I pulled at my hair, which was now in disarray. My cheeks were hot with sweat. “I’m such a mess.”
“A beautiful mess.”
I gave a slight smile. “Ryan, I—”
“You saved him. Believe that. This wasn’t your fault.”
I nodded. “And Dale is talking.”
“Yes. Dale is talking. Donny’s action snapped him out of his stupor. So they’re going to be okay.” Then he let out a sarcastic laugh. “Well, at least they’re not in any imminent danger. It’ll be a long time before they’re really okay. But they have each other, and when we find their mother, they’ll have her too.”
I went into his arms for a hug.
We held each other for a long, long time.
* * *
We took a shower before heading back to the main house. Ryan walked straight to the office while I checked on the boys. They had both been exhausted and had gone down for a nap, with Marabel holding vigil over them.
For a moment, I panicked. I’d forgotten about Juliet! But I found her on the deck, sipping water and eating a plate of fruit while the pups and their mother, Jewel, frolicked around her. She was doing better. I smiled.
A doctor—I assumed he was a doctor—arrived a few minutes later to examine the boys. When he returned in half an hour and pronounced that Donny was fine, I was relieved, but I knew it would be a while before Donny was truly fine. I asked him to examine Juliet out on the deck. I went along and was relieved again to hear him say she should make a full recovery. He hadn’t, at my request, done a pelvic exam. I wasn’t sure she was ready for that. I could only hope that she hadn’t been damaged and could still bear children if she wanted to in the future.
Daphne Steel was nowhere to be found. Since she thought of those little boys as her sons, she would no doubt be distraught if she knew what had happened. Likely, Brad had kept her safe in her suite with her nurse to avoid any disruption to her routine.
If Melanie were here, she could examine and diagnose Daphne and tell us what was going on. But she couldn’t be here. She was pregnant, and she needed to stay safe. So far, her pregnancy was progressing well with no complications. She’d confided in me that her age worried her. Melanie was forty, but she had the best care available. I had no doubt that she would carry a healthy baby to term.
I jerked backward when lips caressed my neck.
Ryan had come up behind me as I gazed out the window at Juliet and the dogs.
I turned toward him. “I thought you were in the office getting the scoop from your father.”
“That was the plan, but Daphne needed him for something. My guess is she’s wondering where the boys are.”
“I was just thinking about that,” I said. “Has there been any luck in locating their mother?”
“Not yet. Now that we know their last name, my father has been looking, but it could take a while.”
“Where is everyone else?”
“Talon went to check in with the boys and Marabel, and Joe and Marj are in the office. Marj is having a hard time with all of this. Wait until she finds out Talon was taken for revenge on our father for getting our mother pregnant with her.” He shook his head, sighing. “I didn’t want her involved in this. None of us did.”
“You can’t keep the truth from her, Ryan, no matter how much you want to protect her.”
“I know. It’s been doubly hard on Joe. He feels like he has to protect all of us, and this is killing him. I’m glad Marj is with him. If she weren’t, he’d no doubt go ballistic and do some serious damage to our father.”
“Maybe that’s what your father needs.” I regretted the words as soon as I said them. “I’m sorry. My father deserves way more damage than yours.”
“I’ll agree that he deserves a lot of shit, but at this point, my father deserves just as much. Part of me wants to see my big brother pummel him. He’s quick to act without thinking, and his temper gets the best of him sometimes.”
“He won’t, though. He has a pregnant wife at home who needs him.”
“True,” Ryan said. “She’s the best thing that’s ever happened to him. She’s really grounded him.”
“I’m happy for him. And for her. She’s an amazing person. She’s helped me a lot.”
“I’m glad for that.” He pressed his lips to mine in a soft kiss.
His phone buzzed against my side. He pulled it out of his pocket.
“Time to congregate in Dad’s office again.” He sighed. “Maybe I’ll get some real information now.”
I squeezed his hand as he turned to leave.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Ryan
Joe and Marj were already sitting in the office, as I’d known they would be. Marj’s eyes were still red-rimmed and puffy.
“I’m all right,” she said before I asked. “I had pulled myself together, but then the little boy…” She shook her head. “I can’t say it. I’ll start up again.”
“You cry as much as you need to, baby sister,” Joe said. “This has all been a big shock to you.”
“I can’t tell you how it felt to look at my mother for the first time. She’s beautiful, but she’s a shell of a woman. What happened to make her like that?”
“He’ll explain it all,” Joe said. “He’d better, if he knows what’s good for him. Where the hell is Talon?”
I strode to the bar on the side wall of the office and helped myself to a bourbon. Yeah, a bourbon. Wine wasn’t going to cut it. “He’s probably with the boys. He feels responsible for them. They’re the same age Talon and I were when…”
“Wow,” Joe said.
“I know.” I rubbed my temples, trying to alleviate a tension headache that was springing up. That was what the bourbon was for. “You two want anything?”
They both shook their heads.
Our father walked in then. “You sure you want to be drinking?”
I took a long sip of the hard stuff. It burned my throat with spicy warmth. “Hell, yeah. How’s Daphne?”
“She’s all right. Well, all right for her. I had to calm her down and assure her that the boys were fine. She still insists that they’re Talon and Jonah.”
“But not me,” I said, acid in my voice. “She doesn’t think I’ve come back from camp.”
My father walked behind his desk and sat down. “No. In the world she’s living in, she only has three children—the three that came from her body. I’m sorry. I hope you believe me, Ryan, that I never meant for you to find out about your maternity. Everything was going well until…”
“Until Talon was taken,” Joe said.
I clenched my fists. Was Joe about to spill the beans as to why Talon was taken? Marj was not ready for that.
“Yes. Your mother never recovered from that.”
“You let us think she was dead,” Joe said, his voice dark and deep.
“I did what I had to do to protect you kids and her. I’m hoping I can make you understand all of that.” He turned to me, regarding me with what at first glance seemed like paternal pride and love.
But I had to be mistaken. My father couldn’t possibly feel those things for any of us, or he wouldn’t have left us.
“Ryan, Daphne loved you like one of her own.”
“Doesn’t seem that way now.” I swirled the amber liquid in my glass.
“She did at first. She agreed to raising you at Steel Acres. Her name is on your birth certificate. In the eyes of the law, you’re her child. She forgave me, and she didn’t hold you responsible for my mistakes.”
“How did you manage it? Joe says he remembers her being pregnant.”
“We used a graduated prosthetic. When you were born to Wendy, we invented a story about a home birth and had a doctor and nurse attend to you and your mother.”
I took another drink. “Are you saying I was born at home?”
He nodded. “The doctor and nurse were well paid to keep quiet. As was your mother. She broke a vow to me when she told you the truth.”
“Christ!” Joe stood, pacing. “How could you put our mother through this? How could you fuck that crazy woman?” He turned to me. “No offense, Ry.”
“None taken.” After all, I wasn’t the only one who had a crazy woman for a mother. At least Daphne Steel wasn’t evil, though.
“It’s a long story, and Talon isn’t here yet.”