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“Bryson?”her father said.“Thank you.I’m very glad my daughter has you as a friend.”
Bryson nodded.“My pleasure.”
Hadley didn’t rejointhe party, Mary Elizabeth noticed.And even though Bryson had returned, he was anything but there.
She slowly made her way over to him and set a glass down on the table in front of him.“You look like you could use this.”
One side of his mouth curled up in a grim half grin that reminded her yet again of his late father.“May I join you?”
“It’s your party.”
Mary Elizabeth settled into the seat beside him.“What happened in there?”
“Nothing you’d care to know about.”
“Is Hadley okay?”
“No.But she will be,” Bryson said.
The way he said it was hardly a comfort, but she chose to accept it as such.“I want you to know that, no matter what, you are welcome here.I’ve talked to the girls, too, and they can’t wait to see you.They should be here any moment.”
Bryson inhaled and sighed.
“I’m not sure I’m at my most sociable right now.”
“Just be you,” Mary Elizabeth said, covering his broad calloused hand with her own.“You have no need to be anyone else.”
She wasn’t sure he accepted her words as truth but it was.If anyone spoke out against Bryson, they would have to deal with her.Kyle included.She was inordinately glad the man had left, though her curiosity regarding the reasons why after hearing the muffled argument through the bank of windows was thick enough to choke her.
“She’s right, you know,” Adam said from behind her.
Adam placed a hand on Mary Elizabeth’s shoulder and gently squeezed, and she leaned her cheek atop his knuckles.
“You’re family now,” her husband said.“And always welcome.”
It was no small consolation.Adam had needed time to adjust to the news of a surprise stepson, but in the days since revealing the test, he’d come around.
“I was shocked at first,” Adam continued, “but Mary Elizabeth is as honest and forthcoming as they come.She wouldn’t have let you go had she known you existed, and I haven’t seen her this happy in ages.”
“Thank you, sir.”Bryson nodded at Adam’s words.“I appreciate you saying that.”
The patio door opened and everyone turned to see Hadley and her parents emerge.“Oh, poor Hadley.She looks wrecked.”
“So do Cheryl and Jerry,” Adam murmured.
It was true.Hadley’s parents looked like someone had pulled the rug out from under them and then beat them with it as well.
Mary Elizabeth glanced at Bryson as she stood.“You see to Hadley.The Babes will comfort Cheryl while the men talk to Jerry.Divide and comfort,” she ordered them.
Assignments given, Mary Elizabeth hurried over to the threesome and repeated her instructions, well aware of the moment Bryson appeared behind her.
Cheryl met Mary Elizabeth’s gaze, her blue eyes filling with tears once more.Mary Elizabeth wrapped an arm around her, and the Babes prodded their friend toward the pool house while Adam led Jerry to the bar.
Inside the pool house, the Babes made a fuss over Cheryl, bringing her a cool cloth for her tear-swollen eyes and forehead and something cold and spiked to drink.
After another round of crying, Cheryl finally sat up and took the drink, eyes downcast.
“I owe you an apology,” Cheryl whispered.“All of you.”
