Stepbrother for Christmas

by Amy Brent

  “Dad.”

  I looked up from my computer propped open on my lap to see Lily standing at the base of the stairs. Her tangled brown hair was pulled up into a messy bun as she gazed down at me with a sleepy frown.

  “Can you make sure to turn that fire down?” she asked. “It’s nearly eighty degrees in the house. I don’t know why you keep making these fires.”

  “It’s eighty degrees?” I repeated skeptically. I set my computer down on the couch before padding over to the thermostat that controlled the entire house. Eighty fucking degrees in here, and yet, I’m freezing my ass off.

  “I told you,” Lily said, rolling her eyes. “Just turn it down, Dad. That’s all I’m saying.”

  I rubbed at the sweat on the back of my neck. This cold was coming from inside of me, not from the outside like I originally believed, with the early spring chill.

  “I’m sorry,” I said. “I’ll make sure to kill the fire tonight. I didn’t realize it was that warm in here.”

  “Are you feeling sick?” Lily asked. “If you’re feeling sick, then maybe you should go to the doctor.”

  “I’ll be fine, Lily. Get to bed. You have school in the morning.”

  I waited until I heard Lily’s bedroom door close before pulling up Google. I typed in Amber’s name into the search engine. There was nothing that screamed problems. I scrolled through the various headlines with a frown to settle on one in particular.

  Congressman Beau Roselynn’s daughter skips another press event.

  Avoiding the press wasn’t anything new. Amber had done it for months after news of her divorce was leaked, but I couldn’t shake it. Her disappearance from everything meant that something had happened. I closed my computer with an exhausted sigh. I knew Beau, too. If Amber had come clean to him about the nature of our relationship, there would’ve been a confrontation by now. Not silence. Politicians never stayed silent unless they were hiding a secret, and Amber was her father’s daughter.

  I called Beau’s cellphone, even though it was close to midnight in D.C. I knew my friend never went to sleep before midnight. Neither one of us got much sleep these days, even though our kids were older. Much to my relief, Beau answered in a concerned voice.

  “It’s late, Gage,” he said. “Everything okay over there?”

  “Everything’s fine,” I replied, picking up the ring that I still had for Amber. “I just wanted to make sure that everything is okay with you on your end.”

  “Why wouldn’t it be?”

  “I’ve been reading some of the headlines, Beau. I just wanted to make sure that Amber is okay.”

  A strained silence followed. I waited for some sort of reaction to come from Beau on the other end.

  “I am in touch with Amber,” Beau said evenly. “Her and Ethan are together somewhere safe. That’s all I can say at the moment.”

  “Safe?” Those words struck cold hard fear into my heart. “Does it have something to do with Scott?”

  Beau sighed into the phone. “I can’t say much, Gage. I promised to honor Amber’s request when she asked me to keep things a secret.”

  “I’m just concerned is all,” I blurted out. I wanted to spill out everything, but I refrained from doing that. This self-imposed disappearance had something to do with Scott. Not me. Even if it felt like Amber was also running away from her feelings for me. “You know, Lily adores Amber. Our kids get along great. I just wanted to make sure that she is okay.”

  “I’ll make sure to pass that message along to her,” Beau said. “I just think that she needs the time to grieve over her divorce. The lawyers are negotiating out a new deal. It’s very hard on Amber.”

  I frowned at that. “I thought that was why she came out here with me in the first place.”

  “It was the reason why.” Voices interrupted Beau in the background. He replied to them curtly before speaking again. “I have to go, Gage. Draft up some new cyber security program. That was a big hit here in D.C. A bigger payday for you if you can do that.”

  “Sure,” I gritted out, fighting off my frustration. “I’ll get my notes to you to present to everybody.”

  “Good deal. Thank you, my friend.”

  I set my phone down on the kitchen island with an uneasy stomach. Amber’s behavior had to do with Scott, but it had everything to do with me, too. I could feel it deep in my gut as I set the ring back down. Amber was running from her past, but also from her future. Her future with me, if she even wanted it still.

  Spring turned into a breezy and cool summer. It was October before I even knew where the time had gone to. I spent it trying to keep myself occupied with Lily’s activities, with her friends and various camps around Bozeman. I spent it developing new software that secured another contract with the government. I also spent it anxiously trying to understand where the hell Amber’s head and heart were at.

  Beau assured me constantly that she was safe and sound. It was just troubles with her ex-husband. I didn’t doubt it, judging from the rumor mill going about that Scott’s father had something that could destroy Beau’s reputation, but I couldn’t stand it any longer. This was the woman who I had fallen in love with. She had returned to my feelings, and even though I knew that I should just let her go, I couldn’t just let go. Something about the distance wasn’t right.

  I contacted a private investigator named Marcus Montes in Wyoming to look for Amber, who assured me that he could find anyone, no matter the amount of money and security they had around them. My doubts were erased when Marcus arrived at my house late at night on a chilly fall night with photographs and a notepad filled with notes.

  “Build a fire,” I told Marcus, nodding to the fire pit in the yard. “I don’t want my daughter to see you here with photographs.”

  Marcus shrugged his shoulders. “Whatever you say.”

  I double checked to make sure that Lily was sound asleep in her room. After an entire day swimming with a group of friends at the indoor swimming pool, she didn’t even stir inside her bed when I opened the door. This was another reason why I wanted to find out what was going on with Amber. The two of them had grown close to one another. I knew that Amber wouldn’t have just walked away from Lily without a reason.

  A fire was blazing in the fire pit when I stepped out into the chilly night. I grabbed two chairs to place them in front of the fire to keep us warm while Marcus talked.

  “What did you find?” I asked anxiously. “I know you wouldn’t be here if you didn’t find anything.”

  “You’re right. I wouldn’t be.” Marcus laughed shortly. He handed the photographs over to me. “You were also right when you said that you suspected that there was a security team watching over Amber. There’s a few security team members from her father’s political camp that are keeping watch over her. I only managed to get a few shots from the living room window.”

  I stared down at the partial portfolio of Amber through the living room window. The house, I found through the other photographs, was in a small neighborhood known for the wealthy. In Bozeman. I swallowed thickly. Amber had been only thirty minutes away from me the entire time.

  “There’s also another PI on the search for her,” Marcus continued on. “I know that he is working for her ex-husband, so from what I gathered, she is in hiding from this PI and her ex-husband. She has been living under a different name as well.”

  I flipped through a couple of other photographs of Amber in the living room window. There weren’t any other photographs, which told me that Amber and Ethan rarely surfaced from the house. I handed the photographs back to Marcus.

  “So, you think she’s in hiding because of her ex-husband?” I asked.

  “That’s the general opinion,” Marcus replied, and he tore a piece of paper from his notepad. “Here is the address she is staying at. I wrote down the various times that the security team appeared and when they changed shifts. It might be better for you to confront her at night. There aren’t any street lights along this street.”


  “Thank you,” I said, shaking Marcus’s hand with a sigh. “I will be in contact with the last part of your check. Sound good?”

  “Sounds good.”

  I remained seated in my chair until the fire in the pit dulled out. Cold air seeped in through my heavy jacket. An entire summer had gone by without any word from Amber. It was possible that she wasn’t interested in a relationship anymore. Part of me argued it was foolish to chase after her when she had obviously taken great measures to disappear from everyone.

  It wasn’t until I dropped Lily off at Raychelle’s house that I decided it was time. It was time to find Amber, to confront her, and to get answers. I kissed Lily goodbye on the front porch, decorated with various pumpkins, before she darted inside to check out the Halloween cookies Raychelle had baked.

  “What has been going on with you lately?” Raychelle asked, folding her arms with a frown. “Lily told me that there has been something going on with you for the past few months.”

  “Like what?” I asked.

  “It involves Beau’s daughter, Amber. That’s all I know.” She peered at me intently. “Tell me everything. Don’t even bother lying because I can see it in your eyes. Something happened between the two of you.”

  So, I told her. It felt good to say it for the first time since February. Every little detail. Every little secret and exchange. I half-expected Raychelle to turn away in disgust, but her expression didn’t change once.

  “If you love her,” she said. “Then, you need to go find her. You deserve some answers.”

  “That’s what I plan to do,” I replied slowly, with surprise. “I didn’t think you’d be accepting of any of it.”

  Raychelle shrugged her shoulders. “I may be older, but I’m not a square. Amber is a grown woman. I don’t see a problem with it.”

  “Her family is in politics,” I said grimly. “Beau has no idea. I haven’t spoken to him about it, and I know that Amber hasn’t, either.”

  “Maybe it’s time for you to have that conversation.”

  “Maybe. We will see after this trip.”

  I hugged Raychelle goodbye with lighter shoulders. It felt good to hear someone accepting what happened between Amber and me, not the other way around. I drove to the address that Marcus had written down to find exactly what he said I would find.

  There were two SUV’s parked outside on the street, Beau’s personal security team. I parked around the corner to wait for darkness to fall. I watched the two SUV’s drive away to swap out shifts. Their replacements would be here any minute. I didn’t have much time. It was now or never.

  I hurried forward to the front porch step. The living room light was on in the house, so Amber was probably still awake. I took in the small pot of golden flowers as I knocked on the door. I didn’t want to risk waking Ethan up since I knew that he was most likely in bed by now.

  Hushed silence followed.

  I knocked again. Insistently. This time I heard a slow shuffle of footsteps approach the door. I looked up to the small peephole to find Amber’s eye peering back at me. My heart pounded furiously in my chest. Months of pent up emotions threatened to spill out, right there on the front porch step.

  “Open up, Amber,” I said. “I think you and I need to talk.”

  “Gage. What are you doing here? How did you find me?”

  “Your father didn’t tell me, if that’s what you’re wondering,” I said.

  “Then, how did you find me?”

  “You aren’t the only with resources,” I said and peered into the small peephole. “Open up. You owe me that much.”

  A small part of me expected her to tell me to go away. She had put all this effort into hiding away from everyone, but I was surprised when the door opened. I was even more surprised to find Amber standing there with a large, pregnant belly.

  Chapter 24

  Amber

  The first knock on the door poured an icy bucket of fear over me. There were only a total of three people who knew the truth and knew my location. I set my book down on the coffee table with an uneasy stomach. I waited to see if the person on the other side knocked again. It was probably a salesperson. They seemed to come through this quiet and upper suburban neighborhood all the time.

  It was private. It was far away from the city bustle of Bozeman. More importantly, it was far away from Scott who had returned to Colorado Springs to wait me out patiently. He didn’t know where I was, but he still had those photos. It was only a matter of time in his eyes for me to make up my mind, but hiding out seemed to the best at the moment. Even if it killed me not being able to pick up the phone to call Gage, to let him know that I missed him more than anything.

  The person knocked again. Insistently. Louder than the first time.

  I grabbed my cellphone from where it was charging on the breakfast bar. Just in case. I knew my time was limited with hiding. Scott had PI’s that were good at finding people. He had done it when I had stayed with Gage at the beginning of the year. After a few months out of the spotlight, not returning anyone’s phone calls, I knew that Scott was seething mad.

  I waddled across the living room with one hand curled around my seven-month belly in a protective gesture. A little girl. I wanted to tell Gage, but after a few months of silence, I was sure he had moved on in frustration. I never gave either one of us the opportunity to talk about the situation. I didn’t want to. I didn’t want to be the one who shamed my father with scandal because of my own lust and need for Gage.

  Resting a hand against the door, I peered through the tiny peephole to find an undeniable pair of icy blue eyes peering right back at me. My heart skipped as Gage tilted his head back to stare right back at me through the door. He looked worn out, from the shadows beneath his eyes, to the rough beard covering his face. His lips stretched into a thin line.

  “Open up, Amber,” he said. “I think you and I need to talk.”

  “Gage,” I started, shaking my head. I had no idea how he found me. My father had sworn to keep my location secret until I figured out a plan on what to do. It’d been a few months, but here, Gage was standing outside my front door. “What are you doing here? How did you find me?”

  “Your father didn’t tell me, if that’s what you’re wondering,” he said.

  “Then, how did you find me, if he didn’t tell you?”

  “You aren’t the only with resources,” he said, peering into the peephole to catch my eye. “Open up. You owe me that much.”

  I took a deep breath to contain my emotions. I did owe him that much. I owed him more than a disappearance. More than anything, I wanted to throw myself into his arms. Even if he was visibly pissed. A small part of me was flattered that he hadn’t let us go, not without wanting to see me one last time at least.

  I slid the lock back to open the door. Gage’s eyes skimmed over my face before settling down on my pregnant belly that was visible through the sleeping shirt I was wearing. His eyes widened in disbelief before looking up at me again.

  “You’re pregnant?”

  “Yes,” I said. I reached out to grab Gage’s arms and pull him inside. “Please, come inside. I don’t want—”

  Gage yanked his arms back from my hands. The gesture stung deeper than I expected it to. I deserved his anger, though. I peered out the front door nervously in search of the SUV’s that were supposed to be parked there. The neighbors were undoubtedly listening in on our conversation, too. I never had visitors.

  “What is going on?” Gage demanded. His eyes were fixated on my belly. “Is this why you left without a word? I’ve seen the headlines, Amber. Is it true?”

  “What headline are you talking about?” I asked nervously. “There are so many of them, Gage. Ninety-nine percent of the time, they aren’t true. You should know that by now.”

  He shook his head at me in disbelief. “What am I supposed to believe, Amber? You disappeared without saying a word to me.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  It was the only thing that I c
ould think to say, but it wasn’t enough. I knew that it wouldn’t be, judging from the way Gage’s eyes floated down to my pregnant belly again. I glanced over Gage’s shoulder by standing on my tip toes, scanning the surrounding street and bushes for any signs of Scott or his PI.

  “Please, Gage,” I said. “Come inside. I’ll explain everything if you just come inside to talk to me about it. I don’t want this leaked to the press.”

  A tense moment passed before Gage stepped inside, much to my relief. I shut the front door quickly to lock it as well. Gage glanced around the living room, taking in the autumn decorations Ethan and I had placed throughout the house the previous weekend. He looked over at Ethan’s Spiderman Halloween costume, hanging on the back of a chair before turning to look down at my belly again. A vein flickered in Gage’s temple. I placed a hand over the swell of my stomach, in a protective gesture.

  “How far along are you?” Gage asked.

  “Seven months,” I replied, gesturing to the couch. “You can sit down if you want. It might be better if you do, so we can talk.”

  Gage didn’t budge from where he stood rigidly next to the coffee table. His jaw clenched as he tore his eyes from my belly again to look me straight in the eye.

  “Seven months?”

  I nodded timidly. “Yes, Gage. Seven months along. It’s a girl, too.”