ranch, back when this area was nothing but farms. It was working in that punishing heat that drove him to dream big and to see what this area could become. He wanted to find a way so he would never have to farm again.”
He looked down and smiled, and Anna glanced across the aisle at Mr. Brennan, who was also smiling, his eyes shining with unshed tears.
“He had good friends to help him, and he was determined to succeed. I think he’d be the first to say his success came at a price, and he wasn’t proud of the mistakes he made. But he was proud of his family, and he loved us all.
“I talked to Dad just a few days ago about love and loss, and in addition to quoting ‘Mother’s Little Helper’ by The Rolling Stones, he told me something I think you will all appreciate.”
The group chuckled, and Julian continued.
“I asked him how to find my way back to something I had lost. Something that was very dear to me, and that I was afraid was gone for good.
“He said, ‘When you truly love someone, time, distance, nothing matters. You’ll come together, and love will fill all the cracks and damaged spaces, and it will be whole again. It’ll be stronger than it was before.’
“He also told me he was proud of me, and I was lucky enough to tell him I loved him one last time.” His chin dropped, and Anna’s eyes grew hot.
“So while our family might feel broken by this loss, he’s still with us, and we still have each other. Our love will fill the space left by his passing, and we’ll be stronger because we had him in our lives. We love you dad, and you’re always here with us in spirit.”
He stepped away from the front and returned to his seat beside his future wife, and the service concluded. The three Kyser sons, Brad and Bryant were designated pallbearers, and Juliet walked with her grandmother out to the waiting limousines that took them to the cemetery. It was a solemn event, but Anna was able to see how they had all come together, all except the one.
* * *
Anna and Jules stood in the airport with Julian, waiting to board their flight back to London. Anna had spent the majority of the last two weeks with her future husband while Jules hadn’t left her grandmother’s house on Port Hogan Road. Both were miserable at the prospect of leaving what had become their family.
“Kyser-Brennan can handle the entire relocation,” Julian said, holding Anna in his arms. “You don’t have to go back if you’d rather stay.”
She shook her head. “I need to wrap up my desk, say goodbye to friends, pack up things I can’t live without.”
“I can take you back in a few weeks to do all that.”
She smiled and kissed his nose. “I’ve already stayed longer than I’d originally said I would.”
“Yes, but you’re moving back here. It doesn’t matter.”
“It does matter. Let me do this, and you can finish wrapping up your dad’s business without me here to distract you.”
He breathed heavily, and they walked slowly toward airport security. His arm was around Anna’s waist, and Jules caught his hand on the other side. He lifted it around her shoulders, and pulled her wild dark head in for a kiss. “You’re not a distraction, you’re a relief.”
They stopped to embrace each other one last time, one last kiss. Jules went on ahead through the screening process. Anna held the front of his shirt, smiling up into his adoring face.
“We won’t be long, and now that the date is set, it’s actually kind of exciting. After so many years, we’re starting our life together as a family.”
He leaned forward to claim that mouth once more. “I can’t wait.”
They said goodbye, and two headed across the ocean, while one headed back to face the storm brewing along the Gulf.
Bill Kyser’s will had been opened, and the lawyers were already discussing the contents when the family gathered at the house on Hammond Island to listen to the reading.
The house on Port Hogan Road went to Alexandra Marie LaSalle along with a generous annual allowance for maintenance and repairs for the rest of her life. The Hammond Island home was left to the Kyser children to dispose of as they wished.
As neither Jack nor Lucy expressed interest in Kyser-Brennan Equities, Bill named Julian chief executive officer of the corporation and gave him total control of his father’s share. No mention was made of the eldest Kyser sibling.
Will was out of his chair in an instant. “When was this will revised?”
“Several months ago,” his father’s attorney replied. “I understand this is a shock to you, but your father’s mental condition was never in question.”
“Of course his mental condition was fine,” Will continued shouting. “However he was sexually manipulated by this gypsy squatter in her effort to install her bastard son in the wealthiest development company in the area.”
Lexy pressed her lips into a frown and stood to leave the room.
“You’re the bastard, Will!” Lucy shouted, going after her. “Don
’t start this again or I’ll do more than throw my supper at you.”
Julian only sat quietly, watching his brother. “He was my father, too.”
“Are we just going to accept that? Was a paternity test ever run?”
Jack leaned forward in his chair. “You’re really grasping for anything now, aren’t you, Will. It’s because of this shitty behavior that he cut you out. Dad only ever loved Lexy, and his entire life changed when she and Julian came into the picture.”
The two younger Kyser men’s eyes met, and in that moment, any past conflict between them dissipated for good. Julian stood and walked to the desk.
“It isn’t right for my brother to be cut out of the business. He’s worked hard, he’s good at what he does, and he’s an asset to our team.” He turned to face Will. “We’ll make this right. Your position is not in jeopardy.”
His brother muttered a curse and stalked to the door, but before he left, he turned back. “Don’t think this changes anything. You are not one of us.”
The room was noticeably quiet when the door shut, with only the lawyers, Jack and Julian, Robert and Casey left to hear the remainder of Bill’s dispensation. Once it was over they filed out into the kitchen, where Lexy was holding Meggie, and Lucy was pacing furiously.
“He’s such a rat pig. I hope you punched him in the face again, Julian.”
Her brother coughed a laugh, and the rest of the family turned to face him. Lexy’s eyes were stern. “Umm… h-he threatened Anna,” Julian managed to say.
With that, they all collectively relaxed and the kids started digging in the refrigerator.
“I’ll fix something for the boys!” Casey jumped forward. “Would the adults like me to order takeout?”
Lucy stopped pacing and smiled at her. “That sounds great.”
Julian slipped to the outside patio, the last place he’d spoken to his dad. His phone buzzed, and he took it out of his pocket. Seeing the name he smiled, grateful for the relief.
Mosaic (Dragonfly #4) Page 29
