The Merger

by Bernadette Marie

  “Trust me there is no sleeping going on with that noise.” He moved to the stereo and turned down the sound. “When did you get back?”

  “Yesterday. Pete picked me up.”

  “You could afford a cab. You use him.”

  “I do not. We’re friends and that’s what friends do for each other.” She moved to the stereo and turned it up just a little. “So, give me the scoop. I was away long enough for you to start an affair with the bitch lawyer.”

  Spencer moved right to her and held up his finger. “Don’t ever say that again. I’m sorry I said it in the first place.”

  Without even a wince, Avery lowered his hand. “I didn’t believe it then either. You’re together?”

  He couldn’t help the smile he felt form on his lips. “We’re together.”

  Now she smiled. “You love her.”

  That took the air out of his lungs and he simply stared at his cousin. “A part of me thinks I always did, but I thought she wasn’t mine to have.”

  “I like her, Spence. I think she’ll be good for you.”

  He kissed Avery on the cheek. “We’ll see how it goes tonight. You’re going to dinner, right?”

  Now her smile faded. “I don’t know. I didn’t tell anyone I was home yet.”

  “What are you hiding from?”

  “Don’t be like that.”

  Spencer merely raised his eyebrows.

  She turned and shut off the stereo. “I’m leaving.”

  “Going shopping?”

  “No, Spence.” She turned to him. “I’m moving to France.”

  Now his smile was gone too and he moved to her and took her arms in his hands. “Avery, what are you doing?”

  “The vineyard is beautiful.”

  “You don’t know your grandfather. You can’t just leave everyone and move to France.”

  She moved from him. “I’m not some kid. I can do this.”

  “You don’t want to hear what your mother has to say about it.”

  She shook her head.

  Spencer moved to her. “Don’t you suppose you’re worried about that for a reason? I mean if this was the right thing to do you’d be happy to tell everyone.”

  Avery turned and looked at him. Her eyes were filled with tears that threatened to spill. “I have to do this. I need this—for me.”

  He wasn’t sure about that. He kissed her cheek and pulled her to him. “I’m always here. We all are. You’re not alone, you know that.”

  “I know.”

  “Don’t you ever forget it.”

  ~*~

  Julie had always been a quick study of people. She could read their moods to meet her needs. It was a very handy tool, which had helped in her career.

  And now as she watched Spencer drive through town, she knew something had transpired that morning with Avery. He simply hadn’t been the same the rest of the day.

  This happened with important people. He had high-rise builds, his neighborhood build, and the daunting transportation troubles with PLL on his mind. Not to mention he’d spent time with her all weekend that he’d planned on using in Oregon. But that wasn’t all of it. There was something under the surface eating at him and she couldn’t quite put her finger on it.

  She reached for him and took his hand in hers. “Are you sure you want me to go with you tonight? You seem a million miles away.”

  Spencer shifted her a glance. “I’m sorry. I guess I have a lot on my mind.”

  “That’s normal, but are you sure everything is okay?”

  He smiled a tight smile and lifted her fingers to his lips. Pressing a kiss to them, he said, “Everything’s okay, especially with you here.”

  He turned down a residential street and in front of a row of houses. She followed his gaze when he looked up at the house with the American flag flying off the front porch.

  “Whose house is this?”

  Spencer smiled. “Right now it belongs to Darcy and Ed. But it was my grandparent’s house. This is where my mom grew up.”

  “That’s very cool,” she said feeling the respect for family just by living in their homes. “How many of these cars are your family’s?”

  He let out a chuckle. “Most of them. That house isn’t that big, but there’s a lot of room when it’s needed. And I suppose its just tradition. Sometimes you just don’t mess with tradition.”

  They stepped out of the car and before they walked up to the house he pulled her to him. “I’m sorry about my attitude. I’ve been entrusted with a secret and it’s killing me.”

  Though she wanted to ask she was sure he wouldn’t tell, so she said nothing.

  “And the conversation I have to have with my dad tomorrow is weighing heavily on my mind,” he added.

  “Anything I can help with?”

  “How are you with accounting?”

  She shook her head. “That was never my strongest subject.”

  He brushed a kiss over her lips. “Knowing you’ll be beside me when we figure out what’s going on with PLL, that’s all the help I need.”

  As he took her hand and began to lead her to the house, she felt her chest tighten. When we figure out what’s going on with PLL resonated in her mind. And then Steven’s words, There’s a trail, Julie and it leads to you had her stopping at the base of the steps.

  Spencer turned and looked at her. “Are you okay? You’re shaking.”

  “Am I?”

  “I promise this isn’t going to be bad.”

  “No. I mean…I know.” She tried to catch her breath. “I guess I’m nervous.”

  But there wasn’t another moment to think about it. The door opened and a very pregnant woman looked down at them.

  “Tell me you brought some air with you. It is stuffy in here.”

  Spencer laughed as he moved up the three little steps and kissed the woman on the cheek.

  “Julie, this is my sister Darcy.”

  Julie pushed back any worry and any thought that something bad would happen. She smiled at Darcy and moved in to shake her hand.

  “It’s very nice to meet you,” she said, but Darcy didn’t take her hand. Instead, she pulled her to her and enveloped her in a hug.

  “And it is very nice to meet you. Ed told me you might be coming. I asked a million questions when I’d found out he’d met you. I’m glad you’re here. C’mon, let’s introduce you around.”

  She took Julie’s arm and led her away from Spencer.

  They hadn’t gotten but two feet into the house when people moved toward the door. At that moment, she knew Darcy was right. It was very stuffy in that small house.

  A woman who looked just like Avery walked toward her.

  “So you are my daughter’s new roommate,” she said. Her accent was thick and she knew this was Avery’s mother.

  “Yes. I’m Julie,” she said holding out her hand.

  “It is very nice to meet you. I am Simone and this,” she said pulling a man toward her, “is Avery’s father, Curtis.”

  Julie shook his hand and they moved further into the house. As the crowd moved in she realized, she’d been moved far away from Spencer. She was on her own. Whatever he’d told these people about her it was now up to her to face it.

  She shook hands with Christian, Spencer’s cousin, who then introduced her to his wife Victoria and their children.

  It hadn’t gone unnoticed that every woman who was married to, or was one of Spencer’s cousins was pregnant and due at any time. There must be something in that thick air, she though as she was introduced to Tyler Benson, Spencer’s brother.

  “So…you’re Julie? I’ve heard a lot about you.”

  And for the first time as she shook hands with one of his relatives, she felt as though she were being judged.

  She must not have been the only one who thought so. Spencer’s arm came protectively around her waist. “So you’ve met my brother. Nothing impressive here. It’s his better half that is more impressive.”

  “I won’t argue wi
th that,” Tyler said as he moved toward a woman who had her back toward them. She took his arm and he led her toward them. “Julie, this is my better half, Courtney.”

  Courtney extended her hand toward Julie and only at that moment did she notice that she was blind.

  Julie took her hand. “It’s nice to meet you.”

  “Likewise,” Courtney said pleasantly. “How are you enjoying Nashville?”

  “It’s very lively.”

  Courtney laughed. “It is. I heard you were already down at Tim, Tim, and Tom’s?”

  “Avery took me.”

  “They let me help with planning the layout. Could you hear everything okay?”

  Julie couldn’t help but smile at this woman still holding her hand. “It was perfect.”

  “I like that word,” she said. “C’mon, you have to come into the kitchen and meet grandma, Madeline, Arianna, and I think Spencer’s mother is hiding in there too.”

  Courtney adjusted her grip from Julie’s hand to her elbow and together they began walking toward the kitchen.

  As Julie was escorted away by Courtney, Tyler took hold of Spencer’s arm.

  “That’s her? She’s that lawyer you’ve been complaining about all year?”

  Spencer yanked back his arm. “Would you be quiet?”

  “Everyone knows what you think of her.”

  “It’s not like that.” He raked his fingers through his hair. “She’s not like that.”

  The smile on his brother’s face had him wanting to knock it clear off. They all thought they knew him better than he knew himself. Then again, maybe they were all right.

  “You have a protective stance about you. No one here is going to say anything to her to make her uncomfortable.”

  Spencer nodded. He knew that. “It’s just that…well…”

  “You’re seeing her. As in you’re involved. As in you’re…”

  “Right,” he said stopping him. “She’s not just here to be social.”

  “We knew that the moment you said you hired her.”

  A hand was placed on his shoulder and Spencer turned to see his father standing behind him. “Your mother’s been waiting for today. She was hoping you’d bring her.”

  “Perhaps I should have introduced you all earlier.”

  His father shrugged. “You needed some time. She’s quite a catch,” his father raised his eyebrows and Spencer could feel his cheeks fill with heat. “I can see why you didn’t like her.”

  Would that ever go away? Why had he done that to himself and to her? It was putting him in a very awkward position—that was until he heard her laugh from the kitchen.

  “Well, my guess is Grandma Emily said something non-characteristic of a ninety-something woman.”

  Spencer laughed and followed the commotion into the kitchen where he found his grandmother holding hands with Julie and laughing at the table.

  Julie looked up at Spencer as he walked through the door with a man she knew for sure was his father and his brother. Weren’t they a sight, she thought as she sat among his family feeling as if she’d known them her entire life.

  “I think grandma might have shocked your girlfriend,” Spencer’s mother patted his arm.

  Girlfriend. His mother had let it roll off her tongue as if there hadn’t been a history of ill will. And that was just like her. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and gave her a squeeze.

  “It looks like she’s fitting in just fine,” he said watching his Aunt Arianna engage both his girlfriend and his grandmother in something else that had them laughing. The sound was soothing.

  “I think she’ll do just fine. Why don’t you help me set the table,” she said as a command and not a question.

  He kissed his mother’s cheek. Wouldn’t it figure he’d always get suckered into that job?

  Julie wasn’t sure when Spencer had walked out of the kitchen. She simply hadn’t had time to notice. She was embraced in the noise and the people.

  She could only assume this was what it was like for most families at Thanksgiving, but this was only Sunday dinner.

  Grandma Emily, as she’d told Julie to call her, was at the stove with Avery’s mother. Madeline, whom Julie found equally as entertaining, had taken her seat at the table. She bounced a little girl on her knee who giggled with delight.

  “Who is this?” Julie asked holding onto one of the little girls hands.

  “Little Emily. She’s named after Grandma Emily. She’s Ed and Darcy’s daughter,” Madeline beamed with pride.

  Quickly in her head, Julie did the trail down Spencer’s family tree. So little Emily would be Spencer’s niece, his mother’s granddaughter, and his aunt’s granddaughter. The thought alone brought a smile to her face that she could feel in her heart.

  “Madeline, will you help me a sec?” The man who had been introduced to Julie as Carlos waved to Madeline by the backdoor.

  Madeline gave him a nod. “Here, would you mind holding her for a few minutes?” she asked, but proceeded to hand Julie the little girl. As she did, Madeline leaned in closer. “He thinks he’s being sneaky. He’s going to ask for help with the cooler, but he’s going to drag me out to the garage to make out.”

  The humored gasp from Julie had her slapping a hand over her mouth.

  Madeline laughed. “Men are always the same. Only their hair gets thinner and grayer.” She winked at Julie and kissed little Emily on the top of the head as she scooted away from the table and toward her husband who Julie witnessed give her a slap to the rear.

  How silly was it that it made her want to laugh and cry all at the same time.

  Little Emily laid her head on Julie’s shoulder and for the first time ever she thought her heart might actually melt. She batted away tears that stung her eyes. It was foolish to be so overwhelmed with such emotion. These were just people having dinner.

  Julie looked up toward the doorway as if she could feel Spencer’s eyes on her. There was a look that came from him and now those tears were going to spill.

  He was in love with her.

  He didn’t have to say the words and she’d never seen anyone look at her like that before, but she recognized it.

  His father had looked at his mother like that. His uncle looked at his aunt the same. Even Grandma Emily had looked like that when she talked about Grandpa Alan, who was in the other room.

  The pace of her heart ramped up as the little girl on her shoulder began to breath heavier and she’d realized she’d fallen asleep in her arms among the noise of family.

  Family.

  Julie batted the tears away and wiped the one that had fallen as Spencer moved to her.

  “Do you want me to go lay her down?”

  Julie stiffly shook her head. “No. I really want to keep her right here if it’s okay.”

  He took the seat his aunt had vacated and put an arm around her. He kissed the top of Emily’s head so gently that it made Julie’s rapidly beating heart stop for a moment.

  When those dark eyes shifted to her the words she was feeling simply fell from her lips. “I love you, Spencer.”

  She’d expected him to blink hard or pull away. Instead, he leaned over Emily and pressed a kiss to her lips.

  “C’mon, c’mon,” Courtney said standing next to the table. “Dinner’s ready. No making out at the table.”

  Spencer laughed. “I’m telling you, she says she’s blind, but the woman sees everything.”

  Courtney laughed. “It’s soul vision, Spence. Don’t think I can’t see into it.”

  Spencer laughed again as Courtney walked away and he helped Julie up as she held on to Emily.

  Darcy waddled into the kitchen, both hands on her stomach, and looked toward Julie. “Oh, I can put her down. She gets so much grandma love on Sundays it puts her to sleep.”

  She reached out her hands toward Julie, but Julie held the baby against her. “Would it be okay if I held her through dinner? I’ve never held a sleeping baby and it seems to be doing a lot for my
soul right now.”

  Spencer rubbed her back and Darcy simply smiled. “It’s like medicine isn’t it?”

  Julie nodded. “I don’t have brothers or sisters or cousins. This is so overwhelming and comforting all at the same time.”

  “I remember the feeling,” Darcy said as she escorted them to the dining room, which had a table that extended into the living room to seat them all.

  Dinner took hours. Laughter and abundant love encircled the Kellers and the Bensons—and Julie.

  They talked to her as if she mattered.

  They included her as if she belonged.

  They loved her and that resonated through her.

  Perhaps Spencer hadn’t hated her as she thought he had.

  When he slipped his hand under the table and folded his fingers around hers, she knew that what she’d told him in the kitchen was absolute truth. She loved this man with all her heart. She loved his family. What she wouldn’t give to be a part of all of it forever.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Sitting behind his desk on Monday morning, Spencer felt a sense of renewed spirit. Julie hadn’t stopped talking about his family all night. She’d held Emily through dinner and fed her when she’d awakened. Clara had let her feel her baby kick and promised to let her hold him the moment he was born.

  His mother sat and talked to her for nearly an hour in the corner of the living room. She didn’t say what they’d talked about, but what he saw between them only made him surer that the path they were headed down was the right one.

  They still had a lot of obstacles in their way.

  After dinner, they’d gone over the papers Steven had brought her and she’d need to go back to Oregon and move her belongings to Nashville, if that’s what she wanted to do. There was also the time it was going to take to get the house sold.

  A little bit of him worried that when she got back home, unattached from Steven, she’d want to stay. But he’d deal with that if the time arose.

  Now, as the timer on his cell phone rang, he was headed to his father’s office with the accounting report. They still needed to find the leak in PLL before it got any bigger.