A Family Reunited

by Dorie Graham

  “Then let me touch you,” she said and tugged his shirt off over his head.

  This time he rolled to his back and carried her with him so she was spread on top of him. She kissed him long and deep, his mouth warm and soft, his tongue sending pleasure rippling through her. Why had she resisted this?

  She drew back, straddling him, rising up far enough to pull off her own T-shirt. His eyes widened in appreciation as he ran his hand along her abdomen. “Sweetheart,” he said, “you are so beautiful.”

  He rose to meet her, locking his arms around her and kissing her again, the heat of his bare torso pressing against hers. His hands skimmed her ribs, then over the lace of her bra, but he made no move to take it off her.

  Heat spread through her and she rocked against him, gasping as she seated herself more securely over the hard ridge in his jeans. He groaned into her mouth and grabbed her hips, first urging her to grind against him and then suddenly stopping.

  “Yes,” she said against his mouth as she shifted to undo her jeans. “These have got to go.”

  “Wait.” A pained expression marked his face. “We can’t.”

  She pulled back to better see him. “What?”

  “I want you so much, Alex, but I wasn’t expecting this.”

  “Neither was I,” she said as she slipped off her jeans. “But it’s a pleasant surprise.” She slid her fingers into his waistband to unbutton his jeans. “For both of us.”

  A groan worked its way from his throat. “Woman, I don’t have a condom.”

  “Oh.” She rolled off him. How had she not thought of that? She bit her lip and calculated the days in her head. Would it be worth the risk? “Shit. You’re probably right.”

  His eyes rounded and he swung his legs over the side of the bed as he opened the nightstand drawer. “Wait, maybe Aunt Rena keeps a stash.”

  “For guests?”

  “Bingo.” Smiling, he held up a small packet.

  “Yes.” Relief flooded her. She needed this distraction, but mostly, she just needed Chase.

  Within moments they had stripped off their remaining clothes. He kissed her again and this time there was nothing between them to keep them from being as close as she craved. She sighed and lost herself in the wonder that was Chase.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  THE SUN SLANTED lower in the sky as Chase dressed. They had both spent themselves and then fallen asleep together. Alex shifted in the bed and for the second time that day he indulged in watching her sleep.

  They’d had many stolen times together when they were younger, but they’d had only a few nights where they’d slept until morning in the same bed. More often than not, Chase would slip out of her bedroom window before anyone else in the house woke up. What would it be like to sleep with her every night and wake with her in his bed?

  Her eyes opened and a slow smile curved her lips. He leaned down and kissed her. She wrapped her arms around his neck and attempted to pull him back into the bed with her.

  “I wish we could,” he said, “but we have to get moving.”

  A shadow flickered in her eyes and she nodded. “Maybe Robert will get some good news from his oncologist.”

  He handed her her clothes and she dressed quietly. His aunt’s news was apparently still sinking in, but at least Alex looked more rested. And he couldn’t deny the small amount of satisfaction he felt knowing that his plan to woo her during their day together had been a success.

  They followed the sounds of clanking pots and the scent of roasting herbs to the kitchen, where Aunt Rena was obviously in her element. Aunt Rena had her salt-and-pepper hair pulled up in a ponytail and she wore a “Kiss the Cook” apron. She wiped her hands on a dish towel as they entered.

  “There you are and looking so much more rested.” She hugged Alex. “Look at the bloom in your cheeks, sweetie. Much better.”

  The pink in Alex’s cheeks deepened. She glanced at Chase. “Yes, I feel much better, thanks.”

  “Is anyone hungry? I don’t feel like I’ve done my job as hostess if I haven’t properly fed my guests,” his aunt said.

  “We definitely want to be good guests,” Chase said. He glanced at Alex and winked. “And I, for one, have worked up quite an appetite.”

  His aunt gestured to the breakfast bar, where she’d set out an assortment of dishes: a spinach salad, roasted chicken, rice pilaf, a vegetable medley and a basket of rolls. “Here, sweeties, grab a plate and help yourselves. We can eat in here or out on the porch.”

  “Oh, the porch, please,” Alex said. “It’s so beautiful out there.”

  A smile shone in Aunt Rena’s eyes. “It’s what sold me on this place. Believe it or not, I used to be a city girl, but when my Buck brought me out here and told me he’d built this house with the hopes of filling it with a family, well, I don’t know if I fell more in love with this home or with the man.”

  They filled their plates and she led them out onto a different area of the wraparound porch, one that overlooked the hillside of wildflowers. “There’s a nice breeze here, but I can turn on the ceiling fan, if you’d like.”

  “This is great.” Chase pulled out a chair for first his aunt and then for Alex.

  “You know, sweetie, I was thinking.” His aunt touched Alex’s hand. “I’m guessing you’ve had your earful already today and I don’t want to stir up anything that might cause you more distress, but our time together is so limited and you must have more questions about Charles.”

  Alex’s fork stilled. Chase reached for her hand. She laced her fingers with his and held tight as she said, “I do, actually, Aunt Rena. I’m not completely sure I want to ask, but exactly how long did the affair last?”

  “I’ve been thinking about that and I’m sorry to say I can’t narrow it down to precise dates, but you should know it was a long-lasting affair. It started shortly after your parents married and continued for a number of years. Your mama was fairly discreet about it and I suspect she saw Charles more often than even I realized and perhaps for longer than I knew.

  “As I said, it was a touchy subject between us. I loved your mother, but I hated watching her take such a risk with what she had with your father, and he was so good to her. I hated how he turned his head and looked the other way. Sometimes I just wanted to shake the man and make him put his foot down.”

  “So...” Alex’s shoulders heaved. “You’re saying, given the timing and my unique resemblance to Robert, that this Charles McMann could also be my father?”

  “I’m afraid so, sweetie, but the only way to know for sure would be for Jacob to take a paternity test.”

  Alex nodded slowly. “I don’t really see the point of that. Charles is dead and I’m not sure how I’d feel about him if he weren’t. I hadn’t really thought about him in those terms. My interest in him was purely to see if he could be a donor for the transplant.”

  “Of course. I just know if I were you that would be a question rattling around in my head.”

  “It has been,” Alex said.

  “Would you like to see a picture of him?”

  Alex straightened and looked at Chase. “I don’t know.”

  Chase nodded, his heart heavy. Alex had gone through so much lately. He hated that she had to deal with all of this on top of it. “I think you should. You might regret it if you don’t and maybe once you see him, you can lay this whole mess to rest.”

  She inhaled slowly, and then nodded. “Okay.”

  Aunt Rena excused herself to get the picture. While she was gone, Chase scooped his arm around Alex and pulled her close. “I know you aren’t getting answers you want to hear today, but none of this changes who you are, or who your brother and father are.”

  “It changes who my mother was and, in all fairness, it does change who I thought my father was.” She shook her head. “I don’t understand the kind of love my parents had that they could do that to each other.”

  “Love is so complicated,” Aunt Rena said as she returned with an old photo albu
m. “Who among us can ever truly explain the ins and outs of our relationships to each other, let alone to anyone outside that relationship? We can all look in and judge, but I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt that your parents loved each other with a passion few of us are lucky enough to ever know. That they both eventually hurt each other is only something they can understand. We’re all only human.”

  She retook her seat and opened the album, turning the pages with a nostalgic smile. “My, we were young. Here we go,” she said and handed the album to Alex, indicating a particular picture. “This one. I thought I remembered this one shot of him. Ruth wouldn’t ever allow me to take pictures of them together, but I managed to sneak this one. I didn’t show it to her until years later and then she burst into tears when she saw it. I never knew if they were tears of longing or regret. Maybe it was a little of both.”

  Chase kept his arm around Alex as she ran her hand over the photograph. It depicted a much younger version of her mother sitting on a sofa in what appeared to be a nightclub. She held a half-full martini glass, and a dark-haired man sat beside her, his hand on her knee. While he smiled at the camera, her focus was entirely on him, and the look in her eyes was one of adoration.

  Alex shook her head as she passed the album back across the table. “I hardly recognize her, in those clothes, in that setting...with that man. I have no idea who that woman is and it makes me so sad to see how she appears completely devoted to him.”

  “That feeling went both ways.” Aunt Rena closed the album and set it in the chair beside her. “He lived for those stolen moments with your mother. He was a beautiful, single, stable man. He could have found someone available and started a family of his own. But he remained true to your mother. It’s tragic, really.”

  “Did he know about Robert?” Alex asked.

  Aunt Rena shook her head. “Oh, no, Ruth was adamant about him not knowing. I’m sure he suspected, but she told him your brother wasn’t his child. He was heartbroken about it.” She again shook her head. “Who knows how he rationalized it?”

  “Thank you, Rena, for sharing all this with me,” Alex said.

  Chase again nodded. “You’ve been so hospitable with us dropping by without any notice.”

  “And we haven’t had a chance to catch up,” his aunt said to him. She frowned. “I hope that father of yours has sobered up and gotten his act together.”

  “He’s still working on it.”

  “You deserved better and you definitely deserved better than that no-good sister of mine, cutting out on you—on all of us—the way she did. Have you heard from her?” A hopeful look shone in her eyes.

  He shook his head, numb to even disappointment at this point. He’d written his mother off so long ago the memory of her was as if it were from a previous life. “Not a word.”

  “Ever?”

  “No, and I’m fine with that.”

  This time it was Alex who slipped her hand in his. He was happy to have the connection with her, though she should know his mother’s abandonment didn’t keep him up at night. “I really am perfectly okay with that. We’ve done just as well on our own.”

  “I get the occasional postcard,” his aunt said, “and I mean once-in-a-decade occasional, but as far as I can tell she still hasn’t settled anywhere permanently. And for you, as I recall, your real home was always with Alex’s family anyway.”

  “It was and I’m working on making it that way again.” He checked his watch. “This has been really wonderful, but we need to get on the road again.”

  Alex rose with him. “I’m ready.”

  * * *

  THE ROAR OF THE CAR’S ENGINE and Chase’s calm presence soothed Alex as they headed back toward civilization. She fiddled with the radio, but nothing came in clearly. A comfortable silence fell over them and Chase reached over to take her hand.

  “I’m glad we came, even if we didn’t find Robert a donor,” he said.

  “Me, too. It was very nice seeing your aunt. She’s a special lady.”

  “Kara will want to come see her. She’s stockpiling family members every chance she gets. The fact that there is no blood between her and them doesn’t faze her. Maybe the silver lining is making that connection again.”

  “Definitely.” She patted his hand, her heart filling at the thought of what life for him as a child had been. “I’m sorry about your mom. I don’t know if I ever told you that.”

  “Honestly, sweetheart, that’s history.” He chuckled. “My dad, now, that’s another story. I’m definitely scarred for life there.”

  “Then I’m sorry about your dad,” she said.

  He glanced at her, then back at the road. The muscle in his jaw twitched. “Makes us stronger, right?”

  “Right, and obviously you’re superstrong. Is that why I’m such a wuss? Not enough trauma in my early childhood?”

  “First of all, you’re not a wuss, and second of all, I hate to break it to you, but your family is full of trauma and drama and whatever else you want to throw in. You just weren’t aware of it in early childhood, but you, my love, are part of the norm. Dysfunctional, like all the rest of us.”

  “Thanks,” she said, smiling. “I’m glad we came, too.”

  “Hey,” he said and he paused until she looked at him. “This is a new beginning for us. I’m not letting you go again. Let’s get that straight right now. You get that things might not have all been your dad’s fault back then and that I never chose sides, because I was neutral, because I didn’t want to see the only real family I’d ever known fall to pieces and not because I sided with Robert or your dad, or wasn’t supportive of you.”

  A sliver of unease rippled through her. “My dad was still wrong, though, Chase. Just because my mother was also wrong by cheating on him years ago, that doesn’t really negate his actions.”

  “But he turned the other cheek for her. You said that made you see him in a different light.”

  “It does, but it isn’t a ‘get out of jail free’ card.”

  The chirping of her cell phone announced the arrival of several texts and missed calls. Chase’s phone also started pinging. She pulled out her phone and checked the display. “We must have hit cell range.”

  “At least text range,” Chase said as he checked his phone. “I have a missed call from your dad, but I’m trying to call him back and it isn’t going through.”

  “Oh, dear, he called you, too? I have missed calls from him and my sister Becky, and they both texted me. This can’t be good.”

  Dr. Braden called with bad scan results. Cancer has spread. Robert is upset.

  “That one is from my dad. I can’t believe the cancer spread. For Dr. Braden to have called on a Saturday must mean it’s spread to the next level,” Alex said. “Shit. Here’s Becky’s text.”

  At Dad’s w Robert nd Dad. Roberts freakn out. He’s trashing his room. Could use a hand.

  She tried to call her father, but the connection failed. “Damn it. Let me see if I can get voice mail.”

  But that didn’t work either. Frustration and guilt welled up in her. She’d been busy making love with Chase and her brother’s life had come apart. Another ding sounded on her phone.

  “It’s another text from Becky,” she said.

  He’s running fever and can’t swallow. Maybe pneumonia. We r taking him to hospital. Where r u??

  “Oh, my God, I can’t believe this is happening.” She pressed Reply and then started to text. “What do I say? We’re not even near the airport. They think we’re hiking in north Georgia.”

  “Maybe we can get an earlier flight,” Chase said as he swiped his screen.

  “I’ll look,” she said. “You focus on the road. We’re hours away. We probably couldn’t make an earlier flight even if there was one.” She inhaled a deep breath and then entered her reply.

  On r way. Have been out of range. B there asap. Will call when we r closer.

  She closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the headrest. Rob
ert’s biological father was dead, no other donor was in sight, her brother was headed to the hospital and she was MIA.

  “He’s going to be all right, isn’t he?” she asked, still with her eyes closed.

  Chase squeezed her hand. “I don’t know. All we can do is be there for him.”

  “Which we’re not.” She nearly laughed at the irony of it. They’d come on this trip to help Robert and now they were letting him down. They were letting her whole family down. “I hate this.”

  “Me, too.”

  Several times during the long drive, Alex tried unsuccessfully to call her father. She finally got through when they were about half an hour from the airport.

  “It’s going into voice mail,” she said. “Hi, Dad, I’m so sorry we aren’t there. We’ve been out of cell phone range all day and didn’t get your messages until we were heading back. We’re on our way and will be there as soon as we can possibly get there. I’ll call when we get closer.”

  She turned to Chase. “It’s still conceivable we’ve been hiking all this time, right? I mean, there’s no reason to upset Robert by letting him know that we went looking for his biological father when he expressly asked us not to.”

  “It’s reasonable,” Chase said. “There’s no need for him to know, especially since it turned out to be a bust. He’s got enough on his mind.”

  “What will they do now that the cancer has spread? How are they going to stop it without the transplant?”

  “Sweetheart, I’m sure his oncologist has a plan. He probably deals with these situations all the time. We’ll find out more when we get there.”

  “I can’t believe they had to take him to the hospital. He’s so stubborn. I knew he was running a fever the other night. If he’d just let me take his temperature then we might have nipped this in the bud. He’s so frustrating.”

  Twenty minutes later they dropped off the SUV and rushed into the airport. They’d just made it to their gate when Alex’s cell phone rang. She pulled it from her bag. “It’s Becky.”